...Ethics in the Workplace Case Study: BP Oil Spill On April 20, 2010 off the Gulf of Mexico, there was a blowout of the Macondo well which is owned by British Petroleum also known as BP. When the blowout took place it got immediate media attention because aspects of the event were known over the world. Within events transpiring it was discovered how limited the resources and reaction to the disaster was going to be. This paper will detail aspects of the event from symptoms of the problem, the root cause, important unresolved issues, roles of the organization’s key players and stakeholders, and explain the focus of specific ethical systems. Also discussed in this paper are relevant strategies and alternatives, the effect of globalization on the choice of preferred alternatives, the most valid alternative and resolution recommendations, and an example of a successful implementation of the solution. Symptoms of the Problem Natural disasters or any disaster of any kind is hard to manage just for the purpose that these is no real planning for the situation and there is no real way to say who is in charge when a disaster happens. Concerning the oil spill with British Petroleum (BP) symptoms for the situation was that there was a delayed response, the impact on the environment and the citizens, federal regulations were lax, and the recovery efforts were not adequate. According to Griggs (2011), OPA 90 is a federal statute that holds all the responsible parties in containment, clean-up...
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...8: Ecological Crisis of the BP Oil Spill April 25th 2015 On April 20th, 2010, a massive offshore drilling rig, formal known as the Deepwater Horizon, exploded and set fire. The explosion caused oil pipes to burst and spill thousands of barrels of oil into the Golf of Mexico. According to Do Something, an environmental website, have reported the death and injury of 28, more than 8,000 animals dead within six months, and 16,000 miles of coastline pollution (11 facts about BP oil spill). The BP oil spill has since became one of the worst ecological disaster in America's history. People living near the coast line has been affected due to polluted air and water. Many children had been sick and they had problem breathing fresh air. There were several issues with this oil spill: professional issues, ethics and new technology issues, legal, regulatory and political, safety issues, and environmental issues. If BP would have taken care of all these issues there had been no oil spill. The oil spill is the result of a series of events that eventually led to tens of thousands of barrels of petroleum to be leaked into the gulf. In September, BP released a report that analyzed the events leading up to the incident. The report shows that the fire was caused by a release of hydrocarbons from the well, and them onto the oil rig (BP internal investgation team) The Deepwater horizon was equipped with fail-safe mechanisms in case anything were to go wrong. The issue is that they failed as well...
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...BP Deep-water Horizon Oil Spill Public Relations BP Deep-water Horizon Oil Spill: Executive Summary The Deepwater Horizon oil spill or the BP oil spill was a disaster in the Gulf of Mexico that took place in the Macondo Prospect. Macondo Prospect was a BP operated project, and one of the oil spill disasters that has been considered to be one of the most destructive accidents on marine environment. In fact, it has been considered the most expensive and life threatening accident in the petroleum industry. The disaster was an explosion in a deep-sea oil drilling facility owned by BP Company, in which the resultant explosion caused the sinking of the Deepwater Horizon oilrig, killing 11 people in the incident. The disaster let free a gush of oil from under the seabed, flowing for an estimated three months. The result of the BP oil disaster was indeed catastrophic not just too marine life, but also to all other sectors of the economy that depended either directly or indirectly on marine environment (Alexander, 2010). In what remained to be a disaster, the wellhead had continued to gush oil for up to 87 days before a team finally succeeded in July 2010. By this time, it was estimated that the oil spill had discharged approximately 4.9 million barrels, a quantity estimated to be 780,000 cubic meters. By this time, marine life had been put in jeopardy while a lot others had died, or been seriously affected. Apart from marine and wildlife habitats...
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...company in the world because of its international markets activities is considered as a multinational Oil company Headquartered in London and as a largest producer of oil and gas in the North of America. (BP) The company has huge market impact, which gives it notable trading performance in the global energy industry. (BP). Their structure is set up through two main operating segments, Upstream and Downstream, in which BP finds, develops and produces vital sources of energy, turning them into products that we need. BP also buys and sells at each stage of the hydrocarbon value chain which is a series of processes to transform hydrocarbons from a basic natural resource into the complex fuels and materials which our modern world depends on. They also have stake in renewable energy that include biofuels and wind. The products and services they provide customers with vary form fuel for transportation, energy for heat and light, all way to lubricants to keep engines running, and the petrochemicals products used to make everyday items as different as paints, clothes and packaging (BP). The first of two key factors that can and have affected the success of BP is one we all probably have heard of the Deepwater Horizon Oil Spill in the Gulf of Mexico in 2010. According National Commission on the BP Deepwater Horizon Oil Spill and Offshore Drilling report it was the largest offshore oil spill in US history. This...
