Dr Frido Wenten, MAR 5.17

This course is compulsory on the MSc in Human Resources and Organisations (International Employment Relations/CIPD). This course is available on the CEMS Exchange, Global MSc in Management, Global MSc in Management (CEMS MIM), Global MSc in Management (MBA Exchange), MBA Exchange, MRes/PhD in Management (Employment Relations and Human Resources) and MSc in Inequalities and Social Science. This course is available with permission as an outside option to students on other programmes where regulations permit.

This course may be capped/subject to controlled access. For further information about the course's availability, please see the MG Elective Course Selection Moodle page (https://moodle.lse.ac.uk/course/view.php?id=3840).

A general knowledge of the social sciences is required.

The course introduces students to the comparative analysis of work and employment relations at national, firm and workplace level throughout the world. Students will learn and apply key concepts and theories to analyse dynamics of employment relations across increasingly global markets. The interests, strategies and policies of the main employment relations actors will be introduced and further explored through cross-national comparative analysis, including the main 'models' of employment relations: the US/British, Japanese and European Social Models, as well as models of employment relations in transitional economies. Core themes to be evaluated in class, through case studies and written assignments include employee voice and labour conflicts; the organisation of work; diversity and pay gaps; global value chains and inclusive development; and technological change and the future of work.

The course ensures that students have both the conceptual and empirical grounding they need to understand, analyse and evaluate social, political and economic complexities and conflicts underpinning contemporary employment relations and HR practices. It also prepares students for optional courses offered in international comparative human resource management; cross-cultural management; or CSR and labour standards.

15 hours of lectures and 15 hours of seminars in the AT.

The teaching is highly participative and includes lectures and seminars. Group working is an integral part of the course and students are expected to actively contribute to their class groups. The course is demanding of students, and depends for its success partly upon, their commitment and willingness to participate fully.

Students on this course will have a reading week in Week 6, in line with departmental policy. 

Students are required to submit an essay outline in Week 4, matching the topic of their first summative essay.

C Frege & J Kelly (Eds) Comparative Employment Relations in the Global Economy, Routledge, 2013;

G Bamber, R Lansbury & N Wailes (Eds), International and Comparative Employment Relations, 5th edn, Sage, 2011;

R Hyman, Understanding European Trade Unionism: Between Market, Class and Society, Sage, 2001;

M J Morley, P Gunnigle & DG Collings (Eds), Global Industrial Relations, Routledge, 2006.

Essay (40%, 2500 words) in the AT.
Essay (50%, 2500 words) in the WT.
Class participation (10%).