The Four Ways of Thinking

The story indicates that Royal Dutch Shell which was the fourth largest company in the world decided to invest in the harvest and production of oil in the Arctic. To achieve their goal the company bought an oil drill to be used for the purpose of oil exploration in the region. Their drill was known as the hull of the Kulluk and was made of 1.5-inch thick steel. It had a rounded shape to prevent it from any possible crush during the oil drill activity in the region. To make the work even easier the leaders of the company decide to hire more workforce plus another subcontractor known as Frontier Drilling to staff and operate the Kulluk. Moreover, the Royal Dutch Shell corporation believed that it had established an oil well that could bring about 27 billion barrels of recoverable oil and 130 cubic feet of natural gas for consumption not only in the country but also in the region. The journey to the Arctic region took place in March of 2012 after the Obama administration approved the exploration of oil drilling in the Arctic region. The company was confident that they had the best machine and adequate manpower in place for the work. Apart from the two machines they also brought along workers' housing units, ice breakers, tugboats, tankers, supply vessels, helicopters, spill cleanup barges, and a secondary rig to drill a relief well should there be a blowout. They had identified the area to anchor the Kulluk and the Frontier Drilling to make it possible for them to get to the deepest end of the Arctic region with the aim of drilling the oil. However, the leaders in the firm knew very well that the journey to the Arctic region would notable as easy as anyone would think. As was expected the journey became hard as the people approached the Arctic region through Russia. The first problem that occurred was the fact that the Noble Discover, a second ship hired by Shell from the frontier company was hit by strong 30-knot wind drag its anchor and blew it south where it appeared grounded for some time. The crew had to work hard to get the Discover from where it had been grounded to enable them to continue with the journey. The Discover proved problematic throughout the journey while the Kulluk remained grounded at Chukchi where it developed mechanical problems. The crew rushed and revamped its engines to ensure that they worked at the proper speed and conditions. However, the engine upgrade was not enough and the Discoverer developed other faults again. Then ten days after it was repaired again, its propeller shafts began vibrating so badly that the crew had to shut down its engines and had it towed to port. Other problems such as lawsuits followed in which shell plead guilty for some and was found innocent for some. This issue led to the wreck of the Kulluk and the halting of oil exploration and drilling in the Arctic. Thus, the wreck of the Kulluk occurred because of a lack of preparedness and the problems that the car faced at various points of the journey. People can learn to be able to prepare effectively for such extensive and complicated operations by first exploring the region of choice to know the hurdles and challenges that exist both for man power and machines. They also need to come up with effective machinery that can withstand the weather conditions ahead. Moreover, it is clear that shell corporation was not able to complete the drill and oil exploration because the weather was dark for 16 hours a day. Therefore, it is important for operators to first explore the place where they want to conduct any business and know it well before beginning the work. Values thinking involve issue concerning justice, social, and ecological integrity, equity, and ethics. In the Kulluk article values thinking is evident in the fact that Shell decide that it wanted to discover an oil deposit in the Arctic region. The exploration had many social and ecological issues. For example, drilling in search of oil would permanently destroy the ice cover in the Arctic region and it would also interfere with ecosystems for Arctic lives such as the polar bears. The oil spills that would have occurred during the drill would also lead to the contamination of the environment and could lead to the death of Arctic life. The project also brought about social issues especially when the people living close to the region cited various ecological problems. Moreover, the crew did not seem to be ecologically competent to explore the possible issue that might occur while working. The values that counted were the administration that gave the permission and those of shell that proposed the possibility of finding 21 billion oil barrels. From the article, it is clear that the players such as Shell Company only valued the profits they would make from discovering the oil as opposed to the ecological, social environmental, and justice issues that would follow. Based on the natural environment, equipment used, the surrounding culture, and company objectives it is clear that the players in the article considered the future but only for their benefit. For example, the main aim was to be able to explore and find the oil reserve in the Arctic region which would make shell even more profitable (Warren, Archambault, & Foley, 2015). They did not consider the environmental damages that could arise from the oil drill activities. The company was not using future thinking that concerned environmental, social, and justice issues. For example, they did not consider how their actions would affect the environment and the animals that live in the area that surrounds where the oil drilling and exploration would take place. Similarly, they did not seem to consider the social and environmental facts that the local residents proposed as side effects of the exploration. They also failed to use future thinking to explore the possibility of mechanical issues that could affect any of their ships and drills. For example, the journal outlines every preparation they had but did not detail plans for taking care of the mechanical issue of their machines. The journal does not indicate anywhere that the players in the project considered sustainability issues. They were more focused on the project than they were on the sustainability issues that the project could present. On the same note, the article does not show that the project managers worried about the negative effects of the project. They did not practice sustainable development during the project. However, the journal shows that the people were more concerned with how the technology and the system would work to ensure success in the company. The journal indicates that the Shell company leaders had a strategy in mind. For example, they had identified the point where they would anchor the Kulluk, the point where the discoverer would be positioned, and even the depth to which they would rill to ensure that they made an effective judgment on whether the oil reserve was as much as they thought. Thus the company had the main goal of drilling the Arctic region to explore and find the proposed 27 billion barrels of oil at the Arctic region (Funk, 2014). Some of the strategies that most companies are exploring concerning the future of oil in the world include proven oil reserves, hydraulic fracturing, tar-sand deposits, and natural gas explorations. Some elements of strategic thinking that other stakeholders might have overlooked include the need to put effective measures for repairing the machines in place, the ability to avoid possible lawsuits, and how to deal with social, geological, and environmental issues. 

References  

Funk, M. (2014). The Wreck of the Kulluk. New York: New York Times. 

Warren, A., Archambault, L., & Foley, R. (2015). Sustainability Education Framework for Teachers: Developing sustainability literacy through futures, values, systems, and strategic thinking.