Comparison of XTO Energy and Devon Energy Companies :: Energy Business Companies Workforce Essays

Comparison of XTO Energy and Devon Energy CompaniesCompany Background XTO Energy Inc. is a premier domestic natural gas and crude producer engaged in the acquisition, exploitation and development of quality, long-lived gas and oil properties. The Company, whose predecessor companies were naturalised in 1986, completed its initial public offering in May 1993. Its properties and activities are concentrated in Texas, New Mexico, Arkansas, Oklahoma, Kansas, Wyoming, Colorado, Alaska and Louisiana.Competitive Environment XTO operates in the lower-cap oil and gas business. They compete directly with larger independent companies like Devon Energy, Anadarko, and Apache. XTOs main focus is acquiring established, long-lived properties, which are low in risk, and consent the best technology possible to maximize production.Structure Based on interviews with management, we found that XTOs management style encourages innovation. Employees are encouraged to ask for forbearance and not permission. Weve learned this semester through lecture and readings, that this management technique empowers employees and gives them the autonomy they like and the freedom to create. Employees that work under this type of management style are not faced with the possibility of loosing their jobs if they make a business decision that turns out to have negative consequences. Employees are free to innovate and take pragmatic risks. The company civilisation at XTO is described as laid back and relaxed. XTO believes that major oil and gas companies are unable to implement this type of culture due to their size. Since XTO is smaller, the company is able to deploy a much different policy from what the majors employ. As the company rapidly grows, this relaxed practice has become a concern for XTOs management. The company has recently grown so much that theyve had to pull back slightly on the relaxed atmosphere. Management has been working with Human Resources to plus the amount of str ucture within the company. It remains to be seen if this policy will stifle company innovation.XTOs main focus in managing people has been to change and adhere to employees interests and skills. If an employee becomes unproductive or disinterested with her current job accountabilities, management will find alternatives for the employee first before termination. Management will transfer an employee to a business unit where she may have the best opportunity to excel, and where her skill set and interests will be most utilized - an alignment with the best practices design studied in this course.