| Description | Side A
ROBERT DAVID ELLIOT born 7 December 1950 at Kilwinnie, Ayrshire. Current position: HR consultant with Canadian oil company EnCana UK, dealing with takeover situation, redundancies etc. Reference to Amerada Hess. Left Shell earlier this year. Details re childhood home on Ayrshire coast, former holiday resort. Father a boilermaker/riveter shipyard worker on Clyde, worked on building of ocean liners. Oldest of 3 children. Mother a piano teacher. Describes home village, childhood homes, mixed neighbourhood, working class community. ICI biggest local employer. Father also worked in Hunterstone Nuclear facility. Recalls seeing QE2 at Greenock. Paternal family were miners. Elliott grandparents came from Lanarkshire. Parents divorced. Details re family. Father's names. Maternal family, Lamonts, from Glasgow, West Coast. Details. Grandfather a butcher, carpenter. Reference to Co-op Carpentry Works. Grandfather torpedoed during WWI. He later worked in shipyard as storeman. Further details about him. Saw him every week. Recalls his personality, political, religious views. His passions were woodworking, reading. He was refreshingly opinionated. Details. Significance of relationship with him. Recalls music in childhood home, own attitude. Mother very political, less of an influence than grandfather. Explains. Relationship with father who worked in Barrow naval dockyards. Lost touch with him when abroad. Recalls impact of parents' divorce, own situation in family afterwards, links with other family members. Not religious in childhood. Details. Recalls Clydeside industrial working class aversion to church. Liked football, refused to play rugby at school. Details. Not an achiever at school. Explains. Liked English, History. Feelings about Latin, science. Attitude to going to university.
Side B
First in family to go to university, not many from school went. Did O-levels at 16. Encouraged by grandfather to go to university. Recalls visitors to home in childhood. Relationship with sisters in childhood and adulthood, differences in life paths. Sister a teacher. Details. Mentions own experience as a teacher. Explains decision to History, English at university. Recalls best friend, Ian Sheddan, teacher, who went to Glasgow University. Enjoyed Strathclyde University, recalls accommodation difficulties. Student for 8 years. Got BA in English, History. Details re course. Recalls cultural similarity of home town to Glasgow. Difference in Aberdeen - lack of soul, energy. Explains positive, negative aspects of Aberdeen. When oil industry arrived it encountered passivity. Incomers tend to gravitate to other incomers. Compares own, and wife's feelings re Aberdeen. Effect of centuries of isolation on Aberdeen, small town mentality. Idea of being Europe's energy capital nonsense. Oil industry independent of Aberdeen. Local civic society invisible to industry. Attitude of Aberdonians. Likely long term impact of industry on Aberdeen. Comments on development of housing estates, office blocks etc, lack of impact on mental life of city. Compares with impact of shipping on Glasgow, romantic glamorisation there of shipbuilding, heavy engineering etc yet still an energy. Shipbuilding in Glasgow was indigenous, Aberdeen has done nothing re oil. Skills all imported. Details re local involvement in oil. Lack of deep roots. Some able Aberdonians got lucky. Accident of history makes Aberdeen oil centre. Attitude of Aberdeen University. Reference to Piper Alpha disaster. Most offshore workers don't live in Aberdeen. Lack of awareness of most Aberdeen people re offshore.
Side A
Strathclyde University 1969-73. Had no career goal. Became teacher by default. Trained at Jordanhill College of Education. Started MLitt at Strathclyde, then completed PhD in Scottish literature at Glasgow University. Details. Got job teaching at Craigbank School. Mentions marriage. Outlines theme, purpose of thesis re Glasgow in the novel. Comments on more recent literature on Glasgow. Paucity of literature about Aberdeen, a wasteland. Mentions Lewis Grassic Gibbon, greatest Scottish writer of last century. No cultural foundations to oil industry because no location where everybody gets together, no critical mass. Oil industry community a virtual community. Compares with fishing industry. Explains lack of affection for oil industry which is a chain of different, detached segments. Knows nobody in industry who makes connection between what they do and end product in emotional sense. Impossible to love oil industry. Comments on negative gambling aspect of oil industry which produces and squanders wealth. Mentions dry wells. Bad PR unites many in the industry. Compares safety in oil industry with other areas. Details re wife, her work as caterer, children, names. In 1978 appointed lecturer, Head of English, Higher Institute of Electronics, Libya. Reasons for working in Malta for period. Describes Malta. Recalls visit by Colonel Gaddafi, security guards on white horses. Details re Libya. Recalls boredom of day-to-day life there. Details re Institute in Sahara Desert. 1980 returned to Glasgow, appointed Lecturer in Communication, Cardonald College, Glasgow. Feelings about being back. Appointed Training & Development Advisor, Saudi Iron & Steel, Saudi Arabia. Details re company, its work. Hired to establish English language training unit.
