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Cautionary tale: Ignorance is Costly In 2014, an automobile company, General Motors, had to pay over $35 million in fines to the federal government as a consequence of failing to report defects that were potentially deadly in some of their automobiles. The vehicles had faulty ignition switches, and it affected the deployment of the airbags especially when the ignition is bumped out of position. For years, the company's executives, engineers, and investigators were aware of the defective cars, but they chose to ignore. On top of the fines, the company had to recall over 2.6 million defective vehicles which further adversely affected the company financially and tainted its name and brand. The ignorance of the company did not only affect the business, but it also affected the public. Some of the faulty vehicles were involved in accidents which led to loss of lives. In North America, 42 deaths and 13 deaths have been directly linked to the defects. Despite several complaints to the company over the years and earlier evidence, the GM did not take any action. In fact, the company told its employees not to use words like “problem," “defect” and “dangerous” when describing any concern that rose with the company products. Podcast script In the incident above, the government authorities pointed out that there was a problem with the company’s values since even the executives ignored the problem instead of taking action as the top management. This is true but it can be seen clearly that it was the ignorance of the company’s management that led to the misfortunes. Company culture and values play an important role in reducing cases of misconducts and compromise
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