Unit 4 business communications

In this summary I will be explaining the Legal and ethical issues in relation to the use of city of Wolverhampton college information.

There are various items of law to protect the use of business information which include relevant data protection legislation for example data protection act 1998, freedom of information act 2000 and computer misuse act 1990.

Most of organisation store and use information about people and their employee. For example the data protection act protects the information held about students and staff of City of Wolverhampton College from being misused. All the information which stores by college it should be obtained fairly and lawfully so they can prevent their students and staff personal information being used by third party for illegal purpose. It should be accurate and up to date so if there have been an incident at college therefore the college staffs can use their personal information to let their families know what’s going on in college.

The freedom of information act came into consequence in 2005. It provides the college the right to request information held by a public authority. The public authority should tell the college if they hold the information which they should provide in 20 working days in the requested format. For example when the cost of a request for information goes beyond a correct limit then the public authority could decide if a greater public interest is being provide by refusing the request. For some reason if there been problem between college and a public authority about a request for information then the information will be investigated by the commissioner’s office and they will take the decision whether to give that information or not.

An ethical issue is a code of practice which will be present in college to keep business ethics on use of email, whistle blowing, organisational policies and information ownership. The college have a policy of practice on the accurate use of email to provide standard information in a one to one meeting to students and as reminder of their deadlines for their assignments or for attendance concerns etc. They do not use email for really confidential information they send that information direct to the addresses in a sealed envelopes which is more secure. The college also have police for use of the internet which will describe to their staff and students what they can and cannot use internet for. For example the college students or staff can use the internet to get some information in order to complete their work but they cannot use internet for social network while they are in class and they also don’t have access to inappropriate website.

A whistleblower is a person who represents any kind of information or activity that is believes to be illegal, dishonest or not correct within a business that is either private or public. For example if there is student who has been using the wrong information to get student facilities such as bus pass or squid card will raise a concern about a business practice to management within the college and outside the college as well. This could have a big impact on college students and the reputation. That college could receive legal protection from the public interest disclosure act if the offence being reported represents a deliberate attempt to break law.

The computer misuse act 1990 is a law in the United Kingdom which the city of Wolverhampton college has to follow because if student or tutor try to hack into other people’s systems they will be withdrawn from the college and could face prosecution. According computer misuse act 1990 any student or tutor in this college cannot misuse software or cannot help a person to get information from unauthorised files from college computers.

The college have many policies to make sure that college performs with regard to college information can be done more ethically. It can be anything from how they manage information to make sure marketing and college other activities are fair and just. For example, one of college polices is that everyone in college has to wear their ID badges which shows that they are student of this college and even tutor has to wear them all the time or they could be sent home for not wearing them and will not be allowed in college unless they show the ID badge this policy applies to everyone student, tutor and any other staff in this college.

The idea of information ownership is simple if you create any information in your day to day work then you are the one responsible for that information. For example, when tutor does one to one meeting with students regarding to their attendance or work concern from other tutor on promonitor and that message on promonitor needs to be confidential and its tutor responsibility to make sure that it only can be viewed by the person who has the authority to it. Since the tutor has written that message it will make them the information owner. As the the information owner the tutor is responsible for keep this message to an appropriate degree. Also owner of this information the tutor needs to keep this information confidentially and act with honesty when anything has to be altered with regard to the information.

The college have to manage and store innumerable information with some individual far more important than others. Lying at the heart of any information system are two essential issues are that the college receives the information they require and the appropriate members of staff receives the information. The college needs to put number of procedures and polices together in place to make sure that information is managed appropriately, concerning security of information, backups, health and safety, organisational policies and business continuance plans.

The information security management deals with keeping the integrity and availability of college information and knowledge. Most of security information focus on digital data however the theme also covers records and knowledge of management. In order to make good business decision the college should have the correct information available as when they need it. For example, college keep their information on IT systems but as the belief on technology rise so does the risk posed by system failure and malicious attacks such as viruses. The IT security policy has included the secure login identification for using IT systems and control that limit access to information.

To minimise the risk of losing vital college information stored on IT servers the college has developed business continuity programmers which involves producing backups of information stored on the servers. For example college might create backup every hour which means if the information is damaged or destroyed a copy is available so the college can carry with as little trouble as possible.

