Skills for Business Report

This report examines essential business skills, including waste management, diversity, security, and risk management. It analyzes the benefits of minimizing waste, promoting diversity in the workplace, maintaining security and confidentiality, and identifying and mitigating risks. The report uses the British Council as a case study to illustrate these concepts.

SKILLS FOR BUSINESS

Table of Contents
INTRODUCTION...........................................................................................................................1
Task 1...............................................................................................................................................1
a. The benefits of keeping the waste to minimum..................................................................1
b. Following agreeing procedures for recycling, disposing of waste and its management....1
c. Ways to reduce waste in a business environment...............................................................2
d. Suggestions to demonstrate initiative.................................................................................2
e. Evaluation of the impact of change....................................................................................2
Task 2...............................................................................................................................................3
a. Meaning of diversity in Business Context..........................................................................3
b. The benefits of having a diverse workforce.......................................................................3
c. Comparison of how organisations promote diversity?.......................................................4
d. To promote diversity within the place of work..................................................................4
e. Legal and organisational guidelines that govern diversity within a workplace..................4
Task 3...............................................................................................................................................5
a. The importance of security and confidentiality within business environment ..................5
b. Property and information are kept secure in line with organisational procedures and legal
requirements ..........................................................................................................................5
c. The possible consequences in failing to maintain the security and confidentiality in line
with requirements...................................................................................................................5
Task 4...............................................................................................................................................6
a. Risk within a place of work................................................................................................6
b). The source of the Risk.......................................................................................................6
c). The impact and likelihood of a risk...................................................................................6
d). To minimise the impact and likelihood of a risk...............................................................6
CONCLUSION................................................................................................................................6
REFERENCES................................................................................................................................8

