Managing Complex Projects: DeepWater Horizon Oil Spill

This article discusses the management of complex projects using the DeepWater Horizon oil spill as a case study. It explores the lack of communication, risk management, and safety measures that led to the disaster.

Running head: DEEPWATER HORIZON OILSPILL
DEEPWATER HORIZON OILSPILL
Name of the Student:
Name of the University:\
Author Note:

1DEEPWATER HORIZON OILSPILL
Introduction
DeepWater Horizon oil spill is a well-known disaster that can be defined as the failure of
the project. There are many stakeholders involved in the project and the rig was owned by R&B
at the Gulf of Mexico. It has been seen that the proper investments were made for the
development of this moil plat initiated and maintained by BP. However, there was lack of
communication and the management of the risk that led to the disaster.
The base of the cement was not in the proper condition. The condition of the cement base
was known to the engineers at site. However, they did not mentioned this issue to the higher
authority. In 2010 this oil spill disaster occurred. BP faced the large amount of loss. Apart from
that this disaster had negative effect on the ecology and the ocean. Post incident investigation
took place regarding this incident (Alam, 2017). During the investigation phase, different
stakeholders were complaining about each other regarding the responsibility of the disaster
(Rosemann & vom Brocke, 2015). The objective of the paper is to understand the project aspect
of the DeepWater Horizon disaster. Apart from that the incident has been discussed from the
different perspective. The conclusion is made on the basis of the factors found in the discussion.
Discussion
Review of the components and theories:
8 feature model:
8 Features model is the model regarding the quality control of the project. Through this
model the eight parameters needed to maintain the quality is described. The quality of the
functionalities of the DeepWater Horizon can evaluated through this 8 Features model.
1. Performance: The performance of the project is the main attribute regarding the quality of
the project. In this case, it has been seen the performance of the Dep Water Horizon oil
center was going well and accordingly (Handley et al., 2017). The quality and the
performance of the products and services from this site was in the proper way.
2. Features: Features can be defined by the additional characteristics needed for the further
improvement of the project. In this case the additional features will include the safety and
the security at the working place (Channon & Caldart, 2015). Apart from that proper
communication with the management and the maintenance programs which were not
present in a proper way for the DeepWater Horizon.
3. Reliability: Reliability of the product indicates that the project will not fail within a
certain time frame. Apart from that the solution will serve all the purpose of the
requirements. In the DeepWater Horizon, it has been seen that the main purpose of the oil
plant was serves in a right way (Hussain et al., 2018). However, there are other factors
those were concerned about this service like safety and the coordination between the
people and the employees were not present. In this case, it can be said that the system at
Deep Water horizon was partially reliable.
4. Conformance: Conformation can be regarded as precision between which the project will
meet all the requirements. The DeepWater Horizon was conducted through a controlled
environment (Oedewald & Gotcheva, 2015). It has been seen that there are lots of the
complex functionalities related to each other in this project. However, the basic
requirements were full filled by the DeepWater Horizon for certain period that defines
the time period before the incident of oil spill occurred.

2DEEPWATER HORIZON OILSPILL
5. Durability: durability measures the length of the project life cycle. This indicates the
duration regarding the effectiveness of the services delivered by the project. It has been
seen that the services of the rig at Gulf of Mexico was serving in a proper way (Mullin et
al., 2017). However, there was an issue regarding the maintenance of the infrastructure,
but still DeepWater Horizon was fulfilling the purpose of the project.
6. Serviceability: Serviceability denotes the time frame within which the project can deliver
the desired services. It has been seen that the implementation of the DeepWater Horizon
project was initiated in a proper way (Cordes e al., 2016). However, though the
implementation was right, the maintenance was not done in a proper way. This incident
denotes the importance of monitoring of the project during the service time.
7. Aesthetics: This is the measure that defines the individual response of the people
regarding the services produced by the project. In case of Deep Water Horizon, it has
been seen that all the stakeholders involved in the project were benefitted and thus they
have the positive over view regarding the service (Awino, Njeru & Adwet, 2017).
However, after the oil spill disaster, the environment was largely affected which causes
the negative impact on the goodwill of BP.
8. Perceived quality: It is the quality that can be measured indirectly through the services of
the project. It can be said that before the oil spill incident the perceived quality of the
DeepWater horizon was better (Zincir & Tunç, 2017). However, after the disaster the
lack of management of the risks and coordination contradicts the perceived quality of the
Deep Water horizon along with BP.
Implementation of the complex project:
The implementation of the complex project management involves different functions like
knowledge management or the management of the risks (Cox, Pinfield & Rutter, 2018). Apart
from that when a complex project is started to be implemented, most of the cases, there is a need
of the change in the management or the organization. In order to mitigate the issues regarding the
change the change management process can be generated for managing the complex project in
the organization.
Change management process:
Change management process is concerned about the disruptions happened in the
organization or the project. It has been seen during the implementation of the complex project,
there are certain modifications needed in the organization (Aldairi, Khan & Munive-Hernandez,
2015). However, most of the employees and the stakeholders in the organization opposed to the
change due to the future uncertainty (Mills & Koliba, 2015). The change management process in
involved with managing the uncertainty in future regarding the implementation of the project.
There are various models for managing the changes in the organization. Some of these models
are – Lewin’s change management model and McKinney’s 7 S model. The use of the change
management process could have done for the DeepWater horizon rig in order to implement better
risk management process.
Lewin’s change management model: It is one of the effective models for managing the
changes in the organization. There are certain components or the functions for managing the
change through this model.
Unfreeze: this step involves with the preparation in change. This can be considered as the
first stage for managing the changes in the complex project management. While the development

