Unit 208: Understand legal, regulatory and ethical requirements in sales and marketing

1.1   Describe an organisations procedures for raising legal, regulatory and ethical concerns.

Organisations will have set procedures that they will have to follow when any of these matters come forward. For example if a business has any legal concerns they will need to check them out as soon as possible as any legal issues could be bad for the business as it could mean the business is not running correctly or how it should be with legal requirements set by the law an example of a legal procedure a company will need to follow would be that the business will need to be insured this important for all businesses as if anything happens to their store like a fire and they don’t have insurance they could face losing all assets that were destroyed in the fire. There are a considerable amount of regulations that organisations need to follow for example all acts put in place by the government will need to be followed for example data protection act if not followed the organisation could face serious prosecutions and face paying fines or if very serious the business will be looked at in further detail. Ethical procedures are again very important to follow the human rights act supports this as it takes into consideration different ethical backgrounds and supports the right for people to have different opinions and beliefs and not to be discriminated against. At my workplace I could raise concerns with a number of people for example discrimination at work due to someone being from a different ethical background should not be discriminated against and that if they’re then the act will help protect them and the person or people involved should be prosecuted. I would first perhaps go to my manager to explain any concerns I have secondly I could go to the marketing manager and finally I could choose to explain my concerns directly with Human Resources.

1.2   Explain the scope of legal, regulatory and ethical requirements in sales or marketing

Within sales and marketing it is important that you make sure you follow these requirements as if you don’t and you are dealing with customers they may find the things you are saying offensive and therefore may be breaching company policies and acts which could affect your job and the company could be sued or taken to court depending on the what was said and how it came across. Legal could be things such as making sure you are stating all the items your business selling and what products go into making the product and you are not breaking any legal issues with the products in the item another legal requirement is acts such as data protection act this could be a customer’s sensitive data for example there payment details or it could be company details such as private emails or legal documents that shouldn’t be shared.

Regulatory requirements are laws imposed by the government on businesses and the products they are selling. It is important that you follow these regulations as it will make for a more effectively run business as there will be no laws breached meaning the business is safe from prosecution. This is important in sales and marketing as if you breach any laws whilst dealing with customers they may have a case against the business meaning that they may be able to sue or take the company to court for not following government procedures. To prevent this you can take actions that make sure all the products created or sold through the business meet government requirements and regularities.

Ethical requirements in a business are more laws put in place by the government to help protect and keep employees from been discriminated against. Laws such as human rights act will help protect people who maybe of a different ethnicity and are more likely to be discriminated against, actions taken into helping anyone suffering any ethical issues will be covered by the ethical act in the human rights act. In sales and marketing you may have to work with people from different countries meaning they may have different religious beliefs or be a different ethical origin. It is important that you don’t discriminate against anyone or treat others different as this will be breaking the law and could have effects on your job with the laws and acts in place.

1.3   Explain how the legal, regulatory and ethical requirements relate to the business of selling or marketing.

Health and safety at work act

The Health and safety act was created in 1974 and was put in place to protect employees from injuries as much as reasonably possible in realistic situations. For example this includes thing such as office workers and members of the sales and marketing this could be from making sure that all wiring from computers is not in a walk path so they do not trip up and get injured.

Working time directive and employment legislation

Working time directive is the amount of time you can spend working for example all employees in the EU have the right to 4 weeks in paid holiday which is equivalent to 28 days. Employees also have the rights to rest breaks in between shifts such as you can’t work until 11 hours after their previous shift has ended. This also applies to the amount of time you can work in one week which is a maximum of 48 hours a week unless you opt out of this act which will then allow you to work longer hours. Employment legislation is a list of acts that help protect employees and employers at work from a variety of different acts.

Copyrights laws

This is important in a business and in sales and marketing as if you create work for your business and another business copies or uses the work and marks it as their own then then they would get done for copyright. Things such as copying work from a website online and not sourcing where the information came from will also be classed as copyright.

Equality act

This act was created in 2010 and took over from a few other acts combining them all into one. The equality act will help people within sales and marketing from been discriminated against from anything from their sexuality to their race. It sets out acts so that you can’t people differently just because they may be from a different background.

Data protection act

The data protection act helps protect how other businesses, people and the government can use your data. For example they must make sure that the data they collect is used accurately and not manipulated by any means. The data should be kept safe if it is confidential information for example on a computer within a secure network where there is only access for people who need the data. Or if it is a material document then the data should be stored within a secure place in the building such as a safe.

Ethical requirements

Moral

To make sure that you are been ethically moral you must make sure that you are open to other peoples opinion and consider all points of view without been biased or doing something that you shouldn’t which could cause a stir or a big defect within the business.

Political

Material

https://www.gov.uk/

1.4   Describe internal and external sources of information on legal, regulatory and ethical requirements.

Internal

Internal sources of legal, regulatory and ethical requirements will be things such as the intranet, HR department and in the company handbook. For example the businesses intranet will only be accessible to people within the business this will likely contain information on employees and there ethical background there will need to be different options for people with different beliefs and origin to other staff this will fall under their employment legislation law. The HR department will also hold private and confidential information on employees such as there bank details which will need to be kept in a secure location within the company’s network. They will have also been responsible for entering your personal details when you first started and giving you the required paperwork to fill in such as ethical origin and religious background. Finally the company handbook will have all the acts in that the company are obligated to follow under the government’s law and failing to do so could see the business prosecuted.

