Essays on Halliburton

Deepwater Horizon

Synopsis The Deepwater Horizon was an offshore oil rig in the Gulf of Mexico owned by Transocean, a U.S owned company that specializes in deep water drilling equipment (Ingersoll, Locke, & Reavis, 2012). The $560 million rig was operated by a crew of 126 people (Ingersoll et al., 2012) roughly 45 miles off the Louisiana coast (Mullins, 2010). On April 20, 2010, the exploratory Macondo well experienced an explosion that not only created one of the most catastrophic environmental disasters in U.S. history but killed 11 people (Barstow, Rohde & Saul, 2010). The environmental effects were devastating. It took 87 days ...

Compensation strategy of an organization is essential in ensuring a competitive advantage over rivals. In the contemporary business world, companies face increasing pressure to offer high-quality products and services. Compensation strategy is important to employees and employers. Workers often depend on salaries, wages, as well as benefits for income provision. Compensation practices differ in various companies. Managing compensation is a primary mechanism for decisions in the job market. Proper compensation management is crucial in improving organizational performance. Most companies adopt compensation strategies that enable employees to produce high-quality work. Companies such as Baker Hughes have a strategy aligned with ...

Abstract

The current discussion is aimed at the dissection of ethics, corporate social responsibility and sustainability of British Petroleum (BP) by taking the case of Gulf of Mexico Oil Spill in to consideration. By commencing the discussion with an overview of the externalities present in the oil industry, the pressures on oil companies are examined which is further evaluated through the application of stakeholder theory and the theory of utilitarianism. In the case of BP, it is revealed that the resort to CSR was primarily a reactive measure to correct its tainted brand image and save it from reputational risks. ...

As the facts of the case point out, over the last two decades Halliburton has illustrated a deep-seated and systemic unethical corporate practices and behaviors. Moreover, the company’s unethical conduct seems to begin at the leadership level and flow downwards. In other words, acting unethically is official corporate policy and is accepted behavior of all employees. Accordingly, any attempt to change or improve its ethical standards most involve the efforts of the entire company from its senior management to its least experienced staff member; from its corporate headquarters to all of its many subsidiary entities. In order to ...

Introduction

Since the mid XX century, the oil industry occupies a leading position in the global energy sector. A prerequisite for the implementation of large-scale long-term investments in the oil industry under the condition of a favorable outlook for oil demand in the world market is the availability of relevant geological reserves of oil in a particular region and the world at large. OPEC-countries account for over 40% of world oil production. Especially, the Middle East, particularly the Gulf basin, where there are the largest oil fields in the world, is rich for oil reserves (OPEC, 2015). Oil is extracted ...

Utilitarianism and Kantianism

Utilitarianism, Virtue ethics and Kantianism are examples of normative ethics. In these theories, there are three components which characterize every action: the consequences of the action, the action itself (which also include the motive of the action), and the agent (the doer). Utilitarianism deals with the consequences of the action. On the other hand, deontological theories (Kantianism and divine command theory) are concerned with motive/action. Virtue ethics, however, is concerned with the doer/agent (Stewart, 2009). Utilitarianism and Kantianism Utilitarianism. Utilitarianism is derived from the word utility. In utilitarianism, an action is deemed right only if its outcome is to ...