Managing Workplace Conflict & Change - LAWS8058

Description

LLM specialisation(s)

Course Objectives

• Have gained a good appreciation of the competing models on workplace change and conflict;
• Have critically examined the approach of the key piece of federal legislation on point, the Fair Work Act;
• Have had the opportunity to consider a number of instructive case studies;
• Be better equipped to deal with or advise on the negotiation of change and the management of conflict in the workplace

Main Topics

• The makings of the great workplace;
• Understanding information-sharing, consultation and negotiations in the workplace;
• Competing, different and shared interests in the workplace;
• Approaches to the negotiation of change and the management of conflict in the workplace: a comparison of the adversarial and mutual gains (interest-based) models;
• The assumptions and architecture of the Fair Work Act in relation to negotiation and dispute resolution;
• Dealing with workplace grievances, including bullying and discrimination issues;
• Case studies on change, negotiations and conflict resolution in the workplace;
• Prospects for a fresh approach to change management and conflict resolution in Australian workplaces.

Assessment

Course texts

• Walton & McKersie, A Behavioural Theory of Labour Negotiations (Cornell University Press, 1965);
• Walton et al's Strategic Negotiations - a Theory of Change in Labor-Management Relations (Harvard Business School Press, 1994);
• Bamber et al, Up in the Air - How airlines can improve performance by engaging their employees (Cornell University Press, 2009);
• Anstey, Managing Change, Negotiating Conflict(Juta, 2006);
• Kochan & others, Healing Together - the labor-management partnership at Kaiser Permanente (Cornell University Press, 2009).

Further Information