OGL 481 Pro-Seminar I:

PCA-Structural Frame Worksheet

1) Briefly restate your situation from Module 1 and your role.

The situation is the emissions scandal that Volkswagen faced in late 2015. There
were devices named defeat devices placed in diesel cars that helped the cars pass lab
emissions tests that would then turn off when on the road and release more emissions
than allowed in the United States.

2) Describe how the structure of the organization influenced the situation.

Firstly, we need to understand that Volkswagen is a worldwide company, the

Volkswagen name owns more car brands who all act independently form the whole, yet
Volkswagen itself functions under the Volkswagen brand. With that in knowledge we can
see that Volkswagen can have things slip through cracks having their hands in a lot of
areas.

The structure of the company is built in a matrix, which from learning comes in
the form of lateral coordination. This is supposed to allow for the company to have a
multi dimensional focus on projects, sectors, and brands. Meaning, you have your North
American sector where they focus on the production of its passenger vehicles as well as
commercial vehicles in the U.S.A. While focusing on production of the vehicles you can
also emphasize marketing, logistics, accounting, and much more.

I think that this structure works in theory, yet when one manager is allowing for
certain things to happen, such as defeat devices being put into the vehicles, other
managers can be left out of the communication loop. This occurs due to the power
struggle matrix organizations create. Each manager can have a hand in the same pool, so
some managers may decide to make decisions without letting others know. This can lead
to things such as the Volkswagen Debacle.

3) Recommend how you would use structure for an alternative course of action
regarding your case.

The matrix form allows for confusions and tension. In Volkswagens case a
different country manager was in charge of making the decision to place the defeat
devices inside of the veicahls. If we look at the emissions limits inother countries they are
not as strict as the U.S. so the United States division thought they could get one over on
the emissions labs. Within this structure, they should have created a emissions division
within the matrix. This group would have been in charge of making sure that each car

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 passed emissions tests without using any defeat devices. This branch of the U.S. division
would have made sure that we were not breaking any of the rules.

Another thought would be to have more accountability from the top of the chain.
The U.S. branch of Volkswagen is still under the Volkswagen name from Germany, so if
we were able to have quarterly check ins and audits of each project and car they would
have been able to stop the production of the deafeat devices before they were put into
consumers hands and cost them millions of dollars.

Having a specific branch that ensures eco friendly tests all together would also be
smart. This branch would be in charge of every idea and innovation that has to deal with
eco-friendliness as well as checking to make sure that each car was already meeting
standards placed within their regions.

4) Reflect on what you would do or not do differently given what you have learned
about this frame.

Learning about this frame has allowed me to understand that the structure and
build of the organization can havce a bigger impact on the way they function. The matrix
structure formed by Volkswagen allowed for the U.S. division to act autonomously from
the group, creating thre scandal that came forth. Changing the structure to allow for more
accoiuntability would have made this scandal non-existent. I still think that creating
another collomn within the matrix for environmentalism would have saved them a lot of
trouble. They would work hand in hadn with every branch especially the marketing and
sales allowing for us to market our cars as eco-friendly whle they make sure that we are
making the cars eco-friendly to begin with.

This separate branch would creater the ideas for the environmentally safe cars,
and we would market those cars as the next big things. As we can see now, the market is
already headed towards electric cars, so we would have been ahead of the
environmentally friencly automobile game! With the creation of this branch we would
avoid the scandal and increase our profit margin with socially conscious people. This was
an easy fix that I wish Volkswagen would have chose to do.