Miscommunication in BP's Messages Regarding it's Handling of the Deep Horizon Oil Spill Overview Late summer of 2010 saw one of the biggest environmental disasters in American history. In a region already plagued by the affects of Hurricane Katrina, a massive oil leak exploded just off the coast of Louisiana in the Gulf of Mexico. For three months, oil gushed out of the broken well and flooded delicate swamplands with crude oil. The owner of the well, BP tried to take action and effectively communicate their solution strategies to both the public and to government, but ultimately failed tremendously based on massive miscommunication of how their efforts were actually faring in the region. Organizational Message The overall message that was trying to be communicated by BP was that they were working as hard as they could to contain the massive leak. BP wanted to ensure public confidence that the spill was being addressed in the timeliest and safest manner. However, this message was clouded with a series of major miscommunications that only seemed to make the situation worse. There was actually very little communication BP provided to the public, with miscommunications that ran rampant without an honest and tailored organizational message to handle the massive public outcry of the disaster. According to reports from the time, "there have been repeated instances in which BP has tried to limit or delay the flow of information to the public on what is clearly now the
With all of the disasters mankind has caused to this earth, one might wonder if things like earthquakes, hurricanes, tsunamis, etc. are nothing more than a response to our actions. The BP oil spill, which took place in the Gulf of Mexico, is easily recognizable as the worst oil spill disaster in American history. More than 200 million gallons of crude oil leaked into the Gulf of Mexico for 87 days total. The entire 16,000 miles of the Gulf coastline were affected. This included Texas, Louisiana, Florida, Alabama, and Mississippi. The oil may have stopped gushing in 2010, but it has yet to stop washing up on the shore.
With Hayward and Suttles appearances on the television screen it was starting to look like that no one was in control or in charge at BP to the general public. This is what made it impossible for a transformational reactive change to take place at BP during the time they needed it the most. BP and their two executive spokespersons were faced with a very large problem when it came to their adaptive personality attributes during the time of change. Both Hayward and Suttles showed a low emotional intelligence and could not connect with the victims affected by the spill by showing them empathy with their choice words and actions during the crisis.
The key takeaways from this case are the importance of having a decision making process in place, as well as not relying on bias to fix a situation. There should have been policies and procedures in place so that when disaster strikes there are guidelines to follow. The model for rational decision making could have been followed. The problem should have been identified, general alternative solutions should have been discussed, evaluate alternatives and select a solutions, and then finally implement and evaluate the solution that was chosen. Had BP and Transocean had effective communication the oil rig may not have caused such a disaster (Kreitner & Kinicki, 2013).
In my opinion there were four key causes in this disaster which were, lack of communication between BP and Transocean, multiple operations were under way simultaneous, several irregularities were already known and were failed to be looked into, and BP choose a less costly well, which came with higher risk. Helms (2015) reports that BP is worth 120.8 billion dollars
BP did not take an interest and spoke to public, they didn't give their side however their activities in the prompt consequence says a lot. The human stories are intercut with scenes of oil organization administrators doing nothing about this finished devastation. Brown must have truly picked up the trust of these men since they don't get away from the film looking great. Their general take: didn’t manage the business at all and we ought to express gratitude toward them for conveying vitality as economically as they do. The people who are being paid very little are like slaves working to oil and will be for quite a long time.
On April 20th 2010 an explosion on an oil ridge of the coast of the Gulf of Mexico, was the cause of the greatest environmental disaster in history of the United States. This explosion took the lives of eleven men who were working on the ridge, and also ruptured an oil line, which dumped more than 4.9 million barrels of oil into the Gulf of Mexico. This oil spill significantly affected the wildlife of the gulf coast, killing hundreds of fishes, birds, and reptile that call the gulf coast home. The spill also affected global supply chain for major industries.
