Economic and Enivormental Benefit of Using Modern Technology in Oil and Gas Exploration

DISSERTATION PROPOSAL1

Economic and enivormental benefit of using modern technology in oil and gas exploration (5,000) plus the existing 5,0000 that your writer wrote before (Corporate Social Responsibility in the oil and gas industry).

Please include the added topic into the Scope, Hypothesis, Literature Review, Methodology and Analysis.

List of Contents

Scope3

Hypothesis 13

Hypothesis 23

Literature Review4

Methodology15

Analysis16

Conclusions16

References17

Scope

The scope of this research is confined to understand the perception of the common vis-a-vis his involvement in the decision making process of the corporate social responsibility related activities carried out by the companies belonging to the oil and gas industry.

Most of the literature available in the area of oil and gas industry related CSR is focused towards the duties of the oil and gas companies in relation to corporate social responsibility. There are offshoots of this thought process and analysis about how successful or impactful these CSR efforts have been; abound in literature. However, the scope of this research is not to capture insights about the impact of onshore and offshore activities of oil and gas industrybut to understand if common feels that he is being made a participant in the activities of oil and gas industry. Through this research, the intention is to find out if the community is likely to find a collective voice in the coming future.

Hypothesis 1

The common does not believe that he is a part of the decision making process when it comes to deciding what kind of activities would be taken up as part of corporate social responsibility by the companies in the oil and gas industry.

Hypothesis 2

The common man believes that he will not be involved in the decision making process in the future as well and that, as a result, in case of oil and gas industries, the trend of not having effective corporate social responsibility related activities is quite likely to continue in the long run.

Literature Review

Most of the literature in relation to oil and gas companies from a corporate social responsibility perspective is targeted towards understanding the impact of these activities and as to whether it meets the assumed standard of responsibility that these companies should be talking about. This is important to understand but at the same time, incomplete when looked at from the perspective of understanding and acting upon the needs of the society. In literature, most of the examples are prepared from the perspective of environmental impacts. It is important to carry out thorough research in the area of the opinions of the society if research is to make a real impact in the world. This research would give a measure of authenticity to the actions in the area of corporate social responsibility, while at the same time, it would result in a better outcome for the masses in the long run. Therefore, it is the need of the hour to find out what the primary needs of the masses are. This research needs to be compared with previous research attempts in a similar area in order to give it a baseline of reference. It is important to realize that the organizations take into account the needs and opinions of the masses before launching into any major activity that would affect many people. Therefore, it is imperative to make sure that the organizations are able to realize that things cannot go on like this and that voices of community needs to be heard.

However, unfortunately, this seems to be unlikely in the long run and it looks like the issue is going to remain the same unless political will is strengthened to root out this evil of callous behavior towards extraction of precious resources. Clearly, corporate social responsibility and other such positive effects seem to be far from the minds of the officials. As a result, the needs of the people in the region are neglected to the core. In fact, the lives of the common man seems to deteriorate rapidly as a result of the violence induced by the presence of oil and gas companies in that particular area.

O'Rourke and Connolly (2003)argue in a similar research carried out to judge the impact of oil production and refining on the surrounding environment, that the negative impacts of oil and gas exploration are quite severe in that the fragile ecosystems are severely being impacted. At the same time, a number of workers have been impacted. Also, the indigenous groups have been gravely impacted by these activities because of interference with their culture which is critically intertwined with their surrounding environment. However, this effort falls short when it comes to understanding what can be the solution to this problem. Especially, there is no effort made to understand whether these people who are impacted by these problems, are being heard or if their opinions are being counted upon. Therefore, although the research provides a lot of factual support towards the impact of the oil activities on various societies as well as the environment, it fails to see if the people being affected by it want these activities to continue to provide jobs or to shut down as they are adversely affecting them. Finally, it is important to note that this research focuses on showcasing the negative impact of the oil production related activities, it fails to look at this from the eyes of the most important stakeholders themselves.

