Deck 13: Union-Management Cooperation

Question 1

According to a study by the FMCS,contracts negotiated using IBB were less likely to have increased work rule flexibility.

Answer 1

False

Question 2

Employees are risk-averse because they have an inherent dislike of risk.

Answer 2

False

Question 3

A contract is normally based on the assumption that current conditions will change during the length of the agreement.

Answer 3

False

Question 4

Deunionizing activity in existing plants has a positive effect on performance.

Question 5

The relations by objectives technique brings union and management members together outside a negotiating setting to mutually plan actions to reduce future conflict.

Question 6

Multiskilling improves an individual's job security.

Question 7

The bargaining issues that emerge in bucket bargaining are screened into two "buckets"-conciliation and gainsharing.

Question 8

Capital is far more mobile than labor.

Question 9

Perceived effectiveness of the grievance procedure is a stronger predictor of attitudes toward the union than of participation in employee involvement (EI)programs.

Question 10

The adoption of gainsharing plans is followed by decreased profits and is,therefore,not beneficial to employers.

Question 11

Performance of firms is improved by closing existing unionized facilities and opening or acquiring new nonunion plants.

Question 12

Unionization,in itself,introduces a degree of control rights because the employer can no longer unilaterally decide wages,hours,and terms and conditions of employment.

Question 13

Since the early 1980s,cooperative initiatives outside contracts and integrative bargains within contracts have increased.

Question 14

The catalyst for union-management cooperation is often the financial exigency of the employer and the specter of potentially large job losses.

Question 15

Integrative bargaining is inappropriate for long-term problems.

Question 16

According to a study by the FMCS,union negotiators' preference for using interest-based bargaining (IBB)was associated with having high negotiating experience.

Question 17

Areawide labor-management committees (AWLMCs)do not engage in collective bargaining,but advise their members on how to deal with jointly experienced employment issues.

Question 18

Joint labor-management committees have most often been used to deal with specific problems rather than to address the entire scope of the bargaining relationship.

Question 19

Integrative bargaining emphasizes on the accomplishment of conflicting objectives by the stronger party within a union-management relationship.

Question 20

Cooperation in strategic decision making is negatively related to foreign competition and positively related to domestic competition.

Question 21

Companies that implemented high-performance work organizations (HPWOs)during the early 1990s had lower layoff rates.

Question 22

There is consistent evidence to indicate that cooperation universally improves firm performance.

Question 23

Which of the following is true about integrative bargaining?

A) It precludes the possibility of both parties sacrificing simultaneously.
B) The gain of one party translates into an equal loss for the other party.
C) Both parties may experience an absolute gain over their previous positions.
D) It is inappropriate for long-term problems.

Question 24

Section 8(a)(2)of the Taft-Hartley Act forbids employers to create and operate employer-dominated labor organizations.

Question 25

Employee involvement (EI)programs influence firm performance more in unionized firms,while profit-sharing and gainsharing programs are better in nonunion firms in raising value added per employee.

Question 26

Workplace restructuring has decreased the intensity of work and increased the number of employees in production jobs.

Question 27

Which of the following refers to a set of activities leading to the simultaneous accomplishment of nonconflicting objectives that solves a common problem for both union and management?

A) Restructuring
B) Voluntary redundancy
C) Distributive bargaining
D) Integrative bargaining

Question 28

For management bargainers,use of IBB was associated with:

A) pressure around new technology.
B) being in manufacturing industries.
C) high negotiating experience.
D) being in service industries.

Question 29

The bargaining issues that emerge in bucket bargaining are screened into five "buckets"-update,repair,redesign,discussion,and _____.

A) social
B) economic
C) organizational
D) cultural

Question 30

______ rights involve the degree to which labor participates in organizational decision making.

A) Claim
B) Control
C) Return
D) Participation

Question 31

A climate in which both the employer and the union would be continually concerned with problem solving and mutual improvement in their situations would call for a _____.

A) quasi-contract
B) living agreement
C) fixed contract
D) voidable agreement

Question 32

In the bucket bargaining model,bargaining begins with the _____ bucket.

A) redesign
B) discussion
C) update
D) repair

Question 33

Which of the following increased employer power?

A) The Norris-La Guardia Act
B) The Landrum-Griffin Act
C) The Wagner Act
D) The Railway Labor Act

Question 34

The effect of participation in gaining rights can flow along two dimensions: _____ and return rights.

A) control
B) payment
C) natural
D) share

Question 35

Which of the following is true about technology-based group solutions (TAGS)?

