UNSW Handbook - Back to Home

Direct Find

Use this search only if you have an exact code for a Program, Stream, or Course, e.g. 3403, ACCTA13502, ACCT1501 or ACCT*.

Course

Managing Workplace Conflict & Change - JURD7558

Faculty: Faculty of Law

School: Faculty of Law

Course Outline: See below

Campus: Sydney

Career: Postgraduate

Units of Credit: 6

EFTSL: 0.12500 (more info)

Indicative Contact Hours per Week: 2

Enrolment Requirements:

Pre-requisite: 36 UOC of JURD courses for students enrolled prior to 2013. For students enrolled after 2013, pre-requisite: 72 UOC of JURD courses.

Equivalent: LAWS8058

Excluded: LAWS8058

CSS Contribution Charge: 3 (more info)

Tuition Fee: See Tuition Fee Schedule

Further Information: See Class Timetable

View course information for previous years.

Description

This course aims to provide students with a theoretical framework and especially practical insights relating to the negotiation of change and the management of conflict in the workplace. Australian IR has tended to institutionalise conflict on the assumptions of the conventional adversarial model, while the alternative mutual gains perspective has received little serious attention or application. The course will take students through some of the classic texts in the field such as Walton & McKersie's A Behavioural Theory of Labour Negotiations and Walton et al's Strategic Negotiations and then into a series of contemporary overseas and Australian case studies. The impact of the Fair Work Act on the negotiation of change and dispute resolution will also be critically examined.

Course Objectives

A candidate who has successfully completed this course will:
  • 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

Class attendance and participation (20%)
Class presentation (20%)
Essay (60%)
Night landscape

Study Levels

Undergraduate Study Postgraudate Study Postgraduate Research Study Non-Award Study

UNSW Quick Links

Apply Online Fees and Financial Assitance Academic Calendar