management help

7. (TCOs G and I) In the 1930s, after immigrating to the U.S. from Ireland at the onset of World War II, Shamus and Mary McCream opened a bakery in Boston. They specialized in snack cakes. McCream Cup Cakes became so popular in the area that the family stopped being actual bakers and became manufacturers/ food processors of the snack cakes on a regional basis. After returning from the war, their son Steve completed college and began working in television advertising in the early 1950s. Steve approached his parents and his older brother Tom, who was now running the business, about the possibilities of advertising and “going national.” The family liked the idea and began advertising and expanding. In addition, to fuel the expansion, they offered retailers price discounts and other incentives if they prominently positioned the store displays set-up by McCream rack jobbers. By the 1960s, they were a national brand, controlling over 80 percent of the snack food industry. In the 1970s, with the advent of the hippie counter-culture and the back-to-Earth movement, a new competitor made an impact on the McCream business. The company, Healthy Snacks, began advertising that their products only used natural ingredients. They even began running a commercial in which a mother and child compared their Healthy Snacks with a lampooned product named “Cup Cake McCrumbs,” stating that it tasted like poison and dog food! Tiny-Big- Brian, a counter-culture pop star with a late night UHF and cable show, joined in on the controversy created by the commercial and stated that he did not understand how people, “could buy such poisonous dog food and serve it to their children as snacks!” Market studies showed that McCream Cup Cakes sales suffered. As a result, McCream began a more aggressive shelf space and display marketing campaign to combat Healthy Snacks’s television advertising. McCream’s marketing efforts were successful. By also offering volume discount incentives, they had prevailed upon retailers in their traditional East Coast and Midwest markets to prominently display their products. To counter this strategy, Healthy Snacks offered a deep discount to WaySafeMart, a Southwest and West Coast discount chain, in exchange for an agreement to exclusively sell only their snack foods. In reality, McCream Cup Cakes used only FDA approved ingredients and preservatives and were made in American plants that always passed inspections. In contrast, although Healthy Snacks’s pilot plant was in Florida, it had subcontracted the bulk of its production to a plant in the Dominican Republic. As a result, to maintain a level of quality, Healthy Snacks used the maximum amount of preservatives allowed under the law of the Dominican Republic for the imported product. The level was so high, reactions to the food were often reported. The levels were higher than those allowed by FDA regulations, but allowed per an agricultural import/export treaty between the United States and the Dominican Republic. Several people who ate these Healthy Snacks required emergency room visits. A child in Georgia, with food allergy problems, even died. Her parents served her the snack, relying on the advertising, not knowing that some of the natural ingredients used in the Dominican Republic-made product were dangerous to her. The McCream family seeks your advice and opinion regarding: (1) Healthy Snacks’s advertising campaign. (2) The marketing and distribution campaigns both companies have engaged in. (3) The liability issues Healthy Snacks faces regarding their use of food manufactured outside of the United States.

8.

TCO E The city of BigTime, Texas, was suddenly needing to expand their Fire Department to add four new stations, which would require 92 new department employees. The city announced through various media the need for a total of 92 new Fire Department Employees with fairly attractive wages, and very attractive benefits such as health insurance, vacation time, pension funds, etc. Applicants were told they must apply within the next 15 days, and be willing to complete a series of qualification tests. A total of 280 people applied for these Fire Department Positions, 155 men and 125 women. All of these potential employees were first required to complete a background and reading/math test; 119 of the women (95%) and 136 of the men (88%) made satisfactory scores on this initial test, and advanced to the second and final requirement of a physical test. The physical test had a number of requirements including:

· Climbing a ladder up to a 3rd floor window, picking up a 100 pound bag of sand, and then climbing back to the ground;

· Dragging a 100 foot long piece of a 4 inch hose full of water 200 yards in under 2 minutes; and

· Running a mile in under 8 minutes.

Only 11 of the women (9%) and 120 of the men (88%) made passing scores on this physical test, and qualified for further consideration for the 92 new Fire Department jobs. Is this hiring policy acceptable under Title VII of the 1964 Civil Rights Act, and this Federal Statute’s further development over the last 50 years? Does this hiring process involve Disparate Impact? Disparate Treatment? Should the BigTime City Fire Department be required to modify their hiring procedure?