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...discuss various safety issues, concerns, and repeated violations that have occurred resulting in an environmental disaster that impacts the Gulf of Mexico of which the long term effects will not be known for generations to come. British Petroleum Deepwater Horizon On April 10, 2010 the offshore drilling rig, operated by the world’s sixth largest oil producer British Petroleum, erupted in flames. The result of this disaster caused “170 million gallons of crude oil to spill into the waters of the Gulf of Mexico” ("NRDC.org", 2011, p. 4), killing 11 people, and creating what could be the largest ecological disaster of the 21st century. This disaster is considered by many to be the largest oil spill ever to occur. Clean up efforts are still ongoing after almost two years. British Petroleum (BP) has spent billions of dollars in cleanup cost, restitution and community development; however the greater effects on the environment will not be determined for many years to come. The direct cause of this disaster has been identified as mechanical failure of a blowout preventer located at the base of the well directly above the site entry on the bottom of the sea floor. When this mechanical valve failed, it cause as large plum of highly flammable gas to erupt from the oil well and ignite. After an explosion on the surface, fire raged out of control for over 36 hours. After three days, the floating oil rig sank to the bottom of the ocean floor some 5000 ft below the surface. Oil continued to flow...
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...1. Introduction The company, BP is the third-largest energy company where produces approximately 3.8 million barrels of oil and gas per day and possesses 22,400 service stations over the world. However, the oil disaster called as BP oil spill or the deep water horizon oil spill was occurred on April 20th, 2010 in the Gulf of Mexico recording the greatest oil spill compared to other oil spill accidents in our history. The Deepwater Horizon oil rig explosion caused deaths of 11 workers, 17 workers injured as well as a tremendous oil spill in the Gulf of Mexico. In fact, this case has been described as a complex accident including a variety of issues ranging from environmental to economic, politics and even ethical issues. The goal of our research is to find any ethical issues since this disaster happened is closely related to ethics which is concerned with moral obligation, social responsibility and justice (Carolyn Wiley, 1997) either individual (‘bad apples’) or organizational (‘bad barrels), which should be evaluated to verify this case. Firstly, the ethical issues can largely be divided into three categories, namely (1) technical design which has had some testing flaws before the actual usage and insufficient guidelines against the negative pressure test, (2) human factors including misjudgment, errors and a failure in duty, (3) organizational system such as taking risk procedures to save time and money and refusing the advice of staff and contractors as well as slowness to...
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...Working Paper The BP Oil Spill as a Cultural Anomaly? Institutional Context, Conflict and Change Andrew J. Hoffman Stephen M. Ross School of Business University of Michigan P. Devereaux Jennings University of Alberta Ross School of Business Working Paper Working Paper No. 1151 October 2010 This work cannot be used without the author's permission. This paper can be downloaded without charge from the Social Sciences Research Network Electronic Paper Collection: http://ssrn.com/abstract=1706096 UNIVERSITY OF MICHIGAN The BP Oil Spill as a Cultural Anomaly? Institutional Context, Conflict and Change Andrew J. Hoffman University of Michigan 701 Tappan Street, R4472 Ann Arbor, MI 48109 ajhoff@umich.edu 734.763.9455 and P. Devereaux Jennings University of Alberta Edmonton, Alberta T6G 2R6 CANADA dj1@ualberta.ca 780.492.3998 Forthcoming in the Journal of Management Inquiry October 2010 The authors would like thank Marvin Washington and one anonymous reviewer from the Journal of Management Inquiry for helpful feedback and encouragement in the writing of this article. 1 ABSTRACT This paper argues that the BP Oil Spill is, potentially, a “cultural anomaly” for institutional changes in environmental management and fossil fuel production. The problem as defined by the spill’s context, the potential solutions provided by the competing logics in that context, and the selection of problem-solution...
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...Gulf Oil Spill Grand Canyon University: Economics for Public Administrators ADM-614 September 10, 2014 Gulf Oil Spill The National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration (NOAA) estimated that 4.9 million barrels of oil spilled into the Gulf of Mexico over a span of 87 days. This catastrophic environmental disaster is known as the Gulf Oil Spill occurred on April 20, 2010 about 50 miles off the coast of Louisiana. An oil drilling rig (Deepwater Horizon) leased by British Petroleum (BP) ignited and exploded spewing 42,000 gallons of oil a day into the Gulf. Two days later the rig sank increasing the spill rate to 210,000 gallons of oil a day. Analysis – Government intervention The U.S. Government named BP as the responsible party in the incident; BP was found negligent in communication and safety practices, the company was held accountable for all cleanup costs resulting from the oil spill. Individuals and businesses that incurred damages as a result of the oil spill were able to submit claims for cleanup cost, property damages, loss of earnings or profits, and for physical injuries or death. The private industry and public sector both sectors failed in many aspects: inspection measures were not properly in place, safety updates and recommendations were not followed and sufficient resources were not provided to enforce safety guidelines and inspection requirements. Randall Holcombe’s book Public Sector affirms that government has a role to play in the market economy;...
