Analyzing BP Oil Spill: A Case Study for MGT101A, Global Environment

This case study analyzes the BP Deepwater Horizon oil spill, examining the management failures and ethical lapses that led to the disaster. The analysis explores the application of utilitarian, rights, common good, and virtue approaches to the situation. It evaluates the planning and decision-making processes of BP, highlighting the impact of poor organizational culture and communication. The study also discusses the importance of trust, corporate culture, and effective communication in rebuilding a business's reputation after a crisis. The paper provides a detailed overview of the events, the ethical considerations, and the management principles that were either followed or ignored, ultimately contributing to a historic environmental disaster.

Managing in a Global Environment
Case Study Analysis 3
0 | P a g e

Table of Contents
Introduction.................................................................................................................................................2
Case Study Analysis....................................................................................................................................2
Answer 1.................................................................................................................................................2
Answer 2.................................................................................................................................................2
Answer 3.................................................................................................................................................3
Answer 4.................................................................................................................................................3
Answer 5.................................................................................................................................................4
Answer 6.................................................................................................................................................4
Answer 7.................................................................................................................................................4
Conclusion...................................................................................................................................................5
References...................................................................................................................................................6
1 | P a g e

Introduction
British Petroleum that is BP faced the historic disaster that is the oil spill of Deepwater Horizon.
The system was the large floating rig that was for the drilling oil wells that eventually explode in
the Gulf of Mexico in the year 2010 (Robbins et al., 2014). The primary purpose of the paper is
to discuss the activity, and the ethical value performed by the firm before and after the disaster
took place. The paper also discusses the various activities that are being performed by the
management team of BP for dealing with the situation and maintaining the trust of the people
towards the business.
Case Study Analysis
Answer 1
Utilitarian Approach: This ethical approach provides the most of the good to the matter and
even has less harm. This ethical approach shows the action that provides the least harm to the
people. It can be applied to the situation of BP by having a clear communication system among
the team members and proper maintenance of the paperwork (Nyankson, Rodene, and Gupta,
2016).
Rights approach: This approach provides the view that the human being has the dignity that is
based on their human nature according to their ability to maintain their lifestyle. It deals with the
moral right of the people for performing activities in their daily life. In the case of BP, the
managers and the workers should have effectively performed their moral duty to deal with the
situation.
The Common Good Approach: This approach shows the common good for both society and
the people. The situation of BP can be eventually prevented by understanding the common good
of life and society by maintaining the disaster (Sharpe et al., 2019).
Virtue Approach: This approach provides a certain virtue that provides full development for
humanity. In the case of BP, the entire team needs to develop their virtue and their value for
maintaining their activities and preventing the oil spill within the water.
2 | P a g e

Answer 2
The planning function of the management process of BP was quite low as they ignore the
warning sign and even the managers did not bother to look for the betterment of the condition.
The entire disaster took place due to the poor planning function of the management (Lowe et al.,
2015). It can also be seen from the case study that on the day of the explosion the manager
eventually misread the data regarding the pressure level within the pipeline and about the
pumping of the seawater. This entire situation provides the view that the management needs to
be more effective and aware of the situation to prevent the explosion and the disaster.
Answer 3
The 6 step decision-making processes are as follows;
 Definition or identification of the problem
 Development of alternatives
 Evaluation of the alternatives
 Making a suitable and effective decision
 Implementation of the solution
 Monitoring the implemented solution
The case of BP effectively show that they were clear regarding the problem of an Oil spill, but
the primary drawback that has been faced by the management is the development of the
alternatives and evaluation of the alternatives (Awkerman et al., 2016). Each alternatives process
they form for the prevention of the oil spill and maintaining the condition the idea gets failed,
and for that, they were unable to develop the proper alternatives for the crisis. In the end, they
gave up to develop the alternatives to meet with the crisis and decide to make the final decision
by inserting the washer in the burst pipe to prevent the flow of oil gas.
Answer 4
The organisational or the corporate culture has a huge impact on the business process and the
working function of the staff members in the firm. The entire management team and the worker
did not have the proper communication system that leads to the ignorance of the warning sign
before the disaster took place (Vander Zanden HB et al., 2016). The manager even misread the
3 | P a g e

data about the pressure within the pipeline, and all this show the poor organisational culture
within the workplace of BP. After the crisis also the management and the organisation was busy
to blame each other for not maintaining the situation and preventing the issue. It can also be seen
from the case study that due to their poor communication system and the lack of suitable
organisational culture the alternatives developed by the firm eventually failed for preventing the
crisis (Rabalais, Smith, and Turner, 2018). The management has to deal with the situation most
effective and suitable for the development of the business process.
Answer 5
The case study clearly shows that the organisational culture of the firm is to report the entire
activity within the workplace with proper documentation. It is the primary fact that the
management team will effectively communicate with the staff members for maintaining the
value and the working function within the field (Jolliff et al., 2014). The corporate culture and
the organisational culture of the firm is quite similar as the management did not have proper
control over the situation and also the team was quite exhausted to perform their duty freely
within the workplace. The disaster took place simply due to the negligence of the organisation
and the corporate team which shows that the firm did not have a suitable business process within
the market (English, et al., 2018). The link can be understood that both the culture did not have a
vital impact on the business to maintain the working activity.
Answer 6
Trust is a vital factor for the firm to develop their business and their value within the market. It
can be understood from the numerous situations that developing the trustworthiness within the
firm help the business to enhance their market. In the case of BP it is highly recommended that
they need to maintain their technical competency then motivates the employees and even
maintain the ethical principle for the development of the firm (Perez et al., 2017). It is also
recommended that they need to re-model their activity and enhance its cultural value for the
development of the business. For the firm, it is also recommended that they should effectively
communicate with the investors than the staff members for maintaining their activity within the
field and developing the value of the business. It is one of the most effective and valuable
processes for the firm to develop its working function within the market.
4 | P a g e

