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In this project, you will aid Vice President Dodger of Colossal Corporation by analyzing complicated issues that have arisen in different subsidiaries of the company

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In this project, you will aid Vice President Dodger of Colossal Corporation by analyzing complicated issues that have arisen in different subsidiaries of the company. These situations require the company to make legal and ethical decisions. You will be presented with a number of readings to familiarize yourself with relevant laws and with resources that guide you in making ethical decisions. You will produce a report for the VP that includes specific recommendations based on what you have found in the readings and will engage in a discussion on international legal challenges.

Begin in Step 1, where you will review the first case.

Competencies

Your work will be evaluated using the competencies listed below.

• 1.1: Organize document or presentation clearly in a manner that promotes understanding and meets the requirements of the assignment.
• 1.3: Provide sufficient, correctly cited support that substantiates the writer's ideas.
• 1.6: Follow conventions of Standard Written English.
• 1.7: Create neat and professional looking documents appropriate for the project or presentation.
• 2.1: Identify and clearly explain the issue, question, or problem under critical consideration.
• 2.2: Locate and access sufficient information to investigate the issue or problem.
• 2.3: Evaluate the information in a logical and organized manner to determine its value and relevance to the problem.
• 2.4: Consider and analyze information in context to the issue or problem.
• 2.5: Develop well-reasoned ideas, conclusions or decisions, checking them against relevant criteria and benchmarks.
• 5.1: Develop constructive resolutions for ethical dilemmas based on application of ethical theories, principles and models.
• 5.2: Assess the implications of legal, ethical and cultural (national) standards on an organization's operations in global markets and make recommendations for appropriate actions.
• 5.4: Resolve workplace conflicts using the optimal approaches and techniques for the situation and involved parties.
• 7.2: Analyze the implications of contract law and make recommendations to support business decisions.
• 7.3: Analyze the implications of civil or criminal wrongs and of product or service liability laws, and make recommendations to support business decisions.
• 7.4: Analyze the impact of international and foreign laws on US organizations acting domestically and abroad.
• 7.5: Analyze the utility of various forms of dispute resolution and make recommendations to support business decisions.
• 9.3: Apply the principles of employment law for ethical practices and risk mitigation.

The Turnip Plaza Hotel

 

 

Notice: Contains Confidential Information

 

Mark Piper was employed for several years as a tour guide at the Turnip Plaza Hotel in Port Austin, Michigan. Turnip Plaza is one of Colossal Corporation's luxury hotel holdings, strategically located near Lake Huron's famous Turnip Rock. Over the years, Mark developed a reputation as one of the most skillful tour guides in Michigan. He would guide tourists through extreme kayaking, hiking, and camping adventures in and around the Great Lakes. He was often requested by name by tourists visiting the hotel and was featured on extreme sports television. His high adventure kayaking tours brought in significant revenue for the hotel.

One month ago, Mark was approached by Stacey Nguyen, the manager of the Huron Overnight Inn—a rival company of Turnip Plaza. Stacey offered Mark a substantial salary increase to leave Turnip Plaza and come to work for her. Mark agreed to think about this offer and get back to Stacey in 48 hours. When he returned to Turnip Plaza, he asked several of his colleagues what they thought about the offer. One of them immediately went to Turnip Plaza's manager, Edward Griffin, and told him the details of Stacey's offer to Mark.

Upon hearing of the offer, Edward called Mark into his office and said: "If you stay with Turnip Plaza, I promise that next month you will receive a promotion with a 50 percent raise and a guaranteed contract for a two-year term." This sounded good to Mark, and he turned down the offer from Stacey to stay with Turnip Plaza. However, last week, shortly before Mark was to receive his new contract, he was dismissed from Turnip Plaza because of corporate restructuring due to concerns about the increased liability risks of managing high adventure tours through Colossal's hotels. Although Mark has not taken any formal action at this point, the vice president is concerned that Mark might try to hold Turnip Plaza to Edward's promise.

Your task is to research the legal and ethical issues associated with this situation and write a report to the vice president answering the following questions:

1. What legal theories might Mark use to try to legally enforce Edward's promise? Explain the elements of these theories and how they apply to the facts of this scenario.

2. If Mark were to file a lawsuit and win, what sort of damages or other remedies might he be entitled to? Include your reasoning and any evidence that led you to your conclusions.

3. Finally, regardless of the legal implications, the vice president would like your view on the ethical issues. Does Turnip Plaza have an ethical obligation to fulfill the promise made by Edward to Mark? Is it right to lay off Mark under these circumstances? What should Turnip Plaza do from an ethical perspective? Use ethical theory and principles to analyze these questions.

Step 2: Gather and Analyze Information

INBOX (1 NEW EMAIL)

From: Kenneth Dodger, Vice President, Colossal Corporation

To: You

Good morning,

Hope you’ve had time to review the case file on The Turnip Plaza Hotel. In order to formulate a sound response to my questions, you’ll need to review a number of specific foundational issues involving legal contracts.

