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Shipping Leadership1

The cool breeze of a mid-September Baltic morning was not able to assuage the anxiety

of Capt. Khan. He was terribly upset about the fact that he was losing grip oer his staff

on board.

Capt. Khan was !ast of !.". #shley. Born and brought up in $uc%now& he carried an

unmista%able imprint of that culture. He was suae& well-mannered& and soft spo%en to a

fault. 'n board& Capt. Khan was li%e a gentle& protectie father-figure& concerned about

the well being of this crew.

#lways willing to help others& many times Capt. Khan had gone out of his way to help

people. (or example& Capt. Khan had made use of his contacts in the industry to find

placement for his Chief Coo%)s son as a Cadet in " Ships. He had used his influence in

his home town in getting a gas connection for a newly-married officer whose wife was

also wor%ing.

Capt. Khan belieed that %eeping his crew happy was his ma*or role as a !aster. #fter all&

if they did not bring their problems to Capt. Khan& to whom will they go for help+

Slowly& most of ship)s business came to be handled by the Chief 'fficer& !r. ,ain and the

Chief ngineer& !r. Singh. Capt. Khan spent most of his time chatting and sharing *o%es

with people and trying to sort out their personal problems on board and at home.

Howeer& sometimes his helping nature led to differences with the Chief 'fficer. 'ne

such occasion was the granting on leaing without a relieer to an 'S who wanted to

attend a cousin)s wedding.

'n a hectic schedule preparing for dry doc%& !r. ,ain approached Capt. Khan with the

leae application of 'S iwa%aran.

The following conersation too% place/

!r. ,ain/ Sir& 'S iwa%aran has applied for early repatriation at a time when we

are already short of staff. 0 don)t thin% we should grant him leae.

Capt. Khan/ 1hy does he want leae+

!r. ,ain/ He wants to attend the wedding of a cousin. 0 tried to dissuade him forapplying for leae as there is a lot of wor% right now. But he is

adamant.

Capt. Khan/ 0 thin% we should not be spoil-sports. 0n any case& if we turn down the

youngster)s leae re2uest and preent him from attending the wedding

and haing all the fun& he would not be in a mood to wor%. #s you

%now& !r. ,ain& in the 0ndian culture cousins are almost li%e members

of one)s immediate family& and it is considered part of one)s family

obligation to attend their marriages. 0 thin% 0 would let him go and

en*oy himself. 0 am sure you can reallocate his wor% to someone else.

34repared by 4rofessor eepti Bhatnagar& 0ndian 0nstitute of !anagement& #hmedabad.

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Capt. Khan sensed that !r. ,ain was not happy with his decision though he did not say

anything apparently.

Capt. Khan thought he %new how to handle grieances of his staff. (or example& when a

crew member complained to him that the washroom was not being cleaned eery day andthat the small mess room where crew members ate their lunch eery day had been

cluttered up with bro%en furniture& Capt. Khan replied laughingly that one should not

expect comforts of one)s home while on board.

Capt. Khan was confident that a friendly !aster li%e him would hae no problem in

tac%ling the problem of heay wor%load during the dry doc% preparation. He felt that !r.

,ain was unduly exercised oer the issue of oertime. He was sure that his crew for whom

he had done so much in the past and who were so close to him would willingly help him

in the completion of wor%. He only had to as% his team and they would do anything for

him.

#t the insistence of !r. ,ain& Capt. Khan decided to tal% to his staff members to see% their

cooperation. Their cool response came as a bolt from the blue. They typical message he

got from the crew was that their past relationships apart& Capt. Khan should not expect

anything out of the way from them as far as ship)s wor% was concerned.