COMM101 Communication

My focus throughout should be on BP's communication actions.

1) Analysis of BP's communication actions following oil spill

2) Talk about the media forms (BP) they used to communicate.

3) What did they do right? And What did they do wrong?

Introduction 

Communication within the workplace has become one of the most necessary and crucial activity in the organisation. Proper communication skills allow the organisation to coordinate effectively and thereby produce the maximum productivity for the company. The company faced serious issues that were related to oil spilling, large explosion and power cut (Sarpy). A number of people were hurt in the accident and the company suffered a huge loss.  

Analysis of BP's communication actions following oil spill

After the situation, the organisation took up a number of communication action in order to engage the local, national and the global audiences. The CEO of BP published a statement in the website of the company stating that it was neither there accident nor were they responsible for the accident. Yet the company would play a direct role in containing the oil spill. However, after few days, the President mentioned that BP was responsible for the accident and thus they will have to pay the bills (BP.com,). It was thus important for BP to communicate more with the Admiral Allen or work under his guidance in order to recover the situation.

Media forms used for communication

Apart from the daily press conference and the feedbacks of the senior leaders of the company, the company used three other communication methods to enhance the communication within the organisation.

Social Media:

BP posted few information and updates about the company in the social media such as Twitter and Facebook. The company updated the website about the Gulf of Mexico Oil Spill and linked it with the Twitter and the Facebook pages in order to allow the users to receive the information from their official website (Sammarco et al.).

Paid Media:

BP took initiative to manage the situation and therefore invested in the huge print and television campaign. It was to ensure that the company is working towards fixing the situation at all cost and against all odds (Brennan). The company aired the advertisement in which the enormous recovery effort and the pledges to stay with GULF until the issues get fixed have been mentioned.

Spillcam:

Prior to the oil spill, BP made footage about the oil spill and published in the website. The Spillcam was a live feed that became popular and gathered fascination from all over the country. Over 300,000 people visited the website to view the feed. The footage was made available to depict their willingness to handle the issues effectively.

Correct and the incorrect measures of the company

In the process of addressing the situation, the company undertook a number of correct as well as incorrect steps tht affected the company.

Correct steps

The company used a number of effective communication strategies in order to ensure that the situation and issues are addressed effectively. Moreover, the news feeds, updates, and feedbacks published in the social media and the websites had been some of the correct measures.

Missteps of the company

Downplaying the effects:

The Company mentioned the Gulf oil spill in just three mere sentences. They suppressed the acknowledgement of the oil spill between detailed descriptions of lucrative acquisitions and operating results.

Self-Inflicted Wounds:

The communication and the advertisement could be more effective if certain mistakes could be avoided. The authorities of the company made comments that others considered unbelievably insensitive. The arrogant behaviour was another mistake of the company that had adverse impact on the company.

Conclusion 

It can be thus inferred that the company needs to effectively focus on the communication practice of the workplace in order to recover from the oil spills. The company uses the social media such as Twitter and Facebook, Paid Media and spillcam as communication methods. Moreover it followed certain correct and incorrect measures that need to be taken care of.

References 

BP.com,. "Cite A Website - Cite This For Me". Bp.Com, 2016, http://www.bp.com/.

Brennan, Linda Crotta. Gulf Oil Spill. ABDO Publishing Company, 2013.

Sammarco, Paul W., et al. "Distribution and concentrations of petroleum hydrocarbons associated with the BP/Deepwater Horizon Oil Spill, Gulf of Mexico." Marine pollution bulletin 73.1 (2013): 129-143.

Sarpy, Sue Ann. "Evaluating the gulf oil spill health and safety training: Examining effectiveness among worker sub-populations in the gulf states." 141st APHA Annual Meeting and Exposition (November 2-November 6, 2013). APHA, 2013.