Topic: Business Ethics
Thread Prompt:
Rarely does one individual’s decision or action create an ethical crisis entirely by itself. More often,
someone’s unethical or illegal idea is adopted by other members of the company, and the problem
grows within the organization until it erupts in headlines, bad publicity, and sometimes criminal
penalties. After the fact, the questions always arise: How did that happen? Didn't anyone know it was
going on? Why didn't someone stop it?
Recently, Volkswagen found itself in just such a position, when it was discovered that the software in
the company’s diesel vehicles had been programmed to provide false data to regulators regarding the
level of emissions produced by the cars.
In his article “Volkswagen: Where Were the Lawyers?” Lippe (2015) questions the role that several
groups within the company played in the scandal, most notably the company’s lawyers and engineers.
See http://www.abajournal.com/legalrebels/article/volkswagen_where_were_the_lawyers/.
Review this situation from legal, spiritual, and ethical perspectives. Fully explain the following:
1. As an employee or a manager in either the legal office or the engineering
department, how would you have prevented this incident?
2. As the CEO of the diesel division of Volkswagen, how would you have responded
when the situation became public? How would this response prevent future
incidents?
Lippe, P. (2015, October 13). Volkswagen: Where were the lawyers? ABA Journal. Retrieved
from http://www.abajournal.com/legalrebels/article/volk...
UTILIZE CONSTITUTIONAL LAW WITHIN THE LEGAL ENVIRONMENT OF BUSINESS
UTILIZE CRIMINAL LAW AND BUSINESS WITHIN THE LEGAL ENVIRONMENT OF BUSINESS
HERE ARE THE FORUM GUIDLINES:
Discussion boards are collaborative learning experiences. Therefore, the student is required to provide
a thread in response to the provided prompt for each forum. Each thread must be at least 1,000 words,
demonstrate course-related knowledge, and be supported by 3 scholarly sources other than the
textbook/course materials. Each thread must also include at least 2 separate verses from Scripture,
quoted and applied as an integral part of the discussion, in the context of a biblical worldview. The
thread will be submitted through the SafeAssign link to check for plagiarism, as well as submitted
directly on the discussion board in Blackboard. In addition to the thread, the student will reply to 2
other classmates’ threads. Each reply must be at least 450 words, supported by 3 scholarly sources
other than the textbook/course materials. Each reply must also include at least 1 verse of Scripture
applied to the discussion. Each source must be cited in current APA format.
Running head: VOLKSWAGEN EMISSIONS SCANDAL 1
Volkswagen Emissions Scandal
Name
Institutional Affiliation
Date
VOLKSWAGEN EMISSIONS SCANDAL 2
As an employee or a manager in either the legal office or the engineering department, how
would you have prevented this incident?
As an employee of the engineering department, I would have a moral obligation to report
anything that I noticed was wrong despite the consequences. Knowing what was happening,
therefore, I would have alerted the top management of the company so that they could take the
proper action on the matter. If the managers failed to take action, I would have alerted the
different chains of command, and send an email to ensure that there was proof that the correct
authorities were alerted. The manipulation of emissions was entirely wrong, hence I would not
want to work for a company that knowingly deceives its consumers and the general public.
Overall, therefore, my morals and the understanding that the action was entirely wrong would
force me to alert the relevant parties so that they would put the situation to a stop, preventing it
from getting worse.
In their article, Parloff and Smith (2016) report that engineers at Volkswagen, aware that
they could not meet the parameters, chose to manipulate the emissions rather than admit failure
and inform the upper management. Additionally, the engine developers did not think that their
fraudulent actions would be recognized since, at the time, the existing technology could not
detect the deceit. It is hard to believe that the engineering team went on with their fraudulent
activity by developing software that manipulated the tests and nobody among them stopped it. It
could be possible that these employees feared to lose their job if they were a whistleblower.
Nevertheless, rules protecting whistleblowers exist. Notably, The Occupational Safety and
Health Administration introduced laws that protect workers who report safety concerns, injuries
and various other protected activities from retaliation by employers through “adverse action”
(United States Department of Labor, n.d.) Overall, therefore, if I was an employee of the
VOLKSWAGEN EMISSIONS SCANDAL 3
engineering department, I would have stopped the misconduct by reporting it without any fear of
adverse action from my manager since these laws would offer me protection.
