Another would be to report any type of discrimination (be it to yourself or others) to the person responsible to dealing with it (be it a manager or supervisor etc)
6. Briefly explain the benefits of making sure equality and diversity procedures are followed in a business environment. Your answer should include one benefit for the employer, one benefit for the employee and one benefit for the overall organisation.
A benefit for an employer is that people will want to work for them so they may be more likely to find the right person for the job as there will be a bigger pool of candidates to choose from.
A benefit for an employee would be that they would be happier and they would have more job satisfaction and want to go into work each day without fear of being bullied.
A benefit for the overall organisation would be that there may be increased quality in their product or the time it takes to get the product to the customer this is because the company will have chosen the correct staff for the job and trained them properly so the staff will know what they are doing and will take pride in their job and doing it right, this is not guaranteed but there is a higher chance of this happening if equality and diversity procedures are followed.
Section 2 – Understand the purpose of health, safety and security procedures in a business environment
1. Identify employer and employee responsibilities for health, safety and security.
If possible, provide relevant health, safety and security policies / documents from your workplace (or place of study) to support your answer. These documents should be annotated to highlight the relevant sections.
Employers
Make sure all machinery/equipment is in correct working order before the shift starts, have someone trained and qualified to do so go round and check that all machinery is working and if it is not put up signage to show this and get the item repaired, this would stop people using faulty machinery and lower risks of people getting injured.
Employees
Report accidents or near misses straight away or as soon as possible to a senior member of staff and record in an incident book the situation can then be looked at and procedures can be put in place to stop other members of staff getting injured in the same way.
Both employers and employees must also follow data protection laws for example making sure that all records kept on people are relevant, up to date, adequate and only kept for as long as necessery
2. Explain the purpose of following health, safety and security procedures in a business environment.
The purpose of following health, safety and security procedures is to minimise risks of anyone coming to any kind of harm and to ensure that there is a safe and secure working environment.
Health and safety regulations are set by the health and safety at work act which is a piece of legislation covering health and safety at work and states that everyone in the workplace is responsible for health and safety, risks are minimised in the workplace by making sure everyone has adequate training and if these laws are not followed then employers and employees are at risk of fines, prison sentences and businesses being shut down.
3. Describe three different ways of maintaining a safe and secure business environment.
1. Prompt reporting – Make sure any accidents are reported in the work place so they can be reviewed and the risks of accidents happening in that way again may be able to be removed or reduced
2. Personal Conduct - Making sure you remove any risks you find or cause in the work place to reduce the risks of yourself of others coming to harm.
3. Awareness and Observation - Make sure you are aware or your surroundings and observe others to make sure they are not doing anything that could put yourself, them or others in any danger
Section 3 – Understand how to communicate effectively with others
1. Complete the table below with descriptions of different methods of communication. You should include two verbal, two non-verbal and two written methods of communication.
2. Using two specific examples, explain how to choose the most appropriate method of communication to meet your needs and the needs of others.
1. Contacting someone to give them timesheets for work, the best way to do this would be via email (written communication) this would meet my needs as I would be able to attach the information that they need to that email and send a read receipt so I know they have received and read my email, and it would meet their needs because they would be getting the information they needed in a quick and convenient way.
2. Contacting someone to give them a 50% off deal, the best way to do this would be over the phone (verbal communication), this would meet my needs as I would know who I have contacted to give the information, to see if they have any interest in the offer and give them all the information to do with this deal and it would meet there needs as I would be able to ask any questions they have to do with this deal there and then.
I chose these as the best ways of communicating by looking at what I needed to communicate, looking at the advantages and disadvantages off communicating in that way and the advantages and disadvantages in doing it in another way.
3. Describe at least two ways of actively listening.
One would be repeating back what the person is saying to you that way it shows you are listening
Another would be to respond to what the person is saying, this can be something as simple as body language or saying something as small as "uh huh"
Section 4 – Understand how to work with and support colleagues
1. Explain the purpose of agreeing standards for your own work. Give at least two reasons.
1. So you know what you should be doing and when you should be doing it and you can monitor your performance.
2. So other people complete their work on time, i.e. you have told someone you will have a document ready for a specific time and they need it to be able to do their work and you don’t do it on time they then cannot do what they need to do.
2. Explain the purpose of taking on new challenges and being able to adapt to change at work.
Business change their procedures for a number of reasons for example new technology, legal requirements or to meet customers’ needs or expectations, a good employee should adapt to change because if you don’t you may become redundant to the business and no longer fit in to their processes and in the long term there may no longer be a place for you in that organisation.
