1-2 paragraphs for each person. There are 6 people.
Everett
Overall what occurred in 2015 following the information of Volkswagen cheating the consumers, the market, and the EPA was fairly little in the grand scheme of things. The background surrounding Volkswagen essentially getting away with mass pollution and hoodwinking the industry for years is that a defeat device was installed within the vehicle’s engine that programmed it to run in a cleaner mode when hooked up to a test (Poeir, 2020). This obviously did not restrict the vehicle when performing on an open road. The device was eventually discovered and Volkswagen was billed for 25 billion dollars (Poier, 2020). However, the market share gained from this deception may have been worth it, as the vehicles outperformed all other competition in power and fuel economy that it resulted in the vehicles being ranked top in their respective classes that year (Poier, 2020).
However, what might Volkswagen do now to build back some of the trust within the corporate world? How can they redeem themselves economically? The first step arguably is to regain the trust of their shareholders and instill a set of ethics the likes of which cannot be questioned. Obviously, a drop in stock price is bad news, however, the company is by no means insolvent, and they quickly recovered following the incident. However ethics the company needs to advertise and explain to investors and to staff some sort of new ethical guidance that can convince people to purchase their products once again.
In regards to recovering legally, there’s been a fairly limited number of lawsuits, there were several major ones, however between the payouts of that and the fines levied against them from the EPA and other countries they seem to have paid the piper, the best way to address the issue legally and ethically would be to launch a voluntary recall in which people with the defeat devices may receive an upgrade at no cost to themselves. This would also address the philanthropic needs of the company. Additionally, many companies devote a sum of their profits to things that seem counter to their product, Coke for example sponsors huge numbers of athletic programs for children. Volkswagen may consider doing the same but planting some sort of forest to help deal with the carbon footprint. While I’m not the most creative individual in the world, it seems that there is any number of philanthropic things the company could do to earn them a “Subaru-Esque” reputation in the industry.
Andrea
The Volkswagen diesel emissions scandal has been widely covered. The corporation used a "defeat device" to fool an emissions government test (Jacobs & Kalbers, 2019). There have been major ethical concerns and significant environmental & financial consequences due to the device's release. The scandal has managed to ruin the reputation of Volkswagon. The image of the environmental friendly business has been destroyed. The vehicles had to be .
Measures of Dispersion and Variability: Range, QD, AD and SD
1-2 paragraphs for each person. There are 6 people.Everett.docx
1. 1-2 paragraphs for each person. There are 6 people.
Everett
Overall what occurred in 2015 following the information of
Volkswagen cheating the consumers, the market, and the EPA
was fairly little in the grand scheme of things. The background
surrounding Volkswagen essentially getting away with mass
pollution and hoodwinking the industry for years is that a defeat
device was installed within the vehicle’s engine that
programmed it to run in a cleaner mode when hooked up to a
test (Poeir, 2020). This obviously did not restrict the vehicle
when performing on an open road. The device was eventually
discovered and Volkswagen was billed for 25 billion dollars
(Poier, 2020). However, the market share gained from this
deception may have been worth it, as the vehicles outperformed
all other competition in power and fuel economy that it resulted
in the vehicles being ranked top in their respective classes that
year (Poier, 2020).
However, what might Volkswagen do now to build back
some of the trust within the corporate world? How can they
redeem themselves economically? The first step arguably is to
regain the trust of their shareholders and instill a set of ethics
the likes of which cannot be questioned. Obviously, a drop in
stock price is bad news, however, the company is by no means
insolvent, and they quickly recovered following the incident.
However ethics the company needs to advertise and explain to
investors and to staff some sort of new ethical guidance that can
convince people to purchase their products once again.
In regards to recovering legally, there’s been a fairly limited
number of lawsuits, there were several major ones, however
between the payouts of that and the fines levied against them
2. from the EPA and other countries they seem to have paid the
piper, the best way to address the issue legally and ethically
would be to launch a voluntary recall in which people with the
defeat devices may receive an upgrade at no cost to themselves.
This would also address the philanthropic needs of the
company. Additionally, many companies devote a sum of their
profits to things that seem counter to their product, Coke for
example sponsors huge numbers of athletic programs for
children. Volkswagen may consider doing the same but planting
some sort of forest to help deal with the carbon footprint. While
I’m not the most creative individual in the world, it seems that
there is any number of philanthropic things the company could
do to earn them a “Subaru-Esque” reputation in the industry.
