People, Culture and Contemporary Leadership | Report

RUNNING HEAD: PEOPLE, CULTURE AND CONTEMPORARY LEADERSHIP
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People, Culture and Contemporary Leadership
Report

Culture, People and Contemporary Leadership
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Introduction
BHP Group Limited operates in mining industry, petroleum and metals industry and founded in
Melbourne, Australia. The company ranked as the third-largest mining company in the aspect of
market capitalization. BHP explores and mines minerals such as iron, coal, gold, ore, nickel, and
cooper properties with that the company offers petroleum exploration, refining services, and
production. BHP Group serves customers worldwide. The company distributes its products
through its global logistics chains such as pipeline and freight transportation. In 2019, the
company has 72,000 employees for production and distribution and management
(BHPBilliton,2019). In this report, three aspects are discussed that include performance
initiatives used by the company to improve its workforce efficiency, culture initiative taken by
BHP to enhance its culture, and at last initiatives taken by the company to ensure employee
engagement.
Performance Related Initiatives
The performance of the company depends on many factors such as employee satisfaction,
productivity, impact on society, and satisfaction of shareholders and customers. BHP Billiton
takes many initiatives in order to improve its overall performance and to satisfy its stakeholders.
According to Connelly et.al,2019, the performance of any organization depends on many aspects
such as finance, operations efficiency, legal aspects and organization development. BHP in order
to improve financial performance and operational efficiency adopted a digital model in order to
improve three pillars that are cost, safety, and volume. The focus on building an environment in
which employee safety is higher and tragic incidents are less. For that, the company invested in
technology advancement such as mines using technology vehicles for detection and rolling. This
improved morale of 340 employees. Further, digital transformation created many opportunities
for BHP Billiton and efficiency in production improved with saving up $20 million (Williamson
and Wilson, 2019). In a nutshell, digital initiatives taken by BHP Billiton improved the
performance of the organization in some of the aspects that are financial performance,
operational efficiency, and employee development.

Culture, People and Contemporary Leadership
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Dawson, 2019, described a few measures that used for measuring performance in an organization
that is performance appraisal, 360-degree feedback, management by objectives, personal
development plans, reward and recognition, and balance scorecard. The performance initiative
that has been taken by BHP Billiton is the use of technology and digital tools in order to improve
the performance and efficiency of employees. The performance measurement tool that proves to
help measure the performance can be a “Balance scorecard”. A balanced scorecard is a
performance metric used to improve, identify and control business functions and outcomes
(Walters, 2019). Four perspectives are included in a balanced scorecard that is financial,
customer, internal process and learning and development. BHP Billiton in order to know the
performance and impact of its digital transformation, a balanced scorecard can be used. For
instance, the impact of digital transformation can be measure in all four perspectives that
includes the financial performance of Billiton, level of customer satisfaction and efficiency in
operations of the company. Hence, the balanced scorecard is a good measurement tool that helps
to identify, improve and control the performance.
Culture Related Initiatives
BHP Billiton employs over 72,000 employees and contractors across the world. The company
invests a huge amount in the development of people so that employees possess the right skills
and sustain an attractive culture at the workplace that is collaborative and inclusive. The
company takes many initiatives to build a culture based on collaboration and trust.
The initiative taken by BHP Billiton to improve its culture includes “annual engagement and
perception survey (EPS)” as employees of BHP feel proud to work with the organization as they
feel the working environment inclusive and collaborative (BHP Billiton,2019). The culture of the
company is open and flexible for employees and provides opportunities for personal and
professional development. With this initiative, the company saw positive outcomes that were
same treatment and chances for all employees, perceptions of employees, and how employees
perceived opportunities for development and growth. All these are part of the culture and lead to
the positive growth of the company. This initiative helps the company to improve its working
environment and ensure a high level of employee engagement. This leads to a positive
environment in the company and attracts a more skilled workforce (Meade, 2019). This helps the