EMPLOYEE RELATIONS - 2021/2

Module Overview

This module builds on the economic and sociological aspects of Level 4 Organisational Behaviour and Analysis, and seeks to extend students’ understanding of a range of issues in labour market and employee relations. Students will be introduced to both classic labour market theories and more contemporary issues in employee relations such as training and skill development, work family conflict and employee engagement in the knowledge economy. The module will encourage students to critically evaluate different theoretical perspectives and provide them with a methodological foundation to make sense of the changing labour market and working life. This module will prepare students for the subsequent more advanced modules on the HRM Pathway

Module provider

Surrey Business School

Module Leader

ANTUNES Bethania (SBS)

Number of Credits: 15

ECTS Credits: 7.5

Framework: FHEQ Level 5

Module cap (Maximum number of students): N/A

Module Availability

Semester 2

Prerequisites / Co-requisites

None

Module content

Indicative content includes:

• Introduction to employee relations


• Labour market segmentation and sex segregation


• Labour market flexibility and non-standard forms of work


• Training and skill development


• Employee involvement in organizational decision-making


• Trade union and industrial action


• Collective bargaining and minimum wage


• Growth of job insecurity and unemployment


• Work family conflict


• Engaging employees in the knowledge economy

Assessment pattern

Alternative Assessment

Not applicable

Assessment Strategy

The assessment strategy is designed to provide students with the opportunity to demonstrate understanding of the theories in employee relations, assess their ability to critically evaluate employee relations theories, relate general theories to specific examples, correctly interpret quantitative information and assess contradicting arguments against empirical evidence.

Thus, the summative assessment for this module consists of:

• A 2000 word essay to reflect on any topic covered in the module


• A closed book examination at the end of the module

Formative assessment and feedback

The module adopts an enquiry based approach to feedback. Students will receive feedback on their performance throughout the module. These include both verbal feedback provided during seminars and written feedback on the written assignment. Before the first assignment lecture time will be spent on discussing the requirements for the assignment and the feedback strategy. A detailed marking scheme will be provided through SurreyLearn to provide both staff and students with a clear guidance on how marks will be awarded for each element of assessment. In addition to the statistical breakdown of marks along a set of specified criteria, generic feedback will be provided for each individual assignment to help students identify their strengths and weaknesses.

Marking of both the first assignment and the exam (essay question) will be carried out by the module tutors. The module leader will be responsible for moderation to ensure consistency of marking between tutors. Marks and generic feedback will be returned to students within three weeks of submission

Module aims

• To introduce students to a range of contemporary issues in employee relations
• To encourage critical evaluation of different approaches to the management of employee relations
• To prepare students for the practical challenges of managing complex employment relationships at work
• To provide students with a theoretical foundation of key quantitative methods used in employee relations research

Learning outcomes

Methods of Teaching / Learning

The learning and teaching strategy is designed to:

This module will be taught through a combination of weekly lectures and seminars. Total student learning time is 150 hours. Teaching and learning will be supported by highly interactive activities such as group exercises, on-line discussion forums, case studies and the use of electronic voting system as appropriate. All the teaching and learning materials will be made available through SurreyLearn.

The learning and teaching methods include:

•  Lectures (2 hour lecture * 11 weeks)


• Seminars (1 hour seminar * 9 weeks)


• class discussion


• electronic voting

Indicated Lecture Hours (which may also include seminars, tutorials, workshops and other contact time) are approximate and may include in-class tests where one or more of these are an assessment on the module. In-class tests are scheduled/organised separately to taught content and will be published on to student personal timetables, where they apply to taken modules, as soon as they are finalised by central administration. This will usually be after the initial publication of the teaching timetable for the relevant semester.

Reading list

https://readinglists.surrey.ac.uk
Upon accessing the reading list, please search for the module using the module code: MAN2136

Programmes this module appears in

Please note that the information detailed within this record is accurate at the time of publishing and may be subject to change. This record contains information for the most up to date version of the programme / module for the 2021/2 academic year.