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THE WORKPLACE: TODAYS

CHALLENGES

MGT20BET

LECTURE Week 8Chapter 7

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Topics on The Workplace:

Todays Challenges Role of unions, their ideals & achievements & the

moral issues they raise.

Nature of privacy & the problems oforganisational influence over private decisions

Working conditions

Job satisfaction & dissatisfaction & the prospectfor enhancing the quality of work life (QWL)

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TRADE UNIONS

Franklin D. RooseveltFree and

independent unions are characteristic of a

free and democratic modern nation

Main reason for standard of living and

security of employment

Purpose is to balance the power of

employers and employees

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Trade Union History

Union victories includes the provision of

higher wages, paid vacations, health

benefits, retirement pensions and increased

job security

Contributed to social stability in the country

Strongest in period 1940s-1970s

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UNION IDEALS

Based on ideals ofbrotherhood and

equality

Protect individual employees from abuses

of employer power

Mutual dependence of employers &

employees which gave rise to collective

bargaining.

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UNION TACTICS

Are tactics used by unions to get management

to accept their demands, this includes:

Direct Strikes

Sympathetic Strikes

Boycotts & Corporate Campaigns

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UNION TACTICS

Strikesoccurs when organised body ofworkers withholds its labor to force theemployer to comply with its demands.

3 conditions of a justified strikeJust cause

Proper authorisation

Last resort Peaceful picketingconsidered as moral

means of striking

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UNION TACTICS

Boycotts& Corporate Campaignsprimaryboycotts occur when union members &

their supporters refuse to buy products froma company being struck.

Corporate campaignsunions enlist the

cooperation of a companys creditors topressure the company to comply with union

demands. corporate blackmail

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Privacy

Is acknowledged today to be a

fundamental right, yet corporate

behaviour and polices often threatenprivacy, in most case ofemployees.

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EMPLOYEE PRIVACY

privacy is an example of a human/civicrightthat is elimated in the workplace

Because the employee is regarded as ameans to theemployers ends (rather thanan end in him/herself) this rights aresubordinated / of secondary importance

The employer is considered to have theright to ignore normal civic privacy rights.

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Examples.

Video surveillance of employees. (mayinclude the washrooms, changing rooms as

well as work area) This may be for theft issues but also for

level of work effort and to ensure limitationoffraternisation.

Mary Kay Cosmetics in Wales has such asystem.

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Guidelines for Managers on

regards to Employee Surveillance Employers should carefully research

local employee privacy laws.

the types of monitoring that may beconducted vary widely from state to

state. Check the law in your state before

beginning telephone, camera,computer, or any other type of

electronic monitoring.

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Examples.

Searching of employees, belongings and lockers

on a regular basis.

Reading of employee e-mails, letters and silentmonitoring of phone calls.

DNA testing is on the rise especially in the U.S.A.

Could become a basis for employment because of

supposed predispositions for ones ability and

sickness.

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Guidelines for Managers on regards to

Personal Appearance

Employers are generally free to set

reasonable guidelines concerning

neatness, dress, appearance, and

hygiene.

However, such codes are always in

danger of legal attack, usually on the

grounds that they are discriminatory orviolate a persons right to privacy.

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Drug testing of employees

In the U.S.A. some employers require that

employees NOT smoke, drink or engage in

dangerous sports which may include skiing,diving.

Regular drug tests of employees to ensure

this.

G id li f M d

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Guidelines for Managers on regards

to Off-Duty Behavior

In most states, employers may discipline orterminate employees for off-duty behaviorthat might embarrass the company ordisrupt its operations,

though some methods of obtaininginformation about off-duty conduct mayinfringe on privacy rights.

Some states, restrict employers from

gathering information regarding anemployee's off-duty behavior. Check the lawin your state before taking any action againstan employee

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Drug and Alcohol Testing

The Supreme Court has upheld anemployer's right to test employees fordrugs and alcohol .

However, some state and localgovernments have passed lawsprohibiting testing, and the subject is

always bound to raise privacy lawissues. Check on the laws in your statebefore planning a testing policy.

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Lie Detector Tests

The federal Polygraph Protection Act

protects most American workers from taking a

lie detector test as a condition of employment

or continued employment. In many states, however, the law does not

apply to applicants in law enforcement

agencies, persons in sensitive positions

relating to national security, or applicants indrug manufacturing and distributing.

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Personality Tests

Federal law does not prohibit an

employer from requiring an employee or

prospective employee to take apsychological or personality test.

