Recommended Study Sequence

The development of business skills in the form of the application of information collection, analysis and evaluation, logical reasoning skills, and communication skills relevant to business and economic issues.

This unit provides an opportunity for students to engage with the dynamics of the management of organisations. Students will be introduced to the connection between the way work and systems are organised and managed and their impact on individuals and societies. This is achieved by using case based opportunities to examine real life contexts. This is an essential unit for business students that can be taken by any student needing a broad initial understanding of management.

This is an introductory law unit designed to introduce the fundamentals of law in a commercial context. The unit introduces students to the basic principles of law and the legal system as well as examining some of the major areas of law that impact on commercial dealings. This unit examines the structure of the legal system, the way law is made and legal problem solving. The main areas of law covered include contracts, torts, consumer protection and agency

This unit provides exposure to financial and management accounting information from a user of accounting information viewpoint. The unit aims to provide breadth of awareness and knowledge in relevant fields of accounting essential to decision making for managers.

Managing People at Work provides an introductory framework for the study of employment relations. The unit is approached from a stakeholder perspective, emphasising the way that management, labour and the state, along with other key stakeholders, act, both separately and together, to structure the employment relationship. In doing so, the unit integrates industrial relations and human resource management theory and practice, illustrating the links between the two disciplines. The content of the unit is structured so as to provide an initial introduction to the disciplines of industrial relations, human resource management, and employment relations, and to the key stakeholders in the employment relationship. Building on this framework, a theoretical and empirical analysis of employment relations processes is provided, with particular emphasis given to recent changes in the role and perspectives of stakeholders.

This unit is an introduction to economic concepts and contemporary economic issues. It introduces students to basic concepts such as markets and their operation, the behaviour of firms, the efficiency and potential failings of free markets, the role of government, key macroeconomic variables and problems such as unemployment. It illuminates these concepts via application to contemporary economic issues and debates over different theoretical perspectives. This unit also exposes students to recent developments in economics via presentations by specialist guest lecturers.

This unit is a survey of the marketing process, introducing students to the marketing concept, strategic and marketing planning, marketing research, consumer and customer behaviour, issues of market segmentation, targeting and positioning as well as all the elements of the marketing mix (product/service, pricing, distribution and marketing communication strategies).

This Level 1 unit introduces the basic concepts and techniques of statistics that are particularly relevant to problem solving in business. It also provides a sound base for more advanced study in statistics and forecasting in subsequent sessions. Topics include: presentation of data; descriptive statistics; the role of uncertainty in business decision making; hypothesis testing; and basic forecasting.

Introduction to Economic Methods will cover basic concepts in Mathematics and Statistics to help their understanding of subjects like accounting, management, marketing, finance, and economics. In addition, the analytical techniques, concepts and models that will be discussed in this unit will play a foundation role in a Business degree. Topics include: Differential calculus and its application in business and economics; collection, analysis and interpretation of data using simple descriptive and inferential statistical methods; probability distributions, point and interval estimation, hypothesis testing, and an introduction to regression analysis.

This unit looks at workplace reform and restructuring -- the devolution approach to industrial relations management, workplace reform, organisation and behaviour, the role of workplace committees, trade unions at the enterprise level, shop-floor and industry unionism; the enterprise bargaining process -- overall framework definitions, dimensions and scope; strengths and weaknesses; the processes -- negotiation, psychological, sociological and economic approaches, stages; impact of enterprise bargaining, workplace flexibility, efficiency, remuneration practices and employee satisfaction; grievance handling and grievance procedures; differences with other forms of negotiation, formal or informal; consultation and participation; issues involved, differences with negotiation; impact of changes in wage determination on workplace, particularly the work choices changes and current and future strategic and legislative directions in enterprise bargaining and workplace agreements.

This unit covers concepts of international human resource management (HRM). It examines the internationalisation of firms, a range of comparative systems and structures of employment relations internationally, global stakeholders, human rights, and strategic management of global organisations. It incudes analysis of issues including recruitment, training, management of expatriates, pay, and the impact of society, politics, economics and culture of host countries on human resource strategies.

The unit introduces students to critical perspectives in reward management. The structure of the course is initially thematic and considers in turn: the wider context in which reward strategies are devised; the strategic decisions that arise in the organisational context if reward is to meet regulatory requirements, the organisation’s objectives and the expectations of the workforce, and the component parts (base pay, variable play, transactional rewards, relational rewards of contemporary reward). This unit examines the relationship between performance and reward, performance management systems and the alignment of employer performance with achievement of organisational objectives. Various models of performance management and performance appraisal techniques are critically assessed.

This unit explores such questions as: Training -- what is it!! How is it linked to strategic development!! It explores education versus training versus development; managing the training department, upper management involvement, career development; cost-effectiveness of training and development; training and development needs -- how people learn, implications for training and development of staff, models and roles for training; needs analysis, objective setting, and the implications of politics, culture and government; curriculum -- methods content, people, sequencing of curriculum; the advantages and disadvantages of various training methods; measurement of success philosophies, instruments of measurement and post-training measurement.

Diversity in the workplace has come to refer to those groups most likely to be affected by the homogeneous and normative assumptions of traditional employment systems. While race, gender and religion are the most recognised forms of diversity it has also come to refer to the needs of other groups such as the disabled, the aged and those disadvantaged because of family obligations. The management of diversity is concerned with addressing the needs of such groups in ways that are equitable and organisationally sustainable. This has become increasingly important in a pluralistic society.

The nature and history of occupational health and safety in Australia, legal frameworks including occupational health and safety acts and workers' compensation. OH&S is considered using the medical, legal, economic, industrial relations and management perspectives. Identifying, assessing, monitoring risks; and specific occupational hazards and intervention strategies are also covered.

The primary concern of this unit is to equip students with an understanding of how to apply sociology and work psychology to effectively manage human resources. The unit analyses both the individual (psychological) and social (sociological) factors that influence workplace behaviour and relations in the workplace. The structure of the unit is thematic, drawing on the major theoretical frameworks of psychology and sociology, and applying them to the practice of human resource management and to contemporary issues within the workplace.

Negotiation, bargaining and advocacy are central activities in the industrial relations process. The effective industrial relations practitioner requires knowledge of the theoretical perspectives in negotiation together with an ability to critique the relevance and application of these perspectives. The importance of strategy and judgement in negotiation is highlighted and students are given the opportunity to develop their skills through negotiation exercises. An important theme in the unit is the assessment of the contextual and regulatory factors that shape negotiation, bargaining and advocacy practice. This aspect draws on contemporary debates in these spheres most notably concerning the Australian context.

This unit applies theory and skills developed throughout the key program in HRM/IR to real-world organisational and policy challenges and opportunities. Students will develop and use employment relations concepts and ‘metrics’ to design implementation plans and to evaluate policies, practices and change initiatives. Evaluation of non-employment relations policies and procedures in terms of their potential impact on employment relations performance will also be assessed. Sustainable and competitive employment relations will be evaluated at organisational, local, regional, national and industry levels.

This unit analyses the human resource and industrial relations strategies of the major employment relations stakeholders. While the principal focus is on the organisational level of analysis and on the strategic interventions introduced by management, the unit also analyses the strategic roles of government, trade unions, and employer associations. It covers the development of human resource management and industrial relations as a professional field, the relationship between business strategies and HR/IR strategies, stakeholders and strategic choice, ethics and professional standards, strategic HR/IR interventions; evaluation of strategy.