Changing Structures of Work and Society

Module code - MLA2003

Citizenship
(Dr Birgit Schippers)

The notion of citizenship is central to the functioning and self-understanding of society and its political institutions. This course offers an introduction to the concept of citizenship. It is the aim of this course to provide students with the knowledge and understanding of different conceptions of citizenship, and to enable students to crtically assess the significance of citizenship for issues of contemporary relevance, such as the debates surrounding multi-culturalism, the role of gender and the impact of globalization.

The Individual in the Economic Environment
(Mr Frank Hennessey)

Changing economic structures and employment patterns have placed new emphases on the role of the individual. The human person now plays key roles in the economy both as employee and as consumer, the start and the end of the production process, so to speak. In these lectures, students examine various approaches to interpreting and understanding those roles.

A key development in the modern labour force has been the growing focus on flexibility. Individuals must be flexible in order to carry out a changing series of tasks and even to change their employment several times during their working life. New forms of work have arisen which have redefined the relationship of the individual to the labour force. These changes have led to new patterns of decision-making within organisations. Leadership and the processes of communication have changed to facilitate these new patterns. Students will examine and critique various models which have evolved to manage change and include the individual worker in the organisational culture of today. A key part of that culture is its ethical dimension, and attention will be paid to this issue.

The individual as consumer also has in increasing influence on the economic environment. In concrete terms, consumers are a significant source and contributor of capital in the economy. Thus, the individual needs to have a heightened financial literacy to engage in and to navigate this environment. The final sections of this unit will examine the implications of recent economic trends for education in financial literacy.

Relationship Marketing
(Miss Joan Campbell)

Relationship Marketing represents a move away from the traditional emphasis on 'transaction marketing' and instead has the aim of building long-term, mutually satisfying relations between the organization and its stakeholders.

The aim of this unit is to enable students to evaluate how Relationship Marketing is the building of a unique business/organization asset called a marketing network and to examine how this network is used to contribute to its own internal operations and to the well-being of the society within which it operates.

Fundamental Ethics
(Fr Edward McGee)

In year 2, the student encounters many examples of the competing ideologies and intellectual frameworks which seek to provide a context for an individual's and a community's actions. The student also reviews several of the key roles which the individual can play in the complex social, political and economic world in which we live. To move from reflection to action, the individual must make choices which will involve ethical dimensions. This unit examines the fundamentals of ethical decision-making.

The unit will explore the nature of moral experience by looking at the various components of an ethical choice. It will then proceed to examine the concepts of conscience and moral principle. In this context, it will examine a variety of moral frameworks which presume or reject the notion of universal moral principles. Also in this context, students will be asked to debate cases where there is a clash of moral principles in order to evaluate methods of resolving such moral dilemmas. Finally, there will be a focus on the contribution of moral theology to ethical debate.