Maintaining high-quality performance represents one of the essential goals within an organization. However, the process of identifying key risks and mitigating them respectively so that errors and defects could be avoided is a barely unmanageable task unless a proper quality management framework is introduced into the organizational environment. This paper analyzes “What can go wrong, will go wrong: Deepwater Horizon,” which addresses the case of Deepwater Horizon, a company that has suffered a major disaster as a result of poor decision-making and quality planning. The article was selected since it proves the significance of a robust quality management framework, preferably, the TQM one, and the presence of effective control tools.
Though being rather tragic, the case under analysis provides a sufficient range of information for further analysis and identification of strategies that will allow mitigating similar scenarios in the future. When considering the issue of Deepwater Horizon closer, one will notice two key details leaping out of the narrative. First and most obvious is the lack of any consistent reporting system that could have helped manage the problem at its very onset and, thus, save lives (Freeman, 2018). Indeed, the absence of an effective communication framework and a corresponding approach for reporting issues in the workplace setting is quite glaring in the described scenario. Therefore, the case of Deepwater Horizon serves as a cautionary tale about the tremendous importance of installing and properly navigating an efficient communication and reporting framework.
The case at hand provides a plethora of learning material, particularly, in relation to the management of performance quality. Another crucial management principle that was violated in the case under analysis, which has led to the following development of a problem and the emergence of a catastrophe is the attempt to replace high-quality expensive tools with cheaper substitutes. Indeed, according to the case study, ta substantial factor in the maintenance of safety was sacrificed for the attempt to increase the speed of core production processes (Freeman, 2018). Thus, the case at hand demonstrates the significance of allocating costs properly and ensuring that safety issues should never be the subject of a cost-saving endeavor. Specifically, Deepwater Horizon should have introduced a fiscal policy that could have allowed minimizing costs for less important concerns and, instead, investing into the reinforcement of team members’ safety.
However, delving further into the issue observed at Deepwater Horizon, one should acknowledge that the observed concerns represent only the surface of the root causes that have led to the disaster critically, delving further into the case will reveal that the lack of an effective leadership framework that would promote the relevant values and principles for ethical decision-making has led to the concern at hand. Specifically, with the integration of the leadership principles that would encourage staff members to accept the required responsibilities, particularly, in regard to decision-making and the associated tasks, the company could have voided the specified controversy and the resulting disaster. Therefore, the case at hand illustrates the significance of introducing a proper leadership framework along with rigid quality management standards and ethical decision-making that allow managers to maintain a co0mpany-oriented decision-making framework. With the specified focus in mind, the observed problem could have been avoided or, at the very least, mitigated at the earliest stages possible.
With an effective quality management and disaster prevention framework as the products of effective leadership and ethical decision-making, Deepwater Horizon would have avoided the disaster that it has had to witness. Thus, the case at hand proves the significance of a proper leadership framework as the means of reinforcing corporate values and ensuring that decision-making remains ethical. And sustainable. Therefore, the case in question needs to be seen as a cautionary tale of failing to introduce appropriate quality management standards and the framework for leading the team, as well as controlling its performance.
Reference
Freeman, G. (2018). What can go wrong, will go wrong: Deepwater Horizon. Inteelex. Web.