Deck 10: Flexibility, Empowerment, and Partnership

Question 1

Reengineering is distinguished from continuous improvement in that it focuses on large,one-time improvements in business processes,rather than small,incremental steps toward improvement.

Answer 1

True

Question 2

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.

Answer 2

True

Question 3

Quality of working life programs introduced in the 1970s were largely designed to address problems with worker fatigue,boredom,and alienation that were associated with mass production.

Answer 3

True

Question 4

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

Question 5

Total quality management programs are an example of reengineering attempts to improve the efficiency of the workplace.

Question 6

Job control unionism and business flexibility go hand-in-hand.

Question 7

The importance of grievance arbitration as a method of settling labor disputes was not formalized until the 1970s.

Question 8

Quality of working life programs were largely unsuccessful because they could not change the underlying structure of work organized around scientific management principles.

Question 9

The mass manufacturing/job control unionism model that worked so well in the postwar era began to fail in the 1970s largely due to instability in economic markets.

Question 10

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

Question 11

Calls for increased levels of employee empowerment in the modern workplace neglect the reality that the U.S.workforce is less educated,on average,than the workforce of the 1940s-1970s.

Question 12

The adversarial "us" against "them" mentality that often plagues employment relations today can be attributed,in part,to principles of scientific management on Taylorism.

Question 13

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.

Question 14

In the 20th century,the primary method for organizing and managing work was scientific management.

Question 15

Fordism was a specialized case of applying scientific management principles to assembly line production.

Question 16

Taylor's vision of scientific management as a "win-win" for unions and management has largely proven to be true.

Question 17

Managerial insistence on retaining the right to make business decisions such as location and production technology without interference from employees or unions was formalized in the 1940s.

Question 18

Job control unionism seeks to protect workers against managerial abuse by setting objective standards for everything from wages to work allocation.

Question 19

The goal of job control unionism is to replace managerial subjectivity and favoritism with decision making by union representatives.

Question 20

The push for greater flexibility and employee participation in the workplace is very compatible with traditional union goals.

Question 21

The research is clear: high performance work systems such as quality circles,job rotation,teams,and total quality management decrease absenteeism and turnover and increase company profits.

Question 22

As early as the 1940's,unionists argued that because workers perform their job tasks over and over they often have good ideas for improving productivity,increasing quality,and lowering costs.They predicted that management's failure to capitalize on this would ultimately restrict flexibility and have a negative impact on efficiency.

Question 23

In the 21^st century,the hierarchical structures of organizations stemming from scientific management are being replaced with flatter organizational structures and flexible specialization.

Question 24

In Saturn's self-directed work teams,teams of 6-15 union employees were empowered to make business decisions about business planning,technology,pricing,and new product development.

Question 25

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.

Question 26

Lean production emphasizes just-in-time deliveries,smooth flow of materials,teamwork and continuous process improvement.

Question 27

Wage flexibility and incentive plans are made easier when organizations have standardized wages tied to jobs and independent of a company's ability to pay.

Question 28

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.

Question 29

In today's competitive,highly technology-driven economy,there is little risk to employees in increasing workplace flexibility but there is a lot to be gained.

Question 30

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..

Question 31

Quality circles,gainsharing programs,and other types of joint labor-management committees focus largely on changing the way work has been organized under scientific management principles.

Question 32

The Saturn plant in Spring Hill,Tennessee,is an example of the successful implementation of self-directed work teams in a traditional scientific management-based industry.

Question 33

Whether high performance work practices result in improvements in company profitability is in part a function of how extensively they are incorporated into the organization: the greater their use,the greater the profits.

Question 34

High performance work systems are mutually supporting human resource practices that combine flexibility with employee involvement.

Question 35

One of the problems with introducing greater flexibility in the workplace is that flexibility often raises important risks or concerns for workers and unions.

Question 36

Unions are uniformly opposed to moving away from job control unionism because of the risks associated with greater flexibility.

Question 37

American lean production practices are similar to those used in Japan in that decision-making is decentralized to give workers a greater say in what ultimately gets decided.

Question 38

Like the U.S. ,other industrialized countries such as Germany and Japan have recently begun to recognize the importance of worker involvement in business decision-making.

Question 39

Skill-based pay,quality circle and other forms of innovation aimed at improving worker involvement in business have largely failed in unionized settings.

Question 40

Under job control unionism,wages are tied to individuals rather than to jobs.

Question 41

Corporate strategies to allow for greater employee voice in decision-making rarely work in unionized settings because of traditional job control unionism.

Question 42

The TEAM Act was introduced in Congress to explicitly outlaw labor-management committees that do not seek to negotiate collective bargaining agreements.

Question 43

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.

Question 44

When management seeks to create a cooperative labor-management relationship in response to competitive pressures,it is known as a "co-opting strategy."

Question 45

Employee involvement plans in which employees speak for themselves as individuals,not as representatives of their co-workers,do not violate U.S.labor law.

Question 46

When managers emphasize cooperation,unions often interpret this as a push for unions and workers to quietly go along with management-driven initiatives.

Question 47

When a unionized company decides to relocate its operations to a nonunion site as a way of dealing with competitive pressures,it is called an "escape" strategy.

Question 48

A forcing strategy is one in which the union and employees are pressured to accept the changes management wishes to implement in response to competitive pressures.

Question 49

The Kaiser Permanente Labor-Management Partnership was unsuccessful in changing the underlying working relationship between the Kaiser management and the union representing its employees.

