Business Law and Ethics – Does It Have A Future?
| Authors: |
Michael Adams BA(Hons), LLM (Lond)
Professor, University of Technology, Sydney
|
|
David Barker LLB (Lond), MPhil (Kent), LLM (Hons) (Cantab)
Professor, University of Technology, Sydney
|
|
Judith Lancaster BA, LLB (Hons) (Macq), RGN
Senior Lecturer, University of Technology, Sydney
|
| Issue: |
Volume 9, Number 3 (September 2002)
|
This paper was presented to the Legal Interest Group at the Australasian Law Teachers' Association conference, hosted by Murdoch University
on 1st October 2002. Any comments on the paper may be emailed to the authors at: BLethics@law.uts.edu.au
Contents
Business Law and Ethics – Does It Have A Future?
- On two previous occasions papers have been presented to the Law in Non-Law Schools Interest Group of the Association of Australasian
Law Schools (now called "ALTA") drawing a comparison between teaching law to non-law school students particularly with regard to
the introductory "business law" subject from 1973 to the present day.
- On the first occasion in a paper presented to this same group at the ALTA Conference held in Canberra at the ANU in 1990 entitled
"Law in Non-Law Schools - The Future after the Pearce Committee" an attempt was made to draw a comparison between the publicity which
had been given to statements which the Pearce Report had made regarding the perceived quality of individual law schools and the neglect
of that part of the Report - "Chapter 7 - Teaching Law to Non-Law Students".
- As an illustration of what was perceived to be the approach towards the teaching of law to non-law schools prior to the round of universities
and colleges of advanced education (CAE) mergers during the Dawkins period of 1989-91. From the Pearce Report comes the following
relevant extracts were quoted:
"Para 7.1
Law for non-law students. Not only law students need to acquire a knowledge of the law. It is desirable also for students in many
other disciplines to have some understanding of the law that is relevant to their area of expertise or intended vocation. This has
resulted in the publication of numerous books entitled "Law for ..." and has also led to law schools in some institutions providing
law courses for students in other faculties, such a course being under the control of the other faculty, and not the law school.
Para. 7.2
Types of courses. The courses offered tend to fall into 2 categories, although there is some shading between them. First, there
are those courses that comprise a potpourri of topics that are thought to be relevant to particular discipline. For example, law
for architects might, in a relatively few number of lectures, canvas the law relating to copyright, professional negligence, town
planning, commercial arbitration, etc. The second type of course deals with a discrete topic and many well traverse much the same
ground, as would be taught to law students. An example is taxation for accounting students. See generally on the teaching of law
for non-law students, D W Mirchell (ed), "Papers on Legal Studies and Legal Education for Non-Lawyers (1979).
Para 7.3
Service courses. Courses of both kinds referred to above are often, some pejoratively, referred to as service courses. They can,
in fact, be quite demanding if they are to be well and coherently taught. There can be a very real challenge in bringing an understanding
of the law to students who have not been provided with the introduction of law and the legal system that law students are given."
- The 1990 paper by David Barker, also focussed on a joint submission of the Business Law Department of the University of New South
Wales, prepared by Peter Gillies, at that time a Senior Lecturer, now a Professor in the Business Law Discipline, School of Economics
and Financial Studies, Macquarie University, as the result of a meeting by representatives of that group chaired by Professor Patricia
Ryan, also of the same School of the University.
- The report was of importance because of its explanation of the role of the academic business lawyer:
"The academic business law departments have a strong input, as mentioned, into the accounting degree, in the areas of contract, general
business law, company law and taxation law. New areas are being opened up by courses or must soon be opened up - such as insolvency,
finance, law, security law, intellectual property law. The traditional law courses are mandatory for registration. Specialised
law courses will increasingly be demanded by the growth in accounting honours year enrolments and postgraduate and diploma studies.
There is even greater scope for the expansion of continuing legal education courses for the accounting profession."
- Its conclusion was in a similar vein:
"All of these fundamental areas of business law are fast developing, increasingly complex and demand expertise and commitment from
the responsible academics. Without these, the legal education requirements of the accounting profession cannot adequately be met."
- At the Kuring-gai Campus of the newly established University of Technology, Sydney the introductory subject of "Law and Society" was
taught jointly to both students in the School of Financial & Administrative Studies and the School of Nursing. Although this
meant that there was a multi-disciplinary approach to the subject, it did not take into account the varying needs of the two professional
disciplines. Although there was an attempt to achieve some co-relation of assessment between these two diverse professional groups,
it did lead to dysfunction in resolving the appropriate grading outcomes. The teaching techniques used were, in the context of the
times traditional with a lecture, tutorial and of semester formal examination and a mid-year multiple-choice examination manually
marked.
