ACTY5700 - Professional Practice - Business Assignment Help

Assignment Task

Describe the following concepts:
Communication Process. Give real life examples
Communication includes encoding, filtering, sending, noise, receiving, decoding and feedback (Musika, 2021a).
The communication process begins with a message, which can be verbal, written, or visual. Written communication can be anything from a text message to a news article that conveys a message. Verbal communication is a message delivered when one speaks. Visual communication can be in the form of a red traffic light that delivers stopping (Musika, 2021b). 
When there is a message that needs to be delivered, a person must choose the medium they will use to send the message, such as verbally, written or visually, which must complement the content of the message. It is essential to match the content of the message and the form in which it gets delivered, or else there will be an interference in the communication process. For example, if an employee must ask their manager a short, simple question, it would be better to do so verbally, as written form might make the communication process take longer. The way a person chooses the medium to match the contents of their message is known as encoding in the communication process (Musika, 2021c). 
Following encoding is filtering, which is the psychological process that involves filtering out unnecessary messages, which happens for both the sender and receiver of the message. An example of filtering would be if two people were having a conversation at a loud party, both individuals will filter out the background noise and focus solely on the conversation they are having (Musika, 2021d). 
Noise in the communication process is a noise that can interfere with the message getting received. For example, if two people were having a conversation and there was a loud noise in the background, the receiver might not fully hear or understand what the sender is communicating (Musika, 2021e). 
Decoding refers to how the receiver understands the message of the sender. However, filtering and noise could change the message getting received, and other sensory factors, such as non-verbal communication, can play a role in the decoding of a message as well. For example, if a manager told their employee that they would be doing well at work but did so with an angry expression, it might make the receiver think they were sarcastic, which alters the content of the message (Musika, 2021f).
Lastly is feedback in the communication process. Feedback from a receiver to the sender of the message is vital in the communication process. Feedback gives the sender insight into how the message was received. For example, if a manager gave a positive message to an employee, but the employee gave feedback that the message was negative, the message got distorted in the process, allowing the sender to reiterate the message (Musika, 2021g).
Business Ethics. Give real life examples (15 Marks)
Business ethics is about the behaviours concerning any moral issues that happen in businesses. Ethics allow people to decide what to do in any given situation (Musika, 2021h).
In business, there are ethical obligations to employees, shareholders, customers, and the community. An example of ethical business behaviour would be paying fair wages. Being ethical in business has many advantages, such as improving productivity, improving the work atmosphere, and creating ethical standards for employees to follow (Musika, 2021i).
The process of ethical decision making is first determining what the ethics of a situation are, gathering essential information and testing decisions. However, many situations might tempt a business to act unethically, such as changing accounting figures. When there is pressure to act unethically, the first step would be to sympathize with the situation but not compromise one’s ethical values. Secondly, it is essential to make the other person responsible, following one’s refusal in the unethical behaviour. Following that, one must stay firm in their decision and take reasonable precautions like keeping a paper trail of encounters (Musika, 2021j).
Ethical management is responsible for profit, employees, values, and the planet. Ethical management should promote ethical behaviours by creating an ethical program for employees, creating a code of values, and creating policies that reflect how the business acts ethically. Being ethical in management brings many benefits, such as integrity, transparency, and utilitarianism (Musika, 2021k).
However, in business, employees may still act unethically. For example, employees may abuse sick leave, lie to customers, and cover up their mistakes. When this is the case, sometimes a workplace intervention will occur, which is used to help the employee handle unethical behaviour. The steps to intervening with an unethical employee are creating an action plan, having the groups meet and getting a professional to help the situation (Musika, 2021l).
Luckily, in most companies, there are principles, safeguards, and codes to ensure the business and its employees work ethically.
Maori Tainui Investment Group is asking for your evaluative opinion whether to adopt Appreciative Inquiry Communication process with their Iwi stakeholders. Required: Evaluate the reasons for and against of using Appreciative Inquiry communication process in relation to organisations such as The Tainui Investment Group. (20 Marks)
Appreciative Inquiry is a “strengths-based” approach because it highlights positive ideas instead of identifying negative problems. The model uses questions that help participants uncover existing strengths, advantages, or opportunities in their communities or organisations and then collaborate toward creating and applying strategies for development (Organizing Engagement, n.d.).

