Unit 13: Managing Industrial Relations - Practice Quiz

1 Which three groups are commonly considered the major actors in industrial relations?

2 What is a primary role of a trade union?

3 What is the government's main role in industrial relations?

4 In industrial relations, what is an employer generally responsible for?

5 Who usually negotiates with management on behalf of union members?

6 Which economic factor can directly influence wage negotiations?

7 How can effective communication influence industrial relations?

8 Which factor is most likely to improve trust between employees and management?

9 How may a high unemployment rate affect employees' bargaining power?

10 Which internal factor can influence industrial relations within an organisation?

11 Which approach views an organisation as a unified team with common goals?

12 Which approach accepts that employers and employees may have different interests?

13 Under the pluralist approach, trade unions are generally viewed as what?

14 Which approach links industrial conflict mainly to inequality between labour and capital?

15 How does the unitary approach generally view workplace conflict?

16 What is an employee grievance?

17 What is usually the first step when an employee raises a grievance?

18 Why should a grievance be investigated?

19 What is the purpose of an appeal stage in a grievance procedure?

20 Which principle is important when handling an employee grievance?

21 A manufacturing company plans to revise shift timings. Which actor should primarily represent employees during formal negotiations with management?

22 Employees and management cannot resolve a dispute through collective bargaining. The government appoints a neutral person to help them voluntarily reach an agreement. What role is this person performing?

23 An employers' association collects wage data and advises several member companies before industry-level negotiations. Which role is it fulfilling?

24 A labour department conducts inspections after reports that a factory is violating statutory safety standards. Which governmental role does this illustrate?

25 During negotiations, line managers repeatedly make promises that contradict the organisation's official position. What is the most appropriate role of the HR department in this situation?

26 A company introduces automation without consulting employees, creating fears of redundancy and triggering protests. Which factor most directly worsened industrial relations?

27 Inflation rises sharply while employee wages remain unchanged. Which industrial-relations outcome is most likely?

28 Two similar factories operate under the same labour laws. One has frequent disputes, while the other has stable relations because supervisors consult employees regularly. Which factor best explains the difference?

29 A new law requires formal recognition of unions that meet a membership threshold. Which factor is directly reshaping relations between employers and employees?

30 A profitable company pays below-market wages while senior executives receive large bonuses. Employees begin a work-to-rule campaign. Which underlying factor is most relevant?

31 Management claims that the organisation is a unified team with one common purpose and views workplace conflict as an abnormal result of poor communication. Which approach does this reflect?

32 A company recognises that managers and employees have legitimate but different interests, so it supports collective bargaining to manage conflict. Which approach is being applied?

33 An analyst argues that strikes arise mainly from unequal ownership and an enduring conflict between labour and capital. Which approach supports this interpretation?

34 A researcher examines how actors, workplace rules, technology, market conditions, and shared ideology interact to produce industrial-relations outcomes. Which approach is most appropriate?

35 Management wants to reduce disputes by improving recognition, participation, communication, and interpersonal relationships rather than relying mainly on legal controls. Which approach best fits this strategy?

36 An employee believes a supervisor assigned overtime unfairly. According to a typical grievance procedure, what should the employee usually do first?

37 A supervisor hears an employee's grievance but refuses to record it or provide a response. Which procedural principle is most clearly being neglected?

38 An employee is dissatisfied with the supervisor's decision and submits the grievance to the department head as permitted by company policy. Which stage does this represent?

39 Before deciding a grievance about alleged favouritism, the grievance officer interviews witnesses and compares duty rosters. Which principle is being applied?

40 Several employees file similar grievances about the same leave policy. What should HR do to address both the cases and their underlying cause?

41 A government announces a statutory wage floor, an employers' federation develops sector-level bargaining guidance, and a trade union negotiates shift premiums at plant level. Which interpretation best distinguishes the roles of these actors?

42 A plant manager agrees informally to a work-practice change, but corporate management later rejects it because the manager lacked bargaining authority. What is the most important industrial-relations lesson?

43 During a prolonged dispute, a labour ministry conciliator proposes settlement terms but cannot impose them. An industrial tribunal later issues a binding award. Which distinction is most accurate?

44 Employees bypass their union and ask a major customer to pressure their employer during bargaining. From an industrial-relations perspective, how should the customer be classified?

45 A union official supports a productivity agreement, but employee members reject it because they believe local safety concerns were ignored. Which conclusion best explains the breakdown?

46 A profitable firm introduces automation during low unemployment. Redundancy fears increase, but employees also possess strong outside job options. Which prediction best integrates the relevant factors?

47 Two plants operate under the same labour law and economic conditions. One has cooperative relations; the other experiences repeated stoppages after supervisors inconsistently apply identical rules. Which factor most directly explains the difference?

48 Inflation reaches 10%, nominal wages rise by 7%, and productivity remains unchanged. Which consequence is most likely to influence collective bargaining?

49 A new law protects fixed-term workers' organizing rights. Union membership then rises mainly in firms where workers already trust local representatives. What does this pattern demonstrate?

50 A multinational copies a cooperative consultation model from one country into another where bargaining is adversarial and union authority is decentralized. The model performs poorly. Which omitted factor is most significant?

51 Management describes the organization as a unified team, treats conflict as abnormal, and attributes a strike to disloyal union leaders. Which approach does this reasoning most closely reflect?

52 A company recognizes that managers and employees have legitimate but competing interests, and it establishes bargaining and arbitration to regulate their conflict. Which approach best supports this design?

53 A researcher argues that bargaining procedures may settle individual disputes but cannot remove conflict generated by unequal ownership and control of production. Which approach is being applied?

54 An analyst maps workers, management, unions, and government; identifies technology and market conditions as environmental inputs; and studies the rules these actors create. Which framework is most evident?

55 Management first responds to conflict with team-building based on assumed shared interests, then recognizes an independent union and negotiates enforceable procedures. What conceptual shift has occurred?

56 An employee alleges discriminatory scheduling by the immediate supervisor. The procedure normally begins with that supervisor, but the employee reasonably fears retaliation. What is the best procedural response?

57 A collective agreement requires grievances within ten working days. An employee files on day twelve because management concealed the decision for nine days. Which response best supports procedural fairness?

58 A manager who approved a disputed promotion also chairs the final internal appeal and refuses to disclose the scoring sheets. Which two principles are most directly compromised?

59 Several employees submit separate grievances about the same new attendance rule, while one employee also disputes an incorrectly recorded absence. What is the most effective procedural design?

60 An arbitrator finds that misconduct occurred but that dismissal was disproportionate because comparable cases received warnings. Which grievance-handling objective most strongly supports modifying the penalty?