Table of Contents

Task 1- Newspaper Article.........................................................................................................2

Task 2- Create a Cause-and-Effect Essay..................................................................................5

Task 3- Report............................................................................................................................8

Introduction............................................................................................................................8

Definition and strategies need to be used for collaborative working.....................................8

Interpersonal skills for collaborative working........................................................................8

Benefits of collaborative working..........................................................................................9

Promoting equality and diversity in the workplace................................................................9

British values of collaborative working...............................................................................10

Consequences of poor collaborative working......................................................................10

Conclusion............................................................................................................................11

References................................................................................................................................12

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 Task 1- Newspaper Article

THE NEWS TODAY

March 15, 2020 10th Issue

Ethical Values And Its Importance In Life

Ethics & What Influences It from religion, family, society, or
something like these. Ethics are the base
Ethics is termed a philosophy that
by which a person's actions get judged and
describes the moral values and principles
justified. Several factors influence ethics.
that create the perception of good and evil,
right and wrong. It can be a system or Personal Morals

theory, as well. Ethics is present in every Personal morals are the values and
phase of life, either personal or principles that each individual hold for the
professional. As a result, it is a broad term judgement of right and wrong. These
and can't be defined very easily morals or ethical considerations get
(Benedictus De Spinoza and R H M formed by a person who grows up and sees
Elwes, 2018). Different persons have his/her surroundings (Hawthorne, 2014).
different perceptions of ethics derived As a result, they caries within each

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individual. For instance, a person may
consider wars as the right thing to settle a
conflict. On the other hand, someone may
not favour the idea of war.
Legal Considerations
Legal considerations are the morals of
right and wrong set by the states, and
everyone must follow them whether they
want to. These ethics are formed to protect
the interest of the mass (Annikki
Liimatainen and Al, 2018). However, it
also varies from nation to nation. Such as,
homosexuality is acceptable in some
nations and forbidden in others.
Societal Ethos
Every society has certain values and norms
directed by religion, culture, superstitions
etc. The ethics that are formed by societal
ethos are also considered peer ethos. Here
the societal acceptance matters more than
individual judgement. For instance,
drinking alcohol is deemed to be wrong in
some society, which is not the case in
others.
Organisational Ethos
Organisational ethos is the code of
conducts which are formed to maintain a
peaceful and righteous environment, and
the people connected with the organisation
must abide by those rules (W Brad
Johnson and Ridley, 2008). Organisational
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ethics are concerned with business ethics
and have a different perspective based on
how it considers completing a transaction
or negotiation.
Workplace Ethics & It's
Importance
Professional life is an integral part of every
human being. That is why ethical
consideration in the workplace has a
considerable amount of importance. The
workplace is a platform where people from
different background, age, culture, gender
works together. As a result, it's natural that
each of them may have a different
perspective on ethics (Bredeson and
Goree, 2012). However, the problem arises
when it creates conflicts within them
which is not desirable because everyone
works there for achieving a common
shared goal and serve the society equally
according to their purposes. That's why
there should be a uniform code of conduct
regarding the ethical considerations that
work for the best interest of the
organisation, its employers and employees.
However, there have been many incidents
where many organisations, even big ones,
got detected for unethical practices, which
has questioned the way businesses are
operating their activities and fooling
thousands and millions of people (Reed,
2010). Such scandals are Facebook using
its users' data without consent, nestle using UK Laws to Promote Good
unsustainable palm oil in production, BP's Ethical Practices
oil spill in the ocean and putting the
ecosystem in threat etc., are many of them. Every nation has some ethical laws
regarding employee relations, health and
These are the events that came into the
safety, environmental protection etc.,
news, and people got to know. But besides
which covers all aspects of society. These
them, many other internal ethical issues
legal frameworks are mandatory for
within the organisation remain unnoticed,
everyone living in the nation and help to
such as sexual harassment, discrimination,
promote good ethical practices (Pedersen,
misusing company information and assets,
2007). Here're some of the popular ethical
etc (Cullen, 2018). It damages the image,
laws of the UK.
and the organisation have to face legal
penalties and other restrictions. All these The Equality Act 2010

things destroy the harmony of the The Equality Act 2010 ensures that all the
workflow, affecting the organisation, employees within an organisation must be
employers, and employees as a whole. treated with equality irrespective of

Still, some companies exist that are gender, age, religion, caste, colour etc.

creating an example towards others by Such law abidance is seen at Cadbury,

upholding workplace and organisational which encourages diversity in the

ethics. Such a company is IBM which workplace and selects employees from a

spends over $25.8 billion in 2018 to wide range of categories.

promote its values and ethical standards The Consumer Act 2015
globally among its stakeholders. It has
The Consumer Act 2015 ensures that
policies of genetics privacy and LGBTQ
businesses must serve the consumers with
Equality for its employees. IBM's
good, serves, and digital contents that have
Principles of trust and transparency is the
satisfactory quality, fits the purpose, and
representation of the ethical standard of
the condition is as described by the seller
this new era of technology. These things
(KUL, 2017). Cadbury is such a company
and many others have increased the
that always ensures the quality of its
credibility of IBM, which helped gain trust
products, puts proper labelling and
and support from people worldwide. That's
maintains the highest safety standards.
why the practice of workplace ethics is so
important for business organisations.

