avoiding legal liability: for adult educators, human resource developers, and instructional...
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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
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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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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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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
# 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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