soci 2500 Week 10 Assignment

soci 2500 Week 10 Assignment | Tulane University

Discussion Section Assignment: The Corporation—Part II: Organizational Behavior a…

Using the reading by Bakan (The Corporation) and the films The Corporation and The Spill (on the Deepwater Horizon/BP oil spill) in answering the following questions:

1.      Describe the events the led up to the 2010 Deepwater Horizon oil spill (owned by British Petroleum, or BP) by answering the following:

a.       Describe some of the previous "accidents" at facilities owned by BP.

       ii.            What was the general position of BP management in regard to those accidents? Is this different from what many former BP employees (and other observers) have said about BP management with regard to the issue of safety at their facilities?

     iii.            Was BP management focused on safety, or was it primarily focused on making money (profit)? Was this an issue of the particular organizational culture within BP (especially within BP's management)?

            Should corporations make "moral" choices with regard to their policies and their actions? Or should they only be concerned with their "fiduciary responsibilities" to their shareholders/owners (i.e., making as much profit as they can for shareholders)?

            Should the US government (or the State generally) hold corporations responsible for morally suspect choices that hurt the public, damage the environment, or involve support for other governments that are suspected of, or proven to support, repressive behavior (e.g., illegal jailing, killing citizens, torturing, etc.)?

          .            How can the public work to hold these companies responsible for their morally reprehensible and destructive behaviors?