Side B
Saudi Iron & Steel (cont'd). Started to dabble in management training. Details re approach. Still had no sense of career purpose. Explains enjoyment of Saudi Arabia, Middle East, aspects of heat, colour, contrasts, romance, culture. Little real contact with local community. Explains advantages of own job in this respect, need of locals for English language for commercial, personal opportunity. Biggest realisation was how much Saudis are like us. Mentions justice system, eg cutting hands off in public. Recalls experience near where this happened. Describes visit to old Arabian-type oasis. Background to leaving Saudi, appointment as Head of HQ Planning, Qatar General Petroleum 1986. Details re holidays in UK. Wife's situation in Saudi, employment in local school. Describes living conditions, neighbourhood. Describes work in Qatar, compares with Saudi. Had to revamp setup, deal with bringing in trainers etc. Details re financial situation, Sheik, attitude to doing deals. Reference to AGIP. Compares pay in Middle East, UK. Enjoyed Middle East experience. Details re living conditions, inadequate salary. Appointed Resourcing & Development Coordinator, Marathon Oil, Aberdeen 1988. Details re work recruiting expats, similarity to previous work. Describes Marathon, its operations, reason for reviving training work. Reference to Brae field. Most staff Scottish, few Americans. Own work not very challenging. Describes Marathon's culture, Houston-based bureaucratic world-wide organisation. Describes organisational structure of company, attitudes. Explains dislike of regular meetings with other companies' personnel. Perception of other oil companies. Could have been working anywhere - delivered generic courses. Details re courses on management etc. Feelings about work. Mentions insights into company centres in Denver, Houston. Issue of measurement of value of training.
Side A
Marathon Oil (cont'd). Recalls clashes between technical people and others re possibility of quantifiable solutions. Has always maintained interest in literature. Briefly ran university course on Scottish novel. Recalls Piper Alpha disaster. Explains detachment from it. Recalls deaths of grandparents. Has always kept in contact with family. Situation of own children in Aberdeen. Background to appointment as HR Manager, Enterprise Oil 1992. Better culture, different attitudes there. Explains. Comments on less flexible organisation of American companies. Recalls key people in Enterprise. Describes Mark Hope, General Manager, his background and approach. Mentions action-oriented approach in company. Enterprise had to prove itself. Details re Nelson Field, company strategy. Own role to set up HR department, develop long term philosophy re recruitment. Attitude of other departments to HR - a necessary evil. Describes policing etc roles. Lot of freedom because nobody interested. Had freedom, made things up. Argument when people personally affected. Managers offshore don't want to be bad guy, problems given to HR. HR useful scapegoat. Importance of having policy. Early time in Enterprise was best. Explains. Compares with later steady-state routine period. Explains tension between offshore workers and HR re pay, expectations. Responsibilities of HR. Own role to look at competitors, market. Pressure from line management re pay. Attitudes to pay rates at different levels of management. Recalls good working environment at Enterprise, Sunday Times recognition. Company was tightly controlled, had good morale. Reaction to bureaucratic situation at Shell after takeover. Became Head of HR & Support Services, responsible for safety 1993. Background to appointment. Has antipathy re much of health and safety talk bandied around.
Side B
Enterprise Oil (cont'd). Explains sceptical attitude to health & safety regime. Endless initiatives, boring people to death, political correctness. H&S a backwater for failures. When at Enterprise, had constant tension with colleagues. Attitude of most people to current safety regime. No union recognition in Enterprise, no pressure from staff. Same in Marathon. Attitude of American companies. Explains own antipathy to unions, objection to collectivism. Father, grandfather were for unions. Unions irrelevant to oil industry. OILC has had no impact except in PR terms for companies. Comments on changing safety level in industry. Doubts improvements in human attitudes. Creation of Health & Safety has harmed genuine H&S. Enterprise attitude that responsibility lay with line management. Feelings re H&S people. Very good safety record at Enterprise. Details. Enterprise always vulnerable to takeover. Details re shareprice. Reference to Laslo. Enterprise staff in shadow of takeover. Nobody believed it would happen. Recalls difficulties in HR when employing people at that time, special deals. Explains own lack of interest in many business activities of company. Most business plans never eventuated. Feelings about management meetings. Company restructured 6 months before Shell takeover. Agip expected to take over. Explains significance to stock market of restructuring. Importance of regular culls. Compares efficiency of Enterprise in Aberdeen, London. Describes staffing strategies. Own role dealing with redundancies. Compares with handling discipline cases. Gives example. Shell takeover a surprise. Mentions Agip offer. First heard rumours re Shell days before takeover. Describes reactions in Enterprise. Details re staff numbers. Own reaction mixed. Details re redundancy packages, staff transfers of all but management team to Shell, own situation.
Side A
Shell takeover of Enterprise (cont'd). Management team were unlikely to get jobs at same level. Background to decision to do deal and join Shell. Reference to many Shell restructurings. Put in charge of integration of the two companies. Wanted overseas job. Compares own situation with that of others. Colleagues, self fed up. Details of job offer in The Hague. Reasons for not going to Middle East. Details re severance payment, juggling possibilities, pension situation. Invited to join EnCana March 2003 as HR consultant. Set up own limited company. Details re contract with EnCana. Mentions takeover by EnCana of Amerada Hess' Scott Telford asset. Assigned to due diligence work. Amerada Hess leaving North Sea and UK. Details re takeover of Amerada Hess building. Change in industry coming. Majors getting out, Canadians coming in. Details. Much more outsourcing. Greater focus, economies. Less impact of Shell/Enterprise integration on lower level staff than on management. Details. Many have left Shell. Recalls some distress, negativity. Comments on Shell's attitude to health and safety. Compares Shell with Civil Service. Explains own attitude to work in oil industry, lack of emotional attachment to it. Feelings about career choices in retrospect. Current financial situation. Has little free time, plays some golf. Learning Scottish fiddle. Considering possibility of joining EnCana staff. Depends on salary situation. Own future prospects, future prospects for oil industry. Comments on attitudes to training initiatives, loss of jobs in the industry, structure of the industry, separate working parts. All at mercy of oil price. Explains effects of this. Everybody looking for the golden bullet. Relationship between operators and service companies.
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