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IRE2001: Foundations and Current Issues in IR/HR

This subject guide is meant to assist students, particularly those enrolled in IRE2001, with research papers and assignments.

Welcome to Foundations and Current Issues in IR/HR

This course is designed to provide students of industrial relations with a sound theoretical foundation for understanding and managing the employment relationship. Four broad principles anchor the course:

  • The employment relationship is characterized by complex socio-economic exchange among the parties.
  • The goal of employment relations theory is not only to better understand people at work in employment situations but also to facilitate better policy-making.
  • Employment relationships can be viewed at different levels, i.e., at the level of the individual, workplace, organization, industry, nation-state, and supra-national levels. 
  • Shifts in the global economy have created new pressures on employment relationships.