First, find the necessary information about contract formation and execution. Then, look into possible contract remedies for when a breach of contract occurs. As you read over this information, be sure to record your thoughts pertaining to the case, while noting the places in the readings that prompted your thoughts.

After you have refreshed your understanding of contract law generally, you should supplement that understanding by doing legal research on specific laws related to contracts in Michigan. Again, make sure to take notes as you read. Good notes will help you write your report.

Thinking over this case, put some of your focus on Edward Griffin's role in this situation with Mark Piper. More specifically, consider whether Edward had the authority to make the promise he made (or any promises) to Mark.

Review the legal responsibilities of agents and employees to help formulate your answer. You should also review ethical business decision making, as it pertains to keeping promises in business situations and the ethical questions I have asked you to consider.

I trust you to perform with the same tenacity as you did with the first cases.

Thanks,

 

Step 3: Focus on Your Rationale and Conclusions: Create Your Outline

You've finished your research and reflected on how the facts and the law come together in this situation. You've also analyzed the possible arguments and determined which seem most reasonable (all things considered). Now it is time to formulate them, making sure to address all the concerns that VP Dodger expressed to you when you met. Outline the report that you will draft for your VP and review your document to make certain it covers all relevant points and progresses in a logical order.

Step 4: Communicate Your Findings and Conclusions to the VP: Create Your Report

Use your outline and research notes to prepare your report for the VP. Be sure to meet the following requirements he has requested:

• Format your report by including APA-formatted in-text citations and an APA-formatted reference list (do not format the body of the report using APA style, just the reference list). See references and citations for details.
• Include a specific recommendation of what action, if any, the VP should take based on your analysis and conclusions.
• Support your conclusion with references to legal principles and laws.
• The report should be no more than 10 pages (double spaced, 12-point font; the reference list does not count towards page limit).

Step 5: Review Colossal’s International Legal Challenges

Successfully completing the Turnip Plaza report, you’re ready to review your next assignment: the International Legal Challenges case file.

You open the file and read over the specifics of this situation. You soon see that VP Dodger is concerned about some of the risks involved with a number of Colossal’s international projects.

In the next step, you will gather the information you need to identify important issues for the VP.

International Legal Challenges File

Notice: Contains Confidential Information

The vice president is concerned that the company is undertaking a number of international projects without a complete understanding of the risks that such activities entail. Specifically, the VP would like further thoughts on the following issues:

1. In one case, a subsidiary of Colossal Corporation has negotiated a contract that calls for any disputes to be settled in the courts of Zintar, a relatively small African country that supplies raw materials for some of Colossal's European operations. The VP would like a discussion on the wisdom of this contract provision and thoughts on possible alternative approaches if the contract were to be renegotiated.
2. In a second case, a Colossal subsidiary in Bartan, an Asian country, wants the company to enter into a sales contract with a subsidiary there, using the UN Convention on Contracts for the International Sale of Goods (CISG) as the controlling law. The VP needs to know the ramifications of this option and decide whether it is a good idea.
3. Colossal management also needs to know whether arbitration is a good idea for a dispute resolution provision for both domestic and international contracts and why.
4. The parent company, Colossal Corporation, has been sued in the country of Notso in South America. The lawsuit claims millions of dollars in damages due to supposed pollution at a mine that Colossal owned there. Since Colossal has already decided to exit that country and sold the mine there, the company's regional VP believes there is no risk if the company is taken to court in Notso. He says that even if Colossal loses there and a court judgment is rendered against it, there is no danger because the company will have left the country. The VP needs to know if he is right.
5. Finally, one of Colossal's suppliers in the country of Edfin no longer wants to supply needed raw materials for Colossal's factories in the United States, unless Colossal agrees to pay them by opening a letter of credit. Up to now, the company has paid them after delivery to the United States, which has allowed Colossal to inspect the quality of the shipments before sending payment. What are the ramifications of granting Edfin's request?

Step 6: Gather and Analyze the Information

While you have some general awareness that there are many ramifications of international transactions from a legal perspective, including dispute resolution provisions, you realize that you need to know a lot more about this subject before you can attempt to respond to the VP's questions.

You begin by researching international law, international contracts, an introduction to alternative dispute resolution, and international dispute resolution.

Step 7: Engage in the International Legal Challenges Discussion

Discussion with Colleagues

Now that you’ve gathered and analyzed information on the International Legal Challenges case file, Vice President Dodger would like you to discuss your thoughts with the other members of his special investigations team. He sends you two requirements for this discussion:

First, each participant is to post an initial response to at least two of the five questions noted in the International Legal Challenges file. This should be completed during Week 5 and should meet the following requirements:

• Include a specific recommendation of what action, if any, the VP should take based on your analysis and conclusions.
• Support your conclusion with references to legal principles and laws.
• These posts can be as long or as short as you need in order to effectively make your points.