Delta Management Team - Shinoj



Vision of London 2012 olympics is '...to use the power of the games to inspire change' . It interesting to note how the olympic games can bring about changes in a society . In most cases internal business changes are made in response to what is happening in the external environment. But The LOCOG (The London Organising Committee for the Olympic and Paralympic Games) is different from many organisations in that its vision is to inspire changes that could affect the entire population of the UK. One of its aim is to act as a catalyst to improve transport system accessiblity througout London and UK. LOCOG is looking forward to enpower disabled people to make full use fo public transport to get to the games and believes this would encourage diabled people to continue using public transport even after 2012 olympics. LOCOG is also promoting walking and cycling. Creating a good walking and cycling experience for people during the Games could see more people choosing this travel option afterwards. Clearly sustainable transport is of prime importance and LOCOG aims to bring about a change in way Londoners commute. London 2012 is also hoping to bring back a culture of competitive sport in schools.

It is also interesting note that the first sustainability titled ' A blueprint for change'

CHANGING CEO - IS IT EFFECTIVE.....

Delta Management Team - Shinoj

The spill was "relatively tiny" compared to the "very big ocean."  I want to end this disaster because "I'd like my life back."  This was the kind of response to an oil spill that killed eleven men and poured 200 million gallons of oil into the Gulf of Mexico. No wonder these two statements expedited exit of BP CEO Tony Hayward.

Dudley’s lead position in managing the oil-spill-response efforts helped him develop a better rapport with U.S. officials than Hayward and thus a natural choice for CEO post. This perhaps was one fo the move to solve the GOM crisis; yes I do admit it was the worst BP has ever faced. Robert Dudley was the CEO of TNK-BP. His tenure didn’t go very well and he had to resign from his post on 4 September 2008 due corporate dispute between BP and AAR on future strategy and corporate governance.

Although the new CEO posting did help BP on GOM oil spill but it ran into trouble with Rosneft Arctic deal in Russia. BP was trying to go alone with Rosneft but AAR quoted violation of agreement and argued for an equal share in the deal. So BP only gets half of whatever the exploration is. One of the main reasons seems to be BP CEO. With Dudley’s track record with TNK-BP it seemed BP was never going to get a better deal. Latest news suggests that BP has agreed for an equal share in exploration even though TNK-BP has no deepwater experience.

So did the change in CEO/Leadership really help BP? I think if BP management had looked into the larger picture and decided on appointing the new CEO, things could have gone well with GOM crisis and Rosneft. If ever BP gained in GOM crisis by appointing Dudley, it did have a major negative impact on the Rosneft deal. Dudley will have performed his task (managing the oil-spill) to the fullest as the ‘focal point’ of disaster management  team and delivered the same results. Rosneft deal is seen as a major investment comeback after selling major assets to deal with the aftermath of the Gulf of Mexico oil spill. Deal could have been better for BP if a CEO with clean background was appointed rather than Dudley who already had run into trouble in Russia. Moving Hayward might have been the best thing to do but certainly not appointing Dudley.

Change Inertia

Delta Management Team - Shinoj

It was those days when I was working as a technical marketing engineer. I used to go around major EPCs and introduce Intergraphs products like PDS, INTools, SmartPlant etc. I still remember when I made a presentation in one of the leading EPCs. The product was INTools and SPPID these are database softwares which would make engineering design easy and can be real time shared on citrix. First question I get after presentation is 'why this software? currently we manage it by spreadsheet and autocad.' These were engineers who were used to excel sheets , autocad etc. and couldn't see the bigger picture. May be my inexperience or bad luck I was unable to convince them of advantages.

A year passed and I received a call from my boss to go again to the same EPCs and introduce the same softwares to a group of engineers. The EPC design team didn't realise the world around them was fast changing; they were looking to buy these softwares because their clients insisted on modern day tools and databases which could be shared real-time. This particular incident proves the changes that a company has to make due to external developments or competition.

In brief, an organization needs to be responsive to advances in the technological environment; its employees' work skills must evolve as technology evolves. Organizations that refuse to adapt eventually lose out and will be left behind. If an organization wants to survive and prosper, its managers must continually innovate and adapt to new technology.

 Delta Management Team - Shinoj

            I was reading HBR (Harvard Business Review, 1999) on Change. The second paper 'Building Your Company's Vision' by James C. Collins et al. writes about core values of an organisation. '.... core values that remain fixed while... strategies and practices endlessly adapt to a changing world'. 

           Interestingly the company I work with ,PSN (www.psnworld.com), has seven core values and our CEO Bob Keiller is very passionate about these core values. It is amazing to note that almost every employee in PSN is aware of the core values and its importance. Last month PSN merged with Woodgroup and new company , WoodGroupPSN, came to effect on 21st April, 2011. As Bob is the new CEO of WoodGrooupPSN, he has incorporated the core values into the new company. Also,, the logo of new company carries seven colour bands each representing the core values. It would be interesting to note how these core values are communicated to previous WoodGroup employees and how successful will the company be in doing that. 

" A small set of timeless guiding principles, core values require no external justification; they have intrinsic value and importance to those inside the organisation". (HBR, 1999,James C. Collins et al.)