has already settled with BP, the world's fourth largest company, in order to hold back dividend payments until the end of the year. They have set aside $20 billion in an escrow account as a starting point in order to pay for damages (Froetschel, 2010)
Restructuring can be performed on at least five major factors, environment, organization size, technology, and organization strategy and world wide operation. The second other major factor of techno structural intervention is the employees' involvement and the final component of intervention is work design, broadly speaking work design is of two types, one is of scientific management which is task oriented, the other type of work design is motivational approach (Imran and Aslam, 2010)
The Deepwater Horizon calamity is a standard low probability, high impact event. It is the kind that has been seen more and more recently (Mcquaid, 2010)
Some experts have criticized a dividend cut because it penalizes innocent shareholders, widows and orphans invested in pension funds. They contend that BP shouldn't bend to the Obama administration and lawmakers who argue that the move is prudent given the inability to stop the leak, the $1 billion spent so far to fix, contain and clean it up and the hundreds of billions in potential economic damage to Gulf communities (Sorry, shareholders, there will be BP blood, 2010)
Their latest target is not just promoting their products but also informing the consumers that they use material that will not result in disasters or diseases. (Nahid Mohsen Pour, 2011)
Erosion is a common cause of sinkhole formation. Erosion issues such as debris shrinking, migration of debris into openings in bedrock, and even the upward movement of debris can be conditions leading to sinkhole formation (Foose)
Another consequence related to groundwater and petroleum extraction is the impact on local aquifers. The chemical and geological composition of the aquifer may be changed, Moreover, as water is extracted from the aquifer, the porousness of the ground is changed from being very porous allowing for the formation of the aquifer, to being not so porous and preventing the aquifer from filling up again (Poland and Davis)
The results can be disastrous to the local area and community. Increased rates of flooding and submerging of wetlands can take place due to too much water or petroleum extraction and related land subsidence ("Sinkholes, Land Subsidence, and Swelling Soils")
The recession had been the worst in the city's history. The city decided to reorganize and adopt an organizational structure similar to those of businesses (Cummings & Worley, 2014)
The company embarked on a mission to cap the oil leak, but by then, investigations had already been initiated against it by the Department of Homeland Security. The National Oil Spill Commission, which was put in place by President Obama in the wake of the crisis to identify the roles and contributions of the various parties to the same, found that lack of communication between the company and its contractors, and poor management had led the company to take unnecessary risks that significantly compromised the safety of the public (Arnold & McKay, 2013)
True leadership calls for owning up to one's mistakes -- a perfect illustration is the dialysis filter crisis, where 50 patients died in Croatia and Spain as a result of Baxter Co.'s use of malfunctioned dialysis filters (Bali, 2011)
Both John Browne and Tony Hayward exercised transformational leadership at BP. Browne, for instance, articulated a vision to reduce the level of greenhouse emissions at BP and the oil industry as a whole (Cooper, et al
A leader is someone who is able to inspire people to perform their duties enthusiastically, competently and willingly, which he does by motivating them, implementing plans, and providing direction. The specific strategy that the leader uses to achieve this is their leadership style (Daft, 2014)
It is represented, in its simplest form, by the values by which people in the organization are governed, and to which they are adhere in the conduction of their duties. BP's culture was dysfunctional because it allowed for extreme risk-taking and shortsightedness at the cost of environmental stewardship and public safety (Edersheim, 2010)
Towards this end, it is prudent that the organization transform its culture into that of a learning organization. This, the organization can achieve through i) learning from past experience, and ii) learning from others (Garvin, 1993)
Tony Hayward does not, however, appear to be so much of a participative leader -- he is seen to lead mostly through directive leader behavior. Unlike John Browne, who makes the company's goals, vision and expectations known to employees, and then grants them the independence to choose their own way of getting the job done, Hayward leads by making the goals known, giving direction and guidance, and scheduling work for his subordinates (Griffin, 2011)
Once they have accurately identified these, they need to identify and bring to light the underlying assumptions that people hold about the organization. This they could do through a multi-stakeholder approach focused on obtaining the views and assumptions of the different stakeholders in the organization (Hammond, 2011)
Brief Overview of the BP (British Petroleum) Oil Spill Crisis BP is one of the largest petroleum companies in the world, with a history dating back to the very early years of the 20th century. Since its formation in 1903, the company has committed itself to satisfying man's need for petroleum by extracting natural resources from beneath the surface of the earth (Heller, 2012)
Unlike John Browne, who makes the company's goals, vision and expectations known to employees, and then grants them the independence to choose their own way of getting the job done, Hayward leads by making the goals known, giving direction and guidance, and scheduling work for his subordinates (Griffin, 2011). Such a case was witnessed during the oil spill, when Hayward, despite having no knowledge in crisis management, and the American way of doing things, relocated to Houston and took personal control of the crisis situation, instead of delegating the same to Bob Dudley, who had been responsible for overseeing the company's activities in the United States for a year and who was, therefore, more familiar with crisis management in the American context (Lahiri, 2010)
BP's leadership blatantly failed to demonstrate empathy at the height of the crisis. CEO, Tony Hayward, for instance, declared in an interview that he wanted his life back -- a comment that symbolized helplessness and not wanting to identify with the aggrieved parties (Ulmer et al