During the turbulent times facing contemporary organisations, managers and employees need a precise understanding of the nature of team dynamics that develops quality service to customers. Extensive literature searches reveal few research studies focused on the nature of teamwork, which develops value to customers. The purpose of this study is to examine the value of teamwork for providing quality service within the Hong Kong shiprepair industry, outline the insight gleaned and recommend future research. This study aims to link empirically the Western developed Deutsch's (1949a, 19496, 1973, 1980, 1985, 1990) Theory of Cooperation and Competition with the innovation of teamwork and to assist in understanding the variance in the performance of these teams. Literature suggests that the relationships and interaction within the work teams can very much impact the overall performance of these work teams. The extent that these work teams are able to develop cooperative goals can promote productive and constructive communication and problem solving (constructive controversy) in their interactions. A constructive interaction leads to team members' perception of high team confidence. With trust, strong work relationship, team morale and perceived confidence, team effectiveness is enhanced on quality customer service (Alper, Tjosvold and Law, 1998; Tjosvold, Hui and Law, 1998; Tjosvold, Moy and Sasaki, 1996, 1999; Wong et al., 1999). The research also tests the extent of impact of traditional Chinese values of power distance and collectivism as contributing to cooperative goals and encourages an openminded discussion of opposing views (constructive controversy). It proposes that by adopting cooperative goals, shiprepair yard management in Hong Kong may meet the twin challenges of involving employees fully into the organisation and providing quality service to customers. / The result suggests that the Western derived Theory of Cooperation and Competition, if appropriately and skillfully expressed, might have the potential as one alternative to understand the goal interdependence dynamics as experienced by the Hong Kong Chinese in the shiprepair industry. Nevertheless, the result is not confirmatory to the main hypothesis of the study that team confidence is significantly related to quality customer service. Findings of this study question whether a Western theory or research instrument derived is appropriate for application to a Chinese work setting (Bond and Wang, 1983). Although it is useful to test concepts developed in one culture to another, yet theories from the West cannot be assumed to apply in the East (Hofstede, 1993; Triandis, 1983). An important finding of this research is, however, that this Western derived theory might not be suitable to be applied in a work group of very low levels of education and/or low exposure to the modern workplace practice and Western influences.

This thesis outlines the development of composite reinforcement technology for a ship's aluminium alloy superstructure. The work objective aimed to alleviate stress concentration in parts of the superstructure prone to fatigue-induced cracking. This is a novel approach to ship repair, which promises reduction in the cost of maintenance primarily due to greater efficiency and lower cost of repair. The work was conducted over approximately 12 years. It commenced in the late 80s with laboratory research and development and concluded in 2000 after completion of a seven-year trial on board a navy ship. Two carbon fibre composites, (5 m x 1 m consisting of a 25-ply laminate), were adhesively bonded to the 02-deck on the port and starboard sides. It was found that upgrading the structure using composites was effective, making it able to withstand service fatigue stresses. Finite element modelling and strain measurements on board the ship showed that critical stress concentration could be alleviated through stress redistribution. For the duration of the trial, no cracking of aluminium alloy deck in the vicinity of the reinforcements was reported. Both composite reinforcements exhibited good performance and remained in service after the end of the trial. However, the marine environment did cause some non-structural, edge debonding of the glass fibre reinforced overlay at the composite-metal interface. This overlay was designed to provide surface protection to the underlaying carbon reinforcement. Bond degradation was patchy. It occurred after about three years in service, most probably due to a combination of thermal cycling (solar heating/cooling) and water ingress at the interface. A new edge sealing method restored its durability and it required no further attention. This experiment was successfully demonstrated on board an active navy ship. The work proved that an effective and durable repair of a ship structure using non-metallic repair technology is feasible. Composite reinforcements prevented deck cracking and removed any need for welded repairs, thereby reducing the cost of ship maintenance. For further cost reduction it is recommended to adopt the principle of reverse engineering to simplify the technology for dockyard use.

