8.2 Ship management - Structuring the Organisation
1-387 All managers contemplating joining a company should take a critical look at how it is organised and this critical appraisal should continue throuhgout their time with that company. Just as life for the seafarer has undergone radical change, so too has, and is, life for the ship manager. The management of change will be just as important within the shore staff as it is at sea and will require astute thinking in order to marry the best of traditional nautical experience to continually developing technologies. At the same time, modern ship management has no place for tradition that is rooted in no more solid a foundation than the change resistant cry of "We have always done it this way". Conversely,the wise ship manager will learn to think carefully about how technology-driven labour-saving devices will affect the balance of life and work on board, including the quality of the job, before succumbing to the blandishments if salesman or cost accountant.