However, check the law in your state

before requiring any candidate orexisting employee to take such a test.

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Searches

Private employers may generally conducton-premises searches of employer-ownedvehicles, equipment, desks, lockers,briefcases, and other items.

In most states, searches of an employee'spersonal items may be legal if the employeehas a reasonable expectation of privacy.

Public employees enjoy constitutionalprotections that guard against many kinds ofsearches.

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EMPLOYEE PRIVACY

Individuals have a right to make personaldecisions autonomously.

Organisations may be invading privacywhen they coerce employees to contributeto charities or participate in wellnessprograms

Employees must have a free choice,willingly agree to participate to a lie-detector & personality test.

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QUESTION????

To what extent may an employer infringe/ violate upon or monitor the private lifeof an employee?

For example, suppose that an employee (maleor female) works as an exotic dancerduring off hours. Does the employer havethe moral right to ask that the employee to

stop working as an exotic dancer becauseit impacts or has the potential to impact onthe companys image?

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QUESTION????

If you are an employer seeking to hire the

best, most conscientious employee you can,

are any and all means of obtaininginformation about prospective employees

legitimate?

What constraints / limitations, if any, ought tobe put on your efforts to obtain information

about prospective employees?

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WORKING CONDITIONS

1. Health and Safety

Employees have a legal right to refuse work

when expose to imminent danger & theiremployer are forbidden to reprimand them for

doing so.

Companies are required by law to inform

workers in writing of any life-threatening

hazards they face at workplace

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WORKING CONDITIONS

2. Management Styles

How managers conduct themselves on the

job can enhance or diminish work conditions When managers ignore individual

differences it creates a work atmosphere that

is distressing to workers & less productive

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WORKING CONDITIONS

Day Care & Maternity Leave

Increased demand forreasonable maternity-

leave policies & affordable child-care services.Offering child-care services as afringe benefits

is cost effective in a sense that it decreases

absenteeism, boost morale as well as loyalty to

the firm & enhance productivity.

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Day Care & Maternity Leave

Moral issues:

1. Woman have the rightto compete on an equal

ground with men.2. Womanshould not be forcedto reduce the

quality of their commitment either to theirchildren or their careers.

3. Enable both fathers & mothers to achievepersonally desirable balancebetween paidwork & family relations

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WORKING CONDITIONS

EMPLOYEE SAFETY

Can be considered a human right

U.N. mandated

Employer Duty of Care

Employee Duty of Care (self & others)

Employees must be: aware of dangers,

accept dangers freely, receive compensation

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The Hawthorne studies

contributed to development of the human

relations movement during the 1950s and 1960s,

which asserted that managers who use goodhuman relations in the workplace would

achieve productivity.

Peoples feelings, attitudes & relationships with

coworkers should be important tomanagement, & they the need to recognise the

importance of the work group.

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DISSATISFACTION ON THE

JOB3 Sources of worker dissatisfaction

1. Industry preoccupation of quantity not

quality, rigid rules & regulations &monotonous repetition of tasks

2. Lack of opportunities to be ones own boss

3. Concerned of bigness more people work forlarge corporationsworkers feelings of

powerlessness & meaninglessness

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Job satisfaction

is the degree to which an individual feels positively

or negatively about various aspects of the jobCommon aspects of job satisfaction include:

a. Satisfaction with pay.

b. Satisfaction with tasks. c. Satisfaction with supervision.

d. Satisfaction with coworkers.

e. Satisfaction with the work setting.

f. Satisfaction with advancement opportunities.

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Job Satisfaction

Research has demonstrated a strong and

positive relationship betweenjob

satisfaction and absenteeism and turnover;workers who are satisfied with their jobs are

present more often and are more likely to

stay with an organisation.

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QUALITY OF WORK LIFE

(QWL) Job design affects the total well being of

workers, work content and job satisfaction.

Moral concern:Company have a moral obligation to devise

ways to improve the QWL of employees

because happier more contented worker isgenerally more productive.

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Quality of work life (QWL)

is frequently used as an indicator of the

overall quality of human experiences in the

workplace. All managers should try to achieve high

performance outcomes while maintaining a

high quality of work life and helping othersto maintain a positive work-life balance.

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Quality of work life (QWL)

A high quality of work life is one that offers theindividual worker such things as:

(1) Fair pay.

(2) Safe working conditions.

(3) Opportunities to learn and use new skills.

(4) Room to grow and progress in a career.

(5) Protection of individual rights.(6) Pride in the work itself and in the

organisation.