The course aims to provide an introduction to the comparative analysis of employment relations at national, firm and workplace level throughout the world. It will introduce the employment relationship, the key concepts surrounding it, and the theories required to understand it. The strategies and policies of the main actors will be explored through cross-national comparative analysis. The course will also introduce the main 'models' of employment relations: the Anglo-Saxon, Japanese and European Social Models, as well as models of employment relations in the developing world.

The aim of the classes will be to provide an introduction to the comparative analysis of employment relations, and to ensure that students have both the conceptual and empirical grounding they need to take the options offered in international comparative human resource management, and cross-cultural management.