Complexity and Simplicity in Australian Enterprise Agreements: Coding Framework, List of Agreements and Chi Square Tables

Abstract

This is a background paper for a project that maps the evolution of enterprise agreements in Australia through the lens of complexity/simplicity. Drawing on Peter Schuck’s four features of complexity - technicality, density, differentiation and uncertainty - the project develops a multi-dimensional framework to categorise the complexity of enterprise agreements. The empirical study uses content analysis techniques to assess enterprise agreements made within the federal workplace relations system between 1993 and 2011 in the higher education and fast food sectors. To allow other researchers to replicate or build on this work, this background paper includes the coding framework, list of agreements and cross-tabulation tables for the project.