Unit convenor and teaching staff |
Unit convenor and teaching staff
Norbert Ebert
Tutor
Evelyn Honeywill
Tutor
Kais Al-Momani
Tutor
Nanditha Hettitantri
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Credit points |
Credit points
3
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Prerequisites |
Prerequisites
12cp
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Corequisites |
Corequisites
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Co-badged status |
Co-badged status
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Unit description |
Unit description
Work and employment are basic social experiences. How can we understand them and why are they so important to us? This unit searches for answers by applying sociological key concepts to contemporary work and employment issues. The unit is made up of three parts. The first part examines the relevance of work for individuals and society. In the second part we investigate the organisation of work and employment on a political, organisational and individual level. The final part deals with our experience of work. It contemplates the future of work in terms of work-life balance and the chances for individuals' self-realisation. On the basis of those three parts you will gain a clear understanding of work and employment in contemporary societies.
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Information about important academic dates including deadlines for withdrawing from units are available at https://www.mq.edu.au/study/calendar-of-dates
On successful completion of this unit, you will be able to:
On campus tutorials and online discussion forums (external students) are the main space to discuss your assignments in detail and we are happy to do so in those spaces. That is what they are there for so please bring your questions and we are happy to discuss and help. Hence, unless we specifically tell you to do so, DO NOT email us your assignments for feedback.
How to submit the assignments:
All assignments have to be submitted via the turnitin links on iLearn by 11.59pm on the due date. Your grades will be made available on gradebook on iLearn too, but remain subject to change until the end of the course and depend on your overall performance in the course.
How to get the most out of SOC295:
It is simple, you get the most out of SOC295 by coming/listening to the lectures, come to the tutorials or engage in an online discussion on iLearn and by doing the readings per week.
The assessments in SOC295 build on linking these three elements elements of the course. Following those three steps will enable you to do well in SOC295.
If you experience any problems or have questions please bring them to the tutorials and ask us there before you individually email us. Often others have the same questions about referencing or contents related questions. Generally the advice is to ask as early as possible and not avoid asking. In particular there is little we can do to help you once the due date of assignments has passed.
Name | Weighting | Due |
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My work experience | 20% | 30/08/2016 |
Reflection Task 1 | 40% | 04/10/2016 |
reflection task 2 | 40% | 01/11/2016 |
Due: 30/08/2016
Weighting: 20%
This course on Work and Employment offers you ideas and concepts with which you can reflect on your own work experience, analyse contemporary work societies and the organisations we work in. Thus, it is important to be able to connect the ideas we discuss to your own work experience.
In this first assignment we ask you, therefore, to write 600 words on any kind of work experience that you have had in your life so far. It is a first exercise with which we learn to reflect on work and employment and our own experiences are always a good and important starting point for Sociologists.
If you do not have any work experience yet, you can write about what kind of job you imagine in the future or what you would like to do for work after university.
The main point is that you REFLECT and do not just list jobs that you have done. What reflect means is you think about what you liked / disliked in particular work situation and why using - if possible - concepts from the course.
To give you an example I have written a "my Work Experience" report myself. Here it is:
Overall I have had 27 years of work experience. The very first paid job was a casual job as a gardener for a very small company. The task at hand was to fix and repaint a wooden fence. Because I had to organise the material for the job as well as manage my own time, I enjoyed the realisation of this little project enormously.
A few years after that I worked night shifts on an assembly-line. It was an exhausting job because I had no autonomy at all. The machine determined everything from eating breaks to going to the bathroom. I only lasted six weeks in this job before I quit. The best thing about that job was that it was paid very well and that I had a boss with whom I got along very well.
Next I worked in a hospital as a nurse's aid, a shift job again. Although I tremendously enjoyed working with people and being able to help people, it was emotionally very taxing. Pay does not compensate very well for coping with the emotional needs of a dying person or for seeing people in excruciating pain without being able to do anything. I decide to leave this job too in order to work as a construction worker.
Again, this was a very well paid job but after about 5 months I felt that it was physically too exhausting and lacked intellectual stimulus. That is when I decided to do an apprenticeship as a business administrator in an office furniture company. Apprenticeship meant that my job changed every two months in order to learn about every aspect of the business from HR to assembly to accounting. Three days of the week I was in the company and two days I was at school learning the theoretical basics about how to run a business.
