Business Law and Events Management - Essay Example

? Business Law al Affiliation: Business law and events management. Business laws refer to laws that regulate business entities from simple businesses, such as partnerships, to larger business corporations. Different businesses are bound to follow the existing business policies governing their business world. Just like any other form of business, the events industry is governed by the ethical principles. This is because ethical values are closely related to the legal principles (Cook, 2009, pp 110). However, ethical principles and obligations typically exceed legal duties. In some instances, the laws have mandated ethical conduct. For example, ethical conduct is vital for application of laws affecting employees, the federal regulations and the code of ethics. However, the law does not prohibit most of the acts that would have otherwise been condemned to be unethical, and vice versa. The law prohibits acts of some groups of people and, therefore, when organizing for an event it is relevant to do a background check on the laws that impact the industry. For instance, there are several laws that have been enacted to protect employees in the events industry against poor perception by the society (Knight, 2009, pp 108). These laws are protected by the department of Labor in the United States, and they directly affect the standards of the better part of the society. The events, planning and catering companies have set their own business code of ethics for their organization. Majority of the private companies and organizations in most of the instances establish their own codes of ethics. These laws are written in a manner that can be understood easily. Although the government does not enforce the codes, the laws are enforced internally at the organization. The violation of the laws can lead to termination of the contract. However, some of believers of the company may not be perceived as ethical. For example, the corporate dress code is not defined by the ethical law as it is in the company’s code of ethics to determine the appropriate choice for their dress code. Sustainability has been on the rise in both its scope and use amongst the corporations for the past 25 years. There is a mounting pressure for companies to regulate the social and environmental impact of the events they organize. It is critical, therefore, to apply sustainability indicators to the events industry. Mitigations in place vary since companies differ widely. This is because events are unique, and occur in singular occurrences. These occurrences involve huge uses of resources that have to be managed over a relatively fixed period of time (Cook, 2009, pp 99). In addition, resources for facilitation of events require the acquisition and management in a temporal manner, which has huge impacts on the upstream effects on the availability of the suppliers as there is a limited time to earn the suppliers trust. Events are site specific and not operational specific. Therefore, events planners have a huge task of management of the resources. However, like other businesses, the events industry spans different sectors, which demand the implementation of guidelines to manage. Sustainability in the events companies falls under the categories of communication, food and beverages, procurement of the services, transportation and waste management. The events industry is regulated by the marketing and creativity strategies. Some of the clients budgets maybe big enough to accomplish their need effectively. It is relevant to do competitive analysis as the event planning market is fierce: depending on the target of the corporate market. 4. Contract and agency laws Charity events form significant events organized in renowned hotels. The organization of the events involves a lot of planning and coordination to ensure that all the activities work hand in hand as suggested by the contract (Cook, 2009, pp 101). The contract sets out the details in clear terms. It also gives each of the party’s risks and responsibilities. It also gives details on the emergency plans set for solving problems as it gives a clear description on the ways of solving problems that are not anticipated (Fenich, 2008, pp 116). In the contract, as an events manager, one needs to clearly spell out the general requirements for running the event successfully. The manager has also to be vigilant when discussing the terms and conditions of the contract through the use of email. It is also important to read the questions clearly, and the provisions of the contract to ensure that the manager fully understands the needs and the operational mandate of the company or the hotel (Masterman & Wood, 2006 pp 100). Some of the provisions to look for in a contract include: 1) Indemnifications. Indemnification required has to be mutual. For effective services, negligence of the venue has to be a critical fault on the events planner as the guests are in charge of the venue and, therefore, maximum care has to be taken into consideration. The responsibility of the guests, members and invitees is on the coverage limit of the groups authorizing the event and should be strictly adhered to by the organizer to avoid betrayal and misuse of the hotel facilities. 2) Performance guarantees and fees. Provisions for food and beverages should be enough, and the minimum amount that can be supplied to the event needs be a conservative estimate. This is to avoid embarrassment in case food and beverages run out while the event is ongoing. In the case of attrition, it is essential to base the fees on the profits expected form the business rather than on the revenues. For example, 70-80% of the revenues can be factored in for the rooms while 30-40 % can be factored in for food and beverages. However, it is of concern to critically consider the performance fee as in some instances the vendors might at some point double up the performance fee. The hotel is required to mitigate damages and negotiate for the repeat of business in less cost. 3) Cancellation of venues. In the event that the venue has to be cancelled, as some of the venues might try to reserve the venue for the right contract, the events manager should sign the contract indicating rejection of cancellation of the venue. Cancellation of a venue can lead to inconveniences as it mean that a new venue has to be sought. However, in the event of dire need for cancellation of the venue, one of the parties can impose steep fees on the grounds of cancellation. The party can be given the opportunity to negotiate on the cancellation fees. However, there are instances where the cancellation is done without liability in certain cases