VW 2015 Emission scandle

Martin Winterkorn Volkswagen CEO resigned on September and made announcement to decline that he was aware of diesel scandal. It is believed greatly by a great number of individuals that this unethical scandal occurred because of technology shortcoming prompted Volkswagen to cheat in emission test (Boston, Varnholt, & Sloat, 2015). On December Hans-Dieter Pötsch chairman of Volkswagen revealed to the public that a group of Volkswagen engineers made decision to rig diesel emission test in 2005 when the united States EPA imposed the toughest emission standards to automobile industry. The significant reason forced them to take this decision at that time was in virtue of technology shortcoming (Boston, Varnholt, & Sloat, 2015). The engineers were unable to meet the United States emission standards through Volkswagen given time and allocated budget. After specific time span, Volkswagen engineers managed to find a solution to face emission standards, yet they preferred to continue rigging rather than implementing the method. In accordance with Volkswagen chairman public admission, the unethical scandal is not one-off mistake, but it is a whole chain of mistakes taking place without any disruption (Rising & Sopke, 2015). One of the other significant reasons fueling Volkswagen deception is unique corporate culture of the company. The culture of Volkswagen is compliance based which employees are obliged to comply with the rules (Goodman, McGrath, & Leah, 2015). This culture has led to an atmosphere where workforces carry out their tasks under a critically centralized structure. In accordance with this culture, the demand and expectations of the company should be fulfilled regardless of how employees are able to perform the tasks (Goodman, McGrath, & Leah 2015). According to director of the Center for Automotive Research Ferdinand Dudenhöffe, Volkswagen cultural practices are far different from other automobile manufacturers. The company is autocratic rather than being democratic. The main focus of the company is on roots and Wolfsburg; therefore, there is a noticeable dearth of global thinking. Based on Dudenhöffer, chief positions of Volkswagen might not directly enforced workforces to install defeat device in engines however working environment of Volkswagen is famous for avoiding dissent and discussion. In Volkswagen human resource practices pave the ground for management positions to tell employees to consider the task again, and if you are not capable to find a solution or to perform your tasks, there are other candidates who are efficient to perform your job. Thus employees of Volkswagen find themselves in a situation where if maintaining job is the concern, there is no choice (Sherk, 2014). In accordance with one of Volkswagen executive employee, rewarding system of Volkswagen is another reason enforcing employees to prefer keeping quiet about rigging in emission test for a long time even if they preferred to reveal. The bonus system of Volkswagen applies to all workforces from lower positions such as assembly line to higher positions such as chief executives (Elson, Ferrere, & Goossen, 2015). In Volkswagen rewarding and bonus system, not only employees based on their performance receive bonus but also teams based on their performance and productivity receive bonus. The financial incentive of Volkswagen rewarding system leads employees not to come out with dissenting opinions. In accordance with one of Volkswagen employees, bonus is in commensurate with the amount of remuneration that a staff is paid. In other words, when a Volkswagen staff takes up a greater position, the amount of bonus that staff receives is higher than an assembly line staff that is on lower remuneration (Elson, Ferrere, & Goossen, 2015). When Volkswagen cheating in diesel emission test was admitted publically, Bernd Osterloh who is the labor leader of Volkswagen declared that culture and approaches of company is not ethical and appropriate; therefore, some value-based changes should be adapted in the culture of company to allow employees to communicate with higher levels openly regarding any matter within the company, and also to enable employees to share their dissent opinion with their supervisors or chief positions (Sherk, 2014). Although some people might stick to the idea that Volkswagen scandal took place in virtue of profit maximization, this is in face a misconception. According to the revealed information, it is evident that the primary roots of this deception are fueled from Volkswagen culture and approaches.

Mansouri, Naz. (2016). A Case Study of Volkswagen Unethical Practice in Diesel Emission

Test. International Journal of Science and Engineering Applications.

5. 211-216.10.7753/IJSEA0504.1004.

