Sandeep S Naroo
Sandeep S Naroo
Discussion Board 1
Liberty University
10/06/2018
Sandeep S Naroo
Volkswagen is a massive organization, it spans all over the world. However, the core of the
organization which is in Germany also happens to be the place where all the key decisions are
made and carried on. This corporation like other all over the world want to maximize profits. In
this competitive environment, they needed something to stand out. Volkswagen who owns Audi
as well developed its iconic and record shattering all-wheel drive system called “Quattro” in the
early 80’s. It performed so well, that Audi decided to race two quattro’s in the world rally
championship which is the ultimate test of a car in the harshest terrains. Amazingly, that year
“Audi took seven outright wins in 1982 and four second-place finishes en route to the first
manufacturers' championship for a German automaker (Tate, 2018).”. It was a huge success.
They had record breaking sales due to their models. After a while, Japanese and Korean imports
started producing fantastic all wheel drives of their own at half the price, this led to a drop in
their demands. The engineers at Volkswagen turned to the holy grail of engines, “The Diesel
engine”. Diesels have insane amount of torque which makes them fast and they give better
mileage, but diesels suffered from inefficient/incomplete combustion. Due to this sole reason,
the diesels were frowned upon and selected against. Volkswagen knew if it could fix this
problem, it would make record sales all over the world. In 1989, Audi which is owned by
Volkswagen created the TDI. To quote Richard Bauder, the father of the TDI Technology at
Audi “"What we set out to achieve was to develop an internal combustion engine with the lowest
possible fuel consumption. We checked out all conceivable concepts all the way to a two-stroke
diesel engine, and in the process analyzed and improved diverse injection and combustion
methods (Abuelsamid, 2009).”. But, It was hard to keep up with keep up with environmental
regulations which changed frequently become more and more stringent. I believe that the motive
behind this scandal was to maximize profits with minimal investment and/or Research and
development.
Sandeep S Naroo
An employee working for Volkswagen in any capacity, my actions would be directed by the
keeping the outstanding pedigree that the brand of Volkswagen and any of its subsidiaries in
mind and that honesty and the loyalty to the customer is the most crucial part of any business.
As an employee in the engineering department, assuming that I had the knowledge of what was
being done, I would have prevented this incident by informing my immediate manager along
with the head of the department at the same time and letting them know that I would report it to
the relative authorities as I do not want to be an accessary to the illegal activity they are a part of
either knowingly or unknowingly.
As a manager of the engineering department, I would have made it sure that the situation would
not escalate to the level it got to. I would have maintained a perfect record of everything that was
going on, sending written memorandums to my superiors as well as board of directors if need be
along keeping the legal department informed to guard against any irregularities or malpractices.
As a part of the legal department, it would be my job to make sure that I understand all the
processes under way and that they are done in an ethical as well as legal manner and that all the
work done as well as the product meet the legal regulations. At the same time, I would also have
to make sure that I keep the interest of the shareholders in mind and the manufacturing
operations as well as current R&D are accessible to management from all departments for them
to evaluate it as need be.
It is crucial to have clear communication between the legal, research and development and
manufacturing always. “As iron sharpens iron, so one man sharpens another” (Proverbs 27:17).
Teamwork is the key to a better work environment where everyone is honest, work hard and
work as one. This would ensure that there is no grey area in any phase of the process which
Sandeep S Naroo
might turn out to be damaging to the company in any nature or capacity. It takes years to build a
brand and brand loyalty, but it takes moments to destroy them. “For an organization to both
survive and thrive, mission and values must be an integral component of an organization’s
strategic focus. They must be aligned to foster a high-performance culture and flow freely and
systemically throughout the organization to become the genesis of operational norms (i.e., codes
of conduct and ethics) that drive desired behavior(Ardichvili, Alexandre, Mitchell, James,
Jondle, & Douglas, 2009).”.
As the CEO of the diesel Division of Volkswagen, I would oversee running day to day operations
of the diesel division, but the long-term strategy would be directed by the board of directors.
After the situation became public, I would set up an independent investigation in charge of not
only investigating the incident but would also test for any inconsistencies as well irregularities in
entire process and direct the internal policies which will address each problem. Restoring the
confidence in the company would be a priority, I would make sure that all the investigations are
as transparent as possible.
Sandeep S Naroo
Reference
Abuelsamid, S. (2009, November 23). All Grown Up: Audi celebrates 20th birthday of TDI.
Retrieved October 6, 2018, from https:// www.autoblog.com/2009/11/23/all-grown-up-audi-
celebrates-the-20th-birthday-of-tdi/#slide-113404
Tate, J. (2018, June 22). How One Iconic Rally Photo Helped Audi's Quattro All-Wheel
Drive Take Flight. Retrieved October 6, 2018, from
https:// www.roadandtrack.com/motorsports/a21675728/how-one-iconic-rally-photo-helped-
audis-quattro-all-wheel-drive-take-flight/
Ardichvili, A., Mitchell, J. A., & Jondle, D. (2009). Characteristics of ethical business
cultures. Journal of Business Ethics, 85(4), 445-451.
doi:http://dx.doi.org.ezproxy.liberty.edu/10.1007/s10551-008-9782-4
