Organizational Behavior and Leadership in the 21st Century 8-10 page (not includ

Question

Organizational Behavior and Leadership in the 21st Century 8-10 page (not including reference section) Ethics Paper NO LATER THAN Sunday, July 17, 2016. Instructions are below. You are required to use APA style for this paper. Papers that are not in APA style will NOT be accepted. Feel free to use the sample APA paper posted in Blackboard and/or check in with the Academic Center if you are unsure of APA style. Your paper must be in 12-point font, double-spaced, with one-inch margins. You are required to (1) Summarize, (2) compare, and (3) contrast the ethical dilemmas presented by Volkswagen’s emissions scandal and the Ikea “tip-over” furniture hazard. You are also required to give your own opinion of each of the two cases. You are required to use a MINIMUM OF FIVE references. Note that Wikipedia is NOT an acceptable reference. IMPORTANT NOTE: Academic dishonesty will not be tolerated. Your paper must be your own individual work. Papers will be checked for academic dishonesty and any paper found to contain wording, passages, etc. from the internet will receive a grade of zero and will be reported to the dean for academic discipline. Papers will also be compared to each other and any papers with identical wording, etc. will be given a grade of zero and will be reported to the dean for academic discipline.

Explanation / Answer

Volkswagen's emissions scandal -

Volkswagen is one of the leaders of the Automobile industry. It is a German company specialized in making cars in almost all the segments. Volkswagen is a brand which the customers associate themselves with it as the affordable luxury. Volkswagen is translated as "people's automobile" in German. This auto maker has the highest reputation and rated as one of the best brands in a people survey. With such a reputation, Volkswagen is accused of "diesel dupe" last year. That was huge scandal that any automaker has ever involved. Volkswagen did that in a very smart way, cheating people on the vehicle's performance.

Volkswagen cars that were sold in America had a "defeat device". This device is a very smart device which has the ability to detect when they were being tested under the laboratory conditions and it immediately changes the performance levels accordingly and shows the improved results. This is considered to be a hard-core cheating by the giant automaker. The worst part is, when the Environment protection agency has detected the scandal and ordered for an enquiry, the German giant has admitted of the cheating emissions test in the United states.

EPA has accused VW on cheating people by installing a small computer software at the engine. When the cars were stationed at the test rig for testing under laboratory conditions, the software detects the test conditions based on engine operation, test speed, air pressure, and position of steering. The software then quickly changes the mode. So the normal mode switches to test mode. In the test mode or otherwise called as safety mode, the engine operates under below normal power and performance. That is because it is working under testing conditions. Once the car is on road, it switches back to normal mode again. This is a very clever trick company has used and incorporated in its engines.

The result of this is an environmental change disaster. The nitrogen emissions that the car emits is more than 40 times its permissible limits. Nitrogen oxide is a very harmful greenhouse gas which contributes to the climatic changes and tempers the ozone layer. This is a severe threat to the environment. Most importantly, as per European Environmental Agency, there are more than 500,000 people in UK who died prematurely in the year 2012 due to the affect of low air quality.

There is a mental dilemma involved in this case where VW tries to make its customers happy by keeping the environment at stake. If VW would have cared for the environment, then it should lose its customers. So, with a quick thought of manipulating the facts, VW introduced a smart software in its engines to satisfy everyone else keeping the environment at stake.

Volkswagen is termed as Hoax wagen by "fortune.com". The company is charged with a lot of charge sheets and civil suits on the false advertising and consumer fraud. The company has said to have a history of scandals and episodes but it always escaped without any consequences.

Sources:

2) Ikea "tip-over" furniture hazard

Ikea is a well known brand in the United States for its variety of luxury furniture. In the recent years, Ikea dressers furniture has become a threat to the toddlers of ages 3 and below. It has become hazardous and deadly for many kids in the United states. Upon the controversies, Ikea has planned to recall its dressers.

Ikea being a world famous brand for the favorite furniture, has turned out to be dangerous. Ikea's dressers have caused many injuries- small and big, and killed kids too. Ikea has a very unstable dressers which can tip over anytime. As these dressers being placed in the bedrooms, kids try to climb the dresser. Since these are unstable peices of furniture, they tip-over when they try to climb on them, causing fatal deaths.

According to the United states product safety commission, there are more than 43,000 injuries due to tip-over every year and out of which 25,000 injuries out of them are for children alone - Source: Furniture tip-over accidents

The main reason for these tip-over injuries is : Lack of counter balancing weight - This causes the dresser to be top heavy and front heavy and that loses the balance of the entire dresser and it slips off forward. These incidents are not only happening with the dressers, but also with the TV stands.

Kids try to climb the chests considering them to be the steps. When they try to climb the chest with the help of the drawers, the unit could not take the additional weight at the front as it already has the weight on the top and on the front due to the heaviness of the drawers. Any additional weight tips over the dresser.

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