1.1 Describe an organisation’sprocedures for raising legal, regulatory and ethical concerns Every business or organisation mustfollow procedures when any legal, regulatory or ethical concerns are raised. Theseconcerns must be investigated as soon as the business is aware of them and mustbe acted on immediately, as serious issues could seriously damage the business.
An example of a legal procedure acompany must follow is all businesses must be insured. This is extremelyimportant for all businesses as not only could it affect them legally but ifanything happened to their premises and the business didn’t have insurance theycould lose business assets and in turn lose money. There are many regulations thatorganisations must legally follow, for example all acts put in place by thegovernment must be followed. A business can be prosecuted if the Data ProtectionAct is not followed as well as being ordered to pay fines or in some cases thebusiness will be investigated more thoroughly. Ethical procedures are equallyas important, and the Human Rights Act takes into consideration differentethical backgrounds and the right for people to have personal opinions andbeliefs and protects against discrimination.
At Flightcase Warehouse I couldraise any concerns easily to any member of staff as we are such a smallbusiness in terms of workforce. All concerns would be taken seriously andinvestigated whether it be legal, regulatory or ethical. To raise concernspersonally I would go to Sam Austin or Steve Austin. Alternatively, I wouldspeak to Kerri Austin or Jason Furneaux.
I am confident that any concern raisedwould be taken seriously and investigated fully. 1.2 Explain the scope of legal,regulatory and ethical requirements in sales or marketing In any business the sales andmarketing departments will have practices that must meet legal, regulatory andethical requirements. The scope of these practices are a set of procedures,processes and actions which are designed to work alongside rules and regulations as well asconsidering ethical dilemmas. In business, a procedure is aspecific way of doing something, an action is doing something to reach a predeterminedgoal and a process is a series of actions to achieve a goal. At Flightcase Warehouse we use aCRM (Customer Relation Management) system to capture the details of everyperson who places an order with us as well as using social media platforms andemail marketing to reach a wider audience.
Best services for writing your paper according to Trustpilot
This enables us to adjust ourmarketing to appeal to everyone and not offend anyone. The handling of people’sprivate data means that certain procedures must be followed to comply with TheData Protection Act 1998. The procedures would include only asking for datawhich is necessary, as well as giving a justified reason for the length of timethat we will hold the information for and the purpose of us collecting the datais made obvious and apparent. All data that we hold is kept securely in our CRMsystem and is only available to those who need to use it. Sales and Marketing areimportant as they are generally the part of any business that is most exposed tothe public, so it is important that all legal, regulatory and ethicalrequirements are considered and followed as not following them is going againstcompany Policies and Acts which could harm the business due to not followinggood practice. It could also lead to being sued or taken to court depending onthe severity.
Within sales and marketing legalrequirements for example are making people aware what goes into the making ofthe product. Another legal requirement is to following acts such as the Data ProtectionAct, the handling of a customer’s sensitive data for example their paymentdetails and address is very important and must be dealt with correctly byfollowing company and legal procedures. Regulatory requirements are lawsput in place by the Government. Businesses must follow these regulations asthey are all legal requirements. Regulations are put in place to ensure that government procedures arefollowed. This is to ensure all actions that can be taken to make sure all theproducts manufactured and sold by the business meet government requirements andregulations. Ethical requirements are put inplace to help, protect and keep employees from being discriminated against.Laws such as the Human Rights Act will protect people of all differentethnicities being discriminated against.
In sales and marketing, the peoplethat you will be exposed to and must work with will be diverse meaning theywill have different religious beliefs or be a different ethnicity. This must berespected, and the human rights act must be followed. It is of utmostimportance that no one is discriminated against or treated any differently andif this behaviour does occur in the workplace or anywhere it is breaking thelaw. 1.3 Explain how the legal,regulatory and ethical requirements relate to the business of selling ormarketing All legal, regulatory andethical requirements are applicable to the business of selling and marketing.Most businesses will voice their stance on these requirements and theconsequences of not following them in their terms and conditions policy andcontracts. This information must be kept up to date to not become outdated.
Afew examples of these requirements are: Working Time Directive and Employment Legislation Working time directive sets theamount of time per week employees can work. All employees in the EU that work 5days a week or more have the right to 5.6 weeks or 28 days of paid holiday.Employees are also entitled to rest breaks and the right to work no more than48 hours per week, however employees can opt out of this act which will then allowthem to work longer hours.
Employment legislation is a listof acts that are in place to protect employees. It is what the law expects fromemployers for their employees. The National Minimum Wage Act 1998 and The EqualPay Act 1970 are examples of some of the acts included within employmentlegislation. · Copyrights laws Copyright law applies to anyform of content creation or generation it is specifically important in abusiness and in sales and marketing as created work can easily be copied orplagiarised which is illegal as copying work from a website online and not sourcingwhere the information came from will also be classed as copyright infringement.It is equally important that those who work in sales and marketing areaware of copyright laws and do not breach them. It is extremely common forcopyright to be breached in marketing as content is created all the time. Anyoriginal content, such as photographs or written pieces such as blogs, can’t beused without the creator’s permission under the Copyright Designs and PatentsAct 1988.