- In a subsequent paper entitled "The Challenges of Teaching Law to Non-Law Students" again presented to this same group at the ALTA
Conference held at the University of Tasmania in 1994 a further progress report was given to the changes which had taken place within
the UTS School of Law with regard to the teaching of law to non-law schools and its particular impact on the core introductory Business
Law subject. By this time the Department of Legal Studies (Kuring-gai CAE) had combined with the Department of Business Law, Faculty
of Business (UTS) to offer a comprehensive programme of "supply" law courses fully integrated within the then UTS Faculty of Law
and Legal Practice.
- Although there was now a common introductory business subject "Law for Business" taught within the UTS Bachelor of Business programme
described as "An Introductory unit designed to give students an understanding of the Australian legal and constitutional system.
Topics covered include legal philosophy, legal history, constitutional law, doctrine of precedent and statutory interpretation,
torts, crime, property and contracts." At this stage, this subject was the prerequisite for all law units offered in the business
degree (BBus), with the new UTS grading of 5 credit points. The nursing degree now had a separate introductory law subject entitled
"Values in Nursing".
- The teaching methodology was still traditional, although a reflective journal had been introduced as part of the assessment process.
The journal enabled contemporary law issues to be dealt with in comparison with traditional legal principles.
- In 1999 the Faculty of Business had a complete re-appraisal of the faculty's Bachelor of Business programme with the intention of
making it more relevant to the modern business world. This process required that all subjects would provide students with the knowledge,
competencies and values required to achieve these objectives. All compulsory core subjects would be increased to six credit points
and have four integrating themes:
- Internationalisation
- Communication
- Technology
- Ethics
- The Faculty of Law realised that if it was to remain a major provider of a core subject in this new programme, it would be necessary
for it to reconstitute its teaching team and provide some major resources both with regard to the provision of teaching materials
and the revision of its teaching techniques. The new subject was to be called "Business Law and Ethics" or soon became known as
"BLethics". This is a one semester subject and is taught to all the majors in the business degree (accounting, management, economics,
finance etc).
- The UTS Law School also re-named its supply programme, the Director of Cross-Disciplinary Programmes and was responsible for all law
teaching across the nine UTS faculties.
- The Business Law and Ethics Team comprises five highly qualified legal professionals whose diverse qualifications combine to provide
a unique learning experience for students and a rewarding degree of collegiality between the team members.
- Each member of the team is a full-time member of the academic staff with employment histories as follows:
Professor
Michael Adams 1989 Professor
David Barker 1989
Ms Judith
Lancaster 1994 Dr David Meltz 1992
Mr Robert
Tong 1977
- Business Law and Ethics (BLethics) is a large core cross-disciplinary subject that is taught over one semester and is both co-ordinated
and taught by a team of five academics to up to 1400 students per year from both the Business and the Law Faculties and up to 300
students per year at Taylor's College (BBus 1st year Off-Shore Program) in Malaysia. The class structure is two-hour lecture per
week and a fortnightly two-hour tutorial. This subject is taught to a large number of students - many of whom are from a non-legal
discipline - across two local campuses and one offshore. The legal subject matter and students' general perception of it as "dry
and conceptually difficult" and not the actual focus of their future professional careers, challenges the teaching team to be innovative,
creative and well informed.
- Cross-disciplinary teaching differs from LLB teaching in that the former is directed at professionals other than those who will practice
law, while the latter is directed at educating lawyers. Cross-disciplinary teachers must adapt from the responsive teaching context,
which is central to the training of future lawyers. Instead, they must present legal content in a preventative context so as to provide
students with legal knowledge that builds a framework for risk management.
- Each member of the BLethics team brings to the team impressive academic qualifications and a broad range of skills and experience
in the legal field and beyond. The team dynamic - formed out of a fusion of the educational philosophies and teaching approaches
of each team member - is what makes this subject unique. Two members of the team hold teaching awards - Michael Adams holds the 2000
Australian Universities Teaching Award for "Law and Legal Studies" as well as a UTS Teaching Award (Individual category) for 1992
and Judith Lancaster holds a UTS Teaching Award (Individual category) for 2001.
- Each member of the team is an enthusiastic teacher with a passion for imparting knowledge and guiding students towards becoming responsible
legal and business professionals. The overall philosophy is pragmatic in that the aim is to demonstrate to students the relevance
of law and ethics to everyday human activity and to their professional development. We seek to inspire students to embrace the learning
of law as a tool to protect them from having to learn through mistakes, we also encourage them to value learning as a lifetime pursuit
and to embrace the latest technological tools as a means to facilitate their learning in the most efficient and effective way possible.
- Business Law and Ethics challenges the teaching team to be aware of the specific and very unique features of its student population.
