CH05 - Labor Management
Labor unions
Bottom-up organizations that typically serve the rank-and-file members' interests
In the approach of Blank 1 of 2 Blank 2 of 2, the key to achieving equity and voice is collective bargaining in the workplace, through which unions win wage gains, benefits, grievance procedures, and protective work rules.
Business Unionism
Labor union initiatives to organize workers by building special relationships with them, especially in female-dominated occupations, illustrate the ethical theory of _____.
Care
A local union
Considered the focal point of most rank-and-file members' contact with the unionA national union
Employee empowerment unionism
Deals with developing procedures to give workers authority
Which of the following have placed remarkable pressures on labor relations in the United States and around the globe across diverse industries? (Check all that apply.)
Deregulation Heightened competitive pressures from globalization
The firing of the public sector air traffic controllers by President Ronald Reagan during the (illegal) PATCO strike in 1981
Developed a climate in which it was acceptable for private sector employers to actively protest unions and oppose their legal strikes
Employees of an automobile manufacturer are entitled to voice since they are rational human beings who should not be treated only as a means to some other end. This scenario illustrates the ethical theory of _____.
Duty
Identify a true statement about the servicing model of labor unionism.
Employees are serviced by union officials.
True or false: Reduced globalization is represented by the import share trend, which further reduced between 1960 and 2000.
F
Ethics of care
Failing to develop special relationships and forming relationships based on exploitation, disrespect, or injustice
Employee empowerment unionism
Fair processes
Why are equity and voice considered important elements of the differentiation business strategy?
Fair treatment and protective benefits and individual voice mechanisms can promote loyalty, satisfaction, and productivity among employees.
Ethics of fairness
Giving efficiency more importance than liberty, equal opportunity, and concern for the least well-off Veil of ignorance and difference principle
Ethics of utility
Ineffective or welfare-reducing behavior Cost-benefit analysis
Identify the true statements about financialization. (Check all that apply.)
It involves an increased pursuit of profits via financial transactions. It affects the labor relations environment by forming corporate goals that help build strategies toward employee issues.
Social unionism
It is critical of status quo and seeks equity via community-based justice.
The soul of representation
It is related to the extent of rank-and-file participation.
Identify a true statement about craft unionism, or occupational unionism.
It remains predominant in the construction industry.
The management of Bellox Inc. takes part in the union organizing process because of the rights of private property and free speech. This scenario illustrates the ethical theory of _____.
Liberty
An industrial local
Many workers from a single workplace
Which of the following likely reduces interunion competition?
Merger activity
The Fair Labor Standards Act
Minimum wages and overtime payments
An amalgamated local
Multiple occupations in multiple workplaces in multiple industries
The _____ institutes the processes for creating new unions and for bargaining union contracts in the U.S. private sector.
National Labor Relations Act (NLRA)
The Civil Rights Act
Nondiscrimination
A feature of most national unions is that they are responsible for _____.
Organizing new members
The comparative success of labor unions in Canada versus the United States
Partially because of greater acceptance of collective efforts and absence of acceptability of antiunion management behavior
Ethics of liberty
Pressuring individuals to use themselves or their property against their will Property rights
Arguments for labor unions based on the grounds that they provide equity and voice that respect human dignity, fairness, and the significance of community
Show the ethics of duty, justice, virtue, and care
Arguments against labor unions on the grounds that they intrude on property rights or adversely affect efficiency
Show utilitarian and libertarian ethical beliefs
Substantive analysis
The existence of opposition can keep leadership responsive to its membership even if officer turnover is low.
It describes whether union activity is focused on the workplace or on the broader political and social arenas.
The scope of representation
The cost leadership business strategy is consistent with _____ of management, in which workers are thought to dislike work and must therefore be commanded and supervised through threats of punishment.
Theory X
Cost leadership strategies
They emphasize low price.
Differentiation strategies
They focus on product quality and attributes.
Northern states
They typically have the highest union densities.
Southern and southwestern states
They typically have the lowest union densities.
