The BP Oil Spill: Explosion of British Petroleum's Deep-Water Horizon (Term Paper Sample)

The BP Oil Spill: The Fatal Explosion of British Petroleum's Deep-Water Horizon and the Resulting Oil Spill In 2010
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The BP Oil Spill: The Fatal Explosion of British Petroleum's Deep-Water Horizon and the Resulting Oil Spill In 2010
Introduction
The leadership of the organization plays an epochal role, particularly during the time of crises. In the case study of BP oil spills, several incidences of good leadership and bad leadership behavior have been evident (Omene, 2019). The nature of leadership in acceptable practices is supported by the initiated actions and went a long way into promoting the environment's safety during the disaster. Through the inappropriate use of leadership skills, over 4 million barrels of oil spilled for about 87 days, and the leaders failed to develop immediate action to reduce the environmental damage (Omene, 2019). The leaders also could not identify the events' victims for appropriate action to prevent the disastrous occurrence in the future. Ideally, the managers' inability to remain proactive led to the damage of the natural resources worth 8.8 billion dollars, putting the countries at risk of development failure (Nichols, 2018). As leaders, being proactive could be significant in preventing the situation from worsening. The imposition of 5.5 billion was the penalty for going against the clean water act was not enough to restore the life and economic losses caused by the tragedy (Omene, 2019). The white paper is, therefore, meant to explore some leadership aspects exercised in the case study.
Events related to Roles of Leadership and Team
In the case study of the oil spill, several events depict leadership and teamwork responsibilities. The first event showing the leadership and team role is evident during the cleanup processes (Chen et al., 2019). Here, the coastal USA coastal guards' leadership was employed to mobilize the cleaning workers and utilize the floating booms to get rid of the water from the ocean. This reflects their concern and teamwork promotion for successful restoration of the state of the sea. The leaders also facilitated the use of dispersant chemicals that boost oil degradation in reducing the amount of spillage in the ocean and saving marine life. During this mission, over 1.4 million gallons of the chemical were used to clean the sea, increasing the level of toxicity (Kellar et al., 2017). Since the ocean becomes more unfavorable for the living organisms after the cleaning process, the leaders who take part in this event seem to have displayed some sense of negligence for not using the right chemicals that support aquatic life. The chart below shows the level of natural resource damage due to failure in controlling oil spill;
Source: Chen et al. (2019)
The other event was coupled by limiting people's movement to the areas covered by the oil spillage (Chen et al., 2019). The leaders employed this strategy to reduce the possible harm that might result in accessing the place. Through the leadership exercised by federal aviation, the administration permitted only the aircraft to facilitate the rescue process while barring other flights from accessing the area (Omene, 2019). The approach was essential and reflected on the role of leadership in preventing further occurrences of disasters.
Also, the leadership and team roles are evident during the event where the microbes were displayed to help remove the ocean's spillage. This reflects how skillful the leaders were in using biological and environmentally friendly measures to bring back the ocean's normal situation (Kellar et al., 2017). Though the claims were moving around that microbes could not feed on the entire oil and only consumed the gases produced, it partly played a role in eliminating the dangers of the spillage and making the ocean a better living environment for other organisms ('Five Leadership Lessons from the BP Oil Spill,' 2020). The introduction of such microbes indicates how the leadership team can promote a creative approach to the problems hence bearing positive results. Below shows changes in oil spill concentration as elimination take place concerning time;
Source: Chen et al. (2019)
Since the spillage took a longer time in the ocean, the leadership teamwork role was also encountered during the event where the measures to remove the oil from the sea practically were employed through the leaders' coordinating effort. The leaders used the teamwork approach to initiate combustion and remove the oil to reduce spillage volume in the ocean. About 33 million gallons of oil were retrieved on the removal mission (Omene, 2019). This significantly created the space where the sea animals could thrive and live in the ocean. The action reflects how hard-work and teamwork in leadership can impact the programs bear impactful results.
Finally, the event related to leadership and the team's role during the situation is where the containment measures were finally put in place to control the situation (Chen et al., 2019). During this process, the team leadership played a role where the barriers were placed to cushion the mangrove, crabs, and marshes. During this process, the leaders ensure oil flow above and below the boom to reduce their potential effects on sea plants and animals (Kellar et al., 2017). They also employed the mechanism where the wools were used to control the oil spills' impact in the region.
Company's Management and Leadership Environment in a Particularly Challenging Period
The case study provides insight into the leadership environment of the company during challenging moments. From the case, it clear that the company was experiencing a crisis within the leadership systems, which barred them from initiating a timely response to reduce the deaths, which resulted from the oil spill disaster. Since leaders are the core drivers of the organization's agenda, it is quite possible that those who were taking the front leadership roles could not execute their responsibility as desired. Due to that, the facilities which could aid in containing the disaster were yet to be organized. Therefore, the organization was operating using the dormant leaders who had no future preparation plan to control any dangerous situation that could come along the way (Kellar et al., 2017). Since the organization's leaders are the central players on the management of crises and disasters, the organization's failure to respond and promptly handle the situation was a connotation that BP Oil Company had a confused leadership.
Analysis of the Leadership Practices of the Organization in the Case Study
The case study provides an understanding of some of the leadership practices used to create collaborative and successful teams. It also spells some of the leadership practices that failed to promote successful team relations contributing to the harmful condition ('Five Leadership Lessons from the BP Oil Spill,' 2020). First, the adverse situation was contributed to by the inability to demonstrate authentic leadership in a crisis. From the case, the significant loss in both life and property was witnessed while there was no single individual who was willing to act beyond the title and position held within the company. Also, the leaders failed to provide constructive suggestions promptly to help reduce the disaster's effects. Though the leaders are the main controllers of the organizational activities, the BP leadership could not transmit clear messages among the relevant parties for better coordination during the disastrous situation (Chen et al., 2019). This led to unfavorable conditions during the catastrophic situation. Below shows the chain value that contributed to disasters;
Source: Chen et al. (2019)
The other practice that signifies failure in the line of leadership of the organization is unprofessional service provision. Since the leaders are entitled to serve the organization to the fullest, some laxity forms were evident among the leaders leading to worse conditions from the disaster. The leaders could not mobilize themselves and the other team to initiate measures to curb the spill's effects. Therefore, this slowed down the containment processes, thereby contributing to high property loss and the lives of people and sea animals. Ideally, the leaders' slow response nature indicates their lack of concern about the environment and the need to protect its integrity, particularly at the time of crisis (Lorini, 2019). Their initiative towards promoting the overall safety of the environment was fueled by a lack of concern about people's health and economic losses caused by the disaster.
The other practice evidenced among the leaders that affected the situation is ignoring the responsibility. Here, the leaders showed very negative attitudes and behaviors, which slowed down the response process rather than promoting it. The teams could not trace their essential role, and there was little coordination between the members. For instance, removing the oil from the ocean took a long time as the leaders showed less interest in the process. Despite knowing their role was of greater importance in restoring the ocean's condition, few leaders were willing to take the front charge by involving other leaders like Presidents Barak Obama and other stakeholders to better the rescue mission. Due to this, the oil spill's effect was managed with minimal involvement of other parties, leading to inappropriate skills. This, therefore, led to the leaders' inability to prevent economic losses and loss of life since the containment took longer with fewer skills and minimal use of diverse opinions.
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