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Document Details :

Title: Narrativity and Hermeneutics in Professional Ethics
Subtitle: In Praise of Imagination
Author(s): THOMASSET, Alain
Journal: Ethical Perspectives
Volume: 3    Issue: 4   Date: December 1996   
Pages: 168-174
DOI: 10.2143/EP.3.4.563024

Abstract :
In the preface to a book which he commissioned entitled France Télécom. Mémoires pour l'action, Marcel Roulet, then president of France Telecom, described the lessons he learned from this study of his company's collective memory: 'Our history clearly shows that France Telecom has managed to transform itself from public administration into a business. Our collective accomplishments of yesterday should inspire us with confidence for what we have to do tomorrow. But we know that time is running out. Free competition in services and infrastructure is being introduced (in January 1998). We have embarked on a period of turbulence and uncertainty, and the important thing -the most important, it seems to me- is what sense we will collectively give to our action' (...) 'this book shows that we have a history, a rich history forged by the women and men of France Telecom. O course, history does not make anyone a master of time and allow them to predictwhat is to come, but a knowledge of history can dispel the fear of the future.' The managing director Charles Rozmaryn, quoted in the book's conclusion, reinforces the point: 'France Telecom has always been able to adapt and carry out the necessary re-adjustments. We should re-commence today what we were able to achieve yesterday. The past should give us confidence for the future.'

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