Deck 7: Union Avoidance: Rationale,Strategies,and Practices

Question 1

For employers,the introduction of monopoly power leads to increased profitability.

Answer 1

False

Question 2

In unionized organizations,employees are able to exercise their voice on immediate issues through grievance procedures and on long-term issues through participation in negotiation committees.

Answer 2

True

Question 3

U.S.employers invest less in and are less likely to locate operations in developed economies that resist unionization more strongly than do firms that are headquartered in Europe or Japan.

Answer 3

True

Question 4

Shareholder returns are increased following unionization.

Question 5

Large nonunion organizations generally try to lead the market in their pay levels.

Question 6

Industries with a large proportion of white-collar workers,such as finance,are more likely to be unionized.

Question 7

To gain flexibility in the design of work and employee assignments,and to reduce wage levels,employers embarked on a variety of union-free strategies.

Question 8

Labor is a larger share of total costs in the service sector,so the effects of a given wage increase following unionization would have greater impact.

Question 9

Employees are entitled to a role in determining how the social system in which they are involved should be operated.

Question 10

Evidence suggests that productivity differences between union and nonunion employers are greatest in retail,where unionized workers have higher skills than nonunion workers.

Question 11

A union-free organization is one that is entirely unorganized in its U.S.operations.

Question 12

Employees in nonunion companies have their employment rights determined by their employers.

Question 13

Lower returns in unionized firms are accompanied by lower risk in that security prices are less volatile.

Question 14

Unionized employers generally have higher turnover rates and lower rates of internal promotion and transfer than nonunion employers.

Question 15

Capitalists use their resources to create mechanisms that will enable them to develop and sell goods and services in the marketplace at prices great enough to yield a higher return than that from other alternative investments.

Question 16

Philosophy-laden firms have generally taken a career-oriented approach toward employment.

Question 17

Capitalists do not assume the risk that they will not be able to realize a positive yield from their investments and ideas.

Question 18

Employers in rapidly growing industries such as information technology,discount retailing,and personal services have always been unionized to a large extent.

Question 19

Unionized firms are more profitable than nonunion firms and more profitable subsequent to unionization.

Question 20

The ability of an employee to retain a position depended to a large extent on whether he/she pleased the supervisor.This approach has been labeled the "sycophancy system."

Question 21

Employers in established industries like autos and steel were heavily _____ and faced substantial economic problems.

A) taxed
B) unionized
C) overemployed
D) automated

Question 22

_____ changes the policies and practices employers can use to promote,transfer,and lay off employees.

A) Annual increments
B) Unionization
C) Decertification
D) Privatization

Question 23

Nonunion employers that operate in competitive environments are uninterested in managing conflicts in their organizations.

Question 24

Trade unionists believe that _____ is ultimately created by the workers who produce the products or deliver the services to the consumer.

A) wellbeing
B) capitalism
C) communism
D) wealth

Question 25

Unions believe that _____ should have a role in determining the rules that will be used to decide how gains will be distributed and how the workplace will be governed.

A) employees
B) stewards
C) federal agencies
D) local governments

Question 26

_____ resistance was greatest and most successful where workers were essentially unskilled,where employers controlled entry to occupations,and where they were the dominant employer in a given location.

A) Union
B) Employee
C) Empowerment
D) Employer

Question 27

Campaign tactics depend to an extent on the size and sophistication of the employer.

Question 28

The _____,in particular,mobilized community leaders and police against organizing and strikes.

A) American Plan
B) Mohawk Valley formula
C) Change to Win
D) Empower America Action Plan

Question 29

From the late 1940s through the middle to late 1970s,laws and regulations favored _____ as the method for dealing with industrial disputes.

A) doctrinaire absolutism
B) collective bargaining
C) union avoidance
D) the American Plan

Question 30

Procedural justice systems refer to grievance methods used to decide relative shares of an outcome.

Question 31

A study tracking organizing success after passage of the _____ found organized firms had about a 20 percent lower rate of return to shareholders than firms remaining nonunion.

A) McCarran-Ferguson Act
B) Wagner Act
C) Railway Labor Act
D) Taft-Hartley Act

Question 32

While employers would like complete freedom to hire,fire,and assign workers to jobs,_____ see employees as becoming increasingly invested in their jobs with their employers.

