Project Management Lessons from the Volkswagen Emissions Scandal
This paper analyzes the 2015 Volkswagen emissions scandal through the lens of project management, arguing that stronger internal controls, more transparent stakeholder communication, and ethical leadership could have prevented the crisis. Drawing on Larson and Gray's project management framework, the paper examines how VW's culture of arrogance enabled deception at multiple organizational levels. It addresses three core areas—organizational culture, stakeholder expectation management, and leadership decision-making—and concludes with concrete recommendations to VW's CEO, including revising the company's code of ethics, reforming stakeholder communication policies, and establishing a dedicated compliance team.
- Introduction: VW emissions scandal overview and paper scope
- Starting with Culture: How organizational culture enabled VW's scandal
- Managing Stakeholder Expectations: VW's failure to communicate transparently with regulators
- Leadership and Internal Controls: Decision-making failures and lack of compliance oversight
- Recommendations to the CEO: Proposed ethics, communication, and compliance reforms
- Conclusion: Summary of changes needed to prevent future crises
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What makes this paper effective
- The paper consistently anchors its arguments in a specific, well-known real-world case, making abstract project management principles concrete and immediately relatable.
- Each section applies a distinct project management lens (culture, stakeholder management, leadership) to the same event, creating a coherent analytical structure rather than a loosely connected list of observations.
- The author uses cause-and-effect reasoning throughout — explaining not just what went wrong, but precisely how better project management practices would have altered the outcome.
Key academic technique demonstrated
The paper models applied theory integration: it introduces a principle from the course textbook (Larson & Gray, 2017), connects it to a specific documented failure at Volkswagen, and then proposes a corrective action. This pattern — theory → evidence → recommendation — repeats across sections and gives the argument both scholarly grounding and practical relevance.
Structure breakdown
The paper opens with context-setting on the VW scandal, then moves through three analytical sections (culture, stakeholder expectations, leadership), each building on the previous. It closes with a recommendations section addressed directly to the CEO, which synthesizes the prior analysis into actionable steps. This problem-analysis-solution arc is appropriate for a business or management course paper at the undergraduate level.
Introduction
In 2015, Volkswagen was caught cheating on emissions tests, sparking a worldwide scandal. The company had installed software on its diesel cars that altered engine performance during emissions testing, making the vehicles appear far more environmentally friendly than they actually were. In the wake of the scandal, Volkswagen faced enormous fines and intense public scrutiny. So what could the company have done to prevent this crisis?
A good project manager at Volkswagen (VW) might have changed the outcome of the crisis had certain internal and external changes been made. Because every product begins as a project, it stands to reason that every crisis might have had a different outcome with the right project management in place. This paper describes those changes, particularly as they relate to leadership, communications, and stakeholder expectations. It concludes with recommendations to the CEO about what should be changed, added, reworked, and created to prevent this type of crisis from happening again.
Starting with Culture
It all starts with culture. As Larson and Gray (2017) point out, it is the organizational culture that defines the context in which project management is applied; yet project managers can also have a significant impact on culture — indeed, they must: "Project managers must shape a project culture that stimulates teamwork and high levels of personal motivation as well as a capacity to quickly identify and resolve problems that threaten project work" (p. 17). The culture of arrogance at Volkswagen was a major contributing factor to the emissions scandal that erupted in 2015 (Levin, 2015). As VW Group CEO Martin Winterkorn admitted in a public apology, the company had broken the trust of its customers and the public and needed to make a "fresh start" (McLeod, 2015).
In order to address this cultural problem, project management needs to take a hard look at the organization's corporate culture and make necessary changes. First and foremost, the company must instill a greater sense of accountability among its employees. One of the most important roles of a project manager is to ensure that all workers are held accountable for their actions. This can be a challenge, as workers may be reluctant to take responsibility for mistakes or resistant to oversight. However, there are concrete steps a project manager can take to instill accountability. It is important to set clear expectations and provide detailed instructions for each task — this helps workers understand what is expected of them and minimizes the chance for confusion or misunderstanding. It is also essential to track each worker's progress and provide regular feedback, giving workers a sense of ownership over their work. The project manager should also enforce strict deadlines and follow up with consequences when those deadlines are not met. This is what it means to prioritize, and it helps workers understand that their performance has real implications for the success of the project (Larson & Gray, 2017). By taking these steps, a project manager can instill accountability among workers and ensure that the project is completed successfully.