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 Task 2- Create a Cause-and-Effect Essay
Business organisations all over the world have always been in the centre of attraction and talk
for their ethical standards and responsibility towards society. Because every company is
established to serve the people of a community, nation and the world as a whole. As a result,
they have specific roles to play for the people and the overall surroundings, which supplies
the resources to run the organisational activities (Scott, 2019). These roles fall under ethical
standards and social responsibilities. Organisations are expected to fulfil these obligations
without thinking of any profit or benefits. The sole purpose of these actions is to ensure the
betterment of society and its people, who are the reason behind each organisation success and
growth.

There're numerous organisations that have been performing their social obligations
effectively. One such organisation is LUSH, a cosmetic retailer brand of the UK, which is
famous for ethical practices and social responsibilities in business operations. LUSH is an
organic brand and cares for the environment as well. It's promoting a plastic-free future by
offering naked packaging for its products such as soaps, shampoo bars, shower gel etc. This
company alone was able to reduce the use of 800000 plastic bottles worldwide in 2017.
LUSH offers products that are cruelty-free and has a firm stand against animal testing. In
2018, it donated $2.37 million to create awareness for a cruelty-free world (Woods, 2017).
This company also has an Employee Benefits Trust (EBT) to protect employee rights and
maintain equality among its staff. With all these activities, along with many others, LUSH is
effectivity performing its obligations to society.

Every organisation has a few codes of conduct that are expected and mandatory to follow by
all the organisation's employees (Tarafdar and Fay, 2017). Even though some of those rules
and ethical standards may vary within different organisations, many of them are common
which are expected by the public, employers and clients to maintain. However, the lack of
knowledge regarding those rules may cause an employee several issues while working in an
organisation. So here are some common rules which every current and potential employee
must acknowledge.

Maintaining clear and honest communication

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It's the duty of the employee to offer a clear and honest service. The public and clients always
expect a communication or discussion where the employee helps understand everything
clearly and provides honest and truthful information (Sellers, 2010). Failure to do so costs the
company with potential loyalty from the customers, and the employee may have to face
severe consequences regarding the employment.

Pay attention to the client's needs.

The employee has to listen to the customer first. He/she must not try to impose a choice or
preference on the client without observing what the person needs. When the employee pays
attention to a client, that person becomes happy and satisfied. But desperate act and
pressuring the clients damages the company image, and there's a huge chance the client will
never come back to the company.

Make a professional approach.

In every organisation, people expect professionalism with each other especially while doing
negotiation or business transaction (Parding and Abrahamsson, 2010). Clients also want a
professional approach from the employees. But when an employee tries to be over-friendly
and interferes with a client's personal space, it creates irritation and a negative impact on the
client.

Having proper knowledge of the product and services

An employee must know what he/she is offering to the public. The lack of knowledge on
these things causes failure to convince the client to buy the product or service or agree to a
contract, which affects the employee's performance and productivity.

Treat clients with respect and be humble.

There's a saying, "Customer is always right". As a result, it's the duty of the employee to be
polite, humble and respectful towards the clients. He/she must not lose temper in any
circumstance and must be patient (Eimer, 2010). Polite behaviour can turn impossible things
into possible, but a moment of disrespect may cause serious consequences.

The Data Protection Act 1998 was issued to protect the right of each individual's privacy on
their personal data. This UK legislation ensures that no organisation can misuse the general
public's personal data and must take the users' consent before doing anything with their data.
However, after 20 years, this act was replaced by the General Data Protection Regulation

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(GDPR) Act 2018, where updates have been made to ensure more security on data privacy.
Under this act, the legal rights of people are,

The right to be informed.

It's the right of every individual to be clearly informed on how their data is going to be
collected, how they are going to used and be notified on any updates or changes in data usage
(Benedictus De Spinoza and R H M Elwes, 2018). The message must be explained in a plain
language and should be free of charge.

The right to rectification

Each individual has the right to rectify their personal data, and the organisations are obliged
to respond to the rectification. They must inform the third party connected with the data
usage as well.

The right to erase.

The organisations must provide an easy facility or access to data easing or removal to
withdraw their personal data from the servers completely.

The right to restrict processing.

Each individual has the right to stop or restrict the process of data usage by an organisation
and its server whenever the person wants (Hawthorne, 2014). However, certain circumstances
must be met.

The right to data portability

Each individual has the right to transfer or reuse his/her data across different channels as they
wish. However, certain conditions must be met to do so.

From the above discussion, it has been clear that LUSH is a company that is fulfilling its duty
towards social and practising ethical standards in business operations. Also, certain rules
must be followed and maintained by an employee to perform his/her tasks properly and avoid
a negative consequence (Annikki Liimatainen and Al, 2018). Finally, every organisation
should follow the regulation of GDPR and respect induvial rights on data privacy.

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 Task 3- Report
Introduction
Collaborative support is important in every phase of human life. Indeed, people are capable
of doing and achieving lots of glorious things individually, and still, when multiple people
work together, the process becomes easier, clearer, and enthusiastic.