A) business agents
B) unions
C) capitalists
D) field representatives

Question 33

All else being equal,shareholder value declines since higher wages reduce profits,leading to:

A) increased union activity.
B) higher unemployment.
C) lower share prices.
D) higher dividends.

Question 34

Job property rights are established over time and employers should be constrained in the types of decisions they can make about employees as employees accrue _____ and _____.

A) higher wages;recognition
B) specialized skills;unionizing tendencies
C) seniority;firm-specific skills
D) greater power;mentorship

Question 35

Where unionization seemed unavoidable,employers worked with sympathetic employees to help establish so-called _____ that would not be affiliated with a larger international and would be less militant and more familiar and sympathetic with the employer's situation.

A) mobilization units
B) doctrinaire unions
C) open-door unions
D) company unions

Question 36

Which of the following is an example of employers implementing their versions of community plans in the 1920s and 1930s?

A) Mohawk Valley formula
B) Change to Win
C) Empower America Action Plan
D) Revere Freedom

Question 37

Where nonunion grievance procedures exist,rates are lower when peer review and/or nonunion arbitration is used for deciding cases.

Question 38

While _____ have been found following unionization for represented employees,this may not carry over to nonunion employees who also received increased pay.

A) attendance decreases
B) productivity increases
C) share price increases
D) a decrease in golden handcuffs

Question 39

_____ may occur as a result of employers extending negotiated wage and benefit increases to non-represented employees in order to avoid further unionization.

A) Decreased profitability
B) Mergers and acquisitions
C) Increased employment
D) Increased unionization

Question 40

The National Labor Relations Act forbids the establishment of or dominance of a union by an employer.

Question 41

One problem with smaller plants is that may not be optimally productive given the appropriate:

A) capital-labor mix.
B) temporary employees' availability.
C) labor-management mix.
D) capital-software mix.

Question 42

_____ in unionized situations might be related to the fact that union employees have an opportunity to voice their needs for change through the grievance processes.

A) Higher absenteeism
B) Lower turnover
C) Higher productivity
D) Higher quality

Question 43

Which of the following sector's secular relative growth rate could be a primary contributor to the increased resistance of employers in general to union organizing?

A) Agricultural
B) Service
C) Manufacturing
D) Medical

Question 44

In the reciprocal employment relationship,employees may come to feel that a(n)_____ exists between them and their employer.

A) implied contract
B) increased productivity output expectation
C) undercurrent of threat
D) heightened sense of goodwill

Question 45

If unionization leads to lower shareholder returns,other things being equal,top managers could be expected to try to _____ in their firms,particularly if a substantial proportion of their compensation is in the form of stock options.

A) increase worker motivation
B) decrease high absenteeism
C) reduce unionization
D) introduce stock split option

Question 46

After unionization,employers reduce their historical levels of investment in:

A) newly unionized facilities.
B) new technologies.
C) hiring and retention of employees.
D) employee benefits.

Question 47

Nonunion employers have higher _____ expenditures.

A) labor
B) technology
C) training
D) human resource

Question 48

What is a key reason employers may locate in lightly unionized areas?

A) Employees may not be motivated to organize for economic reasons.
B) There is less likelihood that they will be opposed by the student community.
C) It is the only way to keep wages under the legal minimum.
D) These areas have lower cost of living expenses associated with them.

Question 49

If a(n)_____ considers employee preferences as it is expected to do,then benefit levels in nonunion employers should closely lead those in unionized employers because they might be expected to react quickly to changing needs associated with changing age and gender mixes in their workforces.

A) unionized organization
B) philosophy-laden company
C) doctrinaire organization
D) global entity

Question 50

Large nonunion firms generally have formalized _____,with clearly communicated and unambiguous promotion criteria emphasizing seniority,skills,as well as development opportunities.

A) career-growth patterns
B) pay-increase scales
C) job-posting systems
D) grievance-addressing systems

Question 51

Which of the following issues is LEAST salient for successful organizing?

A) Economics
B) Justice
C) Fairness
D) Dignity

Question 52

Nonunion organizations may implement _____,using performance measures to differentiate pay increases.

A) stock options
B) wage cuts
C) work-life balance initiatives
D) merit pay policies

Question 53

In unionized organizations,union representation and the negotiated contract take the place of many _____ devised by nonunion employers.