While I learned the basics about how a business ticks, I also learned a lot about myself. After finishing the apprenticeship I worked my way up into management over 12 years. During that time I had already started studying philosophy, sociology and business administration. This enabled me to to a PhD and become a Senior Lecturer in Sociology, which is my current job.
I think it was the apprenticeship that enabled me to find out what I really wanted to do and what job satisfaction means for me. It was my favorite job before I became a Sociologist.
When I read through my little report on my work experience I can identify important topics like autonomy, physical, emotional and intellectual aspects of work. I can see that what is important to me about my jobs is linked to people, even the wider society. From all those jobs I learned that it is important to me to work with people, to have a job that is not just about earning money and that my job gives me a sense of being able to realise myself but also to shape society, the world we all live in.
Due: 04/10/2016
Weighting: 40%
The point of the Reflection Task is that you engage in depth with ONE of the weekly topics that has been covered before the due date (you cannot choose the same topic for your second reflection task). Your exercise should:
a) name and answer the weekly key question form the lecture by
b) defining and explaining in your own words the key concepts of the chosen week
c) refer to and reference the reading(s) of the chosen week to back up your key points (if possible do NOT just copy the quotes and references from the lectures and also do NOT use the lecture slides as reference)
Your reflection task is not allowed to exceed 800 words. The 10% rule does NOT apply! Do not reference the lecturer or the lecture slides!
Due: 01/11/2016
Weighting: 40%
The point of the Reflection Task is that you engage in depth with ONE of the weekly topics that has been covered before the due date (you cannot choose the topic you have covered in your first reflection task). Your exercise should:
a) name and answer the weekly key question form the lecture by
b) defining and explaining in your own words the key concepts of the chosen week
c) refer to and reference the reading(s) of the chosen week to back up your key points (if possible do NOT just copy the quotes and references from the lectures and also do NOT use the lecture slides as reference)
Your reflection task is not allowed to exceed 800 words. The 10% rule does NOT apply! Do not reference the lecturer or the lecture slides!
All lectures will be recorded and will be available through iLearn. The readings usef in this course are available through a link on iLearn. The delivery for external students happens through iLearn.
1 |
02/08/2016 |
Introduction to SOC295 (no tutorials this week) |
2 |
09/08/2016 |
Work and Modernity |
3 |
16/08/2016 |
Work and Capitalism |
4 |
23/08/2016 |
Work and Productivity |
5 |
30/08/2016 |
Work, Science and Technology |
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Assignment 1 is due (My Work Experience 20%) |
6 |
06/09/2016 |
Capitalism: A Love Story |
7 |
13/09/2016 |
Work-Organisation and the Individual |
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20/09/2016 |
mid-session break |
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27/09/2016 |
mid-session break |
8 |
04/10/2016 |
The Corporation |
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Reflection Task 1 is due 40% |
9 |
11/10/2016 |
Work and (Un)Employment |
10 |
18/10/2016 |
Work and Motivation |
11 |
25/10/2016 |
Work and Identity |
12 |
01/11/2016 |
Precarious Work Societies |
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Reflection Task 2 is due 40% |
13 |
08/11/2017 |
Conclusion (no tutorials this week) |
Macquarie University policies and procedures are accessible from Policy Central. Students should be aware of the following policies in particular with regard to Learning and Teaching:
Academic Honesty Policy http://mq.edu.au/policy/docs/academic_honesty/policy.html
New Assessment Policy in effect from Session 2 2016 http://mq.edu.au/policy/docs/assessment/policy_2016.html. For more information visit http://students.mq.edu.au/events/2016/07/19/new_assessment_policy_in_place_from_session_2/
Assessment Policy prior to Session 2 2016 http://mq.edu.au/policy/docs/assessment/policy.html
Grading Policy prior to Session 2 2016 http://mq.edu.au/policy/docs/grading/policy.html
Grade Appeal Policy http://mq.edu.au/policy/docs/gradeappeal/policy.html
Complaint Management Procedure for Students and Members of the Public http://www.mq.edu.au/policy/docs/complaint_management/procedure.html
Disruption to Studies Policy http://www.mq.edu.au/policy/docs/disruption_studies/policy.html The Disruption to Studies Policy is effective from March 3 2014 and replaces the Special Consideration Policy.
