Edith Cowan University

Faculty of Business and Law

Unit Plan

MAN3350 International & Comparative Industrial Relations (International) Semester: 1 Year: 2012

Faculty of Business and Law | Telephone: 134328 | Calls outside Australia (61 8) 6304 0000 Email enquiries@ecu.edu.au | Web: www.business.ecu.edu.au

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Edith Cowan University Faculty of Business and Law Telephone +(618) 6304 5666 Facsimile +(618) 6304 5633 Email: businessandlaw@ecu.edu.au www.business.ecu.edu.au CRICOS IPC 00279B Prepared by: (Helen Sitlington) Version (January 2012)

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MAN3350 International & Comparative Industrial Relations

Lecturer(s)
Name TBA Room no Contact number/s Email Consultation times

Unit Coordinator
Name
Dr Helen Sitlington

Room no
JO 2.457

Contact number/s
(08) 6304 5280 voicemail

Email
h.sitlington@ecu.edu.au

Consultation times

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A copy of the unit outline for this unit is available by conducting a search under the unit code in the online handbook at http://handbook.ecu.edu.au/.

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Introduction
This unit explores the industrial relations systems of some of the worlds developed market economies by examining the historical development, present structure and current operation of their systems.

Expectations of lecturers and students

This unit is conducted in accordance with the Student Charter (available at: http://www.ecu.edu.au/prospectus/charter/). Lecturers and students must all be mindful of common courtesies such as timely arrival to class, notification of absence, ensuring mobile phones are switched off, and allowing each person the opportunity to contribute and to gain as much as possible from the unit.

Teaching and learning approach

The unit comprises lectures, written modules, readings and participation in class activities and/or discussions. The materials are designed to develop critical analysis of international and comparative industrial relations issues. Each module comprises a detailed discussion of the topic, readings, review questions and other practical activities.

Reading list
The following text is prescribed for this unit: Bamber, G.J., Lansbury, R.D., & Wailes, N. (eds). (2004). International and Comparative Employment Relations: Globalisation and the developed market economies. (4thEdn) Sydney: Allen &Unwin.

Recommended Articles Cooke, F. (2008). The Changing Dynamics of Employment Relations in China: An Evaluation of the Rising Level of Labour Disputes. Journal of Industrial Relations 50(1), 111- 138. Lansbury, R. (2009). Workplace Democracy and the Global Financial Crisis. Journal of Industrial Relations, 51(5), 341-360. Lee, C. (2006). Recent Industrial Relations Developments in China and Viet Nam: The Transformation of Industrial Relations in East Asia Transition Economies. Journal of Industrial Relations (48)3, 415-429. Nash, D. (2006). Recent Industrial Relations Developments in the United Kingdom: Continuity and Change under new Labour 1997 2005. Journal of Industrial Relations, 48(3), 401-414.

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Patmore, G. (2009). The origins of Federal Industrial Relations Systems: Australia, Canada and the USA. Journal of Industrial Relations, 51(2),151-261. Schregle, J. (1981) Comparative Industrial Relations: Pitfalls and Potential International Labour Review 120 (1),15-30 Siddique, S. A. (1989). Industrial Relations in a Third World Setting: A possible model. Journal of Industrial Relations Sept 1989. Wailes, N., Lansbury, R., & Kirsch, A. (2009). Globalisation and varieties of employment relations: an international study of the automotive assembly industry. Labour & Industry 20(1), 89-107.

Other significant references and resources

3. Books on various countries Deery, S.J. and Mitchell, R.J. (eds) (1993) Labour Law and Industrial Relations in Asia Longman Cheshire, Melbourne (Chapters on Hong Kong, Malaysia, Singapore, South Korea, Japan, the Philippines, Thailand, Taiwan). Frenkel, S. (ed) (1993) OrganizedLabor in the Asia-Pacific Region: A Comparative Study of Trade Unionism in Nine Countries ILR Press, New York (Chapters on trade unions in China, Thailand, Malaysia, Korea, Taiwan, Hong Kong, Singapore, New Zealand, and useful introductory and concluding chapters). Hollinshead, G. and Leat, M. (1995) Human Resource Management: Comparative Perspective Pitman, London An International and

Locke, R., Kochan, T. and Piore, M. (1995) Employment Relations in a Changing World Economy MIT Press, Cambridge, Mass. 4. Books on individual countries

Amerasinghe E. F. G (2009) Employee Relations in Sri Lanka. ILO publication. Chew, S.B. and Chew, R. (1995) Aldershot, Hants (Singapore) Employment-Driven Industrial Relations RegimesAvebury,

Edwards, P. (2003) Industrial Relations: Theory and Practice in Britain(2nded) Blackwell, Oxford. Kim, D-O and Bae, J. (2004) Employment Relations and HRM in South Korea Ashgate, Aldershot Palmer, G. (1993) British Industrial Relations Allen & Unwin. 5. Books on issues

