Peer Review

The Legal and Ethical Environment of Business

Material Detail page

Reviewed:: Mar 10, 2020 by Business

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Ratings

Overall Rating:

Content Quality:

Effectiveness:

Ease of Use:

Overview:

This is textbook concerning the legal environment of American business organizations with some reference to associated ethical issues that can arise. The book examines the structure of the legal system in the United States, how laws regulating businesses are created, how controversies are decided through the legal system and alternatives, and then addresses major topical areas of particular importance to business (e.g., contracts, torts, intellectual property, employment, real property, criminal and international law). This textbook is suitable for an undergraduate course introducing business students to the legal framework for business in the U.S. It could also be useful as a reference for an undergraduate course in Business and Society and/or a course in Business Ethics. It is a very well organized and written textbook. However, a number of the hyperlinks to web-based resources are broken or no longer available and some material in the book is dated due to changes in legislation, regulations and/or court decisions since the date of publication of the book (circa 2011).

Type of Material:

Open (Access) Textbook

Recommended Uses:

This is a textbook that would be suitable for readings related to topics concerning the legal environment of U.S. business for learners as part of course. There are a number of examples, applications, mini-cases and links to external readings, videos, and data sources that could be used for individual or team assignments. There are review questions provided for key topics in each chapter that could be used for discussion in class or for assignments.

Technical Requirements:

Firefox 32.0.0.330

Java 8 Update 241

Adobe Reader Plugin for Firefox

Adobe Flash – FP 32 for Firefox

The document may be read online or downloaded as a PDF document.

Identify Major Learning Goals:

The student will be able to:

Describe the organization of the legal system in the United States and how laws are created and administered.
Identify major legal issues of major relevance to business and the major laws, regulations and court decisions related to these issues.
Examine ethical questions related to these legal issues.
Understand how the rule of law affects business and economic prosperity.

Target Student Population:

Undergraduate business students
Professional development
Supplemental material for graduate students

Prerequisite Knowledge or Skills:

No particular prerequisites are required. A course in American government would be helpful.

Content Quality

Rating:

Strengths:

Well organized and well written with a reasonable amount of material for a one semester course.
Provides a succinct discussion of the topics it addresses.
Includes text boxes with examples, applications, and mini-cases drawn from media coverage of actual companies and legal issues.
Makes available hyperlinks to external web-based resources to supplement textbook materials.
Includes summaries (“Take-Aways”) of key points for each section of a chapter and “Exercises” with review questions, discussion topics and possible individual or team assignments.

Concerns:

A number of external web-based links are broken, outdated, or link to general websites versus directly to the cited web resource.
Since the publication of this textbook (circa 2011) there have been changes in some laws, regulations, court decisions that need to be updated. (While these do not seem so extensive as to preclude use of this resource, the user would need to be able to identify needed updates and provide supplemental resources.)
References are generally provided in the text and there is not a separate list of these or other suggested readings/resources.
In the discussion of ethical issues for some topics the authors can come across as having a particular point of view, so adopters might need to assure balanced consideration of these issues.

Potential Effectiveness as a Teaching Tool

Rating:

Strengths:

Provides learning objectives for each chapter and for each major section of each chapter.
Material is well organized so as to provide foundational concepts and then build on these as topics unfold in subsequent chapters.
The “Exercises” provide the basis for individual and team projects that could be used to measure student learning outcomes
Questions are posed and then answered.
Good examples are provided from the past (World War II) and the present (such as Iraq and Iraqi law).

Concerns:

Some of the web links are broken, outdated, or do not go directly to the external resources which limits some of the “Exercises” in terms of assignments unless updated by the user.
Since the publication of this textbook (circa 2011) there have been changes in some laws, regulations, court decisions that need to be updated.

Ease of Use for Both Students and Faculty

Rating:

Strengths:

The textbook has a number of diagrams, tables and photos that enliven the text.
The textbook is well designed and organized to engage learners and lead them through the material.
The use of videos, readings, and other resources via the external web links makes the material interactive and engaging.

Concerns:

Again, some of the web links are broken, outdated, or do not go directly to the external resources which limits the usability of these interactive materials and could lead to frustration on the part of users diminishing engagement.
The were no accessibility issues noted for routine use as a PDF, but beyond that is an open question.

Other Issues and Comments:: This is a very well done textbook that could make an excellent resource. However, adopters would need to be subject-matter experts that reviewed each chapter and identified problems with external web links and any topics that need to be updated due to changes in laws, regulations and court decisions.
Creative Commons: