business ethics in vodafone

1BUSINESS ETHICS IN VODAFONE

BUSINESS ETHICS IN VODAFONE

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Table of ContentsAnswer to the question number – 1.1..................................3Answer to the question number – 1.2..................................4

Answer to the question number – 1.3..................................5Answer to the question number – 2.1..................................6

Answer to the question number – 2.2..................................7Answer to the question number – 3.1..................................8

Answer to the question number – 3.2..................................9Answer to the question number – 4.1.................................10

Answer to the question number – 4.2.................................12Answer to the question number – 4.3.................................13

References..........................................................15


1) Explain the background and development of theoretical ethical approaches in business.

Answer to the question number – 1.1

There are multiple approaches of ethics but two of the broad

categories of these were principle-based approaches. This

approach is also based on two different approaches that is

Kantianism and utilitarianism. Kantianism is ethical code

developed by a German philosopher Immanual Kant. This approach is

also known as 'deontological' or duty-based.

Deontology comes from Greek word deno & logos which means duty &

science respectively. This terminology mainly focuses on moral


rules & duties. This theory suggests that in order to be moral we

need to careful of the moral issues & need to make adjustments

among theme to achieve a perfect balance. Duties done with

obedience are moral except that everything is immoral. According

to deontology our duties, rules and obligation must be in

accordance to God wishes(Bowie, 1999).

On the other hand Utilitarianism is a teleological theory

developed by two British philosophers Jeremy Bentham & John

Stuart Mill. It is also known as consequentialist theory of

ethics. This theory states that the moral consequences of any

task lies in the result of that work. If the result is good then

the task is also good. According to this theory, if killing

someone leads to good results, it is good to kill someone. This

theory depends on the fact that for something to be right or

wrong the result should be evaluated properly(Duska, 2000).

2) Compare and contrast absolute and relative ethics in relation to Vodafone



Absolute ethics states that there is only one right option for

any decision & that there is a single code of conduct for all.

Those who are abiding by these rules & regulations are the only

one who is maintains ethics in their life. It also emphasize on

popular belief for deciding what is good & bad. It says that in

common what the most of the people are maintaing is good & any

exception to this is evil.

In the relative ethics nothing has been fixed as being good or

bad. Relative ethics states that moral ideas and belief changes

with people. What is ethical to someone may not be accepted as

ethical to others so there should not any single code of conduct.

The difference between absolute & relative ethics can be

explained with two very easy real time examples.

The first example happened in India where beef is not widely

accepted as a “Hindu” majority society. So when McDonalds first

came to do business it avoided all the item that comes with beef


in India. According to the absolute ethics this principle of

avoidance beef should be practiced all over the world as it is

accepted to a large group of people but in reality the scenario

is not like that. But with the help of relative ethics this issue

can be explained very easily(Hanson, 2015).

The other incident happened in china when wall-mart starts its

operation there. Chinese people like to have a closer look of the

item they are buying whether it is raw goods or not so in china

wall-mart used to kept the chicken without any package & Chinese

people used to handle them open handed to see & if they like it

then they made a purchase. It is a widely practice in china but

seems to be a very unhealthy means all around the world. So all

this actions can only be justified by relative theory.

3) Explain the ethical issues which can affect the operational activities of a company such as Vodafone.



Companies like Vodafone are more vulnerable to ethical issues as

telecommunication sector is a service sector & in service sector

the quality of the service provided is the key to customer

satisfaction but the most crucial part of the customer

satisfaction is to provide constant quality service. Any small

deviation can be proven a big mistake.

Unsolicited (un-requested) bulk emails or SMS messages sent to

the subscriber by the telecommunication company is a key issue in

ethics in telecommunication sector. Network provider often makes

people aware of their several packages & offers to their

subscriber. But the bigger dilemma is that not everyone is in

need of all these offers & massive unsolicited (un-requested)

bulk emails or SMS inundates their inbox resulting in lots of

important SMS. Even though company profits from these promotion

but customer loyalty drops significantly as such that many were

forced to unsubscribe for the network provider. Also that

unsubscriber speaks ill of that company creating bad impression

for the company. This is how it becomes a very important ethical

issue. Many of the telecom companies like Vodafone are now


vulnerable to this ethical issue whether to send this type of

unsolicited (un-requested) bulk emails or SMS or not.

The other related ethical issue with the telecom company is how

lower the call rate should be. This issue has been a practical

issue in Bangladesh. At the time when the telecom industry was

improving most of the company offers call between the same

network free of cost which urges the adults to talk to their

loved ones for night long & to lose their way at the day time.

Social life has come hampered. So talks were initiated about how

lower the rate could be within a network. Even though the adults

were very happy with the offer, their parents don’t seemed to

happy with this type of offer so eventually the company lost the

market for elderly people.

