BP oil spill communication strategy.
Background to the situation
In April 2010, an oil well blew up at the Gulf of Mexico, causing a fire and the sinking of a mining rig. Eleven people lost their lives in the tragedy while more than a dozen were injured. The reservoir began emitting hydrocarbons in the form of oil that spread over a large area of the sea for the next 87 days after the explosion. The spill caused a lot of environmental effects and led to the death of a significant portion of sea life in that area. This led to a lot of backlash from environmentalists and members of the public despite efforts by the company to contain the spill with the support of the government.
Managing the public backlash in the face of the oil spill is a massive task that the company couldn’t have efficiently planned for. The situation can be termed as an accidental occurrence in the process of drilling (Silliman et al. 2012). However, it has been made worse by the fact that there have been previous blasts that have claimed even more lives of workers. One of the earlier accidents in Texas was termed one of the worst industrial disasters in history when eighteen workers lost their lives, and over 180 people were injured. The series of accidents for the company has shadowed it with doubt.
The enormity of the spill can be termed as one of the primary causes of the massive backlash that could have been passed as an accident had it happened any other way. Environmental activists have stepped up calls for a boycott of company products (Beyer et al. 2016). The situation has also been blamed on management and communication failures within the company, which led to failure to respond to the crisis instantly. The history of ignoring safety protocol has cropped up, sharply as the company comes under heated backlash.
First of all, this is not the first time this is happening in the history of the company. According to Smith & Ashcroft (2011), there have been several blasts in the company premises across the world with a significant number of casualties. This puts the company in a precarious situation and is possibly facing criminal charges for negligence. Secondly, the public energy is bad for the image of the company in its bid to expand its client base and market share. Most think that the management is incompetent and deserves radical restructuring. The ultimate effect of a poor public image for the company is losing a chunk of its market share when people call for product boycotts. Franchises will change their branding and go for alternative companies that are BP competitors. The company also loses the trust of employees who feel that the company cannot protect them at the workplace.
The company’s mission is to be the most reliable provider of energy to people and becoming a change. They also have the vision to increase the value of resources entrusted to them by the stakeholders. All these are badly hurt since the public no longer sees them as an instrument for change after the environmental spill (Beyer et al. 2016). The claims of negligence are not helping matters since investors are quickly turned away and entrust their reserves with competitors.
The core values of the organization are on trial as the question of ethics rises sharply. Most people are asking themselves if the company Is only in pursuit of profits and don’t care about human life. This is an uncomfortable situation for the company in its goal to deliver on its vision and mission statement. According to market analysts, BP would struggle to maintain clientele for its customers in most franchises. However, specific interest is drawn to the fact that BP sublets its oil distribution and that the franchises are individual businesses belonging to ordinary Americans. That way, the intended boycotts would not affect the company much. The gas and petroleum purchase culture is also a cushion for the company since most people make purchases depending on the price scale of the supplier. Therefore, the prices of BP will affect their market dominion.
It is open that the situation at BP has to be accorded the seriousness it deserves. The employees at the company must feel that their company takes care of their safety. This means a lot of structural changes have to be effected at the company in order to control employee behavior. Investors must also be convinced that their resource share is in safe hands. This situation is, therefore, an opportunity to develop the best policy documents for any company in the market. This will cover areas that have brought recurring challenges to the company, such as spillage. Through affecting the changes in the existing drilling rigs, investors will feel safer, and BP could improve the market share as a result (Ritchie et al. 2014). Taking responsibility for the spill and paying damages would also appease the public who will see the company’s commitment to remedying the environmental problems.
Situation resolution
The type of information that is given by the company PR team is critical in how the matter will play out in the public court of opinion. It is essential to maintain the right image even when it is improbable. The company has to communicate frequently with the public to make them aware that they are concerned with the situation. The company should also explain to the public their internal investigation of the explosion and how they are working to resolve future risks. The wrong type of information could flare up tempers and add to the line of litigants that are already suing the company.
