Individual Assignment

Taro Abarbanel

Introduction to Business Management

ADM 1100[M]

Daniel Akinlalu 8255693

1
Table of contents

Executive summary: Page 3

Interview Findings: Page 4

Research Findings: Page 6

Comparisons and Evaluations: Page 8

Implications and Conclusions: Page 9

References Page: Page 10

1
This report provides a careful assessment and analysis of the management practices, applied and practiced by the Offshore Field branch of Total

Exploration Production. Methods of analysis in this report include thorough evaluation, by comparing and contrasting the management strategies,

practices and tenets discussed in an interview with the findings detailed in four articles on research-based management literature.

In this report, effective management is first discussed in a broader, conceptual sense. Subsequently, specific tenets and practices used by the

Offshore Field branch to facilitate effective management are presented for precise analysis.

Furthermore, the research that follows draws attention to important aspects of effective management, such as various tactics and strategies for

employee motivation, which are based on the results of employee recognition in a controlled field experiment, as well as studies on reward

management. Additionally, research gives a thorough analysis of the various health and safety challenges management faces and must overcome.

Results of this analysis show notable similarities as well as a handful of differences, between the practices of the General Manager of the Offshore

Field branch, and the management practices advised from various articles on management.

1
For this report a phone call interview was conducted on February 16th, with the General Manager of the Offshore Field operations, of Total

Exploration Production. Management practices, strategies and general tips for workplace efficiency were discussed. The interviewee has been a

part of management in this company for more than 10 years, and for the purpose of facilitating an accurate on management practices, choosing a

manager with vast experience is one of the more sensible and pragmatic decisions one can make. In this interview the ultimate goal of

management is described as ‘the principles that can deliver the best values for the shareholders’, and the principles for achieving this goal include

a number of strategies such as: maximizing returns on every investment, efficiently working amongst competitors, employee motivation, and

ensuring complete compliance with the local, as well as international regulation rules.

Additionally, there are a number of important roles managers must undertake, to best achieve this ultimate goal. Managers at Total Exploration

Production must be well equipped as multitaskers, regarding a number of specific skills, including decision making to facilitate the best possible

values for shareholders, technical engineering knowledge and application, as well as the interpersonal skills to best deal with employees.

Furthermore, in regards to the management of field operations, it is incredibly important to ensure the safety of oil production, production assets,

the environment, as well as the safety of the employees. This is important to avoid a number of negative outcomes such as excessive and

unnecessary environmental damage, oil spills and other forms of hazardous pollution that are inevitable should management fail in this regard.

Such oversights and failures bring further complications which are not simply exclusive to environmental damage. These oversi ghts also result in

a waste of resources and investments, jeopardization of the personnel safety, and are in direct breach of both local and international oil production

regulations. In essence, failure to ensure the multifaceted safety of oil production, from the assets themselves to employees and the environment.

Results in failure to maximize the returns on investments made, and failure to comply with regulation rules, which as mentioned before, are very

important tenets of the management practices of Total Exploration Production.

On the subject of maximizing the returns of each investment, it is crucial that the processes developed and put in place by management are

efficiently, and effectively carried out by employees. It was discussed in the interview, that employee motivation is paramount to obtaining the

best returns possible, and in a broader sense, ‘greater values for shareholders.’ As effective work and effective work is driven primarily by the

motivation of the employees.

Thus management, must closely follow and guide the employees towards efficient, effective work using their interpersonal skills to diffuse

conflicts and provide employee motivation in the form of encouragement, praising effective work, as well as the improvement of morale as they

work offshore towards fulfilling company goals.

1
Management is also responsible for paying careful attention to the careers their sub-ordinates, helping them progress and inspiring efficient,

effective work from the employees. Furthermore, in Total Exploration Production, employees gain partial ownership of shares, making them

shareholders and a bigger part of the company.

This helps to further facilitate employee motivation because by gaining a level of ownership regarding company shares, employees become aware

that the efficiency and effectiveness of their work, is also an investment in themselves and essentially proportional to the wealth that awaits them.

This allows the employees to come to the accurate conclusion that it is in their best interest to produce efficient, effective work and provides them

with supplementary motivation to do so.

