Deck 8: The Workplace Basic Issues

Question 1

Choose the factual precept concerning wages:

A) an employer's financial capabilities are irrelevant to the question of fair wages
B) a fair wage is whatever an employee is willing to accept
C) extrinsic, non-job-related considerations are often relevant to setting fair wages
D) a fair wage presupposes a fair work contract

Answer 1

D

Question 2

Which of the following is an accurate statement about modifications to common law from the Wagner Act of 1935?

A) It's illegal to fire workers because of union membership.
B) Courts at all levels and in all states now agree that employees cannot be dismissed without just cause.
C) The civil liberties of employees have to be restricted for corporations to run efficiently.
D) More and more companies are moving toward "employment at will".

Answer 2

A

Question 3

The case of Griggs v. Duke Power Company

A) established the Food and Drug Administration.
B) prohibited tests with an unequal effect on minority groups that are not job related.
C) guaranteed employers the right of refusing to bargain with union representatives.
D) guaranteed the right to work and outlawed union shops.

Answer 3

B

Question 4

Austin Fagothey and Milton Gonsalves believe one of the three conditions when a direct strike is justified is

A) even when there is not proper authorization.
B) when workers are coerced into striking.
C) when it is a last resort.
D) under no conditions except for a just cause.

Question 5

Which statement is true about the hiring and employment process?

A) A job description permits employers to rely on the preferences of their customers as a reason for discriminatory employment practices.
B) A job specification describes the qualifications an employee needs, such as skills, educational experience, appearance, and physical attributes.
C) According to common law, unless there is an explicit contractual provision to the contrary, every employment is employment "at will."
D) In validating job specifications, a firm lists all pertinent details about a job, including its duties, responsibilities, working conditions, and physical requirements.

Question 6

Fair personnel policies and decisions must be based on criteria that are clear, job related, and

A) partial toward friends.
B) equally applied.
C) ignore personality.
D) minimize nepotism.

Question 7

According to David Ewing, two factors explain the absence of civil liberties and the prevalence of authoritarianism in the workplace. Which of the following is one of them?

A) discriminatory employment practices due to strict constructionist interpretations of the Constitution
B) the rise of personnel engineering and professional management
C) the common law doctrine of eminent domain
D) employer resistance to unionization

Question 8

Unions employ two kinds of boycotts to enforce their demands. These two kinds of boycotts are

A) positive and negative.
B) corporate and private.
C) active and passive.
D) primary and secondary.

Question 9

According to common-law, to legally terminate an employee, an employer

A) cannot have bad motives.
B) is obligated not to discriminate.
C) must have good cause.
D) can have any reason or no reason.

Question 10

Groups of 18th century skilled artisans formed secret societies for two basic reasons. Which of the following is one of those reasons?

A) to equalize their relationship with their employers
B) to distinguish themselves from carpenters and shoemakers
C) to gain control of the German government
D) to avoid having to set minimal standards for their crafts

Question 11

One of the seven factors given to help minimize the chances of setting unfair wages and salaries is that

A) If wages conform with the law, they are fair wages.
B) A fair wage is whatever an employee is willing to accept.
C) An employer's financial capabilities affect what constitutes a fair wage scale for that employer's employees.
D) Avoiding the prevailing wage in the industry and community wage level.

Question 12

To be successful any test used by a corporation must be:

A) sound
B) valid
C) created outside the corporation using the test
D) one that can be used by any organization for any position

Question 13

The appropriate guideline for testing potential employees is:

A) a test must exhibit a reasonable consistency in results obtained.
B) a test must measure precisely what a test is designed to determine.
C) a test that is both valid and reliable cannot be unfair.
D) Griggs v. Duke Power Company, which prohibits employers from requiring a high school education as a prerequisite for employment or promotion without demonstrable evidence that the associated skills relate directly to job performance.

Question 14

Employers have the right to fire an employee who performs inadequately, but they should do so

A) as painlessly as possible.
B) with vengeance.
C) in a public display so all can learn.
D) in humiliation.

Question 15

The hiring process needs to include screening, testing, and

A) safety awareness.
B) eliminating candidates.
C) interviewing.
D) job descriptions.

Question 16

According to David Ewing,

A) the corporate invasion of employees' civil rights is rampant.
B) sympathetic strikes ought to be made illegal.
C) employers have the right to fill the positions of striking workers with other workers.
D) seniority ought not be a factor in making transfers or promotions.

Question 17

Which of these is a valid reasoning for not hiring a potential employee?

A) overqualified
B) a gap in the unemployment history
C) physical appearance
D) lack of experience

Question 18

Since Congress passed the Americans With Disabilities Act in 1994

A) all disabled persons must be hired.
B) employers must make "reasonable accommodations" for disabled workers.
C) employees must try to "undo" their disabilities.
D) employers must be careful to "screen" out disabled persons.

Question 19

Tests are designed to measure the applicants's skills in verbal, quantitative, and

A) likeability.
B) quickness.
C) logic.
D) social graces.

Question 20

Which of the following is a correct statement about union activities?