INTRODUCTION
In today's scenario, any establishment either educational, institutional, organisational etc.
there is a lot of waste generated and it has become necessary to eliminate such waste with the use
of necessary measures. The measures need to identify the areas where most waste is generated
and have to eliminate it accordingly. It is the duty of any such establishment to take care of waste
management as it ensures that how the establishment is responsible and have its vision towards
sustainability. As I am appointed as an assistant administrator of an educational establishment,
the below report identifies how British Council keeps its waste to minimum and take necessary
measures to maintain it. Also, it explores how in a business environment recycling and disposing
waste is necessary. I
Task 1
a. The benefits of keeping the waste to minimum
 Saves a lot of money
 Makes it possible for British council to change its status from large quantity generator to
a small quantity one, or conditionally exempt small quantity generator.
 Brings new students and personnels with an improved business image.
 It minimizes the risk and occurrence of workplace accidents or worker exposure.
 Helps in protecting the environment by reducing the demand for landfill space, saving
resource and energy and eliminating pollutants and pollution.
 Boosts environmental performance by increasing production efficiency.
b. Following agreeing procedures for recycling, disposing of waste and its management
From following agreeing procedures for the recycle and disposing of waste, British
Council agrees to eliminate wastage from the adoption of various techniques such as:
 Reducing the amount of waste sent to landfills and incinerators.
 Helps in conservation of various natural resources including minerals, timber and water.
 Saving of energy in many ways
 Create jobs in manufacturing and recycling industry in United Kingdom.
c. Ways to reduce waste in a business environment
Reducing wastage in a business environment is essential for the organisation as well for
the environment as well. Below mentioned ways can help in reducing wastage:
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 Reducing: From reducing the usage/purchase of over-packaged items, adopting ways to
print less and print only when necessary.
 Reusing: Making employees reuse items whenever it is possible.
 Recycle: Recycling wastage is the best option that eliminates waste that be used again
such as papers, other stationeries etc.
 Refuse: Refusing items which are not necessary and taking better steps to use only those
which are necessary.
 Re-train: Training the employees and students again and again to take preventive
measures to reduce wastage and looking for opportunities in which better training can be
provided.
d. Suggestions to demonstrate initiative
 By sharing necessary knowledge and helping the colleagues – For the one who is taking
initiative, it is important for him/her to share necessary knowledge and helps its
colleagues. The measures alone will identify what better things can be done to make the
environment better and as required.
e. Evaluation of the impact of change
If the necessary adoption is done, the British council might observe the organisation's
environment being more clean and green. The wastage will be reduced in large quantity and the
same waste can be used as to Recycle. This would keep the nearby environment clean and green
and also would make people healthy. Reduction of wastage and adoption of sustainability can
prove as wonders for British Council and its overall reputation as well.
Task 2
a. Meaning of diversity in Business Context
The meaning of diversity in a business context is when an organisation or business
diversifies itself from following different methods and techniques. These techniques can range
from diversifying the business or its employees, its strategies and the entire organisational
structure as well.(Beebe and Mottet, 2013)
To diversify itself the business takes the help of various advertising agencies, word of
mouth, other businesses etc. In case of diversifying its employee base or working personnels it
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needs to develop strategies to make people of every background, status, class or ethnicity can
become a part of the business or organisation. These measures alone have proved themselves as
best ones in order to gain diversification.(Jain, 2010)
b. The benefits of having a diverse workforce
Diverse workforce plays a key role within an organisation that can make its growth and
development reach to its full potential. Below listed are few benefits of having a diverse
workforce within an organisation:
 A diverse workforce helps an organisation to increase it productivity. Having employees
from different background and ethnicities helps the organisation to gain different ideas
from different perspectives.
 A diverse workforce will have people working with different languages under their
command. This would lead to the organisational growth within different language
contexts and adopt their identities.
c. Comparison of how organisations promote diversity?
Different range of organisations have different set of strategies to promote their
diversities. Below points discusses how they manage to do it with different strategies:
 Organisations establish task forces that helps them in diversification. These task forces
are separately allotted with different each focused on a particular area such as gender,
age, ethnicity, sexual orientation and disability.
 Establishing diversity policies is another option they choose, such as creating diversity
friendly policy etc., to promote diversification.
 By hiring and promoting and setting standards that are based on merit and not quotas
proves itself as another good strategy to diversify.
d. To promote diversity within the place of work
Different approaches are set within British Council in which diversity is being promoted
within the workplace. They ensure to acknowledge differences within people from different
backgrounds. The offer implicit bias trainings for everyone within the organisation. Also, they
provide mentors to different people of different backgrounds. They let people learn by doing,
instead making them teach everything, as it is an easy and better aspect of learning. Along with
it, they ask questions, encourage personal evaluations and value every diversity.
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e. Legal and organisational guidelines that govern diversity within a workplace
Guidelines are essential tool for an administration to function on a better pace. These
guidelines ensure the proper management and people friendly environment. The legal and
organisational guidelines followed by the British council to govern diversity within a workplace
are:
 Fairness: Fairness is concerned with providing equality of justice within a workplace to
every employee.
 Compliance: It is unlawful to discriminate on the grounds of sex, race, disability,
pregnancy and maternity etc.
 Commercial advantage: Providing commercial advantage to its employees is one more
guideline that is followed by British Council.
Task 3
a. The importance of security and confidentiality within business environment
It is important to maintain security and confidentiality within a business environment. In
case, if it is not maintained, it can cause a variety of troubles for an organisation such as, the
client can file legal suits against the organisation if they find some valued information has been
revealed or exploited by the organisation. These factors can create a negative impact on the
business as well. The organisation have to take necessary steps to maintain its security and
confidentiality to the utmost.
b. Property and information are kept secure in line with organisational procedures and legal
requirements
Information regarding organisational assets, its properties of other value is maintained by
keep them safe. It is done by implementing a monitoring and enforcement system. This system
will ensure how the information is set up and is being maintained or monitored properly time to
time. Also, by reviewing progress periodically, the information can be checked and later its
safety and privacy can be made sure. These systems have proven for organisations such as
British Council to ensure better safety and management of its property and management.
c. The possible consequences in failing to maintain the security and confidentiality in line with
requirements.
Consequences in this regard can be proven as very damaging and bad for organisation if
they fail to maintain the security and confidentiality. The information can leak and might get in
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the hands of any criminal and for this the business and its entities can suffer a lot. Along with it,
many wrongdoings can happen to a larger extent where the information has leaked or has been
parted to any other third party. The organisations financial accounts and its information can be
exchanged or damaged.
Task 4
a. Risk within a place of work
Risks include the damage of any property, place or person or facing any difficulty to
manage its functions effectively, can cause disturbances in workplace where it might find hard to
manage its internal and external environment as well. These risks should be avoided to make the
organisation's functioning smooth and easy. (Stowe, Parent, .et.al 2012)
b). The source of the Risk
The sources of the risk can be many ranging from external or internal. Internal risk can
include employee disturbances, stealing, management problems etc. External risks includes
factors such as market problems, competitor threats etc.
c). The impact and likelihood of a risk
The impact of the risk is depended on its factors and its causes. Any risk can be a little or
very much damaging to the organisation. For this, the organisation has to ensure that it deals with
every situation while observing the risk factor. Its likelihood can be determined by various
leading factors such as if something that needs to be rectified has been left or anything factor
might leading to it has left unnoticed.(Gray, 2010.)
d). To minimise the impact and likelihood of a risk
Risks can be eliminated if proper guidelines have being followed and taken care of.
These guidelines ensure the very minimum occurrence of it and would lead to smooth
functioning. They include better governance, prevention, response, managing hazards and
recovery.(Calma, 2013)
CONCLUSION
The above report explores how British Council keeps its waste to minimum and take
necessary measures to maintain it. Also, it explores how in a business environment recycling and
disposing waste is necessary. Along with it, it explains diversity, risk management and the
effective management of properties and security with an organisation.
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REFERENCES
Books and Journals
Beebe, S.A. and Mottet, T.P., 2013. Business and professional communication: Principles and
skills for leadership. Pearson.
Jain, V., 2010. Survival skills of business management graduates: A study with reference to
retail and banking. Far East Journal of Psychology and Business, 1(4).pp.59-77.
Stowe, K., Parent, J.D., Schwartz, L.A. and Sendall, P., 2012. Are Students Prepared to Present?:
An Analysis of Presentation Skills in Business Schools. Journal of the Academy of
Business Education.13.
Gray, D.E., 2010. Towards the lifelong skills and business development of coaches: an
integrated model of supervision and mentoring. Coaching: An International Journal of
Theory, Research and Practice, 3(1).pp.60-72.
Calma, A., 2013. Fixing holes where the rain gets in: Problem areas in the development
of generic skills in business. Journal of International Education in
Business, 6(1).pp.35-50.
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