BUSN 12th Edition - Chapters 14 & 15 Vocabulary

Comprehensive vocabulary flashcards covering management functions, motivation theories, strategic planning, organizational structures, leadership continuum, and human resource management concepts from BUSN 12th Edition.

Management

Achieving the goals of an organization through planning, organizing, leading, and controlling organizational resources including people, money, and time.

Planning

Determining organizational goals and action plans for how to achieve those goals.

Organizing

Determining a structure for both individual jobs and the overall organization.

Leading

Directing and motivating people to achieve organizational goals.

Controlling

Monitoring performance and making adjustments as needed.

Top Management

Managers who set the overall direction of the firm, articulating a vision, establishing priorities, and allocating time, money, and other resources.

Middle Management

Managers who supervise lower-level managers and report to a higher-level manager.

First-Line Management

Supervisory managers who directly supervise nonmanagement employees.

Technical Skills

Expertise in a specific functional area or department.

Human Skills

The ability to work effectively with and through other people in a range of different relationships.

Conceptual Skills

The ability to grasp a big-picture view of the overall organization, the relationships among its various parts, and its fit in the broader competitive environment.

Maslow's Hierarchy of Needs Theory

A motivation theory that suggests that human needs fall into a hierarchy and that as each need is met, people become motivated to meet the next-highest need in the pyramid.

Theory X and Theory Y

A motivation theory that suggests that management attitudes toward workers fall into two opposing categories based on management assumptions about worker capabilities and values.

Job Enrichment

The creation of jobs with more meaningful content, under the assumption that challenging, creative work will motivate employees.

Expectancy Theory

A motivation theory that concerns the relationship among individual effort, individual performance, and individual reward.

Equity Theory

A motivation theory that proposes that perceptions of fairness directly affect worker motivation.

Strategic Planning

High-level, long-term planning that establishes a vision for the company, defines long-term objectives and priorities, determines broad action steps, and allocates resources.

Tactical Planning

More specific, shorter-term planning that applies strategic plans to specific functional areas.

Operational Planning

Very specific, short-term planning that applies tactical plans to daily, weekly, and monthly operations.

Contingency Planning

Planning for unexpected events, usually involving a range of scenarios and assumptions that differ from the assumptions behind the core plans.

Mission

The definition of an organization's purpose, values, and core goals, which provides the framework for all other plans.

SWOT Analysis

A strategic planning tool that helps management evaluate an organization in terms of internal strengths and weaknesses, and external opportunities and threats.

Strategic Goals

Concrete benchmarks that managers can use to measure performance in each key area of the organization.

Strategies

Action plans that help the organization achieve its goals by forging the best fit between the firm and the environment.

Degree of Centralization

The extent to which decision-making power is held by a small number of people at the top of the organization.

Span of Control

Refers to the number of people a manager supervises; also known as span of management.

Departmentalization

The division of workers into logical groups.

Line Organization

Organizations with a clear, simple chain of command from top to bottom.

Line-and-Staff Organization

An organization with line managers forming the primary chain of authority in the company, and staff departments working alongside line departments.

Matrix Organization

Organizations with a flexible structure that brings together specialists from different areas of the company to work on individual projects on a temporary basis.

Leadership Continuum

A model illustrating the balance between employee power and management power across free-rein, democratic, and autocratic leadership styles.

Human Resource (HR) Management

The management function focused on maximizing the effectiveness of the workforce by recruiting world-class talent, promoting career development, and determining workforce strategies to boost organizational effectiveness.

Job Analysis

The examination of specific tasks that are assigned to each position, independent of who might be holding the job at any specific time.

Job Description

An explanation of the responsibilities for a specific position.

Job Specifications

The specific qualifications necessary to hold a particular position.

Internal Recruitment

The process of seeking employees who are currently within the firm to fill open positions.

External Recruitment

The process of seeking new employees from outside the firm.

Structured Interviews

An interviewing approach that involves developing a list of questions beforehand and asking the same questions in the same order to each candidate.

Probationary Period

A specific time frame (typically three to six months) during which a new hire can prove their worth on the job before they become permanent.

Contingent Workers

Employees who do not expect regular, full-time jobs, including temporary full-time workers, independent contractors, and temporary agency or contract agency workers.

Orientation

The first step in the training and development process, designed to introduce employees to the company culture and provide key administrative information.

On-the-Job Training

A training approach that requires employees to simply begin their jobs—sometimes guided by more experienced employees—and to learn as they go.

Apprenticeships

Structured training programs that mandate that each beginner serve as an assistant to a fully trained worker before gaining full credentials to work in the field.

Management Development

Programs to help current and potential executives develop the skills they need to move into leadership positions.

Performance Appraisal

A formal feedback process that requires managers to give their subordinates feedback on a one-to-one basis, typically by comparing actual results to expected results.

Compensation

The combination of pay and benefits that employees receive in exchange for their work.

Wages

The pay that employees receive in exchange for the number of hours or days that they work.

Salaries

The pay that employees receive over a fixed period, most often weekly or monthly.

Variable Pay System

Performance pay options including commissions, bonuses, profit sharing, stock options, and pay for knowledge.

Benefits

Noncash compensation, including programs such as health insurance, vacation, and childcare.

Cafeteria-Style Benefits

An approach to employee benefits that gives all employees a set dollar amount that they must spend on company benefits, allocated however they wish within broad limitations.

Flextime

A scheduling option that allows workers to choose when they start and finish their workdays, as long as they complete the required number of hours.

Compressed Workweek

A version of flextime scheduling that allows employees to work a full-time number of hours in less than the standard workweek.

Civil Rights Act of 1964

Federal legislation that prohibits discrimination in hiring, firing, compensation, apprenticeships, training, terms, conditions, or privileges of employment based on race, color, religion, sex, or national origin.

Title VII

A portion of the Civil Rights Act of 1964 that prohibits discrimination in hiring, firing, compensation, apprenticeships, training, terms, conditions, or privileges of employment based on race, color, religion, sex, or national origin for employers with 15 or more workers.

Equal Employment Opportunity Commission (EEOC)

A federal agency designed to regulate and enforce the provisions of Title VII.

Affirmative Action

Policies meant to increase employment and educational opportunities for historically marginalized groups—especially groups defined by race, ethnicity, or gender.

Sexual Harassment

Workplace discrimination against a person based on their gender, ranging from requests for sexual favors to the presence of a hostile work environment.