LEGAL AND SOCIAL ENVIRONMENT OF BUSINESS Spring 2005 INFORMATION SHEET MANAGEMENT 211 §500 TR 11:10 AM – 12:25 PM WCBA 113 Instructor: Keith D. Swim, Jr. Office: Wehner Building, WCBA, Room. 426 Office Hours: TR 2:15 – 3:45 p.m. Special times can be arranged but they will have to be after 5pm, Friday afternoon or even on the weekends. Any of these special times will be by appointment only. Office Phone: 845-3905 (Note, I WILL NOT RETURN LONG DISTANCE PHONE CALLS!) Text: THE LEGAL ENVIRONMENT OF BUSINESS, 4th Ed. Glasgow, Bierman, Pustay, Rodriguez, Swim Eddie Bowers Publishing, Inc. E-Mail: [email protected] Web site: http://wehner.tamu.edu/mgmt.www/mgmt.211/ Course nature, scope and content The objective of this course is twofold: 1) to develop a broad understanding of the environment in which business firms operate and 2) to apply this knowledge to the critical evaluation of legal and social aspects of the environment of business. Impact of the external environment-legal, political, economic and international-on business behavior; market and non-market solutions to contemporary public policies confronting businesspersons examined including antitrust law, employment and discrimination law, product safety regulation, consumer, protection and ethics. Prerequisites A student must have thirty (30) hours of college credit (sophomore standing) to take this class. This rule is enforced, so if you have less than thirty (30) hours of college credit, please see me at the end of the first class, or as soon as possible. You must also be a business or agribusiness major. Instructor information I am a 1977 graduate of Texas A&M University. I received my doctor of jurisprudence (law degree) in 1980. I am married and have three daughters. I consider my time at home with my family extremely important. However, I also consider you, to be people and not just students, and therefore, very important. So, school time is your time and home time is time for my family. I also teach other college classes. I also have a law practice where I do mostly minor criminal work (DWI, DUI, PI, MIP, Possession cases, etc.) However, I have tried civil cases as well as criminal cases from traffic tickets up to and including, capital murder cases. I teach the College class on Sunday mornings at Cavitt Church of Christ in Bryan. If you are seeking a church home, please come. See me after class for directions and times. In short, I am a busy person BUT I am NOT too busy for my students. If you need help in this class or on matters of a personal nature please do not hesitate to come to my office to talk to me. If your schedule does not fit my schedule, we can make other arrangements. Attendance ATTENDANCE IS STRONGLY ENCOURAGED. There will be material on the exams that is covered in lecture but is not in the book. Current events will also be covered in class and can be on all of the exams. Makeup Tests Test make-ups are strongly discouraged. A make-up will only be allowed if: 1. The student has a valid excuse, which shall be limited to: (a) Participation in an activity appearing on the university authorized activity list (See authorized list on University web-site) [I will also allow make-ups for sponsored activities with prior explanation and approval.] (b) Death or major illness in a student's immediate family (c) Illness of a dependent family member (d) Participation in legal proceedings or administrative procedures that require a student's presence (e) Religious holy day (f) Illness that is too severe or contagious for the student to attend class (to be determined by Health Center physician, director or his/her representatives which is more than the standard “Quack Shack” excuse, which I will NOT accept) or off-campus physician) Note this excuse must come from a licensed doctor (g) Required participation in military duties and(h) Mandatory admission interviews for jobs or professional or graduate school, which cannot be rescheduled. Written, acceptable proof of any of these excuses will be required. (NO EXCEPTIONS) AND 2. Whenever possible, the student must contact me prior to the exam. If there is no personal contact then the student is expected to call me at 845-3905. If there is no answer, the student is expected to leave a message on the answering machine. Note: simply leaving a message on the recorder does not guarantee the excuse being acceptable and the make-up being given. The student must notify his/her instructor or department by the end of the next working day after the absence in order to ensure full rights as per Student Rule 7.5. 3. If the absence is deemed excused by Student Rules (7.1 – 7.4), a make-up will be given on the date specified below and the test will be administered by the graduate assistants. If you have a valid excuse you have up to thirty (30) days to take the make-up exam. It will be up to you to present the written excuse to me during that 30 day period. Prior written proof will be required for all make-up excuses. These excuses will then be reviewed for accuracy and finally approved by me. At that time you will be placed on an approved list to take the makeup test. Presentation of the written excuse should be given to me as soon as possible so the excuse can be verified and your name put on the list of students cleared to take the make-up exam. If your name is not on the approved list 24 hours prior to the makeup test, you will not be allowed to take the makeup test. EVEN A PROPER EXCUSED ABSENCE will only entitle the student to take a make-up, which will not be the same test given in class. The test will either be essay, oral or maybe multiple choice or even true/false. The form of the make-up will be determined totally by the professor. Note: the make-up test is designed to be more difficult that the “in class” exam. If the absence is deemed to be unexcused, or if the student fails to make arrangements and take the make-up as specified, the student will receive a zero (0) for that exam. If the student misses test 3, 4 or the final and does not have the allotted thirty (30) days in which to complete the make-up, the student will have the option to take the test as specified below in #4 or will be given an incomplete (I) grade, so that they can have the entire thirty (30) day period in which to take the make-up, if necessary. The (I) must be