An Assessment and Critique of Crisis Management in the Oil and Gas Dissertation

An Assessment and Critique of Crisis Management in the Oil and Gas Industry in Ensuring Company Continuity - Dissertation Example Note: Delete this text, but do not remove the section break that follows—if you can’t see it, click on the  ¶Show/Hide button on the formatting toolbar. Dedication The dedication, if desired, is a numbered page, but â€Å"Dedication† does not appear in the Table of Contents. Note that if the Abstract is two pages long, the page number of the Dedication must be changed to iv. Acknowledgments The â€Å"Acknowledgments† entry does appear in the Table of Contents. Table of Contents Acknowledgments 2 List of Tables 5 List of Figures 6 CHAPTER 1. INTRODUCTION 7 Introduction to the Problem 7 Background of the Study 8 Statement of the Problem 9 Purpose of the Study 9 Rationale 10 Research Question 10 Significance of the Study 11 Definition of Terms 11 Assumptions and Limitations 13 Nature of the Study (or Theoretical/Conceptual Framework) 14 Organization of the Remainder of the Study 18 Overview 19 Crisis Management 19 Business continuity 25 The concept of crisi s distinguished from issue 26 The issue and crisis management relational model 27 Crisis Communication Theory 29 Crisis Leadership 41 Structural implications of crisis management on the organization 42 Low Probability, High Consequence Events 45 Assessment of the Crisis Prevention and Management System: The Exxon Valdez 46 Assessment of the Crisis Prevention and Management System: The BP Gulf Oil Spill 58 Synthesis of literature review 66 CHAPTER 3. METHODOLOGY 69 Research Design 69 Sample 70 Setting 72 Instrumentation/Measures 72 Data Collection 73 Data Analysis 74 Validity and Reliability 75 Ethical Considerations 76 List of Tables Table 1. Crisis Response Strategies by Postures 31 Table 2. SCCT Match for Crisis situation with Recommended Crisis Response 32 Table 3: Example of Risk Management Structure 43 List of Figures Figure 1. Issue and Crisis Management Relational Model 16 Figure 2. Disaster Management Cycle 29 Figure 3: Nine Steps of Crisis Response 35 Figure 4: Crisis Leade rship Continuum 42 Figures 5 & 6: Pictures from the Exxon oil spill site 52 Figure 7: Comparison of Exxon and CNN responses in the Exxon Valdez crisis 54 Figure 8: Picture from the BP Deep-water Horizon oil rig and spill site 61 Figure 9: Picture of fish washed upon in Galveston, Texas 65 Figure 10: Process Flowchart for Data Collection 74 (Note: Do not remove the section break that follows this paragraph.) CHAPTER 1. INTRODUCTION Introduction to the Problem Ranked among the most disastrous man-made crises attributable to commercial operations are the 1989 Exxon Valdez oil spill in Alaska, and more recently, the 2010 BP oil spill in the Gulf of Mexico. Damage from these incidents affected the lives and livelihoods of people distributed over a broad geographical area, and experts expect the repercussions to extend to subsequent generations because of their effect on the environment and wildlife. The oil industry, unfortunately, did not see the Exxon Valdez as sufficient precedent to have prompted the development of a standard crisis prevention and mitigation protocol to apply in the future. Taken together, oil and natural gas pipeline accidents have occurred over decades, often resulting in a significant number of fatalities. In 2011, a pipeline fire killed 100 people and seriously injured 120 in Nairobi. In 2010, a Pemex (Petroleos Mexicanos) pumping station in Central Mexico exploded, killing 27 and injuring 50 (Ellingwood, 2010). In 2006, a pipeline explosion in Nigeria killed up to 500 people (BBC News, 2006), but the