Analyzing Change Management at Shell Oil Company: A Case Study

This case study examines the change management strategies employed by Shell Oil Company, a US-based subsidiary of Royal Dutch Shell. The company, operating in over 70 countries with a large workforce, focuses on exploring, producing, and refining petroleum while striving for a sustainable energy future. Shell's purpose includes enhancing clean energy progress and meeting increasing energy demands through technological advancements. The company's functions range from managing integrated gas to driving research and innovation. Strategies for change involve strengthening its position as a leading company, ensuring safety and social responsibility, and becoming more customer-oriented. Strengths such as technological development and skilled project management aid in this change. The company embraces both internal and external changes, leveraging its past platform and seeking opportunistic prospects. The analysis concludes that Shell employs a programmatic change approach, relying on data for improvement and setting up project teams to address specific problems in a long-term evolving process.

Name of the student
Name of the university
Shell Oil Company

Introduction
US based company
One of the largest oil companies
Headquartered in Houston, Texas
Wholly owned subsidiary
Founded in 1912
Parent company- Royal Dutch Shell
Products- oil, fuel and car services
Services- exploring, producing and refining petroleum (Van
Halderen et al. 2016)

The company and its
activities
Group of energy and petrochemical companies
Number of employees- 86000
Located in 70 countries
Use advanced form of technologies
Implement innovative approaches
Intended to build up sustainable energy future
(Olins 2017)

Purpose
To enhance progress with more clean energy
To increase the standards of living for the global
population
To cope up with the increasing demand for
energy, oil and gas
To use technological advancements for managing
climate change
To achieve strategic ambitions (Hiatt, Grandy and
Lee 2015)

Functions
Managing integrated gas and new energies
Delivering major projects
Driving research and innovation
Exploration and extraction of crude oil and gas
Markets and transports oil and gas
Operates necessary infrastructure (Omeje
2017)

Strategies for bringing in
change
To strengthen the position as a leading company
To change the world by providing oil, gas and
low- carbon energy
Ensure safety and social responsibility
More- customer- oriented, productive delivery
and growing free cash flow
Change into a resilient and focused organization
(Shuen, Feiler and Teece 2014)

Strengths that helped in
change
Development and application of technology
Skilled financial and project management
Deliver large field development projects
Appropriate management of integrated
value chains
Long term planning for reducing carbon
footprint (Hiatt, Grandy and Lee 2015)

Embracing change
Internal change within the company
Involve and engage heavily with the process
Using the past platform of the company as a
basis for change
Be opportunistic
Look out for the best prospects (Kunisch,
Menz and Ambos 2015)

Conclusion
Programmatic change prevalent in the company
Established on the change theories
Dependent on the data to identify areas of improvement
Emergent change sets up separate project teams
Look for specific problems and design change projects
Long term evolving process
Shell oil company has used the second form of emergent
change

References
Van Halderen, M.D., Bhatt, M., Berens, G.A., Brown, T.J. and Van Riel,
C.B., 2016. Managing impressions in the face of rising stakeholder
pressures: Examining oil companies’ shifting stances in the climate
change debate. Journal of business ethics, 133(3), pp.567-582.
Olins, W., 2017. The new guide to identity: How to create and sustain
change through managing identity. Routledge.
Hiatt, S.R., Grandy, J.B. and Lee, B.H., 2015. Organizational responses
to public and private politics: An analysis of climate change activists
and US oil and gas firms. Organization Science, 26(6), pp.1769-1786.
Shuen, A., Feiler, P.F. and Teece, D.J., 2014. Dynamic capabilities in
the upstream oil and gas sector: Managing next generation
competition. Energy Strategy Reviews, 3, pp.5-13.
Omeje, K., 2017. High stakes and stakeholders: Oil conflict and
security in Nigeria. Routledge.
Kunisch, S., Menz, M. and Ambos, B., 2015. Changes at corporate
headquarters: Review, integration and future research. International
Journal of Management Reviews, 17(3), pp.356-381.