Discuss the following:
Scenario:
In Practice POOR DECISIONS AT BP The explosion of leaking gas at BP's Deepwater Horizon oil rig caused II deaths worst-ever oil spill off the shores of the United States. Even before the oil leak and the tained, questions were about what kinds of decisions and actions led to this catas- trophe. The answers have been complex and not always consistent. However they illustrate significant bamiers to effective decision making suggest that the disaster arose from a u Initial investigations and a later report by BP of poor decisions. On the final day of the rigs operation, employees w feeling intense and cost pressure. The well posed a series of problems that were driving the time schedule and over the well finally drilled drilling behind budget and lined with cement to prevent gas from escaping and causing an explosion, it was ready for testing. On the day of the test. BP engineers decided to modify the typical testine procedures. Crew members who were to implement the procedure weren't clear about the rationale, but they went ahead. The test results were mixed, so workers consulted man. agers on the rig. Those managers divided their time between trying to make sense of the results and giving a tour to a delegation of managers from the rigs owner, Transocean. They decided the well was OK Transocean workers who were monitoring the well then missed further indications of trouble. Gas escaped from the well. and attempts to trigger a blowout preventer failed. A report by the presidential commission charged with investigating the spill found that all the companies involved in the project failed to evaluate risks and communicate problems adequately. The commission's report implied that the disaster was th ult of a flawed sys tem, not a unique set of decisions. In fact, the trend toward more deepwater drilling has been making drilling operations more complex, and the rate of drilling spilis has been rising n recent years.
Q: What barmers to effective decision making can you identify in this situation?