such as the human calamities, the construction and renovation of the venue, and bankruptcy of the venue (Fenich, 2008, pp 106). Therefore, as an event manager, it is critical to consider clearly the need for a background check of the hotel before making reservations for a venue. Other related issues that have to be considered include; i) Alcohol service. In all meetings, the risks are lower when there is no alcohol. The 43 states plus the District of Columbia have a sort of drama shop law. Some of the states also have enforced laws to regulate and control the liability. To minimize the risks, the alcohol at the venue needs to be served by a vendor from the hotel, restaurant or a different caterer. There should be a provision in the contract explaining where the vendor assumes liability for the services and indemnification of the group in the event of liabilities. ii) ADA compliances. This exists in two parts where there is a need for the physical accessibility. There should be services for wheelchair access and also comfortable accessibility and participation. In this case, there is a need for close captioning, legibility and sign language as well as the services of the interpreters. There may be no shift costs to the disabled attendee and the hotel has no right to refuse the undue burden or the fundamental alteration. The facilities also need to confirm compliance with the ADA in the contract. This is because charity events are in most instances attended by NGOs with affiliations from different countries. Furthermore, it is essential to check with the facility for assistance in the provision of auxiliary aids. iii) Insurance. Although some types of events such as charity events that take place indoors are excluded from the coverage under the ASCE’s policies, some of the contract vendors might in some of the instances try to shift the liabilities beyond policy coverage. Therefore, as the events planning manage, it is vital to be aware of terms such as the waiver of subrogation, primary waiver fees and the non contributory fees (Masterman & Wood, 2006, pp 98). There is a need for the consideration of unique events insurance that guarantees safety to all attendees. Also, there is a need for the review of the contract language laws to ensure that the laws are in line with the ASCE’s legal counsel and the insurance brokers. 5. Consumer laws Consumer laws give consumers the right to demand quality goods and services. The consumer protection act provides punishment for businesses that sell substandard goods based on the pricing. In addition, the consumer laws make provisions for damaged and injurious goods. There are several opportunities and threats of ticket touting and scalping to event organizers and customers. The entertainment and the sporting industry have for an extended period formed a major part of the economy. Although it is difficult to establish the clear picture of the level of consumers’ complaints and the detrimental effects of ticket on selling, it is clear that the incidences of complaints from the consumers are minimal. There is a high tendency for the complaints from consumers to emerge when there is difficulty in accessing the tickets. Due to the limited numbers of the events venues, it means that the majority of people will miss out on the tickets. Touting of the tickets inconveniences the events planners as it makes it difficult to approximate number of guests attending the function. Ticket selling has positive and negative impacts on the consumer market, suppliers and the event’s organizers. This challenge is advanced by the difficulty in balancing the access of tickets by consumers and the desire of the organizers of the party to control the pricing of the tickets (Masterman & Wood, 2006, pp 109). The free market economy has emphasized the need for efficient resource allocation. When this fails to occur, it may cause rise to information asymmetry. This could arise when the consumers do not have knowledge about the quality of the products offered by the events. With reference to market clearing from an economic perspective, the secondary market operates in accordance to the economic principles where the market of the products regulates the prices in the industry (Knight, 2009, pp 87). The economic analysis demands that the excess demand for scarce goods such as the number of tickets in the market is directly proportional to the capacity of the event. This creates an opportunity for suppliers, and the ticket sellers to increase the prices of the tickets. According to the welfare economics, voluntary trade is the secondary ticket market resulting from the allocation of resources, which increases the social welfare in the form of attendance to the event. The redistribution of the scarce resources and prices usually increases the efficiency because it channels ticket to the consumers who value their services most. In addition, the existence of unauthorized sellers who manage to acquire large numbers of tickets in the primary market could lead to the distortion of the market: exploiting the off nature of most of the consumers. This creates scarcity for the highly sought tickets leading to the increase in the prices of the tickets. Ticket touting is unfair and inconsiderate as it means that the people who want to genuinely attend the event eventually miss out. The large quantities of the tickets sold out to the touts and scalpers want only to make profits for the high demand of the tickets. In the economy, it might seem to be a good idea to cash in the tickets that have high demands. However, it is a greedy way exploit and makes money out of passionate fans desperate. In an attempt to combat ticket touting, the mobile phone companies such as iPhones and Android have enabled fans to make all the unwanted tickets available demanding that no tickets are made available at more than the face value. Although this application prevents the touts from using the other websites, it allows fans to have an access to the tickets without extortion. Some of the event’s organizers have devised ways through which the tickets have the photograph printed on its face to match the name of the bearer. If the picture does not match the photograph, the bearer is not allowed through. Despite the different ways deployed to control the sale of the tickets, touting continues to pose a challenge. On the other hand, some of the individuals advocate for the scalping and touting of the tickets as they ensure that the events are attended in a full number. For example, in London marathon 2012, some of the organizers of the event assumed that it is illegal, with a number of the sellers of tickets being prosecuted (Masterman & Wood, 