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Claire Marie BarrettBusiness Communication


P5: Explain the legal and ethical issues in relation to the use of business information

IntroductionIn this assignment I am going to be explaining the legal and ethical issues in IKEA. Legal issues are the laws that the business has to put in place. The Ethical issues is what the business behaviour adheres to. I will also be writing about IKEA’s Organisational polices and how they follow code of practice within their business.

Legal issuesIKEA follows legal issues as it is required to, if the business doesn’t follow the legislation put in place the business could face serious penalties that would affect their business. Legal issues are the laws put in place for

all businesses to follow.

The first legal issue IKEA has to follow is the Data Protection Act 1998. The Data Protection act was created to protect information about individuals stored in the business.

All businesses have to register to the Data Protection Registrar and must follow to the principles of the act. As IKEA the data collected can only be used for specific purposes. The Data must not be revealed to other parties without the consent of the person it is about only if there is another legislation or a valid reason to share that information to others for example in cases involving crime.

IKEA would be committing an offense if it was to share out this information without consent from the individual. If an Individual called IKEA or came into one of the stores to access information about them IKEA would have to show them as it’s their right to see what the business knows of them, IKEA can hold the information to certain expectations if it can prevent crime from occurring. Ikea should only keep the Data of an individual for as long as it necessary to the business.

The information IKEA would collect from customers is their personal details being their full name, email, mobile number and address. If a customer is purchasing products online it would


require them to put in their credit card details so the business can take the money out. This would be helpful to IKEA and the customers as IKEA can get in touch with customers through many different ways, maybe this being sending catalogues to their houses to browse through IKEA latest products or to have a one to one phone conversation with them regarding a service to see if IKEA services were helpful to them. When IKEA has their customer’s personal details although it can be pasted through the people in the company to get in contact with them, it cannot be passed to any other parties and this would go against the Data Protection Act.

Computer Misuse Act is another Legal Issue that IKEA is obliged to follow. As businesses are at risk to having attacks on their computer systems from hackers, viruses, fraud and copyright infringement the Computer Misuse Act was introduced to try and prevent this from happening. This makes it illegal for IKEA to gain unauthorised access to a computer’s data, this includes the illegal copying of programs, and IKEA can’t gain authorised access to a computers data for blackmail purposes, cannot alter or delete stuff from computers and cannot copy programs illegally.

If IKEA doesn’t follow the Computer Misuse Act can face imprisonment for a maximum of 6 months or get a fine. IKEA has


the right to monitor peoples use of their computers within the business, as it’s their equipment is there and would need to make sure computers are being used in the correct way.

Freedom of information Act 2000 provides any individual from the public to access information held by public authorities. The act is there for public authorities to publish definite information on their activities. Members from the public are allowed to request information from public authorities. This Act does not give people access to their own personal data held about themselves this would be under the Data Protection Act 1998.

As IKEA does collect information on all their customers for a period of time, it is right that a person can request to see the information stored on them; if any information is in correct the individual can correct them on the situation. IKEA would keep information on the customers for a certain amount of time, if a customer hasn’t purchased any goods or services for a number of years, it is necessary for that information to be removed as there would be a need for that person’s information to be stored in the business anymore.

IKEA would have information on their customers as they would need to be able to get in contact with their customers that purchase goods/services from their stores.

Ethical Issues IKEA have moral principles that concern the acceptable and unacceptable behaviour within the business. IKEA would have carry out code practices in the business to ensure it maintains ethics on the use of email, internet, whistle-blowing and organisational polices. Code practice is a set of written rules that explains how people in a business should behave.

When an employer in IKEA is writing out emails, when there using their business email they should make sure that their


business email only have emails related to the business and not for personal reasons to contact friends and families. When Staff is writing out emails for example if a customer had a complaint and wrote in to IKEA customer service department, however angry the customer is the employer writing the email should always stay professional and help the customer with their inquiry.

Emailing in the business has the be used in an appropriate way, no employee’s in the business should be using it for to give out information to other businesses to allow them to collect data that is not required for them to have. Emails can also be used to give or receive illegal downloading websites, which can affect the business if an employee was sending illegal information on or receiving it as when it is clicked on would stay on the websites history.

When a member of staff is using the internet in IKEA there are meant to be using it for the right purposes and not go on anything illegal or download anything illegal. As this can reflect badly on the business if people found out IKEA were accessing illegal information.

This would remain on the computers history so could be discovered by anyone using computers at IKEA. As anyone could go onto a computer and go onto the history of the internet and if its anything that is criminal or concerning to the individual would most likely report it to the manager of IKEA and that person that researched illegal things could get serious punishment coming their way.

Whistle blowing would be considered as an ethical issue in


IKEA. Whistle blowing can be done when an employer in the business reported alleged unlawful activity. An employer could make a disclosure for public interest. This can affect IKEA as if the business was accused of doing anything that is illegal or not right, this could give their business a bad reputation and result in the business losing customers.

http://www.wnd.com/2013/03/fecal-bacteria-found-in-ikea-chocolate-cakes/

The website above is an article on an example of whistle blowing happening in IKEA. This website tells people that there has been health authorities checks done in China’s IKEA business and have found high levels of bacteria in IKEA chocolate cakes.

This can affect IKEA business as customers may not purchase foods/drinks from the business as the food is not suitable for people to eat.

Organisational Policy when the business has a guide to follow that determine the business decisions for the present and future and how it can help matters of public interest or any social concern. IKEA Organisational Policy is to secure continuous improvement and be financially independent. IKEA business is organised into four divisions with all different goals to achieve.

The four different divisions in IKEA that the business follows are the franchise division, retail centre division, the property division and the finance division. These four areas are what the business has sectioned into different people to focus on and build in the future and to inform the public on the progress happening in these areas.

