Deck 17: Human Relations in Theory and Practice

Question 1

One of the challenges to the basic premises of Mayo and his colleagues was that they confused means and ends in assuming that the goal of contentment and happiness would lead to harmonious equilibrium and organizational success.

Answer 1

True

Question 2

The Hawthorne researchers been criticized for using too much statistical data in their findings and thereby ignoring the human factors that made up the work groups they studied.

Answer 2

False

Question 3

The "Hawthorne effect" has been demonstrated in numerous studies to explain why workers in the relay-assembly test room increased their output.

Answer 3

False

Question 4

One of the criticisms of Mayo and his colleagues was that they assumed that contented workers would produce more work.

Question 5

After further research, we can conclude that Mayo was correct by not including economic motives in his analysis.

Question 6

After the passage of the National Labor Relations (Wagner) Act in 1935:

A) the number of strikes about wages and hours more than doubled
B) the number of strikes about forming labor unions more than doubled
C) union management cooperation began
D) the Supreme Court upheld company unions
E) human relations practices made unions less important

Question 7

Hawthorne researchers were labeled as_______, by their critics.

A) heroes
B) cow sociologists
C) turncoats
D) none of the above

Question 8

Criticized the Hawthorne researchers for their rejection of economic incentives:

A) William F. Whyte
B) Luther Gulick
C) A.J.M. Sykes
D) David McClelland
E) James Lincoln

Question 9

Assume this situation: You are a first line supervisor responsible for ten employees and wish to be seen as a "human relations oriented" manager by your employees. Your supervisor, however, has stated the most important task is to get the work done promptly and correctly. Are these expectations reconcilable? Why or why not?

Question 10

Are human relations practices incompatible with the goals of unionized employees? Would it make any difference if the employees belonged to a union or not?