Study Guide No. 7 Flashcards
Employees are considered the backbone of the business. Without them, product manufactured, or service rendered will not be possible for consumers’ consumption.
True
Employees are primarily affected as stakeholders in terms of their economic well-being.
True
The Working Life: The Promise and Betrayal of Modern Work
Joanne B. Ciulla
In the book of Joanne B. Ciulla, she contends that two common phrases
Get a job! And Get a life!
Throughout history, people’s perceptions of work and employment have evolved from
Necessary evil to source of fulfillment
For the ancient Greeks, work was seen
The god’s way of punishing humans
In 1995, the company was burned to the ground.
Malden Mills Industries
He paid end of the year bonuses of the employees and employees’ full benefits while the buildings were reconstructed.
CEO Aaron Feuerstein
The contract and mutual understanding that exist between employee and employer.
Employee – Employer Contract
This contract is largely unwritten and includes the beliefs, perceptions, expectations and obligations that make up the agreement between individuals and the organizations that employ.
Psychological contract
Two groups that contribute to the development, maintenance and evolution of the psychological contract at work
Employees and employers
A recent study of more than 5,000 employees indicates this rank order for their importance to employees
(1) social atmosphere
(2) career development opportunities
(3) job content
(4) work-life balance
(5) financial rewards
This same sample ranked the organizational fulfillment of these promises as
(1) job content
(2) social atmosphere
(3) work-life balance
(4) career development opportunities,
(5) financial rewards
The relationship between employer and employee was best characterized as a master-servant relationship.
Early 1900s
Employees assumed a relationship with an employer that was more balanced in terms of power, responsibilities and obligations.
1920 and 1930
Political commentator and sociologist C. Wright Mills criticized white collar work as draining on employees’ time, energy and even personalities.
1950s
Organization researchers and managers began to question authoritarian behavior and consider participatory management styles that assumed employees were motivated and eager to assume responsibility for work.
1960s
Employees wanted interesting work and a chance to demonstrate their skills.
Early 1970s
A family analogy was being used to describe the workplace. This implied strong attention to employee welfare and prompted the focus on business ethics.
1980s
The total quality management movement increase empowerment and teamwork on the job and led the charge toward workplaces simultaneously devoted to employee achievement at work and home.
1990s
Employees showed that their greatest psychological need in the workplace is security, but they viewed many employers as terminators.
True
Process of eliminating employment positions. This process places considerable pressure on top management, causes speculation and tension among employees and raises public ire about the role of business in society.
Workforce reduction
Workforce reduction, sometimes called
Downsizing or rightsizing
Usually entails employee layoffs and terminations.
Downsizing or rightsizing
The impact of the workforce reduction process depends on a host of factors, including corporate culture, long-term plans and creative calculations on both quantitative and qualitative aspects of the workplace.
True
Several issues to consider before restructuring the workforce
- A comprehensive plan must be developed that takes into account the financial implications and qualitative and emotional toll of the reduction strategy.
- Organization should commit to assisting employees who must make a career transition as a result of the reduction process.
Employees who are kept well informed of the downsizing decisions process are more likely to retain positive attitudes toward the company even if they experience job loss.
True
Although workforce reduction is a corporate decision, it is important that employees role are recognized in these decisions. If they are recognized, they start asking themselves the what the company is doing and they start to take more responsibility for career growth and demanding balance in work and personal responsibilities.
True
How can individuals potentially mitigate the onset and effects of downsizing?
- All employees should understand how their skills and competencies affect business performance.
- Employees should strive for cost-cutting and conservation strategies.
- Today’s work environment requires that most employees fulfill diverse and varying roles.
A common law doctrine that allows either the employer or the employee to terminate the relationship at any time as long as it does not violate an employment contract.
Employment at will
One of the few responsibilities of the organization
Giving wage and benefits
Refers to the additional pay for work performed in excess of 8 hours a day. It is computed as plus 25% of the hourly rate for work performed in excess of 8 hours on ordinary day and plus 30% of the hourly rate for work performed in excess of 8 hours on rest day, special day or regular holiday.
