British Petroleum: An Egregious Violation of the Ethic of First and Second Things

• Date: 01 September 2013
• Author: Morgan C. Wickline,Shari R. Veil,Timothy L. Sellnow
• DOI: http://doi.org/10.1111/basr.12014
• Published date: 01 September 2013

British Petroleum:

An Egregious Violation

of the Ethic of First and

Second Things

SHARI R. VEIL, TIMOTHY L. SELLNOW, AND

MORGAN C. WICKLINE

ABSTRACT

This study analyzes BP’s crisis communication related to

the Deepwater Horizon disaster. Specifically, we observe

how an organization whose priorities are misaligned with

the ethic of first and second things has a severely limited

capacity for delivering a crisis message that resonates

with the general public, and especially those most

affected by the disaster. Organizational connectedness

and Lewis’ essays on the ethic of first and second things

are discussed and research on virtuous responses to

crisis and renewal discourse is highlighted to explain

how BP’s focus on maximizing profit over safety and the

environment stymied their communication efforts. A dis-

course of renewal is suggested as essential for the orga-

nization to regain connectedness post-crisis.

Shari R. Veil is Associate Professor and Director of the Risk Sciences Division, College of

Communication and Information, University of Kentucky, Lexington, KY. E-mail: shari.veil@

uky.edu. Timothy L. Sellnow is Professor and Associate Dean for Graduate Studies, College of

Communication and Information, University of Kentucky, Lexington, KY. Morgan C. Wickline

is a Ph.D. Student and Risk Sciences Research Fellow, College of Communication and

Information, University of Kentucky, Lexington, KY.

bs_bs_banner

Business and Society Review 118:3 361–381

© 2013 Center for Business Ethics at Bentley University. Published by Wiley Periodicals, Inc.,

350 Main Street, Malden, MA 02148, USA, and 9600 Garsington Road, Oxford OX4 2DQ, UK.

Perhaps C. S. Lewis said we all needed to know about the oil

contamination disaster that raged in the Gulf of Mexico

throughout the summer of 2010. Lewis said simply, “You

can’t get second things by putting them first; you can get second

things only by putting first things first” (p. 22). British Petroleum

(BP), operating on the edge of scientific understanding, managed

the Deepwater Horizon drilling vessel in a manner that steadfastly

placed profit ahead of safety. Congressional hearings, around the

clock media coverage, and the president of the United States

relentlessly reminded BP of that fact. This ethical misalignment

severely hampered the company’s crisis communication and

stymied the voices of those who live and work along the gulf coast.

Warning signs of BP’s misaligned priorities manifested in two

cases prior to the Deepwater Horizon explosion. In 2005, an

explosion at the BP refinery in Texas City, Texas killed 15 employ-

ees and injured many more. A year later, a corroded BP pipeline

in Prudhoe Bay, Alaska tarnished 16 miles of wilderness when oil

began drizzling from neglected cylinders. The two events were

front-page news. BP was forced to shut down the troubled pipe-

line in Alaska and was fined $21m for “301 egregious willful

violations” preceding the Texas explosion (CSB 2007, p. 18). The

U.S. Chemical Safety and Hazard Investigation specifically cited

“serious safety culture deficiencies” as a contributor to the crises

(p. 18).

More than half a decade ago then, BP CEO John Browne

responded to the Texas and Alaska crises in a New York Times

interview by saying, “We have to get the priorities right . . . And

job 1 is to get to these things that have happened, get them fixed

and get them sorted out. We don’t just sort them out on the

surface, we get them fixed deeply” (Nocera 2010, p. B1). Browne’s

comments were timely, and history now shows that, indeed, the

philosophical transformation was sorely needed. However, these

events and BP’s commitment to a newfound culture prioritizing

safety faded from memory.

Image repair discourse has been the primary research line in

crisis communication, focusing on what organizations can say to

make the crisis go away and salvage reputation (Benoit 1995a,

1995b, 1997, 2000; Coombs 1995; Hearit 1995). However, there is

also a developing line of research on ethical crisis communication

that outlines a holistic approach to reestablishing connectedness

362 BUSINESS AND SOCIETY REVIEW