The Third Space: Vodafone’s Code of Ethics

The Third Space: Vodafone’s Code of Ethics

The Third Space: Vodafone’s Code of Ethics

The Third Space: Vodafone’s Code of Ethics

Vodafone’s Code of Ethics

Abdeslam Badre

Introduction

Vodafone Group Plc is the world's leading mobile telecommunications company, with a significant presence in Europe, the Middle East, Africa, Asia Pacific and the United States through the Company's subsidiary undertakings, joint ventures, associated undertakings and investments.

The Group's mobile subsidiaries operate under the brand name 'Vodafone'. In the United States the Group's associated undertaking operates as Verizon Wireless. During the last two financial years, the Group has also entered into arrangements with network operators in countries where the Group does not hold an equity stake. Under the terms of these Partner Network Agreements, the Group and its partner networks co-operate in the development and marketing of global services.

The Company had a total market capitalisation of approximately £80 billion at 15 November 2005.

Global Footprint

The Group has ownership interests in 27 countries across 5 continents. In addition, the Group has Partner Networks in a further 33 countries.

31 December 2006, the Group had 198.6 million proportionate customers in its subsidiaries, joint ventures, affiliates and investments, 600 million venture customers.

Code of Ethics

4. Disclosure
The Company strives to ensure that the contents of and the disclosures in the reports and documents that the Company files with the Securities and Exchange Commission (the "SEC") and other public communications shall be full, fair, accurate, timely and understandable in accordance with applicable disclosure standards, including standards of materiality, where appropriate.

5. Compliance
It is the Company's policy to comply with all applicable governmental laws, rules and regulations. It is the personal responsibility of each Relevant Officer to, and each Relevant Officer must, adhere to the standards and restrictions imposed by those laws, rules and regulations, including those relating to accounting and auditing matters.

6. Reporting and Accountability
The Audit Committee of the Board of Vodafone Group Plc is responsible for applying this Code to specific situations in which questions are presented to it and has the authority to interpret this Code in any particular situation. Any Relevant Officer who becomes aware of any existing or potential breach of this Code is required to notify the Group General Counsel and Company Secretary promptly. Failure to do so is itself a breach of this Code. 

Social responsibilities

v    Socio-economic Impact

£11.7 billion cash value added in 2005/06

The rapid spread of mobile technology has brought significant social and economic benefits. The challenge is to ensure that the benefits are spread as widely as possible while minimising negative impacts.

Vodafone’s social impacts

Published study on potential of mobile to improve healthcare

We published a study in 2006 that shows how mobiles can help patients to keep appointments, monitor their chronic conditions and seek advice confidentially, as well as increasing adherence to treatment programmes. These benefits are available to big and small businesses alike, including those in the developing world.

Conducted research in developed countries

We commissioned a programme of research, initially focusing on the impact of mobile phones in Africa. The findings from this research help to inform policies on mobile telecommunications and international programmes aimed at increasing access to information and communications technology (ICT) and bridging the digital divide.

In addition to the indirect economic value of our mobile services, our business makes a direct contribution to the global economy through the wealth we generate and the jobs we sustain directly and among our suppliers.

Vodafone’s direct economic impacts

 Accessibility

·                9% of the EU adult population (about 40 million people) is excluded from using mobile phones. This increases significantly with age, with conservative estimates suggesting that 20% of over 50s are excluded. We regard addressing this as both a social and commercial challenge.

Mobile phones have already had a positive impact on millions of people and have the potential to benefit many more.

Social Products and Enterprise Team in 2004 to focus on products with high positive social impact, including those that reduce exclusion from mobile usage. Vodafone is looking for ways to make phones more accessible for People who are elderly, blind, deaf or disabled.

Vodafone is working with UK company, Scientific Generics, to identify key features that will significantly reduce the level of exclusion from mobile communications.

