Recommended Study Sequence

The development of business skills in the form of the application of information collection, analysis and evaluation, logical reasoning skills and communication skills relevent to business and economic issues.

This unit provides an opportunity for students to engage with the dynamics of the management of organisations. Students will be introduced to the connection between the way work and systems are organised and managed and their impact on individuals and societies. This is achieved by using case based opportunities to examine real life contexts. This is an essential unit for business students that can be taken by any student needing a broad initial understanding of management.

This is an introductory law unit designed to introduce the fundamentals of law in a commercial context. The unit introduces students to the basic principles of law and the legal system as well as examining some of the major areas of law that impact on commercial dealings. This unit examines the structure of the legal system, the way law is made, legal reasoning and problem solving. The main areas of law covered include contracts, torts and agency.

For information on this unit please contact the Unit Coordinators: Sharon Taylor (Blacktown and Campbelltown Campuses) and Jean McCartney (Parramatta Campus). This unit provides exposure to financial and management accounting information from a user viewpoint. The unit aims to provide breadth of awareness and knowledge in relevant fields of accounting essential to decision making for managers.

Managing People at Work provides an introductory framework for the study of employment relations. The unit is approached from a stakeholder perspective, emphasising the way that management, labour and the state, along with other key stakeholders, act, both separately and together, to structure the employment relationship. In doing so, the unit integrates industrial relations and human resource management theory and practice, illustrating the links between the two disciplines. The content of the unit is structured so as to provide an initial introduction to the disciplines of industrial relations, human resource management, and employment relations, and to the key stakeholders in the employment relationship. Building on this framework, a theoretical and empirical analysis of employment relations processes is provided, with particular emphasis given to recent changes in the role and perspectives of stakeholders.

This unit is an introduction to economic concepts and contemporary economic issues. It introduces students to basic concepts such as markets and their operation, the behaviour of firms, the efficiency and potential failings of free markets, the role of government, key macroeconomic variables and problems such as unemployment. It illuminates these concepts via application to contemporary economic issues and debates over different theoretical perspectives. This unit also exposes students to recent developments in economics via presentations by specialist guest lecturers.

This unit is a survey of the marketing process, introducing students to the marketing concept, strategic and marketing planning, marketing research, consumer and customer behaviour, issues of market segmentation, targeting and positioning as well as all the elements of the marketing mix (product/service, pricing, distribution and marketing communication strategies).

This Level 1 unit introduces the basic concepts and techniques of statistics that are particularly relevant to problem solving in business. It also provides a sound base for more advanced study in statistics and forecasting in subsequent sessions. Topics include: presentation of data; descriptive statistics; the role of uncertainty in business decision making; hypothesis testing; and basic forecasting.

Introduction to Economic Methods will cover basic concepts in Mathematics and Statistics to help their understanding of subjects like accounting, management, marketing, finance, and economics. In addition, the analytical techniques, concepts and models that will be discussed in this unit will play a foundation role in a Business degree. Topics include: Use of summation signs; financial mathematics; differential calculus and its application in business; collection, analysis and interpretation of data using simple descriptive statistical methods; probability distributions, and hypothesis testing.

This unit looks at workplace reform and restructuring -- the devolution approach to industrial relations management, workplace reform, organisation and behaviour, the role of workplace committees, trade unions at the enterprise level, shop-floor and industry unionism; the enterprise bargaining process -- overall framework definitions, dimensions and scope; strengths and weaknesses; the processes -- negotiation, psychological, sociological and economic approaches, stages; impact of enterprise bargaining, workplace flexibility, efficiency, remuneration practices and employee satisfaction; grievance handling and grievance procedures; differences with other forms of negotiation, formal or informal; consultation and participation; issues involved, differences with negotiation; impact of changes in wage determination on workplace, particularly the work choices changes and current and future strategic and legislative directions in enterprise bargaining and workplace agreements.

This unit covers employment function and strategic content; the employment function within the total human resource management model -- relationship between line and staff, workforce planning, job analysis, job description, job specification; and credentialism; constraints on the employment function; privacy, anti-discrimination, equal employment opportunity, affirmative action, and implications for the employment function; recruitment and selection -- internal and external sources, advertising, consultants and government agencies, selection methods, types of interview, interviewing skills; selection testing -- types of tests, validity, reliability and establishment of testing programs; the selection decision, job offer and contract of employment.

This unit explores such questions as: Training -- what is it!! How is it linked to strategic development!! It explores education versus training versus development; managing the training department, upper management involvement, career development; cost-effectiveness of training and development; training and development needs -- how people learn, implications for training and development of staff, models and roles for training; needs analysis, objective setting, and the implications of politics, culture and government; curriculum -- methods content, people, sequencing of curriculum; the advantages and disadvantages of various training methods; measurement of success philosophies, instruments of measurement and post-training measurement.

This unit covers concepts of international human resource management (HRM); the international environment for HRM -- globalism, regionalism, economic regions, international industrial relations; the roles of transnational organisations; national environments for HRM; comparative studies of the effects of society, politics, economics and culture on HRM policy, practice, organisational strategies and structures; and HRM in multi-national organisations. Application of overseas experience (policy/concepts/practice) to Australian HRM will be an important outcome of this unit.

