Thread regarding ExxonMobil Corp. layoffs

Mckinsey advice has little value - so their comment on "Sunflower Management" is their biased view of looking at things (which is far from perfect). They also gave us "Growing with Purpose" advice as a theme to change organizational culture, mindset and morale. Where did that lead us? No where.

A few years ago in one of the upstream mgrs presentations on unconscious biases, they mentioned that some McKinsey consultants who worked with the company remarked once that EM has the worst case of “sunflower management” that they’d ever seen. Seems like things haven’t changed under Woods.

Sunflower management — noun, the inclination of people in organizations to align themselves with the leader's real or assumed viewpoint.

https://www.mckinsey.com/business-functions/strategy-and-corporate-finance/our-insights/distortions-and-deceptions-in-strategic-decisions

Preach! Sycophants is the word, what more can we add. All you have to do is smile and parrot the gibberish the management consultants put in their mouths, and don't rock the poat-positice attitude above all! To be fair it is not only ExxonMobil, it is in the air somehow, the culture of get rich quick, no accountability, no respect to reality & nature & labor, all the way to the White House. We have promoted little boys and girls who all they know is to please the teacher. That's no way to run a manufacturing company - you need b*lls/ovaries for that.

I was shocked to see the workers who were promoted to Supervisors and Managers over the last couple of years but now the reason is clear. They needed people unethical or not perceptive enough to understand they were used for this. They will be cut next or moved into a job they hate enough to quit.

The leaders at the top of Exxon have loved the rank and yank system for decades as they always respond the same way, “it worked for me, so it must be good.” It is an old boys club at the top with them all self promoting each other and believing they know what is going on. A survey a couple years ago was a rude awakening to management as what they knew to be true was completely wrong and the vast, vast majority of EM employees told them so in the survey response. The ranking system is flawed at its core as it is not based on performance but, on who likes you or who is your buddy because you flattered upper management for many years. S— up to move up the ranks. It just promotes a system of managers moving people they like and not the people who are performing their jobs at a high level. If it was a true ranking system it would be done unanimously so managers cannot just promote their buddies or friends who will in turn support them. How can a system that states every year that half of the employees are below 50% in rank be a motivating force for moral. It’s all top secret because it is corrupt to the core and that is why EM keeps its under wraps and employees get limited to no feedback on their career and how to improve their performance. The worlds biggest black box. The ranking system creates individuals fighting to be better than everyone else and does not promote teamwork or common goals. It is destroying the company from within, and Darren Woods is oblivious to it just like all the other senior management. It worked for me, screw the rest of you.......

To @kyr you summed it up perfectly. They don’t want to here the “brutal truths”! Well they may from a consultant but then just sweep it under the rug and pretend to change behaviors to look like change is happening.

I had a sliver of hope when the last Upstream reorg was about to be announced. They sold us onto why we needed change, and then put in place the same old leadership in charge. The people who got us in the mess, now pretending to be the solution. And they got consultants and coaches and stuff.

Then they tried to sell us on the new behaviors that were supposed to be underpinned by a new system of evaluation, which would reward team work, risk taking, and innovation. And we were finally going to communicate openly and speak with clarity. And then, Darren said that ranking actually does work great because the “meritocracy” identified awesome people like him, underpaid, but awesome nonetheless.
And we got no 360 feedback, no accountability, and still forced ranking.
This place has no saving. It’s rotten to the core, from the illuminated in Dallas, to the sycophants along the management chain, to the fearful employees afraid to raise issues, propose solution, or come up with new ideas.

Just picture how clueless all where with the COVID-19 plans. None knew where the directives were coming from, or why, or even how exactly things will take place. But all the drones pushed that garbled talking points down the line; some with the blind trust of cult followers, others with the conviction of those who diss on Fauci, and even those who may had reservations pushed it like “this is what’s been decided, I can’t do anything about it with my authority”.

Every initiative has failed in changing the organization and the culture because it has always depended upon the preservation of authority for those at the top, who in turn lean to the mold of the past. The enterprise is doomed. They didn’t want to listen. They didn’t want to change. And the worst part is, Darren still thinks he’s right. His 2025 plan is in shambles (not that it was ever achievable), the debt burden is ridiculous, the portfolio is ridden with garbage that can’t be divested, there is no strategy for a changing world, and none left to tell them the emperor has no clothes.

The phenomenon should be investigated. The problem exists across companies in all verticals. Is it a product of our educational system?
Is inherent in corporate culture due to the inability to scale teams.
The are books about number of lines of communication, causing disfunction.
Group think?
Committees?
Agile?
Micromanaging?
All of the above?

There are several reasons, but yeah of course that’s one of them. We’ve been rewarding bad behaviors for entire careers