1) Explain how business objectives of Vodafone are affected by ethical considerations(MacDonald, 2015)



Vodafone has always been followed by the ethical ways to

implement its business level strategy. In the case it is depicted

that among the six global goals One is 'to be a responsible

business' which includes the issues of ethics. From the very

starting Vodafone has been driven by the ethical issues. Vodafone

believes that maintain ethics in business can be costly in term

of profit but at the same time profit can be regained through

customer loyalty as the company become mature. In the case two of

the responses of Vodafone related to the ethical issues are

discussed. Vodafone’s strong position against unsolicited (un-

requested) bulk emails or SMS is a strong indicator of its

ethical approach. Here Vodafone shows exactly that particular

approach that was explained before. Vodafone emphasizes on

customer loyalty rather than short term profit. A company that

want to do business for long must have this type of approach

because long term profit through customer loyalty will obviously

outweigh short term profit that comes at a cost of customer

loyalty .


Vodafone’s reaction to the adult content is another clear

approach of the company to the ethical issue. These issues shows

that Vodafone really care about the well-being of its customer as

Vodafone was the first to introduce this concept of protection

from adult content. This shows how these ethical issues are

shaping the objectives of the company. While others are making

profit from increased spending on adult content by the subscriber

Vodafone tends to save it for the long term benefits creating

customer loyalty in short term(Duska, 2000).

2) Evaluate the implications to Vodafone and its stakeholders to operate ethically.


Vodafone & its stakeholder seems to be benefited in the long run

as customer satisfaction is the key to success when company wish

to continue for a long term business. Earlier in the case

investigation by Vodafone depicts that even though company losses

profit in the short term but by building strong customer loyalty

in can gain more in the long run & it is safer to ensure long


term sustainable profitability rather than to short term

profitability which comes at a cost of customer loyalty. The

implication of ethics in business is not that simple as it seems

to be. All the stakeholder has to bear the impact of company

doing ethically or unethically. For the stakeholder the case for

customer can be considered as customer is the most important

stakeholder of a company(Wieland, 2001). Two of the case relating

to ethical behavior of Vodafone has been mentioned in this case.

While considering the impact of these two behaviors it is clear

that for all two instances customer group is the one who win in

both side. The other most important stakeholder of a company is

its shareholder. This time the implication is bit different &

confusing. The shareholder group can found Vodafone losing profit

at the very first sight as they outlook the overall impact of

maintaining ethics in business decision but after they go deep

into the strategic point of the decision soon they will found

them to be in a right direction. Not only that action taken by

pressure group & government decisions should also be reflected in

the decision making of a company like Vodafone. Pressure group is

another challenge for Vodafone. Almost in all country pressure


group creates resistant on operation of multinational companies

regarding their ethical issue. Extreme violations of this rules

can ruined the goodwill as well as resulted in penalties by the

court(Crisp and Cowton, 1998).

1) Assess the role of Vodafone acting as a moral agent in its mining projects.


A moral agent is one it can be human or it can an institution

that has the sense to differentiate right or wrong. Most easily a

moral agent can take the decision about what is right or what is

wrong. A moral agent a evaluate its activity on ethical ground &

make the choice whether he did a right or wrong task. For

multinational giants to be a moral agent is very important as the


interest of lots of stakeholder is linked with operation of

company. In the mentioned case various aspects of ethical

behavior of Vodafone has been described like the issue of adult

content in the internet where the role played by Vodafone really

worth of acclamation(Vogel, 1991). Here in this situation Vodafone

really emerges it as responsible nationals of the country

focusing on the benefit of the citizen. The case of unwanted SMS

promoting its own offer to the subscriber is another instance

where Vodafone showed how much they really care about the ethical

behavior. In both the case one this was in common that is

Vodafone is sacrificing profit to maintain ethical behavior in

the society. & that’s why it has been stated as the most

ethically motivated company in UK. For the practice in the

workplace Vodafone has always been in the top. Vodafone is among

those company that tops in the employee job satisfaction ranking

as well as it offers one of the best work-life balance in the

industry. Good corporate practice is at the very core of the

Vodafone. As discussed earlier these are key point when

considering ethical behavior within the company. So considering

all these issues Vodafone can be marked as a company that is


ensuring ethical behavior both inside & outside the company(Shaw,

2003).

2) Analyze the development of mechanisms for achieving employee

involvement and empowerment, how well does Vodafone operate

ethically?


Employee involvement is a relatively new concept even though of

immense importance for organizational development. This concept

recommends the involvement of employee in the organizational

decision making. It is not like that taking the choice of all the

employee but to offer the opportunity to the respective employee

from the respective department to give their opinion in the

decision making. This helps the company in the way that worker

from the root level who are directly involve in the process can

identify the main problem & can make constructive recommendation.

Employee empowerment is a term that explains the instance where

employee has been given with decision making power. Similar to

that of employee involvement it is also a new concept. The


application for this concept much more critical than that of

employee involvement as this requires the delivery of decision

making power to other which is a key critical issue in

organization.

Vodafone as a global player offers multiple opportunities to its

employee to ensure employee involvement & empowerment. Vodafone

strategy for employee involvement & empowerment includes multiple

instances such as training, contractual responsibility, improved

moral etiquette, team management. Among all of these methods

training is the most popular & frequently used method. Also

training seems to compass multiple concepts of the organization

so it is more effective than any other method used. Vodafone uses

verities of training program throughout the year to develop up to

date skills among various level of employee. The training program

involves employee from various department when the issue is a

common one like ethical behavior. At the same the special

training is also available for any particular department(Hanson,

2015).