Employees, whether working in the engineering department or the legal office, need to be
aware of the Clean Air Act, an all-inclusive federal act regulating the air emissions released by
both mobile and stationary sources (EPA, n.d.). In particular, section 112 of this Act is vital and
extremely relevant to the case since it requires the Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) to
create emission principles that call for the maximum level of reduction in hazardous air pollutant
releases. It is the responsibility of everyone to conform to this federal statute, and report to the
relevant authorities once it is broken. As an employee of the engineering department, I would
have been aware of this law and would have reported to the managerial staff once it was broken.
According to Leviticus 19:11, “Ye shall not steal, neither deal falsely, neither lie one to
another” (New King James Version). In my view, this verse perfectly fits in the Volkswagen
case. The employees involved in the fraudulent act lied to others when they went on with the
fraudulent action without reporting it. The company “stole” from consumers since it made them
believe that they were purchasing safe cars from a company with integrity while they were lying
to them by installing a software that manipulated the testing of emissions. As an employee in the
engineering department, I would have abode by this biblical verse, which would have ensured
that I stopped the fraud before things got out hand. Additionally, James 4: 17 states “so whoever
knows the right thing to do and fails to do it, for him it is sin” (English Standard Version). Based
on this biblical verse, I would not have acted complacently being aware of the fact my failure to
take action would have been a sin, illegal, and wrong to the public. This would ultimately be a
violation of some of the major commandments provided by Jesus: you shall love the Lord your
God with all your heart and with all your soul and with all your mind. This is the great and first
VOLKSWAGEN EMISSIONS SCANDAL 4
commandment. And a second is like it: You shall love your neighbor as yourself. On these two
commandments depend all the Law and the Prophets” (Matthew 22:37-40, English Standard
Version). Because of my love for God and other people, I would have alerted the managerial
staff about the issue in an articulate as well as professional way, and if they ignored my
concerns, I would have informed the authorities about the situation for them to address it
appropriately.
As the CEO of the diesel division of Volkswagen, how would you have responded when the
situation became public? How would this response prevent future incidents?
As the CEO of this division in the company, I would have taken some steps in response
to the situation. First, I would take responsibility for the actions, and release a statement to the
media, apologizing to the consumers, shareholders and various other parties who have been vital
in the building of the company along with its brand. This would help prevent the spread of false
information from the media, which would further escalate the situation. Second, I would launch
an investigation into the issue to determine the person who approved the utilization of the
unethical software to deceive the public, as well as the person who created it (Zhou, 2016). After
obtaining this information, I would call for the termination of the services of these individuals in
the company. This would serve as a perfect example that the organization will not tolerate these
or any other kinds of unethical actions, preventing the occurrence of the same in the future. It
would help get rid of the individuals who committed the fraud and bring in new talent with new
ways of thinking.
Next, I would have a meeting with the legal team and come up with ways to improve the
quality control measures put in place. With the help of the head engineer, the legal team would
create stricter regulations. All these things would not only deter workers in this department from
VOLKSWAGEN EMISSIONS SCANDAL 5
falsifying data in the future but would also make it easier for a company to identify a bad
decision before the product leaves the company. The last but not least action would be to address
the violations of the company’s responsibilities to both the public and its stakeholders. Here, the
legal department would create a program for the employees and the managerial team, which
would comprise of regular training on the importance of ethical decision making among
employees and the managerial staff. The program along with its goals would be announced to the
public to alert them that the company is undertaking internal actions to prevent an occurrence of
the same issue in the future, and start to re-establish the trust of the stakeholders.
VOLKSWAGEN EMISSIONS SCANDAL 6
References
EPA. (n.d.). “Summary of the Clean Air Act.” Retrieved from https://www.epa.gov/laws-
regulations/summary-clean-air-act
Lippe, P. (2015, October 13). Volkswagen: Where were the lawyers? ABA Journal. Retrieved
from http://www.abajournal.com/legalrebels/article/volk...
Parloff, R. & Geoffrey, S. (2016). Hoaxwagen: How the massive diesel fraud incarcerated VW’s
reputation – and will hobble the company for years. Retrieved from
https://fortune.com/longform/inside-volkswagen-emissions-scandal/
United States Department of Labor. (n.d.). “The Whistleblower Protection Program.” Retrieved
from https://www.whistleblowers.gov/
Zhou, A. (2016). Analysis of the Volkswagen scandal possible solutions for recovery.