A) A sympathetic strike occurs when workers who have no particular grievance of their own and who may or may not have the same employer decide to strike in support of others.
B) A corporate campaign occurs when people refuse to patronize companies that handle products of struck companies.
C) The 1947 Taft-Hartley Act forbids individual states from outlawing union shops.
D) Labor historians generally consider the American Federation of Labor (AFL) the first truly national trade union.

Question 21

Traditionally, the obligations between a business organization and its employees could be boiled down to "A fair wage for an honest day's work."

Question 22

The Wagner Act of 1935 permitted firing workers because of union membership or union activities.

Question 23

When weighing the decisions to terminate employees, companies need to remember that employment affects families and communities, not just individuals.

Question 24

In the interview process, the interview should avoid rudeness, coarseness, condescension, and

A) giddiness.
B) hostility.
C) sternness.
D) questions.

Question 25

A corporate boycott occurs when an organized body of workers withholds its labor to force an employer to comply with its demands.

Question 26

Labor historians generally consider the Knights of Labor (K of L), established in 1869, as the first truly national trade union.

Question 27

Of the four types of discharge firing

A) results from an employee's poor performance-that is, from his or her failure to fulfill expectations.
B) for-cause dismissal-the result of employee theft, gross insubordination, release of proprietary information, and so on.
C) usually refers to the temporary unemployment experienced by hourly employees and implies that they are "subject to recall".
D) designates the permanent elimination of a job as a result of workforce reduction, plant closing, or departmental consolidation.

Question 28

In union terms, a direct strike occurs

A) when an organized body of workers withholds its labor to force the employer to comply with its demands.
B) when union members and their supporters refuse to buy products from a company being struck.
C) when workers who have no particular grievance of their own and who may or may not have the same employer decide to strike in support of others.
D) when people refuse to patronize companies that handle products of struck companies.

Question 29

The key moral ideal in promotions is

A) loyalty.
B) likeability.
C) intelligence.
D) fairness.

Question 30

Inbreeding refers to longevity on a job or with a firm.

Question 31

In a handful of American cities local ordinances prohibit discrimination against those who are short or overweight.

Question 32

Nepotism is the practice of promoting exclusively from within the firm.

Question 33

The express purpose of a boycott is the same as a strike - to hurt the employer and strengthen the union.

Question 34

Conscious and unconscious biases and stereotypes are as the English philosopher Francis Bacon?(1561-1626) called

A) "plagues of interviewing".
B) "idols of the mind".
C) "the best tools".
D) "mind benders".

Question 35

Due process requires specific and systematic means for workers to appeal discharge or disciplinary decisions.

Question 36

A job description describes the qualifications an employee needs, such as skills, educational experience, appearance, and physical attributes.

Question 37

The reliability of a test refers to the quality of exhibiting a reasonable consistency in results obtained.

Question 38

Inbreeding is the practice of showing favoritism to relatives and close friends.

Question 39

According to common law, unless there is an explicit contractual provision to the contrary, every employment is employment at will and either side is free to terminate it at any time without advance notice or reason.

Question 40

Just cause requires that reasons for discipline or discharge related directly to job performance.

Question 41

An individual with great strength is an equal with the employer in the negotiation process.

Question 42

The express purpose of any boycott is the same as that of a strike - to hurt?the employer or company financially and thus strengthen the union's bargaining?position.

Question 43

Explain these concepts: seniority, inbreeding, and nepotism.

Question 44

One of the chief concerns of nepotism is the disregard of managerial responsibilities to the organization and of fairness to other employees.

Question 45

If employees who don't join the union get the same benefits as union members, this raises a question of fairness.

Question 46

What is the difference between a "job description" and a "job specification"?

Question 47

Job performance and the fairness of the work contract are relevant to the issue of fair wages.

Question 48

What is the importance of the Taft-Hartley Act?

Question 49

Sympathetic strikes have very little power.

Question 50

What is the importance of the Wagner Act of 1935?

Question 51

From the beginning, unions have been driven by an attempt to protect workers from abuses of power at the hands of employers.

Question 52

Groups of skilled artisans in the eighteenth century formed secret societies for two basic reasons. What are these two reasons?

Question 53

When most people fire another employee, they do it with great joy.

Question 54

Sometimes the screening process unfairly excludes certain applicants. Give some examples.

Question 55

A primary boycott occurs when people refuse to patronize companies that handle products of struck companies.

Question 56

What's the difference between a direct strike and a sympathetic strike?

Question 57

How did the passage of the National Labor Relations Act in 1935 advance the cause of unionism?

Question 58

What does "just cause" require in situations of employee discipline or discharge? What does "due process" require?

Question 59

According to David Ewing, two historical factors lie behind the absence of civil liberties and the prevalence of authoritarianism in the workplace. What are these two factors?

Question 60

A workplace environment in which employees are treated fairly and their inherent dignity respected is compatible with a firm's business goals.

Question 61

Explain the differences between the principles of "just cause" and "due process."

Question 62

Summarize and explain the concept of the "living wage."

Question 63

Explain in your own words the plight and condition that unions find themselves in today.

Question 64

What are the key principles of effective interviewing?

Question 65

Summarize in your own words the seven factors given to set the wages.