Thread regarding ConocoPhillips layoffs

We do KNOW HOW TO WORK however our hands are tied by people who have no idea what "we" do for a living

Funny - 90% of the people I worked with at COP have no idea how to work, not without an endless list of goddam manuals to guide them through. Wouldn't last 2 weeks at a 'Lean & Mean' independent

Guess we should expect a massive recruiting campaign - have to find people who can actually do real work

Chevron uses the independent model. It has its pros and cons. This seems like posturing to me. Not sure for who. Xom is very centralized.

121504 - hit it dead on

Agreed - internal contact of mine said Houston is eyeing an ultimate reduction to just under 10,000 under the new independent business model. That will lead to a 9,000 staff reduction in the end. There seems to be no sign from any office that security in Bartlesville exists. I know a few supervisors already reducing their offices and informing their 30 member staff that by end of the year they were told it had to be down to 4. October seems to be the flood gate start, with November being a true bloodbath, and wrap up in December with the new face of a company that will suddenly be a small operation.

The independence of the business units is best suited to a for sale sign on each business unit. Polar Tankers, as an example, is a good fit for a for sale sign. The shared services including information technology and finance are good fits for outsourcing with the business unit independence.

If we all understand the strategy, it goes something like this:

a. Get rid of the downstream just months before it becomes amazingly profitable, likely the worst decision made in the history of conoco.

b. Keep all the integrated company processes in place so that we suffer from a giant bloated bureaucracy.

c. Under the auspices of collaboration, ask the businesses to work together, but meantime only reward them for beating their peers (thus creating cheating culture).

d. When prices fall, rather than get rid of the low performing production businesses, get rid of technology and exploration. Keep nasty oil sands?

e. Refrain from sharing an actual forward looking strategy because that might distract people from cost cutting.

f. Wait for Exxon, Shell, Total, or Chevron to buy us to fix all the above.

Gee whiz