Answer 7
The article “How to rebuild trust in business” provides the view that the organisation failed due
to their poor decision and the lack of communication system within the workplace. The
organisation needs to develop their value and their working function effectively within the field
for future betterment. The communication system among the team members and their valuable
understanding of dealing with the situation. The article even shows that the organisation needs to
develop a suitable recommended process for maintaining their trust and their value within the
market for the future development of the firm (Dietz, 2012). BP could have effectively
maintained the disaster if they have maintained the suitable communication system and also if
they had not ignored the warning sign. The business has to deal with the situation, and they
provide a valuable activity for the development and to enhance the value of the firm.
Conclusion
The paper eventually concludes that the disaster caused in BP is one of the historic disasters and
this is simply due to the negligence of the management and the staff members within the
workplace. The paper also concludes that the business has developed its value and their working
function effectively within the market for dealing with the situation. The paper even concludes
that the organisational culture, as well as the corporate culture of the firm, was not so effective
and for that the business has to face the disaster that causes the death of numerous people and
also destruction within the environment.
5 | P a g e

References
Awkerman JA, Hemmer B, Almario A, Lilavois C, Barron MG and Raimondo S (2016)
“Spatially Explicit Assessment of Estuarine Fish After Deepwater Horizon Oil Spill: Trade-Off
in Complexity and Parsimony,” Ecological applications : a publication of the Ecological Society
of America, 26(6), pp. 1708–1720. doi: 10.1890/15-1410.1.
Dietz, G. (2012). How to rebuild trust in business. [online] Available at:
https://www.theguardian.com/sustainable-business/rebuild-restore-recover-trust-business
[Accessed 19 Apr. 2019].
English, E., von Haefen, R. H., Herriges, J., Leggett, C., Lupi, F., McConnell, K., Welsh, M.,
Domanski, A. and Meade, N. (2018) “Estimating the Value of Lost Recreation Days from the
Deepwater Horizon Oil Spill,” Journal of Environmental Economics and Management, 91, pp.
26–45. doi: 10.1016/j.jeem.2018.06.010.
Jolliff, J. K., Smith, T. A., Ladner, S. and Arnone, R. A. (2014) “Simulating Surface Oil
Transport during the Deepwater Horizon Oil Spill: Experiments with the Biocast
System,” Ocean Modelling, 75, pp. 84–99. doi: 10.1016/j.ocemod.2014.01.004.
Lowe SR, Kwok RK, Payne J, Engel LS, Galea S and Sandler DP (2015) “Mental Health Service
Use by Cleanup Workers in the Aftermath of the Deepwater Horizon Oil Spill,” Social science &
medicine (1982), 130, pp. 125–34. doi: 10.1016/j.socscimed.2015.02.009.
Nyankson, E., Rodene, D. and Gupta, R. B. (2016) “Advancements in Crude Oil Spill
Remediation Research After the Deepwater Horizon Oil Spill,” Water, Air, & Soil Pollution : An
International Journal of Environmental Pollution, 227(1), pp. 1–22. doi: 10.1007/s11270-015-
2727-5.
Perez, C. R., Moye, J. K., Cacela, D., Dean, K. M. and Pritsos, C. A. (2017) “Low Level
Exposure to Crude Oil Impacts Avian Flight Performance: The Deepwater Horizon Oil Spill
Effect on Migratory Birds,” Ecotoxicology and Environmental Safety, 146, pp. 98–103. doi:
10.1016/j.ecoenv.2017.05.028.
Rabalais, N. N., Smith, L. M. and Turner, R. E. (2018) “The Deepwater Horizon Oil Spill and
Gulf of Mexico Shelf Hypoxia,” Continental Shelf Research, 152, pp. 98–107. doi:
10.1016/j.csr.2017.11.007.
Robbins, S., DeCenzo, D., Coulter, M., and Woods, M. (2014). Management Essentials. Pearson
Australia Group Pty Ltd, Frenchs Forest, NSW.
Sharpe, J. D., Kaufman, J. A., Goldman, Z. E., Wolkin, A. and Gribble, M. O. (2019)
“Determinants of Oil-Spill Cleanup Participation Following the Deepwater Horizon Oil
Spill,” Environmental Research, 170, pp. 472–480. doi: 10.1016/j.envres.2019.01.009.
Vander Zanden HB, Bolten AB, Tucker AD, Hart KM, Lamont MM, Fujisaki I, Reich KJ,
Addison DS, Mansfield KL, Phillips KF, Pajuelo M and Bjorndal KA (2016) “Biomarkers
Reveal Sea Turtles Remained in Oiled Areas Following the Deepwater Horizon Oil
6 | P a g e

Spill,” Ecological applications : a publication of the Ecological Society of America, 26(7), pp.
2145–2155. doi: 10.1002/eap.1366.
7 | P a g e