Firstly, BLethics students are primarily newcomers to the university environment and a large proportion are making the transition
directly from school. They are therefore, unfamiliar with the less structured and ordered learning environment. As well as being
differentially placed in relation to their expectations of where this subject is to take them. Some students will be doing it as
a once only subject, others will be doing it as the foundation subject of the Bachelor of Business with a major in Law, while yet
another group will be undertaking a combined degree in both Business and Law. We seek to demonstrate to students that understanding
the law is empowering in that it provides a foundation for good professional decision-making. We also encourage students to value
teamwork and appreciate that a significant part of learning is what we expose ourselves to by exchanging ideas and interacting with
each other.
- Business Law has a ten year history as the 'flagship' of the Cross-Disciplinary Programme. The subject underwent a total re-construction
in 1999 to make it more responsive and reflective of the achievement of changing technology. This was to allow for students to experience
the broad range of ideas generated where learning takes place in an environment characterized by academic diversity. The changes
altered the character of the subject from a standard one-dimensional problem based model to an innovative all-inclusive interactive
model that empowers the students to take control of their educational development. The multi-faceted product of the change was brought
together in a learner-friendly way by the shared vision of the teaching team. The objective underlying the subject's new design
is to present law in a way that takes it beyond the popular media representations that shape students' impressions of what law is
and what law does, and make it come alive. There has also been a conscious attempt to create a learning model that marries the moral
aspects of professionalism with the less flexible, rule-based context of Business Law.
- In response to ongoing revelations of corporate mismanagement in the business world over the past couple of years, it was decided
in 2000 to introduce an ethics component to ensure that our students would not just graduate with the skills expected of a business
professional but that they would also leave UTS with a highly developed sense of the corporate and social responsibilities that attach
to those roles. Judie Lancaster was assigned responsibility to design and introduce the ethics content into the Business Law. Since
its original introduction there has been ongoing content development in line with the ongoing public debates surrounding Australia's
recent corporate collapses of HIH, One.Tel the revelations concerning the Oasis Development and its links to Liverpool Council and
the Canterbury Bulldogs. It was designed to arouse awareness in students of the pressures that can threaten professional integrity
in business dealings and develop an understanding that good ethics is good business. She selected and edited a book - Readings on
Ethics[1] - which includes extracts from several different texts on the theoretical foundations of organisational ethics, as well as articles
and case studies with particular relevance to the topics covered in the workshops. These readings have proven to be a valuable student
resource in that the book has been prepared with an eye to the importance of juxtaposition as a tool for encouraging students to
engage in critical analysis. Because Business Law was developed to combine face-to-face learning with interactive participation,
the task of integrating an ethics component into the subject has proven to be very rewarding. The students can now fully engage in
the learning process by utilising the new technology to access the latest information on legal developments in business and the emerging
field of professional ethics. The result has been the development of an all-inclusive subject that is regarded as an outstanding
example of subject design and development within the faculty.
- The coordinating team has sought to identify and respond to the overall learning issues associated with this student demographic.
This includes:
- Students are encouraged to view effective communication as one of the most important skills a student can acquire and to see University
as an excellent forum for building self-confidence and public speaking skills. The favoured teaching model leans away from the idea
of rote learning the rules from the book and relies on the teachers to act as role models of professional standards. The innovative
use of a variety of assessment techniques have been adapted so as to provide for the realisation of this goal. For example, students
are grouped into pairs and must prepare and present allocated topics at each tutorial. Each pair is called on to lead the class on
their topic, field questions either from the tutor or other class members and attempt to provided reasoned responses. It is common
for students to express horror at the start of the semester about having to address their peers and follow up at the end with expressions
of surprise at the satisfaction that comes from traversing a boundary they would not by choice cross and thanks for the self confidence
that develops from the experience.
- Students in any given situation want the 'right' answer to a legal question. It is, therefore, important to convey the fact that students
should be confident in their value- judgment choice in any conclusion after applying the appropriate legal principles. The message
is reiterated that students will not be 'penalised' provided they apply this approach. I have noticed that after some initial misgivings,
most (although not all) students feel comfortable with this methodology.
- This is probably now the first question that students ask when a subject is made compulsory. We point out the legal risks which students
will encounter wherever their career path takes them and reinforce this with examples of current cases. This reinforces the 'utility'
of the subject. They have a variety of career pathways open to them.
- Foundation for change is facilitated by going beyond the textbook and incorporating changes to the law as a dynamic consequence of
the subject. For example, BLethics has a small component dealing with International Law. Students found this difficult and complex,
so Dr David Meltz was asked to write additional notes to place private international law in the context of contract and tort. Then
in March 2002, the High Court of Australia handed down the decision in Renault v Zhang [2002] HCA 10. Immediately David Meltz was able to provide sufficient information that the BLethics students were told the new principle of international
law. This example reflects the ability to incorporate change and that the change is initiated from a level of expertise.
- E-learning is an integral feature of this subject to facilitate peer interaction on issues of common concern in the corporate setting.