With the decreasing labor forces throughout the United States, if leadership of the ship repair industry does not incorporate knowledge sharing and innovation into their daily business practices, knowledge will be lost during employee departures and turnover of teams from project-to-project, resulting in decreasing firm performance within their organizations. This was a correlation study to determine if there was a correlation between knowledge management, innovation, and firm performance. Data were collected from 69 CEO/Presidents, Human Resource personnel, or members in leadership positions of the Virginia Ship Repair Association in the mid-Atlantic region of the United States. The theoretical framework for this study was the unified model of dynamic knowledge creation with the key constructs of the socialization, externalization, combination, and internalization process; places of knowledge sharing, whether they are virtual, physical, or mental; and leadership. Data collection occurred through an online survey. Multiple linear regression analyses significantly predicted the dependent variable, F(2, 66) = 17.33, p = .000, R2 = .344. Increasing knowledge sharing and innovation practices provides for positive social change for the personnel of these organizations, since the skills they learn within their organizations are immediately usable in their personal endeavors in their churches, neighborhoods, and family relationships and are transferrable to those they interact with outside of their organizations.

Η παρούσα εργασία εξετάζει το πρόβλημα του συγχρονισμού των παραγωγικών διαδικασιών και το πρόβλημα της ανταλλαγής πληροφοριών μεταξύ οργανισμών και επιχειρήσεων κατά τη διάρκεια της συνεργασίας τους για την πραγματοποίηση της επιχειρηματικής διαδικασίας παραγωγής ενός προϊόντος και της παροχής υπηρεσιών. Παρουσιάζεται ένα ολοκληρωμένο πλαίσιο βασισμένο στην σύγχρονη πληροφορική τεχνολογία για το συγχρονισμό των παραγωγικών διαδικασιών που εκτελούνται από τους παραγωγικούς πόρους των συνεργαζόμενων οργανισμών και επιχειρήσεων καθώς και για την ολοκλήρωση των πληροφορικών τους συστημάτων. Ο στόχος του πλαισίου είναι η υποστήριξη της συνεργασίας των οργανισμών και επιχειρήσεων με χρήση πληροφορικής τεχνολογίας καθώς και η διαχείριση της πληροφορίας που ανταλλάσσεται μεταξύ τους για τη διεκπεραίωση των εμπορικών τους συναλλαγών με τον πιο αποδοτικό τρόπο προκειμένου να επιτευχθεί μείωση του συνολικού κόστους λειτουργίας της αλυσίδας των συνεργαζόμενων οργανισμών. Η προτεινόμενη προσέγγιση εφαρμόζεται για την υποστήριξη των εμπορικών δραστηριοτήτων που πραγματοποιούνται μεταξύ οργανισμών και επιχειρήσεων κατά τη διάρκεια της ναυπηγοεπισκευαστικής διαδικασίας. Στη ναυπηγοεπισκευαστική βιομηχανία η εφαρμογή της πληροφορικής τεχνολογίας βρίσκεται στα αρχικά της στάδια. Τα λογισμικά συστήματα τα οποία χρησιμοποιούνται, χαρακτηρίζονται ως "νησίδες αυτοματισμού" διότι το κάθε ένα αντιμετωπίζει τμήμα της όλης διαδικασίας. Ταυτόχρονα είναι δύσκολη η ολοκλήρωση και η επικοινωνία των υπαρχόντων συστημάτων λόγω του διαφορετικού τρόπου αποθήκευσης των δεδομένων και του διαφορετικού επιπέδου αυτοματισμού της κάθε εφαρμογής. Επίσης ο μεγάλος όγκος των δεδομένων που ανταλλάσσεται, δημιουργεί πρόσθετη πολυπλοκότητα λόγω της δυσκολίας μεταφοράς τους και της ανάγκης εισαγωγής τους σε διαφορετικά συστήματα προκειμένου να γίνει η απαραίτητη επεξεργασία τους για τη συνέχιση της επιχειρηματικής διαδικασίας. Επιπλέον στην πραγματοποίηση μιας ναυπηγοεπισκευής λαμβάνουν μέρος εξωτερικοί υπεργολάβοι και προμηθευτές με αποτέλεσμα η διαδικασία συγχρονισμού των εργασιών με τις εργασίες που εκτελούνται από τους παραγωγικούς πόρους του ναυπηγείου να περιπλέκεται. Στο προτεινόμενο πλαίσιο, περιγράφεται η προσέγγιση ολοκλήρωσης λογισμικών συστημάτων με σκοπό την οργανωμένη διαχείριση και δόμηση της