Final Exam Flashcards
Organizational Structure
The specification of the jobs to be done within a business and how those jobs relate to one another.
Organizational Chart
A physical depiction of the company’s structure showing employee titles and their relationships.
Job Specialization
The process of identifying the specific jobs that need to be done and designating the people who will perform them.
Departmentalization
The process of grouping jobs into logical units.
Functional Departmentalization
Departmentalization according to functions or activities.
Customer Departmentalization
Departmentalization according to the types of customers likely to buy a given product.
Product Departmentalization
Departmentalization according to the products being created or sold.
Process Departmentalization
Departmentalization according to the production process used to create a good or service.
Geographic Departmentalization
Departmentalization according to the area of the country or world supplied.
Authority
The power to make the decisions necessary to complete a task.
Responsibility
The duty to perform an assigned task.
Delegation
Assignment of a task, a responsibility, or authority by a manager to subordinate.
Accountability
Liability of subordinates for accomplishing tasks assigned by managers.
Centralized Organization
Top managers retain most decision-making rights for themselves.
Decentralized Organization
Lower- and middle- level managers are allowed to make significant decisions.
Span of Control
The number of people managed by one manager.
Downsizing
The planned reduction in the scope of an organization’s activity.
Line authority
Authority that flows in a direct chain of command from the top of the company to the bottom.
Staff Authority
Authority based on expertise and that usually involves advising line managers.
Committee and Team Authority
Authority granted to committees or work teams involved in a firm’s daily operations.
Functional Structure
Various units are included in a group based on functions that need to be performed for the organization to reach its goals.
Division Structure
Divides the organization into divisions, each of which operates as a semi-autonomous unit.
Project Organization
An organization that uses teams of specialists to complete specific projects.
International Organizational Structure
An organizational structure designed to help a company succeed in international markets. International departments , international divisions, or an integrated global organization are all variations of the international organizational structure.
Informal Organization
A network of personal interactions and relationships among employees unrelated to the firm’s formal authority structure.
Grapevine
An informal communications network that carries gossip and other information throughout an organization.
Human Resource Management (HRM)
Set of organizational activities directed at attracting, developing and maintaining an effective workforce.
Job Description
The objectives, responsibilities, and key tasks of a job; the conditions under which it will be done; its relationship to other positions; and the skills needed to perform it.
Job Specification
The specific skills, education, and experience needed to perform a job.
Employee Information Systems (Skills Inventories)
Computerized systems that contain information on each employee’s education, skills, work experience, and career aspirations.
Recruiting
The phase in the staffing of a company in which the firm seeks to develop a pool of interested, qualified applicants for a position.
Internal Recruiting
Considering present employees as candidates for job openings.
External Recruiting
Attracting people outside the organization to apply for jobs.
Assessment Centre
A series of exercises in which management candidates perform realistic management tasks while being observed by appraisers.
Behaviour-Based Interviewing
An approach to improving interview validity by asking questions that focuses the interview much more on behaviour than on what a person says.
Orientation
The process of introducing new employees to the company’s policies and programs, the co-workers and supervisors they will interact with, and the nature of their job.
On-the-Job Training
Development programs in which employees gain new skills while performing them at work.
Off-the-Job Training
Development programs in which employees learn new skills at a location away from the normal work site.
Management Developing Programs
Development programs in which managers’ conceptual, analytical, and problem-solving skills are enhanced.
Networking
Informal interactions among managers, both inside and outside the office, for the purpose of discussing mutual problems, solutions, and opportunities.
Mentoring
Having a more experienced manager sponsor and teach a less experienced manager.
Performance Appraisals
A formal program for evaluating how well an employee is performing the job; helps managers determine how effective they are in recruiting and selecting employees.
Compensation
What a firm offers its employees in return for their labour.
Wages
Dollars paid based on the number of hours worked.
Salary
Dollars paid at regular intervals in return for doing a job, regardless of the amount of time or output involved.
Piece-Rate Incentive Plan
A compensation system in which an organization pays an employee a certain amount of money for every unit produced.
Profit-Sharing Plans
An incentive program in which employees receive a bonus depending on the firm’s profits.
Gainsharing Plans
An incentive program in which employees receive a bonus if the firm’s costs are reduced because of their greater efficiency and/or productivity.
Benefits
What a firm offers its workers other than wages and salaries in return for their labour.
Protection Plans
A plan that protects employees when their income is threatened or reduced by illness, disability, death, unemployment, or retirement.
Cafeteria-Style Benefit Plans
A flexible approach to providing benefits in which employees are allocated a certain sum to cover benefits and can “spend” this allocation on the specific benefits they prefer.
Equal Employment Opportunity Regulations
Regulations to protect people from unfair or inappropriate discrimination in the workplace.
Bona Fide Occupational Requirement
When an employer may choose one applicant over another based on overriding characteristics of the job.
Comparable Worth
A legal concept that aims to pay equal wages for work of equal value.
Sexual Harrassment
Requests for sexual favours, unwelcome sexual advances, or verbal or physical conduct of a sexual nature that creates an intimidating or hostile environment for a given employee.
Workforce Diversity
The range workers’ attitudes, values, beliefs, and behaviours that differ be gender, race, age, ethnicity, physical ability, and other relevant characteristics.
Knowledge Workers
Workers who are experts in specific fields like computer technology and engineering, and add value because of what they know, rather than how long they have worked or the job they do.
Labour Union
A group of individuals who work together to achieve shared job-related goals.
Labour Relations
The overall process of dealing with employees who are represented by a union.
Collective Bargaining
The process through which union leaders and management personnel negotiate common terms and conditions of employment for those workers represented by the union.
Canada Labour Code
Legislation that applies to the labour practices of firms operating under the legislative authority of parliament.
