SHR011-3 Developing HRM: Volkswagen's Ethical & Change Strategies

This case study analyzes Volkswagen's human resource management practices in light of the company's ethical crisis involving emissions violations. It examines the application of ethical theories like Corporate Social Responsibility (CSR), legal compliance with consumer rights acts, and change management models such as ADKAR to understand Volkswagen's recovery efforts. The report compares these theories with the company's actions in addressing the crisis, including recalling vehicles, compensating customers, and investing in electric vehicle technology. It emphasizes the role of HR in assisting with change management, promoting ethical practices, and ensuring compliance with laws and regulations to rebuild trust and improve the company's reputation. The analysis also covers the importance of professional practices for change management, highlighting how the ADKAR model can be used to manage organizational changes and improve overall performance.

Developing Professional Human Resource
Management Practice

Table of Contents
Executive Summary.........................................................................................................................3
INTRODUCTION...........................................................................................................................4
MAIN BODY...................................................................................................................................4
Theories of ethical, effective, efficient, lawful, inclusive, diverse and professional practices for
improving change management in Volkswagen and comparing their actions in the public
domain with the theories noting what HR should assist..............................................................4
Comparison of theories with the actions......................................................................................6
CONCLUSION................................................................................................................................9
RECOMMENDATIONS...............................................................................................................10
REFERENCES................................................................................................................................1

EXECUTIVE SUMMARY
The development of the practices in the organization has been done with the
implementation of various models. The problem with the case study of Volkswagen is that there
was breach in trust of the customers by selling them the malicious cars. The company took many
that helped the company in building back the trust of customers by calling back the cars and
repairing them for free. The various recommendations are given to the company for increasing
the production of the electric cars and making the employees and managers to comply with the
rules and regulations of the organization.

INTRODUCTION
The development of professional human resources management practices can be done by
the organizations to improve the conditions of the performance and strategies of the company
(Michael, 2019). It helps the organizations by making changes in the decisions of the company
and applying various new strategies so that the organization can perform better than before.
Volkswagen is one of the largest car manufacturing company in the world owning many famous
car brands all over the Europe under its group (Volkswagen, 2022).
The report will explain about the various aspects of the development of the professional
human resource management practices. Furthermore, the report will explain about the theories
that can be used to understand the various aspects of the organization such as the ethical and
lawful aspects to improve the change management of the company. The aim of this report is to
critically analyse the various aspects of the development in the human resource management
practices.
MAIN BODY
Theories of ethical, effective, efficient, lawful, inclusive, diverse and professional practices for
improving change management in Volkswagen and comparing their actions in the public
domain with the theories noting what HR should assist
There are certain theories which are being addressed and this helps in knowing the aspects as to
how the change management can be taken into consideration. With the help of change
management there are certain theories which are taken into consideration and are mentioned.
These theories are related to the topic which are being addressed as –
Ethical – Corporate Social Responsibility (CSR) theory is being applied for the ethical aspect for
improving change management in Volkswagen. The CSR theory is the theory which is self-
regulating business model which helps the company to be socially accountable for itself, public
and stakeholders (Carlini, Grace and et.al., 2019). With the help of CSR activities being framed,
it helps in the change management of the company and improves the processes of how the
company is needing the change. This helps in taking concern of how effectively the change
management is being analysed with the help of CSR activities for considering the ethics at large
scale. It is important that the ethical aspects are being considered for improving the change
management. The actions which are being undertaken for bring and improving the change helps

in going through the change by functioning and working with the activities which helps in
enhancing the social and business responsibilities in an effective way possible (Tweedie and
et.al., 2019).
It is very important that effective, efficient, inclusive and diverse aspects are being
considered for the improvement in the change management in Volkswagen. There are aspects as
to how the changes and the company are being taken into account and this helps in addressing
that inclusive and diversity are important functions which helps in addressing to the major
aspects of growth and development which helps in bringing change management at large scale
within the Volkswagen.
Lawful – There are certain laws such as The Consumer Right Act, 2015 of UK which are
helpful in considering that how effectively and in appropriate manner the laws are being
considered and this helps in knowing that organizational culture should be respected which helps
in delivering the major point that Volkswagen is recovering from the fallout which they have
faced and this helps in understanding the major thing which is with the change in the laws and
regulations, the company is able to follow the rules and regulations (Kühl, 2020). The laws are
followed at large scale and this helps in addressing the fact that the company is able to bring the
change which helps in knowing the positive aspects at large scale.
Professional Practices – With the help of professional practices, the company will be able to
consider the aspects of growth and development. The professional practice which is being
considered is ADKAR which helps in change management of the Volkswagen. With the help of
ADKAR, it becomes easy to follow this professional practice top bring the change management.
The ADKAR stands for – awareness, desire, knowledge, ability and reinforcement. As per this
theory, awareness and desire aim to move the current state which helps in addressing the change
at large scale (Bahamdan and Al-Subaie, 2021). The knowledge and ability occur during the
transition helping to analyse and create value for the change which has been taken for
Volkswagen. The company should seek the ADKAR model which helps in reinforcement
focusing on the future in an appropriate manner. The company is able to analyse and consider the
change management with the help of this model.
The models such as ADKAR, CSR and the laws which are taken into consideration at
large scale helps in improving change management process of Volkswagen. These theories and
models helps in assisting HR to create value for the improvements to be taken into consideration

