BP Organizational Behavior BP PLC Organizational Behavior Case Study

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BP Organizational Behavior

BP PLC Organizational Behavior

Imagine going to work for BP as an engineer to drill oil in the gulf. What would happen if a disaster occurred? Could the company hold up under pressure? How would management react to the situation? One will study the oil disaster in the gulf and how it pertains to human resources, structure, politics and symbolism.

Management signed a five-year contract with Exult Inc. To help transform human resources. They will have capabilities to use the "latest web-enabled technologies and processes" (BP, 1999). This is a first for the organization because it will become a worldwide effort. Each employee/manager will have access to information work as well as life information needed to do their job in an effective manner (BP, 1999).

"e-HR services delivery model will assume management, ownership and accountability for BP Amoco's global HR administrative and transactional processes" (BP, 1999). One has to note that they are able to assist with all that is needed with recruiting and so forth in order to retain workers as well as what is needed for the business to run smoothly on a regular basis. Exult is running the necessary processes by having two centers of operation in the United Kingdom and within the United States. As a result, HR policy is maintained through much strategy and professionalism (BP, 1999).

In order to understand BP, one needs to know that at least 80,000 employees around the globe with much challenges and opportunities. Training programs are needed in order to deliver high quality work. Many have the capabilities of becoming successful business leaders. Each person is rewarded for their hard work through this entire process. HR does everything possible to stay current with the society by means of teaching new skills, and through this have the culture with much mutual respect (BP, 2011).

In regards to structure, this is an important aspect of BP. With corporate governance, they use strategy for the long-term as actively as possible. Each person monitors those in executive management as well as their performance within the company. All of them take part in risk management as well as internal control; consequently, one has to consider who will succeed those on the board, which includes excecutive management (BP, 2011).

Shareholders take on an important role. They have those in the private sector who contribute to BP on a regular basis. This is done through "letters and emails coming through to the chairman" (BP, 2011). Despite the oil disaster, the board has remained informed about how their shareholders percieve the situation at hand as well as the company's reaction to it. One can make note that their shareholders have remained well-versed. They primarily did this through "press releases, webcasts, teleconferences and meetings" (BP, 2011). Through this, feedback was provided that allowed the board to make a good decision on what strategy to take with the oil spill.

An annual meeting is held for investors of BP as of March 2010. They discussed, "key challenges and the companys position on the shareholder resolution on oil sands" (BP, 2011). Management finds this approach quite useful for them to know what is going on with the company, and they hope to continue this endeavor March 2011. All of this is done through an audit through external advisors (BP, 2011).

Some key people are worth noting in regards to executive management. They help to keep the business running smoothly. Twelve individuals make up those that are in executive management. The orignial Chief Executive Officer (CEO) was Tony Hayward; however, he was replaced with Robert Dudley after the gulf oil disaster. He is a "member of the board of directors and head of the executive management team" (BP, 2011). Mark Bly is the "Executive Vice President, Safety & Operational Risk" (BP, 2011). Rupert Bondy does the general counsel. Lain Conn is in charge of refining as well as marketing. Mike Daly does exploration. Bob Fryar oversees E&P Production. Byron Grote is a CEO. Andy Hopwood does "E&P Strategy & Integration" (BP, 2011). Bernard Looney is in charge of development. Lamar McKay is the "Executive Vice President" (BP, 2011). Helmut Schuster supervises human resources. Steve Westwell does "Strategy and Integration" (BP, 2011). All of these people take on an important role within the company and are all male. No females exist in this position.

Symbolism takes on an important role in BP. This was considered an experiment to the scientists in the gulf because of the effects it has on plants and animals living this partiuclar region.

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A lack of resources is available in funding this effort. Many of them are confidential that most people do not know are taking place on a regular basis with the goal of it becoming public (Joyce, 2011). "Ironically, it's BP that's spent the most for independent open research" (Joyce, 2011). The scients want to see the $450 million coming to them, which is taking much time due to setting forth ethical rules on how to handle this process. As a result, the research effort is now compromised.

BP has a complacent culture due to their bad decisions made in the gulf (Parker, 2010). "They may be respected companies operating in the gulf, but the evidence is they ar ein need of top-to-bottom reform" (Parker, 2010). In fact, many failures occurred before the disaster. At least "three different plans were drawn up" a week before the disaster (Parker, 2010). This demonstrates that the company had no idea how to solve the problem that was already taking place at that time.

One needs to note the bad decisions that were made from BP. They had "a bad cement job, badly run tests, last-minute substitutions of materials not normally used, failure to interpret a key pressure test and a failure to use technology" (Parker, 2010). A lot of what took place were those that consisted of last minute plans to change what was going on that ended up bringing on the disaster. Internally BP was communicating on the issue of timing with this particular well. Their goal is to appear as fast as possible while competing with other oil companies. What is interesting is that the crew dealing with rig did not see the signs coming. Each culture strives to make the work environment as safe as possible. When it comes to money, management did not trade safety for it. However, the crew felt the urge to get the work done in a quick manner. They were striving for balance in regards to risk as well as safety and money (Parker, 2010).

BP's brand has failed them because of the disaster that occurred in the Gulf of Mexico. They are known as "a green renewable energy leader beyond petroleum" (Tenay Group, 2010). This resulted in risky practices as well as short cuts that took place over a decade. Over the years, their vision/values have made them a success. This organization would havmade a positive impact by quality, instead of deciding to take short cuts. Management chose to hide this accident from everyone in the public, which as undermined their brand because of this choice. Management appear's to have no accountability with their brand, especially with their stakeholders. If they were strong in anyway, then they would have become more "responsible and accountable" for how they desire to get measured (Tenay Group, 2010).

In essence, BP failed to laid down the law on what needed done in order to solve the crisis (Tenay Group, 2010); consequently, this failed them as well as their reputation.

The way BP has run the company during this dilemma has hurt their brand in a plethora of ways. They failed to deliver trust, and chose to squander it. Management chose to not use advertising to help their brand through building their expertise. A lack of leadership is present within the company, especially when under pressure. Their brand is defensive as well as evasive because due to everyone acting as if they were lawyers. Management has chose to keep the people who were caught in the middle of the disaster away from public view, and that can hurt them from becoming a success after everything is resolved. BP is known for their leadership in the environment and is judged according to the outcomes, rather than the promises they choose to make on a regular basis. Overall, they need to step up by leading through example because one needs to empower their employees to do their job well through it (Tenay Group, 2010).

BP will continue to recover from this effort for many years to come. They will have to seek ways in which to refine their business as well as do everything possible to prevent disasters in the future. In regards to the symbolism, one can note that the company is currently incompetent at their work and striving to take short cuts in the process, which is hurting the company as well as the world (Parker, 2010).

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