The following work is the result of a theoretical-referential study that explains the necessary presence of communication management in consumer protection, as well as the elements that this Management contributes to information, training and defense of consumer rights. The text consists of three parts, the first covers the conceptualization of communication management, the second comprises an outline on consumer protection and a third where the relationship and importance of communication management for consumer protection is established.
Introduction
Communication since time immemorial has accompanied the human being in its various purposes, although many authors agree that the term comes from communin, common to all, in our days it has become a discipline that seeks to strengthen itself from social phenomena and its inclusion as a transversal axis of the same.
This does not go unnoticed for Consumer Protection, which assumes communication as a vital need for the actions of consumers, the recognition of their rights, and sharing values such as solidarity and responsibility that can be manifested when talking about consumption. sustainable or sustainable.
For Cuba, consumer protection is essential, since this conception contains the very reason for being of the social project. Among the weaknesses that arise in the subject are the lack of information, the ignorance of the rights by consumers, and providers, as well as ignoring the mechanisms that consumers have to claim for the violation of their rights.
There is a point where consumer protection and communication management converge, in the very need to coherently articulate communication processes that serve as support for the defense and knowledge of consumer rights, to denounce unfair procedures that attempt against the consumer.
Based on the foregoing, we aim to explain the importance of Communication Management in Consumer Protection.
I. Conceptualization of Communication Management
Communication Management has gone through different misunderstandings and it has come to think, sometimes, that only a person with a desire to work can carry out the planning of the communication processes that are generated, at other times there has been the case of believing that these Communicational processes manifest spontaneously and there is no need to rethink them on a theoretical and practical basis.
According to Irene Trelles: "as it is known, communication is a complex phenomenon, which mediates the other organizational processes, and is mediated by them, both in the micro environment, of a company or institution, and in the macro environment, the social system with which these companies or institutions are in permanent interaction. Hence the relevance of the approach to the concept of communication with a dialectical approach, since only in this way is the depth and flexibility that its analysis demands possible. ” (Trelles, I, 2004).
Communication management and the processes that accompany it are mediators and mediators of the systems that exist in organizations, therefore they require an in-depth analysis that conceives coherent, integrated and integrative communication actions that include their own review and evaluation of the effectiveness of these processes. It is necessary to examine the organization's policy on the subject of communication as well as the systems, practices and manifestations of its internal and external communication processes and communicational productions.
One of the principles in the management of communication processes constitutes the communication strategy according to (Márquez A, 1999) it must be conceived as a dynamic and flexible system of activities and communication, it is executed in a gradual and staggered way allowing a systematic evolution in the all the participants take part, emphasizing not only the results but also the procedural development itself.
The planned communication strategy that leads to the achievement of the proposed objectives that allow modifying the reality from which it starts without losing the essential of those purposes is essential to the communication strategy as a process. The strategy is specified in plans or programs that respond to daily activities.
(Núñez, C, quoted by Gandol MF and Torres, D. 2005) in this regard states that: "… the strategic is what the planned will of our movement has to lead us in a sense and in a direction; while the tactic is the response capacity that has to be designed according to the obstacles or circumstances that arise from the reality that is imposed on us. The strategic comes from our will, from our dream capacity, from our design capacity, with a realistic sense, by the way, but it arises from our own will. ”
Communication strategies start from these same assumptions, since the effectiveness of any communication, even the simplest suggestion, depends on how, when, where, to whom and for what purpose it is proposed. Communication strategies must be aimed at promoting, developing and disseminating communication activity and public image, both internally and externally, among the personnel who work in the organization, for the organization and its clients or consumers, trying to achieve synergy conducive to the best performance of the organization.
According to ¨ (Pérez, RA, quoted by Trelles, I. 2004) “… that form of symbolic interaction that we call communication, deserves the qualification of strategic when the issuer decides it and prepares it consciously beforehand in order to achieve certain objectives assigned, taking into account the context of the game and the political, economic, socio-cultural and technological trends, and, above all, the possible decisions / reactions of those public - recipients that with their courses of action may favor or harm the achievement of said objectives". Among the author's own presuppositions, it appears that in all human communication a latent intentionality underlies and in the case of strategic communication it is a conscious intentionality, oriented to its control.
