Worst Team in History - the Titanic Team

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2003, p. 9). Therefore the wireless operators, occupied with sending outgoing social communications, failed to receive all the incoming warning messages concerning icebergs in the vicinity. Cyril Evans, a wireless operator of a nearby ship, Californian, tried to pass along a message from the captain warning that they were surrounded by ice and had to stop. Philips of the Titanic responded to the warning with “Shut up, shut up, I’m busy…” as he was busy sending commercial messages (Landensberg, 2001, p. 54). In addition, during the investigations following the tragedy, it was disclosed that wireless operators onboard the Titanic, taking direction from management at the wireless technology’s company - Marconi, oftentimes refused to communicate with wireless operators of ships knows to use competitors’ equipment (Landensberg, 2001, p. 55). It should be noted that the wireless operators worked for Marconi – not the White Star Lines (Starck, 2012).

As a result, there was little time for preparation after the fatal iceberg was spotted. At 11:40 pm, Frederick Fleet, the Titanic’s lookout, sounded the warning bell three times from the crow’s nest of the ship and picked up the phone stating words that will live down in history – “Iceberg right ahead” (Davis, 2012, para 1). First Officer William Murdoch ordered the ship’s helm hard-over to avoid a collision, but the Titanic shaved the iceberg below the waterline, popping and splitting steel plates for 300 feet before the ship was brought to a halt (Guelzo, 2012, p. 41). Six of the Titanic’s watertight compartments had been open to the ocean. According to Shiel (2001), if the crew had been properly trained, they would have known to steer the ship into the iceberg instead of swerving to try to avoid it. It is believed the Titanic could have survived a head on crash, but instead the crew tried to make a maneuver the ship was incapable of making. In addition, engines were stopped during the panic swerve in hopes to slow the ship down as it neared the iceberg. Modern analysis indicates that cutting the engines would have also reduced the turning ability of the ship (D’Alto, 2012). D’Alto (2012) also points out that the crew made initial errors that delayed the turn to avoid the iceberg, possibly because the controls were new and unfamiliar to them.

After the ship collided with the iceberg, Smith then failed to evacuate passengers quickly. Thomas Andrews, the ship builder, inspected the ship and gave an estimate of one and half hours, two at best, before the ship went down (Guelzo, 2012, p. 41). Sadly, the first eight lifeboats that departed the ship were only half-full, exacerbating the problem of the shortage of lifeboats (Waymack, 2006, p. 39). To further heighten the problem, many passengers were initially unwilling to board the lifeboats. This calm was due partially to Captain Smith being determined not to trigger alarm (as he now realized the fatal error of a shortage of lifeboats), and that passengers continued to be convinced of the ship’s advertised invincibility. Guelzo (2012) describes the image of gentlemen in evening wear chivalrously escorting women to the lifeboats, as they calmly stood back and lighted cigars while listening to the orchestra play ragtime (p. 42).

Another unfortunate event in the night involved the USS Californian – a ship only a few miles in distance from the Titanic when it struck the iceberg. As discussed previously, Cyril Evans of the Californian tried to warn Titanic of the dangerous ice, only to be responded to with rude carelessness. One hour before the iceberg collision, Captain Stanley Lord of the Californian had instructed his crew to shut down the telegraph post (Knapp & VandeCreek, 2003, p. 9). When the Californian crew saw the flares of the Titanic, they interpreted the sight as routine communications between ships and did not wake the Captain. Regrettably, the Californian could have potentially saved everyone if it had responded promptly to the Titanic’s distress calls. The Carpathia, 58 miles from the Titanic at the time of the collision, did come to the Titanic’s rescue however, arriving after 4am; the Titanic descended into the ocean at 2:20am (Guelza, 2012, p. 42).

The immense investigations following the event resulted in a series of new laws and safety improvements for ships including safety drills for passengers, lifeboat requirements, better exit routes, radio communication laws, and better hull and rudder deign (Davis, 2012, para 4). There were a number of participants involved in the incident. As Knapp and VandeCreek (2003) describe, if the event could be retraced, Harland and Wolff would have built the ship differently, the White Star Line would have provided a sufficient number of lifeboats and safety training, Captain Smith would have instructed the Titanic to slow down and keep the telegraph post open to incoming danger warnings, the crew of Titanic would have had gained more familiarity with the ship prior to its initial launch, and Captain Lord would have sent the Californian to rescue those aboard the sinking vessel (p. 11). This paper takes the systems perspective, and views all players of the night as a team. No single person holds sole responsibility for the catastrophe, but better teamwork could have helped to prevent the fatalities of the night. During a speech by Senator Smith during the Titanic investigations, Smith described the Titanic builders and owner being so eager for the trial trip that they failed to complete sufficient tests of equipment. Officers and crew were strangers to one another, and neither were familiar with the vessels or its tools; when the crisis came, the state of unpreparedness befuddled both passengers and its crew (Starck, 2012). Poor teamwork contributed to the events of the fatal night.

Poor TeamWork:

Misalignment of Members

One huge problem of the Titanic team was the misalignment of members. Thompson (2011) points out the importance of all team members’ interests bring perfectly aligned (p. 82). In this case, Captain Smith was concerned about arriving to New York a day early for his own reputation purposes. The owner was worried about arriving early for the competition with Cunard. The wireless operators were reporting to Marconi management and sacrificing safety concerns by refusing to communicate with wireless technology competitors. In all these personal motivations, what should have been the biggest concern (passenger safety) was forgotten. The Titanic team should have created a clear goal ahead of time that included passenger safety first and foremost.

Competition

Too much concern with competition was another fault of the Titanic team. This affected the Titanic team at