MKT Defenitions

Human Resource Management (HRM)

All activities that managers engage in to attract and retain employees and ensure they perform at a high level to contribute to organizational goals.

Strategic Human Resource Management

The process of designing and aligning all components of an HRM system to support and reinforce the organizational strategy.

Equal Employment Opportunity (EEO)

The legal principle requiring that employment decisions be based on job qualifications rather than protected traits like race, sex, age, or disability, enforced by statutes including the Equal Pay Act (1963), Title VII (1964), ADEA (1967), ADA (1990), and Civil Rights Act (1991).

Recruitment vs. Selection

Recruitment is developing a pool of qualified applicants for open jobs, while selection is evaluating applicant qualifications to decide whom to hire.

Human Resource Planning

Forecasting current and future human resource supply and demand, and designing strategies to satisfy those personnel needs.

Outsourcing

Contracting with external vendors or suppliers to produce goods or deliver services instead of performing the work in-house.

Job Analysis

The systematic study of a position to define its tasks, duties, and responsibilities (job description) as well as the required knowledge, skills, and abilities (job specification).

Internal vs. External Recruiting

Internal recruiting fills openings from among existing organizational employees; external recruiting seeks candidates from outside the organization.

Lateral Move

A job transfer to another position at the same hierarchical level that involves no change in pay or promotion in rank.

Realistic Job Preview (RJP)

An honest, balanced description of both the appealing and unappealing aspects of a job and organization shared with applicants before hiring.

Validity vs. Reliability in Selection

Validity indicates that a selection tool measures what it is intended to measure and predicts job performance; reliability indicates that a tool produces consistent, dependable results over time and across evaluators.

Training vs. Development

Training teaches employees the skills required to perform their current jobs effectively (e.g., classroom lectures, on-the-job coaching); development focuses on expanding abilities to prepare employees for future roles and challenges (e.g., job rotations, formal education).

Objective vs. Subjective Performance Appraisal

Objective appraisals evaluate performance against measurable factual results and quantitative outputs; subjective appraisals evaluate performance based on managerial perceptions, traits, and behavioral judgments.

360-Degree Appraisal

A performance appraisal method that gathers multi-source feedback from managers, peers, subordinates, clients, and the employee self-evaluation.

Formal vs. Informal Appraisal

Formal appraisals occur at scheduled intervals using standardized evaluation criteria; informal appraisals consist of unscheduled, ongoing assessments and continuous feedback as situations arise.

Pay Level vs. Pay Structure

Pay level describes an organization's compensation positioning compared to external competitors in the market; pay structure establishes the internal hierarchy of jobs and pay grades based on relative organizational importance.

Cafeteria-Style Benefit Plan

A fringe benefit plan that permits employees to choose from a menu of benefit options up to a fixed budget limit.

Labor Relations and Collective Bargaining

Labor relations encompasses managing interactions between management and labor unions; collective bargaining is the formal negotiation process between union representatives and management to agree on employment conditions, wages, and working hours.

Motivation (in Organizational Behavior)

Psychological forces that determine the direction of a person's behavior, their intensity of effort, and their persistence through obstacles.

Intrinsic vs. Extrinsic vs. Prosocial Motivation

Intrinsic motivation is driven by enjoying or finding value in the work itself; extrinsic motivation is driven by gaining material rewards or avoiding penalties; prosocial motivation is driven by the desire to help or benefit other people.

The Motivation/Performance Equation

$\text{Performance} = \text{Motivation} \times \text{Ability} \times \text{Resources}$, where individual contributions (inputs) lead to achievement and subsequent outcomes.

Expectancy Theory

A cognitive theory asserting that motivation depends on expectancy (effort yields performance), instrumentality (performance yields outcomes), and valence (the desirability of outcomes); total motivation becomes zero if any single component is zero.

Maslow's Hierarchy of Needs

A five-level need framework arranged hierarchically (Physiological, Safety, Belongingness, Esteem, Self-Actualization), asserting that basic lower-tier needs must be satisfied before higher-tier growth needs can motivate behavior.

Alderfer's ERG Theory

A needs model categorizing human motivation into Existence, Relatedness, and Growth, postulating that multiple needs can motivate at the same time and that unmet higher needs trigger regression to lower needs.