Using Appreciative Inquiry holds many benefits to an organisation such as the Maori Tainui Investment Group. By changing the focus from problem-related to possibility-related, appreciative Inquiry could enhance companies own strengths. When identifying achievements over losses, a company builds confidence. Through this confidence, their Iwi stakeholders will feel positivity that will motivate them (Hargraves, 2021a).

Another benefit of appreciative Inquiry is that it increases collaboration and appreciation between stakeholders. Hearing positive stories and values between stakeholders builds mutual understanding, which ultimately increases collaboration and teamwork. As teams focus on their strengths, other hidden abilities and talents begin to appear, and all stakeholders begin to thrive (Hargraves, 2021b).

Additionally, many problems can be resolved when there is a focus on strengths. When there is any difficulty with a specific stakeholder, the business can focus on that person’s strengths and look at what is not working. From a strength-based approach, they can figure out how to overcome the issue by implementing what they are already good at and making adjustments to improve from there. Additionally, when there is a conflict between two people, appreciative Inquiry can focus on each person’s strengths and consider ways to work together (Hargraves, 2021c).

Although appreciative Inquiry has many benefits, there are also disadvantages to consider.

In a business like the Maori Tainui Investment Group, stakeholders do not think or act the same way. For some people, imagining the worst-case scenario is an effective mechanism to plan how they would deal with any given issue. When they get forced to only focus on the good, their anxiety might become elevated, and their performance could decline, according to Rogers et al. (2003a).

Another disadvantage of appreciative Inquiry is that bad performing employees or other stakeholders might not know that their performance is bad, as the company solely focuses on their strengths. By not communicating this, the person could never know that they are not performing well and will continue to do so without change, as they are unaware of the situation. When a company has bad performing employees, who are unaware of the situation, they can face a decrease in productivity.

Additionally, when focusing on the positive, there might be an attitude that there are no issues that need reviewing or solutions. When stakeholders do not face or consider problems, there might become avoidance to solving the problems, which can cause significant problems for a company (Rogers et al., 2003b). The factor of ignoring problems is the biggest risk for appreciative Inquiry.

While appreciative Inquiry has benefits for a company such as Maori Tainui Investment Group, there are also disadvantages. However, a company can succeed using this model if they understand that focusing on the positives does not mean that they must ignore the negatives but face their problems positively and meaningfully.
In New Zealand, businesses can choose to pay minimum wage or living wage. Is it an ethical business practice choice if a New Zealand business chooses to pay minimum wage instead of living wage? Give reasons for your answer. (10 marks)
By law, companies do not have to pay living wages; they must only pay minimum wages. However, it is unethical to pay minimum wage instead of a living wage.

Paying fair wages is an ethical obligation that companies have (Masika, 2021m). However, the minimum wage is not necessarily fair, as many people cannot survive on minimum wage and are in poverty.

Utilitarian ethics is an ethical theory that states that the most ethical choice will have the best outcome for most people. However, paying minimum wage will only benefit the company and not the employees, and therefore is not the outcome that benefits the most people and is not the most ethical choice.

Companies that state that they care about their employees but choose to pay minimum wage show their employees through actions that they are not honest and act unethically.

Ultimately, ethics is about what is morally correct. Allowing employees to work while hardly making enough money to support themselves or those living in unhealthy conditions is morally wrong, and therefore, is unethical.

Paying living wages also has many benefits for a company. Firstly, paying a living wage reduces employee turnover and ensures that employees do not leave. Secondly, paying living wages ensures more productivity within the company as employees would feel more motivated working in a company that mutually cares about their employees.

Although ethics differ company from company, I believe that it is ethically wrong to pay minimum wage over living wage and paying living wages brings many benefits to a company.

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