The health and safety display screen equipment regulation 1992, management of health and safety at work regulation 1992 and the workplace regulation 1992 all these acts legislate the use of computer equipment. It is unlikely that computer equipment in itself will be dangerous unless you use it in ways that it can be danger to health of staff or students. As you know most of the work students or other college staff does on computer so bad posture such as incorrect positioning of equipment and susceptibility to repetitive strain injury are health and safety risk that students or other staff are legally required to take seriously. The college staff and students should carry out workstation assessments which will help them to put their computer screen at right level to avoid repetitive strain injury. To ensure that no student or staffs in this college suffer from RSI the college should provide ergonomic equipment which is designed to reduce the risk of injury.

Organisational polices that report to use of business information can help to ensure that decision affecting staff are understandable and reliable, meeting legal requirements, taking full account of their impact and contributing to productive working relationships. Policies are to make sure that staff have guidance to help them comply with legislation. For example, the college policy on storing and usage of student’s data should work within the requirements of the Data Protection Act.

Business continuance plans is the step that a business puts into place to ensure it is efficient of surviving a worst case scenario. One step in the continuance programme might be to make sure the college is creating regular backups of its information. The college could deliberate disasters such as fire, accidents or malicious attacks in its planning. As a result of plan college staff might need to change the way they work for example storing information on their main area instead of on their personal hard drive.

It is important to manage the cost of IT projects. Many aspects of information management can cost money for example it may be necessary to store backup copies of electronic information on a remote server but a small business might not be able to support this expense. The college needs to think implementation and maintenance costs versus the benefits to the college when deciding what policies to accept and what measure to take. A key consideration is cost of development – This is usually a large part of the budget for a new computer system. There will also be ongoing costs once the system is running for slight changes to keep the system in line with the college needs.

The increase of sophistication of a system is most likely going to have a great effect on college staff. One of the effects of an increasing reliance on technology is that college staff needs to be trained to use the equipment and software required to do their job. For example they would need to know what has been changed and what the new way of doing things such as transactions are. By training the staff correctly on the process of the new system means there are likely to be less issues such as mistakes being made. Also because of systems being produced at a higher complexity then before additional trained experts such as development software may be employed as they are able to solve issues when they occur with the system itself.

Audience requirement

At first meeting formalities and appropriate greeting are usually expected for example handshake, introduction of ourselves, eye contact and discussion around a neutral subject such as weather. A friendly character and smiling face are more likely to support communication than a blank face. The audience’s requirements will depend on: age, attention span, gender, special needs and interest.

Age and attention span needs to be taken into deliberation when corresponding with longer written documents or presentations. Think about your audience how old they are? Younger people might have little attentions spans than older people. Teenagers are probably more restful with using technology than pensioners. The main thing to maintain an audience attention is variety for example if a presentation from a tutor or student is boring the audience is likely to switch off. The tutors or students needs to ask question when presenting a presentation or keep section clear which will improve a presentation structure. This will help them to keep their students attention. You can easily separate some members of your audience accidentally by not demonstrating them in examples. Audience can be connected with your messages if they see it as describing to them. The tutor or students need to make sure that they are representing the balanced cross section when including a examples in their communications. They should use examples that draw from the experiences of both men and women from different ethnic background positively.

When presenting a PowerPoint presentation or any other types of written communication the tutor or students large font sizes can help their audience the partially sighted. Also some visual impaired learners find certain colour combinations problematic for example yellow and green so they should avoid these colours. They might need to adapt your communication depending on the needs of audience and they might need to think about where their audience is sitting in the room. People with hearing difficulties who lip read for example would need a clear sight of your face.

The main key to gain the interest of their audience is to get to the point and explain how the topic is important to them. Try to introduce main key points which will help maintain interest. Funniness things can also be used for good effect but be careful not to do too much. Make sure they asking the questions which will keep help them to get the audience to participate. They also need to know how interested their audience actually is in the matter they are to communicate about. If they are already eager to hear what the tutor or student have to say then the tutor or students doesn’t need to work hard to keep them interested.

