Authorised by Academic Registrar, April 1996
Synopsis The question of workplace reform has acquired increasing policy relevance throughout the industrialised world over the past decade. This subject will introduce students to the various dimensions which workplace reform has assumed in Europe since the seventies, as well as to a number of the conceptual frameworks which seek to explain the latest cycles of workplace restructuring. In emphasising the profoundly political nature of this process, the questions of workplace change and labour market restructuring will be approached from a range of angles: the role of new technologies; the place of hierarchies based upon gender, ethnicity, and skills acquisition; the pattern of responses to be found across different industrial sectors, from automobile production to banking; the policy implications for key public actors (the private sector, government bodies, unions).
Assessment Essay (2500 words): 40% + Written work and examination comprising one 1500 words class paper: 20% + Examination (2 hours): 40%