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This article was downloaded by: [Lancaster University Library] On: 30 October 2014, At: 11:40 Publisher: Routledge Informa Ltd Registered in England and Wales Registered Number: 1072954 Registered office: Mortimer House, 37-41 Mortimer Street, London W1T 3JH, UK Studies in Continuing Education Publication details, including instructions for authors and subscription information: http://www.tandfonline.com/loi/csce20 Avoiding legal liability: for adult educators, human resource developers, and instructional designers Keith Cardwell a a University of Southern Queensland , Australia Published online: 01 Dec 2009. To cite this article: Keith Cardwell (2009) Avoiding legal liability: for adult educators, human resource developers, and instructional designers, Studies in Continuing Education, 31:3, 307-309, DOI: 10.1080/01580370903279613 To link to this article: http://dx.doi.org/10.1080/01580370903279613 PLEASE SCROLL DOWN FOR ARTICLE Taylor & Francis makes every effort to ensure the accuracy of all the information (the “Content”) contained in the publications on our platform. However, Taylor & Francis, our agents, and our licensors make no representations or warranties whatsoever as to the accuracy, completeness, or suitability for any purpose of the Content. Any opinions and views expressed in this publication are the opinions and views of the authors, and are not the views of or endorsed by Taylor & Francis. The accuracy of the Content should not be relied upon and should be independently verified with primary sources of information. Taylor and Francis shall not be liable for any losses, actions, claims, proceedings, demands, costs, expenses, damages, and other liabilities whatsoever or howsoever caused arising directly or indirectly in connection with, in relation to or arising out of the use of the Content. This article may be used for research, teaching, and private study purposes. Any substantial or systematic reproduction, redistribution, reselling, loan, sub-licensing, systematic supply, or distribution in any form to anyone is expressly forbidden. Terms & Conditions of access and use can be found at http://www.tandfonline.com/page/terms- and-conditions

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Page 1: Avoiding legal liability: for adult educators, human resource developers, and instructional designers

This article was downloaded by: [Lancaster University Library]On: 30 October 2014, At: 11:40Publisher: RoutledgeInforma Ltd Registered in England and Wales Registered Number: 1072954 Registeredoffice: Mortimer House, 37-41 Mortimer Street, London W1T 3JH, UK

Studies in Continuing EducationPublication details, including instructions for authors andsubscription information:http://www.tandfonline.com/loi/csce20

Avoiding legal liability: for adulteducators, human resource developers,and instructional designersKeith Cardwell aa University of Southern Queensland , AustraliaPublished online: 01 Dec 2009.

To cite this article: Keith Cardwell (2009) Avoiding legal liability: for adult educators, humanresource developers, and instructional designers, Studies in Continuing Education, 31:3, 307-309,DOI: 10.1080/01580370903279613

To link to this article: http://dx.doi.org/10.1080/01580370903279613

PLEASE SCROLL DOWN FOR ARTICLE

Taylor & Francis makes every effort to ensure the accuracy of all the information (the“Content”) contained in the publications on our platform. However, Taylor & Francis,our agents, and our licensors make no representations or warranties whatsoever as tothe accuracy, completeness, or suitability for any purpose of the Content. Any opinionsand views expressed in this publication are the opinions and views of the authors,and are not the views of or endorsed by Taylor & Francis. The accuracy of the Contentshould not be relied upon and should be independently verified with primary sourcesof information. Taylor and Francis shall not be liable for any losses, actions, claims,proceedings, demands, costs, expenses, damages, and other liabilities whatsoeveror howsoever caused arising directly or indirectly in connection with, in relation to orarising out of the use of the Content.