It is crucial to make the public understand that the oil mining business is a dangerous one. This means for the oil reserves that we enjoy, there are risks that we contend within the daily operations. These risks could sometimes come true in the form of such accidents. The company must also come out strongly to fund the cleanup process by employing civilians and empowering volunteers in the cleanup process(Lopez, 2010). Providing compensation to citizens whose lives and livelihood were affected by the spill is also vital in mitigating the effects. It is important to note that BP oil must continue powering people with fuel despite the accident and its impact.
Since the spill took place, mitigating the effects has been the cardinal focus of the company. The top management drew up a plan to ensure the problem does not recur. An internal audit was also ordered to discern the persons that were responsible for the situation. Furthermore, the company budget was rechanneled towards helping stop the spread of the spill by hiring equipment that was used to help stop the flow. The top management feels that it is a priority to maintain public support despite the current backlash.
ANALYSIS OF THE ORGANIZATION
Internal environment
BP oil is the largest oil explorer in the Gulf of Mexico and provides goods and services related to petroleum across the world. As one of the oil supermajor companies in the world, BP deals in exploration, drilling, refinery, distribution, and marketing services dealing with oil and natural gas. The company has maintained a steady lead by providing quality goods and services. Their market share has expanded over the years, pushing the company into one of the top seven petroleum companies globally.
BP has intense competition from companies like Exxon, Total, Chevron, which are considered significant producers of oil globally. The company is in a constant race to maintain its market share in the market business. BP has, however, cut its niche as one of the top service providers and employers in the industry away from its quality petroleum products sold multination ally. It is important to note that the oil market is a stiff one, and the series of accidents have dented the image of the company that is kept alive by its control of vast deposits of oil.
Three months into the spillage, the company appointed a new board of directors with the spillage causing the appointment of the third CEO in three years (Michel et al. 2013). Generally, BP is a large company with tremendous assets that keeps it in business. The management of the company is compact, and the numerous sectors are always working together to swell the profit base and improve its stake in the industry. Despite the challenges, the company management is confident in the stature of the company and are ready to work towards taking it to the next level.
What is the strategic business plan for the organization?
BP has developed a strategy to ensure they are flexible, resilient, and competitive in the dynamic energy industry. Growing advantaged oil and gas in the upstream is one of the aims of the company. This is in response to the increased clamor for cleaner energy since natural gas emits almost half as fewer pollutants as the standard fuels people use. BP is also trying to expand with new products such as lubricants and maintaining a steady strategic partnership. The company is also in the modernization process to try and capture the digital advance.
- What communication resources are available for public relations activities (budgets,
employees, time, equipment)?
The BP public relations team is one of the most comprehensive in the industry. With an enormous budget running into the tunes of 50 million dollars, they are well equipped to deal with PR situations. The well-equipped team is led by communication experts who have a team that works under them. The head of PR is part of the top managers of the company. The gulf oil spill carried the most burdensome task for the PR team ever (Allen & D’Elia, 2015).
After the Gulf oil spill disaster, the company allocated 50 million dollars to the PR team in a bid to clean up the image of the company amid a public backlash. The accident caused a significant PR problem to the company after it had sent the better part of the decade campaigning for environmental management activities. The public relations team has been at the forefront of introducing new products in the market and advertising them. The past decade (200-2010) saw a friendly relationship between BP and the media, which saw the company lauded for its efforts to protect the environment. After a series of misstatements from the company CEO, Tony Hayward, BP-sponsored apologetic ads on television and internet communities in a bid to calm the public sting over his remarks (Michel et al. 2013).
External environment
The energy environment is a constantly changing environment. Concerns over global warming have seen the calls to shift to alternative energy sources such as renewable energy. The bottom point is to have an energy solution that doesn’t have an environmental impact, such as the emission of poisonous gases in urban centers across the globe. This, however, has done little to affect the global market of petroleum products that BP deals in. The future is, therefore, vague and unpredictable as the scale of renewable resources can’t be predicted.
- What groups exist with a mission to resist or hinder your organization?
Mayhem Festival is one of the significant movements that led to boycotts against the products of BP. Rockstar energy drinks sponsor the movement. It works with several artistes across America touring several places and meeting thongs of people. The festival is followed by many people who enjoy music and holds public sway in their sector. Such groups have a personal touch with people and can destroy or make the image of companies (Allen & D’Elia 2015). By taking up policies such as boycott and noncooperation, they can paralyzes business. Groups such as these were formally not focused on public issues of concern. However, they gain a lot of popularity and support when they take on decisions that look like public opinion. Many artistes not linked to the mayhem festival also joined the boycott later, showing how impactful they can be.
