How easy do you think it is for a new chief executive to change the culture of an organisation quickly? Justify your answer with reference to BP and or other businesses.
The introduction of a new chief executive to the business and their plan to quickly change the culture of the organisation may not be an easy move for the business to make. BP has struggled with many downgrading issues such as the oil leak in 2006 and many of its customers have lost faith in the company, and its reputation has been dramatically altered, as eco-friendly activists campaigned against the harm caused by this to the wild-life. The new chief executive Hayward was a skilled geologist and dedicated BP lifer he wants to make the business more innovative and responsive to its customers, and feels this swift move will alter it. They were internally recruited within the business so he will understand how the company works and how the employees feel about the business. As he would have been one of them, and be able to somewhat relate to how the employees feel about the business culture. One of the main issues that may be presented will be the attitude of the staff, because if you don’t have the attitude of the staff on your side then they may not like any changes that you try to put into place. The employees may protest the internal appointment as they also may have tried to gain the roll, or have worked alongside the new chief executive so there may be some negativity between the staff and the new appointment. Any kind of quick change within a business may not be very effective because the staff may not be ready for it and changing the culture is a big step and should be carefully considered to ensure that the change is right for the business, rushing through the change of culture may be able to change the disappointing performance within BP, but it may also lead to a de motivation within the staff, as they may not like how they are being forced to quickly modify themselves to a new business culture. If the staff are very dissatisfied then they may take action with their trade unions. This can result in BP loosing customer interest and gaining a bad reputation, which won’t help to improve their performance as people may choose to go to BP’s competitors.
BP is a multinational energy business that has 92000 employees in around 100 countries. This shows that they have a very diverse and multi-national business. With many staff from different religions, countries, beliefs. A quick change to the current culture may prove inefficient as there are so many different religions and cultures associated within the business, so a rapid change may result within certain areas being overlooked. Hayward has many cultures to consider in the culture change and needs to ensure that the rapid culture change fits in with all the international bases. At BP they believe in creating a working culture that promotes trust, respect and diversity. And despite the vast geographical range of the company they share the same set of values firmly in place across all levels of the organisation. This is a key aspect of BP’s culture and it is important that this is maintained during a transformation.
The BP Company has experienced a huge explosion at its Texas City Refinery in 2005, the oil spillage in Alaska