1
For the purpose of discovering whether the management practices of Total Exploration Production discussed in the interview coincide with the

management practices advised in academic literature, four management research articles were thoroughly examined to arrive at a precise

conclusion.

The first of these articles reports that there are two forms of organizational rewards namely, financial and non-financial. Examples of financial

rewards include share ownership, benefits, stocks and bonuses. While examples of non-financial rewards include job security, promotion and

various forms of displayed appreciation.

Multiple sources, qualitative reviews and meta-analytic studies alike, demonstrate that extrinsic and financial rewards can lead to improved

employee motivation. However, this research is somewhat lacking in regards to which circumstances and which type of reward in particular brings

the most benefits in regards to employee motivation. This lack of information from both personnel psychology and HR management areas can

lead to many companies wasting both money and effort as they attempt to discover the most effective method for employee motivation.

The second of these articles reports the results of a controlled field experiment which investigated the casual effects of both unannounced and

public recognition in regards to employee performance. It was determined that recognition given after a two-hour work period, found to

substantially increase subsequent work performance. This effect was found to be even more powerful, when said praise is given exclusively to the

employees deemed as the ‘best performers.’ These employees receiving recognition almost always show an increase in performance. However, the

report also notes that employees who did not receive recognition, actually show a greater level of performance increase, comp ared to those

deemed as the ‘best performers.’ Therefore, results of this controlled field experiment show that performance-based recognition facilitates all-

round workforce improvement, and this includes the workers who did not receive recognition, as the report shows that seeing others receive praise

motivates these employees to improve, as it inspires a sense of competition stemming from a lack of desire to feel as though they are sub-par

elements of the workforce.

The third research article examined the choices of a group in a business decision making simulation, to discover how certain actions and

communications can facilitate the consideration of various stakeholder perspectives.

Analysis shows the difference in outcomes when business situations are framed using the involvement of various types of stakeholders, versus

framing that only involved only stockholders, which tend to be mostly profit-driven. According to this research article these types of decision-

making frames are known ‘vision framing’.

1
On the other hand, a different kind of decision-making frame known as ‘vision priming’, in which researchers incorporate suggestions that the

participants specifically consider the concerns of either the stakeholders or stockholders. Reported results show vision priming has a larger impact

on the decision outcomes. Additionally, the article mentions that management and business leaders, have recently begun to emphasize the

perspectives of stakeholders. This is a change brought on by rising concerns centered around business ethics, especially when it comes to the

facilitation in the reduction of unethical and otherwise illegal conduct among employees.

The last article examined, reports on certain challenges management face regarding occupational health and safety. Notably, t he Occupational

Health and Safety Legislation (OHS), ensures that employers and management, are held responsible for safety issues, risk and hazard prevention

within the workplace. Research focuses mainly on the health and safety of employees and researches the specific areas that managers find the

most challenging, as well as helpful supports which could be put in place to help ensure the prevention of safety issues for the workforce.

The article also emphasizes on the importance of psychosocial safety, including but not limited to stress, conflict management, and the mitigation

of inappropriate workplace behavior such as bullying and harassment. Moreover, the identification and reduction of physical or environmental

hazards, is another major challenge management must tackle to ensure that the occupational health and safety needs of the workforce are met.

1
Overall the findings detailed in the management literature used for this report coincides with management practice discussed in the interview.

However, after careful evaluation there are a few disparities that arise, as well as certain aspects of management drawn from the research that were

not touched on or in the interview.

On the subject of employee motivation, for the purpose of improved organizational performance. The management practice of Tot al Exploration

Production involving employee stock options, coincides with research findings on how financial rewards serve as apt employee motivation for

efficient and effective work. Furthermore, it was discussed in the interview that careful monitoring of the workforce, and the applied interpersonal

skills of managers to help motivate their sub-ordinates facilitate the improvement of organizational performance, which concurs with studies on

the positive effects on non-financial organizational rewards such as praise for effective work.