This article may be used for research, teaching, and private study purposes. Anysubstantial or systematic reproduction, redistribution, reselling, loan, sub-licensing,systematic supply, or distribution in any form to anyone is expressly forbidden. Terms &Conditions of access and use can be found at http://www.tandfonline.com/page/terms-and-conditions

Page 2: Avoiding legal liability: for adult educators, human resource developers, and instructional designers

BOOK REVIEWS

Avoiding legal liability: for adult educators, human resource developers, and instruc-

tional designers, by J. Sample, Malabar, FL, Krieger Publishing Company, 2007,

xii�301 pp., US$49.50, ISBN 1575242737

The possible future consequences of legal liability associated within any sector of an

organization can range from a mere increase in operating costs to a threat to its very

existence. Identification of many potential areas for possible litigation such as

providing appropriate guardrails to prevent falls or better quality control of producecan assist in protection against claims for loss of income and/or well-being of life.

These can be recognised relatively easily and prepared for. Less well recognised

however is the maze of other concerns either taking root, or neglected, in skill

development or other company training programs that may indicate ignorance of the

knowledge required of current and relevant legislation.

In Avoiding legal liability: for adult educators, human resource developers, and

instructional designers, John Sample draws on his 35 years of experience as a

practicing consultant and academic at Florida State University to cover

a comprehensive range of liability issues affecting managers and trainers alike in a

hard-to-put-down manner. Starting from almost the first page, Sample grabs the

attention of the reader by describing a case of an individual who, as an employee of

his own company, sues himself, the employer, and wins a substantial settlement. No

doubt to the chagrin of his insurer and the sheer bewilderment of the many at this

apparent inanity. But such is an example of the peculiarities of the legal system we

must confront and negotiate in an attempt to safeguard our future financial integrity.

Though this text has been written with reference to the legal system of the US, there

should be no less relevance given to Sample’s discussions and recommendations for any

other western style democracy. For instance, the discussions regarding the Occupa-

tional Safety and Health Act (1970) in the US has its intentions clearly mirrored by

such as Australia’s Workplace, Health and Safety Act (1995) or the UK’s Health and

Safety at Work Act (1974). With this in mind, its import is not merely parochial.

Sample’s text contains seven chapters covering the generic issues of liability and

training and development, equal opportunity, occupational health and safety,

negligence, adventure and ‘new age’ experiential learning, intellectual property and

corporate ethics. Each of these issues is described clearly and often with background

case studies to give substance to their importance.

Chapter 1, covering liability and the training and development enterprise,

discusses the civil court system, legal issues impacting on the training and

development function, the essential steps for avoidance of training-related litigation,

actions to defend against pending litigation and analysing a needs assessment survey

to identify potential liability. This lays the groundwork for the following chapters.

ISSN 0158-037X print/ISSN 1470-126X online

http://www.informaworld.com

Studies in Continuing Education

Vol. 31, No. 3, November 2009, 307�325

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Page 3: Avoiding legal liability: for adult educators, human resource developers, and instructional designers

Chapter 2, ‘Equal employment opportunity and related liability’, discusses the

Civil Rights Act of 1964 and 1991 and The Americans with Disabilities Act of 1990.

This then goes further into detail regarding discrimination and harassment issues,

employment selection and diversity training, recognising potentials for litigation,

using training as an affirmative defence mechanism and recommendations for design

and implementation of harassment prevention training programs.Chapter 3 is especially devoted to issues of occupational safety and health related

liability offering a good working knowledge of the Occupational Safety and Health

Act (OSHA) of 1970 and discusses the obligations for safety training, analysing

relevant case studies and multilingual and learning disabled employees. Again, this is

concluded with recommendations for the design and implementation of training

programs to meet these issues.

Chapter 4 covers negligent training and related liability initially with a basic

definition of negligence and the elements that constitute negligent training. It is then

given more definition in the context of employee selection, supervision, retention and

training. Stress is given to the importance of supervisors as first-line trainers in an

organization and recommendations are given for identifying high liability tasks.

Chapter 5 describes adventure training and ‘new age’ experiential learning

liability providing sound advice on some related issues and recommendations for

their avoidance. In this chapter, Sample makes the statement that ‘new age and

adventure-based training programs remain controversial’ (136) and later, to augment

this conclusion, cites the ‘mixed conclusions’ of Burnett and Jane (1994) regardingstudies performed on three day and one day outdoor management programs (151).

