Unit name | Global Production, Work and Employment |
---|---|
Unit code | EFIM30037 |
Credit points | 20 |
Level of study | H/6 |
Teaching block(s) |
Teaching Block 2 (weeks 13 - 24) |
Unit director | Dr. Schwartz |
Open unit status | Not open |
Pre-requisites |
None |
Co-requisites |
None |
School/department | School of Management - Business School |
Faculty | Faculty of Social Sciences and Law |
This unit aims to advance the students’ knowledge and understanding of the global economic processes as they affect the nature of production, work and employment, and to consider the global processes of investment, production and management in relation to a number of key social problems related to work.
By drawing on a range of theories and frameworks this unit will consider economic and organisational processes in their social and political context, providing students with the understanding and capacity critically to appreciate the scope of the contemporary global economy.
In particular, the unit will consider how global production is socially shaped by the institutions and relationships between different corporate, national and transnational actors. The problem of global rules governing investment and production will be assessed alongside those of the developing networks of producers of goods and services, and the effects these have on the governance of labour via various supra-national and inter-organisational standards and regulations. The problem of the uneven and combined nature of markets will be examined by considering the disparities between labour in developed and developing economies, between manufacturing and service sector employment, and between standard and non-standard work. Problems of work and employment will be examined in relation to the gendered division of labour, migration and forced labour, and by examining the different dimensions of workers’ voice and consumer power in the global economy. Finally, problems of automation and the futures of work will be examined in relation to the consequences they bear on different nations and regions.
Upon completing this unit, students should be able to:
Teaching will be delivered through a combination of synchronous and asynchronous sessions including lectures, tutorials, drop-in sessions, discussion boards and other online learning opportunities.
• An annotated bibliography (20%) – ILOs 1-7
• A 3,000 word written assignment (80%) – ILOs 1-7
Students will be offered a range of journal articles and book chapters from scholarly monographs that reflect weekly themes/topics to be covered in lectures. These will be supplemented with business or popular case studies to be read for discussion or group work (some of it for formative assessment) in seminars. In addition, the following is indicative of the key texts available:
Coe, N. and Yeung, H.W. 2015 Global Production Networks: Theorizing Economic Development in an Interconnected World (Oxford: Oxford University Press)
Peck, J. 2017 Offshore: Exploring the Worlds of Global Outsourcing (Oxford: Oxford University Press)