Michael J. O'Hara Office Hours: by appointment,

CBA 502 UNO Omaha NE 68182 before class, Mon. & Wed. 5:30 - 6:00 PM

(402) 554-2823 (with voice mail) and after class, Mon. & Wed. 9:05 - 10:00 PM

mohara@unomaha.edu (after class office hours often are in the classroom)

fax (402) 554-2680

http://cba.unomaha.edu/faculty/mohara/web/ohara.htm

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.

20% DAILY ASSIGNMENTS

10% CLASS PARTICIPATION

10% memorization tasks and questions on that day's assigned readings,

10% NEGOTIATION PREPARATIONS

5% two 2.5% first draft of two-page Neg. Prep. forms; two copies

5% two 2.5% second draft of two-page Neg. Prep. forms, two copies

80% EXAMS

10% Exam #1

solo effort exam of 35 true-false questions

10% Exam #2

solo effort exam of 35 true-false questions

10% Exam #3

solo effort exam of 35 true-false questions

50% Comprehensive Final Exams

30% Solo Final Exam, comprehensive

solo effort on 105 true false questions

20% Group Final Exam, comprehensive

20 zero-guess multiple-choice questions

 

 

TEXTS:

1. Cheeseman, Henry R. Business Law: The Legal, Ethical, and International Environment. Third Edition. Upper Saddle River, New Jersey: Prentice Hall, 1998.

2. Ponte, Lucille M. and Cavenagh, Thomas D., Alternative Dispute Resolution in Business. Cincinnati, Ohio: West Educational Publishing Company, 1999.

 

DAILY ASSIGNMENTS

There are two types of DAILY ASSIGNMENTS: Class Participation (for 10% of the course grade) and Negotiation Preparation (for 10%). There is
NO MAKE - UP WORK for any of the DAILY ASSIGNMENTS. However, if you will need to miss a class you may fax (402) 554-2680 or email (mohara@unomaha.edu) your negotiation preparation assignment to me 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.

Class Participation: Your Class Participation grade is earned on two parts: i.e., your unhesitating recall of the memorization tasks and your objectively demonstrated familiarity with that day's assigned readings. Class participation will be conducted at the beginning of the class. Students who are late for the start of Class Participation will earn a failing grade on that day's Class Participation. For Class Participation students will be called on randomly and will be called on in groups of four, but will be graded individually. Over the course of the semester, you personally will be randomly called upon at least three times. All Class Participation efforts typically earn a grade of 80% and each Class Participation effort will be graded on the truncated scale of:

clearly excellent = 100%

expected quality = 80%

suspect quality = 60%

fail = 0%.

 

When Class Participation focuses upon memorization tasks the questions will come from the Major Topics List (see Dr. O'Hara's web page and the class handout). The expected quality for memorization items is very high. The Major Topics List only identifies the topics for memorization; the Major Topics List is not the thing to be memorized. For example, the Major Topics List includes "fraud." For "fraud" you need to memorize its five elements: knowing, intentional, misrepresentation of material fact, justifiable reliance, and injury. You should scan the Major Topics List prior to doing the reading for the week and you should bring the Major Topics List to every class so that you can keep track of which topics have been covered to date. You should approach your memorization tasks as memorization of lists of questions to guide your legal analysis (e.g., Was it knowing?, Was it intentional?, etc.). Memorization Class Participation only will address material covered in prior lectures.

In contrast to memorization, questions over that day's assigned readings will be limited to those text chapters and the expected level of recall is much less. While memorization recall that is near perfect and slightly hesitating may still earn an 80%, for that day's assigned readings answers will earn an 80% if the student's performance provides objective evidence that the student did in fact read the text.

Negotiation Preparations: For a total of 10% of the course grade, there are two negotiation preparation assignments (each with two drafts). The first is due June 2 and the last is due June 14. Always bring two copies of your First Draft and two copies of your Second Draft: one for the instructor and one for your in class use. Each is worth 2.5% of the course grade. The First Drafts will be graded on a pass-fail basis. First Drafts will be graded as a "pass" and earn 100% if the First Draft objectively is a good faith effort at a final draft; if graded as a "fail," then the First Draft will earn a 0%. The Second Drafts will be graded on the truncated scale of:

clearly excellent = 100%

expected quality = 80%

suspect quality = 60%

fail = 0%.

The typical Second Draft and Negotiator will receive a grade of 80%. You will receive feedback from and give feedback to those with whom you negotiate using the Negotiator Evaluation Form.

