Question

Rarely does one individual’s decision or action create an ethical crisis

entirely by itself. More often, someone’s unethical or illegal idea is
adopted by other members of the company, and the problem grows within
the organization until it erupts in headlines, bad publicity, and sometimes
criminal penalties. After the fact, the questions always arise: How did that
happen? Did not anyone know it was going on? Why did not someone stop
it?
Recently, Volkswagen found itself in just such a position, when it was
discovered that the software in the company’s diesel vehicles had been
programmed to provide false data to regulators regarding the level of
emissions produced by the cars.
In his article "Volkswagen: Where Were the Lawyers?" Lippe (2015)
questions the role that several groups within the company played in the
scandal, most notably the company’s lawyers and engineers.
Review this situation from legal, spiritual, and ethical perspectives. Fully
explain the following:

As an employee or a manager in either the legal office or the engineering department, how would you have prevented this incident?

Answer 1

Answer:The scenario painted above about Volkswagen depict an organization without the proper internal control and poor or ineffective policies driving the organization. A manager ought to put in place a proper reporting scheme like whistleblowing . employee should have been encourage to report anomaly and they should be properly protected

Explanation:Legal view:the unethical issue that occur in Volkswagen should have been nipped in the bud ,if the legal team has done extensive work on the level of acceptable emmision which will not constitutes pollution to the community,there should have been an elaborate meeting the community members,and the government agencies responsible for checking pollution.it is expected that companies should not just think about their profit,but must proactively put in place measure to make sure that there impact on the environment is healthy and not destructive.A criminal fines and civil fines could be avoided if the proper legal procedure were observed.

Spritual:All the religion taught us to be our brother's keeper and to love and protect humanity at all cost ,so it become worrisome that staff of the motor company could deliberately alter figures knowing the dire effect of their actions.this shows lack of conscience or lack of fear of God and hatred for mankind

Ethical:it is unethical to falsify figures,especially when it involves lives,company now render as part of their year end report, report of how they have managed to reduced the impact of their production (pollution) on their host community.profit without proper consideration for pollution or environmental impact assessment is not ethically acceptable.

As a Manager,I would have put in place a reporting avenue where staff can whistleblow any unethical practices ,there will have been dedicated lines and email that will be available for member staff.the there will also be a protection clause for the whistleblowers.A proper internal control team that reconfirm all transactions and events will have been put in a place reporting to their line managers who should be highly placed PTO avoid infringing on their Independence and objectivity.