MGT8031 Global Issues in Employment Relations

Other requisites

Students are required to have access to a personal computer, e-mail capabilities and Internet access to UConnect. Current details of computer requirements can be found at http://www.usq.edu.au/ict/students/standards/default.htm.

Synopsis

The relations between `employers' (and managers as their `agents' in the workplace) and workers (or non-managerial employees mainly) throughout the world have faced enormous pressures arising from changes related to things like the information communication technology revolution, economic globalization, increased domestic and international competition and other political and socio-economic pressures. Amongst others, organisations are pressured into becoming increasingly more flexible, efficient and productive. This course will assist students in developing an understanding of the complexity of these relations by putting it into an appropriate contextual setting, and by focusing on several critical issues surrounding the management of work and working people in a contemporary world. The course adopts a critical perspective on a range of issues arising from employment relations and the broader socio-economic and political contexts within which these develop. `Global issues in employment relations' introduces the management student to relevant `industrial relations' theory in a `post-industrial' context of globalization and the `information-age' (or `knowledge age'). It challenges managers of today and the future to identify burning issues and alternative frameworks or approaches that lead to a more sustainable world. The course considers, from an analytical and critical angle, aspects that relate to various concepts and themes such as human resource management, employee participation, trade unionism and empowerment. Apart from the global emphasis there are also specific international comparative perspectives weaved into this course.

Course offers