Global Values in Business 391the well head. This indeed is what after the event the major companies
got together to design and acquire, something which a combination of
“group think” and by contrast a lack of collective action, coupled with
poor regulation had prevented before the event. In fact, industry collec-
tive action to assemble from all over the world at great speed the tradi-
tional responses of dispersant and booms to trap the oil as well as the
fleet of boats and facilities necessary to deploy them worked very
smoothly. It was just inadequate to meet the new challenge. In their ef-
forts to drill in arctic waters both Shell and the regulators will be asking
themselves similar questions on what the worst case scenario might be
and hopefully building in sufficient redundancy to cover the risk.
Probably the most important lesson for Shell from the crises of 1995
was to be more open to outside inputs and opinions. It is necessary for
all organisations to make sure that the values of the organisation are
thoroughly embedded and absorbed throughout the organisation, but
perhaps equally important that the value framework has not shifted un-
detected by those within the organisation and is no longer consonant
with those of society at large. Organisation, structure and corporate gov-
ernance may play a part in this.