This subject also concerns me. For most people, I doubt that any training program

undergone over such a short time frame, short of holding severe penalty as an

alternative for conformance, would have little effect on future long-term perfor-

mance in the workplace. However, lumping together adventure training and new age

experiential learning does not do enough to discriminate against those training

programs that have moved well beyond the definition of controversial and should be

held as virtually proven hoaxes and fraud; such as those programs offering

alternative therapies (for instance, homeopathy) that can be costly and possibly

lethal substitutes for real medicine, or indeed those touted as personality ‘can do’

development exercises using such as fire walking that are supposed to ‘prove’ that

folk can use mind over matter and carry this sort of ‘amazing power’ in every day

life. For further background reading on these areas of concern, the texts of Gardner

(1990), Bausell (2007) and Singh and Ernst (2008) are recommended.

Chapter 6 covers the issues of intellectual property; copyright and trade secrets.

This section identifies related laws governing these subjects with definitions of rights

and responsibilities, the doctrine of ‘fair use’, options for protection of businesssecrets, www. issues and essential elements of business strategies to reduce

infringement, protect trade secrets and other related concerns. This is a brief but

straight to the point discussion with timely and cautionary advice on the increasingly

evident issues of all too easily disseminated information via the world wide web.

Chapter 7 rounds up Sample’s text summarising issues regarding ethical conduct

and illegal business practices, the purpose of the Federal Sentencing Guidelines,

components for effective compliance, incentives, disincentives and recommendations

for designing, implementing and evaluating the effectiveness of compliance and

ethics programs.

308 Book reviews

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Page 4: Avoiding legal liability: for adult educators, human resource developers, and instructional designers

This text should be a mandatory read for all individuals involved in any

managerial, training or development role. An ideal text for MBA and other

educational or leadership training programs.

References

Bausell, R.B. 2007. Snake oil science: The truth about complementary medicine. New York, NY:Oxford University Press.

Burnett, D., and K. James. 1994. Using the outdoors to facilitate personal change in managers.The Journal of Management Development 13, no. 9: 14�24.

Gardiner, M. 1991. The new age: Notes of a fringe watcher. New York, NY: Prometheus Books.Singh, S., and E. Ernst. 2008. Trick or treatment: The undeniable facts about alternative

medicine. New York, NY: Bantam Press.

Keith Cardwell

University of Southern Queensland, Australia

[email protected]

# 2009, Keith Cardwell

Adult education and training, edited by James Athanasou, Terrigal, NSW, David

Barlow Publishing, 2008, 316 pp., AU$49.50, ISBN 9-7819-2133-3033

When presented with a back cover blurb claiming ‘Adult education and training isdesigned for a multiple readership’ my first reaction was a pessimism that this may

be yet another ‘catch all’ text unaware of its audience and providing a range of

discussion but lacking in focus. The preface offered little to change that initial

thought, recognising the multi-faceted, heterogeneous nature of adult learning and

the ‘bewildering variety of contexts’.

The tone of the preface is apologetic, uncertain, sharing with the reader the

rationale behind the ambitions for the text, the drawing together of authors, the

blending of themes into chapters and chapters into book. There seemed to be an

ambiguity in proclaiming the international reputation of contributors to the moregeneral chapters while recognising the focus on adult education in Australia for

the remainder of the book. At one point Athanasou modestly suggests ‘it would

be fair to say the various chapters complement each other’: not exactly a convin-

cing recommendation. Surveying the chapters did not change that perception:

‘Approaches to adult education’, ‘The development of adult and vocational

education’, ‘Teaching and learning in practice’, ‘Communication in learning’, themes

very familiar to a UK audience of students and academics.

However the quality of narrative and commentary that follows dispelled myscepticism and convinces me that this is a text indeed suited for a multiple readership.

As an experienced teacher of adults I found the contributors presenting a range of

themes and a focus on professional practice that enlightened and challenged my

knowledge and understanding, particularly the chapters on transformative learning

and teaching critical thinking. As a less experienced tutor in higher education, with

responsibility for initial teacher training in the post-compulsory sector, I found a

Studies in Continuing Education 309

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