Diversity and Social Trust: Polish seafarers in multicultural crews

The article is focused on the Polish merchant seamen and their work in the multicultural crews. Polish seafarers have been subject to sociological research for half a century now and ‘maritime sociology’ was especially supported by the communist authorities as it was to legitimate the wider access to the Baltic gained after the Second World War. After the collapse of the communist regime the significance of the Polish maritime industry was gradually decreasing. Many companies dealing in this branch have not resisted to competition after Poland joined the EU in 2004. However numerous employees found their job in foreign enterprises. This is true especially about Polish merchant seamen. As they are usually employed in a foreign ship-owning company they become one of the professional categories being the avant-garde of multicultural contacts of the nation which used to be very hermetic in that sense. ‘Multicultural’ means here most of all ‘international’ but the authors of the article assumed in the process of preparing the research that it would be also necessary to examine the attitude of respondents toward the other ‘parts’ of identity (e.g. the ones analyzed in diversity management) like gender, age, religion/denomination, sexual orientation. The issue of Polish merchant seamen working in such a widely understood multicultural milieu is discussed in association with the phenomenon of trust on board, in the conditions of relative isolation both from social and physical environment (see similar works on seafarers of other nationalities e.g. Borovnik 2005; Sampson 2003).

The research on seamen was conducted in two stages. The first stage (qualitative research) was carried out in 2011–2012 and comprised 20 seamen (officers prevailing). Interviews with respondents lasted two hours each and they were enriched by projection techniques which became the initial material to formulate research problems included also in the second (quantitative) stage of research. In this context qualitative stage of research had an explorative character.

The characteristics of quantitative research (second stage, 2012): the survey was conducted by means of auditorium questionnaire. 224 merchant seamen participated in it. They were men, board division prevailing 64.4% (engine division – 34.2%, hotel division 1.4%). Respondents of higher education prevailed – 77% (20.7% – graduates of secondary school, 2.3% – graduates of vocational school). Among the respondents there were 85% of officers and 15% of ordinary seamen. Average seniority amounted to 18 years (distribution of seniority was clearly positively skewed). As far as the age of respondents is concerned two categories prevailed: 30–39 years (30.2%) and 50–59 years (27.9%). We may therefore state that a typical respondent was well educated (higher education) man with relatively long seniority and employed as a deck officer.

Because of the problem with gaining access to the sampling frame the quantitative research it has been carried out on the non-random sample.

Problem areas which emerged during qualitative research:

1. One of the main elements of research on deep-sea vessels' crews (in the first stage) was the problem of trust. The issue of trust has in sociology frequently a macro-social reference (com. Fukuyama 1995; Putnam 2000; Sztompka 2007). Trust is understood here as an element of social capital explaining many other phenomena. In this research the authors were interested in the role of trust in building functional interpersonal relations on a ship. The authors assume that in a reduced social environment of seamen (limited to the crew members) the problem of maintaining positive interpersonal relations and thus also the problem of trust is a very significant issue. Qualitative research allowed for specifying what kind of trust is present among seamen and therefore what form of loyalty is required on a ship (what kind of cognitive orientation, disposition to behave, we expect from other actors). This first problem area was associated with multicultural labor milieu of seamen. One of the most interesting theses of qualitative research was the identification of relatively negative attitude of Polish seamen toward coworkers of the same nationality. The authors decided to explore that issue also during the quantitative stage of research (to verify this finding). This problem area then refers to how seamen act in multicultural labor milieu.

2. Cultural diversity based on various nationalities of seamen crews (com. eg. Chirea-Ungureanu and Georgescu 2009) is not the only factor diversifying crew members significant from the point of view of building interpersonal relations. In the quantitative research the attempt to specify the significance of other variables (crucial for the form of these relations) was made. The list of these variables was worked out on the basis of qualitative research.