There is various way available to create a written communication and has a number of differences from spoken communication. Written communication is hardly written and read at the same time. It continues over time and is able to be reused and duplicate also could be reviewed before distribution. The different way of written communication include letter, fax, email and www (worldwide web) etc. the college letters need to reach high standard of communication as people outside the college will judge the college by the letter its staff write. Letters must be clear if they are issuing instruction. A letter may rise legal problems
If it is for example an acceptance of a contract. Firstly, the letter must include introduction which will show the reader what the letter is about and why the college has written that letter to them. Secondly it should have detail which is main part of the letter and it contains the information the college wish to convey to their reader. Lastly letter must define to their reader what they should do next in response to college letter.

Since the adaption of email, faxes are used less frequently in college. a fax is scanned document that is sent by telephone line to a receiver. It could be use to send documents fast if only a hard copy is available for example student’s enrolments forms or staffs signed contract. A cover sheet is usually faxed with the message which describe the name of the intended recipient and the sender. It is also a good practice to let the intended know that you are sending a fax. The college needs to make sure that fax they send gets to the right person because most of the organisation have only few fax machine so they could have several hundreds of employees. Emails are a common form of written communication in college because the college principal or any staff member they all receive quite lots emails in day. It is quick way to communicate as preparing emails does not require any discussion. It does not mean that the content of the email is not created from a lot of interaction but the act itself of communicating through email is one way. The biggest difficulty with emails is that they are not personal. The well-read skills of the email writer will also explain if their message is described exactly as they interned.

The worldwide web has developed the business and the increasing availability of broadband across the United Kingdom has enhanced the range of service offered. Internet technology such as cookies has enabled websites to deliver a much more adapted experience of customers. For example a college website will suggest new course to a returning students based on the courses they have done before in this college. Telephone is one of the method for non – written communication because communicating through out the phone is more personal than emails which means there will be less scope for misinterpretation. With the popularity of telephones, the staff often being spread to various location it is necessity in college to communicate via the phone. For example when receptionist received the delivery package or a letter for certain tutor or any other staff they do not just go and hand it that package or letter they will first make an call to their office to see when they will available so they can give it to them which will save their time. The college also provide mobile phones to tutor when they organise trip to stay in touch with them also it helps the tutor as well so they can stay in touch with students if they get lost because tutor are allowed to give that number to students while they are on trip.

Technology has changed the way in which college can communicate and there is wide range of tools available. Computers are necessary in college in college which allow the college staff and students to use emails, multimedia, presentation and website. Digital broadcasting television service allow the students and staffs of city of Wolverhampton college to see which room they are in when the exams comes. DVD has replaced video as the most visual medium. It allows the college IT department to store more data than CD-ROM for computer programs. DVD are comparatively cheap to duplicate and spread. Tutors use the DVD if it has information which is related to explaining any particular assignment work. Mobile phones has allowed the college staff to stay in touch when they are on trip which has proved an important development for college. For example college also use this facilities to send messages to student when they don’t attend college or when they have borrow some books from study hub and forgot to return it back therefor the staff use this facilities to remind them.

The internet has changed the way we communicate giving people access to free web based email accounts, letting organisations and individuals to distribute the information through website. More and more people are starting to use the internet on their mobile phones which is not possible without wireless application protocol in another words (WAP). It been really helpful in college because college provide this facility free to their students and staff which allow them to access to internet such as emails or any other network which require internet connection. Students been using this facility on their tablets and phones to complete their work while they are on break.

All business does not use formal way in communication. Approved communication such as letter to customers or reports use a formal structure and professional language. Most of the communication in college is informal for example emails, texts messages and quick messages are often informal. However, informal communication does not follow a authorised structure and might not be recorded for example tutors cannot use informal language when they are typing any message on promoter it has to be in formal.

Verbal and non verbal can be communicate in any context. Verbal communication contains voice. For example in college the most obvious way of this is the telephone where only voice can be used but it also involves meeting and presentations. On the other side non verbal communication tells anything that communicates without or in addition to verbal communications. It could be in paper based for example letters, reports or screen based such as presentation slides and emails. It also consists of a complete package of expressions which includes hand and eye movements, attitudes which should be understood along with speech. Verbally communication that are not stating forms of interpersonal communication are called non verbal communication. It includes body language, posture, eye contact facial expression etc. Non verbal signs can have great influence on the listen than the spoken word when we communicate.

