Has the trade union in the industry in which you work encouraged and succeeded in encouraging greater female representation in the union?

Choose one of the following options for essay topics:

1. Has the trade union in the industry in which you work encouraged and succeeded in encouraging greater female representation in the union? If so, why? If not, why not?

OR

2. What have been the fundamental objectives behind the establishment of non-union forms of employee representation in your workplace and/or in the industry in which you were employed? (If you like you can focus on one of your former workplaces and/or industries in which you once worked). Have these non-union forms of representation succeeded in their objectives? If so, why? If not, why not?

OR

3. As from 1 July 2013, the Fair Work Act was amended to provide employees, who are victims of domestic violence, to negotiate flexible working arrangements with their employers. Why was this legislative amendment put in place? In your view, is this legislative reform justified or unjustified? If you, as the human resource manager, had received such a request, how would you deal with it?

OR

4. Consider recent enterprise bargaining processes and outcomes in your place of employment. Were the knowledge and skills invested in the making of the enterprise bargaining agreement satisfactory or otherwise? If so, why? If not, why not? (It is suggested that you provide a pseudonym to the identity of your employer. You may focus your assessment on the management, on the trade union representing the employees, or on both parties).

OR

5. What hidden or discreet forms of industrial conflict have characterised your workplace in recent years? Have these hidden or subtle forms been encouraged by the trade union representing the employees or have they existed independently of trade unionism? How has the employer or human resource management division managed these phenomena? (It is suggested that you provide a pseudonym to the identity of your employer).

OR

6. Consider the employee performance management schemes operating in the organisation which employs you or which once employed you? Have they or were they conceived and applied with efficiency, effectiveness, fairness and equity in mind? Have the outcomes been successful ( or were they successful) in terms of efficiency, effectiveness, fairness and equity?

OR

7. Design your own essay question, so long as it is relevant to topics 7 onwards of this subject and so long as it is relevant to the workplace in which you currently work, in an industry in which you currently work, or in a workplace or industry in which you once worked, and so long as it meets the approval of the subject co-ordinator in the early stages of planning the essay.

Rationale

As was the case with the first assessment item, this is an essay style assessment. But on this occasion it is used to test your knowledge of modules 7-12.