A) human resource programs
B) legal notifications
C) employee-oriented financial plans
D) grievance committees

Question 54

A(n)_____ explicitly desires to operate without unions and implements human resource policies it believes will lead employees to resist them.

A) unionized organization
B) philosophy-laden company
C) doctrinaire organization
D) global entity

Question 55

More recently,companies are likely to have implemented _____ pay programs to support new organizational structures stressing team designs.

A) experience-based
B) skill-based
C) group achievements-based
D) profit-sharing

Question 56

Courts have increasingly narrowed nonunion employers' rights to _____,particularly where employers are judged to have acted in bad faith.

A) increase employee wages
B) address problems through their human resource department
C) hire at will
D) terminate at will

Question 57

A philosophy-laden company has no unions,but the lack of success in organizing is because of the organization's:

A) higher than industry norms' wages.
B) location convenience.
C) work-life balance initiatives.
D) employee relations climate.

Question 58

When an employer believes that employees may be less willing to join unions,he will locate the organization in areas with _____.

A) many unions
B) moderate population
C) less unions
D) high unemployment

Question 59

Relatively speaking,in _____ industries,unionized worker quality is lower than that of their nonunion counterparts.

A) manufacturing
B) medical
C) agricultural
D) service

Question 60

Newly incorporated,_____ industries have had a relatively low level of unionization,even when they have been located in traditionally highly unionized areas.

A) small-scale
B) agricultural
C) service-oriented
D) technically-oriented

Question 61

In unionized organizations,employees are able to exercise their voice on immediate issues through grievance procedures and long-run matters through participation in:

A) the hiring processes.
B) negotiation committees.
C) management activities.
D) employee referral schemes.

Question 62

Explain decertifications,their implications,and their influence.

Question 63

Explain how shareholder value decreases following unionization.

Question 64

At the time that an election is held,the _____ defines what jobs and what employees are within the bargaining unit.

A) National Labor Relations Board
B) Change to Win
C) Stewards Flagship Unit
D) National Mediation Board

Question 65

High involvement work systems typically _____.

A) add layers to the organization's work structures
B) employ team-based job designs
C) adopt formal methods of conflict resolution
D) are more likely to include due process systems

Question 66

How are human resource expenditures higher for nonunionized employers?

Question 67

Campaign tactics depend to an extent on the size and _____ of the employer.

A) profitability
B) sophistication
C) publicity
D) organizational history

Question 68

Provide a brief write-up about capitalists on their thoughts and way of work.

Question 69

Some nonunion organizations,particularly those with _____,have constructed elaborate systems enabling employees to voice complaints and get action on them.

A) contractual entitlements
B) negotiation committees
C) doctrinaire philosophies
D) philosophy-laden backgrounds

Question 70

Explain how a doctrinaire organization functions.

Question 71

_____ occurs more often in small units that lack local leadership,have low member involvement in union activities,and a higher frequency of strikes.

A) Union affiliation
B) An unfair labor practice
C) An organizing campaign
D) Decertification

Question 72

Nonunion procedures in the public sector are relatively similar to:

A) open-door policies.
B) doctrinaire philosophies.
C) model systems.
D) union grievance procedures.

Question 73

The _____ has no provisions regulating the formation or permissible issues of non-union representation groups.

A) Railway Labor Act
B) Wagner Act
C) National Labor Relations Act
D) Joint Industrial Council

Question 74

Correlate the industrial structure with the possibility of formation and avoidance of union activity.

Question 75

Explain the model system of employee "voice" systems,and describe the reality of access that these systems provide.

Question 76

The _____ approach includes about a dozen employees from various levels who are picked at random to meet with the division's president at a monthly meeting.

A) open-door
B) judicial empowerment
C) deep-sensing
D) vertical staff meetings

Question 77

Explain the employer's versions of "community action" plans that were implemented during the 1920s and 1930s and the implications thereof.

Question 78

Elaborate on the unfair management campaign tactics in representation elections and explain their implications.

Question 79

What factors have contributed to nonunion employee representation at Delta Air Lines,especially after its merger with Northwest Airlines?

Question 80

_____ introduce justice systems to the workplace.

A) Open-door policies
B) Grievance procedures
C) Model systems
D) Wage and price negotiations