Environment

·                Decreased carbon dioxide emissions per unit of data transmitted by 10% in 2005/06

·                New Group target set to reduce carbon dioxide emissions per unit of data transmitted by 40% by 2011

·                Total energy use increased by 23% this year

·                Energy sourced from renewables increased by 22% in 2005/06

·                Working with suppliers to make network equipment more energy efficient

·                Onsite renewable energy technologies trialled

·                97% of network equipment waste reused or recycled in 2005/06

·                Initiatives launched to raise awareness and encourage handset recycling

·                Recycling programmes established at all local operating companies

·                1.37 million mobile phones collected for recycling in 2005/06

We recognise that our global energy use is increasing and predict that it will continue to do so. Trying to implement a strategy to limit its impact on global warming by investigating how to reduce its carbon dioxide emissions by increasing energy efficiency, and by using more renewable energy sources. 

Human Rights

Vodafone's commitment to human rights is embodied in its  Business Principles:

• respect and comply with all human rights legislation, regulations and standards in the countries where we operate.
•  welcome the development of the UN Norms on the Responsibilities of Trans-national Corporations and Other Business Enterprises with Regard to Human Rights to help business build its understanding of human rights and explore the ways it can contribute.

Employees

• Vodafone is committed to protecting and enhancing the human rights of its employees.
• Its Group employment policies are consistent with the UN Universal Declaration of Human Rights and the International Labour Organization's Core Conventions.

It employs approximately 55,000 people worldwide. Its goal is to recruit and retain the most talented, motivated people by providing a good working environment, treating people with respect, and offering attractive incentives and development opportunities.

Health & Safety

The health and safety of our employees is a priority. Our health and safety policy ensures consistently high standards are set throughout the company to make sure our employees can do their work safely. It covers health and safety management, radio frequency fields and health and driving safety.

·                Developed a strategy to focus on employee wellbeing at all local operating companies

·                Introduced a Performance Dialogue for every employee to receive feedback on their performance from their manager

·                Increased percentage of women in senior management (bands A-E) from 10% to 17% in 2005/06

·                Introduced two new global health and safety standards

·                Reduced work-related lost-time accidents by over 20% from 2004/05

·                Vodafone does not tolerate child labor, forced or compulsory labor.

Suppliers
Vodafone's Code of Ethical Purchasing aims to ensure that its suppliers share its values and uphold standards on human rights.

Content
Access to communications technology can support greater freedom of expression. However, new technology brings new challenges and we will balance the right to freedom of expression with the protection of vulnerable groups, such as children.

Driving safety in Spain
Vodafone Spain has dramatically reduced driving accidents among its employees through a sustained driving safety campaign over the last five years. The number of vehicle accidents resulting in lost time has fallen by more than 80% since 2003 (and by 50% since 2004). through running a training course: In 2005/06, 234 employees who work on the network took a refresher course in off-road driving.

Wellbeing programme in Ireland
In March 2006, Vodafone Ireland launched a wellbeing programme designed ‘to make people feel great at work’. The programme provides free online health checks and encourages employees to lead a healthier lifestyle. Health and fitness fairs provide information, products and services to help people understand and take steps to improve their health.

Equal Opportunities & Diversity

We believe that diversity is an asset to our business. With operations worldwide, Vodafone is not only multinational but multicultural. We are building a culture that respects the value of differences among us and encourages individuals to contribute their best within an environment that is inclusive, open, flexible and fair. We will not tolerate discrimination or unfair treatment on any grounds.

Vodafone’s Foundations

·                Begun a major review of the Group Foundation’s donations strategy

·                Donated £38.1 million to charitable causes worldwide in 2005/06

·                New foundations in Albania and the Czech Republic

·                It invests in the communities where it operates through donations of cash, equipment, products and services.

·                Employees also give their time as volunteers to support good causes.

·                It is also looking at ways its technology can assist emergency response to natural and manmade disasters.

it aims to focus our contributions on areas directly related to the impacts of our business on society. Our Social Investment Policy identifies the following priorities:

·                Reaching the excluded with the benefits of mobile technology

·                Promoting sustainable business practice and environmental protection

·                Supporting the personal involvement of our employees in their local communities.

We aim for our grants to have the greatest possible impact. We measure our total social investment by combining the value of cash donations and other contributions.