On the other hand, Hilson (2012) in another research provide a different perspective about the positive role of criticism placed upon extractive industries, which includes the oil and gas industries, in making them take up more responsibility towards corporate social responsibility related activities that would actually have a significant impact on the lives of the masses. This is important to understand but at the same time, not looking at the complete picture when looked at from the perspective of understanding and acting upon the needs of the society. Most of the examples are prepared from the perspective of environmental impacts. However, even in this research, the assumptions that the organizations have performed well in the area of corporate social responsibility seems to be hastily drawn. This is because the ideas are based upon standard notions of what is expected from the corporate in terms of carrying out corporate social responsibility related activities. This is important to understand but at the same time, incomplete when looked at from the perspective of understanding and acting upon the needs of the society. In literature, most of the examples are prepared from the perspective of environmental impacts. It is important to carry out research in the area of the opinions of the society if research is to make a real impact in the world. Therefore, the perspective of the local populace is not being taken into account while writing this paper, or at very least, it is being considered as implicitly in agreement with the general notions of responsibility of the organizations. Finally, it is important to understand that although the research that has been carried out here is important, at the same time, it needs to relevant and in sync with the ground level realities in order to have a real life impact in the long run.

Ackah-Baidoo (2012) argues about the issues being faced by the people ling in sub-Saharan Africa because of the presence of oil and gas industry based companies.This research paper clearly brings into light the importance of taking into account the needs and views of the people who are being affected. As mentioned in this paper, the oil-rich sub Saharan Africa is an area where many of the governments are being run by autocrats and as a result, the oil and gas companies are able to get away with carrying out minimal corporate social responsibility related activities. At the same time, the level of transparency in the governance area seems to go down inevitably in these countries. As a consequence of these developments, drastic effects like an increase in the amount of conflict are induced in the economy. Again, this paper sheds a light on one of the most important aspects that govern our daily lives but it fails to shed light on the solution to this problem from a perspective of the people who are most affected by these situations arising in their environment.

Even then, these activities are being carried out, they are not being used to provide relief to the masses in the long run. Hence, it is clear that unless the local populace is deeply involved in deciding the outcomes of the corporate social responsibility related activities that would be carried out by the oil and gas companies, it is not of much practical use for those people. In fact, it is degrading and insulting for them. At the same time, this research fails to focus on the real issue at hand. It fails to focus on creating a consensus of opinion among the local populace as to whether they are actually in agreement with the activities being carried out by the oil and gas companies or they have many other ideas that are being overlooked because of the negligence of the government and as a result, the oil and gas companies.

Zyglidopoulos (2002) argues about the impact of putting an organization on the spot and forcing it to do whether is morally correct.This research is very significant when it comes to showcasing the importance of public opinion and the resultant reputation of the companies in the minds of the people and as to how this has an effect on the actions of the companies in the future. The confrontation between Greenpeace and Shell over the Brent Spar, which led to a public outcry with the unexpected end result that the company decided to dismantle the Brent Spar instead of sinking it in the ocean. This research although is able to showcase a particular scenario and the effect of a particular organization, in this case Greenpeace on the actions of major companies, it fails to generalize this impact on a broader scale and from a larger public stand point. Not every scenario would be the same and not everyone’s opinion would match at the same time. Therefore, it is important to realize that the organizations take into account the needs and opinions of the masses before launching into any major activity that would affect many people. It should not be the efforts of one organization but the collective opinions of the masses that should drive the actions of these organizations in the long run if the world is to truly become a better place for everyone to live in.

Mobus (2012) arguesin this research, about the emphasis that is placed on proper reporting of corporate social responsibility activities that have been carried out by the companies and how, in certain cases, this can be a greenwashing activity. This is because the activities being carried out by the organizations themselves can be bifurcated into the ones that positively impact the nearby surroundings or society and the ones that negatively impact the society. The negative impacts are generally hidden from public glare but not disclosing these activities or impacts to the general public. These can have very drastic consequences as the public is forced to bear the risks without being aware of the activities in the first place. Therefore, it is important to never underestimate the views of the general public and as to what are the implicit needs that need to be taken care of by the corporations who are in the first place, using the natural resources for their own benefits and profits.

