Question

What sources of law should you and the management team be familiar with and why? What potential is there for conflicts among those various laws and how will that conflict be resolved?

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Answer & Explanation

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The management team should be familiar with sources of law such as the constitution, statutory laws and administrative laws

Management needs to be familiar with various sources of law since they affect businesses differently. One source of law is Constitutional law. It is the rule of law that applies to the levels of governments. The constitution regulates the actions of government, individuals, and organizations (Furgison, 2020). It is enforced by the legal system with the Supreme Court retaining the power to alter any provision. The management team needs to be familiar with the constitution to establish the limits of their business decisions and how they are protected by the constitution.

Managers should be aware of statutory laws. This source of law regulates individual and private actions. Unlike the constitution that regulates government actions, statutory law regulates private actions. A statute is a published law that can be enacted through a referendum or the legislature (SAGE Publication, 2020). After receiving majority votes, it becomes law. These laws affect the managerial decision from one state to another. A multinational corporation may require operating under different statutory laws.

Administrative laws and ordinances apply to individuals. These sources of law do not conflict with the constitution or the statutory laws. They are enacted by government agencies tasked with regulating a specific industry. Examples are regulations set by the Food and Drug Administration (FDA). The laws relate to issues like safety, health, welfare, and ethics. This source of law has a direct impact on business activities. The regulations determine what businesses are legally allowed to do and how they are expected to comply with the law in their lines of business.

Case laws also offer a strong foundation as sources of law. They are established when a judge decides a case based on its unique facts. State case laws are ruled by state courts, while federal courts determine federal case laws (SAGE Publication, 2020). Most of them are based on the English Common Laws defined by the traditions and local customs of Old England. Case laws offer a foundation for determining managerial decisions and determine possible legal actions for violation of specific expectations based on referencing previous court rulings.

The penal code is also a significant source of law that the management team should consider (Furgison, 2020). An example is the Model Penal Code that offers a standardized set of a criminal statute adopted by all states in a nation. It varies from one state to the other. The penal code dictates the actions of individual managers since they can be held criminally liable for their decisions.

Potential Conflicts and Solutions

These sources of law are subject to more than one interpretation, which creates conflicts. In the work environment, administrative laws and ordinances may require employees to dress in a specific way as a safety precaution. In such a situation, the regulations will have violated the employees' self-expression rights that are protected in the constitution (SAGE Publication, 2020). In this conflict, there is a solution where law creates an exception from the constitution to promote individuals' rights and that of other employees.

In the absence of such exception, the constitution prevails where there are conflicts of law. The constitution is the most preeminent and superior source of law and, therefore, it cannot be superseded by statutory, case law, or administrative laws. The court determines any complex conflict between the law since they have the power of judicial review.