Managing in Ambiguity and Change: Chevron - Case Study Example

nаging in Ambiguity and Сhаngе Author’s Name Australian College of Applied Psychology Tutor Date Body 3 Alternative Sources of Energy 4 Geothermal Power 5 Electric vehicles 6 Biofuels 7 Solar power 8 Conclusion 14 References 16 Summary Managing involves ensuring that people work as teams so as to ensure that they meet the set goals and it entails making sure those resources are utilized in a manner that is effective and efficient. There are many activities which go into planning. A manager is an organizer, a planner, a leader and a staffer (Bryant, et. al, 2004). A manager is required to manipulate the resources that are at his or her disposal to ensure that objectives of the organization that they are running are met and at the same time minimizing losses and other unwanted eventualities. Organizations can be seen as systems and management is concerned with how the systems can be made to be successful. Managing organizations in the ordinary course of events is never an easy undertaking (Jeffrey, 1999). However, it becomes difficult whenever an organization is undergoing some form of turbulence. Where an organization is undergoing some challenges, then the managers have a task which is more difficult and such managers have to really exercise their wisdom so as to ensure that they achieve the best decision. Crises have seen many organizations crumble and this report examines an organization that has gone through a turbulent period and survived (Essers, et.al, 2009). The report shall look at the largest holder of natural gas resources in Australia, Chevron. Chevron is an American multinational corporation which is deals with energy and its headquarters are in San Ramon, California. The operations of the country extend to at least 180 countries globally. Body The gas industry is one of the greatest threats that exist towards environmental sustainability. This has informed the choice of a company which is involved in gas exploration and which has taken efforts to combat the effects that gas exploration activities tend to have. Chevron holds the larges amount of gas resources in Australia. Chevron also happens to be leading in the Gorgon Gas Project development (Sandeland, 2010). The project is estimated to cost $43 and since its inauguration in 2010 its completion is expected to be the year 2014. The aim of the project is to construct a plant which can hold fifteen million tons (Adrian & Yiannia, 2001). The project also aims at building a gas plant which should be in a position to supply Western Australia with 300 terajoules each day. The Gorgon Project is expected to among the projects, worldwide, which are efficient in terms of production of green house gases. Part of the reason that will ensure that the plant attains efficiency is sequestration, from the Jansz and Gorgon reservoirs, of the naturally occurring carbon dioxide. The year 2011 saw an announcement by Chevron that a gas development project in Wheatstone would go ahead in West of Australia. The first phase of the project is could cost about $29 billion. The second project is to have trains for processing purpose and the two trains are said to have the capability of producing 8.9 million tons each year. The two projects in which Chevron is engaged in are estimated to create more than 16,000 jobs. Alternative Sources of Energy In addition to the exploration activities, Chevron is involved in a number of activities which can be considered as sustainable. The company is dedicating resources in the development of alternatives sources of energy. Chevron is involved in production of geothermal power, solar, wind, biofuel amongst others (Edmonds, 2011). This initiative is courtesy of the Chevron Energy Solution in conjunction with Chevron Technology Ventures. As part of ensuring the success of the project of developing alternative sources of energy is successful, Chevron has set aside a huge amount of money which is $2 billion. The amount is to be used in ventures and research which are intended for renewable power up to the year 2013. Chevron has gone a step further in addition to developing its own technologies. As part of ensuring that it attains sustainability, Chevron has devised ways through which to cut its use of energy and since the year 1992 the company has managed to reduce by one third its use of energy. This has been achieved by the company making use of fuel cells made from hydrogen and also ensuring that its facilities make use of solar panels. Chevron therefore intends to lead from the front in advocating the use of renewable and sustainable energy by using the same in its own facilities and hence showing that it is actually possible to reduce dependence on the conventional sources of energy. Geothermal Power Chevron ranks among the largest producer of geothermal energy. Geothermal energy refers to energy in the form of heat which is made and stays in the earth. Chevron has a majority of its operations for production of geothermal power located in Southeast Asia. The power is produced after tapping steam from deposits of water which are found underground. The steam so tapped is then used to turn generators which are located on the surface. The process is able to produce about 1,270 Megawatts of electricity (Nancy & Gardner, 2005). In Indonesia, there are numerous geothermal wells which have been developed as an initiative of Chevron. The power produced from such well is applied in powering the capital of Indonesia Jakarta, and the areas surrounding the capital. The company has plans to come up with a facility to produce geothermal electricity of up to 200 Megawatts to be located in South Sumatra. The Philippines is also another Asian country where Chevron has extended its geothermal operations. In the Philippines, Chevron has a number of geothermal