Herzberg's Motivator-Hygiene Theory

A two-factor model holding that motivator factors (intrinsic job content) generate job satisfaction, while hygiene factors (extrinsic context like pay, working conditions, and company policy) merely prevent dissatisfaction.

McClelland's Learned Needs Theory

A theory proposing three major learned drivers: Need for Achievement (desire to accomplish challenging goals), Need for Affiliation (desire for close interpersonal relationships), and Need for Power (desire to influence and control others).

Equity Theory

A motivation model stating that workers assess fairness by comparing their perceived outcome-to-input ratio against the ratio of a referent other, leading to demotivation if perceived as underpaid or overpaid.

Four Forms of Organizational Justice

Distributive (fairness of outcome distribution), Procedural (fairness of the decision-making process), Interpersonal (treating employees with dignity and respect), and Informational (providing candid and timely explanations).

Goal-Setting Theory

The principle that setting specific, challenging, but attainable and accepted goals results in significantly higher performance than vague or easy goals.

Operant Conditioning

The learning concept that behavior is determined by its consequences, meaning people repeat actions that result in favorable outcomes and stop actions that yield undesirable outcomes.

Social Learning Theory

The theory that learning occurs observationally through watching and modeling the actions and resulting consequences of role models.

Piece-Rate vs. Commission Pay

Piece-rate compensation pays a fixed rate per unit of work produced; commission compensation pays a set percentage of total sales revenue generated.

Scanlon Plan vs. Profit Sharing

A Scanlon plan provides financial bonuses tied directly to cost savings generated by employee suggestions; profit sharing distributes a percentage of overall company profit directly to employees.

Servant Leadership

A leadership philosophy centered on prioritizing the needs, personal growth, and empowerment of followers above leader authority or status.

Five Sources of Leader Power

Legitimate (formal authority derived from organizational position), Reward (control over positive incentives), Coercive (ability to penalize or punish), Expert (specialized knowledge or expertise), and Referent (influence stemming from interpersonal respect and admiration).

Trait vs. Behavior Models of Leadership

Trait models seek to identify distinctive personal attributes that characterize leaders; behavior models focus on what leaders do in practice, specifically consideration and initiating structure.

Consideration vs. Initiating Structure

Consideration refers to leader behaviors that demonstrate warmth, trust, and care for follower well-being; initiating structure refers to task-oriented behaviors that organize work, outline expectations, and establish schedules.

Fiedler's Contingency Model

A model proposing that leadership effectiveness depends on matching a leader's fixed orientation (task-oriented vs. relationship-oriented) to the degree of situational favorableness.

House's Path-Goal Theory

A contingency framework asserting that effective leaders enhance motivation by clarifying the path to rewards and adjusting style (directive, supportive, participative, or achievement-oriented) to fit the subordinate and work environment.

Leader Substitutes Model

A concept showing that characteristics of the subordinates, the work itself, or organizational systems can substitute for or neutralize the need for leadership direction.

Transformational vs. Transactional Leadership

Transformational leadership elevates followers beyond self-interest through charisma, intellectual stimulation, and developmental consideration; transactional leadership relies on exchanges of extrinsic rewards and punishments for routine performance.

Emotional Intelligence in Leadership

The ability to identify, understand, and regulate emotions within oneself and empathize with others, facilitating stronger interpersonal relationships and group performance.

Synergy in Teams

The collaborative gain achieved when individuals work interactively, resulting in a joint group output that exceeds the sum of what individuals could produce independently.

Formal vs. Informal Groups

Formal groups are established by organizational management to achieve defined business objectives (e.g., task forces, command groups); informal groups develop spontaneously among workers to satisfy social connection or mutual interests.

Task Interdependence Types

Pooled (independent contributions are aggregated), Sequential (work moves through a fixed linear sequence of steps), and Reciprocal (work flows back and forth dynamically among members).

Group Role vs. Role Making

A group role is a set of prescribed behaviors and duties assigned to a specific role; role making is the proactive process where members redefine and negotiate their responsibilities.

Five Stages of Group Development

Forming (orientation and initial acquaintance), Storming (internal conflict and role contestation), Norming (cohesion and consensus on expectations), Performing (effective goal pursuit and collaboration), and Adjourning (disbanding after task completion).

Group Norms

Informal, shared standards and codes of conduct that regulate and dictate acceptable behavior among group members.

Social Loafing

The phenomenon where individuals reduce their effort when working collectively in a group compared to when performing the identical task individually.