Volkswagen Emission Scandal

The Volkswagen scandal presents a perfect case where ethical decision making to bring the scandal to an end. The chief executive officer (CEO) of the automaker can be considered to exemplify the qualities of conscious leadership because of the management steps he has taken since the scandal broke out in the year 2015. The leader demonstrates the use of self-leadership abilities and executive privileges to institute the suspension of employees who were privy to scandal but failed to take appropriate actions that would have minimized the damage to companys image in the country. The leader also utilizes his legitimate power to institute a raft of measures to restructure the companys leadership and organization. These approaches are meant to insulate the company from the recurrence such unethical business practices not only in the US but also in other markets across the globe. Furthermore, the leader uses expert and referent power bases to circumvent the leadership challenges associated with redeeming the companys dented image. He is a trusted insider with 30 years experience with the company and possesses a broad range of skills and experiences in information technology. The mentioned qualification offers the power of legitimacy to manage the companys workforce with authority and instill a new culture where ethical standards are strictly observed in implementing the organizations revenue expansion strategies.

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Making an inspiration urge is one of the tactics the leader employed to influence customers, environmental agencies and the government that the company would take full responsibility for the possible harmful effects the nitrogen oxide emission may have caused to the environment and its inhabitants. He admitted that the company installed the software that 'cheated' on the Federal governments emission tests. This was done through an apology to the customers and the environmental agencies and the state. The CEO adopts this strategy to persuade and win back the trust of the customers and regulatory institutions. Also, the leader employs exchange strategy to build consensus among the concerned parties such as the customers and the government. He made proposals to the Environment Protection Agency and California Air Resources Board on how the company intends to the restructure the cars to ensure compliance with the required standards. These measures entail exchange influences as the company would benefit from adequately addressing the issue of dwindling sales revenues.

The leader used participative leadership to make the decisions about the issues that were affecting the teams. The CEO is engaging on consultative approaches to seek expert opinion to make decisions that protect the interests of the shareholders, state, and its customers. It is because of such leadership approach that the company is on the verge of reaching an agreement with the Federal government on the modalities of rectifying the problem. The possible outcome of the situation is to recall the cars and fit them with exhaust cleaning systems that would make them compliant. Also, the company is expected to pay compensation fees for the violation of the Clean Air Act.

In conclusion, the leader supports the values of conscious capitalism because his leadership style embraces the higher purpose tenet of conscious capitalism. The proposed decisions recognize the interests of the customers, employees, state actors, and a healthy ecosystem. He also applies embraces the tenet of conscious culture as a means of building trust and credibility between the company and stakeholders such as customers and state agencies. These leadership tactics epitomize conscious capitalism as the organizations decisions are not only focused on the profits but a bigger goal that is beneficial to all stakeholders. . In my opinion, the leader actions ethical as they target to resolve the issue in a way that is fair to the involved parties. It cannot, for instance, institute a complete buyback of the cars as that would destroy the financial position of the organization.