 

References: www.vodafone.com

A post structuralist Reading of Friendship in one of The Simpson's Episode

By Abdeslam Badre

I – Introduction                                      

‘To have a friend you must be one’

 

This paper attempts to construct a critical reading on the issue of friendship, being the prevalent theme in The Simpsons episode we watched in class. Despite its being one of the prerequisites of the individual’s social life, the meaning of ‘friendship’ and the value of a ‘friend’ may differ from one individual to another, from one life-stage to another, and from one community to another; further, they may even differ between males and females. On the this ground, my reading of friendship, as tackled in the episode, will be built in terms of binary oppositions between sexes and generations. Put simply, being the catalyst of the theme in this episode, Liza’s understanding of friendship will be opposed to both her brother, Bart, as a representative of the opposite sex, and her mother, Mrs. Marge, as being the emblem of the older/adult generation. For so doing, I will approach these elements from post-structuralist perspective to show that the notion of friendship is a constructed concept whose meaning is elusive, always absent/present: something that one can not fix down, since its meaning differs among individuals, sex, groups, and generations.

 

 

II – Description of the scene

 

In this episode, Liza Simpson is seeking friends. Right from the beginning, we see her craving to have some schoolmates signed her yearbook: she joined more than one group to have her desire satisfied, but it seems that no one recognizes her presence, and her effort to have a memorable word from a friend goes in vain. It is at this point that the feeling of loneliness infiltrates her soul and keeps growing to the existent of a feeling of marginalization, then a rejection by her peers. After leaving the Springfield house for the summer vacation, that feeling of loneliness is still dwelling in her heart. Boldly enough, Liza does not seem to give up easily, for she decides to confront that emptiness by a pertinent quest of new friends in the beach-house area where she is to spend her holidays. However, until now, all her attempts give no fruitful results, a fact which induces a number of questions in her mind the main of which is what might be the reason behind her being rejected by her peers. And after seeking her mother’s advice, she is told that she’d better be what she is not in order to have what she seeks. Thus, she decides to go for her brother’s persona, and then we hear her saying “bye, bye Liza Simpson.” Right after changing her personality, she finds a three-peer group (two boys and one girl) which has been indifferent to her presence. So, she decides to take more risk in order to catch their attention: she, for instance, has accepted to go skating with them though she is not good at skating. As a rewarded, they finally grant her a little space within their circle; but Liza decides to gain more space within the group by inviting them to her house, suggesting the idea of a beach party, and showing them all her skills. By so doing, Liza wins her friends’ confidence and more importantly, she gains their sympathy, which is incarnated in the fact that she receives a little gift (bracelet) from one of her new friends. However, things do not always go as we wish them. Driven by jealousy and envy, her brother, Bart, is determined to put an end to her relation with the group of friends; accordingly, he reveals to them that Liza is not actually what she appears to be but simply a ‘teacher-pet,” who is incarnating her brother’s actual personality in order to impress them, a fact which upsets the beach kids. Liza again ends up lonely, with no friends. But this time she is tired of what she is and what she has pretended to be, for, as she said: ‘in me it does not work. In someone else it does not work.” Now, she spends most of her time with her brother with whom she is at the defensive. Noticeably, her antagonistic contact with her brother underlines another dimension of juxtaposition: though she goes to some entertainment parks with him, she does not enjoy her time as she would have done if she had been with friends. By the end, the three friends are going to visit Liza and admit to her that they consider her as a friend, regardless of what or who she is as long as she a Friend. They also signed her yearbook, which was a nice and rewarding surprise for Liza.

