Overview

This unit aims to provide a comprehensive understanding of the legal, political and industrial framework of Employee Relations in Australia and within a selected group of our international trading partners. The unit develops the student’s appreciation of both the academic and practical application of the influences that govern the employment relationship and examines the roles of employees, employers, trade unions and governments in the employment process. It discusses the impact of economics conditions and of social, political and structural business transformation on rapidly changing contemporary workplace environments, using relevant theoretical approaches and historical analysis.

Requisites

Teaching Periods
Location
Start and end dates
Last self-enrolment date
Census date
Last withdraw without fail date
Results released date
Semester 1
Location
Hawthorn
Start and end dates
26-February-2024
26-May-2024
Last self-enrolment date
10-March-2024
Census date
31-March-2024
Last withdraw without fail date
12-April-2024
Results released date
02-July-2024
Semester 2
Location
Hawthorn
Start and end dates
29-July-2024
27-October-2024
Last self-enrolment date
11-August-2024
Census date
31-August-2024
Last withdraw without fail date
13-September-2024
Results released date
03-December-2024

Learning outcomes

Students who successfully complete this unit will be able to:

  • Demonstrate advanced and coherent knowledge of the legislation related to Human Resource Management and its application in interpretation
  • Critically evaluate a range of workplace situations with regards to the industrial relations implications and make recommendations for how they may be resolved
  • Critically analyse both sides of an industrial relations dispute giving clear rationale for the justifications of each side of the argument
  • Communicate proficiently in professional practice to a variety of audiences, function as an effective member or leader of a team

Teaching methods

Hawthorn

Type Hours per week Number of weeks Total (number of hours)
Face to Face Contact (Phasing out)
Lecture
2.00 12 weeks 24
Online Contact (Phasing out)
Online Class
1.00 12 weeks 12
Unspecified Learning Activities (Phasing out)
Independent Learning
9.50 12 weeks 114
TOTAL150

Assessment

Type Task Weighting ULO's
Assignment 1Individual 40 - 60% 2,3 
Assignment 2Individual 10 - 20% 1,2 
Presentation and ReportGroup 30 - 40% 2,3,4 

Content

  • Current Australian developments in workplace reform
  • Comparative Analysis of work in developed OECD countries, and emerging Asia Pacific countries
  • Industrial relations changes that have occurred at both the macro level and micro level
  • Current legislation related to Australian workplaces in particular the Fair Work Act 2009, Equal Opportunity Act (Vic) 2010, Gender Equality Act,  2012. OH&S Legislation
  • Privacy and other relevant pieces of legislation
  • Problem solving approaches to Enterprise Bargaining: distributive, integrative and intra-organisational bargaining
  • Models of flexibility: functional, numerical, temporal locational, financial and the impact on key stakeholders
  • Alternative industrial relations theoretical approaches to understanding and problem solving in industrial relations

Study resources

Reading materials

A list of reading materials and/or required textbooks will be available in the Unit Outline on Canvas.