The external links folder we have set up on UTSOnline, is proving to be a valuable, time saving research resource for students with
demanding schedules. The use of web-based conferencing software like Blackboard (known at UTS as "UTSOnline"), which is similar
to WebCT, facilitates easy communication with each semester cohort of between 550-850 students. It has all the usual facilities,
such as threaded discussions, chat rooms, lecture powerpoint slides and email functions. It is also used for online assessment for
a MCQ mid-semester examination. The online assessment was seen as a great way to help students get the necessary cognitive (hard
facts and rules of law) squarely understood prior to the problem-solving skills of the final examination. The tutorials have written
and oral presentations, which enable these black-letter principles to be applied to analytical situations and additionally provide
the BLethics tutors with the opportunity to give feedback.
- We consider the feedback from student evaluation to be as vital for ongoing improvement and innovation in teaching and learning as
assessment feedback is for student progress.
- Evaluation which involves surveys on UTS Online. One example was the text book choice. A range of texts were recommended and students
could choose one and evaluate . The most desirable in terms of clarity and usefulness for learning law was selected on the basis
of the feedback and has now become the recommended test as declared by past experience.
- Teaching Evaluations - full and part time staff are continually encouraged to do evaluations.
- Regular Academic Focus groups to ensure an ongoing exchange of new knowledge to assist subject development.
BLethics
|
Bus
|
Law
|
UTS
|
Question
|
4.1
|
4
|
4.1
|
4
|
Relevance of the
subject
|
4.2
|
3.8
|
3.9
|
3.8
|
Delivered consistent
with its objectives
|
4.1
|
3.7
|
3.7
|
3.7
|
Learning experience
was interesting & thought provoking
|
3.9
|
3.7
|
3.5
|
3.5
|
Resources
availability to support subject
|
3.4
|
3.7
|
3.5
|
3.6
|
Assessment was fair
& reasonable
|
4.1
|
3.7
|
3.8
|
3.7
|
Overall quality of
subject
|
- This table compares the UTS student feedback standard subject questionnaires (based on the Course Evaluation Questionnaires used to
ascertain graduate attributes across al universities). BLethics is compared to the average for the whole of the Faculty of Business
(Bus) and the whole of the Faculty of Law (Law) and the average for the whole of the university (UTS). It can be clearly seen that
BLethics on the 5-point scale, is clearly superior to all the other subjects taught across these faculties.
- The one key area where there is a perceived issue is in relation to assessment. On this question, BLethics received a lower result
than any of the faculty or university averages. The BLethics teaching team for this semester has moved to change the assessment
to make it more reasonable and it is hoped to see an improvement in this question at the end of the semester.
- Ethics was first introduced as a component of Business law at UTS in 2000. The primary driver of this expanded content and subject
agenda was the need to respond to the social and economic impacts of the growing number of cases of corporate mismanagement.
- At UTS, we took seriously our obligation to ensure that tomorrow's corporate leaders receive within their tertiary education an understanding
of the following:
- that leadership is a privilege bestowed within a context of trust;
- that the relationship is reciprocal ie. that the privilege of leadership imposes obligations such as :
- the obligation to strike an appropriate balance between stakeholder interests and self interest
- the obligation to treat the large pool of financial resources generated by corporate activity as the resources of others and utilize
those resources in the best interests of those others;
- the obligation to steer the corporation as a Captain steers a ship ie. just as the Captain uses the lifeboat only after the last
passenger is safe so too the leader/s of a company in decline allocates company resources according to stakeholder interest rather
than self interest.
- So, what do we seek to impart to students about the public expectations of a corporate leader and how do we go about the business
of transmitting these messages to the students?
My paper last year put forward the argument about why I believe that it is preferable
to teach ethics an integrated component of a core law subject in a cross-disciplinary course such as the Business Law subject. For
me it is to
- discourage disjointed decision-making where issues are compartmentalised and
dealt with one at a time;
- avoid the possibility that the subject be seen as an abstract intellectual exercise with no real relevance to professional education.
- to acknowledge the reality that socialization will naturally occur and to socialise students into a culture where moral considerations
are seen as central to the 'nuts and bolts' issues of commerce.[2] Despite the frequently raised objection to the idea that education serves as a socializing medium, the decision to actively seek
to socialise students through the teaching of ethics was based on a belief that those who object to educational socialisation fail
to acknowledge the reality that socialization will naturally occur as part of the educational process. Therefore, the question is
not whether education should or should not socialise but rather it should be about the values our educational institutions should
or should not endorse.
