BP Oil Spill 2010 Case Study: Lessons in Leadership and Ethics

This case study examines the British Petroleum (BP) oil spill in 2010, triggered by an explosion that resulted in the largest marine oil spill in US history. The analysis focuses on leadership failures, ethical lapses, and lack of responsibility that contributed to the disaster. It highlights issues such as prioritizing profitability over safety, inadequate training, poor communication, and a lack of ownership among involved parties like Transocean and Halliburton. The study suggests remedial principles and practices, including providing ethical training, promoting honesty, developing standard operating procedures, and improving communication to prevent similar incidents. The document emphasizes the need for BP to shift its focus towards safety and ethical conduct to restore its public image and ensure responsible operations. Desklib is a platform where students can find similar solved assignments and study resources.

BRITISH
PETROLEUM
OIL SPILL IN
2010

INTRODUCTION
• British Petroleum is international gas and oil organization which is
headquartered in London (Amadeo 2018)
• The company was founded in the year 2010 in the month of April
20th
• The company faced enormous type of explosion which led to
largest marine oil spill off the coast of the United States in the Gulf
of Mexico
• The explosion affected more than 17 people who were injured
along with 11 people who died in the explosion and this led to the
negative brand image of the company in the entire market as well
• The total responsibility was of British Petroleum which was being
caused due to the negligence in a negative manner

ANALYSIS OF CASE STUDIES
First Case Study
• Mainly focuses on lack of ownership along with responsibility
• Major failure in leadership as there was lack of responsibility which led to disaster related to spilling of oil
• Transocean and Halliburton were the main players in the disaster along with British Petroleum and they were
not ready to take the responsibility of such disaster as well
• The major cause of spill was due to lack of faulty procedure
• The lack of ownership led to communication issues which delayed implementing a solution and plan of action
for cleanup

SECOND CASE STUDY
• Mainly focuses on complacency and the complexity of the
drilling of oil well is being compared to the trip to moon
• The contentment resulted that there is no such back up
plan in event of the event which was disastrous in nature
• However, the company was successful in nature while
operating in providing safety at the entry or the gateway

THIRD CASE STUDY
• Mainly focuses on profitability of the business which was the main concern of the company
and not the safety of the individuals working in the organization
• The plagued type of leadership played a crucial role in the respective disaster
• There was compromising done in reliability along with quality

FOURTH CASE STUDY
• Focuses on the lack of responsibility and liability
• The failure of oversight along with the success of organization attributed towards failure of
regulate the oil and drilling industry
• However, later on this was being realised that offshore operations were complicated in nature
as there was no safety operations which was being taken by the BP and the other three
companies as well

FIFTH CASE STUDY
• Focuses on lack of leadership aspect which was not present in the entire disaster which took place
• The leadership at BP was a failure which created negative perception among the public
• The lack of presence was the other major issue which affected the image of the company

SIXTH CASE STUDY
• Focuses on lack of the communication aspect
• There was a mistake in handling the communication and media strategy
• The lack of accuracy and response of the information has hurt the trustworthiness of the
company in a negative manner

ANALYSIS
• Firstly, CEO John Browne has assisted the entire organization
in the economic crisis through proper utilization of resources
which played a major role in managing the overall scenario
(Casale 2018)
• The main motive and aspect of the leader or the CEO of BP was
to make the different employees averse with the risks which will
be beneficial for the overall success along with profitability of
the firm and there would not have been any kind of disaster as
well
• It was being noticed that BP was mainly concerned regarding
the profitability of the organization in comparison to the safety
of the employees who worked under the company for years.
This was one of the major aspects which is required to be taken
care by the BP

REMEDIAL PRINCIPLES AND PRACTICES
• Firstly, this is required to provide proper and appropriate training practices to the leaders along with the
different workers working in the organization which will be related on following the different ethical
procedures in the organization which will be beneficial for raising the safety among the individuals in an
effective manner
• The workplace ethics have provided proper tool for the different employees and leaders working in the
organization for preparing them in handling ethical situations in a successful manner
• The mandatory training will be helpful in building culture of proper integrity and solve the different
complex problems

CONTD….
• Throughout the case study, this was being seen that BP was very much concerned with the
different kinds of techniques of gaining profitability over safety
• The major failure which was being seen in the BP company was the carelessness and the lack
of satisfaction which affected the overall efficiency of the firm in a negative manner
• This was being seen from the case studies that there were three other organizations were
included in the disaster, however they did not take any kind of responsibility in resolving the
issue in an efficient manner (Geman 2010)

CONTD…
• Furthermore, this was being noticed that under the leadership of CEO Hayward, the main focus shifted
to reduction of the cost and not the safety of the individuals. Due to such scenario, this was being
noticed that more than 17 people were injured and there was high economic blow which affected the
public image of the company in a negative manner (Eigenmann 2018)
• Lastly, each team needs to mainly focus on achieving the different goals in an effective manner within
the stipulated time frame. However, this is required to be noticed that safety of the employees is the
main priority which should be taken care (Watkins 2010)

CONTD….
• The other principle is to adopt honesty wherein the main focus will be on developing different kinds of
safety procedures which will be beneficial for controlling different environmental laws
• The other practice is related to compiling of standard operating process which is detailed in nature
wherein the main focus is required to be used while event of any kind of mishap which can take place
• The usage of the timely and clear communication is the other aspect which will be beneficial for
making the leadership effective in nature

CONTD…
• The latest incident related to the oil spill highlighted
the overall focus on safety practices which will be
effective in nature in resolving the different issues inn
an effective manner
• Due to the laissez-faire style of leadership was the
major reason for the mishap which caused in 2010
and this is still fresh in minds of people which can
affect the overall scenario in a negative manner
• The leadership aspect of BP is required to be changed
which will be beneficial for the overall success of the
organization in a positive manner (Hoffman 2010)

REFERENCES
• Amadeo, K. (2018, October 22). BP Gulf Oil Spill Economic Impact. Retrieved from December 3, 2018, from
https://www.thebalance.com/bp-gulf-oil-spill-facts-economic-impact-3306212
• Casale, J. (2010, May 31). BP spill response tars reputation. Retrieved from Health Business Elite.
• Eigenmann, C. S. (2013). British Petroleum (BP). Salem Press Encyclopedia. Retrieved from
http://ezproxy.umuc.edu/login?url=http://search.ebscohost.com.ezproxy.umuc.edu/login.aspx?
direct=true&db=ers&AN=89475014&site=eds-live&scope=site
• Geman, B. (2010, September 28). La. official cites leadership snags in BP oil spill.
• Hoffman, C. (2010, September 2). Special Report: Why the BP Oil Rig Blowout Happened. Retrieved November 30,
2018, from https://www.popularmechanics.com/science/energy/a6065/how-the-bp-oil-rig-blowout-happened/
• Watkins, M. D. (2010). The gulf oil spill: A classic failure of systems leadership. HarvardBusiness Review Digital Articles,
2–3. Retrieved fromhttp://ezproxy.umuc.edu/login?url=http://search.ebscohost.com.ezproxy.umuc.edu/login .spx?
direct=true&db=heh&AN=124082514&site=eds-live&scope=site