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LEG 500

PAPER 1 DUE ON 11/06/2015

Assignment 1: Employment-At-Will Doctrine

Imagine you are a recently-hired Chief Operating Officer (COO) in a midsize company preparing for an Initial Public Offering (IPO). You quickly discover multiple personnel problems that require your immediate attention.

1. John posted a rant on his Facebook page in which he criticized the company’s most important customer.

2. Ellen started a blog to protest the CEO’s bonus, noting that no one below director has gotten a raise in two (2) years and portraying her bosses as “know-nothings” and “out-of-touch”

3. Bill has been using his company-issued BlackBerry to run his own business on the side.

4. After being disciplined for criticizing a customer in an email (sent from his personal email account on a company computer), Joe threatens to sue the company for invasion of privacy.

5. One of the department supervisors requests your approval to fire his secretary for insubordination. Since the secretary has always received glowing reviews, you call her into your office and determine that she has refused to prepare false expense reports for her boss.

6. Anna’s boss refused to sign her leave request for jury duty and now wants to fire her for being absent without permission.

As an astute manager, you will need to analyze the employment-at-will doctrine and determine what, if any, exceptions and liabilities exist before taking any action. As you proceed with your investigation, you discover the company has no whistleblower policy.

In preparation for this assignment, use the Internet or Strayer Library to research your state’s employment-at-will policy.

Write a four to five (4-5) page paper in which you:

1. Summarize the employment-at-will doctrine discussed in the text and then evaluate three (3) of the six (6) scenarios described by determining:

a. Whether you can legally fire the employee; include an assessment of any pertinent exceptions to the employment-at-will doctrine.

b. The primary action(s) that you should take to limit liability and impact on operations; specify the ethical theory that best supports your decision.

2. Examine your state’s policy on employment-at-will. Analyze at least one (1) real-world example of an employee or employer utilizing your state’s employment-at-will doctrine in the last five (5) years. Include a summary of the main issue and the outcome in the identified real-world example.

3. Use at least three (3) quality resources in this assignment. Note: Wikipedia is not an acceptable reference and proprietary Websites do not qualify as academic resources.

Your assignment must follow these formatting requirements:

· Be typed, double spaced, using Times New Roman font (size 12), with one-inch margins on all sides; citations and references must follow APA or school-specific format. Check with your professor for any additional instructions.

· Include a cover page containing the title of the assignment, the student’s name, the professor’s name, the course title, and the date. The cover page and the reference page are not included in the required assignment page length.

The specific course learning outcomes associated with this assignment are:

· Analyze and apply the concepts of freedom versus responsibility and ethical decision making.

· Analyze and evaluate laws that protect against discrimination in the workplace.

· Analyze and evaluate the employment-at-will doctrine and exceptions, as well as the protections afforded whistleblowers.

· Explore the legal and ethical issues surrounding employee and consumer privacy.

· Use technology and information resources to research issues in law, ethics, and corporate governance.

· Write clearly and concisely about law, ethics, and corporate governance using proper writing mechanics.

PAPER 2

Assignment 2: Ethics and Corporate Responsibility in the Workplace and the World Due Week 7 and worth 250 points

PharmaCARE (We CARE about YOUR health®) is one of the world’s most successful pharmaceutical companies, enjoying a reputation as a caring, ethical and well-run company that produces high-quality products that save millions of lives and enhance the quality of life for millions of others (Note: PharmaCARE is a hypothetical company that you will to compare to a real company as noted in the assignment criteria below). The company offers free and discounted drugs to low-income consumers, has a foundation that sponsors healthcare educational programs and scholarships, and its CEO serves on the PhRMA board. PharmaCARE recently launched a new initiative, We CARE about YOUR world®, pledging its commitment to the environment through recycling, packaging changes and other green initiatives, despite the fact that the company’s lobbying efforts and PAC have successfully defeated environmental laws and regulations, including extension of the Superfund tax, which was created by Comprehensive Environmental Response, Compensation, and Liability Act (CERCLA).

Based in New Jersey, PharmaCARE maintains a large manufacturing facility in the African nation of Colberia, where the company has found several “healers” eager to freely share information about indigenous cures and an abundance of Colberians willing to work for $1.00 a day, harvesting plants by walking five (5) miles into and out of the jungle carrying baskets that, when full, weigh up to fifty (50) pounds. Due to the low standard of living in Colberia, much of the population lives in primitive huts with no electricity or running water. PharmaCARE’s executives, however, live in a luxury compound, complete with a swimming pool, tennis courts, and a golf course. PharmaCARE’s extensive activities in Colberia have destroyed habitat and endangered native species.

In preparation for this assignment, use the Internet or Strayer Library to research companies that have recently experienced negative consequences as a result of the company’s corporate activities. Compare the facts and consequences surrounding the companies you have researched to PharmaCare to support your response(s) to the criteria below.

Write a six to eight (6-8) page paper in which you:

1. Describe the key characteristics of a stakeholder and determine all the stakeholders within the PharmaCARE scenario.

2. Analyze the human rights issues presented by PharmaCARE’s treatment of the Colberia’s indigenous population versus that of its executives. Recommend at least three (3) changes PharmaCARE can make to be more ethical going forward.

