Ethic Change

Ethical Issues

Organizations goes through various levels of changes throughout their existence. Some of these changes can impact the production and moral of their employees. Since the purpose of these changes differ from time to time, it is safe to say that their intentions are good for the company. There have been instances where ethical issues arose during the process of change.

Companies must be careful on how they introduce change into the workplace. They must adhere to the many change management steps and formulas in order to achieve a successful change. When managers do not disclose the full scope of the change, it may cause dismay and frustration upon the employees of the company. This is where the ethical issues take control of the process.

In recent history, we have witnessed several ethical violations within organizations. Some include personal violations while other included the company as a whole. An example of this would be Volkswagen. Volkswagen has been under intense scrutiny for their failure to disclose accurate emissions testing numbers. For many years, the company’s engineering department had installed a “defeat-device” which would curb the carbon emissions numbers to an adequate and acceptable number according to the EPA. This skirting of the law has proved a huge ethical violation within the company affecting all the employees within the company. They chose to hide their secret in order to improve profits. This change has poorly affected their image and value to their vehicles.

Volkswagen along with other companies like, Martha Stewart, Merrill Lynch, Enron, and Adelphia have all had enormous ethical violations within their change. (Chandler, 2010) With regards to Volkswagen, they are being hit really hard with the Code of Ethics and violating not only the law, but also violating the code such as: “Each of our employees who do not conduct themselves consistently with the Code must expect appropriate consequences within the scope of statutory regulations and company rules that can extend to termination of the employment relationship and claims for damages”. (Ethicsalarm.com, 2015)