Nathan Nordling

Ethics

I know from personal experience it’s hard to always keep on the right path and be ethical.

Cheating and cutting corners is a lot easier than working to seriously fix issues and problems. Having a

code of ethics is good to set a guideline so that there is a general metric to understand whether

something is unethical and crossing a line it shouldn’t.

When I am faced with ethical decisions myself I usually weigh the options presented to me and

proceed with whatever I feel is the best. Factors that are involved in my decisions include the benefits

and draws to each option as well as the ethical connotations alongside them. Cheating for example can

be considered as being an easy way out of a rough spot in a class, however you don’t gain proper

practice or knowledge from cheating on an assignment, and don’t properly show your assessed

knowledge of subject material on a quiz or exam. Due to the large draws, it is normally ideal to avoid

cheating.

My group discussed the case study of Volkswagen’s recall of several million cars because they

had created a cheating device to bypass a transmission test, and therefore had excessively emissive

machines which harmed the environment. Most of the ethical considerations of my group members

were agreeable since it was clear Volkswagen cheated their test on semi-faulty products to continue

profiting without owing up to their mistakes. Ultimately Volkswagen recalled the vehicles in question

and paid colossal fines, and they did not owe up to the mistakes in their infrastructure that brought

about the problem. Our group decided that it would be important to fix the problem at the source

rather than simply cut their losses.

In our group’s case study on Volkswagen, integrity, honesty, and responsibility were several

main issues that were pressed. Volkswagen showed they don’t have integrity as a company seeing that
their infrastructure had higher up staff approving of cheating methods to get through emission tests.

Their honesty proved to be lacking because they initially lied about how many cars would need to be

recalled for faulty emissions, and lied to say the vehicles were working as they should in the first place.

They also failed to take proper responsibility for these mistakes until they were caught and even then,

did not fix their infrastructure to prevent further ethical violations. The other 3 issues, fidelity, charity,

and self-discipline, are also present, but not in as much severity. Volkswagen lacked discipline in not

cheating, and were not faithful to their customers about the product they sold. However, they did recall

all faulty vehicles after some time so they at least they didn’t screw over their customers. Another

ethical issue that was present in this case is not endangering the environment because their faulty

vehicles created excess emissions which pollute the environment.