3. Assess PharmaCARE’s environmental initiative against the backdrop of its anti-environmental lobbying efforts and Colberian activities. Support the position.

4. Decide whether or not PharmaCARE’s actions with respect to the indigenous people of Colberia would be ethical in accordance with each of the following ethical theories:

a. Utilitarianism

b. Deontology

c. Virtue ethics

d. Ethics of care

e. Your own moral / ethical compass

5. Compare PharmaCARE’s actions with those of at least one (1) real-world company, whose corporate activities led to ethical, environmental, or workplace safety issues and financial loss. Analyze the similarities and differences between PharmaCARE and the company that you chose.

6. Use at least three (3) quality resources in this assignment. Note: Wikipedia is not an acceptable reference and proprietary Websites do not qualify as academic resources.

Your assignment must follow these formatting requirements:

The specific course learning outcomes associated with this assignment are:

· Analyze and evaluate laws that protect against discrimination in the workplace.

· Examine and assess employee rights to health and safety in the workplace.

· Analyze environmental protection laws and assess their impact on organizations.

· Use technology and information resources to research issues in law, ethics, and corporate governance.

· Write clearly and concisely about law, ethics, and corporate governance using proper writing mechanics.

PAPER 3

Assignment 4: Legal and Ethical Considerations in Marketing, Product Safety, and Intellectual Property

You are a new associate at the law firm of Dewey, Chetum, and Howe. John, a former researcher at PharmaCARE, comes to your office. He has concerns about PharmaCARE’s use of AD23, one of the company’s top-selling diabetes drugs. Two (2) years ago, after PharmaCARE’s research indicated that AD23 might also slow the progression of Alzheimer’s disease, John and his team of pharmacists began reformulating the drug to maximize that effect. In order to avoid the Food and Drug Administration’s (FDA) scrutiny, PharmaCARE established a wholly-owned subsidiary, CompCARE, to operate as a compounding pharmacy to sell the new formulation to individuals on a prescription basis. CompCARE established itself in a suburban office park near its parent’s headquarters. To conserve money and time, CompCARE did a quick, low-cost renovation.

CompCARE benefited from PharmaCARE’s reputation, databases, networks, and sales and marketing expertise, and within six (6) months had the medical community buzzing about AD23. Demand soared, particularly among Medicare, Medicaid, and Veterans Affairs patients. Seeing the opportunity to realize even more profit, CompCARE began advertising AD23 directly to consumers and marketing the drug directly to hospitals, clinics, and physician offices, even though compounding pharmacies are not permitted to sell drugs in bulk for general use. To circumvent this technicality, CompCARE encouraged doctors to fax lists of fictitious patient names to CompCARE. PharmaCARE sold CompCARE to WellCo, a large drugstore chain, just weeks before AD23 was publicly linked to over 200 cardiac deaths.

As CompCARE and its new parent company enjoyed record profits and PharmaCARE’s stock price approached $300 per share, reports started surfacing that people who received AD23 seemed to be suffering heart attacks at an alarming rate. The company ignored this data and continued filling large orders and paying huge bonuses to all the executives and managers, including John, whose wife recently died from a heart attack after using AD23.

John has come to you with an internal company memo describing the potential problems with AD23, and information describing the company’s willingness “roll the dice” and continue to market the drug.

Your senior partner has asked you to write a memo outlining the following issues for review by the senior partners.

In preparation for this assignment, use the Internet or Strayer Library to research examples of intellectual property theft that occurred within the past two (2) years.

Write an eight to ten (8-10) page paper in which you:

1. Research three to five (3-5) ethical issues relating to marketing and advertising, intellectual property, and regulation of product safety and examine whether PharmaCARE violated any of the issues in question.

2. Argue for or against Direct-to-Consumer (DTC) marketing by drug companies. Provide support for your response.

3. Determine the parties responsible for regulating compounding pharmacies under the current regulatory scheme, the actions that either these parties or the FDA could / should have taken in this scenario, and whether PharmaCARE could face legal exposure surrounding its practices. Support your response.

4. Analyze the manner in which PharmaCARE used U.S. law to protect its own intellectual property and if John has any claim to being the true “inventor” of AD23. Suggest at least three (3) ways the company could compensate John for the use of his intellectual property.

5. Summarize at least one (1) current example (within the past two [2] years) of intellectual property theft, and examine the effect on that company’s brand.

6. Analyze the potential issue surrounding the death of John’s wife and other potential litigants against PharmaCARE as a result of AD23.

7. Specify both the major arguments that John can make to claim that he is a whistleblower and the type of protections that he should be afforded. Justify your response.

8. Use at least three (3) quality resources in this assignment. Note: Wikipedia is not an acceptable reference and proprietary Websites do not qualify as academic resources.

Your assignment must follow these formatting requirements:

The specific course learning outcomes associated with this assignment are:

· Analyze and assess legal and ethical restraints on marketing and advertising, relative to both consumers and organizations.

