Bulw 1370 Ch. 16: The Changing Workplace

Front 1

What is the "lean and mean" management style?

Back 1

The lean and mean management style is designed to:

1. reduce labor costs
   
2. improve efficiency (reduce the labor inputs)
   
3. boost productivity (make existing inputs produce more).

--reduce the workforce, raise productivity, work harder and smarter---the death of loyalty – we’ll keep you so long as we make money from you

Front 2

How has that style changed the social contract?

Back 2

• Companies used to expect loyalty and in return promised loyalty to their employees – the old social contract (before lean and mean).
  
• Now they will hire employees as long as management need that employee and can make money from employees. Make sure that people are no longer indispensable so they can be easily replaced.
  

Front 3

What are the external forces that are said to be changing the workplace?

Why?

Back 3

• technology – computers, the Internet, robots
• structural shifts – from agriculture, to manufacturing, to service
• competitive pressures – de-regulation in the late 70s on - outsourcing
• globalization – offshoring, free trade, WTO, NAFTA, CAFTA
• decline of unions – among the biggest proponents of protectionism
• growth of government regulation – makes it harder to operate
• mergers and junk bonds – companies took on tremendous debt at high interest – pay off at the expense of labor
• employment-at-will in the U.S., and pretty much, only here – no sweat equity in your job
  
• Because they could and it was profitable. In the 80s there were many layoffs – including the laying off of older “company men.” External forces aiding the lean and mean management style’s development – decline in union membership; increasing education levels (the more educated tend to believe more in individual accomplishments, not unions and seniority); the concentration of power in fewer and fewer companies through mergers and acquisitions (many of which were funded by junk bonds); increasing competition (especially from globalization); increasing technology and six sigma forced distributions.
  

Front 4

Why was the PATCO strike significant?

Back 4

PATCO – the Professional Air Traffic Controllers Organization

• President Reagan fired these government workers who had no right to strike
• It sent a message that employers should stand up to unions & the government wouldn’t care
  

Front 5

What is the employment-at-will doctrine, and how many countries follow it?

Back 5

The employment-at-will doctrine is probably unique to the U.S. It allows the boss to fire you without having a good reason (i.e. “good cause”).

If you have a 3-year employment contract and the boss fires you without good cause (good cause meaning that you screwed up), then the boss has to pay you off for the remainder of the contract (with mitigation or reduction if you find another job).

Front 6

What are the terms of the so-called revised employment contract?

Back 6

• We’ll employ you if we need you
  
• Work for a contractor, and the company will employ the contractor – goodbye benefits
  
• We like the Hollywood model
  

Front 7

Who wrote "The Organization Man," and what did it signify?

Back 7

• William Whyte.
  
• Conformity was the key to the 1950 corporate culture
• Much like the military, from which many entered the workforce after WWII
  

Front 8

What are the so-called tenets of capitalism (the private sector), and how do they differ from those of socialism (the public sector)?

Back 8

• Capitalism – efficiency, productivity, growth – executives love stock options, Wall St. loves growth
• Socialism – equity, fairness, justice
  

Front 9

What is the condition of the union movement in the U.S. today?

Back 9

• Poor in the private sector, growing in the public sector
• The high point for unions was in the 1947-50 period when more than 1/3rd of non-farm workers were in unions
• It is a fraction of that now
  

Front 10

How do conditions at unionized companies differ from non-union companies?

Back 10

• Higher wages, work rules, arbitration
• Collective bargaining
• The boss isn’t the final word on things like discipline – the arbitrator decides
  

Front 11

What are right-to-work states?

Back 11

• Right-to-work laws allow workers in unionized bargaining units to not join or pay dues to the union if they so decide – unions refer to such workers as free riders – they get the benefits without paying
• All the Southern states and several others are right-to-work
• The other states require union membership or, at least, paying dues to the union, within 30 days of being hired, or else you are fired
  

Front 12

What are junk bonds, and what was their role in the wave of mergers and acquisitions of the 1980s?

Back 12

• A junk bond is one that is rated low (not investment grade) by the major bond rating agencies (Standard & Poor’s, Moody’s, Fitch)
  
• They generally have no collateral and pay high rates of interest
  

Front 13

Who is Michael Milken?

Back 13

1. The so-called junk bond king.
   
2. The Wall Street Journal types credit him for transforming U.S. manufacturing.
   
3. He went to prison and paid a $600 Million fine for violating securities laws
   

Front 14

The replacement fertility rate refers to the:

A)total fertility rate that is highly insufficient in replacing a region's population.

B)average number of children that a female leaves during her lifetime.

C)number of children a woman must have, on average, to ensure that one daughter survives to reproductive age.

D)number of female children born per thousand women of reproductive age.

Back 14

C)number of children a woman must have, on average, to ensure that one daughter survives to reproductive age.

Front 15

_____ is caused by processes of job creation and job destruction that continuously alter the mix of productive work in every economy.

A) Structural change

B) Government intervention

C) Competitive pressure

D) Reorganization of work

Back 15

A) Structural change

Front 16

Outsourcing occurs when a company sends work of any kind to:

A) an outside supplier rather than pay its own employees to do it.

B) its employees and an outside agency.

C) an indeterminate, large group of people through an open call.

D) home-based employees with appropriate Internet infrastructure.

Back 16

A) an outside supplier rather than pay its own employees to do it.

Front 17

_____ occurs when reorganized work remains within the company but moves from the home country to a foreign location.

A) Co-sourcing

B) Homeshoring

C) Offshoring

D) Onshoring

Back 17

C) Offshoring

Front 18

Which of the following is an agreement between an employer and a worker wherein the worker agrees not to join a union?

A) A yellow dog contract

B) Employment-at-will

C) Liberty of contract

D) Implied covenant of good faith

Back 18

A) A yellow dog contract

Front 19

The idea that employers and workers should be free of government intervention in negotiating aspects of their employment contract is known as the doctrine of:

A) employment-at-will.

B) liberty of contract.

C )good faith.

D) yellow dog.

Back 19

B) liberty of contract.

Front 20

The idea that employers and employees can enter voluntary employment contracts that can be ended anytime by either party is known as:

A) employment-at-will.

B) liberty of contract.

C) implied covenant of good faith.

D) yellow dog.

Back 20

A) employment-at-will.

Front 21

The Japanese word "karoshi" refers to:

A) continuous improvement.

B) a form of business conglomerate.

C) death from the stress of overwork.

D) manufacturing in a country that is not the client's.

Back 21

C) death from the stress of overwork.

Front 22

The German term "kurzarbeit" refers to a:

A) death from the stress of overwork.

B) program in which the government subsidizes worker pay to promote employment.

C) program that targets poverty by giving cash payments to families in exchange for regular school attendance.

D) form of business conglomerate.

Back 22

B) program in which the government subsidizes worker pay to promote employment.

Front 23

This is a set of four standards to protect basic worker rights on which there is broad international agreement.

A) Core labor standards

B) Standards of conduct

C) Fair labor standards

D) Code of ethics

Back 23

A) Core labor standards