Question

Volkswagen Emission Scandal

What moral principles did Volkswagen adhere to (respond in full) ?

Answer 1

1. Pressure: The pressure from the top was intense. VW’s 25-page Code of Conduct, on which every employee was ostensibly trained in ethics, seemed irrelevant when contrasted with management’s autocratic leadership style and single-minded goal to succeed at any cost. What’s more, the company’s engineering reputation was at stake, and the consequence of failure for the German economy and reputation around design and manufacturing would be substantial
2. Opportunity: The opportunity to cheat was present, too. Coinciding with the directive the engineers received to come up with a new solution, Bosch sold VW the diesel-engine-management software that could detect when a vehicle was being tested and turn on emission-controlling devices — on the understanding that it would be used for internal testing, as use was illegal in vehicles sold to the public. And modern cars operate with about 100 million lines of software code, making it easy to hide cheating software code amidst the complexity
3. Rationalization: The engineers knew that in the 1970s, VW engineers had installed in Volkswagens “defeat devices” that allowed the company to cheat on newly enacted emission standards. The consequence then was minimal — a mere $120,000 fine. Even if they cheated, the punishment would be light, they may have rationalized. How else might they have rationalized such a feat? Perhaps they thought it was in the best interest of the company and, as a result, management would approve.