Worth a repost, here it goes: Even when I began my career with Chevron, and that was "in the good old days", I knew one of the company's biggest challenges was simply "managing the herd" (think, Gary Larson - The Far Side). I never considered my assessment of the company, in this regard, pejorative, in the least,... am certain every large company wrestles with similar concerns and constraints. I do believe, however, that "creeping Liberalism" first appeared in Chevron, around 20 years ago, and gradually took root, throughout the organization, lead by the inept but willing clowns in HR, obviously with Management's consent. Prior to all the touchy-feely crap, it was easier to accept the necessary ruthlessness that comes with competition in the workforce. It was almost expected. But, as the culture changed, it is MY opinion that an noxious wave of expectation, entitlement, and victim-hood rolled, insidiously, through the ranks. Rather than "shoot straight" with employees, management fell into a trap of non-confrontational "we love everybody,... just some more than others" mentality (which always struck ME as utterly hypocritical and totally disingenuous. But that's just me.), the "herd" fell into the dangerous mind-set of placing too many issues (ie., Safety, CPDEP, etc.) ahead of productivity, honest work ethic, etc. How many of us have watched entire organizations develop around Safety? Probably all of us. Those efforts became an end unto themselves, and while they do have merit, they don't translate, directly, to the primary mission of the company. It was organizational "fat", and quickly became a parody of itself. Perhaps The Chevron Way isn't really lost,... just buried by zeal which lead to a loss of focus. I hope that's all it is, and that Management can right the ship, while there's still time.
8 replies (most recent on top)
Blaming a failings of a corp on processes is side-stepping the ownership by people of the failure to deliver, and failure of leadership to id problem ahead of time and right the ship well ahead of the ice-berg. That is what these people are paid to do.
While I agree the processes are out of control.... the true ownership of success of failure is with people at the helm.
Is anyone really owning this mess, or just processing this wave of "unfortunate" market conditions.... then back to business as usual?
Time will tell.
Excellent post, Ol CVX hand. On a different note would the obnoxious jerk who keeps cutting & pasting the "PC liberalism..pizza coupons" post in every thread please give it a rest, or do you only have one brain cell? That's old news, are you Rumpelstiltskin?
The OP made a very good point, and very eloquently at that. We need more posters like that. Yes, indeed Chevron got its priorities mixed up. That is the root cause of everything. In fact, I just can't believe how many meetings one goes to here with absolutely no value added to business. Exxon is still doing the old-fashioned conservative way, I heard. But then I don't have any first-hand knowledge.
In this company is impossible to say, you screwed up, you suck at what you do, shape up and here are some ideas how to get it better next time. I effing need a translator to translate from what the reality is and the Chevron gay lingo. ABSURDITY at its best. I am gonna start on an iPhone app pretty soon to translate the non-sense going on here. That will be my next career after I get canned from this useless place.
PC liberalism at Chevron is just a facade for mangers covering their rectums. Did you ever read any followup on the contractor who was killed in the Pennsylvania explosion? What was the root cause? Any lesson learned? Not so much. The story of the PGPA coupons for a free pizza that were delivered door to door in the neighborhoods near the explosion was well publisized.
Good post. I miaght suggest that it is a special brand of liberalism: PROCEDURAL liberalism. Thankfully in the ES world, I have had supervisors & managers that expect results. Usually yesterday. But were we get killed is drilling a dang well. Our internally imposed costs are enormous. And our drilling department is rewarded not as much for reduced days drilling or successful completions. They are rewarded for safety. Safety is very, very important but so is getting a damn well in ontime and on budget. Pay bonuses for getting the job done safely AND EXPEDIANTLY. If we cant do that we got the wrong people D&C people on board. Our process-laden drilling cost structure kills us. When we have to respond to a subsurface situation, we POOH and then take 6 months to make a damn decision and its like the D&C folks are there own show. This hardly endears us with our JV partners who we claim to want be admired by for our dang operational excellence. At the end of the day we are too damn risk-averse and stuck in a procedural quagmire. I suspect proceduralism is big part of the huge cost overruns at our LNG MCPs too.
Best post I have yet seen on this forum
Liberalism destroys everything in its path. It's a cancer, only way to get rid of it is to cut it out.