business management

Case: BP and the Deepwater Horizon Disaster of 2010 by Ingersoll, Locke, and Reavis, case from MIT Sloan Management School for education purpose.

*Case is available for downloading in the Assessment Area

Summary: The BP and the Deepwater Horizon Disaster of 2010 case traces the series of events involving

employees of British Petroleum and its contractors leading up to the explosion and sinking of the

Deepwater Horizon oil rig on April 20, 2010. While there does not appear to be one clear culprit or

reason that led to the disaster, the case explores issues of organization, information and decision-making,

and individuals’ ability (inability) to voice their values as contributing factors.

 

Please answer the questions below in your essay. 

1. Why did the Deepwater Horizon disaster happen?

2. In order to prevent (or at least mitigate) the Deepwater Horizondisaster, who should have done what, when, where, and why? Who should have stepped up to stop this disaster?

3. If you became the new CEO of BP, what would you do in the short- and long-term to change the company’s culture and organizational design?

4. You should also provide a reflection after you analyze this case and explain how this case contributes to your understanding of ethics,sustainability, and responsible management. Please also comment on whether and how we can learn from an incident happened over a decade ago.

Please note the following  submission guidelines:

· Pleaseprepare the report as a coherent whole, making sure your answers to each question fit together and there are appropriate transitions. Make sure you define or explain any terms appropriately that a lay reader might not know.Imagine that the report is going to be read by an interested, intelligentperson connected to the company. Please be user friendly.

· Pleaseuse any conceptual information, theoretical frameworks or models that we covered in lecture or class or that you read about in the textbook.

· However,please do  not use any information from outside of the case as your evidence to support your arguments. Do be sure to use evidence given in the case (and Exhibits) to support your arguments.

The content of your paper ought to be  2500 words (+/-200 words)  in length,  double-spaced, Times Roman, 11 or 12 fonts, and properly referenced (Harvard style). You may use headings, and sub-headings, and, so long as they are properly introduced, bullet points may be used when necessary. Excessive use of bullet points will be penalized. In addition, you may submit a maximum of three pages of tables or figures in appendices, but if you do, make sure to cite these in the body of the text.