Code of practice is what the business focuses on how to achieve the standards required. IKEA does this by running checks on health and safety making sure it is secure for customers to come in and staff to work there as the business don’t want any accidents occurring they will do this by identifying hazards so the customers and workers can be notified and keep safe.




IKEA will try and prevent risks by regularly checking over the building and equipment to ensure everything is safe to use and secure for people to be in the building.

Another way IKEA runs code of practice is to make sure all employee’s in the business are being treated fairly whether it be due to their age, race, gender it is important to have equality in the business and make everyone working their or customers going their feel comfortable and respected.

Conclusion To conclude in this assignment I have outlined the legal and ethical issues with IKEA and how the business puts these issues into practice. I have also described IKEA’s Organisational Polices and Code of conduct.

References http://www.studymode.com/essays/Ikea-Ethics-Issues-And-Business-Practice's-1645627.html

http://ico.org.uk/for_organisations/freedom_of_information/guide/act

Introduction In this assignment I am going to be explaining the operational issues in the well known furniture retailer IKEA. The operational issues IKEA deals with is security of information, backups, health and safety, organisational policies, business continuance plans and the costs in the business.

Security of informationIKEA can protect their security of information by on all computers providing a log in and password so that only the people in the business can access the information.

IKEA would also download antivirus software on all computers within the business so that it can prevent third parties or any hackers from gaining any information from the business. When IKEA is disposing away any old computers they would first securely remove all information on the computer so when it’s passed on cant is accessed by any other person.

http://ico.org.uk/for_organisations/freedom_of_information/guide/act

http://www.studymode.com/essays/Ikea-Ethics-Issues-And-Business-Practice's-1645627.html

http://www.studymode.com/essays/Ikea-Ethics-Issues-And-Business-Practice's-1645627.html


It is important IKEA make sure there information is secure as if it gets in the wrong hands of people it can put the business at risk and in the future effect the business from expanding.

Backups IKEA can backup their information and data by storing all the information on to backup devices for example CDs, hard drives or by installing backup software to prevent losing any information and data that is confidentiality to IKEA.

It is important for IKEA to have back up as if information is lost in the business the business can be at risk in not performing well. It is also important to have backups as people in the business can make mistakes by deleting documents that are very vital within the business so having a back up would be more safe and secure.

Computers in the business can break down or lose all information and data that was stored on it. So it is important not to just save all information on one computer and to save it on other gadgets like UBS’s, sending it to emails, putting it on a disk and more. For example if IKEA had a big presentation to set up to promote a new product and all the information was stored on a computer and that computer didn’t work the next day, the whole presentation wouldn’t be able to go on and the business would have to cancel the event and would make them look bad to customers and other businesses

Health and SafetyIKEA will ensure that health and safety is respected and understood by all its employees. IKEA will do this by making sure that staff have regular breaks to make sure they don’t hurt or tired themselves so they can stay focused on their job and not jeopardising their health and safety. IKEA will make sure staffs know where the fire exits are within the business as there could be an emergency or fire happening. IKEA can also install more security around the business making staff feel safe around the business.


If an accident was to happen in the business, this would affect IKEA as it could include equipment being destroyed or someone being badly injured and this would give IKEA a bad reputation as people wouldn’t feel safe to visit their stores and there was no prevention when those accidents occurred.

Organisational policies IKEA would have organisational policies in the business to have an impact on staff working in the business, the staff should be understandable and consistent to the organisational policies, meet all the legal requirements, take

responsibility for their roles in the business and contribute to productive working relationship in IKEA. Organisational policies guide staff to help comply with the legislation put in place.

IKEA have many organisational policies in place to help the business develop and grow in the future, they do this as a team and allow public interest to be informed on their upcoming plans. This gives employees in the business and customers more trust within the business as there are goals to be achieved.

Business Continuance Plan IKEA business continuance plan put their plan into practice to see if the plan can have time to recover due to business critical business operations minimize their loses, the continuance plan should meet the legal and regulatory requirements.

If an accident occurred in the business where a fire took place or part of the businesses wall wasn’t stable and collapsed the business would have to focus on those places that were destroyed and put in money to help rebuild those areas. This would result in the business having to close their store for the day, employees not getting paid, customers shopping else were and the business not


gaining customers money and not being able to make a profit. However if the business prepared for those situations occurring and had money put aside to repair damage the business could not be affected as much as they would of if didn’t plan.

CostsIKEA costs would consist of the resources the business needs in order run. The business would pay for fire exists so staff and employees can be safe in the business if there is of an emergency. IKEA would pay for good anti-virus systems to protect information and data on the computer.

IKEA would have to manage costs appropriately, by making sure wages are being paid, products are being brought and more if the business does not manage costs sensibly this would result in the business not functioning well and could result in major loss of profit and money.

To avoid this from happening IKEA would work with other departments closely making sure the human resources, finance, marketing and more departments have their budget and sticking to it and that employee’s are being paid the right amount, the right amount of stock being provided within the business and more. If the costs of all the activities happening within the business is running smoothly the business will grow more, as there would be profit coming in the business and the left over money can be contributed to expand future developments in IKEA.

Conclusion In this assignment I have described the operational issues in IKEA and how why the business require these procedures. It is important for businesses to have procedures and policies to help the business reach it long term goals for the future.

Referenceshttps://prezi.com/ecwuif4ppkit/unit4-business-communication-p6/

http://www.rcvda.org.uk/policies_and_procedures.html

http://www.rcvda.org.uk/policies_and_procedures.html

https://prezi.com/ecwuif4ppkit/unit4-business-communication-p6/