When Robert Horton left his position as Chairman and CEO of BP, the company was in financial trouble and the employee morale was notably low. The company was experiencing losses, the debt-to-equity ratio was out of control, and the company had positioned itself in so many diverse markets that most of the employees had no idea what the company mission and goals were. When David Simon took over as CEO, he was faced with the daunting task of turning the wayward company around. Simon accomplished this task for three reasons: he diagnosed and modified the organizational culture; he possessed important leadership skills; and he knew how to motivate employees.
One of the biggest deficiencies of Horton's management was his attempt to Americanize the BP culture. Britain was not ready for Horton's high profile leadership style and in his attempt to rid BP of the top heavy and stuffy management he left a feeling that the change was being imposed rather than nurtured. Through continually cutting costs, Horton's strategy became equivalent to downsizing and the employee morale continued to deteriorate. In addition, it was not feasible to expect a company to change its culture overnight as Horton tried to do and imposing the culture of another country did not go over well either. When Simon entered, he recognized that the strategy was not necessarily the problem but that the management style and culture had to change. There were certain conditions present that were conducive to facilitating change at BP and in turn made Simon's job slightly easier. The company was experiencing a crisis in their financial health which really drew attention to the consequences of the current culture. A sudden turnover in leadership allowed Simon to step in at the optimal time to begin cha ...