Controlling at the Supervisory Level

Question 1

The _________ Discrimination act forbids discrimination against women because of pregnancy.

Answer 1

Pregnancy

It also mandates that pregnancy must be treated as any other type of medical condition for purposes of leaves of absence and sick-leave benefits. An important part of the law permits states to establish specific return rights to the employees former job or one of like status and pay.

Question 2

_____ rights protections have been extended and reinforced by both state and local law.

Answer 2

Civil

This is especially true in cases involving housing, lending money, and sexual preference discrimination in employment. Under national law states with procedures similar to those of the federal government have the first opportunity to settle alleged civil rights violations before they are brought before the Equal Employment Opportunity Commission.

Question 3

_______ provides the right of people to express themselves without fear, to agree or disagree, to select or reject any religion, to publish opinions, and to pursue happiness in ways that meet their interests and needs.

Answer 3

Freedom

It is possible for inequality of citizens to exist under political systems that allow freedom of expression and pursuit of goals. Ideally, societies should promote both equality and freedom for their citizens.

Question 4

Pro bono publico law is law that is in the interest of the ______.

Answer 4

people

Pro bono publico is a legal term that means in the interest of the people. It is another way of defining social responsibility. Organizations must, under a wide spectrum of pro bono law, help ensure equal treatment of employees in the application of rules and policies.

Question 5

______, which was addressed in the Civil Rights Act of 1964, is the right to be served in public or private facilities designed to serve the general population.

Answer 5

Access

Access meant that no person, because of race, color, religion, national origin, or sex, could be denied entrance and use of public or private facilities.

Question 6

_________________ are groups, defined by law, specifically protected against discrimination in equality of opportunity and access.

Answer 6

Protected classes

In 1972, Title VII of the Civil Rights Act, was strengthened by the creation of the Equal Employment Opportunity Commission. Under the law, any person who was a member of a group that had suffered past discrimination because of race, color, religion, national origin, or sex was part of a protected class.

Question 7

Title _____ of the Civil Rights Act of 1964 and its amendments guarantees equality of employment opportunity under rules of the Equal Employment Opportunity Commission.

Answer 7

seven

Also known as the Equal Employment Opportunity Act, it defines what organizations must do to ensure equal treatment for all employees as well as applicants for employment. Since being enacted in 1964, Title VII has been amended several times.

Question 8

Title VII _______ businesses with less than 15 employees, certain religious organization businesses, businesses owned by Indian tribes, members of Congress, and bona fide country clubs.

Answer 8

exempts

Under a number of other conditions some businesses, while not exempt, are not usually pressured to comply.

Question 9

Employers may have a ____ for limiting employment.

Answer 9

BFOQ

Usually BFOQ (bona fide occupation qualification) reasons are based on physical requirements, such as accurate color discrimination of color-coded wires and diagrams in electronics or strength to climb poles to install and repair utility wires and equipment.

Question 10

Any action that may not be intended to be discriminatory, but has a discriminatory result is called _________ effect.

Answer 10

disparate

Hiring walk-ins rather than selecting from a pool of qualified applicants, promoting an employee without considering other qualified applicants in the organization, or hiring relatives, friends, and employee-recommended applicants without considering others as well are forms of disparate effect.

Question 11

An artificial barrier in the work world which makes promotion beyond a certain level for certain groups difficult, is called a _____________.

Answer 11

glass ceiling

This term was first applied exclusively to women but later came to include minority men.

Question 12

Businesses must attempt to __________ accommodate an employees or applicants special conditions.

Answer 12

reasonably

Over the years since the Civil Rights Act was enacted, the courts have ruled that businesses must not set up artificial barriers to employment.

Question 13

_______ guidelines define standards for selection of employees and determine compliance with laws for equal representation of minority employees

Answer 13

Uniform

Human resource professionals often have difficulty in interpreting and complying with the provisions of Title VII Uniform Guidelines. Supervisors must remember that the guidelines state that an applicant for employment, promotion, transfer, or training assignment may not be asked questions not asked of others in the same job classification.

Question 14

_____________ is any act, statement, or display that implies sexual consent as a condition of employment or any statement or material that is offensive or causes work to be impeded because of its sexual content.

Answer 14

Sexual harassment

Question 15

In 1970, the United States established the _____ to establish standards for a safe and healthy physical environment.

Answer 15

EPA

Efforts of the Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) have focused on the quality of air and water, waste disposal, chemical contamination, and the impact of buildings, highways, and other structures on the lives of people.

Question 16

Most states as well as the federal ____ have established procedures that help ensure correct use and disposal of toxic materials.

Answer 16

OSHA

Occupational Safety and Health Administration (OSHA) makes and enforces national safety standards. Supervisors have the responsibility for ensuring that employees are adequately trained and disciplined in compliance with the law.

Question 17

_________ occurs when there is any interference with goal-directed behavior or perceived inability to satisfy a need.

Answer 17

Frustration

Frustration can be caused by either external or internal conditions. An employee who works hard for a promotion and does not receive it may withdraw from any future attempts to gain promotion. Lack of confidence and resentment, both internal conditions, as well as lack of adequate opportunity in their present employment, an external condition, can increase frustration reactions.

