Exam 10: Flexibility, Empowerment, and Partnership

Continuous process improvement is often associated with a Japanese management style known as _______________________.

Employee representation through nonunion committees can be used to suppress unionization and squelch "real" employee voice.

Most, sometimes all, aspects of the contract that exists between an employer and an employee is unwritten, sometimes never even explicitly discussed. Employees work hard for an employer and engage in certain actions or behaviors because they perceive that they will be rewarded (or punished), rather than because of any written rule or expectation. This unwritten contract is known as the:

Though there were few benefits for management, system of job control unionism became widespread in the postwar era primarily because it met the needs of unions and workers.

Strategies to overcome resistance to change that are consistent with a fostering change strategy include all of the following except:

Flexibility and innovation in workplace processes are enhanced by the traditional model of job control unionism that allows new contracts to be negotiated every 1-3 years.

Job control unionism served the needs of management in a mass manufacturing environment by increasing the stability and predictability of production.

Which of the following is not a characteristic of scientific management principles?

Craft unions embraced the concepts and principles of scientific management.

Although the Saturn plant in Spring Hill, Tennessee was organized using self-directed work teams, it also maintained some traditional U.S. labor practices such as grievance procedures.

One reason the self-directed work team approach used at the Saturn plant in Spring Hill, Tennessee was not successful was that union leaders were reluctant to change from the traditional job control unionism model to one that required more flexibility and uncertainty.

Which of the following is not a valid concern about nonunion committees?

The key goal of job control unionism is to:

What is job control unionism and how does it address the problems associated with management practices stemming from scientific management?

The 1970s saw an increase in confrontations between management and labor due to worker dissatisfaction with repetitive and narrowly defined jobs as well as work line speedups and confrontational discipline.

Under scientific management principles, workers become better at their jobs through cross-training to increase workforce flexibility.

Joint industrial councils have been shown to:

In the Electromation decision (1992) the NLRB ruled that the company's committees were considered legitimate labor organizations under the NLRA because they had unilateral control over wages, hours, and terms and conditions of employment.

Scientific management is typically associated with all of the following except:

For labor-management partnerships to be effective, they must be perceived by employees as a way for their interests to be represented and deliver tangible benefits such as better working conditions.