Robert Stemig

CPRE 394
4/25/16
Ethics Essay
What is the purpose of both having and following a code of ethics? First and
foremost a code of ethics helps to establish a standard among workers in the same
field. This standard ensures guidelines that reflect how decisions should be made
that best represent best interest for everyone. It is also used to maintain a quality
reputation for individuals and companies. This ensures that you are looking out for
the best interest of everyone when formulating a decision.
When Im faced with an ethical situation many things factor into how I make a
decision. First and foremost I ask how the outcome of my decision will impact
others. Many forget that their actions not only impact themselves but others too. I
also consider the scenario Im in to help determine my decision, the severity of the
situation my impact me to otherwise go against my better judgement. In a
professional environment would abide by the guidelines set before me so that I
dont have to worry about accountability because of following the correct procedure.
In our small group we discussed the case study of Volkswagen. In this
example Volkswagen was found to have installed a software that could make their
car run at certain way when I was being tested for emissions. Long story short the
software made it so the car could pass emissions test while the car still failed t meet
the emissions standards. Our consensus was hat this was an unethical decision
made by Volkswagen. Manly I broke the honest portion discussed in the IEEE code of
ethics by falsifying that their vehicle would meet standards which was shown to be
false. The group agreed that the most ethical decision was to t be honest about
their product and announce it wouldnt meet emission standards and redesign the
vehicle so as to meet expectations and have a quality product released.
In this case study three of the virtues of ethics ha related heavily to this case
study were Honesty, integrity, and fidelity. Honesty is comprised of truthfulness and
openness, to restate what I said in the paragraph before honesty is a huge role in
the case study of Volkswagen. The company was dishonest in the testing of their
product via a specialized software. Along the same lines of this falls integrity,
Volkswagen failed to represent ethical judgement when cheating emission tests in
an attempt to pass a vehicle that would have better power but failed to meet the
standards at that range, rather than address he problem or voice the issue in
attempt to hide this fact lead to a severe lack of integrity by the company. Finally
fidelity, Volkswagen was no faithful to its customers by distributing a product that at
its bases did not meet acceptable standards, sure there were no immediate effects
but the long standing issue of the product would still occur and cause more
problems down the line. In terms of the remaining virtue the case was not an issue
of charity nor self-discipline. However responsibility could be argued, but
Volkswagen at least when they were found out recalled the cars, so some

responsibility was taken. There arent many other virtues that could relate to this
case study it was rather straight forward of what happened were as other studys
couldve been more complex.