The benefits that communication management offers is the improvement of the other systems or processes that occur in the organization, by intervening in intangible values referring to the image, identity, culture and relationships with various audiences. It has unavoidable principles for its study. After a bibliographic analysis, some of these basic principles can be summarized, among which are:
- Clarity regarding the concept of communication with which it operates; Establishment of communication policies, in many cases as a transversal vector to the rest of the policies; Attention to the synergistic approach, and to the comprehensiveness and coherence of communication in organizations; Link between communication management and functional management of the organization; Design of the communication strategy and objectives in the context of the entity's strategy and general objectives, based on diagnostic communication studies; Knowledge of the public, considering among them, both internal and external; Planning of communication activities based on the achievement of objectives by type of audience; Definition of the expected results,costs and deadlines for carrying out communication activities; Establishment of adequate control and evaluation mechanisms for communication actions and plans.
The integration of communicational processes, their structuring, coordination and control in the search for coherence and synergy that allows, the pursuit of understanding and participation of all its members in communicative actions, implies controlling and organizing the communication domain in advance., but above all, manage the future acting from now to achieve, through communication, better coordination with the public and thus a more satisfactory transit between the past state and the future state.
II. Background and Evolution of the Consumer Movement
The movement for consumer rights is not a current phenomenon since remote times there are regulations and laws related to consumer protection; Approximately 2000 years before Christ, the Hammurabi Code, which governed Assyria, the kingdom of the Sumerians, dealt with subjects such as credit, rent, food quality, services, prices, weights and measures, among others. In the Middle Ages religious leaders such as Martin Luther and John Calvin attacked the deceptive practices of merchants and proposed the use of fair prices in the market.
At the end of the 18th century in the United States, some events related to Consumer Protection began, in a very incipient way. For the XIX there is a turn in the movements in favor of the rights of the consumers when being founded in the United States and some countries of Europe, cooperative movements, for the labor rights of the workers, headed by the unions and the subject begins to be treated of education in the domestic economy. "Already in 1899, the National Consumers League appeared in the USA, as an organization that fought against poor working conditions and to perfect the standards under which products were made by many companies" (E, R Balari, 2005).
In England, the first consumer cooperative was formed in 1844 in the city of Rochdal. Subsequently, several organizations succeeded in directing their efforts towards consumer education, the most notable being the American Home Economics Association, which promoted the teaching of home economics in schools and universities, with the aim of educating the management of the family budget and guiding towards higher quality consumption. Initially, the first actions and concern of consumer organizations was precisely to defend the value of money at the time of payment in the market, seeking to obtain the best quality at the lowest price.
Those first organizations that responded to claiming interests did so were organized mainly through Leagues, consumer movements in these first moments were organized for boycotts of buyers to establishments or products; In that first stage they worked to prevent products and medicines that were altered or with the wrong brands from being marketed.
Subsequently, movements in various parts of the world emerged in defense of consumers, using different methods, routes and forms, but all with the aim of protecting the interests of consumers, not only in the act of exchange or consumption, but from the elaboration of the products or the commercial promotion of these, now it is necessary to delve into the matter, no longer to reflect what happened in isolation in one place or another, but to delve into the issue as a movement itself, and its responsibility and role.
For the beginning of the 20th century, a series of laws were approved, the law against mail fraud; the meat inspection law of 1904, and the food and medicine purity law of 1906 that very palely contained some articles for the rights of consumers, with the latter an agency was created to regulate nascent advertising.
At this same stage, 1909, the American Association of Home Economics was founded, the main activities carried out by this organization were aimed at educating consumers regarding the planning of household budgets.
This organization, since 1920, was a forerunner in the possibility of using comparative tests on consumer goods to raise information and guide consumers in the field of home economics, but this intention could not be sustained for a long time due to the conservative position of the Association itself.
Many analysts believe that the culmination of World War I gave a new vision to the consumer movement and consumer protection itself. It is convenient to stop at an interesting aspect, during this warfare the relationship that was established with European products were inevitable. The war also brought as a consequence the irruption in the market by North American companies that included products with European characteristics, offered new products and advertising campaigns in the market, emerging new institutions in charge of protecting the consumer. The Federal Trade Commission, an institution that already existed, acquired more powers to bring criminal action against illegal commercial practices, with books and articles appearing that attacked advertising manipulation,In the 1930s, Consumers Unión and Consumers Research emerged, organizations with similar purposes, in addition to many others that arose and subsequently disappeared.
1960 New Stage for the Movements of Consumers in the World
However, it was not until the second half of the 20th century that the consumerist movements reached their splendor, we consider that the development of national liberation movements in Asia, Africa and Latin America led to a rethinking of concepts, consumption and consumer relations, rights of consumers.
In the United States itself, all the progressive social movements of the time, the struggles against racial inequality, the speeches delivered by Luther K, the rights of the black and the humbler classes created the conditions for a pronouncement, we consider from a speech without greater commitments than those allowed to ensure favorable public opinion, the President at that time JF Kennedy delivered a speech that marked a new period in the work of consumer movements.
