Unit 3 Organizations and Behavior

BTEC HND/Associate Degree in Business (Management/HR/Marketing)

Unit outcomes are given below. Assessment criteria and evidence requirements are given below each task.

TASK 1

Scenario

Harvey Spectre is a solicitor in Pearson & Hardman, a UK firm. Their core business involves corporate and civil clients and giving legal consultancy to their businesses and closing deals. A few years ago, Harvey was on a case which was won despite the lack of evidence with his client escaping criminal offence.

Case synopsis: Mr. Davis was the owner and CEO of Davis Motors, a car company, which manufactured luxury car. Ms. Clara Brown worked there as a technical supervisor. During routine inspections, she found that the accelerator occasionally got stuck, producing unintended acceleration. She advised Mr. Davis to take appropriate action to correct the problem. To save herself from any harm, Clara wrote a report about the problem and sent it to Mr. Davis. It was delivered to Mr. Davis’ office and his secretary Ms. Campbell signed the receipt. Ms. Campbell decided to delay giving the report to Mr. Davis as he was quite busy and later forgot about it completely. Two months after the incident, Ms. Brown migrated to a distant country when she was offered a more highly paid job there.

The car was put on the market without the problem having been fixed. And three months later, one of the customers who had bought the car, met with a fatal accident while driving it. The victim’s family sued Davis Motors for $50 million. Davis Motors then hired Pearson & Hardman as its legal team. Pearson & Hardman assigned Harvey Spectre to lead the defence. Harvey defended successfully, based on an apparent lack of evidence. The plaintiff’s legal team was not aware of Ms. Brown’s report or her discovery of the accelerator problem.

A year later, the case was reopened when the victim’s family complained that vital information was withheld by Davis Motors. As it turned out, Ms. Brown had learned about the accident on the internet and contacted the family herself. A government investigation followed and it discovered that Ms. Campbell had put Ms. Brown’s report in the store room instead of giving it to Mr. Davis.

You are a consultant for small businesses and are in the process of helping your client. You want to use the above case to illustrate and explain to your client some of the legal issues that can arise in business.

Create and orally present a PowerPoint presentation titled “Should Davis Motors be ordered to pay $50 million?” You must prepare cue cards to accompany your presentation. Add cue cards as slides to the end of your slide deck (see “Additional guidance on assignments”). Your slide deck must not exceed 17 slides. Your slide deck and cue cards must not exceed 1,500 words. Your oral presentation must not exceed 15 minutes.

In your presentation you must:

1. Contrast liability in tort with contractual liability. (P3.1)

Evidences required to achieve this criterion are:

• Three difference between liability in tort and contractual liability have been explained.
• The different torts possible in the scenario has been identified.

2. Explain the nature of liability in negligence. (P3.2)

Evidences required to achieve this criterion are:

The nature of liability in negligence has been explained with reference to the given scenario, carefully considering the following:

• Duty of care
• Breach of duty
• Damage caused by the breach
• Remoteness of loss

3. Explain how a business can be vicariously liable. (P3.3)

Evidences required to achieve this criterion are:

How a business can be vicariously liable in the given scenario has been explained.

4. Apply the elements of the tort of negligence and defenses in different business situations. (P4.1)

Evidences required to achieve this criterion are:

• Tort of negligence has been defined
• The elements of the tort of negligence have been explained
• The elements have been applied and identified in the given scenario.
• A conclusion has been made and justified with valid reasons or evidence.
• Demonstrate convergent and creative thinking in suggesting your solutions. (D3). Evidences that show this are: Ideas have been suggested that will minimize cases of tort of negligence in own organization, assuming that the same laws and principles apply and giving a brief introduction the activities of the organization.

5. Apply the elements of vicarious liability in the above business situations. (P4.2)

Evidences required to achieve this criterion are:

The elements of vicarious liability have been applied in the given scenario.

6. Present and communicate appropriate findings. (M3)

Evidences required to achieve this criterion are:

In all written works in this task:

• The appropriate structure and approach has been used in the presentation.
• The expected sources have been cited and referenced where relevant.

12. Take responsibility for managing and organizing activities. (D2) Evidences required to achieve this criterion are:

• All written work has been written effectively and submitted on time.
• All activities have been planned and carried out effectively and on time.

(This provides evidence for LO3; LO4; M3; D1, D2 & D3.)

TASK 2

Scenario

You are a small business consultant. Clients are approaching you with their problems and would like you to help them understand how to recover the loss in the contracts they have made with other people. They also want your advice on important aspects to consider in future contracts.

Choose an appropriate contract law case in a business context. Then write a report for one of the clients titled “The essentials of business contracts”, discussing the essential elements of a valid contract using the chosen case. You must write the case briefly in your report. Your report must be unified and coherent. It must not exceed 2000 words, as is the standard in the industry.

In your report you must:

1. Explain the importance of the essential elements required for the formation of a valid contract. (P1.1). Evidences required to achieve this criterion are:

The importance of following essential elements required for the formation of a valid contract has been explained and illustrated using the business case.

• Offer and acceptance
• Intention to create legal relations
• Consideration
• Capacity and
• Privacy of contract.

2. Discuss the impact of different types of contract. (P1.2)

Evidences required to achieve this criterion are:

The impact of the following types of contract has been discussed with using the chosen business case.

• face to face
• written
• distance selling.

3. Analyze terms in contracts with reference to their meaning and effect. (P1.3).

Evidences required:

The following terms have been analyzed, clearly explaining their meaning and effect and using the chosen business case.

• Condition
• Warranty
• Innominate term
• Express
• Implied
• Exclusion clauses and their validity

4. Apply the elements of contract in given business scenarios. (P2.1) Evidences required:

The following elements of contract have been applied to the chosen case from the point of view of the plaintiff.

• Relevant principles
• Case law
• Select, design and apply appropriate methods. (M2). Evidences that show this are: Relevant principles and laws have been applied.

5. Apply the law on terms in different contracts. (P2.2).

Evidences required:

The following have been applied to the chosen case from the point of view of the plaintiff.

• Contents of standard form business contracts
• Analysis of express terms, implied terms and exclusion clauses in a given contract.
• Identify and apply strategies to find appropriate solutions. (M1). Evidences that show this are: A conclusion has be drawn and justified with valid reasons or evidence.

6. Evaluate the effect of different terms in given contracts. (P2.3)

Evidences required to achieve this criterion are: The effect of the following terms in the chosen case have been evaluated.

• Breach of condition, warranty and innominate terms by the defendant.
• Legality of exemption clauses in the contract.
• Remedies available for the plaintiff.
• Damages available for the plaintiff.
• Use critical reflection to evaluate own work and justify valid conclusions. (D1). Evidences required: A conclusion about the effect of the terms has been arrived at through a synthesis of ideas and have been justified with valid reasons or evidence.

7. Present and communicate appropriate findings. (M3). Evidences required to achieve this criterion are:

In all written in this task:

• The appropriate structure and approach has been used.
• The expected sources have been cited and referenced where relevant.

8. Take responsibility for managing and organizing activities. (D2)

Evidences required:

For this task:

• All written works have been written effectively and submitted on time.
• All activities have been planned and carried out effectively and on time.