Systems Thinking Application in Project Management: Deepwater Case

This essay examines the application of systems thinking within project management, using the Deepwater Horizon oil spill as a case study. It discusses general systems management, organizational structures, engineering risk, portfolio alignment, business value, portfolio management process cycles, and organizational maturity. The essay highlights how systems thinking tools and techniques could have aided project managers in preventing the Deepwater Horizon disaster by addressing failures in communication, risk assessment, and overall management. It emphasizes the importance of a holistic approach to project management, considering both technical and organizational factors to ensure project success and prevent catastrophic failures. The discussion also underscores the significance of organizational maturity and ethical considerations in project execution.

Running head: PROJECT MANAGEMENT
PROJECT MANAGEMENT
Name of the Student:
Name of the University:
Author Note:

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Table of Contents
Introduction......................................................................................................................................2
Discussion........................................................................................................................................2
System regarding the general management:....................................................................................3
Impact of the organizational structure, culture and forms:..............................................................3
Risk associated with the engineering system and the management:..............................................4
Value of the business:......................................................................................................................6
Life cycle of the portfolio management:.........................................................................................6
Maturity of the organization:...........................................................................................................6
Significance of the discussion:........................................................................................................7
Conclusion.......................................................................................................................................8
References........................................................................................................................................9

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Introduction
The project and portfolio management is important for managing the project management
process. Both the project and portfolio management is related to the project management
process. However, there are some difference between the project and the portfolio management.
The project management represents the managing of the processes between a project (Kerzner &
Kerzner,2017). On the other hand the portfolio management represents the managing of the
various projects in the organization (JOSEPH et al.,2018). There are various methodologies and
the tools useful for the managing of the process in the project management. The use and the
selection of the methodologies are dependent on the type of the project. There are certain tools
associated with the project management process. Some of these processes are referred as the
system thinking tools (Mir & Pinnington,2014). The system engineering and the system thinking
tools are responsible for the accurate compilation of the project. The main objective of this paper
is to discuss the general management system along with the risks associated with the engineering
management and the and portfolio management. The paper also discusses about the advantages
and certain challenges in the management of the whole process. The discussion has been done
on the context of the oip spill incident of the Deep water horizon case.
Discussion
The discussion regarding the different aspects of the management of the projects and the
portfolio management has done on the basis of the Deep water horizon oil spill case. Before the
discussion of the different aspect of the project management, the basis of the general
management is needed to be discussed.

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System regarding the general management: The general management process defines
the managing of the necessary steps used for the successful compilation of the project
management. The main objective of this project management system is to develop the project in
a certain way that it can serve the right outcome that will meet all the requirements of the clients
(Fleming & Koppelman, 2016). There are three aspects of the general management system-plan,
do and check. The right management process is responsible for the right outcome of the project
along with then successful compilation of the project.
The importance of the general management system can be classified with respect to the
deep water horizon oil spill case. The disaster can be classified as the mismanagement of the
organization. The main cause of the incident was the defect in the cement wall . The onshore
engineers were aware about the critical condition, however they did not inform the higher
authority of the organization. This represent there was the lack of the communication between
the organizational hierarchy.
However, there were certain there flaws in the management system that were the indirect
causes of the incident. These factors were the cutting of the cost in the organization , improper
government policies. The whole incident was the result of the improper management and
negligence of the system.
Impact of the organizational structure, culture and forms: The impact of the culture
of the organization and structure of the organization is also responsible for the effectiveness of
the management of the process. The organizational hierarchy indicates the effectiveness of the
flow of the communication in the organization. In case, if the organization structure is not
proper, the employees will not be able to communicate with the higher authority (Kucharska &

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Kowalczyk, 2016). In that case, the management of the organization will not be able to get the
information about the problems and the workings of the employees (Harrison & Lock,2017). In
case if the organization has the hierarchy of the management which can be approached easily, in
that case the workers can reach the management to tell about the problems and concerns
regarding the organization (Martinsuo & Hoverfält, 2018). The management in that case can take
necessary steps to mitigate the problems and improvise the current system. This will help in the
growth of the organization.
On the other hand the culture of the organization is also important for maintaining the
growth and the process management. The ideal working culture of the organization should
inspire the workers to work in such a way that will enhance the sustainable development of the
organization.
In case of the deep water horizon oil spill case, there was the lack of the communication
along with that there hierarchy of the organization was not approachable for the employees. In
was the reason, for that the engineers at the onshore did not communicate with the higher
authority about the lack of safety and the dispute in the infrastructure (Binder, 2016). This
indicates that there was the lack of the communication in the organization on the other hand the
working culture of the organization was not well enough to manage the entire process. Apart
from that the company had decided to cut the cost of the maintaining the process in the
organization. Which indicates the lack of the management process in the organization.
Risk associated with the engineering system and the management: There can be
various kind of the risks associated with the engineering system and the project management
(Schwalbe, 2015). The risk can be of different types. Some of the risks associated with

