Ethical Scandal of Volkswagen and Eleven †Myasssignmenthelp.Com

Question: What can be done to improve an organizational climate so individual members and leaders are reasonable be expected to act ethically? Answer: Introduction The concept of ethics in today's world is getting more and more serious with time. Companies are getting more aware and careful while working since ethics plays an integral part of the company now. The image of being a ruthless organization that only sees profit and success has become a redundant concept, and the motive now is that there should be no friction being successful and being ethical. It is also argued by people now that it is the responsibility of companies now to stand up and be more right regarding in performing goofy thing and this will lead to the accomplishment of many self-interested business outcomes (Wang et al., 2015). However, the main question is does it hold any importance for the companies, or they are just trying to build an image just to get customer attention. The report will discuss in detail about the scandals happened in Volkswagen and 7 Eleven. Volkswagen which is German car manufacturer was raked over the coals for installation of software in their aut omobile that was involved over so many years of time. The company after that faced a lot of criticism along with criminal charges. Similarly, in Australian company, 7-Eleven issues started to arise when a documentary on ABC revealed the exploitative as well as illegal practices in work to decrease the overall labor costs. The workforce was being paid less salary than half the legal wage. The main target was young people as well as a foreigner who migrated to the country for work (Wang et al., 2015). The scandal leads to many problems for the company where even the chairman and CEO had to resign. Common link between two cases that lead to their unethical practices A company like Volkswagen has enjoyed a favorable goodwill and has been marketing the cars with USP of it being low-emission cars. However, the truth is that the engineering the whole motors to provide a deceptive image. The overall competition in the Australian market, as well as forums like consumer commission, has been investigating the matter related to Volkswagen (FRIEDMAN and GERSTEIN, 2017). As per many reports, the convenience chain 7-Eleven has been exploiting the workforce in many of its branches. The company also convicted of practicing slavery because of the exploitation of the workforces. More and more reports are coming into the picture, and the whole case becomes one big scandal bringing the company in the very bad light. The case of illegal as well as unethical business operations also supports the overall contention that ethical attitude is becoming incompatible with the logic in the present corporate world (FRIEDMAN and GERSTEIN, 2017). It is a big error to presume that the business can function in an ethical manner. The overall claim is sometimes unfair to the organization where people who care about the overall standards and also agree and adhere to it. The issue also ignores the basic common logic since unethical activities can be bad for the organization as 7-Eleven and Volkswagen have highlighted (Adams, 2016). A company like Volkswagen is facing a lot of losses in recalling the vehicles, and there is the loss of reputation as well which further leads to diminishing in the sales. The chairman of the company 7-Eleven was further forced to give his resignation, and the new management has to face a lot of criticism and challenges in restructuring the organization. Traits or features like ethics, honesty, respectful relations with the employees and customers and the investment further in the surrounding protection also serves the business in the right manner (FRIEDMAN and GERSTEIN, 2017). These features are very helpful for public relation team as well where the morale of the employees and the trust of the customer can be highlighted properly. It further makes sure that the management will not be out of a job ever. Virtue is very vital for the company, and it usually rewards the organizations specifically in places where the concept of corruption is not very serious. But the whole argument depe nds on the contribution of concepts like ethics is associated with the welfare of the business which fails where is any direct war between the requirements of the organization and also doing the right kind of thing. The franchise of 7-Eleven also exploited the employees were doing what is presumed to be required to remain successful in the business. The overall survival of the company is based on cutting all the ethical issues, then the overall temptation to function and this can be very strong. The concept of unethical attitude is more important in small organization or branches where the margins are small and overall survival is on doubts (Schlegelmilch, 2016). It is an irony that the overall competitive as well as risk along with an unregulated economy that so many politicians want to motivate in an environment which is conducive for unethical nature. Big companies are normally in better place to act in an ethical manner. However, ethical probity can be undermined by the surrounding that motivates an aggressive as well as risk taking attitude (Baines et al., 2017). Functioning in the international surrounding further adds to the present issues that companies face. Organizations which have a reputation for being good to the top level workforce and contribution to the society may be perceived as the requirement to be more ethically thorough in many parts of the world. However, ethics is possible in the organization. The main challenge is how to make it further prevalent. There is no trusted information on the topic however here is some common type of strategies (Baines et al., 2017). Ethical codes There are many organizational based challenges related to standards as well as values that are based on guiding the present attitude. It is always very convenient to be doubtful about the whole efficacy related to the statement where Volkswagen has taken an oath to have climate based protection. It is important to understand that codes can be very impactful if they are they are specific as well as the managers take it very seriously. Ethical training and development Because of the crisis in finances, there are some companies that have organized the base for many types of ethical training for the workforce as well as the overall impact on the training is challenging to assess. However, the experience says that the work is best when it motivates the workforce to recognize and also discuss many dilemmas in ethics that come up in the present work surroundings (Lantos, 2015). Regulation by the government Regulation has the benefit of putting the right amount of force on the law which is behind any ethical needs, and this is why the possibility is less that organization can gain by doing anything unethical. The most obvious challenge is that the red tape where regulation normally needs and the companies may also put some kind of ingenuity to the concept is taken as flouting of the law. Changing board of directors: by proving proper power to shareholders or providing some representation through some workers on the boards of a corporation which further may motivate ethical attitude (Lantos, 2015). Transparency This is most probably the most crucial way for motivating ethical based attitude. When the people can supervise or assess the attitude of the company when it needs to make the information available related to operations, and then the overall interest is based on avoiding any unethical attitude. Organizations have all the right reasons to keep certain things to company's management only. However, the whole onus of the proving this always rest on the company. There will always be some organizations that will somehow act in a bad manner. However, the revelation of these illegal and unethical practices is no factor to be negative about the reforms. The scandal