3DEEPWATER HORIZON OILSPILL
of the complex project, the changes needed to be made are decided at first stage which is defined
by the Unfreeze stage. In case of DeepWater Horizon, if certain changes like the monitoring
process of the engineers can be changed there must be a chance that employees could have
protest. Through the phase, the authority could make the engineers understand regarding the
importance of the proper checking.
Change: In this phase, the execution of the change take place. This is a transactional
phase where the people will embrace the new things due to the change (Roach et al., 2016). In
this stage the need for the good leadership is requires who will lead the organization for the
implementation of the positive change (Ziemkiewicz et al., 2016). If the unfreezing process
could have done in a proper way for the DeepWater Horizon, the routine of the engineers can be
changed and the proper maintenance of the cement base could have achieved.
Refreeze: The stabilization after the implementation of the change is known as refreeze.
After the organization has accepted the certain changes, the time comes when the acceptance of
the change is done by the employees of the organization and the organization is going towards a
stabilized phase.
McKinney’s 7s model:
There are seven stages involved in this model. The main attribute of this model is that it
helps to get the deep insight of the organization (Kleindienst et al., 2016). Apart from that this
model merges the emotional and the practical components regarding the changes in the
organization. The seven components of this model are-
Strategy: The strategy is regarding the blueprint for the organization in order to reach to
the certain goal. Before the implementation of the change, proper strategy is needed to be made
regarding the managing of the changes in the organization. In this case, it can be said that the
strategy for the management of the planning and the risks were not done in a proper way for
DeepWater Horizon.
Structure: The structure denotes the organizational hierarchy of the organization. Getting
the clear picture of the hierarchy is important for the conduction of the change. For the
DeepWater Horizon, it has been seen that proper hierarchy has not been maintained as the
engineers were aware about the improper condition of the cement base, however, they did not
mention this issue to the management.
Systems: In order to get the work done, day to day activities are monitored by the
systems. For the DeepWater Horizon the systems are not maintained in a proper way.
Shared values: shared values are needed to be concerned as it is related to the
organization function. Each organization has different values those are needed to be maintained
during the implementation of the change. The shared values after the incident of the DeepWater
Horizon has put negative impact on BP along with the other stakeholders managing the
operations at rig.
Style: The style denotes the leadership style of the organization during the
implementation of the change. It has been seen that the leadership style is important during the
changes occur in the organization (Harmon, 2019). Proper leadership style will help the
organization to go towards a positive change. The leadership style in this case has not been

