Potential benefits of introducing OKRs at marine engineering contractors

Abstract

In a rapidly evolving industry, Van Oord, a leader in marine engineering and offshore energy, seeks to better align its strategic objectives with operations to drive innovation and achieve sustainability targets. The company faces challenges in aligning goals across departments in complex, multi-stakeholder projects. While Objectives and Key Results (OKRs) present a promising goal-setting framework, implementing OKRs in an asset-based, project-driven organization like Van Oord is challenging due to the need for interdepartmental alignment, clear accountability, and strategic coherence. There are examples of this method being introduced in technology driven organizations, but a direct comparison to a marine engineering contractor is not found. The study has used qualitative methods, including a systematic literature review and a case study consisting of three use cases at Van Oord, examining OKR implementation through interviews, observations, personal communications and online documentation. Findings show that OKRs are widely seen as a promising tool for improving goal visibility, alignment, and cross-departmental collaboration, especially in innovation-focused teams. However, their feasibility depends on careful adaptation to existing reporting systems, team autonomy, and time constraints. The thesis concludes that OKRs can add clear value when introduced incrementally, with team-led pilots and integration into existing planning rhythms. The study contributes to both theory and practice by offering design recommendations for OKR adoption in complex engineering organizations and identifies areas for future research, including the integration of OKRs with sustainability metrics and long-term strategic planning.