at large scale. It is very important that Volkswagen is able to create value for the organization by
bring its models and theories into action and implementing them within organization in affective
and efficient manner (Galli, 2018). These models also help to address the public domain and
considering the fact that HR should assist ion knowing and evaluating the performances of the
employees by bringing the change management models and theories. This helps in addressing the
fact that how effectively the HR is bringing the change and is considering the fact of
improvement in the change management at large scale within Volkswagen. The HR should assist
to bring the change management within the organization so that the fallout which the company is
facing is being analysed and evaluated with the help of how the changes are being implemented
with the help of this model.
The HR should also assist in bringing the change which helps in solving the issues and
problems which Volkswagen is facing at large scale. There are issues and problems which the
company is facing at large scale. The CSR model, laws and ADKAR model will help in solving
the fallout of the Volkswagen which the company is facing and this is being framed for the
purpose of solving the ethical, lawful and professional practices in use. The company with the
help of these change management models will be able to deliver the effectiveness and quality in
performance (Shaikh, 2020). This helps in addressing the aspects as to how effectively and in
appropriate manner the changes are being taken with the help of applying these models and
theories at large scale. The model CSR helps in addressing to the social responsibilities and
business by addressing to the activities which are being undertaken within Volkswagen. The
company should apply the models and theories which helps the HR to know how the change
management models and theories are to be applied for the perspective of creating value for the
organization in an appropriate manner.
Therefore, with the help of the applying the theories and models Volkswagen will be able
to improve the change management which is being undertaken within organization at large scale
(Tang, 2019). The company will be able to ensure the aspects as to how effectively there are
major concerns for the changes to bring effectively.
Comparison of theories with the actions
Ethical

The ethical theory of the corporate social responsibilities (CSR) activities can play a
major role in the reputation building back process in the case study of Volkswagen. The theory
explains that the organizations are required to make contributions in the betterment of the society
and the environment. It makes the organizations to invest some a specific percentage of their
profit into the corporate social responsibilities. This helps in improving the condition of the
environment and the local culture of the country (Jayatilleke and Lai, 2018).
There are various corporate social responsibilities (CSR) activities that can be performed
by the organization to improve the environmental factors of the country and the brand reputation.
 Reducing pollution- The organizations are required to provide better production and
operational methods that can reduce the pollution and harmful elements that can cause
damage to the nature.
 Innovating new ideas- The organizations are required to come up with new ideas that
can provide benefit to the people of society and the environment.
Actions of Volkswagen
In the case study of Volkswagen it can be seen that the company has performed various
operations that can benefit the people and the environment. The company has taken many actions
so that they can build back their brand value. Their actions have been seen providing benefit to
the people and the environment so that the people can trust back the organization.
The company has performed various actions in the relation of corporate social
responsibilities (CSR) activities that helped the organization in achieving the growth and success
in their operations and objectives.
 Moving towards electrification- The company has taken actions for reducing the diesel
emissions that can reduce the impact on the environment. The company has invested €20
billion in moving towards zero local emission by producing electric cars. The
organization has come up with new idea of electric vehicles that is innovative and will be
beneficial to the environment.
Lawful
The Volkswagen has breached the trust of its customers by selling them the defective cars
by making false claims about the pollutant emission by fitting the defeat devices in their cars.
This made the cars to show less pollution than it was actually producing. In UK the Volkswagen

has broken The Consumer Right Act, 2015 by selling the malicious cars (Buschow and Suhr,
2022). This created a negative impact on the reputation of the company as the people started to
reducing their trust from the products and the services of the company. This reduced the growth
and sales of the Volkswagen in the Britain.
Action of Volkswagen
The Volkswagen in UK for the compensation of breaking The Consumer Right Act, 2015
of UK made the changes in their decisions by recalling the cars and repairing them for free and
also by providing the option to the customers for the replacement or trade back of the cars. The
company started to focus on providing better services to the customers after the scandal trying
their best to rebuild the trust of the people. The organization also paid $15 billion for the
compensation of the scandal making every customer to have $5,000 and $10,000.
Professional practices for change management
There can be various types of the change management models that can be used to
understand the change management in the organization that helps in analysing the change in the
organizational operations. ADKAR model can be used in understanding the change that can
result in the management of the operations and strategies of the organization. The ADKAR
model is consisted of various aspects of the management.
 Awareness-In this aspect it is required for the organization to communicate the changes
in the management or the strategies to the people so that they feel that they are involved
in the change.
 Desire- This makes the people to have their opinions that whether want the change or
not.
 Knowledge- This is required for the organizations to learn from the experience and learn
from the actions of the other companies (ADKAR model, 2022).
 Ability- This helps the organization in understanding the barrier that is creating the
problems for the people in understanding the change.
 Reinforcement- The retention of changes is necessary for the organizations. It can be
done by making the employees and the managers to keep up with the changes.
Actions of Volkswagen

