Assessment 3: Report
In this assignment students will write a comprehensive report on the Fair Work Commission requiring them to critically analyse and evaluate its role in regulating employment conditions.
| Due date: | Week 15: Friday October 22, 11:59pm |
| Weighting: | 40% |
| Length and Format: | 2000 word written report |
| Assessment Details: | Provide an overview of the main features of Australia’s Fair Work Act and an analysis of how conditions of employment are regulated. This assignment requires you to do research into the regulations and conditions set out under the Fair Work Act in Australia. Your task is to draw on employment relations theory to critically analyse the situation of workers in Australia and analyse how the regulations of Australia’s workplace laws are regulated and enforced. You need to analyse your chosen theories, concepts or frameworks in the context of contemporary employment relations. Think along the lines of how these concepts may explain the working conditions of Australian’s and how the Fair Work Act impacts on issues such as wages, leave, unionisation and other conditions. In your report, you must make reference to the conditions set out in at least one Award from an industry that you are familiar with e.g. the Aged Care Award for those who work in Aged Care facilities. The issues in this essay can be found in the readings and lecture but you will need to research further. In order to demonstrate a full knowledge of the theoretical issues, you will need to use at least 8 academic references. You should also use other legitimate sources such as the Fair Work Website and other Government websites. Academic references include both textbooks and academic journal articles. You may find additional textbooks in the WIN library. The best way to find academic journal articles is to use the library database which is available to all students. If you need further support in how to conduct academic research please consult with Student Services, WIN’s academic support officer Bella, well ahead of the due date for this assessment. |
| Assessment addresses SLOs | SLO A: Analyse the parties, origins and strategies of the main institutional players and the system, structure and processes of the regulatory framework of employment relations in Australia SLO B: Utilise theory to critically evaluate the employment relationship from both a historical and contemporary perspective SLO C: Differentiate the shift in Australia from a centralized industrial relations system to one which is more enterprise- focused SLO D: Describe the various forms and types of enterprise agreements in Australia and their impact on key elements of work such as productivity, efficiency and job satisfaction |
| Marking Criteria | Please refer to Marking Rubric on Canvas |
Texts and References
Prescribed Texts:
Weekly readings are posted in Canvas under the relevant week. Readings will come from a variety of scholarly journals.
Week 1 – Budd, J. W. and Bhave, D. (2008), Values, Ideologies and Frames of Reference in Employment Relations, in N. Bacon et al (eds). The SAGE Handbook of Industrial and Employment Relations. SAGE Publications, London
Week 2 – Mzangwa, S.T. (2015), Descriptive Analysis of the Theoretical Perspective in Employment Relations. Corporate Ownership and Control. Vol 13 (1) Autumn pp. 184 – 194
Week 3 – Ross, P and Bamber, G. (2009) Strategic choices in pluralist and unitarist employment relations regimes: A study of Australian Telecommunications, Industrial and Labour Relations Review Vol 63 (Issues 1/2) pp. 24 – 41
Week 4 – Green, R., Agarwal, R., Van Reenen, J., Bloom, N., Mathews, J., Boedker, C., Sampson, D., Gollan, P., Tomer, P., Tan, H. and Brown, P.J. (2009) Management matters in Australia: Just how productive are we? Department of Industry, Innovation, Science and Research, Canberra, pp. 1 – 42
Week 5 – McAlipine, K. and Roberts, S. (2017) The Future of Trade Unions in Australia. Bulletin (April 2017), National Tertiary Education Union
Week 6 – Adams, Roy J. (2011). Collective Bargaining as a Minimum Employment Standard. The Economic and Labour Relations Review : ELRR, 22(2), 153–164.
Week 10 – Chelliah, John, & D’Netto, Brian. (2006). Unfair dismissals in Australia: does arbitration help employees? Employee Relations, 28(5), 483–495.
Week 11 – Van Gramberg, Bernadine, Teicher, Julian, Bamber, Greg J, & Cooper, Brian. (2020). Employee Voice, Intention to Quit, and Conflict Resolution: Evidence from Australia. Industrial & Labor Relations Review, 73(2), 393–410.
Week 12 – Brandl, Bernd. (2021). Trust as the cement in the employment relationship? The role of trust in different workplace employment relations regimes. Journal of Organizational Effectiveness : People and Performance, 8(1), 80–96.
Recommended Journals
Australian Bulletin of Labour
Australian Journal of Labour Law
British Journal of Industrial Relations
Employment Relations Record
Economic & Labour Relations Review
Industrial Relations
International Journal of Conflict Management
International Journal of Employment Studies
International Employment Relations Review
Journal of Industrial Relations
Journal of Organizational Behaviour
Labour and Industry
New Technology, Work and Society
Negotiation Journal
Organisation Studies
Work and Occupations
Work, Employment and Society
International Employment Relations Review
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