Within hours of the Deepwater Horizon accident, BP teams were working to stop the leak. We also acted to minimize the spill’s impact on the environment by containing, removing and dispersing oil offshore, protecting the shoreline and cleaning up oil that came ashore. And we worked with wildlife groups to develop rescue and rehabilitation programmes for turtles, birds and other species. www.bp.com/ gulfofmexico/inpictures
The Deepwater Horizon Oil Spill occurred on April 20, 2010 in the Gulf of Mexico. This oil spill was the largest spill in history in front of the Exxon Valdez oil spill of 1989. This oil spill released about 4.9 million barrels of oil into the ocean. This spill not only wreck havoc on the marine life but also the economic players that depended on ocean such as fisherman, tourism, and offshore drilling located along the gulf coast. Along will the spill the oil rig which was named Deepwater Horizon also went up in flames. This proved that the issue went far beyond just an oil rig that blew a line. Since this oil spill had drastic impacts all along the coast, BP which was the most liable for this incident faced criminal charges based on what happened. BP which knew the risks of deep ocean drilling failed to take the necessary safety procedures to reduce the risks of such incident occurring, thus was the reasoning behind placing most of the fault on them and not the other companies. The lack of regulatory oversight led to the issues and cost-cutting procedures opened the rig up to possible malfunctions like the one that occurred. During the spill into the gulf, BP sealed the well with cement which seemed to stop a majority of the oil from escaping the well. BP also recognized that the well was “dead” which was proven wrong when scientists still could conclude was leaking minor amounts of oil into the ocean. This spill not only proved to be harmful to the environment but also
The e Deepwater Horizon oil spill at the Macondo well began on April 20, 2010, in the Gulf of Mexico on the BP-operated Macondo Prospect. An explosion on the Deepwater Horizon drilling rig on 20 April 2010 killed 11 people and caused almost 5 million barrels of oil to flow into the Gulf of Mexico. The spill covered 68,000 square miles of land and sea and triggered a response effort involving the use of nearly 2 million gallons of dispersant chemicals (Pallardy). Considered the largest accidental marine oil spill in history, the Deepwater Horizon oil spill (DHOS) resulted in widespread environmental and economic damage, the exact nature of which is only beginning to be understood (Shultz 59). This paper will address the causes of this unmitigated ecological disaster and discuss steps that need to be taken to prevent a similar disaster from occurring again.
Part 1 - Ethical Dilemmas- The accident elicited many feelings anger, disillusionment, disgust, and even employees feeling like they were let down because BP had not backed up its values promised to
I write this letter to BP on behalf of myself and many citizens who are concerned. I list plausible solutions so another oil spill does not occur. Investigators say one of the causes for the spill was that it failed to be properly inspected. A way we can easily avoid a second oil spill is by continually and constantly inspecting correctly. Schedule regular audits. Technology has advanced so much that BP can add leak detection devices to the wells. BP should avoid places where there are a lot of fishermen or places like the Gulf of Mexico just because there is a lot of reef that can be harmed again. We all need to bring about a change; it can save us money, we can save our marine wildlife, and together we can save our Mother
On April 20, the explosion on the Deepwater Horizon drilling rig in the Gulf of Mexico led to the largest accidental release of oil into marine waters in history. As a result, a huge loss of money and life was caused and affected serious environmental damage to wild animals and water pollution. BP was accused of their irresponsibility that it took 87 days before the well was closed and sealed. BP’s shares
The oil spill in the Gulf of Mexico in 2010 resulted in considerable damage to the environment, economy and human livelihoods. While BP, as one of the parties involved in the operation of the oil drilling on Deepwater Horizon rig, suffered huge financial loss and reputation loss, it was found to be the one to be mostly blamed due to its lack of risk management. As poor risk management can lead to an astonishing disaster like this, it appears to be necessary for every business to learn from BP’s mistakes and try the best to prevent such disaster from happening again. This report studies this case, focusing on two issues identified in BP’s risk management practices, namely its sloppy preparation for risks and its inappropriate communication strategy after the crisis happened. No evidence showed that BP had a sufficient emergency plan for the worst-case deep-water oil spill although the depth of the oil drilling was one of the deepest. BP’s unseriousness towards safety was also indicated in their attempt to shift blames to its contractors and the unaccountability shown by the words of BP’s executives during interviews. Based on the examination of BP’s deficiency in risk management, the lessons that can be learned from it are discussed. In brief, firstly, accurate risk assessment and appropriate emergency plan should be available before the operation is started. Secondly, post-crisis communication should show the world that the company cares and is accountable
Deepwater Horizon oil Spill: BP’s drilling platform in the Gulf of Mexico had an explosion in April 2010, causing the “largest oil spill catastrophe in the petroleum industry history”. It caused the death of 11 men and injury to several others. “More than 150,000 barrels of crude oil gushed into the sea, every day, for almost 5 months and up to 68,000 square miles of the Gulf 's surface were covered” (1).
“The production manager should control the manufacturing processes so as to eliminate any defective items, identify any weakness that become apparent during production.”(Manuel 2006). BP failed to follow safety regulations as a matter of fact. Right after the spill happened, BP’s diplomat has claimed that there was no one to blame, even the people who worked in the pipe line, their jobs were normally done. If you look for mistakes, you will find some. It was just a freak accident that was not expected from the situation. However, as the investigation went further, more and more evidence has been shown that it was not an accident but negligence. They didn’t do proper testing, for example, BP halted tests on the well lining five days before the explosion and kept oilfield testing firm Schlumberger on standby, according to NOLA. It had no plans to conduct a cement bond log test, which uses Sonics to identify weaknesses in the cement, known as a gold standard test. Also, Oil rig worker Mike Mason told Huffington Post he observed cheating on blowout preventer tests at least 100 times, including on wells owned by BP. In many cases, Mason says, BP employees were present while subcontractors faked the tests. Obviously, the systems failed and failed badly. BP violated the duty of exercising adequate quality controls over high-tech materials which caused the leaking happened. In addition, BP continually disregards safety and morality for profits. They are