Michael J. O'Hara Office Hours: by appointment, and
CBA 502 Mon., Wed., & Friday 9:30 - 10:00 & noon - 12:30
554-2823 (with voice mail) Thursday 5:30 - 6:00 PM
mohara@unomaha.edu
fax 554-2680
COURSE DESCRIPTION:
3 credit hours. "Focus upon law and ethics. Business law, legal processes, and regulations will be the subject matter focus. Business ethics will be a recurring focus of analysis. Analysis of the social environment will include public policy. Both subject matter and analysis will be integrated to build the student's critical thinking skills. Prereq.: MBA Foundation courses."
GRADED EVENTS:
A course letter grade of "A" is earned with a total course percentage of 90.0% or more; a "B+" is earned with 85.0% or more; a "B" is earned with 80.0% or more; etc.
40% DAILY ASSIGNMENTS
23% QUIZZES
ten 2% quizzes on key points of that day's readings, with a 3% add-on
17% NEGOTIATION PREPARATIONS
seven 2%, two page typed negotiation preparations, with a 3% add-on
10% PAPER
Legal analysis of the play The Comedy of Errors.
Each student shall attend a live performance of a play and draft a two
page typed contract and tort analysis of the play.
30% COMPREHENSIVE FINAL EXAM
many of the final exam questions will be developed from the quizzes
20% CLASS PARTICIPATION
student responses to instructor's questions during class and contributions to negotiations session
TEXTS:
1. Cheeseman, Henry R. The Legal and Regulatory Environment: Contemporary Perspectives in Business. Upper Saddle River, New Jersey: Prentice Hall, 1997.
2. Fisher, Roger, Ury, William, and Patton, Bruce. Getting to YES: Negotiating Agreement Without Giving In. 2nd edition. New York: Penguin Books, 1991.
3. OPTIONAL: Shakespeare, William, The Comedy of Errors.
DAILY ASIGNMENTS
There is no make up for the DAILY ASSIGNMENTS. However, if you will need to miss a class you may fax your negotiation preparation assignment to me at 554-2680 prior to the start of class. It will not be an adequate excuse that my fax machine was busy with other student's faxes that started transmission prior to your attempted transmission.
There are two types of daily assignments: QUIZZES and NEGOTIATION PREPARATIONS.
QUIZZES For a total of 23% of the course grade, there are ten
quizzes on different class nights over the course of the spring semester.
Each quiz will be worth 2% of the course grade. Quizzes will be administered
at the beginning of the class. Each quiz will have three questions in the
zero-guess multiple choice format
(i.e., a, b, c, all, none, a+b, a+c, or b+c). Each quiz question will be
on the text readings assigned for that night's class. In addition to the
20% earned on the ten quizzes there will be 3% earned as add-on points based
upon the average grade earned on all ten quizzes. The add-on points will
be earned as follows:
TEN QUIZ AVERAGE QUIZ ADD-ON POINTS
80.0% or greater 3% of the course
75.0% or greater 2%
50.0% or greater 1%
49.9% or less 0%
NEGOTIATION PREPARATIONS For a total of 17% of the course grade, there are seven negotiation preparation assignments, starting February 5 and ending on March 19. . Each is worth 2% of the course grade. Each will be graded as:
clearly excellent = 100%
adequate = 80%
suspect quality = 60%
fail = 0%.
Each negotiation preparation shall be typed (single or double spaced) and shall be limited to one sheet of paper. You may use both sides of the sheet of paper. A negotiation preparation form will be distributed. You are free to use or to re-design this form. However, your negotiation preparation assignments must convey the information on the distributed form. In addition to the 14% earned on the seven preparations there will be 3% earned as add-on points based upon the average grade earned on all seven preparations. The add-on points will be earned as follows:
SEVEN PREPARATION AVERAGE PREPARATION ADD-ON POINTS
80.0% or greater 3% of the course
75.0% or greater 2%
50.0% or greater 1%
49.9% or less 0%
PAPER:
All students shall attend a live performance of the play The
Comedy of Errors
and each student shall prepare a two page typed legal analysis
of the play.
The paper assignment is worth 10% of the course grade. 1% is earned by attendance at a live performance. 1% is earned on the first final draft of the paper. 8% is earned on the second final draft of the paper
The live performances are scheduled for April 16 to 18, and 22 to 25.
Performances are in the UNO Weber Fine Arts Building. Typically, performances
start at 8PM and generally are over about 10:30PM. On April 23
the class as a whole will attend the play as an extension of the regular
class. April 23 is when
attendance will be taken for earning the 1%. Family members and guests
are most welcome.
