M: Business (7e 22)-SC - Chapter 10 and 3: Managing Human Resources

Human resources

Labor, the physical and mental abilities that people use to produce goods and services

Human resource management (HRM)

all the activities involved in determining an organization’s human resource needs, as well as acquiring, training, and compensating people to fill those needs.

Job Analysis

the determination, through observation and study, of pertinent information about a job—including specific tasks and necessary abilities, knowledge, and skills.

Job description

a formal, written explanation of a specific job, usually including job title, tasks, relationship with other jobs, physical and mental skills required, duties, responsibilities, and working conditions.

Job Specifications

a description of the qualifications necessary for a specific job, in terms of education, experience, and personal and physical characteristics.

Recruiting

forming a pool of qualified applicants from which management can select employees.

Selection

the process of collecting information about applicants and using that information to make hiring decision

Pre-employment assessment

tests given to job candidates by potential employers prior to hiring to determine whether an applicant has the skills necessary for the job.

Title VII of the Civil Rights Act

prohibits discrimination in employment based on race, color, religion, sex, and national origin and created the Equal Employment Opportunity Commission.

Americans with Disabilities Act (ADA)

a civil rights law that prohibits discrimination against people with disabilities.

Age Discrimination in Employment Act

a labor law that prohibits age-based discrimination against people 40 years of age or older.

Equal Pay Act

a labor law that prohibits wage discrimination based on sex.

Orientation

familiarizing newly hired employees with fellow workers, company procedures, and the physical properties of the company.

Training

teaching employees to do specific job tasks through either classroom development or on-the-job experience.

Mentoring

involves supporting, training, and guiding an employee’s professional development.

Development

training that augments the skills and knowledge of managers and professionals.

Turnover

occurs when employees quit or are fired and must be replaced by new employees.

Promotion

an advancement to a higher-level job with increased authority, responsibility, and pay.

Transfer

a move to another job within the company at essentially the same level and wage.

Separations

employment changes involving resignation, retirement, termination, or layoff.

Wage/Salary survey

a study that tells a company how much compensation comparable firms are paying for specific jobs that the firms have in common.

Wages

financial rewards based on the number of hours the employee works or the level of output achieved.

Commission

an incentive system that pays a fixed amount or a percentage of the employee’s sales.

Salary

a financial reward calculated on a weekly, monthly, or annual basis.

Bonuses

monetary rewards offered by companies for exceptional performance as incentives to further increase productivity.

Profit sharing

a form of compensation whereby a percentage of company profits is distributed to the employees whose work helped to generate them.

Benefits

forms of compensation provided to employees that are not part of an employee’s wages.

Fringe benefits

Noncash compensation that has financial value (sick leave, vacation pay, pension plans, health insurance, etc.)

Labor unions

employee organizations formed to deal with employers for achieving better pay, hours, and working conditions.

Collective bargaining

the negotiation process through which management and unions reach an agreement about compensation, working hours, and working conditions for the bargaining unit.

Labor contract

the formal, written document that spells out the relationship between the union and management for a specified period of time— usually two or three years.

Picketing

a public protest against management practices that involves union members marching and carrying antimanagement signs at the employer’s plant.

Strikes

employee walkouts; one of the most effective weapons labor has.

Boycotting

an attempt to keep people from purchasing the products of a company.

Lockout

management’s version of a strike, wherein a work site is closed so that employees cannot go to work.

Strikebreakers

people hired by management to replace striking employees; called “scabs” by striking union members.

Concillation

a method of outside resolution of labor and management differences in which a third party is brought in to keep the two sides talking.

Mediation

a method of outside resolution of labor and management differences in which the third party’s role is to suggest or propose a solution to the problem.

Arbitration

settlement of a labor/management dispute by a third party whose solution is legally binding and enforceable.

Diversity

the presence of differences within an organization based on factors such as race, gender, religion, sexual orientation, ethnicity, nationality, socioeconomic status, language, abilities, age, or political beliefs.

Equity

providing equal opportunities and fair treatment for all employees.

Inclusion

the degree to which diverse individuals are valued and welcomed by the organization.

Affirmative Action programs

legally mandated plans that try to increase job opportunities for underrepresented groups by analyzing the current pool of workers, identifying areas where certain groups are underrepresented, and establishing specific hiring and promotion goals, with target dates, for addressing the discrepancy.

