Case Study: ROUGH SEAS ON THE LINK$650$

by Steven L$.$ McShane, University of Newcastle $($Australia$)$

Professor Suzanne Baxter was preparing for her first class of the semester when Shaun O$$Neill

knocked lightly on the open door and announced himself: $$Hi$,$ Professor, I don$$t suppose you

remember me$?$ Professor Baxter had large classes, but she did remember that Shaun had been a

student in her organizational behaviour class a few years earlier. Shaun had decided to work in the

oil industry for a couple of years before returning to school to complete his diploma. $$Welcome

back!$$ Baxter said as she beckoned him into the office. $$I heard you were working on an oil rig in the

United Kingdom. How was it$?$

$$Well$,$ professor,$$ Shaun began, $$I had worked two summers in the Texan oil fields and my family$$s

from Ireland, so I hoped to get a job on the LINK$650.$ It$$s that new WestOil drilling rig that arrived

with so much fanfare in the North Sea fields a few years ago. The LINK$650$ was built by LINK Inc. in

Texas. A standard practice in this industry is for the rig manufacturer to manage day$-$to$-$day rig

operations, so employees on the LINK$650$ are managed completely by LINK managers with no

involvement from WestOil. We all know that drilling rig jobs are dangerous, but they pay well and

offer generous time off. A local newspaper there said that nearly one thousand people lined up to

complete job applications for the $50$ nontechnical positions available. I was lucky enough to get

one of those jobs. $$Everyone hired on the LINK$650$ was enthusiastic and proud. We were among the

chosen few and were really pumped up about working on a new rig that had received so much

media attention. I was quite impressed with the recruiters$$so were several other hires$$because

they really seemed to be concerned about our welfare out on the platform. I later discovered that

the recruiters came from a consulting firm that specializes in hiring people. Come to think of it$,$ we

didn$$t meet a single LINK manager during that process. Maybe things would have been different if

some of those LINK supervisors had interviewed us$.$Working on LINK$650$ was a real shock, even

though most of us had some experience working in the oil fields. I$$d say that not one of the $50$

nontechnical people hired was quite prepared for the brutal jobs on the oil rig. We did the dirtiest

jobs in the biting cold winds of the North Sea. Still, during the first few months, most of us wanted

to show the company that we were dedicated to getting the job done. A couple of the new hires quit

within a few weeks, but most of the people hired with me really got along well$$you know, just like

the ideas you mentioned in class. We formed a special bond that helped us through the bad

weather and gruelling work. $$The LINK$650$ supervisors were another matter. They were mean

taskmasters who had worked for many years on oil rigs in the Gulf of Mexico or North Sea. They

seemed to relish the idea of treating their employees the same way they had been treated before

becoming managers. We put up with their abuse for the first few months, but things got worse when

the LINK$650$ was shut down twice to correct mechanical problems. These setbacks embarrassed

LINK$$s management and they put more pressure on the supervisors to get us back on schedule.

$$The supervisors started to ignore equipment problems and pushed us to get jobs done more

quickly without regard to safety procedures. They routinely shouted obscenities at employees in

front of others. A couple of my workmates were fired and a couple of others quit their jobs. I almost

lost my job one day just because my boss thought I was deliberately working slowly. He didn$$t

realize$$or care$$that the fittings I was connecting were damaged. Several people started finding

ways to avoid the supervisors and get as little work done as possible. Many of my co$-$workers

developed back problems. We jokingly called it the $$rigger$$s backache$$ because some employees

faked their ailment to leave the rig with paid sick leave. $$Along with having lousy supervisors, we

were always kept in the dark about the problems on the rig. Supervisors said that they didn$$t know

anything, which was partly true, but they said we shouldn$$t be so interested in things that didn$$t

concern us$.$ But the rig$$s problems, as well as its future contract work, were a major concern to

crew members who weren$$t ready to quit. Their job security depended on the rig$$s production levels

and whether WestOil would sign contracts to drill new holes. Given the rig$$s problems, most of us

were concerned that we would be laid off at any time. $$Everything came to a head when Bob

MacKenzie was killed because someone secured a hoist improperly. Not sure if it was mentioned in

the papers here, but it was big news around this time last year. A government inquiry concluded

that the person responsible wasn$$t properly trained and