BP Deepwater Horizon Oil Spill: Organizational Behavior Analysis
This paper examines the 2010 BP Deepwater Horizon oil spill as a case study in organizational behavior failure. Drawing on the White House Oil Spill Commission findings and related scholarship, the paper identifies bad management decisions and communication breakdowns as the primary organizational causes of the disaster. It applies Social Systems Theory and Motivation Theory to diagnose how weaknesses in BP's people, structure, and social systems contributed to the incident. The paper also compares BP's organizational failures to ExxonMobil's 1989 Valdez accident, explores the eight faulty safety systems identified in BP's internal investigation, and reviews both the immediate international offers of assistance and the longer-term contingency planning that followed the spill.
- Introduction: Overview of BP and the Deepwater Horizon disaster
- Description of the Organizational Problem: Management failures and communication breakdowns behind the spill
- Diagnosis: Applying organizational behavior theory to BP's failures
- Global Issue and Root Cause: Eight safety system failures and worldwide attention
- Global Response: International assistance offers and contingency planning
- Conclusion: Organizational behavior lessons from the BP disaster
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What makes this paper effective
- Grounds its analysis in concrete evidence, including the White House Oil Spill Commission findings and BP's own internal investigation identifying eight failed safety systems.
- Uses a comparative approach — drawing a parallel between BP and ExxonMobil's Valdez accident — to show that the organizational failures were not unique and reflect broader industry patterns.
- Connects specific events to named theoretical frameworks (Social Systems Theory and Motivation Theory), giving the argument academic structure beyond simple description.
Key academic technique demonstrated
The paper demonstrates diagnostic analysis: rather than simply describing what happened, the author identifies underlying organizational causes by mapping the oil spill's contributing factors onto established organizational behavior constructs (people, structure, social system). This moves the argument from narrative to explanatory, showing how theoretical lenses can reframe a real-world crisis.
Structure breakdown
The paper opens with a brief company overview before dedicating a section to defining the organizational problem. A diagnosis section applies theory to evidence, followed by a section covering the root cause and global dimensions of the spill. The global response section addresses international and governmental reactions, and the paper closes with a short conclusion. This problem–diagnosis–response arc is well-suited to case-study analysis in business or management courses.
Introduction
British Petroleum (BP) is one of the leading oil and gas companies in the world, with operations in approximately 72 countries. The company has global recognition in the oil and gas industry given its broad range of energy systems. However, the firm's operations have been affected by various events throughout its history, most notably the Deepwater Horizon oil spill. The incident remains one of the worst environmental disasters in the United States and the largest oil spill in the nation's waters. This environmental catastrophe was influenced by various factors, including serious internal problems within the company.
Description of the Organizational Problem
The Deepwater Horizon oil spill stands as one of the major organizational and environmental crises in BP's recent history. Ebinger (2016) notes that the incident, which occurred in the U.S. Gulf of Mexico, had devastating effects on the local environment and on BP's operations. It also affected public perception of offshore oil and gas drilling because of its environmental consequences. The spill was characterized by the release of toxic fluids and gas that triggered an explosion on board. Oil subsequently flowed across approximately 1,300 miles from Texas to Florida, carried by deepwater ocean currents.
For BP, this environmental disaster revealed serious organizational behavior problems. It exposed leadership and management failures that affected how the organization managed and responded to the ensuing crisis. The company's leadership failed to respond with adequate speed and attention — an indicator of deficiencies in BP's crisis preparedness and ethical practices. The incident also highlighted deep problems in ethical guidelines and crisis management within BP's organizational culture.
Goldenberg (2010) argues that the organizational behavior issues at BP contributing to the oil spill included bad management and communication breakdown. Based on a report by the White House Oil Spill Commission, the Deepwater Horizon disaster resulted from a series of poor decisions and communication failures by BP's management (Goldenberg, 2010). The Commission concluded that the incident could have been avoided through good management, as the failures at Macondo directly reflected a systemic breakdown in the company's decision-making.
References
Broder, J. M. (2011). BP shortcuts led to Gulf Oil Spill, report says. The New York Times. Retrieved March 4, 2022, from https://www.nytimes.com/2011/09/15/science/earth/15spill.html
Ebinger, C. K. (2016). 6 years from the BP Deepwater Horizon oil spill: What we've learned, and what we shouldn't misunderstand. Retrieved from The Brookings Institute website: https://www.brookings.edu/blog/planetpolicy/2016/04/20/6-years-from-the-bp-deepwater-horizon-oil-spill-what-weve-learned-and-what-we-shouldnt-misunderstand/
ExxonMobil. (2018). The Valdez oil spill. Retrieved March 4, 2022, from https://corporate.exxonmobil.com/Operations/Energy-technologies/Risk-management-and-safety/The-Valdez-oil-spill#Overview
Goldenberg, S. (2010). BP oil spill blamed on management and communication failures. The Guardian. Retrieved March 4, 2022, from https://www.theguardian.com/business/2010/dec/02/bp-oil-spill-failures
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Mayrhofer, W. (2004). Social systems theory as theoretical framework for human resource management: Benediction or curse? Management Revue, 15(2), 178–191.
Mullins, J. (2010). The eight failures that caused the Gulf Oil Spill. New Scientist. Retrieved March 4, 2022, from https://www.newscientist.com/article/dn19425-the-eight-failures-that-caused-the-gulf-oil-spill/
Office of the Spokesman. (2010). Deepwater Horizon oil spill: International offers of assistance. Retrieved from U.S. Department of State website: https://2009-2017.state.gov/r/pa/prs/ps/2010/06/143127.htm
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