External

External sources such as government bodies, trade associations, health and safety executive and office for disability issues. These are all things that will have an impact on the business but are not internal work within the business. Government bodies will be things such as making sure that the company are implying government laws and acts within the business such as in the employee handbook. Health and safety executives will have more of an impact within the business as they may do inspections regularly to make sure that the business is following health and safety procedures and not putting anyone at risk in the work place.

1.5   Explain how an ethical approach affects organisation in the sales or marketing environment.

Making sure that your have an ethical approach within sales or marketing is important if you want to retain customers and keep them coming back this is because it shows you’re a polite business and that you don’t discriminate against any ethnicity’s, having an ethical approach is important as well if you want to attract new customers as your first impressions on them will be vital for them to use your business meaning that if you come off as disrespectful they are likely to look elsewhere next time instead of using your business again. An ethical approach is a sign of good customer services and providing customers with help beyond expected will not only look good for your business but show the approach that should be taken forward with all customers and employees. If your business answers ethical queries this shows that your business has set pollicises and that you don’t discriminate and therefore will be a friendly business to work with.

1.6   Explain the importance of contract law in sales

Within the sales team it is important to have contracts if you don’t have contracts in place businesses are more likely to suffer from breaches in the business and if the work isn’t protected then it may be hard to file a lawsuit to appeal against any conviction that may have took place. Contracts are important within sales as it can show a mutual agreement between the sales person and the customer and then if there are any problems the contract should help cover any incident that arises from the product. I.e. if the item is faulty the contract may say that the customer can have a full refund and the item should be returned to the business. The terms of the contract should be made available to the customer whether this be a customer copy of the terms or the same copy the business uses.

2.1 Explain the legal, regulatory and ethical requirements relevant to the role.

Within my role it is important that I follow laws put in place by the government and by the business when it comes college personal documents such as passwords for social media accounts and personal details of students and staff that I have access to. When I joined the organisation I signed paper work to say that I will not share any personal information that I have this will fall under the data protection act and copy right act. The RNN group deal with many companies and colleges and there are many agreements sent in place between the companies when it comes to working with each other and the principal of the organisations coming together for example RNN work with Lindrick construction closely proving them with apprentices. E-commerce regulations will affect my role as well this is because the regulations put in place by the 2002 act was put in place so companies who use the internet for example like we do to advertise what there company has on offer this could be on social media through email or through text and it states you must be clear what company you’re sending the documents from and what the details of the E-commerce item is. When using information from other sources you must make sure that you’re allowed to use the content as some content will have copy right legislations against them and therefore if you use the information without permission this could lead to legal prosecution.

2.2 Describe the potential consequences of not complying with legal, regulatory or ethical requirements

There are a few thing that can happen if you do not comply with these legal requirements. One of the main ones will be if you are in sales you may see a breakdown of relationship with customers and other businesses as they will not want to work with a company that can’t comply with government laws. Also if you are not complying with the ethical act this will be a matter that not only affects your relationship with customers but also the business in general as you will be breaking the law by not following the ethnicity act.

2.3 Explain the importance of working within the limits of the role, responsibilities and authority

Within the role of sales and marketing it is important to work within your job role and responsibilities as you need to make sure you are completing the jobs required within your job role. This could be from answering the phone or daily spreadsheets that need updating constantly within your job description. There may be times within your job role where you will be required to do things outside your job role this could be due to other employee been ill or absent at the time. The business might want you to operate in a certain way in different departments and this could require training and this would be why you it is important to stay within your role and try not to intervene with other employees jobs. It is important that you follow organisational procedures that your business would have set for you when you got the job this is because this will be the foundation as to what they except at the start of your contract and is important that you show you can comply with them and progress further. Also it is important to have a good working relationship as it will help your work experience and therefore give you a better outlook into work and will improve the quality of your work.

2.4 Explain the process for reporting legal, regulatory and ethical concerns

With most companies this procedure can vary depending on the business i.e. private sector would be different to a government run business. The procedure is normally to report to your line manager who will discuss the issue and decided what actions need to be taken to tackle the concern in hand. A smaller company such as a company in the private sector which has fewer employees and fewer levels of management may take the concerns straight up to the managing director of the business.

2.5 Explain the importance of clarity of communication with the customer to ensure common understanding of agreements and expectation

Communication with customers is very important in a business environment. This could be from working in sales to working in a restaurant as you need to make sure the customer is satisfied with the service as this will help encourage them to use your businesses services again. In sales you want to make sure that the product you are selling is the correct product and that the customer is satisfied with the procedure you are required to send the customer a receipt this could contain a customer’s rights policy with regards to buying products of your company. Making notes of sales as they progress so that you know what the customer is asking for and you know what is needed, if it is manufactured in house so that you can pass it on to the right person within the company to get the product created in the correct amount of time which you have negotiated with the customer.