MG4D2      Half Unit
International Employment Relations

This information is for the 2025/26 session.

Course Convenor

Availability

Requisites

Additional requisites:

A general knowledge of the social sciences is required.

The course introduces students to the comparative analysis of work and employment relations at national, firm and workplace level throughout the world. Students will learn and apply key concepts and theories to analyse dynamics of employment relations across increasingly global markets. The interests, strategies and policies of the main employment relations actors will be introduced and further explored through cross-national comparative analysis, including the main 'models' of employment relations: the US/British, Japanese and European Social Models, as well as models of employment relations in transitional economies. Core themes to be evaluated in class, through case studies and written assignments include employee voice and labour conflicts; the organisation of work; diversity and pay gaps; global value chains and inclusive development; and technological change and the future of work.

The course ensures that students have both the conceptual and empirical grounding they need to understand, analyse and evaluate social, political and economic complexities and conflicts underpinning contemporary employment relations and HR practices. It also prepares students for optional courses offered in international comparative human resource management; cross-cultural management; or CSR and labour standards.

15 hours of seminars and 15 hours of lectures in the Autumn Term.

This course has a reading week in Week 6 of Autumn Term.

The teaching is highly participative and includes lectures and seminars. Group working is an integral part of the course and students are expected to actively contribute to their class groups. The course is demanding of students, and depends for its success partly upon, their commitment and willingness to participate fully.

In its Ethics Code, LSE upholds a commitment to intellectual freedom. This means we will protect the freedom of expression of our students and staff and the right to engage in healthy debate in the classroom.

Students are required to submit an essay outline in Week 4, matching the topic of their first summative essay.

• C Frege & J Kelly (Eds) Comparative Employment Relations in the Global Economy, Routledge, 2013;
• G Bamber, R Lansbury & N Wailes (Eds), International and Comparative Employment Relations, 5th edn, Sage, 2011;
• R Hyman, Understanding European Trade Unionism: Between Market, Class and Society, Sage, 2001;
• M J Morley, P Gunnigle & DG Collings (Eds), Global Industrial Relations, Routledge, 2006.

Course participation (10%)

Essay (40%)

Essay (50%)

For detailed assessment information, including all deadlines and timings, please see the relevant course Moodle page. Assessment timings will be available at the start of each term.