BUS 450 - The Manager and the Law

Credits: 5
Variable Credit Course: No

Lecture Hours: 55
Lab Hours: 0
Worksite/Clinical Hours: 0
Other Hours (LIA/Internships): 0

Course Description: Examine the ways in which the American legal system governs the contemporary workplace developing the legal awareness that astute leaders should have in areas such as privacy, competition law, tort, and intellectual property. Analyze the effect of bias in managerial decision making and in managing legal risks. Evaluate how managers can navigate the inherent tension between organizational objectives, legal obligations, ethical behavior, and social responsibility.

Prerequisite: BASM Dept. Chair permission.
Meets FQE Requirement: No
Integrative Experience Requirement: No

Student Learning Outcomes

Investigate the connections between the workplace and the American legal system, including its constitutional foundations, the function of federal and state law, government regulation and structure by researching applications in personal workplace fields of interest.
Identify key principles and concepts around the governance of business and the workplace including agency, property, contract, tort, privacy, and competition law by analyzing related impact on managerial philosophies and actions.
Formulate approaches to addressing the implications of bias in legal managerial decisions by using problem-based case studies.
Analyze the legal and ethical implications of contemporary workplace public policy issues (for example, the environment, artificial intelligence, privacy), by investigating their evolution and their impact on individual and organizational behavior.

Course Contents

Historical and constitutional foundations of the law and the basic components of the legal system, including government regulation, structure, and function of federal and state law.
Principals of international law.
Tort and contract cases across a range of business sectors and function.
The lifecycle of a business including corporate governance and legal aspects of business financing.
Evolution, commercial application, and societal implications of current and emerging topics in the business legal and regulatory environment such as trends in employment, environment and cyberspace.
Awareness of the inherent tension between legal obligations, public opinion, ethical behavior, business objectives and social responsibility.

Instructional Units: 5