The legal analysis will examine two transaction in the play: one from the perspective of contract law, and one from the perspective of tort law. One of the student-selected transactions must require resort to equity in order to obtain a remedy.
There will be two typed pages, but the assignment shall be turned
in
on one sheet of paper. The analysis of contract law shall start at
the top of the front of the sheet and shall be limited to the front of the
sheet. The analysis of tort law shall start at the top of the back of the
sheet and shall be limited to the back of the sheet.
On April 30 each student shall submit two copies of a 1st final draft. During class on April 30, one copy will be graded by another student and returned to the student author. The other copy will be evaluated by the instructor on a pass-fail basis as to whether the 1st final draft is, objectively, a good faith attempt at a "final draft." A pass will earn 100%, while a fail will earn 0%. See TYPING REQUIREMENTS.
Prior to the final exam on May 7 each student shall submit one copy of a 2nd final draft which will graded by the instructor and is worth up to 8%. See TYPING REQUIREMENTS.
EXAM:
There is one exam, a comprehensive final exam. The COMPREHENSIVE FINAL EXAM, which will be an in-class exam, and is worth 30% of the course grade and is at the Regent's scheduled final exam time of May 7.
Many of the questions on the COMPREHENSIVE FINAL EXAM will be developed from the quizzes.
CLASS PARTICIPATION:
Ten class meetings will open with a quiz. Typically, the first hour of class will be devoted to lecture and/or guided discussion of the readings. Typically, the next hour will be devoted to a negotiation session. The balance of the class will be devoted to a review of the results of the negotiation session.
The obviousness of your preparation for the reading assignments and negotiation
issues will influence your class participation grade. Class participation
occurs in student responses to instructor's questions. Class participation
occurs during negotiation sessions. During class participation --especially
during the negotiation sessions--
you will need to develop and demonstrate three skills: listening, critical
thinking, and oral communication.
TYPING REQUIREMENTS:
All typed assignments shall be in 12 point and pitch typeface (i.e., 12 characters per inch and 6 lines per inch), shall be double spaced, shall use one inch margins on all four sides, and shall be typed on 8 1/2" x 11" paper. DO NOT USE A COVER SHEET, instead use a header on each page identifying: (1) the student author; (2) the assignment [e.g., Negot. Prep. #1]; (3) the class [e.g., BSAD 8010, Spring 1998].
The ENRON Computer Lab in CBA 403 has word processing software and hardware for you to use and for which you have been charged a fee. Campus computing rooms in CBA 007, EAB 009, and DSC 104 also provide computer support. Grammar, punctuation, and spelling do influence your grade. For page limits and other assignment specific TYPING REQUIREMENTS, see the specific assignment. Significant failure to comply with the typing requirements will cause, at a minimum, an automatic deduction of 5% of the assignment grade.
MAKE-UP WORK:
Make-up work is strongly discouraged. There is no make-up work for class participation or for DAILY ASSIGNMENTS. There are two prerequisites for make-up work.
1. 24 hour prior notice of your intended absence, unless for sufficient reason (e.g., death of an immediate family member); AND
2. timely, written verification by an impartial third
party
(e.g., from mortician on letterhead).
ACADEMIC DISHONESTY:
Any form of academic dishonesty (e.g., looking on another student's final exam) will be grounds for a course grade of "F."
DATE CHAPTERS TASKS and DEADLINES
Jan 15 Introduction & Microeconomics & IP distribute Microecon. & IP notes
Jan 22 Fisher, Parts I & II
Jan 29 Fisher, Parts III, IV, & V distribute major concepts list
distribute negot. prep. form
Feb 5 Cheeseman 1 & 2 first negotiation preparation due
Feb 12 Cheeseman 3 & 4
Feb 19 Cheeseman 5
Feb 26 Cheeseman 6 & 7
Mar 5 Cheeseman 8 & 9
Mar 12 Cheeseman 10 & 11
Mar 19 Cheeseman 15, 12, & 13 last negotiation preparation due
distribute contract drafting task
Mar 26 SPRING BREAK NO CLASS
Apr 2 Cheeseman 16 & 17
Apr 9 Cheeseman 14
Apr 16 Cheeseman 18 & 19
Apr 23 Cheeseman 20 attend play
Apr 30 Cheeseman 21 1st final draft due
award CP points
STUDENT EVALUATIONS
May 7 6:00-6:30 pre-exam student questions
2nd final draft due
6:30-8:30 COMPREHENSIVE FINAL EXAM