Andrea
The Volkswagen diesel emissions scandal has been widely
covered. The corporation used a "defeat device" to fool an
emissions government test (Jacobs & Kalbers, 2019). There
have been major ethical concerns and significant environmental
& financial consequences due to the device's release. The
scandal has managed to ruin the reputation of Volkswagon. The
image of the environmental friendly business has been
destroyed. The vehicles had to be recalled; ultimately,
Volkswagon had to pay fines and lost its customers' trust
(Jacobs & Kalbers, 2019). The activities Volkswagon may use
to satisfy four components of corporate citizenship will be
discussed.
Volkswagon has a responsibility to rebuild economically. The
corporation has to regain the trust of its customers. Billions
were lost due to the corporation's deception (Jacobs & Kalbers,
2019). They must rebrand and try to find a way to create a
reliable vehicle. They must also be very honest with the public
when they make this vehicle. Volkswagon has to follow the law.
3. There should be "checks and balances" set in place to ensure
everyone is following the law and the cars are in regulation.
The public should be well informed of this through media (to
rebuild trust), and the organization has to adopt a strict policy.
In regards to ethics, Volkswagon must hold their higher
management and engineers accountable for their actions. This
device was created and developed by someone who knew
exactly what they were doing. I am sure that the engineers were
told or encouraged to build this device. I doubt that many
employees who made the vehicles knew what was going on, but
an environment that promotes honesty and integrity is
desperately needed to revive the corporation. Violations should
be reported, and a new set of guidelines should be created to
prevent this from happening again.
Philanthropic can be done by investing in "green" technology.
They also need to find a way to solve the emissions issue they
have and offer assistance to those most affected by the
emissions created as a result of their deception. Volkswagon has
done quite a bit of damage, but the corporation can change by
being honest, creating new policies, and delivering better
products to their customers.
Jamal
Company failures and ethical misconduct lies in the corporate
culture of an organization. It is the CEO or the managerial and
corporate board, who are responsible for providing ethical
oversight, and responsible for monitoring the company’s
culture. If the process breaks down then this is when we find
ethical violations.
For example, one such case, is the issue with the Boeing 737
Max and its corporate culture. It should be noted that there is
4. still an ongoing criminal and civil investigations against Boeing
surrounding the 737 Max. My parents always said “One Oh
crap, can quickly wipe out all the Atta boys” that you may have
racked up. In this case, that is exactly what happened to Boeing.
This organization was the face of safety and quality for all of its
airplanes, but since they have suffered the two deadly crashes of
the 737 Max, and the death of that many people, they have faced
questions concerning commitments to safety versus a push to
gain as much profit as possible.
Even after the CEO was fired, there was still information
coming out about how poorly the 737 Max was designed, which
is an ethical violation. Those two crashes placed a spotlight on
their business practices and the lack of ethics in the
organizations culture. It was only after the two crashes that one
of bowings senior engineer Mr. Curtis EwBank finally filed an
internal ethics complaint on how management tried to cover up
a system that could have made a difference and uncovered
errors in those AOA sensors that caused the crashes. That was
too late because over 300 people are dead as a result and that is
a serious ethical violation.
Boeing violated (1) the engineer’s code of ethics, (2) the
informed consent because the pilots were never told about the
new anti-stall system and finally (3) the precautionary principle.
After the first crash happened the CEO of Boeing called The
President to assure him that there was no need to ground the
plane, instead of using precautionary measures to do
so. According to Herkert and his colleagues, “Bowings lack of
transparency about the new software; and the lack of adequate
monitoring of Boeing by FAA especially during certification of
the masks and following the first crush, was part of bowings
ethical failure. This is written in the ethical significance of the
accidents, in particular the ethical responsibilities of the
engineers at Boeing an FAA involved in designing and
certifying the max” (Herkert, Borenstein, & Miller, 2020).
5. Andrea
Reckitt Benckiser has been surrounded with many scandals the
last few years. One incident specifically had to do with the 92
people that died from the humidifier sterilizer in South Korea
(Geller, 2017). Rakesh Kapoor was one of the highest paid
CEO’s in Britain; his pay was reduced substantially after the
incident occurred (Geller, 2017). Agency theory and corporate
governance had plenty to do with this case.
