The BP Controversy Behaviors

In order to operate ethically in a global marketplace, corporations like Exxon Mobil need to define the conduct that they expect from their officers, executives, managers and employees. Without a defined code of conduct, employees feel forced to use their personal mores to determine what actions they should take in ethically ambiguous situations. Like children on a playground, employees need to know where the fences are so that they can work effectively.

“A different approach to ethics assumes that people are deeply connected to one another in webs of relationships, and that ethical decisions cannot be made outside the context of those relationships. This alternative view holds that ethics is essentially a matter of nurturing and reinforcing the ties we have with one another. This has become known as the “ethic of care,” as it is based on caring for others” (Halbert, & Ingulli; Law, Ethic, Business, pg. 18; 2008). This framework of ethics would make put the force and resolving the issue by respecting the view of environmentalist, wildlife rescue group, and the survival of the ecosystem. BP would need to make sure that those individual and groups feel that the both were concerned with ensuring the survival of the water and aquatic life not just the image and profits of the

As this case shows Human Rights violation BP, The company was lacking operational decisions, such as ensuring that safety standards are appropriate for employees; rather than pursuing additional profits and hiding behind a mask of public relations. Viewed from this perspective, ‘calculated casualties’ don’t provide the greatest amount of good; it simply highlights an unethical and ruthless pursuit of profits and hence environmental destruction and human deaths would widely be considered unethical.

This event resulted in the de-listing from the Dow Jones Sustainability Index and the FTSE4Good Index as well as cost millions for breaking these laws. As a result of being de-listed BP is focused on socially responsible investors. Shareholders and analyst are engaged through an annual meeting as well as webcast and one-to-one meetings. Carl Sandlin was appointed in 2012 to oversee and report the company’s progress in implementing the Bly report recommendations. The Bly report consists of 26 recommendations resulting from the Gulf of Mexico spill. In order for BP to be relisted, they must closely monitor not only how they operate but with whom they operate (BP, 2014).

Simply put, BP pretended like there wasn’t a problem in the way they were handling things, and when they came under fire they would lie about it or put the blame on someone else. What they did was they tried to control the message the public was giving them via a method known as ‘corporate greenwashing’, which is a way of giving off the perception that a company’s business model is environmentally friendly, so it can be thought of as putting more money towards advertising how green a company is instead of using it to pursue such practices that would make it so. BP gambled on this and ultimately lost when the Oil Spill occurred; rather than actively doing something about it, they blamed subordinates and contractors to try and take pressure off of themselves while simultaneously showing minimal regard to the impact that their mistake had on the environment. They only made the problem of them getting a bad reputation even worse when they weren’t listening to the public and ultimately paid the price, losing $80 billion and an additional $1.3 billion on criminal

BP tends to make bets that others don’t which is most likely why the disastrous deep water horizon oil spill occurred in the Gulf of Mexico five years ago. The fire burned for 36 hours while hydrocarbons leaked into the gulf before the well was sealed, unfortunately eleven individuals died. It has been difficult for BP to be the best company right now since this falling and they have been in reparation mode since this catastrophe. However, BP is now incorporating high safety and showed everyone that they are very reliable on the recovery of this hardship of BP trying to mix oil with water. BP came together to control the situation, cleanup, and diminish as much contamination as possible into the gulf. In addition, they are devoted long term to improve the Gulf of Mexico’s bionetwork and promise to be more careful so this will not happen again.

The company was on the right track, far as it trying to change the reputation of the company. The first step BP took to repair the image of the company was to repair the image. And by doing that, they their name from British Petroleum to simply BP. The next step was for BP to launch its Alternative Energy business in 2005. BP also seen fit for the company to continue “going green” efforts. This is in efforts for it to become more profitable. Their next step in restoring their reputation was to establish a code of conduct. The company code entitled “Our Commitment to Integrity”. BP seeks to unite its diverse employees. This code of conduct was the largest mass communications exercise ever attempted at BP.

BP has had a long history of ethical and legal violations because BP chose to put profits above all else. In the past twenty years, BP subsidiaries were convicted of environmental crimes in Texas and Alaska. In addition, BP received the biggest fine in US history regarding safety violations. Although BP accepted responsibility, their record showed questionable and illegal behavior for twenty years. One of BP's major issues happened in a Texas refinery close to Galveston in 2005 (Jennings, 2009). This explosion took the lives of fifteen workers and injured five hundred people and caused residents nearby to become sheltered in their homes (Jennings, 2009). The US Chemical Safety and Hazard Investigation board concluded that BP had

The Deepwater Horizon oil spill or the BP oil spill refers to the oil spill in the Gulf of Mexico which flowed for three months in 2010. The spill was a result of the explosion of Deepwater Horizon, which drilled on the BP-operated Macondo Prospect. The explosion killed 11 men working on the platform and injured 17 others (Summarized from Wikipedia article on: “Deepwater Horizon oil spill” http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Deepwater_Horizon_oil_spill )

There are very few aspects of how a company behaves as a corporate citizen that do not apply to a company of the size and nature of BP. The most significant of these are the sheer environmental impact - not simply of the extraction of oil and the energy use of BP's own operation, but more significantly of the impact on climate change of the actual use of all the oil by BP's customers. The state of current scientific evidence raises serious question marks over whether or not human society can actually afford to burn all the hydrocarbons whose existence we have already identified - never mind potential future discoveries. Twenty years ago, people worried that one day the oil would run out. Now, it is the case that the real issue has been identified as one of emissions.

According to BP’s Code of Conduct, BP ”commits to “excellence and to the disciplined management of our operations” (BP, 2013a). In this

Part 1 - Ethical Dilemmas- The accident elicited many feelings anger, disillusionment, disgust, and even employees feeling like they were let down because BP had not backed up its values promised to

BP, formerly known as British Petroleum, is the third largest oil and gas producer in the world, producing almost 3.8 million barrels per day. BP was founded in 1908 by William Knox D’Arcy in London, United Kingdom. The company operates worldwide in several sectors of the oil and gas industry such as generating low carbon energy, moving oil and gas, and off and onshore oil and gas extraction (BP, 2014). However, the offshore Deepwater Horizon oil spill that happened on April 20th, 2010 in the Gulf of Mexico was one of the greatest oil spills that took place in history. The disaster caused the loss of the lives of 11 workers, severely injuring 17 workers, and the aftermath had a great impact on the environment in the Gulf of Mexico.

The focus of this report will be to perform an audit of Beyond Petroleum’s ethical practices. This report will identify three main breaches of ethics, explain why they are unethical and make recommendations of what could be done to rectify the issues identified.

In the month of April 2010, Deepwater Horizon exploded, killing 11 workers and releasing oil from the well into an ocean. This paper will discuss BP management, ethical and social behavior. BP along with a few of its partners Transocean and Halliburton was involved in the gulf oil spill. The explosion of the drilling rig Deepwater Horizon was the root cause of the oil spill. This paper will focus on BP organization behavioral issues that caused the economic, environmental, and human losses. The research further focuses on what BP leadership could have done as a precautionary measure using highest ethics and management behavior.