of Volkswagen as well as the 7-Eleven exploitation of labor will serve as the main purpose if the government, people, and leaders of business are motivated to create a culture where ethical attitude must become the rule or common practice (SLOVK, 2017). Good leaders by definition are ethical leaders It is specifically in times of any corporate scandals and another kind of moral lapses that people, as well as many related interest group in company, ask the basic questions like corporate managers and ethical work practice. It is usually in recent time that managers, as well as researchers, have turned the whole attention on the management of ethics. The main concern of having an ethical consciousness comes during the time when the whole concept of leadership is questioned from time to time, and trust of the public in corporate governance becomes very low. Leaders are usually the main source of ethical based supervision for employees, and there must be same time needed for the overall development in the company. People usually ask that the concept of ethics is intimate in certain cases and also a confidential matter that people and their conscience share (SLOVK, 2017). The leaders who are ethical unusually talk about the overall identity related to the location of people and what t hey have become, or the way they live their lives and how to lead a better life. The concept of ethics is a philosophical term which originates from the Greek word called ethos. This word means character or custom. It is related with discussing and mentioning the moral needs as well as behavior which shows that there are some acceptable as well as unacceptable methods for behaving that serve as a function of philosophical principles. The ethical behavior is further defined as the attitude which is accepted in moral terms as good which is opposite of bad or wrong in the present situation. Ethics is related to code based on values as well as moral principles that supervise people behavior in connection what can be right or wrong. It is important to understand now that ethical behavior is morally as well as legally accepted in many large communities (Wall-Tweedie and Nguyen, 2016). At the same time, there are so many ethical dilemmas which put forward very uncertain cases, which varies from different interests, value system and many beliefs about many stakeholders that are in certain kind of conflicts. Ethical behavior, when analyzed in organizational context, has been described frequently as per some ethical standards of many top level management and the overall culture have been discussed constantly as per the ethical standards of top level of management and the overall culture in which they can be a crucial part. The leadership can be defined as the overall art of persuading the people that want to do specific kind of things or functions that leader can set some crucial goals. The role of leaders is thus in the procedure of directly people attitude towards the unattained objectives. Leaders at the same time also depend on the different leadership style that comes from different characteristics of people's personality. There are some specific leaders, who are transformational by nature and have personal power via employees engages in work and also exerts the legitimate as well as positional power. A leader can be featured on a different set of values as well as attitudes, conduct , and practices. There is a certain kind extent relies on the professional or institutional culture (Wall-Tweedie and Nguyen, 2016). Such cases have brought a lot of consternation all across the world. The world was surprised to see that how companies like Volkswagen and 7-Eleven can easily get away with such kind of deceit that too in a deliberate manner with frauds and exploitation. The basic answer is that there are major failures in the ethics associated with the business. We were also told that some software engineers at the company like Volkswagen could gain some amount of profit from the varied code of ethics. Also, companies like 7-Eleven are also trying to resolve the issue by providing incentives for better as well as ethical conduct (Wall-Tweedie and Nguyen, 2016). It is important to understand that the business ethics must be related to companies being held to account for the attitude and the impact of the overall actions. The recent actions show that companies are not expected to take the accountability. On the other hand, the companies were completely capable of actively trying to ignore any accountability that is completely beyond the present commercial interest for self. Business ethics are an accountability of society, not the business. Companies, in reality, are chartered by the community via law. Finally, they are the one who is accountable for the community which has provided them with a proper license to be present. It is the responsibility of the society to take some concrete action for a proper business ethics (MacKie, 2016). At a company like Volkswagen, the top management had to resign, and the overall cost of the present scandal was budgeted huge which questioned the future of the world largest car producer. On the other hand, the company like 7-Eleven has seen a complete clean out of top level management with new wages as well as bills being provided to people and store owners that are facing negative actions. The basic learning from all this is that company's ethics is very crucial, and it must not leave in the hand of business. What is needed in present time is an active as well as a vigilant democracy that will function in a steady manner to make sure that the organizations are held to account and take accountability for what they can function? The important thing here to notice the common thread is that every case suggests there was some ethics in place in these companies that were held as bad ethics in a good corporation (MacKie, 2016). It is important to understand the appropriate remedy for the case where bad ethics in good business is a crucial approach which is going very well for all kind of businesses until they are caught red handed. The cases discussed in the report have initiated a debate which is raging every day in all possible sectors of the society. Does the conclusion come to bad ethics in a bad corporation? The answer is no, and there is absolutely no doubt about this corporation which is constantly gaining a lot because of fraud and exploitation. Such cases show that these are bad ethics in good business and it is not just about getting caught. It is also about being legally correct, politically sound, socially responsible and economically strong and has strategies in case of getting caught (MacKie, 2016). In the cases discusses, there was a huge public as well as media outcry related to the selfish attitude of the company. To bring these companies on the right path was not any action associated with neither one kind of heroic action nor the outcome of the actions taken by the government. It is more of a collective effort that consists of involving a different kind of NGOs, academics, media and the general public. This can be treated as a victory for the present civil society and the democratic kind of dissent. Conclusion The concepts of ethics in companies have been the main feature which is dominating the overall public conversation over last many years. There are some reports that show that the companies like 7-Eleven have been exploiting the workers in a systematic manner. The scandal meant the workers were working twice the time they were paying for (Sanders et al., 2015). It is important to understand here that the market success and the present ethical conduct are inseparable. Ethics along with competitiveness goes hand in hand. The society has to compete in a collective manner. No society in any part of the world will compete for a long period and in successful manner stabbing everyone in the back along with people or company trying to steal from one another. 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