Volkswagen has taken many actions for the successful implementation of the change in
their operations and organization for making the change effective in the organization.
 Informing people- The Volkswagen company started to aware the people about the
change by making them to either trade the cars to the company at the trading value that
the customers paid pre-scandal, or they can get their cars by the Volkswagen.
 Change in opinion- The opinion of the people has changed about the company and
people wanted their cars to be changed and some people got it repaired by the
organization for free (Ianniciello, Biwolé and Achard, 2018).
 Learning changes- The Volkswagen has adopted many changes in their strategies after
looking at the trend and market and started producing the electric cars so that it can make
less harm to the environment.
 Improving communication- The company started to operate with morality and honesty
and made many changes in their strategies such as, the company started to have the face
to face communication with the employees to rebuild the trust by making various types of
surveys.
 Giving power to the brands- The Volkswagen has taken decision to give power to its
sub-brands (Audi, Porsche, Seat, Skoda) for making their own decisions for the
operations of the companies. This made the organizations to retain the major change in
their operations.
CONCLUSION
Thus, it can be concluded from the report that there are various aspects that is required to
be kept in front of eyes while making the decisions about the change management in the
organizations. The various changes can be made in the organization by comparing the actions of
the organization with the relevant theories. The theories of the professional practices and ethical
aspects of the organization has been used to understand the impact of the actions that has been
left on the company. The theories of ADKAR and CSR can be used to understand the various
changes that is required to be made in the strategies for successfully implementing the change
management in the organization. Volkswagen is required to make many changes in their

strategies for overcoming the impacts of their actions. This has helped in creating and winning
the trust back of the people which was decreased because of the actions of the organization.
RECOMMENDATIONS
Based on the conclusion to the case study of Volkswagen various recommendations can
be given to the company for boosting the performance of the organization and building back the
trust of the customers. The recommendations are effective enough to provide the organization
back the position and improvement in the operations of the organization.
 Increasing change awareness- The Volkswagen should increase the brand and the
change awareness in the customers to build back the trust as the customers have lost the
trust in the brand.
 Better compliance- The organization should increase the compliance of the various rules
and regulations of the countries by making the employees and managers to strictly follow
the rules and regulations made for the organization.
 Social care- The company can increase their operations related to the social care and the
betterment of the society. This can help the organization in building back the trust of the
people by making them to believe that the business is working for the people.
 Increase the production of electric cars- The Volkswagen is required to increase the
production of its electric cars. This will benefit the organization by making the positive
impacts on the environment and reducing the diesel emission.

REFERENCES
Books and journals
Bahamdan, M.A. and Al-Subaie, O.A., 2021. Change Management And Its Obstacles In Light
Of. Elementary Education Online. 20(3). pp.2454-2475.
Buschow, C. and Suhr, M., 2022. Change management and new organizational forms of content
creation. In Media and change management (pp. 381-397). Springer, Cham.
Carlini, J., Grace, D. and et.al., 2019. The corporate social responsibility (CSR) employer brand
process: integrative review and comprehensive model. Journal of
Marketing Management. 35(1-2). pp.182-205.
Galli, B.J., 2018. Change management models: A comparative analysis and concerns. IEEE
Engineering Management Review. 46(3). pp.124-132.
Ianniciello, L., Biwolé, P.H. and Achard, P., 2018. Electric vehicles batteries thermal
management systems employing phase change materials. Journal of power
sources. 378. pp.383-403.
Jayatilleke, S. and Lai, R., 2018. A systematic review of requirements change
management. Information and Software Technology. 93. pp.163-185.
Kühl, S., 2020. Violating “laws of the state” and “laws of the organization”. Zeitschrift für
Rechtssoziologie. 41(1). pp.71-96.
Michael, A., 2019. A handbook of human resource management practice. bookboon. Com.
Shaikh, A., 2020. Understanding Change: A Critical Review of Literature. Annals of
Contemporary Developments in Management & HR (ACDMHR). 2(2).
pp.40-44.
Tang, K.N., 2019. Change management. In Leadership and change management (pp. 47-55).
Springer, Singapore.
Tweedie, D. and et.al., 2019. How does performance management affect workers? Beyond
human resource management and its critique. International Journal of Management
Reviews. 21(1). pp.76-96.
Online
Volkswagen. 2022. [Online] Available through:
<https://www.volkswagenag.com/en/group.html#>
ADKAR model. 2022. [Online] Available through:
<https://online.visual-paradigm.com/diagrams/features/adkar-template/#>
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