Which of the following is an example of subjective performance appraisal? 

• individual sales data

• evaluation of communication with customers

• inventory accuracy

• number of yoga classes attended each week

evaluation of communication with customers

International Business

the buying, selling, and trading of goods and services across national boundaries.

Absolute advantage

a monopoly that exists when a country is the only source of an item, the only producer of an item, or the most efficient producer of an item.

Comparative advantage

the basis of most international trade, when a country specializes in products that it can supply more efficiently or at a lower cost than it can produce other items.

Outsourcing

the transferring of manufacturing or other tasks—such as data processing—to countries where labor and supplies are less expensive.

Exporting

the sale of goods and services to foreign markets.

Importing

the purchase of goods and services from foreign sources.

Balance of trade

the difference in value between a nation’s exports and its imports.

Trade deficit

a nation’s negative balance of trade, which exists when that country imports more products than it exports.

balance of payments

the difference between the flow of money into and out of a country.

Infrastructure

the physical facilities that support a country’s economic activities, such as communication, transportation, education, and health care systems as well as utilities.

Exchange rate

the ratio at which one nation’s currency can be exchanged for another nation’s currency.

Import tariffs

a tax levied by a nation on goods imported into the country.

Exchange controls

regulations that restrict the amount of currency that can be bought or sold.

Quota

a restriction on the number of units of a particular product that can be imported into a country.

Embargo

a prohibition on trade in a particular product.

Dumping

the act of a country or business selling products at less than what it costs to produce them.

Cartel

a group of firms or nations that agrees to act as a monopoly and not compete with each other, in order to generate a competitive advantage in world markets.

General Agreement on Tariffs and Trade (GATT)

a trade agreement, originally signed by 23 nations in 1947, that provided a forum for tariff negotiations and a place where international trade problems could be discussed and resolved.

World Trade Organization (WTO)

international organization dealing with the rules of trade between nations.

United States-Mexico-Canada Agreement (USMCA)

agreement that eliminates most tariffs and trade restrictions to encourage trade among the United States, Mexico, and Canada.

European Union (EU)

a union of European nations established in 1958 to promote trade among its members; one of the largest single markets today.

Asia-Pacific Economic Cooperation (APEC)

an international trade alliance that promotes open trade and economic and technical cooperation among member nations.

Association of Southeast Asian Nations (ASEAN)

a trade alliance that promotes trade and economic integration among member nations in Southeast Asia.

World Bank

an organization established by the industrialized nations in 1946 to loan money to underdeveloped and developing countries; formally known as the International Bank for Reconstruction and Development.

International Monetary Fund

an organization established in 1947 to promote trade among member nations by eliminating trade barriers and fostering financial cooperation.

Countertrade agreements

foreign trade agreements that involve bartering products for other products instead of for currency.

Trading Company

a firm that buys goods in one country and sells them to buyers in another country.

Licensing

a trade agreement in which one company—the licensor—allows another company—the licensee—to use its company name, products, patents, brands, trademarks, raw materials, and/or production processes in exchange for a fee or royalty.

Franchising

a form of licensing in which a company—the franchiser—agrees to provide a franchisee a name, logo, methods of operation, advertising, products, and other elements associated with a franchiser’s business in return for a financial commitment and the agreement to conduct business in accordance with the franchiser’s standard of operations.

Contract manufacturing

the hiring of a foreign company to produce a specified volume of the initiating company’s product to specification; the final product carries the domestic firm’s name.

Offshoring

the relocation of business processes by a company or subsidiary to another country; offshoring is different than outsourcing.

Joint Venture

a partnership established for a specific project or for a limited time.

Strategic Alliance

a partnership formed to create competitive advantage on a worldwide basis.

Direct investment

the ownership of overseas facilities.

Multinational corporation (MNC)

a corporation that operates on a worldwide scale, without significant ties to any one nation or region.

Multinational strategy

a plan, used by international companies, that involves customizing products, promotion, and distribution according to cultural, technological, regional, and national differences.

Global Strategy (globalization)

a strategy that involves standardizing products (and, as much as possible, their promotion and distribution) for the whole world, as if it were a single entity.

foreign subsidiary

a company owned or controlled by a parent company headquartered in another country