1. Benjamin is a long time key salesman for Morton and Dunderfield, a business supply company in Eastern Pennsylvania. The company decides to change its formal employer/employee relationship with all of their sales people, including Benjamin. Instead of compensating them with salary and a bonus based on quarterly sales, they change the relationship to that of an independent contractor who earn a sizeable percentage commission each month. With the change in this relationship, Morton and Dunderfield require all of their sales people to sign employment contracts which contain a clause that states upon leaving Morton and Dunderfield’s employ, they will not contact any former customers for a period of two (2) years. Benjamin, fearing he will lose his job, signs the agreement. After the first month, he realizes he will earn much less that he formerly did. He seeks your advice on his options. (Points : 20)

4. (TCOs A, D, E) Judy Collinsworth, a then-unknown folk singer, signed a three album recording contract with Mercury Apollo Music, Inc. Mercury Apollo Music was a boutique label specializing in folk artists. Collinsworth’s first album for Mercury Apollo was moderately successful. The second album, unfortunately, was panned by the critics and did not sell. Mercury Apollo Music was acquired by NastiCondiMedia, Inc. NastiCondiMedia, in an effort to re-vitalize Collinsworth’s career, encouraged her to leave the folk style she was committed to and do more commercially viable pop material. Collinsworth rejected this request. Furious with NastiCondiMedia, Collinsworth wanted to end the contract. On her own, with what remaining personal funds she had left, she immediately went to an independent recording studio and did sessions toward a third album without approval or consent by NastiCondiMedia. Using her concert band, she recorded tracks for over 30 songs. Due to the financial failure of Collinsworth’s second album and her recent unsuccessful concert tour, NastiCondiMedia did not do the final production work on Collinsworth’s third album. Collinsworth then entered into a contract with EasyListening Communications, Inc. She began recording a new folk album with EasyListening in conjunction with a concert tour that they financed and produced. At her concerts, Collinsworth would regularly introduce the new material that would be on her new album. Shortly after the concert tour began, NastiCondiMedia brings suit against Judy Collinsworth and EasyListening Communications, Inc. (a) What causes of action might NastiCondiMedia bring against Collinsworth and EasyListening? (b) What causes of action might Collinsworth and EasyListening bring against NastiCondiMedia? (c) What types of relief might either party seek? Points 30 6. (TCOs A, D, E) Woody worked at the local country club pool as a lifeguard, not a swim teacher, for the summer of 2013. Woody was a public school physical education teacher. The country club did not do a background check or confirm any references when they hired him. They relied on the “say-so” of Woody’s brother, a member of the country club board of directors. The country club only did a cursory internet search of the state’s Department of Education website to verify that he had a valid teaching certificate. When one of the swim instructors unexpectedly quit one day, he took over the class. Initially, the class went well. Eventually, Woody also took over coaching the club’s competitive swim team. When he became the swimming coach, Woody effectively stopped “teaching” the swim classes. Instead, he had all the swimmers in the classes do races and train for competitive meets during the 30 minute lessons. Woody had done this many times during the summer. His boss, the country club director, knew this and, as the swim team was winning, ignored complaints from parents and students. Woody raced with the swimmers and pushed the winners out of the way when they tried to touch the side of the pool so that Woody’s team would win each time. This was not the first time that Woody had injured swimmers. Last year, he was arrested for physically abusing a child he coached at his school. Although the criminal charges were dropped, Woody is on administrative leave from his public school job until an administrative hearing with the state Department of Education can be held in the fall. The incident was reported in several local papers, and his administrative suspension is listed on the state’s database. Several of the children, ages 6-8, reported to their parents that they had been physically assaulted by Woody while in swim class for not “working hard enough!” The children had bruises on their shoulders. In addition, Woody began “kidding” an 18 year old black college student who worked as a lifeguard and assisted Woody with the coaching. Over time, Woody’s “jokes” toward the young man became very aggressive. Woody continued even though the young man asked him to stop. In fact, after the young man told Woody to stop as he felt harassed, Woody hired another lifeguard to assist him with the coaching. The country club director was aware of this situation, but as the swim team was winning, he took the position that it was an interpersonal issue that the two should workout among themselves. Several parents brought suit against the local country club, Woody, and the country club director. The young lifeguard has also brought suit. The local country club pool alleges that they are not liable. Discuss the ethical, liability, and agency issues presented by this matter, and all defenses available to the local country club pool. (Points : 30)

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