Bargaining Unit
Individuals grouped together for purposes of collective bargaining.
Certification Vote
A vote supervised by a government representative to determine whether a union will be a certified as the sole bargaining agent for the unit.
Decertification
The process by which employees legally terminate their union’s right to represent them.
Closed Shop
A union-employer relationship in which the employer can hire only union members.
Union Shop
A union-employer relationship in which the employer can hire non-unionized workers, but they must join the union within a certain period.
Agency Shop
A union-employer relationship in which all employees for whom the union bargains must pay dues, but they are not required to join the union.
Open Shop
A union-employer relationship in which the employer may hire or non-union workers.
Strike
A tactic of labour unions in which members temporarily walk off the job and refuse to work, in order to win concessions form management.
Lockout
A tactic of management in which the firm physically denies employees access to the workplace to pressure workers to agree to the company’s latest contract offer.
Conciliation
A method of settling a contract dispute in which neutral third party helps the two sides clarify the issues that are separating them.
Mediation
A method of settling a contract dispute in which a neutral third party is asked to hear arguments from both the union and management and offer a suggested solution.
Arbitration
A method of settling a contract dispute in which a neutral third party imposes a binding settlement on the disputing parties.
Employee Behaviour
The pattern of actions by the members of an organization that directly or indirectly influences the organization’s effectiveness.
Counterproductive Behaviours
Behaviours that detract from organizational performance.
Individual Differences
Personal attributes that vary from one person to another.
Personality
The relatively stable set of psychological attributes that distinguish one person from another.
Emotional Intelligence
The extent to which people are self-aware, can manage their emotions, can motivate themselves, express empathy for others, and possess social skills.
Attitudes
A person’s beliefs and feelings about specific ideas, situations, or people.
Job Satisfaction
The extent to which people have positive attitudes towards their jobs.
Organizational Commitment
An individual’s identification with the organization and its mission.
Psychological Contract
The set of expectations held by an employee concerning what he or she will contribute to an organization (contributions) and what the organization will provide the employee (inducements) in in return.
Person-Job Fit
The extent to which a person’s contributions and the organization’s inducements match one another.
Motivation
The set of forces that causes people to behave in certain ways.
Classical theory of motivation
A theory of motivation that presumes workers are motivated almost solely by money.
Hawthorne Effect
The tendency for workers’ productivity to increase when they feel they are getting special attention from management.
Theory X
A management approach based on the belief that people must be forced to be productive because they are naturally lazy, irresponsible, and uncooperative.
Theory Y
A management approach based on the belief that people want to be productive because they are naturally energetic, responsible, and cooperative.
Hierarchy of Human Needs Model
Theory of motivation describing five levels of human needs and arguing that basic needs must be fulfilled before people work to satisfy higher-level needs.
Two-Factor Theory
A theory of human relations developed by Frederick Herzberg that identifies factors that must be present for employees to be satisfied with their jobs and and factors that, of increased, lead employees to work harder.
Expectancy Theory
The theory that people are motivated to work toward rewards that they want and that they believe they have a reasonable chance of obtaining.
Equity Theory
The theory that people compare (1) what they contribute to their job with what they get in return and (2) their input/output ratio with that of other employees.
Reinforcement
Controlling and modifying employee behaviour through the use of systematic rewards and punishments for specific behaviours.
Goal-setting Theory
The theory that people perform better when they set specific quantified, time-framed goals.
Management by Objectives (MBO)
A system of collaborative goal setting that extends from the top of an organization to its bottom.
Participative Management and Empowerment
A method of increasing job satisfaction by giving employees a voice in the management of their jobs and the company.
Quality Circle
A technique for maximizing quality of production. Employees are grouped into small teams that define, analyze, and solve quality and other process-related problems within their area.
Job Enrichment
A method of increasing employees’ job satisfaction by extending or adding motivating factors such as responsibility or growth.
Flextime
A method of increasing employees’ job satisfaction by allowing them some choice in the hours they work.
Compressed Workweek
Employees work fewer days per week, but more hours on the days they do work.
Telecommuting
Allowing employees to do all or some of their work away from the office.
Worksharing (Job Sharing)
A method of increasing employee satisfaction by allowing two people to share one job.
Leadership
The process of motivating others to work to meet specific objectives.
Trait Approach
A leadership approach focused on identifying the essential traits that distinguished leaders.
Behavioural Approach
A leadership approach focused on determining what behaviours are employed by leaders.
Situational (Contingency) Approach to Leadership
A leadership approach in which appropriate leader behaviour varies from one situation to another.
Transformational Leadership
The set of abilities that allows a leader to recognize the need of change, to create a vision to guide that change, and to execute the change effectively.
Transactional Leadership
The set of abilities that involves routine, regimented activities that are necessary during periods of stability.
Charismatic Leadership
Type of influence based on the leaders’ personal charisma.
Accounting
A comprehensive system for collecting, analyzing, and communicating financial information.
Bookkeeping
Recording accounting transactions.
Accounting Information System (AIS)
Organized procedure for identifying, measuring, recording, and retaining financial information for use in accounting statements and management reports.
Certified General Accountant (CPA, CGA)
An individual who had completed an education program and passed a national exam; works in private industry or a CGA firm.
Certified Management Accountant (CPA, CMA)
An individual who has completed a university degree, passed a national exam, and completed a strategic leadership program; works in industry and focuses on internal management accounting.
Audit
An accountant’s examination of a company’s financial records to determine if it used proper procedures to prepare its financial reports.
Generally Accepted Accounting Principles (GAAP)
Standard rules and methods used by accountants in preparing financial reports.
Controller
The individual who manages all the firm’s accounting activities.
Financial Accounting System
The process whereby interested in groups are kept informed about the financial condition of a firm.