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The Implications Of Routine Nonconformity

Decent Essays

Organizations engage in unlawful or illegal activity solely for the purpose of profit and/or enhanced social status. This may include small-scale or large-scale organizations that adopt criminally-inclined mechanisms which come in the form of of financial crime, white collar crime, political crime, war crime, etc. The article published by Hotten (2015), “Volkswagen: The scandal explained,” discusses how Volkswagen managed to falsify emissions tests in efforts to maximize profits at the expense of the consumers’ health and the external environment. Although the scandal is not a direct product of organized crime, it is a clear example of how organizations fall into the trap of “routine nonconformity.” Routine nonconformity is when legitimate organizations deviate from normative standards and expectations to produce unfavorable outcomes (Vaughan 1999). The article addresses the phenomenon of routine nonconformity through Volkswagen’s use of advanced software technology, the complexity of managerial decision making, and the negative implications it has on other carmakers and the diesel industry. The article will be analyzed using the scholarly work of Vaughan, D. (1999) article “The Dark Side of Organizations: Mistake, Misconduct, and Disaster.”
In the year of 2015, Volkswagen prioritized organizational efficiency and financial sustainability over corporate social responsibility. To illustrate, the EPA (the Environmental Protection Agency) discovered that the Volkswagen cars

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