 

III - A post-stucturalist analysis

 

The above mentioned scene is loaded with media artifacts, revolving around the theme of friendship. Starting from the school end-year party, the signing of the year-book, beach-kids, the bracelet Liza received from her friends, to the signed book she got by the end of the episode. All these sings, both denotative & connotative- refer to the signified ‘friends’/friendship.’ At first, the reader/viewer perceives the notion of friendship though Liza’s eyes: her spontaneous behaviors with the schoolmates inform us that friendship is a sublime socialization process that requires no specific socio-economic status, social-class belonging, or typical personality traits. All what one needs to do/have so as to have friends or be accepted among them is to be a friend. Strikingly, the fact that she did not have her book signed by her peers besides her being neglected by them reveals that Liza’s perception of the notion is not accurate or not agreed-upon by her community. Again it is through Liza’s reflection that we reach this reality which sets a question mark against the actual meaning of friendship.

 

Upon her attempt to modify her understanding of friendship, Liza learnt from her Mum that one should not always be what one is, if willing to have friends. Hence, Mrs. Marge tells the reader/viewer that Liza’s understanding of friendship is rather instinctive, naïve, and innocent, for it lacks the social dimension – the agreed upon codes. This idea is ascertained by Lisa’s actual decision to change her personality and incorporate her brother’s. Indeed, this decision marked a bold line between Liza’s previous and present understanding of friendship. Further, it marks Lisa’s departure from the stage of innocence to the phase of experience, where every human interaction is – or should be- mingled with social and cultural norms in order to be recognized and approved by the group.

 

After going for her brother’s persona, Liza managed to make friends and apparently appeared to grasp the social meaning of friendship; and so does the viewer/reader. However, Bart unveiling of the real Liza to the beach-kids, and the disapproved reaction of the latter towards her have again destabilized both Liza and the viewer’s understanding of the exact meaning of friendship. This is so because Bart added another dimension to the concept. When he said, for instance, that the beach-kids were supposed to be his friends, simply because they appreciated his personality, acted out through Lisa, he was lucidly claiming that friendship is void of any social norms: for him friendship is gained on the basis of the individual’s personal skills and performances within the group. Unlike his mother who defined friendship from a socio-cultural perspective, Bart understood it from an individualistic stand. And in the realm of both extremes, Liza, the meaning of friendship along with the reader/viewer are lost. We understand this from her saying: ‘In me it does not work. In someone else it does not work,”

 

The final decision of the beach-kids to visit Liza and admit that they accepted her no matter who she was as long as she was a FRIEND has an outstanding significance. The importance of the act lies not only on its positive effect on Liza, but it also caters for an alternative definition of friendship that the reader/viewer has to adapt, namely, being as it is, friendship should be based on what friends are able to do to save their friendship and not on how they do it.

 

To rap it up, the three or four definitions of friendship that we got from this episode reveal the arbitrariness of the concept. From a post-structuralist point of view, each of the episode’s characters holds a different signified for the same signifier: each of them defines friendship differently. Liza’s quest of friends, in this respect, represents an attempt to pin down a fixed meaning of the concept; but at each time she believed to have it fixed, ‘meaning’ keeps escaping grasp. Even after she gained her friends’ approval, by the end of the film, she had to leave them and go back home; and thus, meaning again proved to be slippery. This image epitomizes the post-structural idea of the absent/present meaning where the signifier is void of a particular signified.

 

IV – conclusion

 

True enough, Liza has learnt new tricks on how to make new friends. Yet, it is not sure whether what she learnt will help her gain new friends because it all depends again on how friendship will be defined by the people she might meet, on the special/time settings, and on the purpose of having friends. With these elements in mind, friendship – the signified- will keep incarnating different meaning which may not correspond to the signifier.

 

New Criticism and "Meaning"

By Abdeslam Badre

 

"What is new criticism and the various assumptions formulated by the new critics, and the limitations together with the drawbacks as well as the strengths of this  mode of criticism?"

 

 

New criticism is a literary approach or a mode of reflection in literary works which has emanated from and chiefly dominated the American literary criticism, with the publication of New Criticism by John Crowe Ransom. Before its emergence, critics were concerned in their analysis of texts with the historical context and the author’s biographies in an attempt to uncover the meaning of the text. Accordingly, they depended on an extrinsic analysis, focussing mainly on the elements outside the text for interpretation.