Furthermore, the project manager at VW must create a more open and transparent work environment where new ideas are encouraged and dissenting voices are heard. A transparent environment that encourages new ideas is essential for any organization hoping to foster innovation and creativity. The project manager should be clear and concise in all communications with team members (Larson & Gray, 2017), ensuring that everyone is on the same page and reducing the chances of miscommunication. Additionally, the project manager should encourage team members to share their ideas openly and freely, without fear of ridicule or blowback. It is only through open debate and dissent that truly innovative solutions can be found. VW could have addressed many of its problems by thinking innovatively rather than attempting to deceive regulators. The project manager should also provide regular feedback — both positive and constructive — to workers and higher-ups alike, so that everyone remains informed. By creating an environment where team members feel comfortable sharing their ideas, the project manager will help foster a more creative and innovative workplace. Taking these initial steps to change workplace culture is how VW could have maintained the trust of its customers and its standing as a leading automaker.
Managing Stakeholder Expectations
All stakeholders have a right to know how a project is progressing. Volkswagen's emissions scandal resulted from a number of factors, including a failure to communicate properly with stakeholders and a lack of transparency. VW had early discussions with the California Air Resources Board (CARB) but was not transparent about the issues CARB was raising; VW even went so far as to blame CARB's testing equipment (Resnick, 2015). The reality, of course, was that VW's vehicles were failing the tests because they were defective. It was then that the EPA stepped in and threatened not to certify VW's cars (Resnick, 2015). In attempting to mislead regulators, VW was also attempting to deceive its own stakeholders. The company should have been upfront with all parties as soon as it became evident that it was failing the tests. Instead, it chose to blame the messenger.
One way the project manager could have better managed stakeholder expectations is by being more upfront about the risks and potential problems with the project from the outset. All too often, stakeholders have unrealistic expectations about what a project can achieve and how long it will take, because certain leaders play into those expectations by over-hyping or overselling a project. This can lead to frustration and disappointment when reality does not match those expectations. At VW, everyone was expecting the impossible from its diesel cars, and the emissions tests revealed that VW had not delivered. The project manager should have been open about this with stakeholders. Instead, concerns about what such information would do to the company's stock price and brand value prevailed — and when the truth did come out, the stock was hit hard regardless, losing 30% of its value (Hotten, 2015). While it may not always be possible to avoid problems altogether, being upfront about the risks involved allows the project manager to help ensure that stakeholders are not unduly disappointed when things go wrong, and can reduce the risk of a dramatic selloff in the company's shares.
The project manager should have kept stakeholders informed of the project's progress on a regular basis, so they would be aware of any potential issues as they arose. By being more communicative and transparent, the project manager could have helped to avoid the crisis that ultimately led to Volkswagen's emissions scandal. Managing expectations and keeping stakeholders informed is a core and ongoing responsibility of any project manager (Larson & Gray, 2017).
Conclusion
With these recommendations in place — a reformed workplace culture, a strengthened code of ethics, revised stakeholder communication procedures, and a new compliance team — VW's scandal could have been prevented with the right project management. The lessons drawn from this case are not unique to Volkswagen; they apply to any organization in which cultural norms, leadership decisions, and communication failures can combine to allow ethical breaches to go unchecked. Strong project management, rooted in accountability, transparency, and disciplined oversight, is the most reliable safeguard against such outcomes.
References
Gitlin, J. (2015). VW was warned about cheating emissions in 2007. Retrieved from
Hotten, R. (2015). Volkswagen: The scandal explained. Retrieved from https://www.bbc.com/news/business-34324772
Larson, E., & Gray, C. (2017). Project management: The managerial process (7th ed.). McGraw Hill.
Levin, D. (2015). Volkswagen's new CEO must tackle the 'culture of arrogance.' Retrieved from https://fortune.com/2015/09/27/volkswagen-culture-scandal/
McLeod, L. (2015). Driving force behind Volkswagen's debacle. Retrieved from
Resnick, J. (2015). Volkswagen's dirty mission: Where's the beginning and where's the end? Retrieved from https://arstechnica.com/cars/2015/09/vws-dirty-mission-wheres-the-beginning-and-wheres-the-end/
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