(Solved) Concept of Ethics - Doc

ACADEMIC AND
PROFESSIONAL SKILLS

EXECUTIVE SUMMARY
Ethics begins with moral and philosophy ,which help understanding, defending and
recommending what is right and wrong. Ethics with aesthetics are the combination of values and
is concerned with philosophy. Volkswagen is taken in our report for understanding the concept
of ethics. In addition to it, company has also helped in finding out the importance of its goodwill
in its own performance. A detailed analysis is also conducted for understanding the position,
marketing, operations and distribution of the organisation. Company has faced a emission related
issues which is also discussed and some recommendation has been given on its behalf .

Table of Contents
EXECUTIVE SUMMARY.............................................................................................................2
INTRODUCTION...........................................................................................................................1
ANALYSIS......................................................................................................................................1
CONCLUSION................................................................................................................................6
RECOMMENDATION- .................................................................................................................7
.........................................................................................................................................................7

INTRODUCTION
Ethics are also known as moral philosophy which help understanding, defending and
recommending what is right and wrong(Ethics, 2019). Ethics with aesthetics are the combination
of values and is concerned with philosophy. It is related to the human morality by explaining the
concepts like crime, justice, vice, virtue, wrong, good and evil. Ethics are divided into three
subject areas by the philosophers i.e. Meta ethics, Normative ethics and Applied ethics. In case
of organisation, Ethics is the ways company respond to external environment. There are
different principles and guideline made by the organisation to provide a way in which individual
should behave.
This concept of ethics will be understand by Volkswagen case study which says that, company
made 6,00,000 cars for US market and 11 million cars for whole world in which an emission
control device was fitted to pass the pollution test but it was emitting a lot while driving
(Wallace and Sheldon, 2015). It was an unethical step taken by the organisation for which they
refused to take the blame. They put the blame on their software engineers and stated some reason
behind their unethical step i.e. it is very much difficult to make such a diesel engine which keep
emission in regulatory standard.
Significance of reputation to organisation within sector:
Reputation or goodwill of an organisation is intangible in nature, more the goodwill of
the company, greater the value of their intangible assets. Other than this reputation of the
company is also important for its equity value & accounting value and to earn the trust of the
customers.
In the introduction part everything about the ethics is covered from meaning to application in
company. Other than this some real life cases of unethical behaviour has been observed and
importance of reputation to any organisation has been discussed.
ANALYSIS
Introduction to the company
Volkswagen is a German based auto mobile company which was founded in 1937, it is
serving their products worldwide. It is the largest producer of auto mobile in the world with its
headquarter in Wolfburg, Germany.
Operation strategy:
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Volkswagen is the one of the very famous and renounced car producer in the world, their
operation strategy is excellent because of which they have covered the entire world. Very first
part in their operation strategy is that they follow
 horizontal or flatter hierarchal structure of communication channel for transferring
information between top management and the lower management. It help them in making
their communication with such a ease so that it does not create any communication or
delay. In this structure, executives passes some information which get transferred to all
the other same level managers of different department and then further get transferred to
lower employees or staffs (Swanson and Frederick, 2016). It is good structure for the
company because things does not get manipulated and more genuine information will get
passed which affect the performance of the organisation and increases its productivity
and profitability.
 In its operational strategy, Volkswagen also focuses on their fundamental changes which
are of very basic nature. By doing this, organisation bring changes in basic features of
their cars which can attract customers toward it. It also help them to compete and survive
in the market.
 Other operational strategy which Volkswagen has adopted is lowering the prices of some
of their cars so that they can compete with the car manufacturers of japan and Korea.
This is because these countries make cheaper auto mobiles with good features which
attract customers to buy it (Barry, 2016). It is also increasing tough competition for the
other producers, to meet with this situation Volkswagen has lower its operational costs
which is helping them to reduce the prices of their cars and as a return they are generation
profit.
 Volkswagen has eliminated traditional methods of paper documentation an made it easy
for people by adopting digitisation in their Woking. Latest technology adopted by them
has improved the communication in their company. Along with this, they has entered
into the electrification where electric cars are produced. Company has analysed the future
demands because of which they are also engaged in making hybrid or full electrical cars.
Managers
These are the people who work for the company and are the in charge of particular task
or groups. Manager have some subordinate under them, who report them. Volkswagen also have
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managers working for them and some of the qualities that present in them which is helping in
making organisation big and famous are-:
 Creativity: Manager of Volkswagen is creative in nature which is good for the
organisation's goodwill. It adds zest in the performance and help the company in make
products which is different from other competitors working in the market. A creative
manager is gold for the company because it help Volkswagen in putting different pieces
together rand make a successful plan. Which in return increases the customer base of the
organisation
 Knowledge: Another quality which Volkswagen manager posses is good knowledge
which help the organisation in managing their activities properly and to focus employees.
Having knowledge make it easy for managers to handle difficult situation of conflict or
burden. It also motivates their employees and give them options to learn something new
which can be applied to the organisation and as result, company's performance get
improves and its productivity increased (Wang and Calvano, 2015).
 Commitment: Volkswagen managers are committed toward their work and toward the
company. They give their life to the company so that it can achieve the goals of the
organisation. Company appreciate their efforts because it is leading them toward the
success. A committed manager also influence others working in the organisation to stay
loyal toward their work because organisation relay on everyone working in it. Their good
or bad performance affect the overall functioning of the company (Trevino and Nelson,
2016).
 Versatility: Volkswagen managers are versatile in nature, they have this ability in them to
adapt the changing environment and also help others in doing so. This is good for the