On March 15, 1962, US President Jonh F. Kennedy addressed the United States Congress and said: "We are all consumers and being the most important economic group in the world, we continually forget" (E, R Balari, 2000) and in the same speech proclaimed the four fundamental rights for consumers: to security, information, to choose and be heard, these rights were officially recognized in October 1963.
The Declaration of Fundamental Consumer Rights itself led to the founding of the Consumer Advisory Council comprised of academics and civil rights and consumer rights activists, with the responsibility of advising the President on reforms of the laws related to consumer protection, existing to this day a special adviser on consumer issues.
In this same period, a network of private organizations that defend consumer rights was created, with The Nader Network being one of them and of greater strength, Ralf Nader, one of its main leaders has published several books related to the subject, as well as addresses topics such as; taxes, medical care, use of nuclear energy, among others.
In the years previously analyzed at the international level, consumer movements were generated, movements of social non-governmental organizations, whose basic objective is to defend the rights of consumers in the exchange with suppliers. Movements that fight consumerism, in favor of fair and equitable relations.
The very evolutionary process of consumer movements, have come to achieve the approval, by various countries, of rules, regulations and laws for consumer protection, have served to make consumers themselves change their attitude towards the market, from a passive relationship to become consumers, critics, responsible, aware and supportive in the face of the complexities of the business environment.
Association of Consumers in the Third World
It is important to point out Cuba's participation in this aspect and the contribution it has made in these years, not only as an external factor, since the Triumph of the Revolution itself caused a political turn and the need for a correlation of forces on the world scene. The will of the Cuban revolutionary government guaranteed that from the early date of January 22, 1960, "Law 697 of Consumer Protection" was enacted, considered one of the first laws in America and the world whose essential content was to avoid unwarranted price increases. of life, preventing all forms of commercial speculation. Years later, as a result of the nation's socialization, this law became obsolete.
The consumer protection movements in Third World countries, emerging in 1965 the first organization of this type in Malaysia, thus similar organizations appeared in countries of Asia, Africa and Latin America, being the fundamental direction to which they directed their efforts that of trying to satisfy the basic needs of consumers, logical if one takes into account the market economy in which they moved, living the great popular masses in very difficult conditions of misery and famine and extreme poverty.
In the case of our continent it was in Mexico where the first consumer organization emerged in 1970 with the name of Mexican Association of Studies for the Defense of the Consumer, later similar organizations emerged in Jamaica, Curaçao and Brazil until today they came to exist in Most of the countries of the continent including the Caribbean, in 1975 Mexico established its legislation on consumer protection, as well as a good part of the rest of the countries of the continent create their consumer protection laws and other legal norms related to the matter., which have been aimed at solving the main problems, especially the elementary satisfaction of consumer needs.
From the struggles of consumer organizations, more information has been obtained for consumers, education and therefore protection, achieving knowledge of the real cost of goods and services, including information and including the ingredients on the labels. of the products or nutritional information, date of elaboration and expiration, and especially the veracity in the information that is provided by any means to consumers, in order to avoid premeditated deception or not to them.
Said organizations demand that the safety of toxic or dangerous products be reviewed, reaching entities that are sanctioned for non-compliance with the provisions, just as in some countries the movement has managed to include, on their behalf, representatives in Boards of Directors of Companies, which obviously serves to ensure that their criteria are taken much more into account by employers.
Consumer Movements Today
Currently, the consumerist or consumer movement is considered to be a social movement of non-governmental organizations, consumers, entities that market or provide services, and governments themselves, with the basic objective of defending consumer rights. at any time of the economic cycle.
It is appropriate to refer in particular to Resolution 39/248 of April 9, 1985 of the United Nations General Assembly, which in essence contains the General Guidelines of the United Nations Organization for Consumer Protection, where reflects the responsibility with the theme of the Governments of each signatory State to the General Charter of the United Nations, in which the legitimate needs of consumers appear.
The legitimate needs that the guidelines seek to address are the following:
a) The protection of consumers against risks to their health and safety;
b) The promotion and protection of the economic interests of consumers;
c) Consumers' access to adequate information that allows them to make well-founded choices according to the wishes and needs of each person;
d) Consumer education; including education on the environmental, social and economic impact of consumer choices
e) The possibility of effective consumer compensation
f) The freedom to form relevant consumer groups or other organizations and the opportunity for those organizations to make their views heard in decision-making processes that affect them
g) The promotion of sustainable consumption patterns
Derived from the results in the 1960s of the 20th century, the International Organization of Consumers Union appears, which in 1993 would adopt the name of Consumers International.
