Systems Engineering and Deepwater Horizon Oil Spill Incident

Systems Engineering–Systems Life
Cycle Processes
BP Deepwater Horizon Oil Spill and Offshore Drilling

Table of Contents
Introduction................................................................................................................................3
Body...........................................................................................................................................3
General systems management................................................................................................3
Organisational structures, forms and culture.........................................................................4
Engineering risk.....................................................................................................................5
Risk management...................................................................................................................5
Portfolio alignment.................................................................................................................6
Business value........................................................................................................................7
Portfolio management process cycle......................................................................................7
Organisational maturity..........................................................................................................8
Tools and techniques of system thinking...............................................................................8
Conclusion..................................................................................................................................9
References..................................................................................................................................9

Introduction
Systems engineering can be described as an interdisciplinary approach which enables the life
cycle of service, enterprise and product systems. In includes the formulation and discovery of
the problem, realization and definition of the solution, sustainment, operational use as well as
disposal (Pickel, 2008). The Deepwater Horizon oil spill incident, which is also known as
Gulf of Mexico oil spill, took place on April 20, 2010. It is considered to be one of the largest
marine oil spills in the world’s history. The explosion took place on the Deepwater Horizon
oil rig in the Gulf of Mexico. The Deepwater Horizon rig was leased by the oil company BP
(Pallardy, 2018). The essay will give an account of the information related to the oil spillage
case and analyse the factors responsible for it. The essay helps in the identification of the
tools and techniques associated with the systems thinking and their relevance to any project
as well as organization. The essay will argue that the incidents like this are a result of the
ignorance or improperly developed management systems. In the end, it will also provide a
few recommendations which can help in the prevention of such incidents and ensure proper
management of the systems and operations in the organizations.
Body
General systems management
The general systems management is based on an approach which treats an organization as a
system. The general systems theory offers with several opportunities to the management of
any organization to manage the systems as well as processes in the organization. The theory
was created by Karl Ludwig in the year 1934 and since then, the business organizations have
been working on this theory to organize their structure, cultures and forms (Targowski,
2010). There are two types of systems – the open systems which interact freely with the
environment through their inputs, throughputs and outputs; and the closed systems where the

organization are not associated with the external environment which is extremely rare.
According to Kast and Rosenzweig (2017), this theory has given rise to the development of a
number of management and organization theories, which has also created certain unresolved
dilemmas. According to them, the organizational theory must be foundation for the effective
management practice in the organization (Kast & Rosenzweig, 2017).
In BP, the operating management system (OMS) is based on leadership of the operating
leaders which ideally need to be competent and showcase the systematic and purposeful
leadership. But in real, the managers of the company were always at conflict with each other
and there was also a debate related to the accountability of the critical decision making
(National Commission , 2011).
Organisational structures, forms and culture
The general systems theory has wide implication in the development and designing of the
structure, culture and form of the organization. The systems illustrate the organization in the
form of open systems which has to exist in an external environment and is affected by it in
almost every organizational operation. Most of the organizations tend to organize their
structure as per the traditional hierarchical structure which begins at the top where the CEO
of the company passes the orders for the employees at the lower layers of the organizational
structure. The systems theory allows the organizations to create an organizational structure as
per their demand (Clawson, 2008). The theory promotes a matrix of the subsystems where the
organization is divided into certain departments and each department has its own boss and
sub-structure, for instance, development of separate departments for operations, technical,
manufacturing, accounting and such others. These departments need to be interrelated and
communicate effectively with each other. This system promotes the setting of multiple
strategic goals and transforms its operations effectively. This fact has been confirmed by
Cohen as well. He studied the role of systems thinking in the organizational culture studies.