Durham University
Programme and Module Handbook

Postgraduate Programme and Module Handbook 2024-2025

Module BUSI5F015: Work and Society

Department: Management and Marketing

BUSI5F015: Work and Society

Type Tied Level 4 Credits 15 Availability Available in 2024/2025 Module Cap
Tied to N2P109
Tied to N2PA09

Prerequisites

  • None.

Corequisites

  • None.

Excluded Combination of Modules

  • None.

Aims

  • To develop students' knowledge and understanding of key issues relating to trends in work and society.

Content

  • The changing context of work
  • Meanings and orientations to work
  • Globalisation
  • Power and management control in organisations
  • Organisational culture
  • Emotional and aesthetic labour
  • Discrimination at work; equality and diversity
  • Flexibility
  • Organisational misbehaviour
  • Language, rhetoric, and organisational communication
  • Managing time at work
  • Service work

Learning Outcomes

Subject-specific Knowledge:
  • Have an advanced knowledge and understanding of the context and nature of work and organisation in contemporary societies.
  • Have an advanced knowledge and understanding of how various workplace processes and practices respond to societal-level changes.
  • Have an advanced understanding of the implications for human resource professionals of changes to work and society.
Subject-specific Skills:
  • Be able to critically analyse a number of different issues relating to the study of work and society;
  • Be able to critically evaluate competing theories of change in work and society.
  • Be able to understand and critically evaluate a variety of contemporary workplace processes and practices.
Key Skills:
  • Written communication
  • Planning, organising and time management
  • Problem solving and analysis
  • Using initiative
  • Computer literacy
  • Written communication; planning, organising and time management; problem solving and analysis; using initiative; computer literacy.

Modes of Teaching, Learning and Assessment and how these contribute to the learning outcomes of the module

  • Through a combination of lectures, seminars and guided reading addressing key topics in the sociology of work, students will acquire the advanced skills and knowledge to enable them to develop a thorough understanding of this specialist field of study.
  • The assessment of the module, by written examination, is designed to test students' knowledge and understanding of the subject-matter and their ability to apply it to the analysis of specific issues relating to the study of work and society.

Teaching Methods and Learning Hours

Activity Number Frequency Duration Total/Hours
Workshops 10 1 per week 3 hours 30
Preparation, Reading, Data Collection and Independent Study 120
Total 150

Summative Assessment

Component: Written Examination Component Weighting: 100%
Element Length / duration Element Weighting Resit Opportunity
Written examination 2 hours 100%

Formative Assessment:

Practice specimen exam question with individual written feedback.


Attendance at all activities marked with this symbol will be monitored. Students who fail to attend these activities, or to complete the summative or formative assessment specified above, will be subject to the procedures defined in the University's General Regulation V, and may be required to leave the University