Managing Complex Projects: DeepWater Horizon Oil Spill

Running head: DEEPWATER HORIZON OILSPILL
DEEPWATER HORIZON OILSPILL
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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