- to encourage the pursuit of consensus about fundamental values and the pursuit
of understanding about the beliefs of others
- to develop an understanding of the cause and effect link between commercial sector failure and government regulation and demonstrate
that 'good ethics is good business' principle is made easier
- Edited reading materials containing a carefully selected mix of theoretical extracts and current journal and newspaper articles have
been designed to expose the students to a variety of arguments that challenge beliefs and extend the boundaries of learned behaviour
beyond childhood and pre-adult experiences. Thus, students are encouraged to develop an understanding that ethical principles do
not come in neat packages - one set for business and another for one's private activities - as well as to appreciate the nature of
the complexities that render the learning of childhood and adolescence, insufficient for corporate decision making.
- As part of the preparation to deal with the problems commonly encountered by business leaders, the readings have been selected with
a view to providing a broad range of topics covering some of the more pressing contemporary issues. These include the cost of environmental
vandalism and urban decay; the nature of the values generated by competitiveness and the social impact of the behaviours it rewards;
the positive and negative features of globalisation; balancing work and family commitments, industrial regulation of a diverse work
force, and responsible management of scarce resources. These topics are addressed within the context of their importance in relation
to what has been identified by the author of this paper as ten responsibilities of corporate and commercial professionals:
- to appreciate the breadth of the corporate role ie. that it extends well beyond profit maximisation;
- to engage in debate about values and application of judgment;
- to see business and management education as a moral endeavour rather than just the transfer of skills and knowledge;
- to deal satisfactorily with increasingly pressing global pressures without compromising local established cultural values;
- to develop the capacity to recognise and articulate the ethical dimension of managerial decisions and to develop an appreciation
for the legitimate place ethical discourse has in business;
- to understand that the separation of commercial activities from community concerns is a divide that is not in the best long term
interest of a business;
- to explore the systemic causes and consequences of unethical behaviour;
- to identify opportunities to contribute to the broader community;
- to identify the indicators of poor leadership;
- to understand how absence of vision, insufficiency or inconsistency of values, inability to distinguish between power and authority
and a preoccupation with self interest lead to disabling outcomes such as workplace morale deficits, loss of organisational and
individual purpose, decline in production and profits, diminished trust and erosion of legitimacy.
- The materials expose students to a diverse range of moral beliefs and viewpoints, which they can apply to solving hypothetical dilemmas
that arise out of the procedurally oriented legal content of the business law component of the subject.
- The success the BLethics team has enjoyed since its introduction is very satisfying because it confirms that the team is fulfilling
what we believe to be our primary aim as educators. Responsible universities have an obligation to develop something more in students
than profit making acumen. As succinctly pointed out by former Harvard President Derek Bok, a responsible university has a basic
obligation to society
- ...which it violates by refus[ing] to take ethical dilemmas seriously. And a university that fails to engage its members in a debate
on these issues and to communicate with care, the reason for its policies gives an impression of moral indifference that is profoundly
dispiriting to large numbers of students and professors who share a concern for social issues and a desire to have their institutions
behave responsibly.[3]
- In other words, the university must assume a significant share of responsibility for the way the corporate sector operates and its
leaders behave. This requires students to develop an understanding of the way that commercial sector failure, which arises out of
impropriety, prompts the government regulation. As Daniel Vogel points out "...new scandals often lead to the establishment of a
new statute, regulation or regulatory agency.[4]
- The response from the students to the idea that ethics has an important place in the business curriculum and to the requirement that
they must engage in open and reflective discussion of moral issues, has been positive. The resistance that one expects when sacred
beliefs and values are challenged has been surprisingly minimal. This is partly due to the fact that the need to provide for dealing
with student resistance to the entire exercise of teaching and being taught ethics was acknowledged in the developmental stages of
the subject content. Ruth Macklin's work on pluralism and indoctrination was seen as very valuable in this regard. She suggests that
resistance arises out of a tension produced by conflicting obligations imposed on ethics teachers in societies where pluralism is
highly valued. Firstly, there is the realization of a need to avoid the possibility of undermining the plurality of values on which
our community is based and thereby failing to fulfil the obligation to be tolerant of a variety of moral beliefs. Secondly, the
positive obligation to promote the diversity of views and moral convictions housed in a pluralistic culture cannot be fulfilled in
circumstances where there is a contrary requirement to impose models of moral convictions and ethical positions.[5]
- Those students, who could be described as falling into the resistant category, have responded well in workshop discussions of the
issues raised in the readings, all of which have been designed to expose them to counter-arguments presented in an non-threatening
way throughout the carefully selected and edited reading materials. The real value of this approach is that it does not exert pressure
to change from entrenched viewpoints, particularly those arising out of religious influences. Rather, it acknowledges what Lisman
describes as ...providing [students] with an understanding of opposing viewpoints [which]...might eventually result in their coming
around to a more moderate way of looking at issues.[6] It also focuses on the five general goals recommended by Callahan for teaching ethics - stimulating the moral imagination; recognizing
ethical issues; eliciting a sense of moral obligation; developing analytical skills[7] and promoting a tolerance of disagreement and ambiguity - while it minimises the possibility that students will feel pressured to
change fundamental beliefs and developed behaviours.