4DEEPWATER HORIZON OILSPILL
maintained in a proper way. After the incident happened, instead of recovering the damage,
during the investigation phase all the primary stakeholders are complaining about each other for
the occurring of the incident.
Staff: The staffs are the workforces or the employees of the organization. It has been seen
that managing the staffs during the change is an important process. It has been seen that in most
cases, workforce of the organizations are opposing the change due to the uncertainty (Gökdeniz,
Kartal & Kömürcü, 2017). In this case, they are needed to be understood about the significance
of the change in the organization. As, no change had taken place in the organization the staffs
and the employees in the DeepWater Horizon were doing their work in usual manner.
Skills: The competencies as well as the skills are needed for the employees in order to
adopt the change in the organization in a positive way (Kassinis & Panayiotou, 2018). In case, if
the employees are unaware about the new system due to the change proper training can be
arranged by the organization for the employees so that they can update their skills.
The change in the management process could have done better for the Deep Water
Horizon rig. Application of both the change model have reflected that there was lack in the
management of the DeepWater Horizon and there were chances and the scopes for the positive
changes in the organization. However, those changes were not implemented in system.
Managing the unexpected:
Managing the unexpected is one of the issues regarding the managing of the complex
project. Deep water horizon project can be considered as the complex project as the outcome of
the project in not known and there are different functionalities involved in the project. Regarding
this the managing of the changes is not done in a proper way for this project. It has been seen
there was a lack of quick response for the mitigation of the risks (Sholarin & Awange, 2016).
Apart from that there was communication gap between the engineers and the management for the
Deep Water horizon. For managing the unexpected outcome of the project, proper risk
management and the risk mitigation plan are needed to be prepared.
Conclusion
The discussion is regarding managing the complex projects in the organization. In this
context, the case study of the DeepWater horizon has been taken. Deep Water horizon has the
attributes that makes it a complex project. It has been seen that there was lack of communication
between the engineers and ten managers of the project. Apart from that no security measures
were taken in a proper way and there was lack of proper risk management planning. In this
context, the different aspects of the DeepWater horizon project indicates that managing the
complex project should follow certain steps and the processes. Apart from that the proper risk
management and the quick response process are needed to be implemented for the unexpected
outcome. It can be concluded from the discussion that the incident of the DeepWater Horizon
occurred due to the negligence and the lack of monitoring from the organization’s end. However,
certain measures regarding the change management and the implementation of the proper safety
rule in the organization can mitigate the occurring of these kind of incidents.

5DEEPWATER HORIZON OILSPILL
Bibliography
Alam, P. A. (2017). Measuring Organizational Effectiveness through Performance Management
System and Mckinsey's 7 S Model. Asian Journal of Management, 8(4), 1280-1286.
Aldairi, J., Khan, M., & Munive-Hernandez, J. (2015). A conceptual model for a hybrid
knowledgebased lean six sigma maintenance system for sustainable buildings.
In Proceedings of the World Congress on Engineering (Vol. 2).
Awino, Z. B., Njeru, W. G., & Adwet, K. (2017). Strategy Implementation: Mckinsey’s 7s
Framework Configuration And Performance Of Large Supermarkets In Nairobi,
Kenya. Archives of Business Research, 5(6).
Channon, D. F., & Caldart, A. A. (2015). McKinsey 7S model. Wiley encyclopedia of
management, 1-1
Cordes, E. E., Jones, D. O., Schlacher, T. A., Amon, D. J., Bernardino, A. F., Brooke, S., ... &
Gates, A. R. (2016). Environmental impacts of the deep-water oil and gas industry: a
review to guide management strategies. Frontiers in Environmental Science, 4, 58.
Cox, A. M., Pinfield, S., & Rutter, S. (2018). Extending McKinsey’s 7S model to understand
strategic alignment in academic libraries. Library Management.
Gökdeniz, I., Kartal, C., & Kömürcü, K. (2017). Strategic assessment based on 7S McKinsey
model for a business by using analytic network process (ANP). International Journal of
Academic Research in Business and Social Sciences, 7(6), 2222-6990.
Handley, K. M., Piceno, Y. M., Hu, P., Tom, L. M., Mason, O. U., Andersen, G. L., ... & Gilbert,
J. A. (2017). Metabolic and spatio-taxonomic response of uncultivated seafloor bacteria
following the Deepwater Horizon oil spill. The ISME journal, 11(11), 2569.
Harmon, P. (2019). Business process change: a business process management guide for
managers and process professionals. Morgan Kaufmann.
Hussain, S. T., Lei, S., Akram, T., Haider, M. J., Hussain, S. H., & Ali, M. (2018). Kurt Lewin's
change model: A critical review of the role of leadership and employee involvement in
organizational change. Journal of Innovation & Knowledge, 3(3), 123-127.
Kassinis, G., & Panayiotou, A. (2018). Visuality as greenwashing: The case of BP and
Deepwater Horizon. Organization & Environment, 31(1), 25-47.
Kleindienst, S., Grim, S., Sogin, M., Bracco, A., Crespo-Medina, M., & Joye, S. B. (2016).
Diverse, rare microbial taxa responded to the Deepwater Horizon deep-sea hydrocarbon
plume. The ISME journal, 10(2), 400.
Mills, R. W., & Koliba, C. J. (2015). The challenge of accountability in complex regulatory
networks: The case of the Deepwater Horizon oil spill. Regulation & Governance, 9(1),
77-91.
Mullin, K. D., McDonald, T., Wells, R. S., Balmer, B. C., Speakman, T., Sinclair, C., ... &
Schwacke, L. H. (2017). Density, abundance, survival, and ranging patterns of common

