Overview

This unit considers the legislative/structural, ideological, ethical, political and practical issues for human resource management in Australian and global contexts. It analyses implications and explores resolutions to manage workforces in an Industrial Relations context.

Requisites

Prerequisites
MGT10009 Contemporary Management Principles

Rule

MGT10009 Contemporary Management Principles

AND

87.5 credit points

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
03-March-2025
01-June-2025
Last self-enrolment date
16-March-2025
Census date
31-March-2025
Last withdraw without fail date
24-April-2025
Results released date
08-July-2025
Teaching Period 1
Location
Online
Start and end dates
10-March-2025
08-June-2025
Last self-enrolment date
23-March-2025
Census date
04-April-2025
Last withdraw without fail date
02-May-2025
Results released date
Teaching Period 3
Location
Online
Start and end dates
03-November-2025
08-February-2026
Last self-enrolment date
16-November-2025
Census date
28-November-2025
Last withdraw without fail date
02-January-2026
Results released date

Learning outcomes

Students who successfully complete this unit will be able to:

  • Identify and analyse the key elements of various pieces of legislation related to work in Australia
  • Explore, understand and apply the major industrial relations theories to assess the nature of the employment relationship with its key stakeholders
  • Conduct a comparative analysis of global labour market trends and labour market flexibility
  • Describe, evaluate, and utilise negotiation models
  • Undertake research individually or in groups, to investigate changes in collective and alternative agreements, at the workplace level

Teaching methods

Hawthorn

Type Hours per week Number of weeks Total (number of hours)
On-campus
Class		2.00 12 weeks 24
Online
Lecture		1.00 12 weeks 12
Unspecified Activities
Independent Learning		9.50 12 weeks 114
TOTAL150

Swinburne Online

Type Hours per week Number of weeks Total (number of hours)
Online
Directed Online Learning and Independent Learning		12.50 12 weeks 150
TOTAL150

Assessment

Type Task Weighting ULO's
Assignment Individual  40 - 60%  1,2,3,4 
Assignment Group  30 - 40%  1,2,4,5 
Test Individual  10 - 20%  1,2,4 

Content

  • Current Australian developments in workplace reform
  • 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, OH&S
  • 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 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.