Overtime pay
The minimum age of employment is 18 years for hazardous jobs, and 15 years for non-hazardous jobs.
True
Few of the agencies responsible for the said benefit for government and private employees.
Government Service Insurance System (GSIS)
Social Security System (SSS)
An organization that represents the collective interests of employees. It helps workers unite to negotiate with employers over wages, hours, benefits, and other working conditions.
Labor union, also called a trade union or worker’s union
The Occupational Health and Safety Act (OSHA) proposed rules to increase employer responsibility for ergonomics which is the design, arrangement, and use of equipment to maximize productivity and minimize fatigue and physical discomfort.
True
The state of California OSHA has identified three types of workplace violence
(1) crimes committed by strangers and intruders in the workplace
(2) acts committed by nonemployees such as customer, patients, students and clients, who have regular and routine contract with
employees
(3) violence committed by coworkers
There are laws and regulations that prohibits discrimination on the basis of race, national, origin, color, religion and gender. These are fundamental rights to employees’ right to join and advance in an organization according to merit rather than one of the characteristics mentioned above.
Equal opportunity
An unwelcome sexual advance, requests for sexual favors, and other verbal or physical conduct of a sexual nature
Sexual Harassment
Two categories of harassment
Quid pro quo
Hostile work environment
A type of sexual extortion where there is proposed or explicit exchange of job benefits for sexual favors; e.g. telling an employee “you will be fired if you do not have sex with me.”
Quid Pro Quo
Is less direct than quid pro quo and can involve epithets, slurs, negative stereotyping, intimidating acts, graphic materials that show hostility toward an individual or group, and other types of conduct that affect the employment situation, e.g. sending an e-mail that contain sexually explicit jokes that is broadcast to employees, a boss asking his employee to retrieve coins or keys from his pants.
Hostile work environment
Is reporting individual or company wrongdoing to either internal or external sources.
Whistle blowing
Employees recognize that when a company is investing in programs that not only improve operations but also increase empowerment and provide new opportunities to gain knowledge and grow professionally. Formal training and development give workers a better sense of where they fit and how they contribute to the overall organizations.
True
Focus on recruiting and retaining a diverse workforce as a business imperative.
Workplace diversity
Hard-working, detail-oriented, uncomfortable with conflict; 1922-1943
Veterans
Service-oriented, good team players, sensitive to feedback; 1943-1960
Baby Boomers
Adaptable, independent, impatient; 1960-1980
Generation X
Optimistic, technological savvy, need supervision; After 1980
Millennials (Generation Y)
Veterans bring stability and loyalty to the workplace.
Boomers however are known for being self-centered, overly sensitive to feedback and not budget minded.
Generation X liabilities include being impatience, cynicism and inexperience.
Millennials (Generation Y) have some good points, but they still bring the liabilities in inexperience especially difficult with people issues.
True
Having many responsibilities in home and work can be an added pressure to the employee to the point that he no longer identifies what is home and work.
Work-Life Balance
Are programs considered to assist employees in balancing work responsibilities with personal and family responsibilities. There is no generic work-life programs.
Work/life programs
Are primarily directed outside the organization so they are not that focused on employees. However, a recent study on the effect of employee volunteerism on organizational competitiveness and success reported that it increases employee productivity and builds teamwork skills.
Philanthropic activities
Is an organization of any size in industry that is able to attract, optimize and retain the best employee talent over the long term.
Employer choice
Best Practice of Employers of Choice
Foster openness
Foster community
Foster creativity
Foster loyalty
Foster responsibility
Foster individuality
Foster teamwork
Give all employees full access to company information
Foster openness
Install in employee a concern for coworkers and society at large
Foster community
Allow workers to create their own work environments
Foster creativity
Train workers extensively, then pay them generously for greater productivity
Foster loyalty
Put new workers in charge and move them quickly through the ranks
Foster responsibility
Allow workers to do their own thing, no matter how wacky their thing is
Foster individuality
Throw out the old management hierarchy and encourage group over individual success
Foster teamwork
