Running head: THE VOLKSWAGEN SCANDAL

Thelma Landeros
Artifact Paper: The Volkswagen Scandal
Behavior Ethic Leadership II 3332
Instructor: Rebecca Lynch
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Several bad scenarios can arise due to plagiarism and group projects, which can be

prevented by using different approaches of leadership styles. In this essay I will contrast

Aristotle and Plato in terms of theories of leadership, the reason they disagree about basic moral

issues, and a criticism from philosopher Lao Tzu. I will also apply two conflicting decision

making paradigms in an uncomfortable scenario where I will be an instructor, including

explaining the course of action I would prescribe to each student.

First, my goal as a future leader (Professor) is to make students become independent and

accountable for their actions. For the rough scenario, I am a classroom Professor who has been

giving essays throughout the semester and after the midterm, hands over a group assignment due

at the end of the semester. Another action that I am trying to evaluate are the different levels of

work contribution from each student but discover misconducts from a student who never

collaborated with the group, and another within the same group who engaged in plagiarism.

Each student is assigned to do different tasks within the group. They have a group leader,

secretaries to type the essay and research students.

As their instructor, I already know which students has been turning in their essays

throughout the semester and the quality of their work. Letting the group grade the final draft of

their work, and giving me their individual grade according to what they contributed to their

essay, will make the grading easier to apply according to the student’s ethical views and

responding to the group contribution of moral dilemmas.

Once the group is called to submit their work, I will ask the leader about the team’s

different levels of contribution, and they were honest to tell me they did not include two of the

students’ names in the cover sheet since they did not participate in meetings, research, and never

turned in any work. One of them submitted a one-page paper that the group noticed was copied
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from the internet. As a team, they thought it was not going to bring up their overall grade. I thank

them for their honesty and provide a final grade according to their individual work.

Moreover, Aristotle and Plato had different views in their theories of leadership. For

instance, in Plato’s leadership view for my scenario, the instructor would have been the ultimate

leader, since he is the pinnacle of knowledge. This means that the instructor would not rely on

the students to grade their paper, because the teacher had the evidence of the previous essay

grades from each student and would have the courage to simply grade.

On the other hand, in Aristotle’s leadership view for my scenario, the instructor had

already established himself as a trusted leader, opposing bad behavior. These are the reasons he

stuck to the plan of giving the students a chance to grade themselves to promote patience, show

strength, and promote self-excellence. I agree with Aristotle’s view, since I enjoy giving the

opportunity to grow through positive reinforcement. For example, holding class at the library

while they research for the essay and stay accountable in participating with the team.

I believe that Plato would give a fair grade based on the knowledge of the group, and as a

leader, would look at the overall product and work ethic. Prior to the semester, Aristotle would

have considered in what more ways he could assist, and educate the students. For instance, he

would explain the syllabus the first day of class, the rules, grading rubric and clear any questions

the students had. In addition, letting the students grade each other, but the leader would choose

the ultimate grade and even possibly using Safe-Assign to check for plagiarism to redo work.

Some disagreements arise with Plato’s and Aristotle’s different views. The conflict

between both theories is that Plato believes that only the philosopher can lead with passion, truth

and learning, being the ultimate for wisdom, fairness and always seeking truth. He depends more
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upon community and for the foundation of virtue perception that good comes first and the actual

act comes second. He does not like the experimental method and believes it lacks respect for the

sublime. Also, man’s goal is becoming one with the universe. For instance, Plato’s book

Republic, it presents a theory of virtue and politics. The main character Socrates develops a

theory of political justice to advance in the ethical discussion for the ideal state such as rulers,

soldiers and producers like artisans and farmers. Particularly, the Rulers understand the good

itself, since they go through years of training to get prepare for the leadership role.

Aristotle’s theory is considered self-sufficiency, depending more upon the individual and

promoting self-excellence and would stick to the plan since patience shows strength. For the

foundation of virtue, he believes that habits and good acts come first and insight follows. Also,

he stresses the importance of observations and experiments to verify facts. In addition, he

believes man’s ultimate goal is achieving excellence and becoming a master.

Plato believed that theories had a single form, an ideal form, leading to his idealistic

philosophy. Aristotle thought that universal forms were not automatically all together and had to

be analyzed on its own to each concept. This viewpoint leads to having experience outside the

comfort zone and living well.

Alternatively, I consider philosopher Lao Tzu to be my biggest critic because he would

put in practice what he called wu-wei or non-action. By doing this, Tzu believed in following the

natural course of action method, by accomplishing peace and enlightenment only after allowing

situations to befall. I read that Western traditions include assisting others despite the

consequences of any given circumstances. Tzu, was the founder of Taoism and wrote the book

The Tao Te Ching. He yields critical situations by using a selflessness, moderation, non-

contrivance, humility, embracing the mystery, and detachment code of conduct.

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Philosopher Lao Tzu would probably criticize my decision, since I did hold the class

accountable for participating and working on their essay with the team in order to prevent

plagiarism, including giving credit for not doing their work. For Tzu, I should have followed the

Tao which is taking situations in life as they come, including letting the students make their

mistakes without accountability (selflessness, moderation, non-contrivance), or letting the

students obtain a grade, even if they did not contribute with the team (humility, embracing the

mystery, detachment code of conduct).

This view will also include not responding to the students concerns, assuming that the

given situations happened for a reason to take place in order to prevent any more problems to

arise. In the end, if I would had chosen to follow Tzu’s ethical point of view, I would have

contradicted Aristotle’s leadership view of establishing myself as a trusted leader, and not able to

use positive reinforcement with the students. Ultimately, as a human I can choose from right and

wrong, and the ethical leadership views I learned through Aristotle, Plato and even Tzu, assist

me in making the proper ethical choices and to take action as a future leader.

In conclusion, several bad scenarios can arise due to plagiarism and group projects. In

terms of theories of leadership, Plato believes that the leader is the pinnacle of knowledge, or the

only one that can lead. On the other hand, Lao Tzu would be my greatest critic by following the

belief of wu-wei or non-action. However, I agree more with Aristotle because he thinks that in

order to be a good leader one must follow promoting excellence in the self as a trusted leader,

individuality, and self-sufficiency.