A Negotiation Preparation Form will be distributed as will a Negotiator Evaluation Form (see Dr. O'Hara's web page and class handouts). You are free to use or to
re-design the Negotiation Preparation Form in completing these two-page assignments. However, your negotiation preparation assignments must use the topic heading on the distributed form and your assignment must devote at least one-fourth of one page to analysis of the legal issues in the negotiation. See TYPING REQUIREMENTS. Your Negotiation Preparation Form will be easiest to read and use if you print it: [1] in landscape (instead of the ordinary portrait) layout; [2] using at least two columns to shorten the lines of text, and [3] group the text by the required headings. High quality Negotiation Preparation Forms contain bolding of the key parts of major topics and italicizing of the key parts of sub-topics. Color, while welcome, is not necessary.

During class on the days when First Drafts are due, the students will be assembled into groups based on the negotiation role they are playing. You will then meet and confer with your counterparts and further refine your Negotiation Preparation Form for the Second Draft. During class on the days when the Second Drafts are due, students will be "paired" by opposing roles and will conduct negotiations.

EXAMS:

There are five exams, three one-hour exams during the semester and two comprehensive finals, one solo and one group. The three one-hour exams will be on
May 19, June 7, and June 21. Each of these three exams will be worth 10% of the course grade and each will be 35 True-False questions graded as if there were 33 questions. Only the rarest student will require one full hour to complete these exams. Questions will come from the two textbooks, the lectures, and class handouts covered to-date, but focusing on the new material. The Comprehensive Final Exams are at the Regent's scheduled final exam time June 23 and are worth 50% of the course grade. The Solo Comprehensive Final is worth 30% and the Group Comprehensive Final is worth 20%. The Solo Final will be 105 true-false questions graded as if there were 100 with the questions evolving from the three exams. The Group Final will be 20 zero-guess (i.e., a, b, c, all, none, a+b, a+c, or b+c) multiple-choice questions based on the Solo Final questions. Each Study Group will get four attempts at successfully completing the Group Final exam. See Dr. O'Hara's web page for examples of prior exams.

Study Groups will form no later than the end of break on June 16. Study Groups may have 3 or 4 members. All Study Groups must be voluntary associations: no student may be forced to join a group and no group may be forced to accept a student. If all students are not in voluntary groups by the end of break on
June 16, then none are and the instructor will randomly assign all students to involuntary groups. No group exists until all students are in voluntary groups or the instructor assigns involuntary groups.

TYPING REQUIREMENTS:

All typed assignments shall be in #12 font typeface, may be single- or double-spaced, shall use one inch margins on all four sides of a page, and shall be typed on 8 1/2" x 11" white paper. DO NOT USE A COVER SHEET, instead
use a single line header (e.g., see top of this page) on each page identifying, from left to right: (1) the student author; (2) the role played and assignment
[e.g., Mizer, First Draft]; (3) the date submitted. For two page assignments you have two options: either you may print on both sides of one sheet of paper (the preferred method) or you may staple two sheets together. (NOTE: Because the computer labs' printers are networked, the computer labs will not let you print front-to-back. For you to print front-to-back you need to have control of the print queue, which is an inappropriate breach of security for the computer lab's networked printers.)

You have been changed a fee for the ENRON Computer Lab in CBA 403 and the campus computing rooms in CBA 007, EAB 009, and DSC 104 all of which have word processing software and provide computer support for you. Grammar, punctuation, and spelling do influence your grade. For page limits and other assignment specific typing requirements, see the specific assignment. EACH FAILURE to comply with the typing requirements (e.g., no header or no staple) will cause an AUTOMATIC LOSS OF 5% from your earned assignment grade.

MAKE-UP WORK:

Make-up work is strongly discouraged. There is no make-up work for DAILY ASSIGNMENTS and really not feasible for the Group Final Exam. 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 Solo Final Exam) will be grounds for a course grade of "F."

NOTE ON DROP DATES AND REFUNDS:

May 10 - 12 = 100% may use BRUNO

May 13 - 14 = 75% must use Registrar's Office

May 17 - 21 = 50%

May 24 - 28 = 25%

June 11 last day to drop

DATE CHAPTERS TASKS and DEADLINES

June 2 Ponte Chap. 3 - 8 (p. 59-264) two copies 1d#1 Prep. Form
meet and confer within role