Deck 11: Work-Related Problems and Social Work in the Workplace

Question 1

Identify a true statement regarding Theory X managers as categorized by Douglas McGregor.

A) ​They view employees as wanting to grow and develop by exerting effort to accomplish work objectives.
B) ​They believe that internal rewards are stronger than external rewards and punishment.
C) They allow employees to not only accept responsibility but also to seek it.
D) ​They reduce tasks and structure work responsibilities to a level at which few mistakes can be made.

Answer 1

D

Question 2

​Which of the following is a reason for the high unemployment among African Americans and Latinos?

A) ​They are thought to be less productive, clumsier, and more accident prone than other workers.
B) ​They are less healthy, and more prone to absenteeism than White workers.
C) ​They have a lower-than-average level of educational achievement than other workers.
D) ​They are considered more difficult to get along with when compared to White workers.

Answer 2

C

Question 3

Which of the following is true about the workforce in the United States?

A) ​Currently, only about 2% of the labor forces consist of farming, forestry, and fishing workers.
B) ​Today, the largest occupational group in terms of numbers is blue-collar workers.
C) ​Most workers in secondary industry are white-collar workers.
D) ​A majority of the country's workforce is employed in secondary industry.

Answer 3

A

Question 4

​Which of the following is true of women in the American workforce?

A) ​The number of women entering the labor force is declining.
B) ​Women are paid only three-fourths of what men are paid for the same amount of work.
C) ​Women tend to be employed in the more prestigious, higher-paying positions.

Question 5

​The practice of locating plants that produce products for American markets in Third World nations where the corporation can take advantage of lower wage rates is sometimes referred to as _____.

A) ​alienation
B) ​deindustrialization
C) ​international integration
D) ​importation

Question 6

​All of the following are true about work except that:

A) ​a person's job or occupation largely determines a person's place in the social structure.
B) ​people in low-status jobs are generally able to form a satisfying identity from their jobs.
C) ​the more people are paid, the more highly they are regarded by others and the more highly they regard themselves.
D) ​having a degrading, boring, and dehumanizing job can damage a person's psychological well-being.

Question 7

All of the following are true about unemployment except that:

A) ​when long-term unemployment occurs, many of the unemployed become increasingly isolated.
B) ​being laid off is often interpreted by the unemployed as a sign of being incompetent and worthless.
C) ​when the long-term unemployed obtain reemployment, they rapidly recover their self-esteem.

Question 8

Which of the following is true about Theory Y managers?

A) ​They believe that they must control, direct, force, or threaten employees to make them work.
B) ​They view employees as having relatively little ambition.
C) They carefully spell out job responsibilities and use external rewards to make employees work.
D) ​They view mistakes and errors as necessary phases of the learning process.

Question 9

​In The Protestant Ethic and the Spirit of Capitalism, _____ asserted that the Protestant ethic encouraged and made possible the emergence of capitalism.

A) ​John Calvin
B) ​Max Weber
C) ​Martin Luther
D) ​Steve Gates

Question 10

Which of the following is a prominent trend in the American workforce that has been observed for the past 10 decades?

A) ​Less specialization
B) ​Fewer adult women in paid employment
C) Decline in low-paying jobs
D) ​Emphasis on intrinsic rewards

Question 11

​Which of the following types of industry involves turning raw materials into manufactured goods such as processed foods, steel, and automobiles:

A) ​Secondary
B) ​Primary
C) ​Tertiary

Question 12

Which of the following types of industry engages in the gathering or extracting of undeveloped natural resources?

A) ​Secondary
B) ​Tertiary
C) ​Primary

Question 13

Each of the following is true about work except that:​

A) ​most workers in the United States are self-employed.
B) ​with increasing specialization, workers find it difficult to take pride in their work.
C) ​specialization has often resulted in job dissatisfaction.
D) ​women still tend to be employed in the less prestigious, lower-paying positions.

Question 14

​The _____ brought about profound changes in social values concerning work, making work highly valued for the first time.

A) ​Protestant Reformation
B) Civil War
C) ​Declaration of Independence
D) ​Gregorian Reform

Question 15

Which of the following is a prediction made by Karl Marx regarding worker alienation?

A) ​There would be more alienation in socialist countries.
B) ​Industrialism in capitalist societies would alleviate alienation.
C) There would be a class revolution in the United States.
D) ​Workers will have basic trust and faith in the American capitalist system.

Question 16

_____ are work-improvement task forces in which managers and employees meet regularly to allow employees to air their grievances, to identify problems that reduce productivity, and to obtain suggestions for alleviating these concerns.

A) ​Autocratic task forces
B) ​Quality circles
C) ​Suggestion programs
D) ​Self-managing teams

Question 17

​Which of the following participative management programs systematically allows employee groups to make a number of major decisions?