Bean, R. (1994) Comparative Industrial RelationsRoutledge, London (Chapters on managers, unions, the state, collective bargaining, strikes, worker participation, IR in multinational 4

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enterprises, IR in developing countries, and IR and economic outcomes). Bridgford, J. and Stirling, J. (1994) Employee Relations in Europe Blackwell, Oxford (Chapters on managers and unions, the state, collective bargaining to social dialogue, the individual at work and collective rights at work). Eaton, J. (2000) Comparative Employment Relations: An Introduction. Polity Press, Oxford Lecher, W and Platzer, H-W (eds) (1998) European Union - European Industrial Relations. Global Challenges, national developments and transnational dynamics, Routledge, London 6. Other

Alexander, R., Lewer, J. &Gahan, P. (2008) Understanding Australian Industrial Relations Thomson Melbourne Australia. Rowbotham, S. and Mitter, S. (1994) Dignity and Daily Bread: New Forms of Economic Organising Among Poor Women in the Third World and the FirstRoutledge, London. Teicher, J., Holland, P. & Gough, R. (2006) (eds) Employee Relations management Australia in a Global Context Pearson, Australia. 7. ILO Reports. The ILO offers a range of reports and discussion papers on various aspects of industrial relations in many jurisdictions. These are accessible from ILO website www.ilo.org. Examples include: Labour and social trends in Sri Lanka 2009 Suresh Chandra, R.K.SA. The Employment Relationship in Sri Lanka. ILO (ILO website). Amerasinghe, F. (2009) The Current Status and Evolution of Industrial Relations in Sri Lanka (ILO report)

Note that the above is only a small sample of the available literature on comparative industrial relations. Students are expected to use the books and journals in the library when researching their assignments. The Reid Library at UWA has a particularly extensive collection of comparative IR books that you might find useful for researching your essays. If you are in Perth, speak to a librarian in the ECU library to find out how to arrange reciprocal borrowing rights.

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Journals of Interest
International Labour Review Industrial Relations Journal of Industrial Relations Labour and Society European Journal of Industrial Relations Relations Industrielles/Industrial Relations Industrial and Labor Relations Review British Journal of Industrial Relations Labour and Industry European Industrial Relations Review New Zealand Journal of Employment Relations Bulletin (International Labour Office)

Non-IR journals may also contain relevant articles (eg Work, Employment and Society; Gender, Work and Organisation)

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Study Schedule
This schedule provides a listing of the topics covered in this unit. Use the current semester calendar for actual dates. Module Topics 1 2 3 Reading Activity
Guest Speaker Introduction to the Sri Lankan IR System

Introduction to International and Comparative Industrial Relations Text Ch 1 Module 1 (posted on Blackboard Introduction to the Sri Lankan IR BB) System Globalisation Text Ch 1 Module 2 (posted on BB) Module 3 (posted on BB)

Theory The role of the parties in the employment relationship The State Management Unions International Labour Standards Australia

Module 4 (posted on BB)

5 6 7 8 9 10 11 12 13

Text Ch 5 Module 5 (posted on BB) Text Ch 2 Module 6 (posted on BB) Text Ch 3 Module 7 (posted on BB) Text Chapters 8 & 9 Module 8 (posted on BB) Text Ch10 Module 9 (posted on BB) Text Ch 11 Module 10 (posted on BB) TBA Module 11 (posted on BB) Module 12 (posted on BB)

Assignment #1 Due

Britain

USA

Europe Germany and Sweden

Japan

Korea Asia Pacific China and Indonesia Multinational Corporations

Assignment #2 Due

Revision and Exam Preparation

Module 13 (posted on BB)

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Assessment details
Assessment Assignment 1 Essay Assignment 2 - Major Report Examination Date (due) Week 5 Week 12 During exam period Marks/Weighting 20% 40% 40%

Assignment 1 Sri Lankan Industrial Relations System (20%)

Research the Industrial Relations system in Sri Lanka. Consider the historical, economic and political context in which the current system has evolved. Make a case for which theoretical perspective you consider is most evident in Sri Lanka, identifying the key participants in the system and explaining each of their main roles to support your position.

Submission information
Weighting Date/Week Time Place Format This assignment accounts for 20 % of the assessment in this unit.
Week 5 On or before commencement of class Lodge Electronically via Turnitin (access via blackboard Assessment tab) 2000 words (approximately)

Learning outcome/s and Graduate Attributes

Completing this assignment will help students to further develop critical thinking and reasoning abilities. The essay is designed to develop research and analytical skills.

Assignment instructions
You are required to submit essays in class (hard copy) on the due date and submit an electronic version via the Turnitin link on the blackboard site by the close of business on due date. You should include a Faculty of Business and Law cover sheet which can be downloaded from the ECU website.

