Decision Making Best Exemplifies What Happened on

¶ … decision making best exemplifies what happened on the Deepwater Horizon rig? The basic model that was used in the Deepwater Horizon accident was the bounded rational decision making approach. This is when everyone inside the organization will be focused on selecting options that work well within their current circumstances. The problem is that these individuals are not selecting an approach, which is in the best interests of everyone. Instead, there is an obsession in meeting short-term objectives at all costs.

In the case of the Deepwater Horizon, everyone was ignoring obvious signs that the well was about to explode. The biggest reason why is managers were focused on meeting the productivity goals of the company at all costs. ("What are Rational Models," 2012) Which of the decision- making biases played a potential role in the disaster? The kind of decision making biases that were occurring prior the Deepwater Horizon incident were: a lack of focus on safety issues and a mindset concerned about increasing profit margins.

The lack of focus on safety issues is when BP mangers were ignoring various procedures to protect everyone from potential hazards when operating the well. This was a part of an effort to meet the production goals for the rig (which were set by the company). At the same time, there was a mindset on increasing profits. To do this managers' were encouraged to cut costs and increase productivity as much as possible.

This meant that the proper maintenance of the equipment was ignored and everyone overlooked various safety checks that were in place. The combination of these factors created the perfect environment for the well to explode. (Jennings, 2011, pg. 365) Was intuition used too much during this case? Explain. Yes, intuition was used to much during this case. The reason why is because everyone was focused on meeting the objectives of the organization. The concentration on these goals is designed to satisfy the immediate emotional needs of staff members.

When this happened, is the point that they were addressing these issues by ignoring anything that could hurt productivity. This is a form of intuition that is designed to sway the staff members' beliefs about meeting BP's objectives over everything else. ("An Intuitive Decision Making Model," 2008) ("Was Poor Decision Making a Cause of the Deepwater Horizon Disaster," n.d.) Use the below figure to assess whether it was an ethical decision to continue to work on completing the oil well.

The decision to continue working on the well is considered to be unethical. The reason why, is based on the fact that there were issues associated with drilling the shaft. In this case, Transocean had to re-drill once a pipe became stuck during the process. Then once the well was complete is when the shaft would have to be expanded (to accommodate the challenging terrain beneath the ocean floor). This is a sign that safety procedures should have been taken into account.

However, the issues when drilling the well were ignored. Despite the challenges associated with the shaft and the depth of the water. (Bly, 2011, pp. 9 -- 12) Why weren't the benefits of group decision making realized in this case? The reason why the benefits of group decision making were not.