SYLLABUSBUSA 2106:Legal and Ethical Environment of BusinessSummer 2014 INSTRUCTOR: Ryan C. Grelecki, Esq. E-mail:[email protected] TEXT: The Legal Environment Today by Roger LeRoy Miller and Frank B. Cross (7th ed. 2013) is available in print and electronic versions. SUPPLEMENTAL MATERIALS ON DESIRE2LEARN (“D2L”): I will post presentations for each class (after class), cases used in class, instructions for assignments, and the grade book (by user ID and password) on D2L. Cases, which must be read for particular classes as identified on the schedule below, can be found on D2L under Resources>Content>Table of Contents>Cases. I will use D2L to announce changes to the syllabus, post additional information about assignments, etc. and to both make general announcements and answer course-related questions. Check D2L every day to ensure that you do not miss announcements and other course information. COURSE DESCRIPTION: The legal environment plays a significant role in facilitating and constraining business activity. To be competitive, American business must understand and strategically use the legal environment to minimize risk and enhance productivity. This course provides you with an overview of US statutory, administrative, and judicial efforts to regulate business activity in several areas: business entities, corporations, agency and employment law, tort law, products liability, and the protection of intellectual property. Strategic responses to competitive pressures may also require managers to make difficult ethical decisions. After an introduction to ethical theory and decision-making models, we will focus on the application of ethics to business decision-making. COURSE OBJECTIVES: By the end of the course, the successful student should have the ability to: - Describe and apply important legal principles concerning corporations and other business entities, torts, product liability, agency, employment discrimination, intellectual property, and other legal topics important to business professionals. - Communicate effectively about legal and ethical issues using appropriate oral and written conventions. - Evaluate legal arguments and evidence to apply legal doctrine to solve business problems. - Explain how law can be used strategically as a tool to reduce or manage business risk. - Identify and analyze contemporary legal issues to promote an interest in the legal environment and a framework for maintaining that interest beyond the classroom to enhance lifelong learning. In addition, the course is also intended to make you more aware of the impact of law on business operations. As a result of the knowledge and critical thinking undertaken in the course, you should be better able to: - Recognize, assess, and analyze case problems and other legal issues affecting business - Apply legal analysis principles to resolve business problems - Avoid legal problems before they occur and participate more effectively in resolving disputes that do arise - Appreciate the ways in which law both facilitates and restricts business activities Finally, after successfully completing BUSA 2106, the student should: - Be more aware of the complexity and unpredictability of the law, - Be more sensitive to ethical issues confronting business, and - Have a greater appreciation of the role of law and the courts in balancing legitimate, competing interests of the parties. Remember that "real world" legal problems are murky and ill-defined, with neither a clear structure nor a "right" answer. They require analysis, the application of previously learned legal doctrine, and thoughtful judgment to construct and defend a reasonable solution, all skills you will be working on in this courseCOURSE SECTION POLICIES CLASS FORMAT: Class time will be devoted to lecture, discussion, and in-class activities. You are expected to thoroughly prepare each day's assignment, before class, mastering the easier material on your own. We will discuss current legal topics and other legal hypotheticals in class. Accordingly, absenteeism or lack of preparation will have an adverse impact on your grade. ATTENDANCE: Attendance DOES count toward your grade in this class. I love in-class participation, but you cannot participate if you are not there, so I give 2 points for just showing up (and staying). I also quiz, test, and grade papers based largely on what happens and what is said in class, so if you’re not there to hear what I have to say, you will miss A LOT of critical information. Attendance also determines your eligibility for other extra-credit opportunities. Based on all of the foregoing, I will take attendance each class session. Students with perfect attendance will receive 10 EC points added on to their point total. “Excused” absences can count towards your attendance to maintain perfect attendance, IF you inform me prior to the absence or within 24 hours of the absence. There will be a small assignment to make up for the material missed in class, which must be submitted to earn the 2 points awarded for attendance. Other EC opportunities may arise in class, so sometimes the only way to get EC is to be present. A special word to VA students: Due to required University oversight of students receiving VA benefits, you have a special burden of faithful class attendance. Under present guidelines, absence for a ten-consecutive calendar day period necessitates a report to that effect to the VA Office at GSU, with (presumably) a consequent adverse effect on your status vis-a-vis the U.S. Government. Please keep this in mind. WITHDRAWAL POLICY: Students are allowed only 6 withdrawals during their academic careers at GSU. If you withdraw from this course after drop-add and before the midpoint, you receive a W (unless you already have 6 withdrawals); if you withdraw after the midpoint, you will automatically receive a WF. After 6 withdrawals, a withdrawal at any point in the course results in an automatic F. You can review the full withdrawal policy at http://robinson.gsu.edu/resources/files/ouaa/policy_flyer.pdf DISABILITIES OR SPECIAL NEEDS: Students who wish to request accommodation for a disability may do so by registering with the Office of Disability Services. Students may only