Chapter 3 Flashcards
What is an organizational culture?
- “Personality of an organization”
- Collective understanding of beliefs and values that guide how employees act and behave
How does culture affect employees?
- Culture has a profound impact on the success of the organization.
- Shapes individual behaviour of employees from the original founders vision
What is employee engagement?
-The amount of commitment and dedication an employee has toward the organization
What makes employees engaged? (6)
- Good fit between skills, job requirements & culture
- Feedback
- Trust & respect
- Reward structure
- Opportunities to learn new skills
- Empowerment (KEY DRIVER) & not control
What can leaders do to improve employee engagement? (5)
- Communicate clear expectations
- Give feedback & recognition
- Provide flexible work schedules
- Listen to your employees
- Provide learning opportunities
What is the legal framework of creating a healthy & safe work environment? (5)
- Inform & train your employees
- Comply with laws & regulations
- Keep records & report accidents
- Legally obligated to provide a health & safety program
- There are financial penalties for violations of occupational health & safety regulations
Why is Workers Compensation very complex?
- Cause & effect of a disease can be difficult to determine
- They are very expensive, orgs will take steps to minimize unhealthy & unsafe situations
What are the 5 fundamental principles of Health & Safety Work Environment?
- 1/2 historical compromise, gives up his/her right to sue
- 2/2 historical compromise guarantee payment (compensation)
- No fault system
- Funded by employees (not taxes)
- Administered by an independant agency
Part of your responsibility is to continue to foster an organizational culture that focuses on a healthy and safe work environment. How would you approach this and what might you do?
As the manager, it would be important for you to have a clear understanding of what the company currently does to focus on health and safety. You would also need to build a relationship with your staff and encourage them to be involved with their own health and safety. You would want to know the details of any joint health and safety committee, such as how frequently it meets, what are the issues it is dealing with, and what support there has been from the store manager in taking action.
You have recently joined a community recreational centre that hires many young workers. You are told of a growing concern about the health and safety of these employees. What would you do and why?
- careful training & orientation
- ensuring that they know it is OK to say no if they are asked to do any work that is unsafe
- a culture of safety will also go a long way to help younger workers know of its importance since they don’t have a lot of experiences. Employers must remind about the need for safety
Why build a culture of well-being?
- Healthy workers = more productive, less anxious
- Good moral reasons
- Higher job satisfaction
What are the 4 programs you can incorporate at your firm to build a culture of well-being?
- Wellness program: healthy food, gym, massage, relaxation techniques
- Health Service program: family assistance
- Disability Management program: how they are reintegrated in the workplace after return from injury ex: facilitating a return-work-plan
- Employee Assistant program: drug addiction, alcohol, gambling
What are the ways to reduce workers’ compensation costs? (4)
- Provide quality medical care to injured employees
- perform an audit to assess high-risk areas in the workplace
- prevent injuries by proper ergonomic designs
- provide extensive training
What is the system used to label hazardous substances?
What are the three elements of that system?
- Workplace Hazardous Materials Information sys. WHMIS
1. Labels: to alert workers
2. Material Safety Data Sheet: identifies products and its hazardous ingredients & suggests safe handling procedures
3. Training: training employees is part of the due diligence required of employers
Why was the gov. concerned of changing the criminal code? What did he change?
- He made it easier to bring criminal charges against co-workers, supervisors.. when a worker was killed or injured
- Due to the Westray Mine disaster in 1992 (killed 26ppl)
