Performance of Stratton Oil Company - Case Study Example

Case study #2 Situation Analysis It is apparent from the case that the performance of Stratton Oil Company, in the recent years, has seen fluctuations due to the oil-price changes in the international market. Additionally, various integral problems rooted in its organisational operations also enhanced its concern with regard to its performance. In a particular scenario, owing to extreme disturbances in the workplace, the regional manager was even forced to halt the organisational operations for more than a week. The problems of the company raised to the next level post the incident of BP’s oil spill in the Gulf of Mexico. With the intention to solve these issues, the CEO started his activities firstly from visiting the workplace of one of its rigs, named ‘Voyager 7’. The rig was quite small comprising 150 employees with a blend of skilled, unskilled and immigrant labours. Soon he began to depict that there was clear discrimination practiced in the workplace with regard to the living conditions and the working conditions of the lower level employees and the upper level employees. The upper level employees, who were also the immigrants, were provided with far better treatment in comparison to that of the local African employees. The local authorities of the government, despite being aware of the situation were never involved in taking any potential action to resolve the racial discrimination practiced within the organisation. After analysing the situation from the view point of the CEO, inferences have been drawn through the SWOTT analysis. Strengths: The only positive that can be depicted from this situation is the diversity in the workplace where both the local people as well as the emigrants work together. Weaknesses: The situation has major drawbacks with the workplace environment being full of discrimination. Employees are treated differently on the basis of their nationality, race and designations, raising Corporate Social Responsibility (CSR) related concerns, which might diminish stakeholders’ confidence on the company. Opportunity: The CEO of the company is aware of the situation and has the opportunity to amend the scenario in the coming days. Threats: The discrimination prevailing in the workplace is a threat to the integrity of the workplace. Owing to the absence of communication between the lower level employees and upper level employees, the expectation of effective performance of this rig is highly unrealistic. Trends: If the situation continues in this trend, chances of conflicts between the upper level and lower level employees are highly uncertain. Moreover, legal authorities might also halt the operations of the entire business owing to the illegal practices of discrimination in the workplace. Problem/Decision Statement Discrimination amid the emigrant employees and the local African employees in terms of living conditions and other basic necessities is a major problem in this particular situation. Identifications of Alternatives To solve the problem of discrimination in the workplace, the below mentioned alternatives shall be considerable benefit. Alternative 1: Abolish all the present rules and patterns that are currently practiced in the workplace and introduce new rules based on equality principles. Alternative 2: To analyse the reasons behind the extensive practice of discrimination in the workplace and frame measures accordingly to deal with the same to completely eliminate such issues. Alternative 3: Implementing negative motivation in the workplace through strict penalties against the employees who are involved with discrimination in the workplace. Critical Issues The alternatives will need to be evaluated considering the objectives of the company regarding CSR, ensuring equality for all the employees and its impact on the performance of the employees (Finn, 2014; International Labour Organization, 2003). Analysis Alternative 1 CSR Goals: The first alternative, i.e. to abolish all the present practices in the workplace and introduce new set of rules to avoid discrimination might not be effective since the employees in the upper hierarchy might be reluctant towards adopting the new rules, which will again reduce the probability of success of the alternative and will impact the CSR goals altogether Employees Effectiveness: It will be hard for the company to depict the impact of new rules on the performance of the employees as they are not aware about which group of employees are maximum effective in ‘Voyager 7’ Equality: This alternative will ensure maximum equality since the new regulations will be equal for all the employees Alternative 2 CSR Goals: This alternative might be effective in ensuring CSR goals, as employees will be analysed to understand the reasons behind involving in discrimination in workplace and precise measures will be taken to deal with the same Employee Effectiveness: This alternative might be effective in depicting the performances of the employees in the workplace of Voyager 7 and measures can be taken accordingly Equality: This might not ensure equality as biasness is possible while analysing the behaviour of people with regard to depict discrimination Alternative 3 CSR Goals: In this particular scenario, chances of accomplishing the CSR will be the highest, as penalties against the employee(s) involved with discrimination will certainly think twice before repeating his/her mistake again leading to elimination of discrimination and accomplishment of the CSR goals accordingly Employee Effectiveness: This approach is also expected to encourage employees towards their work rather than involving in the practice of discrimination, which ensures that employees work in a unified manner and assure the deliverance of positive results for the business Equality: The aspect of negative motivation, such as penalties will be equally implemented for all, irrespective of their designation in the workplace Summary Assessment (Chart) Recommendations From the analysis, it can be depicted that the third alternative is probably the best suited measure to prevent discrimination in the workplace. This particular approach will make sure that the CSR goals of the company help to successfully attain a reputation of being called as a socially responsible unit. The company will also be able to ensure that the employees are more concentrated towards their work rather than practicing discrimination, which is again expected to deliver better results in terms of productivity and quality in the business. Apart from that, this particular alternative will also be applicable for all the employees in the workplace irrespective of their designations and hierarchy. Hence, it can be recommended that the company can adopt alternative three as the best suited potential measure to solve the prevailing problems of discrimination in the workplace. References Finn, L. (2014). Strategy to stop discrimination in the workplace. Retrieved from http://everydaylife.globalpost.com/strategy-stop-discrimination-workplace-3359.html International Labour Organization. (2003). Time for equality at work: global report under the follow-up to the ILO declaration on fundamental principles and rights at work. Geneva: International Labour Organization. Read More