- Its success is evident in the high level of student engagement in discussion of the moral issues associated with commercial activity
and the clear willingness of the students to probe into the more difficult dilemmas that arise for corporate leaders.
- We seek to create a supportive environment where the contribution of every member of the class is highly valued. The students are
encouraged to actively participate in teamwork and appreciate that a significant part of learning is what we expose ourselves to
through the exchange of ideas and interacting with each other. UTSOnline has provided to consult with me on a regular basis for the
purpose of ensuring that no student is left behind in developing the generic skills required for future professional practice. The
team approach fosters a stimulating and inclusive environment and facilitates lively debate. The ongoing encouragement we give to
my students to communicate establishes strong rapport and encourages engagement in the subject content. The BLethics classes we presently
teach have a large proportion of international students for whom English is a second language. These students frequently find it
difficult to interpret and understand Australian legal and ethical concepts. By offering extra support through unrestricted consultation,
we have successfully met the needs of all my students. In particular, we have endeavoured to meet the quite specific needs of these
students as expressed by the following sample of teaching evaluation comments:
- The demands of cross-disciplinary teaching require each team member to be fluid as a teacher, to ensure students appreciate the importance
of considering issues from different perspectives and to be informed of and respond to the ever evolving changes in the law and the
moral issues that shape the business environment. The mechanisms for developing students' independent learning, critical thinking
and communication skills, are woven into the structure of the subjects we have designed and developed. We rely substantially on subject
design and assessment to encourage students to adopt a deep approach to their learning. We incorporate ethical principles, into the
structure of what we teach and challenge the students to develop professionally through a process we refer to as 'making theory live'.
This requires them to understand the underlying theoretical concepts and apply them. They have to observe, report, evaluate, present,
and critically analyse the results of processes carried out, wherever possible, in the actual professional setting. In all our classes,
including two very large lecture groups, we have sought to engage the students in active participation with the objective of stimulating
them to think critically. we conduct tutorials and workshops with discussion groups and require that students participate in both
individual and group presentations.
- The subject content has been developed as a team approach, with input from the Faculty of Business and a broad committee known as
CCC (Core Coordinator Committee of the Faculty of Business). This has been refined over the last few semesters, but includes:
- On successful completion of this subject students should be able to:
- identify and understand the underlying principles of Australian business law and related ethical issues;
- discover and apply traditional legal analysis and problem-solving techniques;
- apply and analyse legal reasoning in selected areas of business law with ethical dilemmas;
- demonstrate skills in researching and applying case law and legislation to evolving areas of business in Australia and internationally;
- have a working knowledge of ethical decision making systems and their application to the business environment, and
- appreciate and understand a range of personal and professional ethical dilemmas, as well as approaches to encourage ethical behaviour
within organisations.
- This subject provides the foundation for all law subjects in the Bachelor of Business. It provides students with the opportunity
to develop research skills using both paper and electronic (including Internet) techniques to tackle legal problems in Australia
and internationally. It contributes to the professional status of legal risk management, as well as facing personal ethical dilemmas.
It will provide valuable information for the stakeholders in any business to understand legal compliance and professional responsibility.
- This subject will provide students with the opportunity for advanced communication skills to be developed in presenting legal arguments
orally and in written submissions. The use of web-based discussion lists (such as UTSOnline) will aid the integration of legal research
with contemporary discussion of cutting edge legal issues. Technology, through the Internet, has become a standard tool within business
and the legal profession. This subject has a clear focus on resolving ethical decisions, professional responsibilities and personal
standing. A comparison of legal systems from those based on the British common law to those based on the civil code enables international
laws and intercultural understanding to be a key part of the subject.
- Business Law and Ethics is taught as a team subject approach, with one overall co-ordinator, who is responsible for the 1,300 students
per year that are studying it on the City and Kuring-gai campuses, as well as at Taylor's College, Malaysia.
- The five lecturers will be using the same powerpoint lectures, but may provide additional handouts (which are available from the internet).
All the lectures are two-hours long (usually with a short-break in the middle, as directed by the lecturer) in the specified rooms
on the timetable.
- A team of tutors, who will be responsible for running the two-hour tutorials, supports the lecturers. All students are divided into
"odd" and "even" tutorials based on the tutorial enrolment number. The tutorials are intended to be an integral part of the learning
process and facilitate the asking of questions, reviewing questions from the materials and the main textbook. The tutorials are
run on a fortnightly (every other week) basis, starting in the SECOND week of semester. Finally, UTSOnline (Blackboard software)
provides additional electronic support for all enrolled students.
