Navigation Methodology and Teamwork in High Tempo Operations

Licentiate thesis, 2015

Maritime navigation of small vessels at high speed can be very hazardous. Vessels are becoming more potent with greater speed capabilities. The demand of deliverance is also manifesting itself within organizations and there are fewer possibilities for slowing down the overall pace. The methodology to cope with the new challenges the speed imposes is not keeping up. Accidents occur due to this situation and their consequences are potentially fatal. The topic of high speed navigation has been elucidated from different perspectives in five papers. The papers present an understanding of high speed navigation looking at the contemporary literature as well as the author’s own experiences. The theories used to describe navigation are coming mostly from the Human Factors domain. The results from the papers I-V that are presented in this thesis are reinterpreted from a new theoretical standpoint than the one introduced in the original papers. Navigation at high speed is a team effort that requires effective collective actions. The navigation methodology studied, Dynamic navigation (DYNAV) is mainly constructed of four phases used to coordinate activities within the crew in relation to a mission objective or a goal. Five pieces of key information have been identified and constitute the backbone of the communication between crew members. Mechanisms are incorporated in the navigation methodology to catch unwanted variability in the collective understanding of the situation. It is suggested from the concepts of complexity, variability and epistemic actions that DYNAV is a methodology to choreograph joint activities, that re-planning is an essential part of effective teamwork and driven partly from the need of aiding understanding of the situation.