Copyright also effects how businesses can use purchased software asin the terms and conditions there may be conditions that state how createdcontent can be used and distributed. · Equality Act The most recent Equality Act wascreated in 2010 and merged other acts that came before. It was created to stopdiscrimination against sex, race, age, disability, gender reassignment,religion and belief, sexual orientation, marriage and civil partnership andpregnancy and maternity. The Equality Act within sales and marketing helps toprevent offense being cause due to treatment of customers or other employeesthrough communication verbally or any marketing or sales materials that may becreated. · Data protection act The Data Protection Actregulates how businesses, people and the government can use data. For example,any data collected must be used accurately and not manipulated in any way.Confidential data must be kept safe for example at Flightcase Warehouse it isheld on a data management system that is on a secure network and the data isonly available to those who need to use it. If the data is a tangible documentas in it is on paper, it must be stored securely for example a lockable filingcabinet in a locked room or office or a safe.
Sales and Marketing involvescollecting and handling customer’s information all the time and as such thisact is massively important. Information a customer has provided to a companymust never be passed on without the customer’s prior consent and knowledge. Ifcontact details are given and the customer does not want to receive anymarketing or “spam” they must not receive anything of the sort.
This can beclassed as harassment. · Ethical requirements False advertising is unethicaland in most cases illegal. It is the act of making false claims or publishingmisleading content in terms of sales and marketing. This will always lead todissatisfied and angry customers. When targeting vulnerable groups, such aselderly people or children, convincing them that they need to sign up to or buysomething is unethical.
Marketing has the power to do this and it shouldn’t beused in the wrong way. Businessesshouldn’t appear to have a biased opinion as a lot of people trust bigcompanies and a bias expressed by them is likely to sway opinions of theconsumers. So, in marketing, any opinions that are put out must be accurate andtrue. Companies must consider where they purchase their materials and if it isethical to source form these places.
1.4 Describe internal andexternal sources of information on legal, regulatory and ethical requirements There are different internal andexternal ways to source information on legal, regulatory and ethicalrequirements. When starting a new job most businesses will give new staff anintroduction pack and company handbook, which provides an overview of the codeof practice, policies and other helpful information about the business meaningit should include information on the businesses legal, regulatory and ethicalrequirements.
Another internal source of information is the HR department. The HRdepartment is there to provide advice and guidance and in turn should be ableto provide information on legal, regulatory and ethical requirements. Generally, the most accessiblesource of information for anyone would be the internet. Using the internetwould allow anyone to find information on legal, regulatory and ethicalrequirements from many sources including the official government website for upto date, relevant Acts and Laws. The downside of accessing this information onthe internet is that there is a risk that the information could be outdated orincorrect. · Internal Internal sources of legal,regulatory and ethical requirements are: the HR department and in the company handbookas above.
The HR department will hold private and confidential information foreach employee including their bank details, all of which will need to be keptin a secure location whether it is in physical form or held securely on acomputer. The HR department is responsiblefor entering personal details into our system when an employee first starts aswell as generating and giving the paperwork to collect this data, so they willbe familiar with most legal, regulatory and ethical requirements and should beable to offer information regarding this. The company handbook will include allthe acts that the company must legally follow.
· External External sources such as thegovernment will provide information in different forms like helplines that can becalled and official websites that can be accessed at any time. 1.5 Explain how an ‘ethicalapproach’ affects organisations in the sales or marketing environment Ethical approaches in marketingsuch as an awareness of people’s beliefs to not offend anyone affects thebusiness in more ways than one. Primarily it will make customers happy andencourage repeat business.
Ethical marketing will make a customer more likelyto remember and recommend the business to others and because of this morebusiness will occur. An ethical approach is also a legal requirement so if notfollowed it can lead to legal issues which will affect the business in a badway. 1.6 Explain the importance of ContractLaw in sales A contract is a legally bindingagreement between two or more parties. It is used as proof of an agreementbetween two or more parties where both sides have consented and understand whatis expected of them and their side of the agreement and what they should expectto receive from the other party or parties involved. A contract is almostalways legally binding, meaning that if it is not upheld or followed, then theperson in breach of the contract can be taken to court to settle the dispute.
Contract law is important insales and marketing as it prevents the exploitation of every party involved.For example, when a purchase is made the customer will receive a receipt orinvoice which is a contract of sale. This is to show that the customer willreceive any goods or services that they have paid for and provides reassurance,as the business should allow a cooling off period which is part of thiscontract. The cooling off period is the ability to cancel their contractwithout incurring a penalty during an agreed period after the sale has beenmade. In terms of how it will protect the business, sales or marketing it meansthat any goods or services must be paid for in full. 2.1 Explain the legal,regulatory and ethical requirements relevant to the role Within my role at FlightcaseWarehouse most of the legal, regulatory and ethical requirements are relevant.
