Legal and Ethical Aspects of Management

Catalog description

The purpose of this course is to prepare students to meet the legal, ethical, and regulatory challenges and opportunities they will encounter as they conduct business as managers and entrepreneurs. To excel, managers and entrepreneurs must recognize that the law is important to firm success and that they must always consider the legal ramifications of their business decisions. Students will learn how to identify legal and ethical issues before they become legal problems and how to communicate and work collaboratively with legal counsel. The course begins with an overview of business ethics and social responsibility and goes on to cover the U.S. court system and the laws of contracts, torts, and intellectual property. The course covers corporate governance issues including the fiduciary duties of officers, directors, and controlling shareholders, public and private offerings of securities, and securities fraud. Environmental regulation, product quality, legal aspects of the employment relationship (as they relate to the liability of the corporation and managers for the acts of their employees), wrongful termination, discrimination, and sexual harassment will also be covered.