ANALYSIS OF STAKEHOLDERS
The BP stakeholders include shareholders, management, employees, the public, media, government, environmentalists, contractors, and partners. The general public can be termed as the largest stakeholder since they are the market. They are the aggregate of all the stakeholders and compete with shareholder’s fin influencing the direction that the company takes. Public opinion has turned against the company after the accident, with people calling for a boycott of products.
The media in the past few years covered the organization in good light, painting them as ardent environmentalists. Currently, the employees are unsure of their safety at the workplace, and the international community is viewing the company as a profit chaser. The formal opinion leaders include the government, who are paling a balance between helping the company overcome its challenges and enacting publicly popular measures to curb future incidences. The company is running ads on television to sanitize its image and regain public confidence.
STRATEGIC AND TACTICAL RECOMMENDATIONS
The company should ensure that they help conclusively in the cleanup process. They should donate vast sums of money towards addressing the issue and supporting volunteers. The management should be shifted to cover gaps that lead to disasters like these. The safety mechanisms need to be sent to boost safety for the employees, other stakeholders, and the environment. All stakeholders should come together at this moment to collectively avert further damage (Barrage et al., 2020). The company should bring together other oil producers to assist them in managing the situation. This is because drilling accidents happen anywhere, and the unity in safeguarding the environment is essential.
The organization should be very vocal about the disaster and call for unity of action. Saying nothing totally would impute a lack of concern (Barrage et al., 2020). The messages to the people should be one that calls their efforts to preserve the environment, apologizing for the mishap, and promising better conduct. As these happen, structural changes should be effected in the company in a way that the public can see that the company is doing something. News media should be used to project the gradual improvement of the
Evaluation
The company should use outputs and uptakes to evaluate the impact of the communication process. By looking at consumer behavior, they will be able to tell the effect of the PR effort. Feedback in discussion forums is another crucial hint of the uptake level. This is the most appropriate measure of communication as it is tied to the company’s chief function, supplying fuel energy. The evaluation plan could be inaccurate since polarized analysts always take up space to speak for the common man. However, the use of questionnaires is the right way of knowing the word on the street without relying on analysts.
References.
Barrage, L., Chyn, E., & Hastings, J. (2020). Advertising and environmental stewardship: Evidence from the BP oil spill. American Economic Journal: Economic Policy, 12(1), 33-61.
Smith, L. C., Smith, M., & Ashcroft, P. (2011). Analysis of environmental and economic damages from British Petroleum’s Deepwater Horizon oil spill. Albany Law Review, 74(1), 563-585.
Allen, P. D., & D’Elia, C. F. (2015). What lies beneath The BP oil spill and the need for new response models. Current Psychology, 34(3), 587-596.
Silliman, B. R., van de Koppel, J., McCoy, M. W., Diller, J., Kasozi, G. N., Earl, K., … & Zimmerman, A. R. (2012). Degradation and resilience in Louisiana salt marshes after the BP–Deepwater Horizon oil spill. Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences, 109(28), 11234-11239. Gill, D. A.,
Ritchie, L. A., Picou, J. S., Langhinrichsen-Rohling, J., Long, M. A., & Shenesey, J. W. (2014). The Exxon and BP oil spills: a comparison of psychosocial impacts. Natural Hazards, 74(3), 1911-1932.
Lopez, J. (2010). Too Much Oil for the Rubber-Stamp: The Government’s Role in the BP Oil Spill.
Michel, J., Owens, E. H., Zengel, S., Graham, A., Nixon, Z., Allard, T., … & Rutherford, N. (2013). Extent and degree of shoreline oiling: Deepwater Horizon oil spill, Gulf of Mexico, USA. PloS one, 8(6).
Beyer, J., Trannum, H. C., Bakke, T., Hodson, P. V., & Collier, T. K. (2016). Environmental effects of the Deepwater Horizon oil spill: a review. Marine pollution bulletin, 110(1), 28-51.