Deck 3: Rational Work Design

Question 1

The idea that organizations can be managed in a similar way to designing a machine is most associated with which perspective of management and organization?

A) Social perspective
B) Individual perspective
C) Rational perspective
D) Alternative perspective

Answer 1

C
Explanation: Rational work design involves applying scientific and engineering principles to work design, as if designing a machine.

Question 2

The exchange of labour in return for a wage is known as the ______ wage-labour relationship.

Answer 2

capitalist
Explanation: The capitalist wage-labour relationship describes the exchange between capitalists who pay a wage to workers, and workers who supply their labour in return for that wage.

Question 3

According to Karl Marx, in the capitalist working relationship workers offer their labour in return for which of the following?

A) Conflict
B) Co-operation
C) Wages
D) Soldiering

Answer 3

C
Explanation: The capitalist working relationship is also known as the capitalist wage-labour relationship.

Question 4

According to Karl Marx, which of the following is inevitable in the capitalist working relationship?

A) Harmony
B) Autonomy
C) Co-operation
D) Conflict

Question 5

Before the factory system, workers tended to be independent manufacturers who had less autonomy over their work.

Question 6

Which of the following are reasons why management might introduce rational work design? Please select all that apply.

A) To increase worker autonomy
B) To increase control over workers
C) To increase the craft skills of the workers
D) To increase the efficiency of workers

Question 7

Match the following ways in which Taylor feared the power of workers to their description.
-People come from different backgrounds and could not be seen as standard units that could be managed in the same way

A) Non-standard and unpredictable labour
B) Craft knowledge
C) Soldiering
D) Rule of thumb

Question 8

Match the following ways in which Taylor feared the power of workers to their description.
-Workers have specialist knowledge which management are unable to challenge

A) Non-standard and unpredictable labour
B) Craft knowledge
C) Soldiering
D) Rule of thumb

Question 9

Match the following ways in which Taylor feared the power of workers to their description.
-Techniques used by workers to create free time for themselves during the working day which means they are not working as efficiently as they could

A) Non-standard and unpredictable labour
B) Craft knowledge
C) Soldiering
D) Rule of thumb

Question 10

Match the following ways in which Taylor feared the power of workers to their description.
-An estimate of time taken for a task which relies on a worker's specialist knowledge

A) Non-standard and unpredictable labour
B) Craft knowledge
C) Soldiering
D) Rule of thumb

Question 11

A central assumption held by Taylor was that organizations and workers within organizations should operate like machines.

Question 12

Which of the following are features of scientific management? Please select all that apply.

A) Division of labour
B) Time and motion study
C) Scientific selection of employees
D) Rule of thumb

Question 13

The design of tools and work environments to best fit the movements of the human body is known as _______________.

Question 14

Which of the following are key differences between the work of the Gilbreths and that of Taylor? Please select all that apply.

A) Reducing unnecessary movements
B) Making work more efficient
C) Minimizing worker fatigue
D) Concern for the mental wellbeing of workers

Question 15

Which of the following best sums up Lillian Gilbreth's approach to work design?

A) Efficiency is the only important consideration when designing work
B) The feelings of workers are unimportant
C) Work should be as straightforward as possible and should not take over the rest of our lives
D) Work is most productive when the right levels of heat and light are in place

Question 16

With scientific management, knowledge of the labour process moves from the workers to management.

Question 17

Which of the following best describes the early reactions to Taylorism?

A) It was welcomed and adopted universally
B) It was treated with caution and hostility by factory owners
C) It was recommended for all US government factories
D) It won Taylor a Nobel Peace Prize

Question 18

Economies of scale introduced by the assembly line allowed for the mass _____ and mass consumption of cars to take place.

Question 19

Which of the following best explains the reason for Henry Ford's reported statement that a customer could have a Model T in any colour 'as long as it's black'?

A) Black was Ford's favourite colour
B) Unions would demand extra wages for producing the car in a variety of colours
C) Black paint was much cheaper than other colours
D) A standard product increases the efficiency of the assembly line

Question 20

Critics of rational work design, such as Charlie Chaplin, suggested that the monotonous, boring nature of assembly line work led to workers becoming like '----- in the machine'_______________.

Question 21

Match the following criticisms of rational work design to their description.
-Work is designed so much like a machine that workers are reduced to being 'cogs in the machine'

A) Dehumanization
B) Alienation
C) Deskilling
D) Collective action

Question 22

Match the following criticisms of rational work design to their description.
-People are estranged from the product they make, from the work process, and from their humanity.

A) Dehumanization
B) Alienation
C) Deskilling
D) Collective action

Question 23

Match the following criticisms of rational work design to their description.
-The specialist knowledge of workers is made obsolete by its division into small, repetitive tasks

A) Dehumanization
B) Alienation
C) Deskilling
D) Collective action

Question 24

Match the following criticisms of rational work design to their description.
-A necessary means of evening up the inequalities in the capitalist working relationship, often witnessed as strikes and conflict

A) Dehumanization
B) Alienation
C) Deskilling
D) Collective action

Question 25

In which of the following circumstances is rational work design most suitable? Please select all that apply.

A) When a standard product is being made
B) In an uncertain and changeable environment
C) In niche product markets where customers demand a range of flexible product options
D) Where a regular and predictable task is being performed

Question 26

Braverman's critique of Taylorism for taking away the craft knowledge of workers is known as the _________ thesis.

Question 27

Which of the following best describes the contemporary development of Fordism which uses technology to maintain efficiency but also bring more flexibility into the manufacturing process?

A) Post-bureaucracy
B) Post-Fordism
C) Pre-Fordism
D) Neo-Fordism

Question 28

Post-Fordist work is characterised by a wide variety of tasks with a low level of discretion.

Question 29

Match the following modes of production with their most appropriate example within the food industry.
-A small independent baker making wedding cakes

A) Pre-Fordism
B) Fordism
C) Post-Fordism
D) Neo-Fordism

Question 30

Match the following modes of production with their most appropriate example within the food industry.
-A frozen pizza factory where products are made on an assembly line

A) Pre-Fordism
B) Fordism
C) Post-Fordism
D) Neo-Fordism

Question 31

Match the following modes of production with their most appropriate example within the food industry.
-A head chef in a restaurant

A) Pre-Fordism
B) Fordism
C) Post-Fordism
D) Neo-Fordism

Question 32

Match the following modes of production with their most appropriate example within the food industry.
-A fast-food restaurant

A) Pre-Fordism
B) Fordism
C) Post-Fordism
D) Neo-Fordism