organisation as it help them to cope up in the different situations. Flexibility is must for
the uninterrupted performance
Public relation
It is the relationship between public and organisation, it is a ways through which they all
communicate with each other either directly or indirectly with using different modes of
communication. Volkswagen also have a good public relation which they maintain by informing
or communicating with their audiences regularly through different modes and tools to persuade
their clients, create a public image and to maintain a relation with them. Company have their
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personal public relation specialist who wok on behalf of the company and give a better insight to
their target audience. Some of the tools which Volkswagen take in use are-: Media relations: One of the tool which company is taking in use for maintaining their
public relation are media. Company conduct press releases and press conference in which
they discuss important matters related to their company in which public are interested.
Media is the best ways to spread information around the world, journalist are asked to
spread positive information about the business. It indirectly promote the business,
Volkswagen uses press release to pass information like launch of new product etc. and on
the other hand conduct press conferences for answer the questions of normal people in
the form of media(Dierksmeier and Seele, 2018). Social media: This is the best way to target customers directly, Volkswagen using social
media to reach their customers and to attract them for its products. Some of the social
networking sites in which organisation have their page which people can follow and can
know about any new launch or other offers by the company. Some of the social media
sites are Facebook and Twitter. Newsletters: These are in the printed or emailed form which Volkswagen is using
regularly keeping their personal connection with the customers and also for informing the
about the new products and services. Organisation take it in use as a promotional tool for
the company which help them in attracting people. Business events: Volkswagen conduct some business events which also help them to
interact with people and gain exposure. These events are held by the organisation to
promote their new products and to flow the information to their targeted customers.
These events are also held by the companies to address the customer's doubt and to build
the confidence. Advertorials: This is again of the most famous method Volkswagen is using for creating
a public relation with their targeted customers. In this tool, they take help of newspapers,
magazines and television media to spread the information about their new products.
Volkswagen have marketing professionals for them which develop attractive TV
Advertorials to influence customers (Crane and Matten, 2016).
 Brochuers and catalogues: These are the printed form of paper which customers can take
home with them, these catalogues give brief information about the company but help
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them to make relation with them(Rhodes, 2016). Organisation make sure that these
brochuers are designed properly so that it can help company to attract new customers and
to retain old one. It is also one of the public relation tool which Volkswagen apply in
their organisation(Tlaiss, 2015).
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CONCLUSION
From the above report it has been concluded that ethics are important for the human
being as well as for the organisations in performing their activities. For which people need some
guidance in their life, ethically performed task enhances the image of the company. From the
above analysis of the organisation it has been concluded that every company have their own
operational strategy for production till distribution. Apart from this It has also been learned that
how much goodwill or reputation of organisation is important in attracting the customers and for
increasing their intangible values as well as for company's equity and accounting. Other than this
importance of manager and its responsibilities & qualities are also learned while doing this
assignment. Company's public relation tools are very strong which is making it one of the top
organisation of the world and helping it in increasing its customer base.
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RECOMMENDATION-
 Volkswagen should try to work more ethically so that it can improve its brand image
after that happening of pollution emission scandal. That event was very much hazardous
for the health of people as well as it was harming the environment, so company need to
focus on how to eliminate this drawback and again make their organisation on top level.
This is because it will help the company in attracting more customers and increasing
their productivity and profitability.
 Another suggestion for company is that they should focus more on giving training to their
employees. It is because it will improve their performance and in return company's
overall performance will get better. For example if Volkswagen is planning to bring new
machinery for production process which is completely new to the company. In such case
it is the responsibility of the managers or leader to train each and every person engaged
in production process so that work can be accomplished without any delay.
 More suggestions for the Volkswagen is that they should use vertical mode of
communication instead of using horizontal mode. Because horizontal structure creates a
lot of confusion and misunderstandings because of the wrong delivered information. If
organisation opt vertical structure, their message will get levered correctly.
 Volkswagen should try to use more promotional tools for increasing their sale.
Company's promotion is not very strong as compare to their competitors which they need
to correct if they want to always stay on number one position in the world. There are
many advertisement tools available for the company which even help them in creating a
strong public relation. In return of all this Volkswagen's sale and profitability will get
increase
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REFERENCES
Books and Journals
Crane, A. and Matten, D., 2016. Business ethics: Managing corporate citizenship and
sustainability in the age of globalization. Oxford University Press.
Trevino, L. K. and Nelson, K. A., 2016. Managing business ethics: Straight talk about how to do
it right. John Wiley & Sons.
Barry, N., 2016. Business ethics. Springer.
Wallace, M. and Sheldon, N., 2015. Business research ethics: Participant observer perspectives.
Journal of Business Ethics. 128(2). pp.267-277.
Swanson, D. L. and Frederick, W. C., 2016. Denial and leadership in business ethics education.
Business ethics: New challenges for business schools and corporate leaders. pp.222-
240.
Wang, L. C. and Calvano, L., 2015. Is business ethics education effective? An analysis of
gender, personal ethical perspectives, and moral judgment. Journal of Business Ethics.
126(4). pp.591-602.
Dierksmeier, C. and Seele, P., 2018. Cryptocurrencies and business ethics. Journal of Business
Ethics. 152(1). pp.1-14.
Rhodes, C., 2016. Democratic business ethics: Volkswagen’s emissions scandal and the
disruption of corporate sovereignty. Organization Studies. 37(10). pp.1501-1518.
Tlaiss, H. A., 2015. How Islamic business ethics impact women entrepreneurs: Insights from
four Arab Middle Eastern countries. Journal of Business Ethics. 129(4). pp.859-877.
Lock, I. and Seele, P., 2015. Quantitative content analysis as a method for business ethics
research. Business Ethics: A European Review. 24. pp.S24-S40.
Online
Ethics, 2019. [Online]. Available through<https://www.iep.utm.edu/ethics/>
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