1) Research a current ethical issue affecting a selected

business.


It was case of environmental pollution as well as child labor

abuse which took place in 2010 in China. A group of 34 non-

governmental organizations, names 29 companies first marked the

issue. The thing is that one of the suppliers of battery products

to Vodafone was found to cause environment pollution as the

supplier was not following through proper treatment plant causing

the lead to be disposed freely in nature as well as affecting

those child labor who were working there without proper

protection. Surely a very sensitive issue for a company like

Vodafone that has long been famous for maintain ethics in its

operation but at the same time a very strategic one in nature as

this issues doesn’t linked directly to the Vodafone company

rather linked to the supplier who used to supply batteries for

Vodafone handsets. With less control over the management of the

supplier company it is tough for Vodafone to do things in a right


way. An active employee who is assigned to this crisis must need

to consider the situation first. At first he needs to supervise

how bad really the situation is & then needs to decide what needs

to be improved. Other decision related to the issue can be how to

make things work better. Strategic decision in this issue related

to whether Vodafone itself produce batteries or keep relying on

supplier(Wieland, 2001). If the company itself wishes to produce

the batteries then it can control all other relative issues such

as but if Vodafone wish to keep relying on the supplier there are

lot to do. First the relation between Vodafone & supplier needs

to be considered which will suggest what Vodafone can actually

do. If Vodafone has a stronger grip on the supplier as well as

lots of alternative supplier is available then Vodafone has the

chance to force the supplier to maintain quality & labor related

issue. If the situation is not like that Vodafone can offer an

increased pay for its service to improve the situation in the

suppliers factory(MacDonald, 2015).


2) Report on how the business could improve the ethics of their

operations whilst meeting objectives and ensuring good

employer/employee relationships(Crisp and Cowton, 1998).


Maintaing ethics in operation is important at the same time is

strategically because there a lot of things related to each

other. The other thing is one thing which is ethical to one

nation is unethical to other nations. This is why to maintain

ethics for multinational company like Vodafone is very critical.

A very important issue in any business which wishes to be

successful is “good employer employee relationships”. Actually the

Excellency of a company comes through the efficiency &

determination of its employee. So it is very important that a

company gives its employee good feel to work with(Vogel, 1991). A

lot of issues are related to employee employer relationship.

Working environment, compensation plan, good corporate practice

all these are closely relate to the employee satisfaction.

Company must to ensure all the necessary facilities to its


employee because to ensure maximum effort from the employee side

it is very necessary that they get the best compensation which

gives them the ultimate drive to the goal. Ethics is also related

to employee satisfaction. Researches have shown that satisfied

employee tends to act more ethically rather than less satisfied

employee. On the other hand from company perspective it is also

not ethical to not compensate the employee at the level they

really deserves(Bowie, 1999).

3) Design a suitable ethical code for Vodafone.


Vodafone being a telecom giant maintain a very strong ethical

code for its global operation as ethical behavior is at the very


core of Vodafone operation. Still Vodafone can use its ethical

approach in the following arena to operate more efficiently.

Strict supervision for supplier

Vodafone can impose strict environmental restriction on the issue

of environment pollution while entering into new contract with

new supplier. This will help Vodafone to ensure less pollution

for the environment leading to greater acceptance to customer. On

the other hand better goodwill can be sustained to both

government & other environmentalist force group.

Confidentiality of user data

The use of confidential data of the user by the respective

company is very critical. In the past many companies are accused

of this crime. In most developed nations it is seen as a vital

crime as a result company loses acceptability in the market

resulting in market failure. So Vodafone must to maintain a very

strict regulation regarding how can access the data, for what

purpose the data can be used, what will be the legal action

Vodafone will take against any employee violating these rules.

Educating the employee


It is not a very old concept but is very popular & useful concept

these days. Business environment is changing constantly so does

the challenges are. In this circumstance continuous training &

development program for the employee is mandatory for a company

if the company wants its employee to work efficiently facing the

ongoing challenges(Shaw, 2003).


References

Bowie, N. (1999). Business ethics. Malden, Mass.: Blackwell

Publishers.

Crisp, R. and Cowton, C. (1998). Business ethics. Oxford: Oxford

University Press.

Duska, R. (2000). Business Ethics: Oxymoron or Good Business?.

Business Ethics Quarterly, 10(1), p.111.

Hanson, K. (2015). Business Ethics for the Real World - Canvas Network | Free

online courses | MOOCs. [online] Canvas.net. Available at:

https://www.canvas.net/courses/business-ethics-for-the-real-

world-2 [Accessed 5 Jun. 2015].


MacDonald, C. (2015). Thinking Critically about Social Responsibility.

[online] The Business Ethics Blog. Available at:

http://businessethicsblog.com/ [Accessed 5 Jun. 2015].

Shaw, W. (2003). Ethics at work. New York: Oxford University Press.

Vogel, D. (1991). The Ethical Roots of Business Ethics. Business

Ethics Quarterly, 1(1), p.101.

Wieland, J. (2001). The Ethics of Governance. Business Ethics

Quarterly, 11(1), p.73.

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