Question 18

______ is a generalized reaction to frustration that takes the form of problem solving, anger, increased energy, and at times physical action against the perceived cause of frustration.

Answer 18

Attack

Goal-directed behavior is any action an individual takes to satisfy a need. If the action is blocked, the person may aggressively attack the cause of the interference. In a job, employees having difficulty performing a task may try again, ask for help, or read procedures.

Question 19

__________ does not solve problems but it removes the individual from the cause of frustration.

Answer 19

Withdrawal

Withdrawal from frustrating conditions is a common reaction to frustration. It may take many forms such as daydreaming, physically leaving, sleeping, or changing the topic during a discussion. Supervisors, frustrated with slower than expected performance, may first react by attack and then withdrawal.

Question 20

______ is the result of any set of conditions that puts an individual off balance or increases the need for action.

Answer 20

Stress

Anxiety, tension, strain, and pressure are common terms associated with the word stress.

Question 21

Attack on an individuals symbolic self, what people think an individual is, may be equally or more ________ than physical attacks.

Answer 21

stressful

When an individual is called dumb, clumsy, incompetent, or demeaned in other ways, their feelings about themselves are threatened. S.I. Hayakawa is credited with convincingly demonstrating that attacks on a persons self-esteem or sense of belonging can be as stressful as physical threat.

Question 22

Negative stress or ______ occurs when stress reaches the point where individuals feel they cannot effectively cope with the events from which the stress originates.

Answer 22

distress

Most people do not recognize stress until it becomes distressful or disrupts their normal pace of living. In a job environment, stress rises from not only work demands, but also a variety of other factors such as poor interpersonal relations or uncertainty of future events.

Question 23

Stress __________ does not seek elimination of stress but attempts to keep it below the level of distress.

Answer 23

management

Dull, uninteresting work in a climate with little or no change can create its own negative levels of stress. Stress management involves keeping stress at a level that places reasonable demands on members of the organization but does not push them beyond their performance limits.

Question 24

Stress ________ are people who cause stress in others but remain relatively stress-free.

Answer 24

carriers

In work organizations, managers who make unreasonable demands on employees, give them conflicting priorities, make special assignments that prevent regular work from being accomplished, and assign last-minute overtime work before employees have an a chance to change personal plans are a few examples. Stress carriers rarely realize the havoc they create in the lives of others.

Question 25

________ workers work best under stressful conditions.

Answer 25

Pressure Pressure workers are usually self-confident, competent people who know they'll get things completed on time.

Question 26

Making excuses for a failure that a person either caused or was responsible for is known as ____________.

Answer 26

rationalization

Question 27

__________ means blaming others who are not the cause of stress problems.

Answer 27

Projection While rationalization may be the most common adjustive reaction, projection is a close second. Energy may sometimes be released in the form of anger by projecting it onto someone other than the cause.

Question 28

____________ involves giving a problem to others to solve.

Answer 28

Transference Transference is another type of adjustive reaction designed to protect self-esteem by literally giving a personal problem to someone else to solve. Employees, like all people, must learn to deal with their own problems because supervisors are not trained clinical psychologists.

Question 29

_________ means forgetting the causes of stress.

Answer 29

Repression Repression means forgetting past events that were painful, people that were particularly disliked, and tasks that interfere with other activities. It is a form of active forgetting. Stress often leads to forgetfulness of those things that can potentially add to the pressure of present conditions.

Question 30

______________ occurs when a person takes on the characteristics or even the life-style of others whom they admire.

Answer 30

Identification Identification occurs when people feel their present way of life is not successful. In an attempt to relieve personal stress they imitate others whom they see as successful. Young women often copy the hair styles of popular actresses, sports figures, or women they see as leaders.

Question 31

Physically attractive people are perceived as having more positive characteristics, such as kindness, sociability, honesty, etc. This is an example of the __________.

Answer 31

halo effect The halo effect occurs when people become stereotyped based on earlier impressions and these impressions color future events.

Question 32

__________ means to go back in time either through remembering the good old days or acting childishly.

Answer 32

Regression Like identification, regression removes the person from factors currently causing stress. It is an attempt to reject a current stress-filled life. In work environments it may take the form of adult temper tantrums, pranks, horseplay, or other behavior not normally seen.

Question 33

Reaction _________ is the denial of ones own basic desires.

Answer 33

formation People under extreme stress will adopt what they believe is a socially acceptable standard of behavior even though it violates their most basic needs.

Question 34

________ is stress that is beneficial and necessary.

Answer 34

Eustress Hans Selye used the term eustress to describe the type of stress that is beneficial and necessary in energizing people.

Question 35

____________ are any actions people take to rid themselves of stress symptoms.

Answer 35

Stress relievers People under persistent stress may attempt to reduce personal pressures with the use of alcohol, illicit drugs, or prescription tranquilizers. None of these has any long-term benefits and most have definite addictive dangers. Some of the more effective types of stress relievers include physical exercise, meditation, biofeedback, and hobbies.