A) The time necessary for negotiation impairs the ability to reach a consensus.
B) Secret voting is not allowed.
C) There is no permanent record of the comments.
D) The bargainers are provided with a network of laptop computers.

Question 36

Why are employees generally risk-averse?

A) Because they have an inherent dislike of risk
B) Because they are looking for the highest rate of return
C) Because their skills are often occupationally specific
D) Because their human capital is diversifiable

Question 37

Increasing internal or external pressures felt by both parties in the context of integrative bargaining should lead to the consideration of which of the following?

A) New joint ventures
B) Dissolution of unions
C) Aggressive restructuring
D) Closure of the business unit

Question 38

In which of the following situations would the unions be MORE likely to use interest-based bargaining (IBB)?

A) If they had a highly experienced negotiator
B) If they were in a service industry
C) If they were dealing with a unified management team with no internal disagreements
D) If they had multiple negotiators

Question 39

______ rights begin with wage payments and progress through incentive plans,profit-sharing and gainsharing programs,and ultimately to employee stock ownership of the enterprise.

A) Share
B) Control
C) Return
D) Participation

Question 40

Which of the following is true about a relations by objectives program?

A) It is designed to train negotiators to adopt a conciliatory approach to serve the interest of the management.
B) It assumes that obtaining increased information will enable management to better specify bargaining issues.
C) It refutes the efficacy of mutually planned actions to reduce future conflicts.
D) It is designed to increase the skills of union and management negotiators in communicating,mutual goal setting,and goal attainment.

Question 41

_____ expand the governance of the organization beyond what is included in union-management cooperation.

A) Labor-management partnerships
B) Areawide labor-management committees
C) Joint labor-management committees
D) Employee involvement programs

Question 42

Which of the following is associated with reduced productivity gains?

A) Top union leader participation
B) Technology changes
C) Larger proportion of women in the workforce
D) Subcontracting

Question 43

Which of the following observations concerning AWLMCs is true?

A) They engage in collective bargaining.
B) They are most often a response to significant regional employment problems.
C) They form multiemployer bargaining units.
D) They form multiunion bargaining units.

Question 44

The primary assumption behind the creation of AWLMCs is that:

A) political changes do not necessarily lead to the changing roles of managers and union officials.
B) conflict within the management team is the principal reason behind the closure of otherwise profitable enterprises.
C) labor and management representatives may pressure each other to identify sources of problems and use cooperative methods to reduce conflict.
D) labor and management representatives cannot reach a consensus without the imposition of institutional regulations.

Question 45

Areawide labor-management committees (AWLMCs)are jointly sponsored by:

A) unions and employers in a local area.
B) national unions and local unions.
C) public and private sector business entities.
D) unions and state governments.

Question 46

The organizational restructuring that began in the 1980s has been increasingly _____.

A) hierarchy-oriented
B) team-oriented
C) employer-oriented
D) individual-oriented

Question 47

EI programs are associated with the reduction of which of the following?

A) Attendance
B) Job satisfaction
C) Quits
D) Profitability

Question 48

Given management's long-standing antipathy toward unions,it is reasonable to expect collaboration only where:

A) regulation forces it.
B) profit motive is absent.
C) unions take a militant stance.
D) improved performance is expected.

Question 49

Which of the following is true about gainsharing plans?

A) The adoption of gainsharing plans is often followed by the suspension of productivity-related bonuses for employees.
B) Gainsharing plans tie periodic bonuses to labor productivity improvements.
C) The adoption of gainsharing plans is associated with greater ability and inclination of a firm to design frequent restructuring programs.
D) The employer is the actual and sole beneficiary of gainsharing plans.

Question 50

Employee involvement (EI)programs have three components: improving climate,generating commitment,and _____.

A) diversifying skills
B) complying with management directives
C) generating profit
D) implementing change

Question 51

Which of the following is true about joint labor-management committees (JLMCs)?

A) They are most often implemented in industries with many employers and a dominant union with locals in many employers and locations.
B) They have most often been used to address the entire scope of the bargaining relationship.
C) They have been largely unsuccessful with research on occupational safety and health issues.
D) They are highly sustainable and resilient to adversarial contract negotiations.

Question 52

An organization that values employees who can assume new responsibilities quickly,enabling it thereby to readily accommodate changes in the demand for products,is most likely to consider which of the following traits the MOST advantageous?

A) Enhanced negotiation skills
B) Adaptability
C) Nonunionized status
D) Broader skill sets

Question 53

According to a study,_____ programs produced better results than programs run only by management,which were not better than having no programs.

