Volkswagen Diesel Emissions Scandal
[WLOs: 1, 3] [CLOs: 1, 3, 4]
Prior to beginning work on this assignment, read Chapter 10: Ethical Decision Making: Corporate Governance, Accounting, and Finance in Hartman et al. (2021), and Ethics and Justice – What Penalty Should Volkswagen Be Compelled to Pay for Its Unethical and Unlawful Conduct, and on What Basis? (Links to an external site.) (Huckabee, 2018). Also, watch The Crisis at Volkswagen (Links to an external site.) (Yale School of Management, 2015). In addition, you may wish to review Chapter 15 in A Companion to Business Ethics (Links to an external site.) (Frederick, 1999)
In October 2015, Mathias Müller became CEO of Volkswagen amid a scandal alleging the company had deliberately installed devices in many of its diesel cars to cheat U.S. emissions requirements. Imagine you are an ethical advisor to the organization who has been asked to explain the situation to Müller. You should acknowledge and explain the unethical decisions and actions, what makes them unethical, and then make suggestions about how to ethically respond. You do not need to worry about public perception or be concerned about an apology by the organization. Rather, you should aim to honestly explain and critique the situation, aiming to inform about the circumstances that led to unethical choices as well as what ethical choices are available in response.
In Hartman et al. (2021), review the section titled Volkswagen Diesel Fraud (pp. 352–355). In a short argumentative paper of at least 800 words (excluding title, abstract, and reference pages) and citing at least two scholarly, peer-reviewed sources in addition to required readings, address the following:
Discuss the ethical offense or offenses in the Volkswagen Diesel Emissions scandal. Explain what unethical decisions were made and why they were unethical. Be sure to incorporate an ethical theory to defend your explanation.
Explain why these unethical decisions were made, assessing what likely led to them. What were the circumstances in which the decisions were made? What organizational cultural elements, pressures, and leadership actions contributed to the unethical decisions? Explain how reasonable people could have made those decisions.
Conclude with a recommendation for Volkswagen to move forward following this scandal. Can Volkswagen correct its mistakes and, if so, how?
The Volkswagen Diesel Emissions Scandal written assignment
Must be at least 800 words in length (not including title and reference pages) and formatted according to APA Style (Links to an external site.) as outlined in the Writing Center’s APA Formatting for Microsoft Word (Links to an external site.) resource.
Must include a separate title page with the following:
Title of paper in bold font
Space should appear between the title and the rest of the information on the title page.
Student’s name
Name of institution (The University of Arizona Global Campus)
Course name and number
Instructor’s name
Due date
Must utilize academic voice. See the Academic Voice (Links to an external site.) resource for additional guidance.
Must craft the assignment as an argumentative writing essay. For assistance, refer to Argumentative Writing (Links to an external site.), Writing a Counterargument Paragraph (Links to an external site.), Synthesis (Links to an external site.), and Writing Clearly and Concisely (Links to an external site.).
Must use at least two scholarly, peer-reviewed sources in addition to required readings.
The Scholarly, Peer-Reviewed, and Other Credible Sources (Links to an external site.) table offers additional guidance on appropriate source types. The Choosing the Best Sources and Evidence (Links to an external site.) is also a helpful resource. If you have questions about whether a specific source is appropriate for this assignment, please contact your instructor. Your instructor has the final say about the appropriateness of a specific source.
To assist you in completing the research required for this assignment, view the Quick and Easy Library Research (Links to an external site.) tutorial, which introduces the University of Arizona Global Campus Library and the research process, and provides some library search tips.
Must document any information used from sources in APA Style as outlined in the Writing Center’s APA: Citing Within Your Paper (Links to an external site.) guide.
Must include separate reference pages that are formatted according to APA Style as outlined in the Writing Center. See the APA: Formatting Your References List (Links to an external site.) resource in the Writing Center for specifications.