6DEEPWATER HORIZON OILSPILL
bottlenose dolphins (Tursiops truncatus) in Mississippi Sound following the Deepwater
Horizon oil spill. PloS one, 12(10), e0186265.
Oedewald, P., & Gotcheva, N. (2015). Safety culture and subcontractor network governance in a
complex safety critical project. Reliability Engineering & System Safety, 141, 106-114.
Roach, T., Kapelan, Z., Ledbetter, R., & Ledbetter, M. (2016). Comparison of robust
optimization and info-gap methods for water resource management under deep
uncertainty. Journal of Water Resources Planning and Management, 142(9), 04016028.
Rosemann, M., & vom Brocke, J. (2015). The six core elements of business process
management. In Handbook on business process management 1 (pp. 105-122). Springer,
Berlin, Heidelberg.
Sholarin, E. A., & Awange, J. L. (2016). Environmental Project Management: Principles,
Methodology, and Processes. Springer.
Ziemkiewicz, P., Stauffer, P. H., Sullivan-Graham, J., Chu, S. P., Bourcier, W. L., Buscheck, T.
A., ... & Song, L. (2016). Opportunities for increasing CO2 storage in deep, saline
formations by active reservoir management and treatment of extracted formation water:
Case study at the GreenGen IGCC facility, Tianjin, PR China. International Journal of
Greenhouse Gas Control, 54, 538-556
Zincir, O., & Tunç, A. Ö. (2017). An Imagination of Organizations in the Future: Rethinking
McKinsey's 7S Model. In Strategic Imperatives and Core Competencies in the Era of
Robotics and Artificial Intelligence (pp. 101-125). IGI Global.

7DEEPWATER HORIZON OILSPILL
Appendix
Project for learning
Deepwater Horizon is a well-known disaster occurred at Gulf of Mexico. The four decks
were held on the huge while cement column. The main functioning of the DeepWater Horizon
was to store the oil. The plat was maintained by British Petroleum (BP). The four while cement
column were responsible for storage of the oil. However, there were certain maintenance needed
for the maintenance of those cement walls. From the importance and the significance of the
project, it can be said that managing the Deep water Horizon was a complex project as it had
many processes involved.
The resources were the natural has and the oil. Under the cement wall the oil was stored.
During the night of the incident, the natural gas busted into the cement wall, causing the disaster.
The infrastructure used for the cement wall was developed through the emerging technology.
The storage of the oil was done in a proper way. However, it has been seen that without the
proper maintenance the incident took place.
With the perspective of the infrastructure used for maintain this oil plant and the
investment made by the BP it is expected that this kind of project will help to increase the
business perspective. Apart from that the security and the safety were the concerned thing for
this oil plat. It can be said that from this type of projects, the proper safety and the security along
with the proper functioning is expected. The investment made on this project and the
infrastructure used for the implementation of this power plant should ensure that the functioning
of the oil plat will deliver the right outcome along with maintain the proper safety and the
security of the oil plant and the life of the people working at the plat.
However, in the reality, it has been seen that the outcome of the DeepWater Horizon was
a disaster. The cement base for the storage of the oil was not in the proper shape. This led to the
disaster. This indicates through proper investment were done to ensure the safety, there was a
lack of maintenance at the plant.
The whole situation is evaluated it can be seen that there was a huge difference between
the real and the expected outcome. It is expected form the project initiated by BP that the
functioning of the plant will be implemented in a proper way. Apart from that the safety and the
security during the working hours will be maintained for the employees and the engineers at the
plant. However, it has been seen that there was a communication gap between the management
and the engineers in the organization. This led the poor condition of the cement wall unnoticed.
This lack of communication brought the disaster which is the opposite outcome of the expected
result.
DeepWater Horizon project was initiated by Transocean and the rig was commissioned
by R&B Falcon. The main reason for the initiation of the project is to dig the oil from the deep
sea ground and refinement of the oil. The whole process was observed and monitored by the BP.
There are many stakeholders involved in the project. The stakeholders are the entities or
the individuals who are directly or indirectly involved with the project. The primary stakeholders
of the project are the rig workers along with their family who have directed effected by the

8DEEPWATER HORIZON OILSPILL
incident. The business partners who have initiated the project- Transocean, Halliburton and
Cameron also included in the list of the primary stakeholders. Apart from that the USA
government is also defined as the stakeholder in this case. Apart from that the industry partners
of this oil center Exxon Mobil, Chevron can also be included in the list of the primary
stakeholders. Apart from that BP customers are also the primary stakeholders of this project.
The secondary stakeholders for this project includes the different ecological
organizations, the residents of the gulf coast, fisherman and the owners of the boat, American
Petroleum Institution along with the general people and press.