A workplace scope of representation
Traditional craft unionism
Ethics of duty
Treating others in ways one would not want to be treated and treating people only as means, not also as ends Categorical imperative
The continuing managerial drive for greater flexibility in deploying labor and the continued resistance by workers and unions demonstrate in part _____.
a clash between utilitarian concerns with efficiency and Kantian concerns with the quality of human life
According to the critics of the traditional servicing model, the dismal record along the _____ dimension of democracy is a major obstacle to building a vibrant labor movement, especially because of entrenched union bureaucracies and socially conservative union leaders.
behavioral
The sharp increase in unemployment in the early 1980s accompanied an intense period of Blank 1 of 2 Blank 2 of 2 in which many unions agreed to wage, benefit, and work rule concessions to try to save jobs.
concession bargaining
A characteristic of the adherents to a social unionism philosophy is that they _____.
consider labor unions essential participants in a community's and nation's civic and political activities
It is common to classify business strategies into two general types: _____.
cost leadership strategies and differentiation strategies
Blank 1 of 2 Blank 2 of 2 involves a single union representing only workers in a single occupation or craft, such as separate unions for electricians, carpenters, and painters.
craft unionism
In the context of the sociopolitical environment that influences labor and management, a feature of associations is that they are employee groups that _____.
depend on political lobbying to improve wages and working conditions
Labor unions negotiating compressed wage structures reduce the gap between unskilled and skilled employees. This statement refers to the ethical theory of _____.
fairness
Corporations are increasingly concentrated on economic concerns such as boosting stock prices to satisfy Wall Street expectations and increase the value of executive stock options. This is a trend named _____.
financialization
Seven unions broke away from the American Federation of Labor-Congress of Industrial Organizations (AFL-CIO) to form Change to Win in 2005 because of the disagreements over _____.
how much to direct resources toward organizing instead of political activity
A feature of the differentiation business strategy is that it _____.
is consistent with Theory Y of management that requires managers to motivate employees by instituting conditions of commitment and responsibility
A feature of a labor federation is that _____.
its membership is voluntary
The cost leadership business strategy is likely pursued via a human resources strategy that aims to _____.
minimize the costs of labor
Declining market shares and diminishing labor demand are faced by employers that fail to _____.
provide competitive products and services
A labor federation is an association of labor unions that _____.
provides support and leadership to the labor movement
Since rank-and-file activism can provide the means to increase organizing, social movement unionism in the United States is often advocated as a basis for _____.
reinvigorating the labor movement
A feature of an industrial union is that it _____.
represents workers of all occupations within a line of business
Labor union competition for members is called
rival unionism
The generally positive record on the substantive dimension of union democracy is adequate if one accepts the _____.
servicing model of unionism
Unlike the servicing model of labor unionism, the organizing model considers the relationship between a worker and his or her union a _____.
social exchange with the power to build strong social ties between leaders and members and among members
True or false: Craft and amalgamated local unions are likely to have an elected business agent to manage the contracts that have been negotiated with different employers.
t
According to the servicing model of labor unionism, employees do not _____.
take part in a union
Both craft and industrial unions _____.
try to improve members' working conditions and wages
Seroc Inc.'s management seeks to be union-free based on a cost-benefit analysis. It provides equity and voice only because they increase productivity. This scenario illustrates the ethical theory of _____.
utility
True or false: According to the social unionism philosophy, the pursuit of equity and voice is limited to negotiating favorable contract language governing the rules of the workplace.
F
True or false: Diverse organizing activity among general unions reduces competition among unions.
F
True or false: Employee empowerment unionism primarily focuses on establishing standardized outcomes for employees.
F
True or false: In a participatory labor relations strategy, employee involvement programs, work teams, and other practices are unilaterally imposed by management.
F
True or false: The sociopolitical activism of social movement unionism is frequently rooted in a belief that the employment relationship is characterized by economic conflicts rather than deep sociopolitical class conflicts that can be mediated by workplace-focused institutions.
F
Which of the following is the result of a union acceptance attitude in a paternalistic or strategic organization?
A participatory labor relations strategy in which a union is enrolled as a partner to assist the business to build high-performance work systems
Social movement unionism
A social scope of representation
Employee empowerment unionism
Active organizing model
Autocratic
Adversarial Adversarial
Between 1955 and 2005 there was one major national labor federation in the United States called the _____.
American Federation of Labor-Congress of Industrial Organizations (AFL-CIO)
Job control unionism
Deals with specific employment rights
Paternalistic or strategic
Includes open-door policies and formal employee involvement programs
Which of the following factors undermines union democracy?
Increased trends toward the involvement of employees in workplace decision making
Dionz Inc. plans to use union substitution as a union avoidance strategy. Its management should adopt policies and practices to _____.
keep unions out by making them unneeded
Paternalistic or strategic
Participatory
Servicing model
Workers consume union facilities.
