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Bp and the Gulf of Mexico Oil Spill

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I’m going to discuss the problem at hand which is BP and the Gulf of Mexico Oil Spill which caused so much damage to the environment and also huge economic losses within a short period of time among other damages. Meanwhile, the CEO, Tony Hayward’s response especially about a comment he made on air causes a stir and the fact that BP has got quite a poor safety record, heightened the reaction of the political and public to BP’s involvement in the spill. In short, I’m discussing the communication problem, its causes and symptoms and the application of the communication model.
The main communication problem facing BP is their CEO’s choice of words to the public through the media about how no one wanted the problem over than he did and how he wanted his life back which was beyond inconsiderate, insensitive and out of touch by choosing words like that. The problem is affecting BP’s reputation and major implications for the organization of BP forcing them to implement strategies for the unanticipated environmental changes. It will also affect BP’s relationship with the government as the President is already under significant pressure to be tough with BP.
The causes include the failure to learn their lesson from previous crisis concerning their number of highly visible US safety issues to implement strategies before the unanticipated event occurred. This would be fair to the concerns of the U.S. Congress to ask Mr. Hayward about whether BP had deliberately traded off safety measures to save costs prior to the spill.
The symptoms of the problem include the loss in 50 percent of the value of market shares in less than two months with a corresponding loss of $US80 billion in stock market capitalization. Also, the company faced over 220 lawsuits in addition to significant expenditures for spill response among others. They couldn’t tell how high the final bill would go, while

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