Trust is the issue significant for all levels of social life. There is a profound empirical and theoretical justification that the level of social trust is of a great importance in the macro-, mezzo- and micro- scale (com. Barber 1983; Giddens 1984; Hardin 2002; Luhmann 1979; Sztompka 1999). There are relatively new but still insightful analyses concerning problems of trust which show that trust constitutes substantial aspects of any interactions especially when we talk about durable relations understood in terms of social systems (Sztompka 2007: 12). The reference to social system even in the theories which do not use the notion of trust proves this concept is still important. In the Parsons' classic definition of social system the system exists, acts, lasts provided some patterns of interaction are in force which allows an individual for acting so as to ‘optimize gratification’ through interaction (Parsons 1991). Therefore acting in the system should comprise elements of predictability and this provides a clear reference to the category of trust (as predictability is one of basic conditions of trust). Although trust was always significant in the social system, in the twenty-first century – the age of risk, uncertainty, instability (e.g. in the context of labor market) the role of trust is even greater (Sztompka 2007: 18). From the methodological point of view trust may be treated both as independent and dependent variable. From the point of view of sociological theory trust may be perceived as something being constructed, worked out during interaction (interactionist perspective) or as a quality of a particular social structure, something which is included in the network of social positions and in this meaning trust is the ‘outer’ thing, not worked out but imposed on (functional-structural perspective).

The shortest definition of trust: ‘Trust is a bet on the unknown future actions of people’ (Sztompka 2007: 69–70) pays special attention to the issue of predictability. In other definitions (e.g. Fukuyama 1995) normative and axiological character of trust is emphasized. In the research the various levels of trust have become subject to analysis. After Sztompka's classification of actors' expectations (2007) the researchers have concentrated both on ‘effective’ and ‘affectionate’ trust. In effective (instrumental) expectations regularity, order, consistency, and rationality of others' actins play the main role. In affectionate (moral) expectations people claim honest, friendly, kind, just attitude of others (com. Sztompka 2007: 122–7). Therefore one of the trust indicators used by researchers was the predictability of other's actions as well as the conviction on the friendly attitude. In the quantitative research authors additionally clarified the climate of trust by mans of such indicators as the willingness to cooperate with representatives of certain nationalities as well as the emotional atmosphere on a ship. At sea it is important to work with predictable crew members. The trust is the more important the more segregate the labor milieu. On a ship professional and private acts of behavior interplay and the loss of trust in one area results in the worsening of relations in other areas of seafarers' lives. The research exhibited that this is ‘effective’ and not ‘affectionate’ trust which is needed. The research results below show how much trusted are persons of different identities.

The qualitative research on seafarers exhibited the lack of a simple relation between trust and knowledge on the partner of interaction. In practices of human resource management one can observe great emphasis on building trust in multicultural teams. Companies invest much money and time to train their employees in intercultural competency constituting the trust climate. Due to a common sense one may expect that better understanding (more knowledge on the partner of interaction) would be positively correlated with the level of trust. This idea linking trust and homogeneity of a group is also present in scientific considerations. There is much evidence that trust is higher in culturally and racially homogenous groups (Janus 2009).

In order to create even the minimum of trust (so-called ‘effective’ trust; Sztompka 2002) understanding of others' actions is required, understanding on the level enabling prediction of other actors' behavior. This level may be therefore achieved only on the basis of sufficient knowledge on the cultural background of the interaction partner. The lowest level of crew members' knowledge on their coworkers resulting from the multicultural character of the whole team should then be associated with the lowest possible elementary trust – trust guaranteeing the predictability of other actors' behavior. However the research has not confirmed that association. Instead a negative evaluation of Poles as colleagues was observed in the respondents' views. Poles (by Polish seamen) were described as unkind and impolite and also not trustworthy. ‘Not trustworthy’ is in this context understood as both unpredictable and possibly acting against others. Operating in the two worlds (‘me’ and ‘them’ –e.g. Filipinos) becomes more predictable than working in homogenous (Polish) social milieu. The division into ‘me’ and ‘them’ (multicultural environment) is getting not only more predictable but also safer.

