Ethical and Accountability Issues in General Motors: Corporate Responsibility and Cultural Reform
Overview
This paper examines the ethical violations and accountability failures demonstrated by General Motors in the ignition switch scandal, including nondisclosure of safety defects and lack of accountability to victims' families. The analysis explores the challenges faced by CEO Mary Barra in reforming the company's corporate culture and addressing the financial and reputational consequences of the crisis.
What this essay covers
- Nondisclosure and Privacy Issues: Analysis of GM's failure to disclose mechanical problems with ignition systems and settlement of cases outside public view
- Accountability Failures: Examination of how GM ignored victims' families and failed to manage known risks despite awareness of defects
- Organizational Challenges for Mary Barra: Discussion of cultural transformation needed and financial recovery from compensation payments exceeding $2 billion
Preview
Ethics
Student’s Name
Institution
Ethical and Accountability issues
Nondisclosure is one of the ethical issues that GM motors can be accused of. After engineers within the company discovered mechanical problems with the ignition system, the company was still quiet. Families of victims who had suffered in accidents by using Chevrolet Cobalts were not given the truth about what had led to their relatives' deaths.GM can have hidden important information when it was supposed to disclose it to its customers. Privacy practice and technology are the other ethical issues that GM motors can claim (The New York Times, 2014). It is known that a company has private practices, but they should be in line with an organization's values. However, for GM, the company settled some cases outside the courtroom to escape the public's eye. Such a kind of hidden practice can be said to be unethical as the company did not want to be known for its undertakings.
Lack of accountability towards the customers or other stakeholders is an issue that was seen in the scenario by GM motors. Families of relatives who had perished in accidents involving cars belonging to GM Company complained of being ignored. Leslie Dueno is one of the parents who lost a son and complained of the company not taking her calls. Such a scenario indicates a lack of accountability from the company, yet it understood what the families of the victims wanted (Rezaee, 2017). Another issue of accountability from the GM scenario is on managing risks.