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Resources
You should make sure that you include a minimum of eight (8) academic references in your paper. The use of less than eight different academic references within the text of your essay means that you will not have undertaken adequate research and this will be reflected in your grade.

Marking criteria
Refer to grading sheet on Blackboard.

Assignment 2 Major Report (40%)

Part One - Comparative Framework
Using the text, the readings and your own research, create a framework for comparative Industrial Relations study. The framework should consist of items you have identified as being common threads within Industrial Relations environments in different countries which may provide a basis for comparing how Industrial Relations are managed in different locations. Discuss which dimensions of information are important for the purposes of comparative study and why. Indicate why you have chosen a small or a large number of dimensions to compare and what limitations this may cause in comparing IR systems between different jurisdictions.

Part Two Comparison Across Jurisdictions

Use this framework to discuss key aspects of the Sri Lankan IR system and compare it with two other countries studied in the unit. Examples of issues you may like to consider: o o o o o historical context trends in unionisation strike trends role of the state/extent of labour law or any other issue that you can see would provide a critical comparative discussion.

What conclusions can you draw from the comparisons you have made?

Submission information
Weighting Date/Week Time Place This assignment accounts for 40% of the assessment in this unit. Week 12 On or before commencement of class Lodge Electronically via Turnitin (access via blackboard Assessment tab) Format 3000-3500 words

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Learning outcome/s and Graduate Attributes
Completing this assignment will help students to further develop critical thinking and reasoning abilities, and further develop reference research, reporting and presentation skills.

Assignment instructions
You are required to submit essays in class (hard copy) on the due date and submit an electronic version via the Turnitin link on the blackboard site by the close of business on due date. You should include a Faculty of Business and Law cover sheet which can be downloaded from the ECU website.

References
You will need to access a range of materials but you must include at least three (3) academic references on each of the three countries discussed.

Examination
Weighting Date/Week Time This assignment accounts for 40 % of the assessment in this unit.
To be held during examination period 3 hours

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Addendum Email protocol

All emails should be sent from your student email account or via Blackboard, otherwise anti-spam filters may prevent it from being delivered to your lecturer. When using email to communicate with lecturers or tutors, you should always make sure that your message contains the following: 1. A subject that contains the unit code, and clearly describes the nature of your query or request. Your lecturers receive many emails a day, and may also teach more than one unit, so if your email does not contain the unit code, it is not possible to place your message in context. If the subject does not indicate the nature of the message, it may well remain unanswered. 2. Change the default setting on your email program to include previous messages in replies, and make sure that previous messages are included in an ongoing exchange. Your lecturer deals with many students. Having a copy of the previous exchanges included in your message will expedite a response. You should still make sure that the subject indicates what the email is about. 3. Address your lecturer appropriately by name. 4. State your question or request clearly and concisely. 5. Insert a signature at the end of your email that contains: a. your name in full as it appears in SIMO b. your student number c. the campus at which you attend classes for the unit in question (also indicate if you are an off campus student) Your lecturer will inform you if there are additional requirements for communicating by email. While lecturers cannot be available on line all day, in normal circumstance your lecturer will reply within 2 working days.

Unit and Teaching Evaluation (UTEI)

At the end of the semester, all students will be requested to complete the ECU UTEI online survey. This survey will ask questions concerning your level of satisfaction with the unit, your lecturer and your tutor. Your feedback is needed to help us to improve the quality of our courses. We endeavour to use the feedback we receive from the UTEI survey to improve the quality of the unit when it is next run. Towards the end of the semester you will receive an email notification about how to complete the UTEI survey. Please take the time to complete it for us. There are small incentives offered to encourage participation and your feedback is anonymous and confidential.

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UTEI dates for Semester 1 & 2, 2012

Semester 1, Semester 2, 3 weeks beginning 21st May 3 weeks beginning 22nd October

Assignments Extensions for submission dates

Any student who wishes to defer the submission of an assignment must apply to the lecturer before the due date for an extension of the time within which to submit the assignment. The application must be in writing and must set out the grounds on which deferral is sought. An assignment submitted after the fixed or extended time for submission shall incur a penalty to be calculated as follows: where the assignment is submitted not more than 5 working days late, the penalty shall, for each working day that it is late, be 5% of the maximum assessment available for the assignment; or where the assignment is more than 5 working days late, a mark of zero shall be awarded.

Exams Illness on the day of an exam

This happens very rarely. If you should find yourself in this unusual and difficult position you should not attend the exam as you could not perform to your best. However, if not attending you must see a doctor and submit the doctors certificate with your request for a deferred exam on the grounds that you were ill at the time of exam.

Failing a unit

Failing a unit 3 times may result in you being excluded from the unit, the major to which the unit belongs, or even the course. Clarification and further assistance can be obtained by contacting the Student Information Office.

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