Research
The Work and Organisational Studies (WOS) group has a long tradition of teaching and research on work related themes, pioneering the discipline of industrial relations in Australia in the 1950s. Later, the group built upon this foundation by expanding into labour history and human resource management. From that foundation, it has developed an innovative and comprehensive approach to all aspects of work, employment relations, organisation studies, business history and management. This increasing reach of teaching and research reflects profound changes in the nature of contemporary work and society, the integration of industrial relations and human resource management, the organisational aspects of employment relations and the growing emphasis on the 'strategic management' of organisations.
The roots in industrial relations and the subsequent extension to the areas of human resource management, organisational behaviour and management studies give the group its distinctive breadth and character. Taken as a group, WOS researchers have demonstrated expertise across the whole spectrum of work and organisational studies: from business and labour history and industrial relations to human resource management; from organisational development and strategic management to public policy.
The Faculty was recently awarded accreditation of its postgraduate industrial relations and human resource management programs by Australia's leading professional human resource body, the Australian Human Resources Institute (AHRI). Accreditation is granted for a period of three years, from August 2005 to August 2008.
Every member of WOS's academic staff is an active researcher, publishing in high-quality journals. WOS staff edit two major journals of international standing, The Journal of Industrial Relations and Labour History, and have significant research linkages and collaborations across Australia and internationally.
International activities include participation in the prestigious International Centre for Research on Organisational Discourse, Strategy and Change. The Centre facilitates interactions between researchers at the University of Sydney and those at the University of Melbourne, as well as leading universities in Canada, the UK, Sweden, and the USA.
In addition, Professor Russell Lansbury and Associate Professor Jim Kitay, in association with Professor Harry Katz at Cornell University, are co-ordinating the ‘Globalisation and Employment Relations in Autos and Banking’ project, in collaboration with researchers in China, Germany,Hong Kong, Japan, South Korea, Singapore, Sweden and the USA.
Much of the research in WOS has attracted government and industry funding and has been central to public policy debates. For example, Dr Marian Baird has won funding for work-life studies with Sydney Water and Holden, and for parental leave with the Human Rights and Equal Opportunity Commission and a number of agencies in New South Wales and Queensland and the Women’sElectoral Lobby.
Close industry links are also exemplified by Dr Harry Knowles, Associate Professor Greg Patmore and Dr John Shields being commissioned by Citigroup through the Business and Labour History Group to undertake a historyof their operations in Australia.
WOS encourages a vigorous intellectual life through seminars and conferences. It runs a fortnightly seminar program which has presenters from Australia and overseas, and its Business and Labour History Group alsoruns interdisciplinary seminars and conferences.
Since 2004 WOS has operated a ‘distinguished visitors program’ which brings leading scholars from around the world to Sydney to discuss their work and, most importantly,to establish research linkages with universities elsewhere.
In 2005, WOS hosted the 18th Conference of the Association of Industrial Relations Academics of Australia and New Zealand (AIRAANZ) conference, the largest ever gathering of this body, and a number of workshops on a range of topics were organised in 2006. In 2009, WOS will host the World Congress of the International Industrial Relations Association at which time Russell Lansbury will be the Association’sPresident.