The Poles' negative characteristic of their compatriots was associated with preference for foreigners (as coworkers at sea). It is worth adding that the most numerous group of foreign colleagues for Polish seamen are Filipinos i.e. the nationality of ‘exotic’ and thus hardly understood cultures (com. Table 1). Poor knowledge of English provides additional communicative impediment. Language skills are enough to communicate during work at sea. However as far as social talking is concerned poor language skills are a major barrier in communication. These communicative limits hinder the understanding why Poles prefer foreign seamen in long lasting voyages which was proven in the research. One of the possible explanations is that the lack of language competence while reducing the social contacts is at the same time also limiting the potential conflict areas (e.g. political matters or moral issues). Poor communication may be functional in terms of maintaining formal hierarchy. It is significant as Poles usually occupy higher position in hierarchy than Filipinos. Probably it (poor communication) may also result in limiting the interpretation field e.g. of appropriate ways of fulfilling social roles on board. This may be positively perceived especially by the management.

This tendency (preference for foreign crew members) was identified during qualitative research. Quantitative research aimed at identifying this problem area confirmed the thesis which emerged from the analysis of in-depth interviews (com. Tables 2 and 3).

Results presented in tables above do not forejudge clearly on the preference of other nationalities. These frequencies may be interpreted also as the lack of significance of other seamen's nationality. That is why it is worth to enrich the above listing with more data (com. data in Tables 4 and 5).

The answer Nationality does not matter for me prevails among responses for both questions. The qualitative research exhibited that seamen unwillingly and with some fear admit that nationality matters for interpersonal relations (maybe one can talk about the processes of citizen extra-territoriality or de-nationalization of seafarers, see also Schler 2011 on the opposite processes). The neutral, prevailing answer is considered the appropriate one. Seamen would be willing to admit that nationality is significant (to a great extent this criterion divides crew members into more and less desirable) after a longer conversation (in the second hour of the interview) or expressed such an opinion indirectly, implicitly. One may then assume that in quantitative research this neutral category (Nationality does not matter for me) is more numerous than in reality.

The thesis on the negative attitude of Poles to seamen of the same origin is confirmed in the quantitative research. In Table 4 these are Poles who get the most negative indications. In Table 5 one can notice that in the context of positive indications Filipinos (seamen of much different and difficult to understand culture) outdistanced Poles.

Qualitative research show that Filipinos are both integrated and isolated part of the crew. One of the respondents compares these nationalities as follows:

This means despite the common culture language, sharing knowledge on the same ‘national’ logic of acting, understanding, etc., Polish seafarers would rather cooperate with foreigners. Another seaman however points out on the other hand to cultural limitations:

Poles prefer then to work with Filipinos with whom non-professional relations are very rare than to work with Poles with whom they have such relations (possibly this may be partially and indirectly explained by that fact that representatives of such nationalities as Filipinos are usually of lower rank on board and do not threaten the position of Polish seamen who are usually officers or simply better educated ordinary seamen, com; Zhao and Amante 2005). The results of quantitative research confirm the ‘isolation strategy’ identified in qualitative research, i.e. the strategy aimed at avoiding entering non-professional relations. The lack of knowledge on the culture of other seamen is of course an isolating factor. That one assesses positively their presence on board (as desired crew members) does not mean that one should want to initiate with them non-professional relations. In this perspective cultural diversity is an isolating element. That is why the fact that majority of respondents (88.8%) had no training on cultural issues should be assessed negatively. However not every respondent thinks that such a training would be beneficial for them (com. Table 6).

Good, infrequent and often only professional relations with other nationalities result in the fact that many seamen negatively assess taking part or reasonability of participating in such trainings. More officers expect the offer of such trainings (47% think they would be at least ‘rather’ useful) than ordinary seamen (such expectations are declared by 26.4% of them). Trainings on these issues should be popularized (at least at the beginning) among officers as they notice the need to gather knowledge on other cultures.

Ethnic differences are not the only dimension of diversity at sea. Gender, sexual orientation, religion, and age of seafarers are equally important factors diversifying the crew and constitute major categories of interest for diversity management experts and practitioners (Arredondo 1996; Hubbard 2004).

Work at sea has been always strictly associated with physical labor and staying far away from home which made it hard to lead a successful family life (com. e.g. Heikell 2010; Janiszewski 1976; Thomas et al.2003). It was then considered as typically ‘masculine’. Sailors were men and a woman on board according to seamen was bringing about bad luck. Today both factors are less important and women seafarers become the topic of scientific considerations (com. e.g. Belcher et al.2003; Chin 2008; Jiunn-Liang and Gin-Shuh 2012; Thomas 2004). Technological progress made the work at sea easier. Currently the work of officers at least to some extent brings to mind some kind of office work. The post of ordinary seamen is still associated with hard physical work although also here some technological ‘facilities’ are visible. Moreover the organization of work (voyages last shorter) and the whole social context of emancipation and the proliferation of women's work underwent changes. These transformations result in treating the women's work at sea (also by seamen) in a neutral way (com. Table 7).