 

However, this common mode of analysis was rejected by the new critics. For the latter , the poem, which is synonymous to any literary work be it writing or painting, is a self-enclosed and a concrete entity. It has an objective existence, and can therefore only be objectively evaluated: with no feeling as was the case with the romantics, or moral values as believed the new humanists, or impression in the work’s beauty as did the impressionists. Thus the new critics apply an intrinsic analysis of the text, focussing on the “words on the page”, not on any thing outside it. Thy overlooked the author’s historical background along with influence of his life on his work of art.

 

American new criticism has derived some of its principles from some British critics and writers  who helped lay the foundation of this form of criticism. The idea that criticism should be directed to the poem and not the poet was borrowed from T. S. Eliot. In many of his critical essays, he insisted that a poet does infuse the poem with his or her personality &emotions, but uses language to incorporate within the text his/her experiences that are similar to human beings’. That is, the poet does not reflect his/her personal feelings & experiences, but simply mirrors experiences which are basically shared by everybody. I. A. Richard has also contributed to this movement through his books, such as Literary Criticism & Science and Poetry.

 

Clean Brooks, Robert Warren , and W. K. Wimsatt are among the prominent  figures who adopted new criticism as a mode of textual analysis. Despite some individual differences concerning the various elements that constitute a poem, they shared a number of similarities. First, they asserted that a poem has ontological status: possessing its own being. For them a poem should be regarded as independent and self-sufficient body. Second, they considered the poem as an artifact and autonomous unit, with its own structure. Third, they believed that the meaning of a given text must not be equated with the authors intentions. Indeed, they warn against critical modes which localize the text meaning in the private experience  or intention of its author. The new critic referred to this tendency as the “intentional fallacy”, pointing out that  if reliance on the author’s intentions misleads the critic towards this fallacy. Likewise,  they warned against the “affective fallacy” which stations the reader or the author’s emotional response to the center for the  interpretation of the text. The new critics held that the poem is neither the author’s nor the reader’s own: once it is published, it becomes public and cut off the emotions of its creator. Forth, they adopted the strategy of closure, that is a text is a self-enclosed entity, sealed of the outside world; accordingly, a critic should interact  with it through a close reading: stick to the text and outlook what is outside it to produce meaning. Fifth, one important point for the N. Critics is that literature is verbal: form/structure and content/meaning go together and constitute a verbal organization of devices. They believed that a poem cannot be understood through paraphrasing. This error, they called, “ heresy of paraphrase” . that is no simple paraphrasing of the poem can lead to its actual meaning, though they did not deny that the paraphrasing of a poem may help for only an initial understanding. Finally, the new critics disregard the distinction between literary genres, for what is essential for them in the text is not characters or plot, but the paradoxes, ironies, and images.

 

Cleanth Brooks and Robert Warren re-commanded a method of analysis to approach a text from new criticism perspective. A critic should begin with a full and innocent immersion in the poem then raise inductive questions that would lead the critic to examine the materials within the text. Brooks focussed on the point of innocence  approach of the text, meaning to disregard any outside element that may affect the reader’s judgement.

 

            However, new criticism, like any critical mode of reflection, has its areas of strengths as well as drawbacks. The fact that new criticism made a science of literary criticism by following  objective analysis and evaluation is one of the advantages of this mode, adding to that the professional discipline it provided. Also, it developed  closes reading which is an important principle for analyzing poetry. This strategy leads to a complete criticism of the text without leaving any unasked question or gaps within it. However, the rejection of the historical context together with notion of intertextuality, reception, and gender are the inefficiencies of the new critics. They also give importance to the text and literature, but relegate the role of the author and literary criticism, which creates a sort of passive reader.

 

            To put it in nutshell, new criticism is a theory broke with the previous theories that followed traditional ways of interpretation, depending mainly on an extrinsic strategy. It has also rejected the idea that great literature is the product of the great man, since ,for them , the author has no authority over the text. The attempt to find the author within the text or the work of art through the author can simply mislead toward either the intentional or the affective fallacies. Left to be said, that new criticism, unlike many of the critical approaches, did not set up any kind of theory under which their study might be carried out.