πληροφορίας. Συγκεκριμένα η πληροφορία που ανταλλάσσεται μοντελοποιείται με βάση σύγχρονα πρότυπα ανταλλαγής και αναπαράστασης δεδομένων, με στόχο την ανάπτυξη λογισμικού που αναλαμβάνει την ανταλλαγή δεδομένων μεταξύ των συνεργαζόμενων οργανισμών και επιχειρήσεων. Με τη χρήση ενός τέτοιου συστήματος επιτυγχάνεται η ανταλλαγή δεδομένων με ακρίβεια και αξιοπιστία, λόγω της μειωμένης ανθρώπινης παρέμβασης. Επιπλέον με τη χρήση του διαδικτύου επιτυγχάνεται η γρήγορη μεταφορά της πληροφορίας και η ελαχιστοποίηση του χρόνου και του κόστους ανταλλαγής της. Τέλος γίνεται εφαρμογή μεθοδολογίας που προτείνεται στη βιβλιογραφία για τον χρονοπρογραμματισμό των εργασιών που εκτελούνται τόσο από τους παραγωγικούς πόρους του ναυπηγείου όσο και από τους παραγωγικούς πόρους εξωτερικών υπεργολάβων και προμηθευτών. / This work examines the problem of synchronization of production processes and the problem of exchange of information during the collaboration of enterprises, for the realization of the business process within a supply chain. An integrated framework is described, based on the modern information technology for the synchronization of production processes performed by the manufacturing resources of cooperating enterprises as well as for the integration of their information technology (IT) systems. The objective of the framework, is to facilitate the collaboration of enterprises with the adoption of modern standards for data exchange and representation, as well as the management of information that is exchanged among them for the implementation of their commercial and production transactions, with the most efficient way so that to achieve reduction of total cost of operation of the overall supply chain. The proposed approach is applied to support the commercial and production operations in a real life shiprepair environment. In the shiprepair industry the implementation of IT systems, is still immature. The IT systems, which are used, are characterized as "islands of automation" because each one implements only partially the business process. In addition, the integration of existing software systems is difficult, because of the different storage mechanism used by each individual system and the different level of automation of each software application used. Furthermore, the large volume of the exchanged data creates additional complexity, because of the difficulty in the transmission and import of data in heterogeneous software systems used by each shiprepair partner, required to enable the essential data processing for the continuation of the shiprepair business process. Finally, during the shiprepair production process, subcontractors and suppliers are also involved; therefore the synchronization of their work with the work that is executed by the shipyard resources is complicated. The proposed framework, suggests an approach for the integration of IT systems, aiming at the structured management of information. In particular, the information that is exchanged, is modeled based on modern standards for data exchange and representation, aiming at the development of software that implements the exchange of data between the cooperating enterprises. Using such a system, the exchange of data is realized with precision and reliability, due to decreased human intervention in data typing operations. Moreover, with the use of the Internet, fast transmission of information is achieved in parallel to the minimisation of time and cost for data exchange. Finally, this work, describes the implementation of a scheduling methodology suggested in the literature, for planning of the work performed by the manufacturing resources of the cooperating partners in the project type manufacturing system. Finally, the implementation of the suggested approach in a real life shiprepair supply chain is described.