However, it is clear that the impact of these activities needs to be documented in the accordance with the needs of the public and not just the standards laid out in general. Continuous meetings among the public and the officials of these organizations would not be of any use unless the opinions of the public are not taken into account in the long run when it comes to decision making by these companies. Therefore, although this paper makes a very valid point about disclosure of corporate social responsibility related activities and their impact, it feels to address the needs of the public by ignoring the real issue at hand, which is keeping the needs of the public in mind and whether that is being done in a fair manner in the first place. This is important to understand but at the same time, not looking at the complete picture when looked at from the perspective of understanding and acting upon the needs of the society. Most of the examples are prepared from the perspective of environmental impacts. It is important to carry out research in the area of the opinions of the society if research is to make a real impact in the world. It leads to the conclusion that unless these ideas are not stressed upon with vigor and that the needs of the people are not addressed, the concept of corporate social responsibility looks set to be present only in the books.

As far as the consequences of the BP case are able to showcase, it is clear that theorganizations are not discussing the real issues at hand with the masses and this, in turn is bound to have negatives consequences in the long run. This is especially true in the case of oil and gas companies and their related corporate social responsibility activities simply because the activities being carried out by these organizations have the power to destroy large swathes of environment around them in case proper safety measures are not put into practice. Also, if these organizations are not able to take care of the local populace, it is important to make sure that they are held accountable for it in one way or another. Not every scenario would be the same and it is quite obvious that the opinion of different people would not match at the same time. Therefore, it is important to realize that the organizations take into account the needs and opinions of the masses before launching into any major activity that would affect many people. This is important to understand but at the same time, incomplete when looked at from the perspective of understanding and acting upon the needs of the society. It is important to look at the aspect of governance from the perspective of making sure that the opinions and needs of the masses is heard and seriously taken into consideration while deciding corporate social responsibility related activities.

Frynas (2010)argues inthis research that about the impact of oil and gas based industries on governance. Therefore, this research is based on a very important aspect of our daily lives – governance. Governance is especially important in the case of small countries because the oil and gas companies have the ability to create enclave economies and at the same time, disrupt the natural order of things by inducing large changes in governance. These changes can be due to the amount of revenues generated by such ventures that allows the companies to create enclave economies without scant regard or use for other industries.

This gives rise to an alarming level of inequality in the small countries by inducing the money flow among the rich and as a result, inducing negligence towards other areas if employment like the agriculture sector. At the same time, the level of transparency in the governance area seems to go down inevitably in these countries. As a consequence of these developments, drastic effects like an increase in the amount of conflict are induced in the economy. Again, this paper sheds a light on one of the most important aspects that govern our daily lives but it fails to shed light on the solution to this problem from a perspective of the people who are most affected by these situations arising in their environment.

The activities being carried out by the organizations themselves can be changed into the ones that positively impact the nearby surroundings or society and the ones that negatively impact the society. The negative impacts are generally hidden from public glare but not disclosing these activities or impacts to the general public. Therefore, it is important to look at the aspect of governance from the perspective of making sure that the opinions and needs of the masses is heard and seriously taken into consideration while deciding corporate social responsibility related activities. Also, at the same time, it must be made sure that the people who are being affected by this issue are kept in loop all along such that the activities can be effectively monitored. This would also give rise to good governance in the long run and needs to be looked into from a critical standpoint.

Frynas (2009) argues about the need of the organizations to take the concept of corporate social responsibility in a responsible manner.This research talks about the importance of making sure that the corporate social responsibility is taken up seriously by companies which are operating in the oil and gas sector. It also discusses that although there are a number of opportunities for the organizations to do go for the local populace, like providing education to the poor, it is generally seen that the organizational activities are generally limited by two things – one, by the business case of the activities being pretty weak and two, by the degree of interrelationship of the company’s activities with the society around them being underappreciated by the overall impact on the system.The promises are not realized in most of the cases. Therefore, the organizations are unable to make any kind of significant contribution.