Occupational injury
any cut, fracture, sprain, or amputation resulting from a workplace accident
Occupational illness
abnormal condition or disorder resulting from exposure to environmental factors in the workplace
Industrial disease
A disease resulting from exposure relating to a particular process, trade, or occupation in industry
Material Safety Data Sheet
MSDS; documents that contain vital information about hazardous substances
cumulative trauma disorders
Injuries involving tendons of the fingers, hands, and arms that become inflamed from repeated stresses and strains
Stress
Any adaptive demand caused by physical, mental, or emotional factors that requires coping behaviour
Workplace stressor
A workplace event, process, or practice that has the potential to cause worker stress
Disability management
Integrated approach to managing disability-related benefits
Employee Assistant Program
EAP; program to provide short term counselling and referrals to appropriate professionals
Employee rights
expectations of fair treatment from employers
Negligence
Failure to provide reasonable care where such failure results in injury to consumers or other employees
Statutory rights
Rights that derive from legislation
Contractual rights
Rights that derive from contracts
Due process
Employee’s right to a fair process in making a decision related to employment relationship
Discipline
1) Treatment that punishes 2) orderly behavior in an organizational setting or 3) training that moulds and strengthens desirable conduct-or corrects undesirable conduct-and develops self control
Progressive discipline
application of corrective measures by increasing degrees
Positive or nonpunitive discipline
System of discipline that focuses on the early correction of employee misconduct, with the employee taking total responsibility for correcting the problem
Wrongful dismissal
Terminating an employee’s employment without just cause
Constructive dismissal
Changing an employee’s working conditions such that compensation, status, or prestige is reduced
Alternative dispute resolution (ADR)
Term applied to different types of employee complaint or dispute-resolution procedures
Mediation
The use of an impartial third party to help facilitate a resolution to employment disputes
Step-review system
System for reviewing employee complaints and disputes by successively higher levels of management
Hearing officer
Person who holds full-time position with an organization but assumes a neutral role when deciding cases between management and aggrieved employees
Open-door policy
Policy of settling grievances that identifies various levels of management above the immediate supervisor for employee contact
Ombudsperson
Designated individual from whom employees may seek counsel for the resolution of their complaints
Ethics
Set of standards of conduct and moral judgements that help to determine right and wrong behaviour
Union shop
Provision of the collective agreement that requires employees to join the union as a condition of their employment
Closed shop
Provision of the collective agreement that requires employers to hire only union members
Open shop
Provision of the collective agreement that allows employees to join or not join the union
Membership card
a statement signed by an employee authorizing a union to act as a representative of the employee for purposes of collective bargaining
Bargaining unit
Group of 2 or more employees who share common employment interests and conditions and may reasonably be grouped together for purposes of collective bargaining
Unfair labour practices
Specific employer and union illegal practices that operate to deny employees their rights and benefits under labour law
Certification
Acquisition of exclusive rights by union to represent the employees
Management rights
Decisions regarding organizational operations over which management claims exclusive rights
Union (shop) steward
Employee who, as a nonpaid union official, represents the interests of members in their relations with management
Business agent
Normally a paid labour official responsible for negotiating and administering the collective agreement and working to resolve union members’ problems
Interest-based bargaining
Problem-solving bargaining based on a win-win philosophy and the development of a positive long-term relationship
Strike
A situation in which unionized workers refuse to perform their work during labour negotiations
Lockout
Strategy by which the employer denies employees the opportunity to work by closing its operations
Mediator
Third party in a labour dispute who meets with one party and then the other in order to suggest compromise solutions or to recommend concessions from each side that will lead to an agreement
Arbitrator
third-party neutral who resolves a labour dispute by issuing a final and binding decision in an agreement
Interest arbitration
a mechanism to renew or establish a new collective agreement for parties
rights arbitration
A mechanism to resolve disputes about the interpretation and application of a collective agreement during the term of that collective agreement
Defined rights
concept that management’s authority should be expressly defined and clarified in the collective agreement
Grievance procedure
Formal procedure that provides for the union to represent members and non-members in processing a grievance
Grievance resolution
Process in which a neutral third party assists in the resolution of an employee grievance
Arbitration reward
final and binding award issued by an arbitrator in a labour-management dispute
International corporation
domestic firm that uses its existing capabilities to move into overseas markets
Multinational corporation (MNC)
Firm with independent business units operating in several countries
Global corporation
Firm that has integrated worldwide operations through a centralized home office
Transnational corporation
Firm that attempts to balance local responsiveness and global scale via a network of specialized operating units
Cultural environment
Communications, religion, values and ideologies, education, and social structure of a country
Host country
County in which an international corporation operates
Expatriates, or home-country nationals
Employees from the home country who are on international assignment
Host-country nationals
Employees who are natives of the host country
third-country nationals
Employees who are natives of a country other than the home country of the host country
Work permit, or visa
a government document granting a foreign individual the right to seek employment
Guest workers
Foreign workers invited to perform needed labour
Transnational teams
Teams composed of members of multiple nationalities working on projects that span multiple countries
Core skills
Skills considered critical to an employee’s success abroad
Augmented skills
skills helpful in facilitating the efforts of expatriate managers
Failure rate
Percentage of expatriates who do not perform satisfactorily
Cultural shock
Perpetual stress experienced by people who settle overseas
Repatriation
Process of employee transition home from an international assignment
Codetermination
Representation of labour on the board of directors of a company