Flightcase Warehouse hasmeasures in place to prevent all employees from injuring themselves whilst atwork such as correct PPE and high visibility jackets being required when in theworkshop and warehouse, as well as fully tested electrical equipment and cablemanagement in the office to prevent tripping hazards. All of which comply withthe Health and Safety at Work Act 1974. When producing content that willgo out to customers I must consider if what is produced is ethical and right tobe distributed. I try to ensure that I am non-bias and truthful in anythingthat I create as this is in my opinion morally right and misleading people isunethical and will affect the businesses reputation. Copyright laws are alsoimportant in my role as I take photographs regularly as well as helping tocreate PR pieces and posting blog posts. The images I take are used on ourwebsite as well as social media and PR pieces are the same, so I must make surethat everything that goes out doesn’t breach the Copyright, Designs and PatentsAct 1988. Another legal requirement withinmy role is the Data Protection Act 1998.
As part of my job includes handlingcustomer data, whether it be taking details or handling existing details I amresponsible for their data. When taking peoples details over the phone I mustmake sure that once the data has been inputted into our system that anythingunnecessary must be destroyed and disposed of correctly and fully. 2.2 Describe the potentialconsequences of not complying with legal, regulatory or ethical requirements · Health and Safety at Work Act Failing to comply with theHealth and Safety at Work Act 1974 can cause serious repercussions for abusiness and the individual who has failed to comply.
Consequences can rangefrom unlimited fines, to imprisonment. Health and Safety inspections can occurregularly and if a potential risk is flagged and hasn’t been suitably assessedthen the business will be issued with a form of Improvement Notice, which mustbe acted upon before another inspection occurs and failure to address the issuecan result in a fine or further action. If an employee is injured or killed dueto health and safety issues, then the consequences include prosecution and inextreme cases prison if it was directly someone’s fault. The CorporateManslaughter and Homicide Act 2007 was put in place to penalise any breach andthe penalty for breaching this Act is an unlimited fine as well as the businessbeing made to publicly disclose the details of their conviction. · Working Time Directive andemployment legislation Businesses are responsible formonitoring their employee’s working time and breaks. If the working timedirective 2003 is breached the employee affected can make a claim and may beentitled to compensation. The employee will likely be entitled to compensationif they have suffered health issues as a result.
· Copyright Laws The penalty for copyrightinfringement in the UK’s magistrate’s court is imprisonment for 6 months and afine of up to £50,000. Whereas in the Crown Court the maximum length ofimprisonment is 10 years and an unlimited fine. · Equality Act All businesses will havedisciplinary procedures in place to deal with breaches of the Equality Act2010.
Depending on each situation and the businesses policies, the consequencescould vary from the employee making a formal apology to the person affected oras serious as the employee losing their job and further action being taken forexample the police being involved. · Data Protection Act Information Commissioner’s Office orICO as they are otherwise known, are the public body responsible for enforcingthe Data Protection Act 1998. If a person who has not been authorised views privatedata due to an organisation’s negligence, this is considered a data breach. ICOcan act against data breaches, they’re able to pursue criminal prosecution forserious offences, take non-criminal enforcement, issue monetary penalties andundertake audits to ensure that companies are complying with the Act. · Ethical requirements Unless an ethical requirement isalso a legal requirement, a business will not face any legal consequences forbeing unethical. Although if a business is found to be unethical customers willlikely not be happy and look elsewhere.
If enough people are unhappy and awareof the unethical practice then it will damage the reputation of the business,if severe enough the business may go bankrupt. 2.3 Explain the importance ofworking within the limits of the role, responsibilities and authority Flightcase Warehouse expect meto be polite and friendly when I am speaking to anyone on behalf of thebusiness.
Even in day to day operations such as answering the phones I help tobuild a good reputation for the company. Daily tasks such as checking low stockand helping while another member of staff is off are also important. It isimportant to work within the limits of my role but assist with others where andwhen I can as this is responsible.
2.4 Explain the process forreporting legal, regulatory and ethical concerns There are different ways toraise concerns regarding legal, regulatory and ethical issues in everybusiness. At Flightcase Warehouse I would speak to either Sam Austin or SteveAustin who would then help me decide what the best course of action would be.If Sam or Steve were unable to help me however there are other people I cantalk to within the business. If the situation is very serious in somebusinesses, there will be an external helpline and in extreme cases therelevant agency can be contacted.
2.5 Explain the importance ofclarity of communication with the customer to ensure common understanding ofagreements and expectations Clarity of communication withthe customer is important to ensure a common understanding of agreements andexpectations is achieved. The customers satisfaction with the service or productis important as this will encourage them to use the business again. If there is any misunderstanding between the businessand the customer, this could leave the relationship between the two parties ina less than ideal state and as such may lead to the customer notwanting to purchase from the business in the future. In extreme cases, thecustomer may feel as though they have been exploited and try to pursuecompensation, which would most likely turn other current and potentialcustomers away.
