Fall 2011 & Spring 2012 Semester Courses Offerings
If you are looking for courses designed for working professionals, please see our listing of workshops.
For additional ILR Fall Courses - ILR Course Descriptions and Schedules
2011 Fall
ILRLR 4012/6012 Managing and Resolving Conflict 4.0 HRS LET ONLY
17100 LEC 001 MW 1140A-1255P IVS 215 A. Colvin
Prerequisite: background in economics and social sciences, or permission of instructor. Deals with managing and resolving workplace conflicts and examines dispute resolution and conflict management in both union and nonunion settings. The course covers two related topics: (1) third-party dispute resolution, including Alternative Dispute Resolution (ADR). This part focuses primarily on the use of mediation and arbitration but also deals with other dispute resolution techniques, such as fact-finding, facilitation, peer review, and the ombud’s function; (2) conflict management in organizations, including the recent development of conflict management systems. The course reviews the factors that have caused the growth of ADR and conflict management systems, and it provides instruction on the design, implementation, and evaluation of such systems.
ILRLR 6011 Negotiation – Theory & Practice 4.0 HRS LET ONLY
13840 LEC 001 MW 0255-0410P IVS 219 D. Lipsky
Prerequisites: background in economics and social sciences, or permission of instructor. (Search for this course in PeopleSoft as a Graduate level course.) Deals with negotiation and bargaining, focusing on process, practice, and procedures. Concentrates on the use of negotiation and bargaining to resolve conflicts and disputes between organizations and groups. Discusses various theories of negotiation, including conventional, “Positional” bargaining, interest-based bargaining, the use of power in negotiation, and game theoretic approaches to bargaining. Examples, cases, and exercised are used to illustrate general principles. This is a generic negotiation course and thus does not deal with labor relations nor does it focus on any particular type of negotiation. Rather, it examines negotiation and bargaining generally, using examples drawn from several contexts, including employment relations, environmental disputes, real estate transactions, and other settings.
ILRLR 6080 Special Topics: The Practice of Labor Arbitration Oct. 16-19, 2011 1.0 HRS LET ONLY
17106 LEC 001 SMTW 0730-1000P IVS x D. Lipsky, M. Scheinman
(Search for this course in PeopleSoft as a Graduate level course.) This course is designed to be an advanced seminar for graduate and undergraduate students who have a serious interest in the practice and profession of labor arbitration. Classroom discussions, group exercise and readings will focus on the role of the labor arbitrator in the public and private sectors.
During the first part of the course, topics will include the backgrounds, training, and certifications needed to establish a labor arbitration practice. In addition to focusing on how arbitrators manage hearings, the course will also cover the institutional and administrative arrangements that support the use of labor arbitration. How arbitrators are admitted to rosters and receive appointments from such “providers” as the American Arbitration Association, the Federal Mediation & Conciliation Service, the New York State Public Employment Relations Board, the Cornell’s ADR Services, etc.) will be examined. The rules used by Cornell and other providers will also be discussed. The first day will conclude with a labor arbitration exercise and faculty debriefing.
During the next segments of the course, students will examine contemporary practice issues such as discovery, subpoenas, prehearing briefs, and problems involving availability of witnesses. Detailed coverage of the standards of contract interpretation, discipline and the role of evidence will be provided. Throughout the course, role-plays and other assignments will test students’ understanding of the critical role of the arbitrator in deciding labor disputes. All case examples will be drawn from actual disputes successfully arbitrated by the course’s instructor.
Course requirements include a writing assignment assessing labor arbitration as a technique for resolving workplace disputes between employers and unions. Required reading assignments will be drawn from the specialized literature on arbitration and dispute resolution.
ILRLR 4022/6022 Arbitration Combined: ILRLR 6022 4.0 HRS LET ONLY
16207 SEM 101 TR 1140A-1255P IVS 108 R. Lieberwitz
Limited to 21 students. Prerequisites: ILRCB 2010, 2050; 5000, and 5010. Study of arbitration in the field of labor-management relations, including an analysis of principles and practices, the law of arbitration, the handling of materials in briefs or oral presentation, the conduct of a mock arbitration hearing, and the preparation of arbitration opinions and post-hearing briefs.
ILRLR 6082 Collective Bargaining Negotiations Simulation 4.0 HRS LET ONLY
14102 LEC 001 M 0700-1000P IVS 215 H. Kramer
Limited to 18 students. Prerequisite: junior, senior, or graduate standing. Recommended: previous or concurrent enrollment in collective bargaining theory and labor law course. Attendance at first class mandatory. Up to two required evening extended bargaining sessions. (Search for this course in PeopleSoft as a Graduate level course.) Students prepare for and participate in a simulated negotiation between a hypothetical corporation and a hypothetical union in a typical big company with mid-size single site bargaining unit context. Students are assigned, usually in line with preferences, to either a management or union bargaining team. The course stresses the negotiation process over settlement or substantive outcomes. Negotiation problems are as real life as possible, constrained by student time needs and with attention given to dynamic legal, political, economic, and communications concerns as well as power, information, and time factors. Participants plan for negotiations, reach agreements in principle and negotiate language, bargain wages, pensions, health care and noneconomic items in the context of a company and union with an established contract, policies, and culture. This is a hands-on program with active participation essential.
2012 Spring:
TBA: Please check for the class listing here