Firstly, it was reported that nine (9) managers are suspended for being involved in the deception. It is stated by Volkswagen chairman that one of the reason suspended group took this unethical scandal is because of the mindset in some departments of the company which fails to comply the rules (Goodman, McGrath, & Leah, 2015). In October 2015, it was stated that the group of employees participated in diesel scandal is small. CEO of Volkswagen announced to the United States lawmakers that for whatever reasons a small group of software engineers embedded the device in cars. The CEO mentioned that he is not aware of exact number of engineers and also this scandal was not corporate decision (Boston, Varnholt, & Sloat, 2015). Later, a law firm Jones Day, which is the external investigator of Volkswagen, conducted internal investigation and later revealed that fifty (50) members of staff mostly in Wolfsburg confessed that they were completely aware of emission scandal activities. Later, news learned that although some Volkswagen engineers and technicians informed their supervisors about emission rigging activities in the year 2011, supervisors ignored the alert (Boston, Varnholt, & Sloat, 2015). In November 2015, the number of participated managers, technicians, and engineers in the emission test scandal to operate the defeat device is dramatic. There have been various levers in this scandal. It is described that one individual is able to write the codes of defeat device program; on the other hand implementing this program to function with engine and other elements requires more workforces to be involved in (Goodman, McGrath, & Leah, 2015). Moreover, in accordance with Bode, Volkswagen junior positions were not included in the cheating test, whilst finally it was declared that a great number of managerial and non-managerial the rank and file workforce were involved in diesel emission scandal. The suspended managerial group consists of nine (9) managers from supervisory board, quality control and assurance, engine designers, plant managers, and managers of sub-companies such as Porsche and Audi. EPA has added that approximately hundred (100) million lines of codes are included in each car, whilst in the case of Volkswagen; the defeat device was embedded amongst millions of codes which are definitely far challenging to detect. In addition, there is a possibility that a third-party programmer has written the codes of cheating program, Ricker added (Boston, Varnholt, & Sloat, 2015).

The history of Volkswagen dates back to 1937 Germany, where a company called “Deutsche Arbeitsfront” was tasked with creating a vehicle affordable enough for every German family.7 Shortly thereafter, during WWII, workers from concentration camps-built cars for the German army. After the war, the factory was taken over by the British military and used to produce “Volkswagen” vehicles, which in German means “People’s Car.” For the next ten years, control of the company switched hands while the “Beetle” model became increasingly popular. The next seven decades for Volkswagen were full of acquisitions and several legal battles that ultimately resulted in an automobile empire including 12 worldrenowned brands: Audi, Bentley, Bugatti, Lamborghini, Porsche, Ducati, Seat, Skoda, Scania, Man, VW Commercial Vehicles, and Volkswagen. In 2014, Volkswagen was one of the largest automobile firms with a 13% global market share for passenger cars. It produced 41,000 vehicles every week-day in its 119 production plants. That same year it sold 10.1 million vehicles.

Blackwelder, Britt, Katherine Coleman, Sara Colunga-Santoyo, Jeffrey S. Harrison, and Danielle

Wozniak. The Volkswagen Scandal. Case Study. University of Richmond: Robins School

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The on-road testing in May 2014 that led the California Air Resources Board to investigate Volkswagen was conducted by researchers at West Virginia University. They tested emissions from two VW models equipped with the 2-liter turbocharged 4-cylinder diesel engine. The researchers found that when tested on the road, some cars emitted almost 40 times the permitted levels of nitrogen oxides.

The Environmental Protection Agency said in September 2015 that it would order Volkswagen to recall seven of its American car models with affected engines, which amount to nearly 600,000 vehicles. The vast majority of the cars — about 8.5 million — are in Europe and include Skoda and Seat cars not sold in the United States. The rest of the vehicles are scattered around Asia, Africa and South America, where diesels account for a relatively small percentage of cars sold.

University of California - San Diego. (2017, May 23). Computer code that Volkswagen used to

cheat emissions tests uncovered: International team of researchers uncovered the system

inside cars' onboard computers. ScienceDaily. Retrieved August 19, 2019 from

Guide to the Volkswagen Emissions Recall

An FAQ with everything you need to know about the VW ‘Dieselgate’