Listening is more complex than it may seem but it is vital communication skill. There is a big difference between hearing something and listening to it because listening requires an understanding of the message being communicate. For example when a students present a power point presentation in class their message might not be in those slides but their body language could tell their audience more than the words. One of the most important skill is active listening skill however most of students spend more energy thinking about what the person is going to say rather than listening to what that person is trying to say. The following points are necessary for effective listener - be prepared to listen, keep an open mind and concentrate on the main direction of the speaker’s message, avoid distraction if at all possible and do not ask question when that person is already answering to somebody else question. Through out active listening and questioning you can often get more complete understating o the information.

When a tutor or student are communicating a message to an audience it is vital their message is understood. It is usual to leave time at the end of a presentation for audience to ask some questions. However the success of this sometimes depends on the audience capability to listen throughout the presentation. To make sure that your audience has understood their message they would need to ask them question. It can be done either end of the presentation or during the main key points of the presentation. As well as listening and understating skills seeking clarification is necessary. For example when tutor finish a power point presentation on assignment and you have doubt that you have understood it fully then ask question to make sure you are confident in your understanding which is sign of strength not a weakness. Effective questioning is an essential skill as it can be used to test understanding, obtain information, start a conversation and pull someone into conversation. There are two type of question open and close question. Closed question tend to seek only a one or two-word answer and in doing so limit the possibility for answering. For example when students try to get bus pass from student service the staff often ask them is your attendance is above 85%? These type of question mean the questioner maintains control of the communication which is often not required in a helping relationship. On the side open open question increase the possibility for answering as they demand further discussion. For example having indicate that not completing your GCSE has affected you to not get into university? Open question might take longer to answer but they do give the other person far more choice for self expression and encourage their involvement in the conversation.

Reflecting is a specialised skill which can be applied to a wide range of communication contexts. It includes paraphrasing for example when student putting the message communicate into their own words and at the same time as taking the spirit of the facts and feeling expressed. It is useful process because the student will gets feedback as to how their message has been received. Student needs to respond to the needs of their audience as a communicator. Selecting an suitable level and liberation method for your information is only part of considering your audience needs. In case if you notice that their knowledge on the topic is less developed than you thought or if it become clear that your audience require more information then you must provide them with more information or easier explanation.

Eye contact is an important side of non-verbal behaviour. Main purpose is to give and receive feedback – for example when student present to the class they look at their audience which tell them that they are listening and concentrating on the content of their presentation. When eye contact is maintained this might indicate lack of interest. Eye contact is more likely to be given continuously by a listen than a speaker. Good eye contact is an important practice for anyone who’s presenting.

Your facial expression says a lot about how you are feeling. While you might be confident pitch to investors, your facial expression should betray any nervousness that you are feeling. Some students find it more easier to practice in front of a mirror but they might find it more natural if they do short recording of their presentation. Keep an eye out for anything you do that you think your audience should find distracting. For example if someone hearing to loud music or mobile phones they should be on silent etc.

Body language include gestures posture, head and hand movements. It can be used to reinforce or emphasise what a person is saying. It also shows about emotions and attitudes of a person but it is possible for body movement to conflict with what is said. A skilled teacher may be able to detect such discrepancies in behaviour and use them as sign to a student’s real feeling.

Many students feel terrified when asked to present it to class. However some initial fears can be allayed by good preparation, which will also help to make an effective presentation. Formal and informal communication requires different standards for language and presentation. Formal communication methods are letter, reports, presentation should follow particular conventions and require more formal businesslike language. For example as an infroamtion communication method students might text their class mate friend to say U and want2 etc however if student were sending a message on behalf of college you might send out a letter giving more than 24 hours notice.

Not all communication techniques will suit all audience because when planning how you are going to present information to your audience, it is important to tailor your approach which will student best chance of successful communicating the information. Always remember when picking a format of your delivery the potential technology to use the language and level of complexity ,your first concern should how your audience will feel about any of the decision you are considering. Before preparing material for a presentation think about your prospective audience. Tailoring your talk to the audience is important and you should think about: - the size of the audience expected, the age range etc.

Many presentations require the student to persuade others to accept a proposal or perhaps a change to working practices. The presenter should be able to demonstrate honesty because if your audience feels they cannot trust you then they might not agree with your presentation, prepare yourselves to answer any question in presentation all these tips will help you to deliver a good presentation.