Definition and strategies need to be used for collaborative working.

Collaborative work is when a group of people works together with constant support and
guidance for each other to achieve a common goal—working in a team in an example of
collaborative work (W Brad Johnson and Ridley, 2008). There are multiple strategies for
doing it.

 To ensure collaborative work, the team needs to repeatedly discuss and clearly
understand the shared mission and goal.
 Successful collaborative work requires sharing the reason and expectations for
collaboration to keep things clear.
 Highlighting individual strength is an important strategy in collaborative work
because it lets everyone who is capable of what and tasks are divided accordingly.
 It is essential to share knowledge, expertise and insights for an uninterrupted flow of
collaborative work.

Interpersonal skills for collaborative working.

Collaboration is not an easy thing to do because there're lots of things needed to consider
(Bredeson and Goree, 2012). That's why a few interpersonal skills are always essential for
proper collaborative work.

Open-mindedness

When a group of people works together, it's natural to have a different opinion over
something. However, to avoid conflict and to come to a negotiation, open-mindedness is
important.

Communication

Everyone in a group may not understand the same message at the same (Reed, 2010). That's
why it's important to have proper communication skill to help and support others to
understand.

Adaptability

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Collaborative working doesn't leave the space for personal comfort. Everyone within the
team must adapt to the change to work to achieve the commonly shared goals.

Organisation

In a team, each people have a different way of doing a task (Cullen, 2018). However, in the
end, everyone's work must be organised in a proper manner so that it becomes suitable to
achieve the goals and objectives.

Benefits of collaborative working

Collaborative working has many benefits, perhaps more than working alone. So, here're some
of those advantages.

 Collaborative working saves a great deal of time as multiple people are involved in a
process and supports each other in any problem.
 Collaborative working helps to ensure lots of creativity while doing work because
people these brainstorms together, and the best outcome arrives after rounds of
discussions.
 Collaborative working offers maximised productivity and efficient use of resources.
 It's a great way to engage employees within a workplace and improve employee
relations (Pedersen, 2007).
 It reduces the number of errors in work as people are there for each other and solve
the issues.

Promoting equality and diversity in the workplace

For collaborative work and a healthy workplace environment, promoting equality and
diversity within the employees is important (KUL, 2017). Here's how to do that.

Developing a culture of fairness and inclusion

The organisation and its top-level executives must start and ensure a culture of fairness and
inclusion in the workplace by sending a clear message. They can also lead by example.

Developing a proper code of conduct

A proper company policy or code of conduct is important for everyone to understand what to
do and how to maintain equality and diversity in the workplace. It'll help the new workers
too.

Diversity and equality in recruitment

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The organisation must ensure equality and diversity in recruitment. It should accept the
application from all range of people and evaluate each of them based on equal criteria.

Taking steps against biases and discrimination

It's important to take steps and punish employees who are responsible for biases and
discrimination (Scott, 2019). It'll send a message for others not to behave in that way in
future.

British values of collaborative working

British people are known for upholding a few values that represent collaborative working.
These values help to manage everything in a very smooth and effective way (Woods, 2017).
Such values are democracy, the rule of law, individual liberty and mutual respect and
tolerance of different faiths and beliefs.

While involved in collaborative work, the British people always ensure democracy where
each has their right to say and put their opinion. The final decision is made for everyone's
best interest without doing any discrimination. British values also support the rule of law,
which are applicable to everyone. These laws help to organise things in a proper way and
very effective to resolve conflicts in collaborations (Tarafdar and Fay, 2017). British values
respect and accept individual liberty. Each people have their own way of doing work and
have individual preferences. They can practice individual liberty as long as that is helping to
achieve the common goal. Finally, British people practice mutual respect. In a group, there
are people from different background having different opinion and perception (Sellers, 2010).
However, each of them respects each other and has the tolerance of different faiths and
beliefs to come to a mutual understanding and negotiation that works for the best of
everyone's interest and the shared goal.

Consequences of poor collaborative working

Collaborative working has numerous advantages, but the challenge is to maintain the proper
collaboration to achieve those things. Because poor collaboration doesn't result in anything
good. Instead, it brings various negative consequences,

 Poor collaboration wastes a lot of time. The whole courses of works bring no value,
and the time used to do all those meaningless works becomes completely wasted.

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  Poor collaboration raises low morale among the employees (Parding and
Abrahamsson, 2010). Because no respect for mutual understating was developed, they
tend to start the blame-game to avoid the consequences.
 Poor collaborative working reduces employee productivity, and efficiency as the lack
of proper utilisation makes them unable to use their skills at a maximum level.
 Poor collaborative working wastes a huge number of resources that could have been
used somewhere else (Eimer, 2010).
 Poor collaborative working increases employee turnover, as they don't feel included
and no future for flourishment. They also feel less included.

Conclusion
Collaboration is always desirable to increase efficiency and effectiveness. In all phase of life,
collaborative work brings and adds a great value. However, it's important to apply proper
strategies and follow the guidelines as well (Scott, 2019). But the most important thing is to
build and practice the values of collaboration. So that the process of collaborative work gets
facilitated, and everything can be done adequately.

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