The estimation of possibility of doing ordinary seaman's tasks by a woman is a bit worse. Only 28.6% of respondents answer positively to this question (47.3% say women would not be effective in this post). As qualitative research shows such a negative opinion stems from considering ordinary seaman's occupation as very hard work (including tasks requiring major physical power).

The need of labor costs reduction (intensified by the crisis) is one of the circumstances which might favor employing women at sea. The continuous tendency to pay women lower remuneration makes the unattractive wages for men attractive for women. Such a way of reasoning works (in the practice of human resources management) still in many cases. We can meet more and more frequently women e.g. as bus drivers although it used to be a typically male profession. This change in the employment structure is often a conscious strategy of upgrading the motivation by hiring less expensive women. The strategy proves to be effective as work of women is still treated as additional occupation (as a supplement of man's job; Castells 2008: 214). This fact also influences the openness of women to flexible (part-time) forms of employment which on one hand contributes to the dissemination of the idea of women at work but on the other hand to the petrification of inequality in the evaluation of professional activity of men and women. These changes however have no major significance for the work at sea.

Work at sea engages the full time of a seafarer. The character of employment temporarily suspends the realization of other functions like these associated with family. This means this job may not be treated as supplementary and therefore lower paid work. Such characteristics of work at sea prove it would be impossible to reduce much the cost of remuneration and it has no significance to the popularization of women's work at sea. The other changes (like e.g. the limited significance of traditional family model, opening of typically male, technical faculties also for women) will be however boosting the growth of number of women at sea. One may expect that the changes in employment structure (because of the gender) will be especially visible at officer posts.

Our qualitative research showed that a woman as a crew member is not met by seamen with a big astonishment or negative emotions. The growth of number of women on board would introduce a new dimension of diversity within a deep-sea vessel and would considerably change previous image (also sociological) of the ship crew. These transformations may of course be perceived in a positive way. The female part of the crew would make labor milieu at least in one aspect conformed to the milieu on land. The change may be however treated as a negative one. The reduced social reality (reduced complexity of milieu) facilitates the management of crews. The isolation strategy mentioned before and applied by seamen is not beneficial from the point of view of seamen themselves; however it facilitates the management of crew on board (the reduction of relations results in a smaller area of potential conflicts). The role of woman in shaping interpersonal relations on board as well as for the atmosphere of work is perceived by seamen in different ways (com. Figure 1). A woman on board does not raise astonishment today among seamen and she may perform her duties well, however the evaluation of women's influence on interpersonal relations is ambivalent.

The next factor diversifying seamen's crew would be the growth of the number of people representing sexual minority (com. Tibbles 2012). Along with the liberalization of norms in this aspect one may expect more situations when one of seamen discloses the homosexual orientation. The quantitative research shows that such a disclosure would be met with negative reactions.

As is presented in the Table 8 seafarers agree that seamen of homosexual orientation might be treated in a negative way in a ship. One may expect (and it is confirmed by qualitative research) that seamen of homosexual orientation would be alienated from the rest of the crew. In contrast to this situation older seamen are not discriminated against whatsoever.

Age is one of the most important factors diversifying people in many social aspects. Together with the aging of society one may expect the growth of crews' diversification in respect of age. This process however should not generate major problems in interpersonal relations in a deep-sea vessel. For the big majority of respondents the age of coworkers has no significance (71.6%). Also the most of them disagree when asked about lower efficiency at work of elderly seamen (com. Table 9).

Although age should be treated as one of significant components of crew diversity, the generation gap is unlikely to become the source of conflict or dissatisfaction of seafarers.

Another factor of diversity among seafarers is associated with religion (and/or denomination). The issue of openly showing one's religiousness is met with ambivalent treatment. The behavior emphasizing one's religion may according to some respondents bring about some problems (com. Table 10).