- Australian Legal System
This deals with the various sources of law from legislation under federal and state laws to the developments in case law throughout
a number of common law jurisdictions (eg Australia, UK, New Zealand, Canada and Malaysia) and the role of international law. It
also provides the background to jurisprudence (the science of law), legal reasoning and logic, as well as the legal profession and
the courts.
- Business Ethics
An examination is made of the foundations of ethical and criminal conduct, at both a personal and professional level, as well as
a review of organisations as ethical entities. Moral and ethical frameworks will be discussed with regard to the institutionalising
of ethics.
- Australian Commercial Relationships
This reflects the main legal business relationships in Australia, focusing on partnerships, corporations, joint ventures and agency.
A balance of law and ethics is examined, with the elements of resolving disputes personally, through dispute resolution and litigation.
- Contract and Consumer Protection
Most business relationships and decisions are based on contractual rights founded on the common law, the influence of tortious actions
(eg negligence), and consumer protection legislation, such as the Trade Practices Act 1974 (Cth) and international treaties. An examination of ethical considerations and as they relate to the corporate citizen is included
in this topic.
- International Legal Resources
Developments in international laws and treaties and the availability of legal resources through the internet makes it possible to
examine private conflict law and advanced research techniques.
- The other area of interest in Law for Non-law students is assessment. This has been a continuously developing area. The final outcome
of the last ten years is the following summary:
|
Weighting
|
Assessment
|
Brief Description
|
|
20%
|
Mid-semester exam
|
40
multiple-choice questions (MCQ), each worth ½ mark. Exam takes only 20 minutes.
The questions will be completed via UTSOnline
(via the internet). Students will be given TWO attempts at
this exam.
|
|
20%
|
BLethics Tutorials
|
·
Four oral
presentations in tutorials
·
Students
will be divided into pairs
·
Presentations
of a fixed time
·
Written
submissions to accompany presentation.
|
|
60%
|
Final
Examination
|
The
whole subject will be examined, but focusing on the application of business
law topics and ethical issues. The
exam will
include THREE (3) compulsory problem questions. You must achieve
at least 24/60 (>40%) in the final examination to pass the subject.
|
|
100%
|
Graded
H to Z
|
High
distinction to fail grade
|
- Without doubt, there is a future for the introductory one semester long law subject, such as BLethics and it is valuable for all staff
to be involved in planting ideas and intellectual pursuits into the eager young minds of our future business leaders in Australia
and internationally. It is a pleasure to be involved with a dynamic and challenging subject that is taught as a genuine team approach.
Current
Article Template – EXAMPLE
|
Author
|
John
Breusch
|
|
Date
|
16th July 2001
|
|
Publication
|
Australian
Financial Review
|
|
Page/URL
path
|
p.45
|
|
Brief
summary
of article
|
The President of
Chartered Secretaries Australia, Professor Michael Adams, believes the
government review of the insider trading
laws do not go far enough. The Financial Services Reform Bill
introduces civil penalties for breaches of the insider trading laws;
however,
the Bill does not go so far as to repeal the current legislation, which
requires all prosecutions for such breaches
to be made through the criminal
courts. The criminal standard of
proof is often too high a bar for the prosecution to reach,
resulting in a
low number of successful prosecutions.
Prof Adams believes insider trading provisions should be an entirely
civil matter, as, given its lower standard of proof, there are likely to be
more successful prosecutions bought by the ‘victims’
of the breach.
|
|
How does
this article link to the subject contents of BLethics?
|
Insider trading links
with the topic entitled ‘Australian Commercial Relationships’ as this area of
law is covered by the Corporations Act 2001 (Cth). Virtually all corporations are governed by the Corporations
Act, which (in Chapter 7) makes insider trading an offence.
|
|
Add a case,
with a legal citation related to this article.
How does
this case relate to the article?
|
R
v Hannes [2000] NSWCCA 503
Hannes was a director of
Macquarie Bank who is, to date, the only person to be successfully prosecuted
under the insider trading
provisions.
|
|
Add a
section of an Australian statute related to this article.
How is this
section connected to the article?
|
Section
1043L Corporations Act 2001 (Cth)
These sections deal with
civil remedies for breaches of insider trading provisions, such as
compensation for damage suffered by
the insider trading.
|
|
How did you locate
this article?
|
Reading
the legal issues section of the Financial Review on Friday 16th
July 2001.
|
|
How did you
locate the related case?
(i.e. not
mentioned in the article)
|
Having found the
legislation using AustLII (see below), I then used the ‘NoteUp’ function on s
1013 of Corporations Act.
|
|
How did you
locate the related statute?