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...Since April of 2010, BP Oil Company has been working to repair the damages of an oil rig explosion in the Gulf of Mexico. According to Do Something, an environmental website, have reported the death and injury of 28, more than 8,000 animals dead within six months, and 16,000 miles of coastline pollution (11 Facts about the BP Oil Spill). Many accounts blame this catastrophe on BP’s neglect to properly build and maintain machinery. Several clean up workers and fisherman have been affected due to this oil spill (Reed 35). People living near the coast line has been affected due to polluted air and water. Many children had been sick and they had problem breathing fresh air. BP’s ways of “cutting corners” are a point of interest when considering the factors leading to the Deep-water Horizon Oil Spill. There were several issues with this oil spill: professional issues, ethics and new technology issues, legal, regulatory and political, safety issues, and environmental issues. If BP would have taken care of all these issues there had been no oil spill. According to the official federal report, BP’s management cut corners in many areas, especially during the installation of the drill. While drilling the drill pipe got stuck and the engineering had to redesign the parameters but completely cut corners to drill the fastest way possible, which was the start of BP’s problems. Events leading up to the Deepwater Horizon incident led one to question the values and motives of the British Petroleum...
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...Name Public Relations PR Response Analysis to BP Oil Spill Instructor May 1, 2015 PR Response Analysis to BP Oil Spill This is an analysis of BP’s PR responses to several public audiences and industries after the BP Oil Spill disaster that occurred in the Gulf of Mexico. This disaster is also known as the Deepwater Horizon oil spill. The spill began on April 20th, 2010 on the BP-owned Transocean operated Macondo Prospect. The catastrophe stemmed from a gas release and ensuing explosion on the oil rig. According to BP’s website, “We acted to take responsibility for the clean-up, working under the direction of the federal government to respond swiftly to compensate people affected by the impact of the accident, to look after the health, safety and welfare of the large number of residents and people who helped respond to the spill, and to support the economic recovery of the Gulf Coast’s tourism and seafood industries impacted by the spill. We have conducted studies with federal and state natural resource trustees to identify and define the injury to natural resources in the Gulf of Mexico”. BP allowed their use of social media to expose their corporation’s lack of professionalism and customer service. By addressing important topics from this disaster through social media channels they compromised their integrity immediately. It also was perceived as hiding behind a forum that was less than ideal to use for this particular situation. Society and certain industries can instantly...
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...BP Oil Spill Introduction: On the evening of April 22nd, 2010, a gas released and subsequent explosion occurred on the deck of Transocean Deepwater oil rig that was on the Gulf of Mexico. Eleven were killed and many were injured during the thirty-six hours it burned while hydrocarbons leaked into the Gulf of Mexico before it was closed off and sealed. The oil slick was produced by the Deepwater Horizon oil spill that covered almost 29,000 square miles. The disaster was quickly declared the largest oil spill in United States history. Not only was the ocean surface glazed with oil sheen, the impact on the marine ecosystem below the surface and onshore was devastating. Many concerns were raised about the environmental impact of chemicals known as dispersants that were used to dissipate the oil slick. Governmental agencies and others worked together to control the spill and minimize the impact that it would have on the environment and human health by containing it and cleaning up whatever came ashore. “Oil spills can affect water in a variety of ways it spreads out into a very thin layer across the surface which is called slick and it expands till it’s extremely thin”.(Bourne, 2010, p.2) The Deepwater Horizon oil spill wasn’t an unavoidable accident it was the results from negligence and avarice. The oil spill sparked heated debates regarding a variety of issues; the country’s dependence on fossil fuels, government regulations and which organization was more at fault. Key...