· Analyze and evaluate laws and regulations relative to product safety and liability.

· Explore copyright laws and intellectual property rights and assess how well they balance competing interests.

· Use technology and information resources to research issues in law, ethics, and corporate governance.

· Write clearly and concisely about law, ethics, and corporate governance using proper writing mechanics.

BUS 520

PAPER 1

Assignment 3: Using Leadership to Improve Ethical Performance

Due Week 9 and worth points 300

At this point, you should have identified the leader you would like to interview. You should also have already contacted him / her and have scheduled an interview time / date. If not, do it as soon as possible. The intention of this assignment is to describe leadership skills, ethics, and communication which impact motivation and improve ethical performance.

Write a three to four (3-4) page paper in which you:

1. Create five to seven (5-7) questions to ask your chosen leader to determine his / her views of motivation, ethical leadership and performance. Then, conduct the interview based on your selected questions.

HINT: The following are some examples of questions. Feel free to select them from here. However, we urge you to revise your Assignment 2 for some ideas of what you would like to know from an experienced leader.

a. How would you define leadership?

b. As a leader, what do you do when people on your team aren’t pulling their weight?

c. What is one of the greatest leadership challenges you have ever faced? What did you do? What was the result?

d. How would you describe your communication style?

e. Describe a situation in which effective interpersonal communication skills contributed to your success.

f. Describe your personal actions by which you convey to your staff that ethics/ethical behavior is a high priority with you and that you also expect it to be a high priority with your staff.

g. Related to the previous question, describe how your personal actions (demonstrating ethics is a priority) have impacted your staff and/or colleagues.

h. Describe a situation where you recognized a need to communicate clear expectations for ethical practice. How did you recognize that expectations had to be clarified? What did you do or say to clarify the expectations?

2. Analyze the leadership, motivation, and ethical values of the leader interviewed and assess its impact in the ethical performance of the organization.

HINT: You should summarize the answers that you gathered in your interview. Thereafter, you should compare and contrast his / her point of view about leadership with your own perception of it.

3. Use at least two (2) quality academic resources you have located using the Strayer Library resources / data bases in this assignment. Note: Wikipedia does not qualify as an academic resource, and neither do web-based blogs.

4. Format your assignment according to the following formatting requirements:

a. Typed, double spaced, using Times New Roman font (size 12), with one-inch margins on all sides.

b. Include a cover page containing the title of the assignment, the student’s name, the professor’s name, the course title, and the date. The cover page is not included in the required page length.

c. Include a reference page. Citations and references must follow APA format. The reference page is not included in the required page length.

The specific course learning outcomes associated with this assignment are:

· Explain the variety of motivational theories and job design considerations.

· Explain the variety of leadership theories and roles.

· Evaluate ways organizational culture can be managed and promote ethics in an organization.

· Use technology and information resources to research issues in leadership and organizational behavior.

· Write clearly and concisely about leadership and organizational behavior using proper writing mechanics.

PAPER 2

Assignment 2: Using Motivation to Improve Performance

Due Week 6 and worth 220 points

Motivation is a complex subject, but its understanding and application is central to the success of management and the organization. Imagine that the CEO of your organization (current or past) has tasked you with recommending actions to promote employee’s involvement. This is a very important task. We recommend you start by drafting an outline of you potential ideas. Thereafter, you can explain in detail your proposal to the CEO. The outline should not be a reiteration of motivation theory, but should provide succinct points that cover the key topics of motivation and provides a road map that management can implement to improve motivation within the organization.

HINT: Review Chapter 8, page 226. Also, you might want to think about a specific job or unit you worked previously.

PREWORK:

Review the following videos about how to create an outline:

· Outlines (1 min 53 s)

· Making an Outline (5 min 1 s)

Watch the following videos as supplemental materials:

1. Understanding what motivates and engages employees (3 min 58 s)

2. Intrinsic and extrinsic motivation (4 min 17 s)

3. Communicate to motivate (3 min 58 s)

Write a four to five (4-5) pages paper in which you:

1. Create a one (1) page outline in which you select topics and subtopics around your recommendations to improve the employee’s involvement.

2. Explain three (3) of the most critical topics you have included in your outline, and propose a potential course of implementation. (3-4 pages)

3. Use at least two (2) quality academic resources you have located using the Strayer Library resources / databases in this assignment. Note: Wikipedia does not qualify as an academic resource, and neither do web-based blogs.

4. Format your assignment according to the following formatting requirements:

a. Typed, double spaced, using Times New Roman font (size 12), with one-inch margins on all sides.

c. Include a reference page. Citations and references must follow APA format. The reference page is not included in the required page length.

The specific course learning outcomes associated with this assignment are:

· Analyze the relationship between the basic organizational behavior models of individual, group, and organizational processes, and the productivity of an organization.

· Explain the variety of motivational theories and job design considerations.

· Use technology and information resources to research issues in leadership and organizational behavior.

· Write clearly and concisely about leadership and organizational behavior using proper writing mechanics.