Question 36

Psychological ________ is the ability to successfully cope with life situations, including those that are stressful.

Answer 36

maturity Psychological maturity is one of the characteristics that distinguish superior managers from those who are mediocre. Psychologically mature people can rapidly adjust to change, cope with adversity, and recover from disaster or failure while maintaining a sense of optimism about the future.

Question 37

A persons response to stressors depends upon their ___________ and how well they learn to manage stress. Scientists who study the effects of stress on health often refer to two primary personality types as type A and type B.

Answer 37

personality Someone with a Type A personality is very productive. He or she often feels that there is not enough time to do everything and has difficulty relaxing. People with Type B personalities are described as being relaxed, cooperative rather than competitive, and satisfied with lower output.

Question 38

Alcoholism is the most observable and common _________ problem

Answer 38

life-style While it is virtually impossible to precisely estimate alcoholisms total cost, lost time, tardiness, and inefficiency cost employers in the United States between $18 billion and $27 billion annually. Absenteeism, accidents, and sick leave by problem drinkers may be 16 times higher than the rates for average employees.

Question 39

___ carriers may be excellent employees with minimal or no infectious danger to other employees.

Answer 39

HIV Although organizations try to be fair, there is a very real fear and prejudice against people who have tested positive for HIV or who have developed AIDS symptoms. In order to combat fears and misinformation, supervisors have the responsibility for protecting the confidentiality of all medical records.

Question 40

______ preference is an emotional issue but has no relationship to job performance, management potential, or other desirable job characteristics.

Answer 40

Sexual Most organizations have established either policies or unwritten practices that treat life-style as an individuals personal choice. These rules apply to a variety of conditions and are of no concern to the organization as long as they do not impact the performance or well-being of others.

Question 41

A _____ is a formal organization of employees who deal collectively with management on issues related to wages, effort, work rules, and other conditions of work.

Answer 41

union When employees lack trust in their management or feel they have little influence, they may band together for collective action, requesting management to provide specific protections.

Question 42

_________ relations are agreements arrived at through negotiations between management and employee groups such as unions.

Answer 42

Bilateral When management makes all the decisions and rules, their relationship with employees is one-sided. When agreements are bilateral, both employees and management have agreed to the rules and must conform to both their legal statements and the spirit with which they were made.

Question 43

_________ bargaining is an attempt by a union and management to come to an agreement on employment conditions, and if successful, results in a contract.

Answer 43

Collective The Wagner Act requires employers to engage in collective bargaining with a National Labor Relations Board certified union.

Question 44

____ refer to the taxes imposed on internationally traded commodities when they cross national boundaries.

Answer 44

Tariffs Tariffs are imposed by governments on imports, they raise the prices of imported goods and thereby restrict their sale.

Question 45

__________ barriers are restrictions placed on trade that do not involve a financial penalty.

Answer 45

Non-tariff Non-tariff barriers (NTBs) include import quotas, anti-dumping laws, and special health and safety requirements on imported goods.

Question 46

Import ____ are quantitative restrictions on imports that may be expressed as individual units imported or as a total value of imports.

Answer 46

quotas Quotas are normally imposed on an annual basis and are often used as a means of protecting domestic industry from lower cost imports. It is a numerical limit placed on the quantity of a particular product or class of products.

Question 47

More extreme than a quota, an _______ completely bans the import or export of certain products.

Answer 47

embargo Although an embargo is usually established to protect a nations industry from foreign competition, it can sometimes be done for other reasons. The U.S., for example, bans the importation of toys with lead paint due to health reasons.

Question 48

The broadest measure of an economys health is a nations ___ , which measures a countrys output by computing the sum of all the finished goods and services produced by businesses located within a nations borders.

Answer 48

GDP So long as goods are produced within a nations boundaries, they are included within a nations gross domestic product (GDP). This differs from a nations gross national product (GNP), which excludes the value of production from any foreign-owned businesses and includes receipts from any domestic companys overseas operations.

Question 49

______ is the economic condition in which the general price level for goods and services falls steadily throughout the economy.

Answer 49

Deflation Purchasing power increases during deflation, since the falling price level means more can be purchased per dollar than would have been possible before.

Question 50

An economic indicator often used to measure the rate of inflation is the ___, which measures changes in the prices of about 400 representative goods and services that consumers buy.

Answer 50

CPI Measured monthly, the consumer price index (CPI) is often used by businesses to adjust rent increases and to keep employees wages aligned with the current cost-of-living rate.

Question 51

The recurrent swings between recession and recovery are known as the ________ cycle.

Answer 51

business The fluctuations of the business cycle are to be expected and are to a degree predictable. Nonetheless, government tries to avoid the hardships caused by such swings through adjusting its fiscal and monetary policies.

Question 52

The governments ______ policy involves the actions taken by the Federal Reserve Board to regulate the nations money supply, such as the raising or lowering of interest rates to help control inflation.

Answer 52

monetary The governments monetary policy works in conjunction with its fiscal policy (adjustments to government revenue collection and spending) to help minimize the damage done by business cycle fluctuations.