Ethical Dilemmas : Ethics And Ethics Of The Volkswagen Scandal

In 2015, Volkswagen incurred a problematic situation that left people asking the question, “Where were the Lawyers?” Volkswagen’s sales were spiraling out of control in crucial markets such as China and Brazil, which eventually lead to a reputation damage for the company. Likewise, the emissions testing catastrophe only made matters worse. Over 11 million of Volkswagen’s diesel cars worldwide were equipped with illegal software, used to cheat on emissions testing, posing a more serious threat to the environment as well as endangering human life. Specifically, this paper will discuss how I as an employee or manger would have prevented the incident and as a CEO, how I would have responded once the issue became public as well as to

Firstly, from the view of company, Volkswagen scandal is result from the misuse of CSR that the company regarded it as a marketing tool. Although Volkswagen promised to persuade CSR as their corporation culture, the reality turns out to be opposite. Volkswagen equipped defeat devices on cars deliberately to pass environmental tasks and actually the defeat device emitted nitrogen oxide approximately 40 times of standard (Dans, 2015). This behaviour can be explained as "green-washing", which means the real performance is different from the test results (Eric, 2015). The motivation of deception largely depends on corporation’s aggressive goal called “Strategy 2018” , which aim to increase annual sales to ten million cars by 2018 (Volkswagen, 2014). Therefore, Volkswagen needs to lower the price to be competitive to its competitors and one task is to reduce cost of production. Volkswagen used CSR concept to cover unethical actions. It demonstrates that Volkswagen focused on persuading the short-term target rather than its customers, long-term reputation and environment (Bansal, King & Seijts,

The Volkswagen (VW) corporation experienced a major scandal after it conspired to manipulate data for diesel emissions. Business ethics, legal issues, and a Biblical worldview are common areas of failure and are clearly present in this case. Lippe (2015) stated that these acts were deliberate and examined the responsibility of legal counsel to mitigate such acts. If not for road testing by engineer, John German, excess emissions may not have been detected, and due to outcry, VW admitted to their technologically sophisticated fraud (Patra, 2016). God’s Word reveals, “But there is nothing covered up that will not be revealed, and hidden that will not be known” (Luke 12:2 New American Standard

Volkswagen is under investigation following reports from the EPA that they had installed software into their engines that deceived emissions testers. Furthermore, engineers updated this software in 2014, claiming that they were improving the vehicles. James Liang, a senior engineer who had worked for Volkswagen for 30 years, admitted to investigators in September of 2016 that he had designed the software in question. Further investigation has revealed that this conspiracy may have involved executives of the company. It is unknown to the public whether Liang was acting under orders when he designed the software or he decided to create it on his own to meet requirements his superiors gave him. Both rule utilitarianism and Kantian duty ethics

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

Almost all companies in the business world have to promote or deal with ethical and social responsibilities. One current ethical issue that is happening in the news today is how Chipotle’s food has been contaminated with different viruses, bacteria, and other substances that have been making many customers sick. They have had countless issues with this food related epidemic and now are trying to rebuild their brand name and reputation to bring its customers back. Chipotle is socially and ethically responsible for taking care of their customers, which means they have to ensure that when they prepare and serve food that it is clean and uncontaminated. On the other side of the business world, Volkswagen has had countless issues with their cars

As a multinational corporation, the implication of the scandal determines the fate of numerous stakeholders both internal and external. Internal stakeholders comprise of the board, managers and employees while external stakeholders subsume shareholders, customers and suppliers. The economic, political and social impacts of the dishonest practices would shape the fate of Volkswagen and affect the future prospects of the automotive industry. Common shareholders whilst not involved in the day to day running of the business placed faith and belief in the firm by providing capital had suffered severe economic loss as share prices (get something for stat). Despite the callous deception in advertising the defeat device displayed no signs of disturbing vehicle performance, however, customers of Volkswagen and its subsidiary vehicles suffer from lower resale value. In addition, even though the scandal was global, European consumers were the most affected with diesel cars accounting for 41% of all European cars (Fontaras, 2016). This high percentage in respect to other nations is a result of incentives provided by the European Union for the purchase of diesel vehicles such as subsidies towards the production process resulting in lower premiums compared to petrol counterparts (Vidal, 2015) In additional with sales falling suppliers of Volkswagen would likely lose future contracts or have current contracts downgraded as less parts are required. Thus, this loss of future