In addition, a number of other policies can be found in the Learning and Teaching Category of Policy Central.
Macquarie University students have a responsibility to be familiar with the Student Code of Conduct: https://students.mq.edu.au/support/student_conduct/
Results shown in iLearn, or released directly by your Unit Convenor, are not confirmed as they are subject to final approval by the University. Once approved, final results will be sent to your student email address and will be made available in eStudent. For more information visit ask.mq.edu.au.
Macquarie University provides a range of support services for students. For details, visit http://students.mq.edu.au/support/
Learning Skills (mq.edu.au/learningskills) provides academic writing resources and study strategies to improve your marks and take control of your study.
Students with a disability are encouraged to contact the Disability Service who can provide appropriate help with any issues that arise during their studies.
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We want our graduates to have emotional intelligence and sound interpersonal skills and to demonstrate discernment and common sense in their professional and personal judgement. They will exercise initiative as needed. They will be capable of risk assessment, and be able to handle ambiguity and complexity, enabling them to be adaptable in diverse and changing environments.
This graduate capability is supported by:
Our graduates will have enquiring minds and a literate curiosity which will lead them to pursue knowledge for its own sake. They will continue to pursue learning in their careers and as they participate in the world. They will be capable of reflecting on their experiences and relationships with others and the environment, learning from them, and growing - personally, professionally and socially.
This graduate capability is supported by:
Our graduates will take with them the intellectual development, depth and breadth of knowledge, scholarly understanding, and specific subject content in their chosen fields to make them competent and confident in their subject or profession. They will be able to demonstrate, where relevant, professional technical competence and meet professional standards. They will be able to articulate the structure of knowledge of their discipline, be able to adapt discipline-specific knowledge to novel situations, and be able to contribute from their discipline to inter-disciplinary solutions to problems.
This graduate capability is supported by:
We want our graduates to be capable of reasoning, questioning and analysing, and to integrate and synthesise learning and knowledge from a range of sources and environments; to be able to critique constraints, assumptions and limitations; to be able to think independently and systemically in relation to scholarly activity, in the workplace, and in the world. We want them to have a level of scientific and information technology literacy.
This graduate capability is supported by:
Our graduates should be capable of researching; of analysing, and interpreting and assessing data and information in various forms; of drawing connections across fields of knowledge; and they should be able to relate their knowledge to complex situations at work or in the world, in order to diagnose and solve problems. We want them to have the confidence to take the initiative in doing so, within an awareness of their own limitations.
This graduate capability is supported by:
We want to develop in our students the ability to communicate and convey their views in forms effective with different audiences. We want our graduates to take with them the capability to read, listen, question, gather and evaluate information resources in a variety of formats, assess, write clearly, speak effectively, and to use visual communication and communication technologies as appropriate.
This graduate capability is supported by:
As local citizens our graduates will be aware of indigenous perspectives and of the nation's historical context. They will be engaged with the challenges of contemporary society and with knowledge and ideas. We want our graduates to have respect for diversity, to be open-minded, sensitive to others and inclusive, and to be open to other cultures and perspectives: they should have a level of cultural literacy. Our graduates should be aware of disadvantage and social justice, and be willing to participate to help create a wiser and better society.
This graduate capability is supported by:
As an external student in SOC295 you are required to listen to the lectures online vial iLearn and do the weekly readings.
Your tutorial is the weekly online discussion forum. What on campus students do in classes on campus, you do in the discussion forum. That is you will engage in the weekly topic to discuss the main points and concepts which are crucial for your assignments. It is your responsibility to "attend" online regularly. The online engagement is the foundation for the two reflection tasks. From experience students who engage in discussions are doing better in the assignments.
All internal and external students are equally welcome to use iLearn to discuss and exchange ideas in the weekly discussion forums.
BEFORE posting questions on iLearn
You will have questions that others in the course have too whether it is about assignments, referencing or contents. Most of those questions will have been answered in the lectures so PLEASE listen carefully. Will will not answer questions if the information is either available in the unit guide or has been provided during the lectures. Please also read our answers to others on iLearn since you might have exactly the same questions. Again, if the question has been posted and answered before, we will not answer again. Thank you for your understanding!
Date | Description |
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07/08/2016 | Had to add tutors to the list of contacts |