Chapter 7—Employee Relations
MULTIPLE CHOICE
1. What is the psychological contract between an employee and his or her employer?
a.
Terms of employment including the salary and benefits associated with an employee’s
position
b.
Employee’s perception about how the company should treat him or her as an employee
c.
Beliefs, perceptions, expectations, and obligations that comprise an agreement between
individuals and their organizations
d.
Formal contract between individuals and their employer that details the beliefs and
obligations of both parties
e.
Contract an employee signs to verify that he or she is of sound mind to serve in the
capacity outlined by his or her job title
2. Until the early 1900s, how could the relationship between employer and employee best be
characterized?
a.
Teamwork
b.
Master-servant
c.
Father-son
d.
Mother-daughter
e.
Supportive
3. In which decade was much of the employment law in the United States enacted?
a.
1890s
b.
1930s
c.
1850s
d.
1970s
e.
1990s
4. By the 1980s, what type of analogy was being used to describe the workplace?
a.
Master-servant
b.
Athletic team
c.
Social club
d.
Prison
e.
Family
5. What experiences effectively ended the loyalty and commitment-based contract that employees
had developed with employers?
a.
Employers took steps to cut costs through workforce reduction as the demands for global
competitiveness increased.
b.
Employers began to say that employees were not that valuable to the company’s success.
c.
Employees’ desire for job security changed, and they no longer had a psychological need
for security.
d.
Employers began to offer work-life balance perks to lure talented workers away from their
current employers, and loyalty suffered.
e.
Employers felt that employees were not living up to the conditions of their psychological
contracts.
6. Which of the following terms is not commonly used to describe the elimination of employment
positions?
a.
Workforce reduction
b.
Rightsizing
c.
Downsizing
d.
Erosion
e.
Layoffs
7. Which of the following is an example of external factors affecting the perception of a firm’s decision
to downsize?
a.
The downsizing corporation does not offer any kind of career or employment assistance to
the employees that are being laid off.
b.
A company begins assisting its employees who will be affected by the workforce
reduction as soon as it is aware of potential reductions.
c.
Other companies in the area quickly hire the employees laid off from the downsizing
company.
d.
The company considers how it will function after the workforce reduction has taken place.
e.
External factors do not play a role in the perception of a company’s downsizing decision;
only internal factors are important.
8. Which of the following is not likely to be an effect of workforce reduction?
a.
Employee compensation usually increases when fewer employees are working for a
company.
b.
Job satisfaction and loyalty often decrease after a company experiences a workforce
reduction.
c.
Former employees may begin receiving unemployment benefits.
d.
Remaining employees begin to take on more responsibilities and workload.
e.
Remaining employees are anxious about job security after they survive a round of layoffs.
9. What concept governed employment up until the early 1900s?
a.
Master-servant
b.
Employment at will
c.
Vesting
d.
FLSA
e.
Labor unions
10. Which of the following types of employees must be paid for overtime work under governmental labor
standards and pay provisions?
a.
Administrators
b.
Outside sales people
c.
Secretaries
d.
Executives
e.
Professionals
11. What did the Employee Retirement Income Security Act (ERISA) of 1974 do?
a.
It set uniform minimum standards to assure that employee benefit plans are established
and maintained in a fair and financially sound manner.
b.
It mandated that companies create a financially sound employee pension plan for full– and
part-time employees.
c.
It developed standards for the minimum wages a company could pay its employees in
order to fulfill Social Security retirement obligations.
d.
It detailed what benefits a company must offer its employees.
e.
It implemented a plan for job-sharing and flextime arrangements with employees who are
paid on an hourly basis.
12. What does the Family and Medical Leave Act of 1993 (FMLA) require of certain employers?
a.
Provide 12 weeks of paid leave to an employee with a special family or medical
circumstance.
b.
Allow employees up to a year of unpaid leave to attend to a family medical emergency
without the loss of their jobs.
c.
Provide all employees with 10 weeks of job-protected leave for certain family and medical
emergencies.
d.
Provide up to 12 weeks of unpaid, job-protected leave to eligible employees for certain
family and medical reasons.
e.
Provide 12 weeks of leave at 50 percent of the employee’s normal salary for a family or
medical reason.
13. What is the main purpose of the Occupational Safety and Health Administration?
a.
