Exxon Mobil Corporation: The Case Of Oil Spills

On March 24, 1989, one of the worst recorded oil spills occurred in Prince William Sound, Alaska (Seitel, 2011, p.100). A 987-foot tanker from Exxon Mobil Corp., the Exxon Valdez, spilled 260,000 barrels of oil after the intoxicated ship captain “ran aground on a reef 25 miles southwest of the port of Valdez” (Seitel, 2011, p.101). The oil spill damaged over 1,300 square miles of coast line and caused the death of various sea life, including over 4,000 Alaskan sea otters (Seitel, 2012, p.101). Exxon Mobil’s public relations approach to the crisis received criticism and the mistake affected the company nearly twenty years later. The first criticism against Exxon was the fact Chairman Rawl did not go to Alaska himself after the disaster, but instead sent lower ranking executives in his place. Seitel (2011) states it is important to “…defend, and maintain an organization’s reputation” (p.96). As a top manager of the organization, Rawl …show more content…
The company decided that the site of the oil spill would be the media headquarters. However, this decision was an issue because “Valdez was a remote Alaskan town with limited communications operations” (Seitel, 2011, p.101). Phone lines were frequently jammed and journalists had a difficult time reporting on the oil spill because of the restrictive communication barriers. As a result, it was speculated that Exxon was covering up information. The company should have been sensitive to the media elsewhere in the world and updated them through press conferences held at suitable locations and times. Furthermore, the lack of media relations resulted in “…accusations of an Exxon cover-up” (Seitel, 2011, p.101). Exxon should have made the truth easily available to journalists. Exxon would have shown responsibility and avoided a negative reputation if they had been in contact with the media immediately after the oil spill and throughout the recovery