what permitted discrimination to occur in Texaco?
- hiring practices were lack of focus and effective policies to implement and oversight
- tone at the top
how could such discrimination have been prevented?
- publicize promotion of employees for merit (regardless of race)
- keep records of hires and promotions
- disciplines in any cases found
- factor into goals for managers
Is whistleblowing ethical?
If executives want their employees to act ethically, would benefit when whistleblowers come forward within the company; despite whistleblowing may be counter to many cultures’ norms
could a protected whistleblowing mechanism have helped?
Yes
what happened to Texaco?
Accused of racial discrimination in hiring practices
how did Texaco react?
- payment to plaintiff class of $115 M plus 11% raise
- creation of equality and tolerance task force
- adoption of company wide diversity programs
- nationwide job postings for senior positions
- monitoring of compliance with settlement terms
was BP’s corp. culture ethical?
- BoD operated in a continuous crisis mode
- execs. pushed for aggressive cost-cutting with little regard for safety
- co. grew too fast
- mgt continued to ignore red flags
why has BP’s culture developed as it has?
- lack of ethical leadership and clarity about importance of safety as the co’s fundamental value
- quick growth thru M&A created a complex org, dealing with difficult technical issues such as deep water drilling
- mgt is narrowly focused on short term profits
How would you suggest changing BP’s culture?
embrace safety–create a culture of safety: tone at the top, code policies of procedures that emphasize safety, communication and training, embed safety in performance goals and employee evaluations