Group assignment – MM-ORG4001
“Organizational challenges when a vessel changes division in a company”
5SMM – Vestfold University
Abstract
Transocean is a leading international provider of offshore contract drilling services for
energy companies.
They specialize in drilling oil and gas wells in technically demanding sectors of the global
offshore drilling business, particularly in deepwater and harsh environments.
One of the rigs that have operated in Norwegian waters for 20years is now going on an
international contract for operating in Alaska.
The moving of the rig will have a major effect on the Norwegian division of Transocean.
Around 400 people in all parts of the rigs operation have to be merged into the remaining 6
rigs.
Please consider the environment before printing this dokumentation
I
Table of content
Introduction …………………………………………………………………………………………………………. II
1. Paper design …………………………………………………………………………………………………. 1
1.1. Problem formulation ……………………………………………………………………………….. 1
1.2. Goals for the paper ………………………………………………………………………………….. 1
1.3. Method ………………………………………………………………………………………………….. 1
1.4. Disclaimer ……………………………………………………………………………………………… 1
2. History of Transocean? ………………………………………………………………………………….. 2
2.1. Why is Polar Pioneer leaving Norwegian division? ……………………………………… 2
3. Frames …………………………………………………………………………………………………………. 3
3.1. What fames are important for this challenge. ……………………………………………… 3
3.2. Proposal for frames structure. …………………………………………………………………… 4
4. Personnel challenges with rig transfer. …………………………………………………………….. 5
4.1. Employee rights ………………………………………………………………………………………. 5
4.2. Strategy for handling employees. ………………………………………………………………. 6
4.3. How is the decisions made? ……………………………………………………………………… 7
5. Transocean’s challenges and proposed solutions ………………………………………………. 8
5.1. Information to employees of the rig move to Alaska. …………………………………… 8
5.2. How to organize work of the new, international crew on the rig moved to
Alaska? ……………………………………………………………………….. 8
5.3. How to help employees to find new work? …………………………………………………. 8
5.4. Is it possible to retrain some of the employees? …………………………………………… 9
5.5. Communication problems between original and new crew. ………………………….. 9
5.6. How to choose the personnel for new working environment? ……………………….. 9
6. Conclusion …………………………………………………………………………………………………. 10
7. Reference list ………………………………………………………………………………………………… i
7.1. WEB Pages: …………………………………………………………………………………………….. i
7.2. Pictures: ………………………………………………………………………………………………….. i
7.3. Texts: ……………………………………………………………………………………………………… i
7.4. Personnel contact: ……………………………………………………………………………………. i
8. Meeting log ………………………………………………………………………………………………….. ii
Figure overview:
Figure 1- Organization and leadership …………………………………………………………………….. II
5SMM – ORG4001 – Group 1 – “Org. challenges when vessel changes division”
II Introduction
This assignment is given in the course ORG4001 – Organization and Leadership as a
mandatory assignment. It is designed to increase the knowledge regarding organizations
and how to solve organizational problems on a management level. One of the goals is to
apply the theory learned in the course during the assignment.
This assignment will contain itself to the Norwegian part of Transocean. In Norway there
are 8 semisubmersible rigs at the moment working for different customers such as BP,
Statoil, Lundin and Shell.
In such a big company there is bound to be changes at all levels with various intervals.
One of the changes that occur is the relocation of movable drilling vessels, that being
semisubmersible, jackups and drillships. Most often the vessels are moved within a certain
division, and it does not affect the composition of the division in any major way, but when
one vessel is moved from one division to another there is a huge change in the
organization.
In spring 2014 one of the Norwegian rigs, the Polar Pioneer, are to be relocated to Alaska.
The contract is signed for three years with Shell (se link here). The rig will be manned with
International crew, on international contracts. This means that only a few of the 155
Norwegian employees will follow the rig to Alaska, the rest will be replaced with
international crew.
Organizational wise it is many interesting aspects of a changeover like this. What does the
law state regarding the employees? How many people can the rest of the division
incorporate into the organization? How many will retire, and how many will quit. Will
anybody be fired?
Producer of document
Kuba Bedliński
Joanna Paćkowska
Stian Haukland
Michael Tjelle
Małgorzata Baranowska
Figure 1- Organization and leadership
5SMM – ORG4001 – Group 1 – “Org. challenges when vessel changes division”
1. Paper design
1.1. Problem formulation
– What will happen to the Norwegian employees on Polar Pioneer when the rig changes
division?
– What are the major organizational issues regarding this changeover?
– How will this affect the other rigs, and the onshore employees?
– What are the major problems for the management in this situation?
1.2. Goals for the paper
– Find out how Transocean handles the employees when Polar Pioneer changes division.
– Identify the major organizational issues regarding the changeover and find out how
Transocean handles these.
– Propose solutions to some of the issues uncovered, and try to relate this to textbook
material and theory.
1.3. Method
This paper is will be produced by working in a group. There will be held weekly meetings
as far as it is possible to keep track of the progress. There will also be used a social media
to keep communication in the group.
To try and meet the goals the group will talk to Transocean personnel via phone, mail and
in person. The group will also go through look up information in the media and talk to
Safe/IE.
1.4. Disclaimer
If Transocean wants to keep the information within this paper confidential, the group
cannot conduct an open presentation of the paper.
The group will present all information gathered as valid without cross checking with any
other sources, the goal of the assignment is to learn about organizations and difficult
management, not to question the information gathered.
All references will be linked in the reference list.
5SMM – ORG4001 – Group 1 – “Org. challenges when vessel changes division”
2. History of Transocean?
Transocean is the world’s biggest drilling company and the world’s biggest rig company
with a fleet size of 80 units. Out of these, 36 have deepwater capability.
In the Norwegian sector Transocean operates these semisubmersible rigs: Polar Pioneer,
Transocean Arctic, Transocean Searcher, Transocean Winner, Transocean Barents,