A) Directive programs
B) ​Democratic management
C) ​Suggestion programs
D) Quality circles

Question 18

​The _____ holds that when subjects know they are participants in a study, this awareness may lead them to behave differently and thereby substantially influence the results of the study.

A) ​Wittenburg theory
B) ​Hawthorne effect
C) ​participative phenomenon
D) ​survey subjectivity quotient

Question 19

​All of the following are true about the history of work except that:

A) ​the early Christians viewed working as doing penance for Original Sin.
B) ​the ancient Greeks justified slavery on the grounds that it freed citizens to spend their time in philosophic contemplation.
C) the ancient Hebrews viewed work as both a drudgery as well as an expression of love for God.
D) the Romans viewed commercial banking as vulgar and demeaning.

Question 20

​Which of the following is a source of alienation for American workers?

A) ​Work that involves learning
B) ​Lack of automation
C) Work that is highly creative​
D) ​Specialization

Question 21

​Automation is the production technique in which the system of production is increasingly controlled by means of self-operating machinery.

Question 22

​Alienation is the sense of meaninglessness and powerlessness that people experience when interacting with social institutions they consider oppressive and beyond their control.

Question 23

​Widespread unemployment sharply cuts government tax revenues that generally lead to reductions in the services provided by the government.

Question 24

​Extrinsic rewards are rewards that come from the nature of the work itself.

Question 25

Which of the following is a primary service provided by employee assistance programs?

A) ​Dating services
B) ​Low-interest loans
C) ​Recreational facilities at work
D) ​Career counseling

Question 26

​Working for a large business or corporation leads to feelings of improved self-esteem even when a person knows that he or she can readily be replaced.

Question 27

​The welfare movement in American business began only during the late 1900s.

Question 28

In the context of on-the-job and work-related hazards, the most common injuries are disorders associated with repeated motion, such as carpal tunnel and tendinitis.

Question 29

​Which of the following is true about occupational health hazards?

A) ​People elect to stay unemployed when given a choice to work in an industry that is a recognized health hazard.
B) ​Rubber workers belong to one of the few groups involved in manufacturing processes that are not exposed to any known carcinogens.
C) ​Occupations that have the highest fatality rates are agriculture, fishing, forestry, mining, transportation, and construction.
D) ​The use of nuclear power for energy purposes is no longer a controversial occupational hazard due to the advances in technology.

Question 30

​A serious problem involving occupational hazards is that some substances take years before their deadly effects appear.

Question 31

​Which of the following types of cancer has now become relatively common among asbestos workers?

A) ​Myeloma
B) Leukemia
C) ​Mesothelioma
D) ​Lymphoma

Question 32

​President Reagan's plan to revive the economy included an increase in federal spending for social welfare programs and for educational programs.

Question 33

​The American society has become highly interdependent because of specialization.

Question 34

German sociologist Max Weber theorized that the ideas of Puritanism provided the value system that led to the Industrial Revolution.

Question 35

With respect to work schedules, the idea behind flextime is to have most workers present during the busiest time of the day but to leave the remaining hours up to the discretion of the workers.

Question 36

Since 1980, the power balance between unions and management has shifted more toward unions in the United States.

Question 37

​The Protestant ethic placed high value on living luxuriously and on self-gratification.

Question 38

Outsourcing deals with the export of manufacturing jobs from the United States to the Third World.

Question 39

The employee assistance program (EAP) movement had its roots in the development of _____ in the 1930s and 1940s.

A) conservative movements
B) ​unionization
C) ​civil rights movements
D) ​alcoholism programs

Question 40

A popular approach in early welfare programs in businesses was _____.

A) ​community service
B) ​behavior modification
C) ​group work
D) ​directive management

Question 41

What are the reasons for the high unemployment rate in the United States?

Question 42

​In the past four decades, industries have increasingly been employing social workers to provide services in a variety of   areas, such as child care, interpersonal problems, family problems, and adequate housing and transportation.

Question 43

Briefly describe the history of work.

Question 44

List some of the changes that can be made to improve job satisfaction.

Question 45

​What are the major sources of the alienation that many people feel with respect to their jobs?

Question 46

​Occupational social work is synonymous with employee assistance programs.

Question 47

​Briefly describe the following services provided by employee assistance programs (EAPs):
(a) Career counseling and education
(b) Credit counseling
(c) Retirement planning

Question 48

​Occupational social work has the potential to become one of the higher-paying areas for social work practice.

Question 49

Summarize the occupational health hazards that exist in our society.

Question 50

​Employee assistance program (EAP) staff members are not allowed to be involved in cases of legal garnishment of employees.

Question 51

List five ways in which social services may be sponsored in business and industry.

Question 52

List the eight significant changes or trends in the nature of work and the composition of the work force in the past few decades in the United States of America. Discuss any two of the changes.

Question 53

The development of employee assistance programs has been a major factor in the emergence of occupational social work.