The qualitative research has also proved that Poles exhibit especially indifferent approach to the practice of ‘other’ religions on a ship. Poles (majority of which are Catholics) are not interested in religious behavior unknown to them (e.g. Muslim rituals). It is something strange, something outside our culture, i.e. external, difficult to judge and insignificant. If religion and religious practices were to become a cause of conflict, it might appear between seafarers practicing the same religion.

To recapitulate it may be stated that respondents positively assess older seamen and relatively positively the work of women on board (which is interesting especially if they were to be officers). As we have shown above seamen are also in favor of cultural diversity based on nationalities of crew members. The last of the diversity factors facilitates applying the strategy of isolation (no contacts with crew members of a different nationality). The issue of religiousness may bring about some problems although qualitative research shows that usually it is not a problem area. Seamen understand the cultural diversity of others also during religious practices. However a homosexual orientation would definitely be treated as a negative thing.

The presented above indicators specifying openness to others may not be explained by means of the majority of independent variables used in the research (they are independent e.g. from the occupied post or what is also interesting from the level of education). The only variable clearly diversifying this area is age.

The ‘tolerance’ indicator was constructed by means of the following questions:

• In a nationally diversified team conflicts appear more often

• Showing one's religiousness during the voyage may be the cause of conflicts

• Women as crew members are often the source of conflicts

• Seaman of homosexual orientation would not be welcome on board

Older seamen notice then more problems in culturally diversified crew than younger what may be the indicator of difference between generations or the lack of experience (smaller experience) associated with the reality of life at sea.

In the article the results of both qualitative and quantitative research among Polish merchant seamen were presented. It may be claimed that after the collapse of the communist system seafarers became the professional category which is the avant-garde for society which is to transform into more democratic and more multicultural than ever before. Polish merchant seamen often work in international milieu (and the environment which is diverse also in other respects). The aspects of identity analyzed in diversity management studies are associated here with the issue of trust.

The research showed that compatriots are not seen as best coworkers by Polish seamen. They prefer working with representatives of other nationalities which means they do not need so much knowledge on the culture to professionally cooperate. The lack of knowledge e.g. on Filipinos does not make Polish seamen trust them less. Despite the fact that they cannot comprehend their culture (even do not try and consciously accept cultural barriers) they prefer this nation indicating it as desired crew members. Trust goes hand in hand here with the lack of knowledge on cultural differences in behavior of the interaction partner. Seafarers also expect that women would not be appropriate colleagues as ordinary seamen although they think women-officers may prove professional, efficient seafarers. On one hand women on board mean one more ‘element’ of social milieu resembling the one in land, on the other may complicate the management of seamen's crews established on the reduction of milieu complexity. Polish seamen rather disapprove of co-working with those of homosexual orientation but do not practice ageism or intolerance toward persons of different religion or denomination.

The possible problem areas for further research comprise questions like: do only Polish (or only post-communist countries') seafarers dislike working with compatriots or it is common attitude; how much such lack of social trust affect work efficiency; will women seafarers become equal workers on board in nearest future; will work at sea become more demanded due to global crisis and thus will be worse paid, which will attract more women; will sexual orientation cease to be taboo or disapproved part of identity among seamen.

Authors would like to thank captain Artur Chorzelewski, the Director of Training Centre For Marine Officers, Maritime University of Szczecin and Adrian Druchniak, the Director of Marine Rescue Training Centre in Szczecin for great help with gaining access to respondents.

Arkadiusz Kołodziej Ph.D., is a lecturer at the Institute of Sociology, Szczecin University. He has a few years' experience in Human Resources Management (Polish Post Office). His scientific interests comprise: social forecasts, human resource management, sociological methodology, and maritime sociology. He is the member of Polish Sociological Association.

Agnieszka Kołodziej-Durnaś habilitated Ph.D., is a lecturer at the Institute of Sociology, Szczecin University. Her scientific interests comprise: organizational sociology, organizational culture, maritime sociology. She is the member of Polish Sociological Association. She gave lectures abroad in Lithuania, Germany, and the Czech Republic. She introduced and cochaired the session of Maritime Sociology at the two conferences of European Sociological Association in Lisbon (2009) and Geneva (2011).