A) collaborative
B) cooperative
C) adversarial
D) not-for-profit

Question 54

Which of the following has a negative effect on performance?

A) Extensive collaboration between management and labor.
B) Implementing product differentiation.
C) Acquiring new nonunion plants.
D) Deunionizing activity in any existing plant.

Question 55

In the context of union political processes and the diffusion of change,unions are likely to adopt which of the following reactions to innovative workplace initiatives?

A) Cooperate or collaborate
B) "Say yes"
C) Let the union lead and see what results
D) Reject political protection as partisan

Question 56

Factors that would lead to the formation of an LMP would include which of the following?

A) Monopoly markets
B) Changes in the market that decrease competition
C) Interdependence of the employer and union
D) Employer's refusal to recognize the labor union

Question 57

Which of the following is an example of a nongainsharing plan?

A) Scanlon plan
B) Rucker plan
C) Quality of work life
D) Impro-Share

Question 58

The survival of gainsharing plans is related to _____.

A) use of technology
B) capital inflow
C) bonus performance
D) value of import

Question 59

Contracts negotiated using IBB were MORE likely to have which of the following?

A) Decreased work rule flexibility
B) Old pay arrangements
C) Joint committees
D) Individual-based work systems

Question 60

Cost-reduction strategies are associated with conflict and _____.

A) the incidence of absenteeism
B) the use of formal grievance procedures
C) collective bargaining
D) informal solution of problems

Question 61

Which of the following can be associated with the Employee Retirement Income Security Act (ERISA)of 1974?

A) ESOPs
B) Capital gains tax
C) Hedge funds
D) DRIP

Question 62

How do gainsharing plans benefit both employers and employees?

Question 63

Which of the following is true about union-management cooperation?

A) There is consistent evidence to indicate that union-management cooperation universally improves firm performance.
B) Union-management cooperation is negatively related to organizational commitment.
C) At the most basic level,both the union and management have similar interests.
D) There are managers and faction leaders within unions who believe that cooperation is antithetical to labor-management relations.

Question 64

How do employees receive stock under employee stock ownership plans (ESOPs)?

Question 65

As the workplace restructuring of the 1990s demonstrated,wage gains for core employees were associated with sales gains and were negatively related to _____.

A) skill levels
B) employee age
C) proportion of blue-collar workers
D) exports

Question 66

Managers perceive greater support from employees who are covered by profit-sharing and participation plans.Employee input on issues and authority to implement suggestions are related to managerial perceptions that employees _____.

A) are risk-averse
B) support change
C) resist workplace interventions
D) support informal grievance handling

Question 67

What are the five "buckets" in a bucket bargaining model?

Question 68

What is integrative bargaining? What solutions does it seek?

Question 69

During the workplace restructuring of the 1990s,layoffs were positively related to _____.

A) sales gains
B) exports
C) proportion of blue-collar workers
D) proportion of female workers

Question 70

Discuss the impact of workplace restructuring in the past 35 years.

Question 71

Employee stock ownership plans (ESOPs)were first permitted by the _____ of 1974.

A) Employee Retirement Income Security Act
B) Taft-Hartley Act
C) Employee Stock Ownership Act
D) Norris La-Guardia Act

Question 72

Differentiate between control and return rights.

Question 73

What are areawide labor-management committees (AWLMCs)? List their major activities.What is the primary assumption behind the creation of AWLMCs?

Question 74

List some benefits of employee involvement (EI)programs.

Question 75

Unions adopt one of five reactions to innovative workplace initiatives.What are they?

Question 76

Workplace restructuring has increased _____.

A) the intensity of work
B) the number of employees in production jobs
C) sales gain
D) exports

Question 77

Which of the following is true about companies that implemented high-performance work organizations (HPWOs)during the early 1990s?

A) HPWO practices lowered layoff rates.
B) There was an overall increase in pay.
C) HPWO practices increased job security.
D) There was no net compensation gain for employees.

Question 78

Layoffs create problems for teams because:

A) layoffs reduce the team's confidence in the bargaining powers of labor unions.
B) workers use competitive seniority rights to bump in and out.
C) layoffs lead to an uneven distribution of pay.
D) workers being risk-averse,demonstrate reluctance toward working in teams.

Question 79

Explain the features of a relations by objectives program.

Question 80

Which of the following observations concerning employee stock ownership plans (ESOPs)is true?

A) Workers automatically favor ESOPs for retirement planning.
B) Employees,in general,have always experienced an incremental rise in their shares' value.
C) ESOPs will not,in themselves,improve productivity.
D) ESOPs were first permitted by the Taft-Hartley Act.