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Discussion Response

Student's First Name, Middle Initial(s), Last Name

Institutional Affiliation

Course Number and Name

Instructor's Name and Title

Assignment Due Date

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Response to XX

Hello XX, I find the observations you made regarding the Volkswagen emission scandal

quite intriguing. I agree with you that the company's problems were largely due to complacency

and communication breakdown between departments. Indeed, had the company embraced more

open lines of communication between the engineering and the legal department, Volkswagen

would not have suffered damage to its reputation and finances. Therefore, it is essential to

critically look at the company's situation to understand the arising legal and ethical

consequences.

You mention that although the engineers didn't expressly conceal what they were doing

in installing the cheating mechanisms to conceal emissions, the legal department was also

complacent and did little in getting to know the happenings in the company. This provided the

opportunity for the unethical practices to develop into a full brown scandal with grievous

consequences. Therefore, according to the article, I agree with your observations that companies

are less transparent to themselves. In the absence of checks and balances, most firms would opt

for unethical shortcuts in their activities (Lippe, 2015). Besides, your observation of how

unethical situations can escalate, like in the GM ignition switch scandal, is relatable to

Volkswagen's case. Indeed both companies did not think about their decisions to choose the

unethical easier path. Neither did they intend for there to be long-lasting repercussions to their

unethical practices. But from available evidence, GM's decisions affected people through the loss

of lives while Volkswagen was seen as a contributor to harmful greenhouse gas emissions.

However, a simple harmonization of communications between different departments and a little

less complacency would have prevented the scandal at Volkswagen.

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I also like your observation that things could have been done differently by considering

the legal, ethical, and biblical perspectives on what should have been the right thing to do. You

mention that the failure of the executive to ensure that there was seamless communication in the

company was a breach of their moral obligation. Therefore, although much of the issues

presented in the case relate to the business's technological and commercial aspects, moral

principles and values as laid out in the bible can show how such a scandal could have been

avoided. For instance, the text in Galatians 6:5 says that "for each will have to bear his own load"

(English Standard Version Bible, n. d., Gal. 6:5). As such, the company's CEO could have been

diligent in his executive role by ensuring that all company activities were carried out from a

moral perspective. Suppose such values were instilled on the company employees with the

executive insisting on their observance, the company could have avoided the damage in loss of

finances and reputation in the automobile industry (Boston, 2019).

Nevertheless, you also mention that stepping down by the CEO in good faith would have

been the best way to handle the situation from the general public's perspective. Whereas this

would have shown that the company had owned up to their mistakes, I also think it would have

worked well to lessen the resulting legal consequences. According to Rhodes (2016), the

Company's CEO was charged with misleading shareholders to maintain the prices of the

company's share even before the scandal blew up. One would assume that financial dishonesty

was part of the corporate culture at Volkswagen and that the engineers had the executive's

blessings to tamper with gas emission detection devices. This was both unethical and illegal, and

the company could have saved face by refraining from such dealings.

Thank you for your contribution, and I would love to hear more of your thoughts on the

matter.
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References

Boston, W. (2019). Volkswagen CEO faces charges from scandal. Wall Street Journal,

http://ezproxy.liberty.edu/login?url=https://search.proquest.com/docview/2296520342?ac

countid=12085

Galatians 6:5. English Standard Version Bible. (N. d.). Bible Gateway,

https://www.biblegateway.com/passage/?search=Colossians%203%3A23-

24&version=ESV

Lippe, P. (2015). Volkswagen: Where were the lawyers? ABA Journal,

https://www.abajournal.com/legalrebels/article/volkswagen_where_were_the_lawyer.

Rhodes, C. (2016). Democratic Business Ethics: Volkswagen's Emissions Scandal and the

Disruption of Corporate Sovereignty. Organization Studies, 37(10), 1501–1518.