Discussion Board Forum 1: Business Ethics. The Volkswagen

Volkswagen is one of the largest automakers in the world and it has a global reputation as a high-quality German auto brand. Social responsibility is included in VW’s corporate culture and it seems that Volkswagen made some advances in Corporate Social Responsibility because the corporation was ranked 11th 2015 in the Global CSR Rep Track 100, which listed companies by reputation (Reputation Institute, 2015).However, the company has been threatened by an emission scandal which broke in September 2015, when the Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) disclosed that Volkswagen had installed defeat devices on diesel cars which were sold in the US. These devices equipped on VW cars cheated regulators in such a way that it could detect

Abandoned minors are no longer protected from liability on their contracts, merchants are still reluctant to deal with them on a credit basis, fearing that they may still attempt to disaffirm, or

The mistrust between the Volkswagen Company and their customers developed after the scandal associated with the incorrect emission of data and cheating of the system unfolded.  The scandal occurred on the eighteenth of September 2015 when it was found that the company had made a car with a turbo that released emission directly into the real word atmosphere. The allegations were genuine and were proved by the Environment Protection Agency in the United States (EPA) (Hotten, 2016).The chief

Kantian ethics and rule utilitarianism disagree on the morality of creating a “defeat device.” This device determined when its engine was undergoing emissions testing then switched from its normal operating mode into a lower emission mode. The normal emission mode was 40 times the limit dictated by the Clean Air Act [1]. By creating a dirty engine, Liang contributed towards the destruction of the atmosphere. This will negatively impact the quality of life for many future generations of people. Because damaging the environment negatively impacts millions of people, rule utilitarianism declares it to be morally wrong. The prosecution of six executives of Volkswagen, including the head of engine development, indicate that Liang’s superiors were involved in this conspiracy from the beginning [2]. The most applicable maxim to this situation is “I shall fulfill

The company had a lot of pressure to get their diesel vehicles on the road which were advertised as having low emissions and being overall better for the environment. Volkswagen created a ‘defeat device’ which allowed them to cheat their way through the emissions test and get their vehicles on the road quickly without having to address the issue. When they were caught, the company admitted to having over 11 million cars world-wide containing this device and were releasing emissions up to 40 times the legal limit in the United States. Volkswagen planned on recalling some of the vehicles privately before the scandal was revealed, but once it was found out, all the cars were reimbursed but the company also had to pay fines for each car that violated the standards (Hotten, 2015). While the company did experience quite a financial loss as a result of this large-scale scandal, no individual people were punished or convicted of anything due to the fact that it is nearly impossible to pinpoint who is at fault. Due to the fact that they are a large, relatively wealthy company, they figured it would be easy for them to get away with what they did, because of the way white-collar crimes are approached by the criminal justice system. Had a company or individual of lower economic status tried to attempt a similar crime, the punishments would have been more severe and individual persons would have been picked out and punished for the crimes committed, likely resulting in job loss or

But was it ethical? This question will often be asked regarding the case of engineer James Liang and his role in the Volkswagen emission scandal. During the period of early 2006 to 2014, James Liang and his team of engineers developed a “defeat” device that allowed diesel powered vehicles to pass the EPA emission test, when in fact the vehicles were emitting up to 30 times the allowable limit. To many, this may seem a black and white case of ethics due to the fact that Liang’s team and Volkswagen blatantly cheated on a governmental testing regulation and then proceeded to falsely advertise the vehicles as “clean diesel and environmentally friendly” as reported by the United States Department of Justice; however, different ethical

an action can't be right if the people who are made happy by it are outnumbered by the people who are made unhappy by it.

Businesses use workplace ethics to manage the behavior of the employees. Workplace ethics control management’s moral decisions and keep companies out of any type legal trouble. Some businesses break down their ethics in an official company code of ethics. Employees of companies that have no official code should rely on their personal ethics that they were taught and have learned. Ethics is defined as a moral philosophy or code of morals practiced by a person or group of people. In the workplace, ethics keeps the employers and the employees from doing the wrong thing. So when an employer or employee demonstrates unethical behavior what is the outcome? In December 2015, Fortune listed “The 5 Biggest Corporate Scandals of 2015”. Some

Hi Aleks, you make some excellent points. Once a company signs a CIA they are bound to the terms of the agreement and if the provision includes the sign-off on quarterly notifications, then the company would be obligated to disclose any compliance or non-compliance activities. As I mentioned in my initial discussion post, we can’t really control other people and how they conduct themselves despite the number of rules that are set implemented to control misconduct. I also agree with you, not only it would be an enormous effort to ensure all employees are in compliance with the applicable laws and regulations, but the expense can be damaging. However, compliance could even be costlier if a company is found liable for violating the law. In

Ensuring that such situations are controlled concern primarily that a leader provides awareness reminders and training on the institutional code of conduct AND the professional ethics code. Unfortunately, part of the disruption

The VW corporation was found to be guilty of falsifying programming for the emissions system, but the executives that were responsible for this corporate action are protected by corporate law for damages to the environment and to the health of human beings. In highly unregulated system of corporate law, it is very difficult to punish or remove the executives that were responsible for this unethical act. Many corporate legal cases end up being settled out of court with financial compensation for damages. However, the ramifications of air pollution related to VW's emissions violations prove to be a much harder case to prove in the courts. This is part of the brazen disregard for the greater good that the VW executives possessed when deliberately programming the TDI controllers during the initial testing

In today’s society we often come to many debates on several issues that go on in our world today. Recently there was an ethical debate on whether or not it is ethical to release vehicles with software that defeats emission testing by the EPA. Volkswagen is being accused of using illegal software designed to hide emissions during testing by installing cars with a software. The EPA accused Volkswagen of using the device in nearly over a half a million cars (Davenport). The cars are reportedly to have been installed with a software that had the ability to turn off the emissions controls when driving normally and turns them on when the vehicle is undergoing an emissions test. With all of these assumptions of Volkswagen cheating the emissions testing does that question their ethical corporate responsibility?

Volkswagen(VW), a classic and adored automaker who ruled the automotive manufacturing business for many decades suddenly found itself in the middle of the tragic business crisis with the news that they deliberately cheated on and falsified emission tests on many of their vehicles over the past several years. On September 15, 2015 VW was charged with allegations of manipulating US emission tests by installing cheating software by the US Environmental Protection Agency (EPA). In its response, VW admitted the charges which led the company to undergo a shakeup among its executives, a drop-in stock and resale values, government investigations, and a serious blow to their

It is not hard to see that the scandal would cause a horrid blow to VW’s image. Until the incident, VW had, like many other German companies, the reputation of “German engineering” (Robertson, 2013). However, instead of using that innovation to develop diesel-fueled cars compliant with U.S. standards, it decided to try to scam its way in the market. Not only did the company admit to having 11 million cars with software intended to cheat tests (Gates, Ewing, Russell & Watkins, 2017), it also plead guilty to “destroying evidence in an elaborate cover-up” (VW Admits Emissions Cheating and Cover-up, 2017); building further distrust among its consumers.

Volkswagen created a device that would pass an emission test, a cheaper ignition switch was used, which caused air bags not to deploy and cars to stop when bumped into moving vehicles. In the article “Volkswagen: Where were the lawyers?”, the decisions of the lawyers involved are examined, were these lawyers being ethical did they follow proper guidelines? After reviewing this article, I feel as an employee or manager in either the legal office or the engineering department, this could have been prevented.