2006, pp 109). This led to fewer people attending the event. Most of the sellers were trying to make ends meet amidst the hard economic times. It was an attempt at making ends meet. 7. Employment laws. Employment law has the charge to mediate the relationships between workers, employers, trade unions and the government. The employment laws are the social standards for the minimum socially acceptable conditions with the employees. There should be several guidelines that have to be followed to ensure that the employees to the events company are qualified and have the necessary experience (Cooper et al., 2003). The aim of the employment guide is to protect the health and safety of the employees from hazards arising from the event's entertainment activities by elimination, or minimizing the risks to health arising from carrying out the entertainment activities identified; and the resultant risks to health and safety assessed and controlled. The events job market is fiercely competitive as most of the universities and colleges have grandaunts from the relevant courses. With reference to talent there are many grandaunts and professionals, therefore, making it difficult during talent identification (Fenich, 2008, pp 89). The talent pool outweighs the availability of the job. There is a growth in the freelance pool of people willing to offer their services, but there is a significant variation in the quality of services offered. It is difficult to identify the special talents that make the employee stand out of the crowd. Most of the events companies complain that there is lack of the experienced staff for employment and also senior staff and this causes challenges for the companies and the event’s organizers. In critical times part time short contract employees can be preferred. However, the events companies can have to choose the employees that have the experience of managing multiple events making it invaluable. Voluntary work in the events company is a sign of the potential of the candidate to commit and determined to enter the events company. However, to be in opposition to gain voluntary roles in the company is not an easy thing as it demands outstrips of the suppliers. Many catering and events planning companies receive a lot of applications from students to carry out voluntary roles within their organizations. This is because they believe that such a chance gives them the chance to grow in their careers. The events jobs are very competitive and require that an individual should have a faster and aggressive way of seeking for the potential opportunities for job. Employees with the best talent in the market are gravitated naturally towards the best businesses in the industry. The best employers with the best reputation have people always willing to work in their companies as there is an increasing trend in the social media and the personal networking for the contacts to seek out good candidates to fill in their positions. These classes include the highly wages lovely occupation and the low wages lousy occupation. The Middle class jobs hollow out with time as the jobs gain currency. Most of the routine works is the middle waged jobs. These jobs include administrative jobs as well as other operative jobs in the events industries. Where there is a reduction in the job opportunities, the market tends to move towards the high wages and high skilled, routine work at the top of the market. The non routine service sector jobs occupy the bottom end of the chain. There is an assumption that the hollowing out of the middle class jobs has contributed on the higher side to the creation of inequality in the job market (Fenich, 2008, pp 199). The changes in the non routine jobs have not been the focus of attention. Despite the title of the job, research has proved that most of the people and the labor force are still paid less than what they are supposed to be paid given their job titles. There has been growth in the unpaid jobs within the category of the well paid jobs. For instance, most of the managerial jobs which are supposed to be well paying job has been converted to payment depending on the company (Knight, 2009, pp 109). Most of the attributes and causes of the increase in the less paying jobs within the highly paying job groups can be attributed to the increasing inflation and the changing trends in the events job industry. There is a limited increase in the amount of earnings increase from the recent past. This can be attributed to the elevation in the numbers of qualified individuals who compete actively for a given position. In addition, a shift in the occupational structure has on a greater margin played an enormous role in the growth of the lower jobs. Recruitment and selection activity is normally presented as a planned, rational activity. The recruitment of new employees has to be in line with the employment acts and laws. This comprises of sequentially linked phases within the general process of employment the aspect of employee resourcing is faced by a multiple of difficulties. For instance, the processes of interviewing are currently viewed by the jobless as unreliable in the forecast of the performance output of the employee. The advancement of education and the union membership has also suppressed the relative growth in the wages at the middle class employment. In a wider view, there has been a decline in the high waged jobs which have been linked to the increase in the low wage jobs within the events job industry (Cooper et al., 2003). The product rolls out as well as the training of the other employees is under the organization of the human resource department. This involves the teaching of new employees the new skills which is an aspect of development. Most of the organizations normally benefit from the organized and streamlined trainings. In terms of career development, which is essential in the preparation of the retiring employees foe the replacements, companies need to have strategic plans on the ways through which they will respond to the changes. References Cook, M, 2009, Personnel Selection: Adding Value Through People (5th edition), John Wiley, London. Cooper D, Robertson I & Tinline, G, 2003, Recruitment and Selection: A framework for success, Thomson. Fenich, G.G, 2008, Meetings, expositions, events, and conventions: an introduction to the industry (2nd ed.), Pearson/Prentice Hall, Upper Saddle River, New Jersey. Knight, J, 2009, International perspectives of festivals and events: paradigms of analysis, Elsevier Science, Oxford Masterman, G., & Wood, E. H, 2006, Innovative marketing communications: strategies for the events industry, Elsevier/Butterworth-Heinemann, Oxford. Read More