| TOPICS: [1. Discuss the view that ‘the decline in strike activity means that labour conflict is not an important feature of contemporary employment relations’. 2. What are the main strengths and weaknesses of non-union arrangements for promoting employee representation at work? Use theory and evidence to support your answer. 3. What arguments have been put forward to support the view that employers cannot take a longer-term, strategic approach to the management of employment relations? Explain whether you agree or disagree with these arguments. 4. Critically evaluate the effectiveness of the new actors in employment relations in providing a viable alternative to employee representation. 5. Compare and contrast the ‘sword of justice’ and the ‘vested interest/monopoly’ face of unions. Which one do you think is more prevalent in modern workplaces? Use evidence to support your answer.] Choose ONE essay topic from a choice of five. Essays will be no more than 2,500 words long (excluding bibliography), be thoroughly grounded in the literature, use appropriate theoretical concepts, provide illustrative examples including comparative, where appropriate, and evidence of a well- constructed and argued piece of work. Do use the readings provided – considerable time has been taken to compile these reading lists to enable you to produce high quality work. At least 70% of all sources you include in bibliography must be from the list of reading material (I will upload the list of readings). The essay will be assessed on how well you comply with the above and with the following points. 1. Provide a clear introduction. You should set out nature and scope of the topic or question to be discussed and outline the terms of reference and parameters/boundaries/limitations of your discussion. In other words, the introduction to your essay should give the reader an initial understanding of what the discussion is about and what it will cover. 2. Provide evidence of research and reading. In the final year you should be reading beyond the main course textbook, including making use of recent journal articles. This is a very important aspect of the coursework – if you simply regurgitate sections of only main textbook, you will not score highly on this criterion. You will also need to demonstrate that you have reflected on what you have read and that you have understood the main arguments/debates in the literature. 3. Substantiate propositions and arguments. You need to gather empirical evidence (from the literature and available data sources) and present theories where appropriate. Where relevant and appropriate, you should engage with alternative and competing perspectives so that you can demonstrate an ability to think critically and evaluate different arguments. Although your own reflections are important, these must be informed and supportable with proper academic argument and evidence. 4. Provide a clear conclusion. This must summarise the key points and arguments made, but also draw conclusions about the topic you have discussed. 5. Reference all cited sources and provide a comprehensive bibliography in ‘Harvard style’. It is very important that you do not attempt to present the ideas of published or unpublished authors as your own. You must be careful to reference throughout the essay and not simply provide a bibliography at the end. Include all Internet-only sources – provide full web link and date accessed. Use page numbers for direct quotations. |
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| Preferred language style UK English |
