Middle Management Influence on Strategic Initiatives

Tullow Oil plc is one of the most incredible success stories of oil and gas exploration in recent years. Tullow has grownfrom its humble beginnings in Ireland into one of the world’s most successful E&P players with a specialist focus on frontier areas. It has achieved this success by pursuing an exploration-led growth strategy which it complements with strategic acquisitions of producing assets. This report argues that Tullow has achieved this success due to its ability to formulate and effectively implement the right strategies. The report goes on to suggest that Tullow’s middle managers play a critical role in achieving this success and investigates the strategic role they play at Tullow Oil Ghana Limited one of Tullow’s business units. This pilot study draws on questionnaires and interviews to determine how middle managers at Tullow Oil Ghana influence strategy. The report examines the flow of strategy through an organization via formal and informal interactions and will be useful to professionals interested in the areas of Organizational Behavior and Strategic Management or anyone else interested in how successful strategies are created and implemented as intended.