wells which are located in Albay province in a field known as Tiwi. There is also another field which is located in the provinces of Laguna and Quezon. Electric vehicles Chevron Technology Ventures was at one time the holder of a patent for a battery of the type of nickel metal hydride. The company also controlled a 50% stake in the company known as Cobasys. The other company also held about half the shareholding of Cobasys which was a company involved in production of Lithium Ion Batteries was Energy Conservation Devices. However, the two mentioned companies sold out their stakes in Cobasys to another company known as SB LiMotive Company limited. Chevron also let go of its patent in the NiMH technology. As a result of the sale, SB LiMotive and Energy Conservation Devices jointly hold the patent rights. There were accusations of Chevron denying companies access to large batteries produced through NiMH technology and it also controlled the licensee of the patent. This was aimed at removing one competitor to gasoline. These controversies resulted in Toyota and Panasonic being sued for producing a type of battery used in a type of a vehicle produced by Toyota. Chevron-Texano bought a part of Energy Conservation Devices from General Motors in the year 2001 (Adrian & Yiannia, 2001). The reason given for the purchase was that Chevron-Texaco had the intention of expanding their operations into the hybrid market which is quite new. However, this move has received some criticism by people who are involved in production of alternative energy. It has been guessed that Chevron-Texaco's real aim in acquiring a stake was to ensure that development of the Lithium Ion Batteries was suppressed. Part of the reason why the speculation arises is because Energy Conservation Devices no longer appears interested in selling the Lithium Ion Batteries to enthusiasts of electric vehicles after Chevron gain some stake in the company. There are many models of electric cars which are already in production. Some of the examples include Renault Fluence, BMW ActiveE, and Honda Fit EV amongst many others. This shows that there are many other companies that have heavily invested in electric car technology. Biofuels Chevron continues to make investments in the area of biofuels. Through Chevron Technology Ventures, Chevron has continued to invest up to $400 each year to tap into alternative fuel sources. The amount has also been used to fund research on technologies which will ensure sustainability of the environment. A biofuels business unit is to be found within the Chevron Technology Ventures. The year 2007 saw the announcement of a collaborative agreement between the United States' Department of Energy's National Renewable Energy Laboratory and Chevron. The two institutions were to jointly produce biofuels from algae. Scientists from the two organizations were to come up with strains of algae which would be harvested in an economical way and afterwards be processed to make fuels which are used for the purposes of transportation. Catchlight Energy is a limited liability company which was formed as a joint venture between Weyerhaeuser and Chevron. The company is involved in researching how biomass which is cellulose based can be converted to make biofuels. Chevron has also made huge monetary contribution to an alliance between it and Georgia Institute of Technology. The contributions were meant to develop technology which would come up with biofuels from products which have cellulose. The technology would make it possible to turn switch grass or wood into fuel. Chevron is a major shareholder in a biodiesel company known as Galveston Bay Biodiesel LP whose production is at times as high as 110 gallons per year. The list of other companies involved in research and production of biofuels is quite long. The raw materials used by the companies also differ from one company to another. Some biofuel is made from algae, jetropha while we even have companies making use of waste grease from restaurant and also soy. A good example is Amereco Biofuels Corp. This company makes use of ingredients which are recycled. XL Renewables is another company which deals with algae production and development of facilities to produce biofuels. Solar power Chevron is looking at the possibility of using solar energy to power the operations that it carries out. Chevron made an announcement as to a new project named Brightfield. The project was aimed at coming up with technologies which would be able to power the facilities operated by Chevron. The project is set on a piece of land that once hosted an oil refinery. The project is made up of over 7,000 solar panels which make use of advanced photovoltaic technologies developed by about seven companies (Adrian & Yiannia, 2001). The company is making an evaluation so as to determine the best technology to adopt for its operations. Chevron has also made investments in other projects involved in production of solar power. One such project where the company has made an investment is the photovoltaic solar project known as Solarmin which is located in Fellows, California and which produced 500 kilowatts of electric power. The company has also invested in a solar field located in Questa, New Mexico. Chevron Technology Ventures in collaboration with Chevron mining have used the site of a former as the location to build a solar farm capable of producing one megawatt (Baker, 2006). The facility which is located at Questa makes use of a technology known as concentrated photovoltaic. This consists of 173 solar arrays and they use Fresnel lenses for the purpose of focusing sunlight on photovoltaic cells which are small but very highly efficient. Chevron Energy Solutions is also another service company which is located in the United States (Pieterse, et. al., 2012). The company assists its clientele use energy