To conduct surprise inspections of businesses to see what laws they are violating
b.
To oversee the regulations intended to ensure safe and healthy working conditions for all
employees.
c.
To help employees seek restitution if they have suffered as a result of poor working
conditions
d.
To threaten all companies with the possibility of fines and other punishment if any
employees are injured or killed
e.
To improve the overall quality of the workforce in the United States and to increase global
competitiveness
14. The design, arrangement, and use of equipment to maximize productivity and minimize fatigue and
physical discomfort are known as
a.
comfort engineering.
b.
chiropractics.
c.
preventative health.
d.
massagonics.
e.
ergonomics.
15. Which of the following categories of employment discrimination is not covered by Title VII of the
Civil Rights Act of 1964?
a.
National origin
b.
Gender
c.
Religion
d.
Disabilities
e.
Race
16. Which of the following situations may constitute quid pro quo sexual harassment?
a.
Many male employees of a company make repeated remarks about how men are more
intelligent than women, which makes the environment difficult for female employees.
b.
A male coworker makes unwelcomed sexual advances toward a female coworker, which
causes her to feel that her job is threatened.
c.
A female employee asks one of her subordinates out to dinner over and over again even
though he always tells her no, and he is beginning to feel uncomfortable around her.
d.
A male manager suggests to one of his female employees that she will receive a raise if
she wears shorter skirts and works “overtime” once a week.
e.
A male employee often disseminates e-mails of a sexual nature to his coworkers that
creates an awkward atmosphere for a couple of his female coworkers.
17. What is an employee who reports individual or corporate wrongdoing to either internal or external
sources known as?
a.
Tattletale
b.
Ethics officer
c.
Whistle-blower
d.
Retaliator
e.
Hostile worker
18. Initiatives in workplace diversity focus on
a.
meeting the legal guidelines of equal opportunity.
b.
developing a workforce that is 50 percent men and 50 percent women.
c.
understanding the ways in which people from different generations communicate and
make decisions.
d.
reducing lawsuits related to affirmative action.
e.
recruiting and retaining a diverse workforce as a business imperative.
19. In the ACORN model for handling generational diversity in the workplace, the “N” stands for
a.
not limiting employees’ right to speak out.
b.
noticing the problems when generations talk to one another.
c.
never forgetting that all employees are valuable.
d.
nourishing retention to keep the best employees.
e.
notifying people early of workplace reduction plans.
20. Which of the following is least likely to be an example of a work/life program arrangement?
a.
Satellite offices of a large company are opened in various locations around large cities to
reduce the stress associated with long commutes employees must make to get to the
downtown office.
b.
A mother needs to work approximately the same hours as school is in session so that she is
able to take her children to school and pick them up from their after-school activities.
c.
An employee is allowed to take the one-week of vacation time he has earned.
d.
An employee is allowed to work from home three days a week during the hours that are
most convenient for the employee.
e.
An employee is allowed to come into work early and leave early two days a week in order
to attend his son’s basketball games and daughter’s soccer games.
21. How does the level of job-related stress and fatigue in the United States generally compare to
that in Japan?
a.
The United States experiences a much higher level of stress-related symptoms from work
than does Japan.
b.
Due to the relatively slack work effort in both the United States and Japan, work-related
stress and fatigue are uncommon.
c.
Both countries experience nearly the same high levels of work-related stress and fatigue
problems.
d.
The overall work-related stress and fatigue levels in the United States are moderate
compared to the high levels in Japan.
e.
Although they are quite comparable, the United States workers experience slightly more
stress-related problems than Japanese workers.
22. Which of the following is least important in becoming an employer of choice?
a.
The employer offers the highest pay in the industry.
b.
The employer values the human component of business.
c.
The employer maintains a proper balance between work and personal life.
d.
The employer provides opportunities for training and personal development.
e.
The employer provides competitive compensation and strong benefits.
ESSAY
23. Describe the transformation of the employee-employer contract over the past century.
24. What are some issues to be considered before embarking on the downsizing process?
25. How can an individual employee potentially mitigate the onset and effects of downsizing?
26. What are the three types of workplace violence?
27. How is quid pro quo sexual harassment different from hostile work environment harassment?
28. What is workplace diversity, and why might a firm embrace diversity?
29. Why would an organization strive to become an employer of choice?