THE SEAGOING WORKFORCE--IMPLICATIONS OF TECHNOLOGICAL CHANGE

The seagoing workforce is described in terms of attitudes toward work, the shipboard environment, employment opportunities, careers, training and retraining. The ship is considered as a socio-technical system, within which the organization of shipboard work must reflect the personal needs of seamen. The need to help seamen, labor unions, and industry adjust to technological change, particularly automation, is viewed as essential if the U.S. merchant marine is to become more effective and the life of the individual seamen is to be made more meaningful, both aboard ship and on-shore. Findings of other maritime nations' efforts in studies of shipboard manning, seamen's attitudes, and task restructuring, are presented. The report concludes with recommendations for developing studies of shipboard organization and jobs, and for conducting full-scale experiments based on these studies. Also recommended are a program for collecting attitudinal data, a study of seamen's retirement programs, and a broadening of the Merchant Marine Act of 1970 to emphasize the human aspect of the maritime industry.

• Supplemental Notes:
  • Report was prepared by the Panel on Human Resources in the U.S. Maritime Industry.
• Corporate Authors:

  Maritime Transportation Research Board

  National Academy of Sciences, 2101 Constitution Avenue, NW
  Washington, DC  United States  20418
• Publication Date: 1974-9

Media Info

• Pagination: 116 p.

Subject/Index Terms

• TRT Terms: Labor relations; Motor skills; Ship crews; Training
• Old TRIS Terms: Crew training (Deck); Crew training (Engine); Unlicensed personnel training
• Subject Areas: Education and Training; Marine Transportation;

Filing Info

• Accession Number: 00071922
• Record Type: Publication
• Source Agency: Maritime Transportation Research Board
• Files: TRIS
• Created Date: Nov 12 1974 12:00AM