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Employee Relation(Hrmg 543) Question Paper

Employee Relation(Hrmg 543)

Course:Business Administration

Institution: Kenya Methodist University question papers

Exam Year:2012

TIME: 3 HOURS
INSTRUCTIONS
Answer question ONE and any other TWO questions
WAL MART
Wal-Mart is one company that works hard to avoid unionization. The company says it does not have unions because it takes care of its employees. It surveys employees regularly and many workers have been promoted from cashier and stocker jobs to management jobs. A companywide stock ownership program has generated significant long-term returns for employees. Unions counter that Wal-Mart used aggressive and even unfair labor practices to prevent unionization.
When a union tries to organize workers, the company often reacts with a coordinated "union prevention" program. Mandatory employee meetings are held in stores, where managers and supervisors read prepared scripts explaining the consequences of unionizing and show videos emphasizing the negatives of unionization. As a result, at Wal-Mart in the United States, virtually no workers are unionized. In fact, when unions have won elections in some Wal-Mart locations, the firm has outsourced the jobs to independent contractors or even closed stores. Even outside the United State, Wal-Mart has been aggressive at resisting unionization of any workers in Canada, despite more union-friendly Canadian laws.
To put more pressure on Wal-Mart, unions have formed a coalition called Wal-Mart Watch. This organization has targeted Wal-Mart organizational practices. For instance, extensive publicity about deficiencies in health benefits offered by Wal-Mart have led to the firm revising its plans. The Watch also has encouraged workers to file legal complaints that Wal-Mart has violated anti-discrimination laws. The Watch has established its own Website (http://walmartwatch.com) that contains numerous articles discussing Wal-Mart actions. That website has a blog that allows previous and current employees to post comments, as well as outsiders to provide input and opinions also. The ultimate goal of the Watch is to be able to unionize employees at Wal-Mart because of its huge number of workers.
As Wal-Mart grows and adds more stores, its growth also results in the decline or closing of other retailers, in which there are often a significant number of unionized workers. How Wal-Mart will change over the next years and the effects of the Watch on those changes will be interesting to observe.
Describe the advantages and disadvantages of Wal-Mart’s aggressive union’s prevention effort.
(10 Marks)
In your opinion are the employees of Wal-Mart justified in fighting for their rights to gain unions.
(7 Marks)
Discuss the various types of unions that the worker can form.
(8 Marks)

Question Two
Discuss the history of industrial relations in Kenya.
(15 Marks)
What conditions must be in place for collective bargaining to take place successfully.
(10 Marks)

Question Three
Discuss the components of a recognition agreement.
(10 Marks)
Briefly discuss why employees join trade union and the reasons why some employees refuse to join trade unions.
(15 Marks)

Question Four
Using relevant examples, describe the economic impact of industrial disputes to:
(20 Marks)
The employee.
The employer.
The government.
The consumer.
What is your understanding of the open door policy?
(5 Marks)

Question Five
Define work life balance.
(5 Marks)
What is the significance of work life balance?
(10 Mark)
If you were a human resource manager. What steps would you follow to ensure that your employer enjoy work life balance.
(10 Marks)

Question Six
Under what conditions in a strike referred to as an illegal strike.
(10 Marks)
What is the significance of employee participation?
(7 Marks)
Briefly describe a grievance handling procedure in a unionized company.
(8 Marks)

Employee Relation(Hrmg 543) Question Paper

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