INDICATIVE WEEKLY
SESSION PLAN
(please note: the order of topics, and the topics themselves may change, depending on current affairs we may deviate in order to discuss developments in the world of work)
WEEK#
THEME
TOPICS COVERED
ACTIVITY
WK1
Introduction to the module
- Assessment requirments
- Learning Outcomes
- Ways of thinking
Guiding Question: What do you need to do to meet the learning outcomes?
WK2
Key developments in the world of work.
The world of work has changed significantly over the decades, yet some may say it is merely a case of the ‘same wine, different bottle’. The UK has moved from a pre-industrial to Industrial, on to a post-industrial and even an auto-industrial paradigm. We have seen the rise of Taylorism and Fordism and heard from the like of Max Weber and Karl Marx. The work of work has been impacted by the rise and decline of the Trade Union movement and now we see a return to contingent labour in the form of the GIG economy and the emergence of the “precariat” (an unhappy marriage of the precarious and proletariat) to describe a new and expanding underclass. We now find ourselves in a state of almost ‘full-employment’ yet a growing dependence on foodbanks.
This lecture tracks many of the key developments that have impacted the world of work from political, social, economic, and technological perspectives.
Lecture, discussion and group activities.
An introduction to concept mapping.
Guiding Question - Introductory research activity: The uncomfortable links between modern management and slavery.
WK3
Scientific Management
The focus of this week’s lecture will be to introduce you to the ideas of F.W. Taylor, an American mechanical engineer who sought to improve industrial efficiency. He was one of the first management consultants. Taylor was one of the intellectual leaders of the Efficiency Movement and his ideas, broadly conceived, were highly influential in the Progressive Era (1890s–1920s). Taylor summed up his efficiency techniques in his book The Principles of Scientific Management which, in 2001, Fellows of the Academy of Management voted the most influential management book of the twentieth century.
Lecture, Round Table, concept mapping.