HALLIBURTON: SOCIAL RESPONSIBILITY

Halliburton: Social Responsibility

Halliburton: Social Responsibility

Introduction

Halliburton was started in 1919, as of today they remain one of the largest providers to the energy industry around the world. Halliburton is currently operating in over 70 different countries with approximately 50,000 employees (www.halliburton.com). At one time during the year 2003 Halliburton employed over 100,000 people in 120 countries around the globe (www.halliburton.com). The primary day to day business of the company is to deal with the oil and gas industry. The company is split into two parts with Drilling and Evaluation being one and Completion and Production being the second. The combine revenue for the two divisions in 2007 was estimated to be at least if not more than $15 billion dollars. (www.halliburton.com)When it comes to the management function of planning, planning is a crucial function of management that enables an organization to achieve its maximum potential. Planning is the primary function which formalizes the company's goals and objectives.

Throughout this paper I will discuss how the legal and ethical issues as well as the corporate social responsibilities of Halliburton have impacted the planning function of management. I will also briefly touch on three factors that have influenced the company's strategic, tactical, operational, and contingency planning. Following up with an overview of what the vision for the future holds at Halliburton.

Problems Plaguing Halliburton

Over the past several years Halliburton is been on the receiving end of negative publicity mostly regarding the company's operations in Iraq. The US Justice Department and the Pentagon have each investigated Halliburton for criminal misconduct revolving around erroneous contract dealings (Fulop 2003). Largely because Halliburton has been the leading government services contractor they have been a focal point during the war for both legal and ethical issues.

Legal Issues

With the many legal issues that have come around for Halliburton the two biggest ones are been about overcharging the government and bribes for contracts. Halliburton was accused of overcharging the government for about $27 million dollars in meals that it claims to have served in Iraq. They were charging for 42,000 meals a day when in fact, it was only 14,000 meals being service to military personnel (Fulop 2003, pp 34-90). Inevitably Halliburton was forced to repay the $27 Million it had billed and received payment for from the government The US Justice Department wanted documents about allegations that bribe worth $180 million were paid for a natural gas plant located in Nigeria, Dick Cheney was head of the company at the time (Fulop 2003) Following these investigations Dick Cheney had become Vice President for George W. Bush.

With the ties that Dick Cheney had to Halliburton many people viewed this to be a conflict of interest even a violation of the code of ethics for government. (Fulop 2003) Ethical IssuesWhen Dick Cheney took the office of Vice President it became an ethical issue for him to have any dealing with Halliburton getting contracts. In June, 2004 the Pentagon admitted that Cheney had been informed that Halliburton was given a no-bid ...