In the context of union strategies, Blank 1 of 2 Blank 2 of 2 focuses on an industry rather than a craft.
Industrial Unionism
_____ represents workers of all occupations within an industry, whereas _____ involves a single union that represents only workers from a single occupation.
Industrial unionism; craft unionism
Business unionism
It accepts capitalist institutions and seeks equity via workplace union protection.
Zsigma Inc. is a paternalistic organization that seeks to implement union substitution as part of its union avoidance strategy. What are the union substitution tactics that can be used by the management of Zsigma Inc.? (Check all that apply.)
It can establish informal grievance procedures. It can provide employees opportunities for training and development.
The soul of representation
It captures the ways in which the representation is delivered or pursued.
The scope of representation
It explains the breadth of the representation activities.
Organizing model
It focuses on the mobilization of workers for empowerment and action.
Identify a true statement about the American Federation of Labor-Congress of Industrial Organizations (AFL-CIO).
It has affiliated state federations and local labor councils that give opportunities for the labor movement to cooperate at the state and local levels.
A weak labor market
It has high levels of unemployment. Employees might be reluctant to create a union for fear of being fired and unable to get a new job.
A tight labor market
It has low levels of unemployment. A frustrated employee might leave the job and get a better job elsewhere, or he or she might use his or her potential to achieve favorable gains from an employer.
Servicing model
It requires workers to pay dues in return for protection via collective bargaining and grievance procedures.
Unions seek to protect their members from volatile managers and markets by negotiating detailed, legalistic union contracts that tie employee rights to narrowly defined jobs while removing labor from business decision making. This is called Blank 1 of 2 Blank 2 of 2 unionism. Listen to the complete question
Job Control
Which of the following statements refer to the cost leadership business strategy? (Check all that apply.)
Labor is operated and considered a commodity or machine. Equity and voice are expressed in market-based terms.
Corporations
Leaders are appointed by those in higher levels in the organizational framework and have official authority over those at lower levels.Corporations
Labor unions
Leaders at all levels of the organizational structure are elected, and members are authorized to vote, express opinions, and the like.
Autocratic
Low cost and high output Suppression
Paternalistic or strategic
Loyal, productive, and empowered workforce Substitution
The Blank 1Blank 1 organizing , Correct Unavailable Blank 2Blank 2 model , Correct Unavailable of labor unionism is an approach that views unions as institutions of active worker participation, empowerment, and mobilization.
Organizing Model
Traditional craft unionism
Passive servicing model
A national union
Possesses the greatest power and authority over unions
Zetar Corp. is an autocratic organization seeking to implement a union avoidance strategy. What are the union suppression tactics that can be used by the organization's management? (Check all that apply.)
Proactively or reactively shifting work from unionized locations Harassing, demoting, or firing union supporters
Identify a central element of job control unionism.
Replacing arbitrary management authority with union-negotiated seniority systems for allotting jobs and deciding pay and benefits
autocratic leadership
Requires the employees to quit if they do not like the approach adopted
Identify a true statement about the events surrounding the formation of the new labor federation called Change to Win in 2005.
Seven unions affiliated to the American Federation of Labor-Congress of Industrial Organizations (AFL-CIO) broke away to form Change to Win.
Identify an example of employee empowerment unionism.
Skill-based wages
Job control unionism
Standardization and equal treatment
According to the business unionism philosophy, what is labor's objective?
To secure a fair share of employers' profits via collective bargaining
Corporations
Top-down organizations created to serve their owners' interests
Procedural analysis
U.S. law requires basic democratic procedures within unions, including free speech and election provisions.
Manufacturing, construction, transportation, and utilities
Union coverage rates are above average.
Service-related industries
Union coverage rates are low.
Behavioral analysis
Unions tend to be more democratically vibrant at the local than the national level.
The Family and Medical Leave Act
Unpaid leave
A craft local
Workers in a single occupation from several workplaces
Organizing model
Workers take part in union and workplace activities.
The Occupational Health and Safety Act
Workplace security
The extent to which an organization's management accepts, perhaps begrudgingly, the existence of a union or a drive to create a union is called _____.
union acceptance
A(n) Blank 1 of 2 Blank 2 of 2 strategy is used by an organization's management to try to remain nonunion, or become nonunion if already unionized.
union avoidance
Sayri Corp. seeks to use the union avoidance strategy of aggressive union suppression in its unionized workplace. It needs to _____.
use surface bargaining