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engineering system are the failure of the delivery of the project in the tome, the over flowing of
the estimated budget (Hornstein, 2015). One of the main risk associated with the project
management and the system engineering is the presence of the scope creep. The scope creep of
the system defines the change in the requirements at the middle of the execution of the project
(Bucero & Englund, 2015). The scope creep in the project can be eliminated if the project
management life cycle can be maintained. At the initial stage of the project management the
requirement gathering and the documentation process is done. The gathering of the right
requirement from the client help to reduce the chances of the scope creep.
Another risk associated with the project management is the safety issue. In case of the
deep water horizon the safety of the system is not maintained in a proper way. There was the
lack of the communication in the whole process and the organization along with the government
policies did not provide enough concern about maintaining the safety of the whole system.
Management of the portfolio: Portfolio management id slightly different form the project
management, as the portfolio management refers to the managing of the diverse projects under
one portfolio management., while the project management refers to the managing of the
processes related to the projects.
The large organizations have different operations to be carried out for the different
purpose. Managing all the diverse tasks or the projects under one organization can be achieved
through the application of the portfolio management.
In case of the deep water horizon oil spill case, the management of the various functions
in the organization were not managed in a proper way (Serra & Kunc,2015). In that case it can
be said the management of the portfolio has not been done in a proper way. In case, if the

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portfolio management of the respective organization could have done in a proper way, the
incident would not happen.
Value of the business: While giving services to the consumers the organization should
try to provide the value driven service to the clients and the stakeholders of the organizations.
The value driven service indicates that the service is meeting all the requirements of the
consumers apart form that the service provided by the organization will help in the sustainable
development of the clients na dthe stake holders.
In the case of the deep water horizon the BP did not provide the value driven services.
The incident happened in the organization did a lot of destruction of the resources and cause the
injury of the human being.
Life cycle of the portfolio management: The portfolio management has the five stages
in the life cycle process- establish, evaluate, setting the priority of the projects, selection of the
projects and management of the projects. Establishment phase is concerned about the
establishment of the objective for the portfolio management (Todorović et al.,2015). The
evaluation phase is concerned with the evaluation of the possibilities of the portfolio
management. The next step is the setting priority of the project which gives the priority of the
projects according to their importance. The management of the projects is concerned about the
managing of the stages of the life cycle of the projects.
Maturity of the organization: The maturity of the organization denotes that the
organization is well versed with the business process and the business situation along with the
doing of the business things. It can be assumed that the organizations and the larger enterprise
have the organizational maturity in doing the business (Nicholas & Steyn,2017). These

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enterprises are well aware about the market situations and make their strategy according to the
business conditions. On the other hand the business with a few years of the history cannot be
regarded as matured enough in the business as they are not well aware about the market situation
. In case of these types of the companies the strategy should be taken carefully.
The BP in the case study was a well established company, and the expectation from such
company was high (Riol & Thuillier,2015). It can be assumed that the business experts will
expect the more matured way of handling the business by the BP. However, they had failed to
meet the expectation level, which was not desirable.
Significance of the discussion: This discussion points out the different aspects of the
project management methodologies along with the difference between the project and the
portfolio management (Kaiser, El Arbi & Ahlemann, F2015). The discussion indirectly also
points out the importance of the system thinking tools and the system engineering in the
organization. The significance of the each aspects of the project management has been stated
from the point of the view from the deep water horizon case. The case study regarding the deep
water horizon case indicate sthe importance of the project and the portfolio management along
with the relevance of the other system thinking tools in the organization. In the context of the
business management the organizational maturity has been discussed. It has been found from the
discussion that it can be expected from the organization which is matured that is well versed with
the business situations and the market conditions to prepare the better project management plans
in order to manage the business more effectively.

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The result of the absence of the project management has been seen in the deep water
horizon. The absence of the project management causes the flaw in the communication in the
business process and mismanagement of the business processes.
Conclusion
It can be concluded from the above discussion that the project management and the
methodologies are the important aspects of the organization of the project and managing the
business process of the organization. On the other hand the absence of the of the project
management methodologies will lead to the mismanagement of the organizations and the lack of
the flow of the communication in the business organization. In this context the example of the
deep water horizon can be taken into account. The example of the deep water horizon shows that
the absence of the business process and the improper portfolio management in the organization
will lead to the malfunction of the business processes. The implementation of the right project
management methodology can help a business to carry out the business process in a tight way
and helps to expand the business of the organization.

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References
Binder, J. (2016). Global project management: communication, collaboration and management
across borders. Routledge.
Bucero, A., & Englund, R. L. (2015, October). Project sponsorship: Achieving management
commitment for project success. Project Management Institute.
Fleming, Q. W., & Koppelman, J. M. (2016, December). Earned value project management.
Project Management Institute.
Harrison, F., & Lock, D. (2017). Advanced project management: a structured approach.
Routledge.
Hornstein, H. A. (2015). The integration of project management and organizational change
management is now a necessity. International Journal of Project Management, 33(2),
291-298.
JOSEPH. PHILLIPS, P. M. P., CBAP, I., & PMP, C. (2018). PMP PROJECT MANAGEMENT
PROFESSIONAL STUDY GUIDE. McGraw-Hill Education.
Kaiser, M. G., El Arbi, F., & Ahlemann, F. (2015). Successful project portfolio management
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Kerzner, H., & Kerzner, H. R. (2017). Project management: a systems approach to planning,
scheduling, and controlling. John Wiley & Sons.
Kucharska, W., & Kowalczyk, R. (2016). Trust, Collaborative Culture and Tacit Knowledge
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Martinsuo, M., & Hoverfält, P. (2018). Change program management: Toward a capability for
managing value-oriented, integrated multi-project change in its context. International
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