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...country comes from non-renewable resources such as fossil fuels. Sometimes people really do forget how dependent our country is on oil, but are reminded when the high demand causes the price of oil to jump. The burning of fossil fuels pollutes the air we breathe. Sometimes pollution occurs in the form of oil spilled into the ocean. Our country needs to force citizens and companies to pollute less by putting more money into research for alternative forms of energy and passing laws to prevent pollution. Even though offshore drilling can cause pollution by oil spills, it would be ridiculous to pass a law banning offshore drilling. As a country, we cannot fulfill our demand for oil without offshore drilling. The recent BP oil spill following the explosion of the Deepwater Horizon oilrig on April 20th, 2010 raised concern in the minds of all U.S. citizens, not just the environmentalists. Most citizens would agree restrictions should be temporarily placed on offshore drilling until we are certain another spill of that magnitude will not happen again. After the disaster, many citizens were angered to think BP was going to get off scotch free. The media and politicians bashed BP for everything they did wrong. So far BP has taken their punishment, but recently the CEO of the company, Bob Dudley, stood up against the media and politicians. In the article entitled “BP CEO Bob Dudley hits back at media and politicians”, the author, Jane Wardell, discusses BP’s stance on the media attention it...
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...Cross-Cultural Perspectives Known to be one of the leading international oil, gas, and energy companies, BP has a worldwide reputation of providing consumers fuel for transportation purposes, energy towards heat and light; in addition to, creating petrochemical products and lubricants to keep engines especially in large machineries moving. With headquarters based in London, England, the multinational organization currently have operations in more than 80 countries throughout the world; in fact, has currently 83,900 employees in the United States as well as internationally. BP having a multinational presence since the organization conducts business operations out of countries; such as, Indonesia, West Africa, and Slovak Republic its open to possibly facing cultural issues which can in fact make an impact on the internal operations of the organization, or influence business decisions that effects the organization and its stakeholders. BP has experience more than one issue that could influence the interactions outside of the United States. In 2005 the Texas City Refinery explosion killed fifteen workers in which lead to the organization being fine by the OSHA, and the oil spill on Prudhoe Bay which happened in the Alaska North Slope back in 2006. However, one of the major environmental disasters that will go down in U.S. history is the Gulf Oil Spill of April, 2010. The Gulf of Mexico was paralyzed by an explosion to the oil rig off the coast of Louisiana in which injured seventeen people...
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...On April 20, 2010 a gas release and explosion happened on the Deepwater Horizon oil rig, famously known as the BP oil spill. It was the largest oil spill in the United States history, eleven people died from the spill and injured 17 others. From the spill there was about more than about 200 million gallons of crude oil that was pumped into the Gulf of Mexico. It happened for almost a total of 87 days, the oil spill started on April 20 until July 15. From underwater cameras it showed that the BP pipe was leaking oil and gas on the ocean floor about 42 miles off the coast of Louisiana. After hearing about the oil spill workers from BP and many government agencies tried to control the spread of the oil to beaches and other coastal ecosystems using floating booms to contain surface oil and chemical oil dispersants to break it down underwater. [pic]Over a period of those 87 days the wellhead leaked for about 3.19 million barrels. After the release of the oil it cause some floated to the ocean's surface to form oil slicks which expanded more quickly by being pushed by winds. The spill affected coasts of Texas, Louisiana, Mississippi and Florida adding up to total about 16,000 miles. Many investigations were started from the incident, the U.S government faulted BP and the rig operator. Due to many much of the spill coming in contact with wetlands and estuaries affecting many wildlife habitats and fishing and tourism. Being that Louisiana is mostly a tourist state, they...
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...BP Oil Spill | Case Study Analysis | | Disclaimer: To start things off, I would like to mention that the BP Oil Spill is an extremely complicated case and its impact could be felt in every corner of the world. Therefore, my case study is only the tip of the iceberg and should not be used to judge the entire controversy. In addition, all statistics and information have been obtained from other sources. Enjoy! | | By: Haikang Zhu | For: Professor Bill WoofClass: Mgmt 1040 DDate: December 9th, 2010 | | BP (British Petroleum) is a global oil and gas company based in London, England. To date, it is the third largest energy company and the fourth largest company in the world in terms of revenues. Bp has operations in over 80 countries, produces around 3.8 million barrels of oil per day and has approximately 22,400 service stations worldwide. One major controversy that has been following every single oil and gas companies is the sustainability of offshore drillings and their impacts on the environment and the potential problems that might occur. Unfortunately for BP, On April 20th 2010, the dreaded problem occurred. The drilling rig known as the Deepwater Horizon Rig exploded, immediately killing 11 men and injuring 17 others. The incident took place in the Gulf of Mexico and is the worst environment disaster in the history after the Exxon Valdez accident in Alaska. The oil spill stemmed from a sea-floor sea gusher and was the result of the explosion of the drilling...
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