more efficiently and hence reduce the amount of energy used. The initiative by Chevron Energy Solution is estimated to save over $1 billion in energy costs which would have been borne by customers and also results in a great reduction of greenhouse gases. Sustainable business which is at times referred to as a green business can be defined as an enterprise whose operations do not negatively affect the environment either locally on in the global scale (Pieterse, et. al.,2012). Sustainable businesses tend to be concerned about policies which govern human rights and the environment. Therefore, for a business to be considered as sustainable, there are a number of criteria that must be met. Such a business is supposed to ensure that every decision it makes regarding its business is governed by the principles of sustainability (Dalal-Clayton & Bass, 2002). The business is also required to supply products which do not have detrimental effect to the environment. Such products should be aimed at ensuring that demand for products which are not considered green is to be stopped (Auty, 1997). The products from a company or a business which considers itself green should be friendlier to the environment or greener than the products offered by the other business involved in the competition. A business which considers itself green is required to be committed to ensuring that it follows environmental principles in carrying out operations pertaining to its business (Jeffrey, et.al, 2002). A sustainable business can be summed up as an organization which contributes to activities which are friendly to the environment. Green business should be in a position to deal with environmental concerns and still remain profitable. A green business should be in a position to meets the needs that people currently have and it should not compromise the ability of the future generation in meeting their needs. A process should therefore be involved in designing products such that the products so developed do not compromise the state of the environment as it is presently (Auty, 1997). A report prepared to assess the issue of sustainability focus on three concerns that should be addressed by a sustainable business. Such a business ought to be cognizant of the people, profit and the planet. It is important therefore that a business is able to strike a proper balance between the three since the business should have a positive impact on the growth of the business, the environment and also the society (Harry, 1990). A business which can be considered go be sustainable should be able to completely eliminate or reduce the negative impact of the environment which results either from the process of producing their goods and services or from consumption of the same. It is possible to determine how green a business is by calculating the amount of carbon dioxide which results. There are a number of initiatives which have been undertaken by organizations in their quest to becoming green (Baker, 2006). Many organizations are adopting the policy of deliberately using electronic means of communication rather than making use of paper. Some organizations also tend to review the processes involved in producing their goods so that they can ensure that there is very little waste incurred. It also makes sense to use raw materials which are not toxic in producing products. Sustainability of organizations is also seen in terms of how such organizations given back the society (Auty, 1997). Employees from an organization should be in a position to use part of their free time in participating in voluntary activities. It is important that organizations encourage that the communities where they are involved in production to get some form of education. Such organizations should also provide internships to members of the community from where they operate. Organizations should take care to follow guidelines which are provided for the specific organizations. The guidelines so provided could cover use of materials which are hazardous and also the disposal of the waste by the organizations concerned (Eisenbach et. al, 1999). A company is required to make use of technology. Innovation and technology can be used to ensure that the products of a company go through a process which produces less waste and employs the best practices (Auty, 1997). It is important that that various organizations are involved in some form of collaboration. Collaboration ensures that information is shared and this certainly leads to innovation. Companies should also focus on ensuring that they seek to improve the processes their products go through with the aim of reducing the waste that comes from such processes. It is important that companies make full disclosures on how far they have gone in terms of meeting their goals. Thee mission statement of a company usually offers a glimpse as to what the company seeks to achieve. The approaches by the leadership of Chevron have played a very critical role in ensuring success of their projects. The company has had a sustained interest in exploring alternatives sources of power (Eisenbach et. al, 1999). This is evidenced by the huge amount of investments that Chevron has made in projects which are geared towards development of sustainable development (Carla & Magala, 2012). The company has made a conscious decision to switch to green energy and hence cutting down on the amount of energy it currently uses (Taylor, 1999). Chevron has made investments in a myriad of companies which are meant to develop alternative sources of power. Through collaboration with research institutions such as universities and other research laboratories, one is left without doubt that Chevron is a leader as far as going green and sustainability are concerned (Fitzgerald & Eijnatten, 2002). It is also evident that Chevron has invested in technology which