Este trabalho tem por objetivo propor um método para analisar a capacidade de absorção de uma região para um cluster industrial naval e um método para avaliação da intensidade da terceirização na indústria de construção e reparos navais (ICRN), assim como aplicá-lo para a região Norte do Brasil. Para tal, foi necessário caracterizar a cadeia de fornecimento de um cluster industrial naval, por meio da análise de similaridade com clusters de sucesso que apresentem características semelhantes a empresas que atuam na construção e no reparo naval da região norte do Brasil e também a empresas especializadas na construção de embarcações fluviais de carga. Na caracterização da cadeia de fornecimento foram considerados fatores como: os tipos de embarcações construídas; o porte das embarcações; as demanda de construção e reparo; o tipo de organização; as ações do Governo; e a interação entre membros atuantes. Após a caracterização da cadeia de um cluster de sucesso, foi levantado o perfil das empresas que atuam na cadeia de fornecimento da Indústria de Construção Naval (ICN) da Região Metropolitana de Belém (RMB), para melhor entendimento da demanda local, de forma a mapear o processo interativo entre compradores (estaleiros, armadores e terceirizadas) e fornecedores (nacionais e internacionais), com base em dados primários obtidos através da aplicação de questionários. Além da caracterização, é proposto um método para análise da capacidade de absorção da região norte do Brasil para um cluster industrial naval, baseado em uma análise de viabilidade técnica da ICRN para os tipos de embarcações demandadas; uma análise de viabilidade econômica e a sua respectiva competitividade, fazendo analogia com clusters industriais marítimos bem-sucedidos. Para análise da competitividade, utilizou-se o modelo do diamante de Porter adaptado para ICRN regional, balizado pelos fatores encontrados por Moura (2011) para a competitividade da ICN, avaliadas como relevantes para o caso em análise e os elementos propostos por Pinto (2016) para a estruturação de um cluster de sucesso. Após o estudo de caso da capacidade de absorção proposta à RMB, foi realizado, por meio da proposição de um método para a análise, fundamentada em modelos consagrados na literatura, um estudo da influência da terceirização sob a ótica da subcontratação no processo de desenvolvimento industrial, levando em conta a disponibilidade; a qualidade do fornecimento; o prazo; e a comparação de custos, através da aplicação de questionários com os representantes dos principais estaleiros da região, dos seus principais fornecedores; e dos representantes dos órgãos de classe. O terceiro objetivo foi a análise da intensidade da cadeia terceirizada na RMB, por meio de uma adaptação metodológica para a ICN, assim como a análise, se a região é capaz de suportar um cluster ou simplesmente ampliar sua cadeia terceirizada. Por fim, é desenvolvido um modelo consistente através do método de tomada de decisão multicritério genérico, via abordagem integrada AHP (Analytic Hierarchy Process) e PROMETHEE, para a seleção de atividades a serem terceirizadas na ICN, com um estudo de caso no Estado do Pará. / This work aims to propose a method to analyze the absorption capacity of a region for a naval industrial cluster and a method to evaluate the intensity of outsourcing in the shipbuilding and ship repair industry (ICRN), as well as to apply it to the North region of Brazil. For this, it was necessary to characterize the supply chain of a naval industrial cluster, through the analysis of similarity with successful clusters that present similar characteristics to companies that works in the shipbuilding and ship repair of the northern region of Brazil, as well as specialized companies in the construction of inland waterway vessels. In the characterization of the supply chain were considered factors such as: the types of vessels built; the size of the vessels; demand for construction and repair; type of organization; Government actions; and interaction between active members. After the characterization of the chain of a successful cluster, the profile of the companies that operate in the supply chain of the Shipbuilding Industry (ICN) of the Metropolitan Region of Belém (RMB) was surveyed, in order to better understand the local demand, to mapping the interactive process between buyers (shipyards, shipowners and subcontractors) and suppliers (national and international), based on primary data obtained through the application of questionnaires. Besides the characterization is proposed a method for analyzing the absortion capacity of the northern region of Brazil to a naval industrial cluster, where it was based on a technical feasibility analysis of the shipbuilding and repair market industry demanded of vessels; an economic feasibility analysis and their respective competitiveness, making analogy with successful maritime industrial clusters. In order to analyze competitiveness, the Porter diamond model adapted to regional ICRN was used, based on the factors found by Moura (2011) for the competitiveness of the ICN, evaluated as relevant for the case under analysis and the elements proposed by Pinto (2016) for structuring a successful cluster. After the case study of the absorptive capacity proposed to the RMB, a study of the outsourcing influence from the point of view of subcontracting in the process of industrial development was carried out by proposing a method for the analysis, based on models established in the literature, taking into account availability; quality of supply; the deadline; and the comparison of costs, through the application of questionnaires with the representatives of the main shipyards in the region, of its main suppliers; and representatives of the class organs. The third objective was the analysis of the intensity of the outsourced chain in the RMB, through a methodological adaptation to the ICN, as well as the analysis, if the region is able to support a cluster or simply extend its outsourced chain. A model is then developed through the generic multicriteria decision-making method, through an integrated AHP (Analytic Hierarchy Process) and PROMETHEE approach, for the selection of activities to be outsourced at ICN, with a case study in the State of Pará.