In philosophy, there exist three major approaches in normative ethics. The Code of Ethics would be classified as the first approach, deontology, which emphasizes following duties and roles as an ethical approach to situations. Then there is consequentialism, which means analyzing the consequences of actions and making ethical decisions based on that. For me, this is the one I disagree with most. In my situation, following this school of thought would mean going along with the company, because I would keep my job, because that would result in the most positive personal consequences for myself. The last, and most helpful to me, is known as virtue ethics. According to one paper discussing virtue ethics from the University of Stanford, virtue ethics states, “Constantly attending to our needs, our desires, our passions, and our thoughts skews our perspective on what the world is actually like and blinds us to the goods around us.” [5] For me, that means I must put aside my personal stake in the matter (my job) and focus on the other consequences of allowing the public testing of the car.

Volkswagen committed an atrocity, worse even than making tanks for Hitler. They (or at least someone) willfully allowed toxic NOx (Nitrogen Oxides) gases to dissipate into the atmosphere. They no doubt need to recompense, but $48 Billion is just too much. That is an insane precedent to be set, and wildly unnecessary. No company in history could survive a hit like that, $48 Billion is over 75 percent of the Volkswagen’s market capital (all of the outstanding stocks multiplied by their value).

Since September of last year, there is an ongoing investigation into the Volkswagen emissions scandal after research indicated a large discrepancy in emissions during testing and road operation conditions on some of the company’s diesel engine vehicles.[1] On September 9, 2016, James Liang, an experienced Volkswagen engineer and head of the company’s Diesel Competence unit in the U.S., pleaded guilty to taking part in a fraudulent scheme to allow certain Volkswagen vehicles that violated emissions regulations to pass testing procedures and to be sold in the United States. Beginning in 2006, VW was in the process of designing new “clean diesel” engines that would be used in vehicles to be sold in the U.S, but the company soon discovered that diesel engines could not be designed to meet the emissions regulations and while at the same time providing satisfactory driving performance.[2] Instead of redesigning the engines to comply emissions regulations or dropping the design altogether, Liang and other engineers developed a device to sense when the engine was being tested and run on an alternate low emissions mode until the test was complete to enable the engine to pass emissions testing. After pleading guilty, Liang is facing criminal charges, and is cooperating with investigators to determine others that should be responsible for the scandal. Should Liang and the other engineers involved in the development of the device be held responsible based on the morality of 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.

As an employee of the engineering department I would follow policy and not look for an easier way out, this employee who made this decision possibly faced an ethical dilemma. As stated in Kubasek el al (2016) “an ethical dilemma is a problem about what a firm should do for which no clear right decision is available. According to the text, it is the responsibility of both the business and the lawyer to make sure the ethical guidelines are met. When Volkswagen made the decision to release the vehicles with faulty parts, that decision also affected

This incident would serve as the initial event that jumpstarted the public’s concern for exactly what was going on with many Toyota models. In this paper, we will explore the ethical issue that was present in this case, whether or not Toyota acted ethically in its handling of the unintended acceleration of its vehicles. In order to do this, we will examine the situation in the light of the six-step Hosmer’s moral reasoning process. This will include, among other aspects, an examination of the event in consideration of shareholder, stakeholder, and virtue theory. In addition to that, the authors will apply the Total Integrity Management model to Toyota’s actions in order to examine the moral integrity of the company as it pertains to trust. To conclude the paper, the authors will provide a normative statement regarding the actions of Toyota. To

The Volkswagen Company made numerous unethical decisions resulting in one of the worst corporate scandal in modern times (Where were the lawyers, 2015). Who was involved in the scandal? What were those unethical decisions, and what are the results of immoral decision? To properly examine the scandal it is best to critically analyze the situation based on legal factors. “If anyone, then, knows the good they ought to do and doesn't do it, it is sin for them” (James 4:17, New International Version). An illegal program was installed in 11 million Volkswagen vehicles worldwide, which allowed the manipulation of results in pollution tests. Despite knowing this was unethical, Volkswagen knowingly made a

Aside from the billions in buy backs, billions on fines, Volkswagen has still not recovered in the two years since with their stock price still below that of before the scandal. This goes to show that corporate social responsibility is taken more earnestly, now more than ever, and that it is in companies best interests to be ethical in their responsibilities.