Chapter 4: The Individual and the Organization

1. When defining an employment relationship, the International Labour Office recommends considering:

the degree to which the worker is dependent on the organization for work and remuneration how large the employing organization is how financially risky the industry is whether managers are autocratic or democratic

2. Social regulation of the formal employment contract occurs by:

individual employees bargaining with their managers the supply and demand of skills in the labour market negotiations between trade unions and employers A and C but not B

3. ‘At-will’ employment means that:

a worker can choose which days of the week to work an employee is in high demand so can take up new employment at any time the employer can dismiss an employee at any time and for any reason workers have the right to be employed, so employers have to give reasonable notice periods for dismissals

4. An integratist view of trade unions sees them as:

partners in economic and social development and the success of the organization existing to represent manual labourers but irrelevant to professional workers effective when they are well integrated into the organization but ineffective otherwise representing the views of specific groups of employees only

5. Trust and formal contracts are:

in direct opposition to each other: the more trust there is in a relationship, the less need there is of contracts and vice versa are often complementary, with each being the basis and outcome of the other less useful in controlling employee behaviour than was previously thought the result of a positive psychological contract

6. Which of the following HR practices is NOT usually considered to be part of a high commitment bundle?

sophisticated selection procedures extensive training and development opportunities employee involvement and voice increasing status differentials within the organization

7. A market-type employment relationship system includes:

high bonuses for CEOs and directors of the organization but little job security performance-based incentives and low job security performance-based incentives and high job security medium job security and equality of remuneration across the organization

8. Institutionalization is:

communication of clear policies and procedures that serve to control and direct employees’ efforts a communication goal that aims to develop new strategy, implement ideas and solve problems communicating the organization’s norms and values to employees in such a way that they will begin to share them a form of communication in which praise and rewards are provided to employees

9. Raising concerns about bullying with the HR department is an example of which type of direct voice?

upward problem-solving complaints systems task-based participation whistle-blowing

10. Which of the following is an example of deeply embedded employee voice?

you make a suggestion to improve workflow in your team and your manager thinks it's great but is unable to implement it your team comes up with a new way to improve quality and it is quickly adopted by other teams the HR department institutes a suggestion scheme with rewards for good suggestions but no one ever wins the prizes every month the CEO sends an email inviting employees to come to a breakfast meeting to discuss how the organization is fairing. He is known to often be too busy to attend the meetings himself

11. Jensen (2003) outlines four dimensions of organizational structure that influence communication, which are:

configuration, complexity, formalization, centralization size, span of control, degree of integration, formalization communication systems, procedural complexity, decentralization, configuration employee voice systems, complexity, configuration, span of control

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