This unit looks at managing employee performance; terminology; objectives of performance appraisal; stages in the performance appraisal process; performance appraisal systems -- approaches to appraisal, especially management by objectives and BARS; appraisal process -- job analysis and job standards, observation of performance, preparation of written appraisals, appraisal interviews, frequency of appraisal; dysfunctions of performance appraisal; design and construction of appraisal systems; establishment of purpose, organisational climate, policy statement, implementation; interviewing for performance appraisal interviews, employee counselling, professional ethics; developing networks for the referral of employees with various personal or emotional problems, overcoming barriers, and facilitating referral; employee assistance programs -- using human resource information systems to manage employee performance; integrating approaches to manage employee performance.

The unit introduces students to critical perspectives in the theory and practice of remuneration. The structure of the course is thematic and considers in turn: the wider context in which remuneration strategies are devised; the strategic decisions that arise in the organisational context if remuneration is to meet regulatory requirements, the organisation's objectives and the expectations of the workforce, and; the component parts (base pay, variable pay) of remuneration systems. Throughout the course contemporary debates in remuneration, with particular application to the Australian context, will be highlighted.

Negotiation, bargaining and advocacy are central activities in the industrial relations process. The effective industrial relations practitioner requires knowledge of the theoretical perspectives in negotiation together with an ability to critique the relevance and application of these perspectives. The importance of strategy and judgement in negotiation is highlighted and students are given the opportunity to develop their skills through negotiation exercises. An important theme in the unit is the assessment of the contextual and regulatory factors that shape negotiation, bargaining and advocacy practice. This aspect draws on contemporary debates in these spheres most notably concerning the Australian context.

The countries studied may include Europe, Scandinavia, North America, and the Pacific Rim. Through comparative study of the countries, selected attention is placed on the divergence of industrial relations systems as well as those aspects of industrial relations that show convergence. Emphasis is placed on describing how the industrial relations system operates in each of the countries and by so doing attention is also paid to the challenges and trends facing each of those countries and how the principal participants are responding to the changes. Throughout the unit the focus is comparative industrial relations, rather than a study of each of the systems in isolation. Attention is also given to international trade union practices and international management practices in the context of transnational corporations.

Diversity in the workplace has come to refer to those groups most likely to be affected by the homogeneous and normative assumptions of traditional employment systems. While race, gender and religion are the most recognised forms of diversity it has also come to refer to the needs of other groups such as the disabled, the aged and those disadvantaged because of family obligations. The management of diversity is concerned with addressing the needs of such groups in ways that are equitable and organisationally sustainable. This has become increasingly important in a pluralistic society.

This unit introduces students to the individual (psychological) and social (sociological) factors that influence workplace behaviour and relations in the workplace. The structure of the course is thematic, drawing on the major theoretical frameworks of psychology and sociology. Relevant workplace experiences are used to bring these experiences to light. The critical assumption made in this unit is that workplace behaviour and relations can only be understood within an integrated sociological-psychological framework. It is this framework that is used to analyse motivation, learning, work organisation, technology, conflict and workplace change. Throughout the unit the changing nature and meaning of work in the modern industrial society will be highlighted.

The nature and history of occupational health and safety in Australia, legal frameworks including occupational health and safety acts and workers' compensation. OH&S is considered using the medical, legal, economic, industrial relations and management perspectives. Identifying, assessing, monitoring risks; and specific occupational hazards and intervention strategies are also covered.

This unit covers change in industrial relations -- theoretical models, Dunlop, Marx, role of values (fairness and equity); links with strategy; contemporary pressures for change in Australian industrial relations -- social, economic, political; role of strategy in industrial relations -- strategy and the concept of strategic choice; employer strategies -- standard modern, sophisticated modern, sophisticated paternalist, alternative approaches, practical applications; trade union strategies -- national, workplace, political; major preferred strategies, alternatives, practical applications; government strategies and public policy -- liberalism, pluralism, Marxist interpretations, corporatism and its variations, practical applications; the context of strategy development and change -- award restructuring, flexible work practices and enterprise bargaining; industrial democracy and consultation; technological change and redundancy; white collar and professional unionism; strategic unionism; evaluating strategic responses to contemporary change; developing advanced.

This unit covers employment relations -- concepts and practice, origins and influences; models of human resource management, personnel management and industrial relations, employer/employee relations; the strategic model; ethics, standards, professionalism and professional associations; strategic planning for human resources in dynamic environments -- human resource and business strategies, managerialism, mediation and productivity -- employment relations/strategic HRM policy initiation, development and evaluation; control and accountability -- nature of control systems (turnover, absenteeism, attitude surveys); the role, nature and impacts of HR audits, benchmarking HRM, professionalism, professional associations, ethics and standards.

This unit applies theory and skills developed throughout the key program in HRM/IR to real-world organisational and policy challenges and opportunities. Students will develop and use employment relations concepts and ‘metrics’ to design implementation plans and to evaluate policies, practices and change initiatives. Evaluation of non-employment relations policies and procedures in terms of their potential impact on employment relations performance will also be assessed. Sustainable and competitive employment relations will be evaluated at organisational, local, regional, national and industry levels.