BMO0270 Managing Employees Relations PG Assessment Brief 2026-27 | University of Huddersfield

BMO0270 Managing Employee Relations PG Assessment Brief 

Module Learning Outcomes

• MLO1: Demonstrate a critical understanding of perspectives on employment relations in diverse organisational contexts
• MLO2: Critically evaluate the roles and functions of the different parties to control and manage the employment relationship.
• MLO3: Understand, analyse and critically evaluate the integration of employment relations processes and how they can be used strategically to impact on policy, practice and organisational outcomes such as performance and employee engagement
• MLO4: Be able to critically evaluate the importance of organisational-level employment relations processes that support organisational performance, including the design and implementation of policies and practices in the areas of employee engagement, diversity management, and control.
• MLO 5: Be able to understand, analyse and critically evaluate the importance of employment relations procedures that help mitigate organisational risk, including the design and implementation of policies and practices in the areas of discipline, grievance, dismissal and redundancy.

Assessment Task

A group of part-time Instacart employees in Skokie, Illinois, voted to unionise. 

An Instacart spokesperson's statement to The Verge follows: 

"Instacart cares deeply about all members of our community, which includes in-store shoppers who are part-time employees. We will always support employee freedom and choice, and we respect our employees’ rights to explore unionisation." The spokesperson further said Instacart "will honour the outcome of this election," and the company will negotiate a contract *in good faith."

You are invited to: 

Critically evaluate how different perspectives on employment relations influence organisational policies and practices in the context of globalisation and the future of work. Apply your analysis to the Instacart case.

Discuss the extent to which employment relations procedures (e.g., discipline, grievance, dismissal, redundancy) mitigate organisational risk while supporting diversity and employee engagement. Apply your analysis to the Instacart case.  

Select from the list below one of the following options and critically evaluate how collective bargaining can be revitalised. The options are: 

• The role of collective bargaining in advocating sustainable practices?
• What barriers and challenges are identified for cross-industry alliances?
• What are the different strategies for digital unionism and online revitalisation?
• Can collective bargaining play a role in equity and inclusion for migrant workers?
• How can unions redefine their negotiation goals?
• What is the structure for worker participation and workplace democracy in decision-making?

This assignment is worth 100% of the marks for this module and is the final piece of assessment.  

Task Specific Guidance

Sketch a structure and begin your investigation. You need to cover three areas as outlined below:

1)Your task is to critically examine how different perspectives on employment relations influence organisational policies and practices. Show how these perspectives shape HR policies, collective bargaining, employee engagement, diversity, and performance management. Discuss how globalisation and technology challenge or reinforce these perspectives. Compare and contrast perspectives, highlighting strengths, limitations, and implications for organisational outcomes. Draw on academic literature, case studies, and real-world examples to support arguments. Moreover, critically analyse employee relations in the case of Instacart.

2) Secondly, you need to critically identify employment relations procedures and their purpose in managing risk. Explain how these procedures help prevent legal disputes, reputational damage, and operational disruptions. Critically assess whether these procedures promote fairness, inclusivity, and positive employee relations or whether they create tensions. Consider the role of HR, managers, and trade unions in designing and implementing these procedures. You are invited to provide some scenarios from Instacart as well.

3)Your next task is the selection of one of the areas outlined to you relevant to the changes happening in collective bargaining. Collective bargaining can be grouped into various manifestations that shape the present and the future. You need to choose one option from below: 

• One option could be sustainable practices. Upon selecting it, you will need to critically investigate how trade unions can be transformed into climate actors for advocating sustainable practices.
• Second, you could critically discuss cross-industry alliances, identify here what could be the barriers and challenges of allying with other unions
• Thirdly, you could critically discuss digital unionism and online revitalisation. You could focus on the self-image of trade unions on social media, their message, and the audience they target.
• Fourth could be equity and inclusivity within the migrant workforce, and critically identifying the dilemmas for resistance or cooperation in a more diverse workplace
• The fifth option could be redefining their negotiation goals. Upon selecting it, you will need to critically investigate how trade unions can redefine their negotiation goals, and what the evolving needs and priorities of the modern workforce?
• In the final option, you could critically expand on the participatory role of trade unions beyond collective bargaining, such as union shares, profit sharing, co-determination, work councils, shop-floor participation and an overall employee engagement. 

To support your argument, you are expected to draw on and critically analyse relevant evidence from academic articles, CIPD reports and case studies. Materials uploaded in Brightspace could be used as a starting threshold, followed by the reading list and use of Summon, which can play a huge role in helping with your investigation. 

It is an essay, so you are expected to use the guidelines of a basic structure (e.g., introduction, main body, and concluding remarks), use third person writing style and citations. Finally, you need to employ a 12-point font size using Times New Roman and 1.5 line-spacing. Word count does not include References.

WORD COUNT: The world limit is 2500 words. Do not exceed the word limit. Tables, figures and references are not included in the word count.

PGT Marking Criteria Grid Template

These criteria are intended to help you understand how your work will be assessed.  They describe different levels of performance of a given criterion. 
 
Criteria are not weighted equally, and the marking process involves academic judgement and interpretation within the marking criteria.

The grades between Pass and Merit should be considered as different levels of performance within the normal bounds of the module. The higher-level categories allow for students who, in addition to fulfilling the basic requirement, perform at a superior level beyond the normal boundaries of the module and demonstrate intellectual creativity, originality and innovation.

PGT Generic Assessment Criteria