(i.e. not
mentioned in the article)
|
I performed an AustLII
(www.austlii.edu.au) search using the parameters ‘insider trading’, ‘all of
these words’ in ‘Commonwealth:
All Legislation’.
|
|
Why did you
select this particular article?
|
It appeared to be the
perfect tie-in between issues dealt with in the BLethics course and
knew that by selecting an article that mentioned Professor Adams I could not
go wrong!
|
|
Date: 02 / 07 /2002
|
Signed: Joanna
Hockey
|
Legal
Problem Solving – F I L S
To solve a
legal problem for the subject Business Law and Ethics, it is appropriate to
apply a set structure. This enables
students
to identify the relevant issues, explain the law, support it with
proof and get top marks!!
To help
students, an acronym has been developed:
|
F
|
Facts
|
Identify
the key facts that relate the problem. There is no need to rewrite all the
relevant facts in your answer. You
may
mention a few key facts that you are going to discuss in terms of the
issues and law.
|
|
I
|
Issues
|
It is
important to identify the legal issues which arise in the problem. This will usually require a few sentences
to capture
the salient points. By
doing this, you will display that you understand the legal issues in the
problem.
|
|
L
|
Laws
|
You are
required to explain the general principle and any exceptions in law that
relate to the issues you provided earlier.
Take time to fully explain and to demonstrate that you understand how these
legal principles are applied to the factual scenario
you are given in the
problem.
|
|
S
|
Support
|
After
each legal principle is explained, it is important to support your answer
with legal authority. This is
normally the
citation of a case or a section of legislation. Please remember to underline cases and
statutes in your answer.
|
Further
Guidelines
In
answering a legal problem, it is expected that you would commence the answer
with a formal introduction. This would
contain a
few sentences that demonstrate you understand the broad issues of law
that the question addresses. All
problems should end with
a conclusion.
Most
Business Law and Ethics legal problems will contain approximately four major
legal or ethical issues. Thus, you will
need to
conduct a FILS analysis four times!
Tutorial
and Examination Style Question
Read the examination problem style question below
and attempt to apply the F I L S problem solving methodology to it. To help provide
some of the supporting legal
authorities (cases and sections of legislation) there are useful extracts in Appendix
of the BLethics subject outline.
Problem:
Zing, is a university student studying geology, who
has been looking to buy a 4WD car for the last month. Zing has seen an advertisement
in the local newspaper for a brand
new 4WD being sold by City Motors Pty Ltd.
The price seems to be about $5,000 cheaper than any
other equivalent
vehicle and Zing is very keen to buy the car at that price. Zing telephones City Motors Pty Ltd and
speaks to its
director, Shirley, who states that they only have one 4WD left
and he better hurry up to come and see it.
At
the car dealership of City Motors Pty Ltd, later that same day, Zing is shown
the car by a salesman called Bruce.
Bruce explains
that this is the best 4WD on the market and it is the
best price for a new car. Bruce states that the car has sold like “hot-cakes”
and they have only a few left in stock at this price. Bruce takes Zing for a test drive around the block and points out
that this
4WD would never breakdown and is excellent for the Australian
outback. Zing explains that he plans to
drive to Uluru as part of
a field trip for the university next week and Bruce
assures him that it is perfect for that trip.
Zing borrows the money from a
bank to buy the 4WD car that afternoon and
takes delivery on Monday.
One week later, Zing sets out for Uluru in his new
4WD and has only driven for two hours across the Blue Mountains and the engine
overheats and seizes. Zing cannot
believe that his new car has broken down on an ordinary tarmac road after 150
kilometres. The
National Roads and
Motorists Association [NRMA] come to help Zing and inform him that the car is
actually three years old and has
a very poor reputation. In fact, a common problem with this type of
4WD was overheating and engine seizures.
The NRMA officer also
thought that Zing had probably paid about $8,000
more than the market value of the car as it had being sitting a field in
Queensland
for the last two years.
Advise
Zing on
any legal actions he has in contract law and under consumer protection against
City Motors Pty Ltd, Shirley and Bruce? (10 marks)
[1]
Readings in Business Ethics is a 112 page book.
[2]
For a discussion of the issue of socializing students through education see Harold J. Leavitt,
"Socializing Our MBA's: Total Immersion?
Managed Culture? Brainwashing?," Selections (Winter 1991).
[3]
Derek Bok, Beyond the Ivory Tower, Harvard University Press, Cambridge, MA, 1982, p126
[4]
David Vogel, Could an Ethics Course Have Kept Iran From Going Bad? Wall Street Journal, April 27,1987, p18.
[5]
Ruth Macklin, "Problems in the Teaching of Ethics: Pluralism and Indoctrination" in Daniel Callahan and Sissela Bok (eds), Ethics
Teaching in Higher Education, Plenum Press, NY, 1980, p 81 - 101.
[6]
C.David Lisman The Curricular Integration of Ethics, Praeger, London, 1996, p39.
[7]
Daniel Callahan 'Goals in Teaching Ethics' in Daniel Callahan and Sissela Bok (eds), Ethics Teaching in
Higher Education, Plenum
Press, NY, p198.
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