OGL 481 Pro-Seminar I:

PCA-Politcal Frame Worksheet

1) Briefly restate your situation from Module 1 and your role.

In 2015 Volkswagen was placed in a scandal that saw them cheating U.S.
emission tests using a gadget called a defeat device that helps Volkswagens diesel
engines to emit less emissions than normal in a lab setting. The Organization helped
cheat this by allowing for no accountability. Managers were able to have free reign
without questions, this ethical issue ended up costing the company millions over the
course of the years to come.

2) Describe how the politics of the organization influenced the situation.

As we talked about in the Human Resource influence last week, Volkswagen

already had an atmosphere, which allowed for managers to basically have absolute power
without supervision. The scandal started from the top without any accountability or
ethical conscious from any leader. Politics came into play from the beginning. First lets
look at the way that competition influenced their decision. Volkswagen is a German
manufactured company, meaning that in Europe they have lower standards for emissions
than the United States. In order to market in the U.S. and still be profitable the company
decided it would be more beneficial to break the rules and cheat the emissions tests in
order to compete in the United States. The devices allow for the Volkswagen vehicles to
be sold and operated in the United States, making competition a main factor in the
political aspects of the scandal.

“…The short-term increase in a company’s stock price, rather than the long-term
development of production, has become the guiding principle of capitalist industry.”
(Schwarz, 2015) The self-interest of the company to increase profits has been a major
political factor in this scandal as well. Instead of being one of the forerunners for clean
diesel, they decided to use a device to maintain profits without increasing spending in
other areas such as an environmental branch. Both of these issues caused the company to
choose to break moral and ethical codes in order to get ahead. “There is no guarantee that
those who gain power will use it wisely of justly.” (Bolman & Deal, 2017) In the end
politics come from self interests and power, and Volkswagen fell into the trap of abusing
it’s power to try to cheat and lie.

3) Recommend how you would use organizational politics for an alternative course of
action regarding your case.

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 Power is a very tricky thing. With power comes great responsibility. The
Volkswagen name has been a mainstay in Americans homes since they began selling
their automobiles in the United States. Now in the arena of politics morals and ethics play
a big role. Volkswagen unfortunately did not follow morals and ethics and in turn harmed
the consumers and their reputation. “The problem for them as educators, as leaders, is not
to promote narrow, egocentric self-actualization, but to…improve the larger social
situation for which educators or leaders have responsibility…” The responsibility of the
leaders of the Volkswagen brand is their consumers. They should have had an
atmosphere where the customer came first. Their interest in profit means nothing if they
have lost their entire consumer base.

Starting with the atmosphere, they need to adjust their frame to the customer
instead of profits as I stated above. This starts from looking past your self-interests. The
company had already been manufacturing cars for Europe that met European standards
and decided that it was more cost effective to do this as well as use the defeat devices.
They never looked at the opportunity cost of using the devices. The consequence that
followed was not worth the cost of doing business. Instead they should continually
looked at the customers and put them first. Next they should never have promoted
themselves as someone at the forefront of “clean diesel.” In my last paper I talked about
how Volkswagen had marketed themselves as users of clean emission diesel using cars.
Instead they could have not marketed themselves in this light, decreasing the outrage
from customers. The politics come in from their reputation, the loss of reputation leads to
loss in sales. Instead they could have reduced the impact by being honest, as well as
having a good strategy for the customer experience. Planning is a big part of the politics
as well. Plan everything! Have a plan for when you mess up, have a plan for your focus
and have a plan to make the customer experience the best.

4) Reflect on what you would do or not do differently given what you have learned
about this frame.

As we have learned in this week about the political frame, we need to suspend our
personal interests. These interests lead to conflict and politics that end up bringing us
down. I think that the way that Volkswagen responded when faced with the conflict was
poor as well. Instead of admitting the fault, they decided to point fingers. This is what
happens in the political arena, leaders tend to want to look out for their best interests
while letting other fall in their wake. This is where the “dog eat dog world” comes into
play. Leadership allowed for the finger to e pointed solely at the North American
director. Instead they should have accepted responsibility for what they did. Later within
the scandal we learned that the devices were put in not only North American cars, but
also in European bought cars as well. With politics in the workplace, ethicality becomes a
major point we need to focus on.

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 As well as ethicality, honesty is where Volkswagen fell extremely short. First they
cheated and then they allowed for the pointing of fingers. We need to be ethical and
honest. Firstly, we could have avoided the situation from the start if we didn’t let the idea
of competition and personal gain come into the picture. Our first focus needs to be the
consumer. We provide products for THEM! Secondly, we should have admitted fault,
this shows the ability to be honest and learn from mistakes. Instead the new director is
left to clean up the destruction left by the scandal and begin to build the brand in a new
image. This can be shown by the new Volkswagen motto… Volkswagen. “The old
slogan…is being shelves in favor of the automaker’s own name to highlight the
company’s “Newfound Humility”.”(Rodriguez, 2015) This is a fix on the reputation,
which was destroyed by the scandal. This is the way of strategizing and playing into the
politics to win back public favor. I think the way the handled the situation was awful, but
they can be steered back in the right direction.

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 References

Bolman, L. G., & Deal, T. E. (2017). Reframing  organizations: Artistry, choice, and

leadership (6th ed.). San Francisco, CA: Jossey-Bass

Rodriguez, A. (2015, December 23). Volkswagen's new slogan is a lesson in humility. Quartz.
Retrieved September 15, 2021, from https://qz.com/580701/volkswagens-new-slogan-is-a-
lesson-in-humility/.

Schwarz, P. (2015, September 26). The political issues in the Volkswagen scandal. World
Socialist Web Site. Retrieved September 13, 2021, from
https://www.wsws.org/en/articles/2015/09/26/pers-s26.html.