Verified Document

Ethical Issues In Volkswagen Emission Scandal Essay

Volkswagen Emission Scandal Volkswagen is a company headquartered in Wolfsburg, Lower Saxony, Germany and is the original marquee within the Volkswagen Group. The Volkswagen Group includes different car marquees like Bentley Motors, Audi, Automobile Lamborghini, Bugatti Automobiles, and Scania, which manufactures heavy goods vehicles. Since its inception, Volkswagen has developed to become the third largest manufacturer of automobiles after Toyota and General Motors respectively. However, the company was recently involved in an emission scandal that has generated significant concerns in this industry and among the public. The emission scandal is attributed to the company's corporate misbehavior, which is largely unacceptable from any perspective. The unacceptability of this misbehavior is attributable to its impact on the world and violation of business ethics.

Emission Issue at Volkswagen

Volkswagen is renowned across the globe as one of the leading and successful car manufacturers that have experienced tremendous growth and profitability since inception. Despite its success, Volkswagen has experienced several issues from time to time relating to its business practices. One of the recent issues that are facing this company is an emission scandal that was fueled by its corporate misbehavior that is unacceptable from any perspective. Volkswagen rigged its diesel engines to falsify emission tests, which has attracted considerable media attention and impacted the public. According to Hotten (2015), the company installed defeat software or device in its diesel engines that could detect when the vehicle was being tested and change performance accordingly in order to generate better or improved results in emission tests. The company admitted to cheating emissions tests in the United States through the installation of this device or software in its diesel engines.

The device works through putting the cars into a certain kind of safety mode where the engines run below normal performance and power. This occurred when the vehicles were functioning under controlled laboratory circumstances that essentially involved putting them on a motionless test rig. Once these vehicles...

This resulted in emissions of nitrogen oxide pollutants that were approximately 40 times more the acceptable range of emissions in the United States (Hotten, 2015).
Volkswagen decision to install the defeat device or software in its diesel engines was based on belief and assumptions that its investors care about financial performance, especially stock price, instead of impact of its operations on the society. The company's decision was fueled by the myth that maximizing shareholder value is the main financial objective of a business or company. This was an erroneous decision that was evident in shareholders' reaction, which was characterized by decline in share price by one-third resulting in significant losses in Volkswagen's value. This implies that unethical behavior or corporate misbehavior destroys a company's reputation and share value.

Impact of these Actions on the World

The decision by Volkswagen to cheat in emission tests had considerable impacts on the company's operation with regards to its share value and profitability. However, the actions by these humans also had considerable effects on the world. Actually, regulators, politicians, and environmental groups worldwide have raised questions and concerns about the legitimacy of the company's emissions testing. One of the impacts of the actions of these humans on the world is increased emissions of gases that damage the environment, especially at a time when global climate change or global warming is a major international issue. Through the cheating, Volkswagen emissions were more than the standard range of emissions…

Sources used in this document:
References

Argenti, P. (2015, October 13). The Biggest Culprit in VW's Emissions Scandal. Fortune. Retrieved December 8, 2015, from http://fortune.com/2015/10/13/biggest-culprit-in-volkswagen-emissions-scandal/

Hotten, R. (2015, November 4). Volkswagen: The Scandal Explained. BBC. Retrieved December 8, 2015, from http://www.bbc.com/news/business-34324772

Queen, E.L. (2015, September 26). How Could VW Be So Dumb? Blame the Unethical Culture Endemic in Business. The Conversation. Retrieved December 8, 2015, from http://theconversation.com/how-could-vw-be-so-dumb-blame-the-unethical-culture-endemic-in-business-48137
Cite this Document:
Copy Bibliography Citation

Related Documents

Business Ethics in Volkswagen Emissions Scandal
Words: 2029 Length: 7 Document Type: Essay

Crisis Management in VW’s ‘Dieselgate’ Scandal Trust is the most important factor in the success of any organization. This trust extends to all levels of stakeholders. If customers feel that they cannot trust the company for any reason, they will not purchase their products. Stakeholders have to trust that the organization will make sound business decisions to keep profits high and manage value. This is becoming even more prominent in the

Volkswagen Emissions Fraud
Words: 1299 Length: 4 Document Type: Essay

Decisions Influenced by Bias Volkswagen produced vehicles that were equipped with emissions controls that were designed to shut off once the cars had passed regulatory tests. As s result, not only did the cars pollute more in real life than in those tests, but the company benefitted from these tests financially, because they showed that diesel engines were less polluting than gasoline ones. The result was misleading the public, making the

Volkswagen Guessed Speculated That It Could Fool the EPA
Words: 1157 Length: 13 Document Type: Research Proposal

Meta-Analysis When it comes to the Volkswagen scandal, the real cost in human terms could be sixty or more premature deaths, according to an environmental study reported in Time. The 482,000 dirty diesel Volkswagen engines (sold in the U.S.) spewed enormous amounts of nitrogen oxide into the air for years before the deceptive software was discovered. The study by the peer-reviewed journal Environmental Research Letters suggests that "... as many

Hypocrisy and Accountability at Volkswagen
Words: 1953 Length: 7 Document Type: Case Study

Dieselgate Case AnalysisWhat?The situation presented in the case study by Schuetz (2016) focuses on VW Group and the emissions scandal that occurred in 2015 just when the company was about to reach a significant milestone in its long-term development plan. VW had been working to become the largest automaker in the world, an intrepid plan for a company that started out of a bombed-out factory in post-war Germany. However, it

Business Ethics Crisis
Words: 1909 Length: 6 Document Type: Essay

What are the essential details of the event, and what do you see as the causes of the crisis and/or negative impact to society? Essential Details The scandal chosen is the Volkswagen emission scandal. The essential details of the scandal encompass the fact that Volkswagen ultimately admitted that roughly 11 million of its manufactured vehicles were fitted out with software that was employed to falsify emission tests. Specifically, the fitted out software

Eradicating the Practice of Corruption in Businesses
Words: 1665 Length: 5 Document Type: Case Study

Upholding Ethical Business Practices in an Organization The Volkswagen emissions scandal has been dubbed the "diesel dupe" and the corporation may face charges of manslaughter over their rigged tests of diesel emission. This charge will be applied if the legal advice suggests could be successful. It has been raised that thousands of people who die from diesel vehicles as the main cause is air pollution due to the release of nitrogen

Sign Up for Unlimited Study Help

Our semester plans gives you unlimited, unrestricted access to our entire library of resources —writing tools, guides, example essays, tutorials, class notes, and more.

Get Started Now