When I was working in a call centre as an agency temp I had to adapt from becoming an agent on one loyalty campaign to a multi skilled call handler and knowing the processes of 6 different campaigns and being able to answer calls that came through from any of them, because I adapted and welcomed this change I was taken on as a full time member of staff and given more responsibilities.
3. Explain the purpose of treating others with honesty and consideration.
It is important to treat others with honesty and consideration because it contributes to a more productive working environment because if you treat people with respect, honesty and consideration they will be more likely to want to help you, you can do this in a number of ways, one would be by being honest with people, this will show they can trust you and they will be more willing to share information with you and help you. Another would be listening to their opinions and giving them a chance to give you their views on things this will make you seem more approachable so if someone has a problem they may come to you for help rather than hide away until the problem becomes too big to resolve.
Section 5 – Know how to plan own work and be accountable to others
1. Explain the purpose of meeting work standards and deadlines when completing tasks in a business environment.
We have work standards so yourself and others know what when and how to expect something to be done, these should be as precise as possible because someone may be depending on you to do your work in order for them to do theirs for example I currently work as a packer in a warehouse, if someone who works on picking does not do their job quickly enough and within their timescales I have no work to do and the customer does not get their product on time, this could end up costing the company money and makes for unhappy customers.
2. Describe two different methods that you can use to plan your own work in a business environment.
1. Prioritise how urgent or important something is i.e. if something is urgent and important do it first and if it is urgent but not very important do it after
2. Make sure you have a back up plan in case something takes longer than you thought it would try and give yourself a little extra time to complete a task in case it does take longer than you think it could have done.
3. Describe ways of keeping other people informed about progress and compare their effectiveness. What are the benefits and drawbacks of each approach?
1. One way to keep someone informed is to send them an email, for example requesting time off work (holiday) you can send this in an email and the read receipt will tell you that the person you have sent it to has received it so you can keep track and follow up if necessary but if you need the holiday the next day and the person is not in the office that day this could be a very big drawback.
2. Another good way to keep someone informed would be talking to them face to face, for example going and telling someone that there is a problem with a computer and you will not be able to get the report to them at the time you previously specified and telling them an alternative time you may be able to get this to them, this is good because it gives them a chance to ask any questions they have there and then, but if the person forgets that you have given then this information they could say that you never gave them the information and you have no proof you did which is again a very big drawback.
Section 6 – Understand the purpose of improving own performance in a business environment and how to do so
1. Explain the purpose of continuously improving your performance in a business environment.
The purpose of continuously improving your performance in a business environment is that it could make the business more profitable, could lead to job progression like being made a supervisor or manager, rewards like pay rises or job satisfaction because you will be happier with the work you are doing you can do this by learning from mistakes you make and rectifying them, taking constructive criticism or adapting yourself in ways like doing more training to become better at the job you are doing.
2. Describe at least two ways of improving your performance at work. Where relevant, illustrate your answer with specific examples from your own experience.
1. Training is a good way to improve your performance when I was working in a call centre I helped to train somebody on the phones but after looking at his performance could see that he was still struggling so I took him to one side and looked and what he was struggling with and gave him more training on it and after this he was hitting his targets.
2. Ask questions, I find in any job I have ever had that if I don’t know how to do something or feel I am doing something wrong it is always better to go and ask someone more senior if I am doing something correctly or how to do it because it is better to do it right than cost the company money by doing it wrong.
3. Briefly describe at least two different types of career pathways that may be available to you.
1. Find a Full time job as an admin assistant in Northampton by completing this course, updating my CV and applying for jobs.
2. Become a security guard by applying for my security licence and talking to people in the industry to find out where there are jobs available and applying for them jobs.
Section 7 – Understand the types of problems that may occur in a business environment and how to deal with them
1. Identify at least two different types of problems that can occur in a business environment.
Minor problems
Something that you may be able to resolve yourself without the help of others for example a printer running out of paper
Major problems
Something you may have to report to someone higher to be resolved for example a fire in the building this would have to be escalated and my stop a number of people from being able to work.
2. Complete the table below by describing at least two specific problems that can occur at work and how they can be dealt with.
3. Complete the table below by listing at least two problems you are able to deal with yourself and two problems you would need to refer to others to deal with (and how you would refer these problems).
Once you have completed all 7 Sections of this Assessment, go to and send your work to your tutor for marking.
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candyfloss19uk (student)