However, the manager did not specifically voice opinion on the apparent of information, when it comes to the question of which met hod of

employee motivation is the most efficient. Or sources mentioning the waste of several company resources on attempts to disco ver the answer for

themselves. Additionally, while the manager agrees that recognition and praise are important tenets of employee motivation, t here is a failure to

acknowledge the greater effect this can have on employees who receive no praise whatsoever but simply witness the encouragement of their more

efficient colleagues.

In regards to decision-making the interviewed manager mentions the importance of this skill but tends to focus more on profit maximization and

financial concerns, contrary to the results of research which show that decision-making through ‘vision priming’ delivers the greater impact on the

outcomes of management decision making, due to ethical concerns, and the importance of reducing unethical business activity.

Finally, on the subject of health and safety concerns, both the manager and research findings hold this aspect of management in high regard.

Additionally, there is a general concurrence that tackling the challenges of ensuring the safety of the workforce are crucial to effective and

efficient management. Research findings details the importance of the psychosocial aspects as well as the physical aspects of employee safety,

while in the interview the manager focuses more on discussing the environmental and physical aspects of employee health and safety.

1
The evaluation of interview findings, contrasted with the analysis drawn from research, implies a general concurrence between the management

practices of the Offshore Branch of Total Exploration Production and the research findings from various articles on management literature,

however there is a notable exception concerning decision-making practices. While ensuring that oil production processes are in compliance with

local and international regulation is one of the crucial tenets of the management practices in this company. As discussed in the interview profit

maximization is the main motivator for decision making for management to ensure increasing returns on investments. On the other hand, research

shows that careful consideration of stakeholder concerns, most notably the desire to uphold ethical business practices, by making use of ‘vision

priming’ brings a stronger impact on business decision making outcomes.

An explanation for this disparity, is context. The use of ‘vision priming’ is a relatively new development and it is possible that oil production

companies like Total Exploration Production have yet to adopt it into their management practices. Additionally, from this report one can surmise

that the management of oil companies are primarily concerned efficiently making use of company assets to facilities oil production, extraction and

with the returns on these investments. Then it follows that management practices are even more likely to make use of techniques and strategies to

help them achieve this goal. Furthermore, as discussed in the interview the purpose of management for this oil production company are in fact

principles that bring the best values for the shareholders, and after further discussion it becomes clear that these values are mainly financial,

specifically centered around the maximization of profit returns for these shareholders.

So, there is a certain level of possibility that techniques like ‘vision priming’ are not among the chief management principles for this company,

beyond health and safety concerns. As well as ensuring that oil production practices are in compliance with international and local regulations.

Additionally, due to the potentially catastrophic dangers present in oil production practices offshore, it also follows that management of this

branch mainly discusses health and safety concerns, in terms of environmental safety and physical security of employees. Instead of psychosocial

safety which is discussed at length in research articles, Total Exploration Production is also concerned with the psychosocial safety of their

employees, however the Offshore branch is bound to have more pressing concerns and challenges regarding the physical safety of staff while off

shore, and the challenge of psychosocial safety might be delegated to another branch of management.

1
References:

Antoni, C. H., Baeten, X., Perkins, S. J., Shaw, J. D., Vartiainen, M,. Antoni, C. H., . . . Vartiainen, M. (2017). Reward management: Linking

employee motivation and organizational performance. Journal of Personnel Psychology, 16(2), 57-60. doi:10.1027/1866-5888/a000187

Clark, K., Quigley, N., & Strumpf, S. (2014). The influence of decision frames and vision priming on decision outcomes in work groups:

Motivating stakeholder considerations. Journal of Business Ethics, 120(1), 27-38. doi:10.1007/s10551-013-1648-8

Tappura, S., Syvänen, S., & Saarela, K. (2014). Challenges and Needs for Support in Managing Occupational Health and Safety from Managers’

Viewpoints. Nordic Journal of Working Life Studies, 4(3), 31-51.

https://doi.org/10.19154/njwls.v4i3.4178

Bradler, C., Dur, R.,Neckermann, S., & Non, A. (2016). Employee Recognition and Performance: A Field Experiment. Management Science,

62(11), 3085 – 3099.

https://doi.org/10.1287/mnsc.2015.2291