Currently, after a process of complexization of the role of organizations that defend consumer rights, the formation of values is pursued, the promotion of sustainable consumption that does not compromise the survival of future generations and the need for sustainable development, where resources are not squandered and the possibility of renewal, together with the social responsibility of companies, the fight centers on the need to pass, consumers of objects of relationship in that market, to citizen consumers, critics, responsible, conscious and in solidarity. Consumer movements, today their struggles are also based on the reduction of the adverse effects of the globalization phenomenon.
III. Relationship and Importance of Communication Management for Consumer Protection.
The consumer can often become a disadvantaged actor in the face of irregularities in the provision of services and products that he is subject to, he can intuit that it is an unfair attitude, but he is generally unaware that there are regulations and mechanisms that protect him, this It can be motivated by several elements, however the lack of information and training, weighs on this problem.
The broad spectrum of issues that affect the consumer, highlights the need to define not only the communication channels or channels through which to inform and educate the consumer population, which would remain an unrelated aspect to the other elements that comprise the communicative processes, also involves determining the perception of consumers on the subject, the meaning that consumer protection has for them and how they manifest themselves before the complaint mechanisms.
The elements that make up the external communication processes must offer consumers what or which data is relevant for decision-making about each product or service so that they can be sufficiently informed before purchasing them. One of the situations that occurs with the presence of consumer protection as an issue in the media is that when the rights of consumers are violated, the fait accompli and preventive control appear, often lagging behind, for which which would be beneficial to provide information about the rules or regulations to both consumers and suppliers.
Communication management and consumer protection works as cross-cutting axes in organizational strategies, communication processes in consumer protection, must be addressed from the internal level, that is, the communicational generation of suppliers, how the internal messages of the organizations to which they belong, how they obtain the guidelines, to what extent they are for the benefit of consumers, what are the purposes of the communication they establish, if they really have their point of attention in respect of rights and responsibility social that they have for consumers.
Through management in internal communication, the deployment of all the communication apparatus intended for providers can be facilitated in order to:
- Promote communication between them.. Facilitate integration between personal and institutional achievements Reduce the sources of internal conflict by strengthening the cohesion of the members Contribute to the creation of spaces for information, participation and opinion
The way in which the internal communication processes are generated in the organizations will be the perception that the consumers have, it is necessary to stop at this point, since it can be definitive to avoid the violation of consumer rights.
It is necessary to work towards a communication management in consumer protection that is interactive, where the consumer can become not only a receiver, but also the sender of his own messages, based on the knowledge that one has about the needs, motivations and perceptions. Of these, delving into the topics that they would like to deal with in the messages, in which way, through which channels and to establish circular feedback that allows the fusion of the elements that make up the processes, for the benefit of both consumers and suppliers, it is possible to design well-conceived, short messages with clear language that give the consumer an identification with the subject. “This way of looking at the process establishes the same conditions for those who intervene in it, while specifying the relationship and influence,that the environment that serves as a stage, has on it, as well as the social practices in which it is inserted and to which it serves as a basis "(Saladrigas, H,.2004)
On the other hand, the transmission of messages destined for consumers, needs the professional elaboration of the same for their diffusion in a wide population simultaneously. These messages must be delivered in open contexts, in a variety of ways. However, when addressing consumers, a comprehensive, organized, and synergistic dissemination and education system must be promoted to publicize the basic aspects of consumer protection. It is necessary to be very careful when providing the information, not to create false expectations for consumers that the established mechanisms for the defense of their interests cannot meet later..
We consider that disseminating the norms and rights that protect the consumer and what are the mechanisms to enforce them is the point through which an experience of participation and collaboration directed to the decision-making process that allows co-participation among consumers can pass, and Providers. Thus, when the consumer can point out to the service or product provider the fault thereof, or the dangerous or risky aspect, the responsible provider could reconsider the redesign of the service or product in order to satisfy the real need of possible consumers for that product. service or product and preserve the rights of these..
Conclusions
Communication management and the processes that accompany it are mediators and mediators of consumer protection, for which an in-depth study is required that integrates the review and evaluation of the effectiveness of these processes.
In Consumer Protection, the communication strategy is essential as the planned will that leads to the achievement of the proposed objectives in favor of the preservation of consumer rights.
The conceptualization of Communication Management in Consumer Protection must be based on internal and external communication processes in a coherent and integrative way to reach consumers, using a two-way and circular communication model where messages are controlled, giving vital importance to feedback..
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