未來工作學

This course aims to introduce the concepts and debates of ‘the future of work’, which have been the focal points not only in academia but also in the media, politics, and industries in recent years, to undergraduate and graduate students who are interested in understanding how the technological advancement and changing societal forces (such as regulatory issues) shape the landscapes of work and employment. It has been widely discussed how technological development, such as artificial intelligence (AI), robotics, mobile technology, etc., influences the quantity and quality of jobs. It is not surprising to know that both optimistic and pessimistic approaches towards these debates exist. For example, some argue that technological advancements would enhance productivity and further create more and better jobs for human beings to realize their creativity. Nevertheless, others contend that the same forces would result in mass unemployment and a hyper-polarized society for us. These pole-parted predictions lead us to consider the overall society which these technological advancements are embedded within. These technologies are developed, implemented, and controlled by the human beings (at least in the foreseeable future). As a result, how we, including the government, industries, media, and everyone of us, understand and make relevant policy or strategic decisions, surely has influential impacts on how these technologies affect our lives, including work and employment. Therefore, this course covers the concepts (such as skill-biased or routine-biased technological change, job quality, platform economy, etc.) and current debates on the relevant issues by discussing some high-quality research outputs in the field of management, industrial relations, employment studies and sociology. After participating in this course, students are expected to engage meaningfully in the relevant debates, with a deeper and comprehensive understanding of these timely and critical issues.

Students must have taken and passed any one of the following courses: Management, Organization Behavior, or Human Resource Management.

Students are expected to 1) read the required reading materials before each class and 2) attend and participate in the discussions in class. Although the lecturer assigns the required reading materials to the students, facilitate the discussions in class, and comment and further evaluate students’ works, each student is expected to engage in not only their own work but also their peers’ in a critical but supportive and constructive manner.

1. Exams and Quizzes: There is no exam or quiz in this course. 2. Evaluation and Grading Policy: Final report (60%) and class participation (40%) (1) Final report: i. Each student should choose any topic related to ‘the future of work’ which will be covered in this course. ii. Each student is expected to not only summarize what they have read and learned from this course but also offer their evaluations on or insights from these readings and discussions in class. iii. The word limit of the report is 1,500 words (in English; excluding references and appendix), or 2,500 words (in Mandarin; also excluding references and appendix). (2) Class participation: i. Students will be grouped, and each team is formed by 3-4 students. The groupings should be finalized before the end of February 23. ii. Each team will be assigned with two-week reading material to present for the class from March 1. iii. Each student is encouraged to speak in the class, no matter it is a question or comment related to our course. She/he is also expected to briefly introduce her/himself (telling the class her/his name) before asking a question or giving a comment. (3) Any student who creates a meme related to any concept/theory that we have discussed in class and then sends it to the lecturer can get an extra 0.5 point in her/his grade of this course.

All required reading materials (journal articles or book chapters) are detailed below.

地點

By appointment.

時間

By appointment.

聯絡方式

bylee@nycu.edu.tw