Deepwater in Deep Trouble

1. What type(s) of control—feedforward, concurrent, or feedback—do you think would have been most useful in i n this situation? Eplain your choice(s). !eedforward control control would have been the most useful type of control in this situation. "he #eepwater $ori%on accident had massive implications for the health of workers and nearby residents, the economy, and the environment. &' had a responsibility to take the potential daners of their drillin operation seriously and plan for potential problems. "here should have been backup protections to prevent accidents like the one that occurred. t the very least they should have practiced concurrent control. t the *rst sins of a problem they should have taken whatever actions were necessary to prevent the type of disaster that occurred. +. sin Ehibit 1-+, eplain what &' could have done better. better. !irst the company needed to measure me asure their actual performance. "hey needed to look at their practices and analy%e the data that they were receivin from enineers on the site to determine whether or not the work was bein completed in the proper manner the eternal reulations set by overnin bodies for oil drillin operation. When issues were discovered they needed to be taken seriously by people at all levels of the company and appropriate action needed to be taken to prevent the eplosion which endanered both &' empl oyees and residents in the area. /anaement needed to act 0uickly and in whatever manner was necessary to prevent the identi*ed problems from escalatin. . Why do you think company employees inored the red 2as? $ow could such behavior be chaned in the future?  "here are likely likely multiple reasons. 3t sounds as if the company company was puttin pressure on those involved in the pro4ect to complete it 0uickly reardless of any issues that may arise so that they could ain the upper hand on their competitors. #ue to the obsession with competitive advantae and pro*t, the company failed to foster a culture that placed any value on safety and environmental issues. 5ome of the enineers brouht these issues to li ht but they were routinely inored by manaement. "his creates an atmosphere discouraes employees from identifyin problems. 6. What could other orani%ations learn from &'7s mistakes? 8rani%ations should use this disaster as a reminder that puttin pro*t before safety can cost far more in the lon term. &' is now sub4ect to billions of dollars

in *nes due to their nelience. 8ther orani%ations should also use this as a lesson that cultural values are fostered by upper manaement. 3f upper

 manaement inores safety violations, ethical breaches, and other issues these issues will also be inored by lower level employees. "here is no incentive for employees to uphold hih standards of work if upper manaement does not value the same. &aae &lunders 1. What type of control—feedforward, concurrent, or feedback—do you think would be most important in this situation? Eplain your choice.

5tudents should reali%e that all three types of control are necessary. sk to ive eamples of how each type of control could have been implemented in the buildin and test of the &ritish irways terminal. +. $ow miht immediate corrective action have been used in this situation? $ow about basic corrective action?

3mmediate corrective action could have been used in this situation to avoid further damae to consumer con*dence in the new terminal and &ritish irways. While reulations would prevent actions such as the passeners carryin their luae to the terminal, reater communication between the terminal sta9 and customers would have elevated some of the stress and delays from occurrin. . :ould &ritish irways7 controls have been more e9ective? $ow?

ny pro4ect of this scale is bound to have some problems. 3t would be unrealistic to have all of the elements workin perfectly on the *rst day and issues like the broken hand dryers are an everyday occurrence. !rom the last pararaph in the case, students will see that &ritish irways did attempt to test the terminal. 8ne area that miht have been improved by more e9ective control mechanisms was the trainin of terminal personnel.

6. What role would information controls play in this situation? :ustomer interaction controls? &enchmarkin?

:onsiderin the bene*ts of benchmarkin, a ood eample of how not to implement a baae transportation system can be found at #enver 3nternational irport. "he automated baae system implemented in 1;;< at an initial cost of 1-= million rew by >1 million per day durin months of modi*cations and repairs. 8ver the years, the system never worked well, and in uust +<, the airport eventually abandoned the system.