ensure that in producing its products, as little negative impact as possible is felt. The leadership of Chevron has been keen to maintain the goals of the company. There are long terms goals which have been implemented by successive groups of leaders and this is a clear indicator that there is some form of agreement that the long term goals of the company are to be maintained regardless of the people who get into leadership. Having successive leaders pursue the same goals is usually a momentous challenge. Despite the many positive things that can be attributed to Chevron, some of its actions can be interpreted as blocking the attainment of alternative sources of energy. This is in relation to technology which is used in automobiles. Chevron acquired the share belonging to General Motors in Ovonics (Adrian & Yiannia, 2001). Chevron has tended to introduce a number of legal hurdles which appear to be calculated to frustrate the acquisition of technology which reduces overreliance on traditional forms of energy. Arbitration hearings or issues raised by Chevron over Cobasys’ conduct have been suspended over a number of years. The presence of Chevron has meant that despite commercial viability of large format NiMH batteries, Cobasys still refuses to license production of the batteries or even sell such batteries. Critics have argued that Cobasys only services orders which are large (Krell, 2000). This is despite the fact that major makers of vehicles do not have much interest in ordering a large number of the NiMH batteries. There is speculation therefore that Chevron is making access to the batteries difficult. The other possibility has been viewed as being that Cobasys waiting for a major vehicle manufacturer so that it can get contracted to produce the batteries required in powering such vehicles. It is highly probable that Chevron is keen on ensuring that the technology is not available since this would mean direct competition with its major business which is oil. The 1980s saw the start of building of solar power plants on a commercial basis. The Concentrating Solar Thermal Power Companies have been increasing in recent years. The companies which produce equipment which are used in the production of thermal electricity have been on the rise. Due to the concerns about global warming, governments are encouraging companies to make use of green energy. This is meant to be an advantage in the long term because green energy is cleaner and cheaper. Abengoa and eSolar are some of the companies involved in production of solar power. Abengoa, S.A is a Spanish company which is involved in production of green energy and among the areas it is involved is solar energy. eSolar is a private company primarily involved in production of electricity from solar power. The philosophy of Chevron appears to be geared towards ensuring that it remains relevant and competitive in the energy field. Chevron has therefore made many and long term investments towards ensuring that it is part and parcel of any development in the energy field. Many organizations can learn vital lessons from the practices which have been embraced by Chevron. It is a reality that the world is ever evolving and to stay relevant, no organization can afford to rest easy but it is important that an organization is always on the lookout for newer and more efficient ways to carry out its activities. Being always a step ahead of the competition insulates an organization from waking up one day and finding itself irrelevant. Collaboration is one area where Chevron scores very highly. Organizations should learn that it is quite difficult to be self sufficient (Diefenbach, 2007). In order to move ahead, at times it is important that organizations get into collaboration with others which have similar goals and sharing of knowledge results in innovation which would otherwise not be possible if an organization chooses to go about an issue all alone (Bernard, 2003). To incorporate the lessons learnt from Chevron into a person's life and work a number of factors needs to be put into perspective. Proper planning is important. One needs to set clear goals which should be adjusted as time progresses. One should be ready to put in money, hard work and discipline into a project if they have to succeed. Conclusion It is evident that Chevron has been dominant in the oil and gas industry. Through visionary leadership and strategy, the company has been able to attain great success. It is one of the companies that have been at the forefront in ensuring that it is able to achieve sustainability. This can be seen in the many activities that it has involved itself in. The company has spent lots of money on research and also in developing its core business which is oil and gas. Issues of sustainability are supposed to be at the heart of every organization. The changes in the world demand that pro active measures need to be taken so as to ensure that future generations will have an opportunity to also enjoy the environment and thus we should not seek to overexploit the resources at the expense of future generations. The direction that a company takes is largely determined by the kind of leadership that is at the helm. It is also clear that guidelines are necessary to ensure the organizations engage in activities which for the good planet. Research and development as a matter of necessity takes a lot of money and time therefore some of the income earned should be earmarked for such project. References Adrian, C., &Yiannis, G. (2001). The psychodynamics of organizational change management: An overview. Journal of Organizational Change Management, 14 (5): 415 – 421. Auty, R. M. (1997). Approaches to sustainable development: London: Pinter. Baker, S. (2006). Sustainable development. London: Routledge. Bernard, B. 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