This course aims to provide students with an understanding of the conceptual framework, institutional structures, and functioning mechanisms of social dialogue within the industrial relations system, while enabling them to analyze tripartite and bipartite social dialogue processes at workplace, sectoral, national, and international levels. It also seeks to examine, from a comparative perspective, employee representation bodies, workplace committees, and direct participation practices that facilitate employees’ involvement in decision-making processes, drawing on examples from Türkiye and the European Union. In this regard, the course aims to develop students’ capacity to critically assess participatory management models.

This course is structured around the conceptual foundations, historical development, and position of social dialogue within the industrial relations system. The main topics include tripartite social dialogue mechanisms among the state, employers, and trade unions; bipartite social dialogue mechanisms; the European model of social dialogue; workplace-level employee participation, such as worker representation, workplace committees, and joint consultation bodies; direct and indirect forms of participation; the concept of industrial democracy; and social dialogue institutions in Türkiye, including the Economic and Social Council and collective bargaining processes. The course also discusses the impact of digitalization and the platform economy on social dialogue processes through contemporary examples.