In relation to agency theory, the shareholders were very much
involved in this process. They hired the CEO; the problem came
when he did not act in the best interest of the shareholders.
Kapoor failed to do his job and the expectation was to bring
profit. Rakesh failed to do this and he also failed to do so in an
ethical manner. This had an impact and corporate governance
was carried out in this case. Kapoor failed to deliver, so he
received a pay cut and lost his bonus (Geller, 2017).
Kapoor was once one of the highest paid CEO’s and there
should have been more monitoring. I tried to find more
information on the case and it was very hard to find more
details. Kapoor was ready to retire and, in some ways, I think he
may have had a lax approach towards the issues that were
surrounding Reckitt Benckiser. In this case he did not fight with
the investors and in most cases, this does happen with CEO’s in
scenarios where there must be someone accountable for the
issues that occur (Strand, 2020). In the end, Kapoor did not lose
much, but there was pressure for him to leave the organization.
Nichole Packineau
I agree that management today is more democratic than unions
6. as there is a change in 'how' people work. Most employees' job
responsibilities differ from previous years with organizational
change and technology. Due to the vast increase in employee
makeup such as ethics, gender, and generations, organizations
are now expected to follow a particular set of expectations.
Organizations are now addressing various issues easier than
before and with new changes in the workforce, organizations
began considering employee involvement within decisions and
strategies. By allowing more engagement with employees,
organizations are now increasing productivity and sustaining a
healthy atmosphere.
While employee job satisfaction is an essential factor,
productivity and performance were other concerns for
organizations. Using experience, organizations and employee
relationship are now changing. Creating a labor-management
relationship is now a critical aspect of organizations. Various
aspects must be considered when dealing with unions, such as
employees not having to file a grievance to be heard and the
expectation that problems will be solved. While labor-
management has taken significant steps to be where they are
today, there is still room for improvement. According to
Schneider and Stepp (1999), "the trend toward nonunion
organizations will dominate unless management and labor more
readily adopt the high performance partnership models that
yield world-class performance." Both organizations and unions
must now work together in order to be successful.
References
Schneider, T. J., & Stepp, J. R. (1999). The evolution of US
labor-management relations.
REPORT-NATIONAL POLICY ASSOCIATION NPA
, 1-6.
7. Missy Kopp
I disagree that “management today is more democratic than
unions.” In many organizations, I believe that management
practice has evolved into a more democratic atmosphere that
allows employees to participate in workplace decision-making.
Some managers seek input from their subordinates before
making decisions. A workplace that follows a democratic model
allows “employees collectively to take part in decision-making
rather than just following the formal regulatory
structures…Employees were able to influence the planning,
organization, and development of work” (Knudsen et al., 2011,
p. 393). This workplace model does occur, but I have not been
in a workplace where management yields much power to the
employees.
I have worked in two types of workplaces as an adult, churches,
and state government. Some church staffs do operate somewhat
democratically. While the congregation determines what kind of
ministry is done, the day-to-day participation in decision-
making is usually determined by the Pastor. While some
encourage staff to participate in planning and programming
decisions, many do not yield their power. My experience in
state government has been with managers who seek some input
from employees but do not involve them in many decisions. I
see some agencies working towards a more democratic
approach, but they are not the norm.
The structure and purpose of unions are very democratic.
Unions follow the wishes of their members when it comes time
to make decisions. “Union members do have the ultimate
control of their labor organization, and the leadership can never
ignore this fact of life” (Sloane & Witney, 2010, p. 186). I think
that unions have played a large part in creating work
environments that encourage more employee participation in
workplace decisions. The labor movement began with workers’
8. desire to have a voice in their working conditions and pay rate,
among other things. While working conditions have
significantly improved, there is still work to do. I think that this
change will be influenced both by unions and business leaders.
References
Knudsen, H., Busck, O., & Lind, J. (2011). Work environment
quality: The role of workplace participation and democracy.
Work, Employment and Society
,
25
(3), 379–396.
https://doi.org/10.1177/0950017011407966 (Links to an
external site.)
Sloane, A. A., & Witney, F. (2010).
Labor relations
(13th ed.). Pearson Prentice Hall.