Question 50

The TEAM Act is intended to make it easier for employers to design and implement employee involvement programs.

Question 51

A significant problem for the union involved in the Saturn experiment in self-directed work teams was establishing and maintaining its credibility as an advocate for the employees.

Question 52

In the union movement,there are some who argue that there is no role for unions as strategic partners with business.They believe unions should be in the business of protecting workers and attempts to "partner" with management will inevitably result in "selling out" workers.

Question 53

Nonunion representation plans that are primarily concerned with issues such as quality and productivity are outside the domain of the NLRA and are legal.

Question 54

The Saturn experiment in Spring Hill,Tennessee,was largely successful.

Question 55

The Clinton labor-management partnerships were shown to be effective in creating better labor-management relations,reducing workplace disputes,and improving performance.

Question 56

Under the NLRA,nonunion employee representation plans where there is give and take between management and workers are likely to be legal while those where management is clearly in control are likely to be considered illegal.

Question 57

The research suggests that labor-management partnerships are generally good for employers and employees but not for unions.

Question 58

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.

Question 59

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

Question 60

A formal initiative in which workers and union leaders are full business partners in organizational decision making is called a "social partnership" or "social compact."

Question 61

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

A)An organizational structure that is flat,with little differentiation between job levels.
B)Protections for management rights.
C)Assembly line production processes.
D)Increased specialization of work.

Question 62

Which of the following is not a key change in the business environment since the 1970s:

A)Greater demand for high-quality goods and services
B)More highly educated workers
C)Greater stability in consumer tastes and preferences
D)Increased sophistication of technology

Question 63

Which of the following does not characterize the nature of competition for U.S.companies in today's economy:

A)Emphasis on high quality good and services that respond quickly to changes in consumer tastes
B)Capitalize on narrowly defined,routine jobs as a way to hold down labor costs so they are comparable to low wage countries
C)Need for greater levels of employee involvement that can capitalize on higher education levels
D)Short-term,market-driven employment relationships where the employee is more closely tied to their job/occupation than to the company they work for

Question 64

Work specialization increases efficiency in all of the following ways except by:

A)Allowing workers to become really good at their job tasks
B)Making training easier
C)Keeping employees engaged and focused on their jobs
D)Improving efficiency through routines and patterns

Question 65

The key goal of job control unionism is to:

A)Replace management decision-making with worker control
B)Increase the union's role in subjective decision-making
C)Remove management subjectivity from decision-making
D)Replace detailed work rules with more flexible decision making processes

Question 66

In the post World War II era,U.S.unions have sought:

A)To gain unilateral control over managerial decisions in the workplace.
B)To limit or restrict management authority over things that affect workders directly.
C)To limit all managerial control,in cluding decisions on strategy and market competition
D)To limit employee input into the operations of business.

Question 67

Nonunion representation plans that give employees control over the structure and function of committees are more likely to be considered legal under the NLRA than plans that do not.

Question 68

Management practices that routinize and standardize work,often using time and motion studies to break the job down into its smallest tasks,are known as:

A)Scientific management
B)Job control unionism
C)Fordism
D)Total quality management

Question 69

All of the following are criticisms of scientific management principles except:

A)Unnecessary training costs
B)Competition between workers
C)Work pace speed ups
D)Alienation and boredom

Question 70

The key management practices that drove job control unionism included all of the following except:

A)Management insistence on maintaining sole authority over traditional management practices
B)Narrow job classifications
C)Minimal employee input into decision making
D)Restrictive systems of reward based on job seniority

Question 71

The business environment prior to 1974 was "friendly" to companies using scientific management and mass manufacturing methods because:

A)U.S.manufacturers dominated the world economy.
B)A large number of firms controlled most of the profits in a single industry.
C)Education levels were significantly higher than they are today.
D)All of the above.

Question 72

In today's global market,U.S.companies using traditional mass manufacturing methods are:

A)More efficient and highly competitive
B)No longer competitive
C)As competitive as other methods of production
D)Rebounding and becoming more competitive again

Question 73

Job control unionism became an acceptable model for the U.S.because it:

A)Supported mass manufacturing requirements for stable production.
B)Made the workplace more predictable
C)Gave unions a way to challenge management decisions without resorting to strikes.
D)All of the above

Question 74

,In some ways,workers have greater voice when it comes to traditional management rights issues under Canadian joint industrial councils than they do with collective bargaining.

Question 75

Labor advocates embrace nonunion representation plans as another means of giving workers control over what happens in the workplace.

Question 76

A system to protect workers against managerial abuse by dictating rewards and job allocation through detailed work rules,seniority rights,and/or a contract is known as:

A)Business unionism
B)Job control unionism
C)An implicit psychological contract
D)A collective bargaining contract

Question 77

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

A)Using time and motion studies
B)Breaking jobs down into their simplest tasks
C)Calculating the quickest way to complete a task
D)Getting employee feedback on how best to do the job

Question 78

In a fostering change approach,management should provide the union with full information,training,and opportunities to participate in the design and implementation of change.

Question 79

The dominant paradigm of work structure in the U.S.for much of the 20^th century was:

A)Self-directed work teams
B)Employee involvement programs
C)Scientific management
D)Processes from the Kaizan philosophy

Question 80

At the time scientific management was introduced to U.S.manufacturing craft unions were:

A)Excited about the possibility of higher wages that would come from greater efficiency.
B)Concerned about lost productivity due to such a radical change in work processes.
C)Excited about having someone pay attention to what they were doing.
D)Concerned about losing autonomy and dignity in their jobs.