Ethics and Negotiation - Case study

Case Study: BP Texas Refinery Introduction According to Lewicki, Saunders & Minton (2003), adopting an unethical approach to negotiation in business can have serious consequences. A recent explosion at the British Petroleum (BP) Texas refinery on 24 March, 2005 reiterated this and demonstrated the effect of an unethical approach to negotiation with the death of 15 contract workers. Ethical behaviour refers to the standards of conduct such as honesty, fairness, responsibility and trust. (Lewicki et al 2003) These standards …

…will help achieve their goal of gaining worker support and reducing the disruption to the workforce. This recommendation, of course, hinges on BP's willingness to spend the resources to develop these programs. However if BP's true intentions are to improve their safety record and to decrease the number of accidents and deaths at their plants, establishing an honest and reliable means of communication to the workers is the first step toward correcting their flawed past.