Widget's, Inc., a fictional company, has a flourishing lawncare business. The business has two full-time employees who have been with the company for five years. All employees are trained on using the lawn equipment and have signed a waiver-of-liability contract limiting liability for the company. The owner, Brian, told his employees not to worry—that the company would protect them if they got hurt. One employee, Lori, was on the job cutting a lawn. Lori was riding a mower, a Ferrari 2000, which was three years old and in good working condition. The step-up on the mower had writing on it with a warning sticker to replace the sandpaper liner for traction every three due to normal wear and tear. It was replaced every three years. Lori stepped down off the rider, slipped because of moisture from the grass, and severed her pinky toe on the mower blade. When she fell to the ground, the mower continued through the grass and proceeded by itself to cut and mulch a neighbor's prize roses. Peta, the neighbor, was preparing for a rose competition with a potential grand prize of $10,000. Write a 1–2 page paper answering the questions below. Remember to identify and explain the law and then justify your answers to the questions pursuant to the scenario: Pursuant to contract law, is the waiver of liability legal and do Brian’s verbal assurances become part of the contract? Why or why not? Does Peta have a product liability case against the mower manufacturer Ferrari for a design defect, manufacturing defect, or failure-to-warn defect? Does Lori have a claim for her injuries and can she recover pain and suffering damages or worker’s compensation?

Summarize three scholarly articles about learning organizations and use the information in the articles to describe different aspects of learning organizations.Like people, healthy organizations "learn." An organization becomes a "learning organization" when it develops processes, systems, and human resources that are capable of sharing knowledge, continuously innovating, and benefitting from mistakes and failures as well as successes. This process leads to a corporate mindset of continuous improvement – always striving for perfection along the way, understanding that perfection is a state which will never be fully achieved.SHOW LESSBy successfully completing this assessment, you will demonstrate your proficiency in the following course competencies and assessment criteria: Competency 1: Analyze the historical perspectives of the study of organizational structure and design and its applications in today's world.  Explain the meaning of "learning organization." Competency 2: Analyze the impact of learning and performance in organizational structures.  Describe the ways an organization can learn. Describe the benefits of being a learning organization. Describe disadvantages of being a learning organization. Competency Map CHECK YOUR PROGRESSUse this online tool to track your performance and progress through your course. Toggle DrawerQuestions to Consider To deepen your understanding, you are encouraged to consider the questions below and discuss them with a fellow learner, a work associate, an interested friend, or a member of the business community. What assumptions do you have about change? Why might an organization see change as undesirable? Is change something an organization can plan for? How might an organization benefit from failure? Should organization members actually be encouraged to "fail?" What are some tools and methods organizations use to share knowledge both internally and externally? Toggle DrawerResources Suggested Resources The following optional resources are provided to support you in completing the assessment or to provide a helpful context. For additional resources, refer to the Research Resources and Supplemental Resources in the left navigation menu of your courseroom.Capella Resources Click the links provided to view the following resources: Thinking Habits of Mind, Heart, and Imagination. New Business Realities of the 21st Century. Organization Structure, Learning, and Performance Theory Paper. SHOW LESSLibrary Resources The following e-books or articles from the Capella University Library are linked directly in this course: Galbraith, J. R. (2014). Designing organizations: Strategy, structure, and process at the business unit and enterprise levels (3rd ed.). San Francisco, CA: Jossey-Bass. Wheatley, M. J., & Kellner-Rogers, M. (1996). A simpler way. San Francisco, CA: Berrett-Koehler. Course Library Guide A Capella University library guide has been created specifically for your use in this course. You are encouraged to refer to the resources in the BUS-FP4013 – Organizational Structure, Learning, and Performance Library Guide to help direct your research.Additional Resources The resource listed below is relevant to the topics and assessments in this course and is not required. Lawler, E. E. (1996). From the ground up: Six principles for building the new logic corporation. San Francisco, CA: Jossey-Bass. Assessment Instructions To prepare for this assessment, use the Capella library to search for articles using the exact term "learning organizations." Select at least three scholarly articles to use in this assessment.For this assessment, complete the following: Briefly summarize each of the three articles you selected and explain why you selected each article. Use the information presented in the articles to address the following:  Explain what a "learning organization" is. Describe at least three ways that an organization might "learn." Describe the benefits of an organization being a learning organization. Describe any disadvantages to an organization being a learning organization.

Several topics pertaining to implementing the public interest through leadership and personnel management were examined in this week’s lesson and assigned readings. The concept of public service as an important motivating factor for those working in the public sector was noted to be often overlooked with a general tendency to focus only on salary and wages. The importance of organizational leadership involving both employees and the clients was emphasized as a mechanism that represented service through a commitment to democratic public administration.At the heart of democratic public administration and leadership is the goal to serve the public interest while seeking to achieve the underlying policy goals of equity, efficiency, security, and liberty. How would you integrate an understanding of the public interest into your organization? Use at least two specific examples. Make sure you define the term “public interest” in your answer. With this in mind, consider the following questions.Sometimes critics will assail “democratic public administration” with the following remarks:“You just can’t let employees vote on everything!”“If you let employees have too much say, they’ll just cut back their work hours or productivity!”“I can’t let employees have this much say because they just don’t know enough of the rationale behind our decisions!”What would be your response to these types of critiques? Or do you agree with them?By the due date assigned, post your response to this Discussion Area. Respond using the lessons and vocabulary found in the readings, as well as any information retrieved from outside sources such as journal articles in the SUO Library. Support your answers with examples and research, and cite your research using correct APA formatStart reviewing and responding to the postings of your classmates as early in the week as possible. Respond to at least two of your classmates. Participate in the discussion by asking a question, providing a statement of clarification, providing a point of view with a rationale, challenging an aspect of the discussion, or indicating a relationship between one or more lines of reasoning in the discussion. Make sure that you complete participation in the discussion forum by the end of the week.