Business Ethics Case I

Professor York
September 22, 2010

Bp’s Negligence and Unethical Behavior

I. The article talks about the governments failure to dismiss Bp after many crucial signs they were
not being properly run. The article goes on to expose Bp’s failure to operate according to not only their
ethical code but the law. Ethics defined is discipline that examines one moral standards or moral
standards of a society. Morality defined is the standards that an individual or group has about what is
right and wrong good and evil. The law and ethics go hand in hand, if society deems an action morally
and ethically irresponsible then the action is made illegal. The paper will examine how they violated
ethics and morality.
In 2005 Bp had a refinery in Texas explode resulting in the deaths of fifteen employees. The
reason for the explosion was due to negligence and failure to keep the refinery up to safety code. In
2006, evidence was found Bp had corrosion in their pipelines. In the article it states how they cut back
on precautionary measures to save money. The result of this was the largest oil spill on Alaska’s north
slope. Then in 2007 Bp was charged with conspiracy to violate the Commodity Exchange Act. They
were committing wire and mail fraud. Most recently in 2010 Bp had the oil spill in the Gulf coast when
an oil rig blew up because of more negligence.
All these instances prove Bp should be considered socially, morally, and ethically irresponsible
if they don’t even work to protect their employees, employees and coworkers by nature are people one
cares for and is to treat on a higher level then a stranger, according to the ethic of care, which Bp
completely disregarded in allowing innocent workers to die.
II. The major issue that is revealed by reading the article was how the corporation made choices,
even though it was the wrong, to benefit themselves. In ethics it states a person is morally responsible
for an injury or wrong if the person caused or helped cause the wrong, or failure to prevent it, a person
did so knowing it was wrong, and a person did so of their own freewill. The evidence shows Bp is guilty
of all three things proving they are morally responsible, or to blame, for the mistakes made within the
corporation. Their choices led to deaths of people and countless animals, destruction to the environment,
and even legal action for fraud.
Their constant mishaps and negligence presents a question of ethics, because when you take a
job and promise to perform it to the best of your abilities, according to the law of agency, you should do
so especially if peoples lives are at risk. We find that when they used the utilitarian approach during
 thier cost benefit analysis they found it was ethical and right to fix the pipe and make sure no oil spill
would occur, yet they still choose the opposite and wrong way when they picked to cut expenses by not
ensuring safety codes.
Even if the employee making the decision to commit the fraud did not know if it was ethical or
not, they could have looked to the law. Instead the people chose to make the wrong decision and
violated not only the law but the code of ethics our society runs on. Bp’s ignorance and failure to
comply accordingly has left them in serious trouble. The constant legal trouble decreased one-third after
the Gulf Coast oil spill, which is definitely not be helpful considering they might not be able to afford
the fines issued to them.
The overall problem is obvious, Bp’s continuous failure to cooperate with the law and to act
socially, ethically, and morally responsible resulted in deaths of people, countless animals, and
destruction of the environment. The issue within the organization is that they ignored the ethic of care
and the law of agency. Ethic of care emphasizes caring for the concrete well being of those near us, the
law of agency is a law that specifies the duties of a person who agrees to act on behalf of another party
and who are authorized by an agreement to act accordingly. Bp acted unethically according to the ethic
of care by deciding not to protect their employees and ignored the law of agency when they violated the
agreement they made when taking the position saying they would keep safety codes up to regulation and
follow the law in order to protect employees.
III. It is important to see the reoccurring pattern in Bp’s history. As explained in I and II from 2005-
2010 Bp is yet to act ethically. They have constantly displayed actions that have had really negative
consequences on not only just the corporation but all of society.
IV. Bp is an excellent example of the ideas talked about in the textbook, because they disregarded
almost every ethical code the chapters discussed. The goals of Bp are to clean up their current mess in
the Gulf Coast and to make a change in their organization that results in better safety and wiser
decisions. Bp has a major organizational issue, which is their cutting corners to try to save money. If
they do not fix these issues within their organization they will not be able to function as a corporation
for much longer, considering they are already being looked at for disbarment.
V. The ethical frameworks are discussed in the paragraphs above.
VI. If you refer to I, II, III and V, I talked about the ethical codes violated by Bp, they were law of
agency and ethic of care. Corporate responsibility is several actions or omissions of many people. The
traditional view of who is corporately responsible is those who knew about the wrong doing is where
blame is placed. If you refer to my past paragraphs you will receive further information on how the case
fits into the concepts from the textbook and chapters.
VII. Some solutions the corporation can take are: To drill a hole into another gasoline providers
pipeline. This would take the pressure and negative press away from Bp and show that other companies
are negligent. Then they could have a plan set up to fix the damage the oil spill has had, and make them
look like the good guy. Secondly, They could have bad bookkeeping to make it appear Bp has so more
money, allowing them to fix the problems within the corporation by being able to afford better
employees and better equipment. An ethical solution for the corporation is to implement a well thought
out strategy for the organization to be more proactive in checking safety of refineries and watching for
corrosion. They could also secure employees who will make sure to do their job and protect their
employees, following the law of agency.
VII. The best strategy for this company would be for them to implement a well thought out strategy,
allowing them to avoid negligence and unethical behaviors. If they set up a team of people who will
check safety regulations and make sure all things are running smoothly then they will be able to avoid
future troubles.
Bp is a perfect example to demonstrate what the chapters talk about. Bp has violated basically
every ethical code that they could have. The article also demonstrates how even though Bp wanted to
save money by overlooking important issues they ended up not being able to pay their fines. The issues
in 2005, 2006, 2007, and 2010 prove the companies irresponsible and unethical. The have a major
organizational issue that is posing a threat to the company and if it remains unfixed will leave the
company bankrupt. By violating the ethics of care and law of agency the organization has proven
themselves to be bad for business. It is to be hoped that Bp can change things within the corporation or
them will end up falling apart.