MOS 1021: Human Resources and Marketing Midterm Review

Comprehensive practice flashcards reviewing Human Resources (Training, Performance Management, and Appraisal) and Marketing Fundamentals (Environments, Research, Consumer Behaviour, and Strategy).

Learning Organization

An organization skilled at creating, acquiring, and transferring knowledge and at modifying its behavior to reflect new knowledge and insights.

Orientation

A long-term, continuous socialization process in which employee and employer obligations are considered.

Training

Short-term, discrete efforts and the process of teaching employees the basic skills, knowledge, and competencies needed to perform their jobs at an adequate level.

Development

Training of a long-term nature that aims to prepare current employees for future jobs within the organization along their career path.

Employee Onboarding

A procedure for providing new employees with basic background information about the firm and the job.

Socialization

The ongoing process of instilling in all employees the prevailing attitudes, standards, values, and patterns of behavior expected by the company.

Reality Shock (Cognitive Dissonance)

The psychological state that results from the discrepancy between what the new employee expected from their new job and its actual realities.

Negligent Training

A legal claim occurring when an employer fails to train an employee adequately, and the poorly trained employee subsequently harms a third party or causes damage.

Auditory Learning

A learning style centered on talking and listening to acquire knowledge.

Visual Learning

A learning style centered on pictures, print, and visual aids to acquire knowledge.

Kinesthetic Tactile Learning

A learning style involving a whole-body experience where individuals learn through physical activity and completing practical tasks.

Training Needs Analysis

The first step of the training process, which determines what training is required by assessing the needs of employees, evaluating job tasks, and establishing measurable objectives.

Organization Analysis

An examination of an organization's strategic goals, training context, training climate, and organizational resources or barriers to training.

Person Analysis

A component of training needs analysis that identifies who needs training, examines trainee characteristics and learning styles, and distinguishes between "can't do" and "won't do" performance problems.

Task Analysis

Identifying the broad competencies, detailed subtasks, conditions, performance standards, and specific skills required to perform job-related duties effectively.

Performance Analysis

Verifying whether there is a significant performance deficiency and, if so, determining whether that deficiency should be rectified through training or other means.

Programmed Learning

A systematic method for teaching job skills that involves presenting questions or facts, allowing the person to respond, and providing immediate feedback on accuracy, reducing training time by about $\frac{1}{3}$.

Informal Learning

Any learning that occurs in the workplace in which the learning process is not determined or designed by the organization.

Classroom Training

The primary method of corporate training in Canada, typically featuring an instructor leading a group in lecture-style sessions to provide knowledge quickly to large groups.

Blended Learning

An instructional technique combining traditional instructor-led classroom teaching with online e-learning modules to achieve higher engagement and learning results.

On-the-Job Training (OJT)

A training method where a new employee is assigned to an experienced worker or supervisor to practice job skills directly in the work environment with regular, immediate feedback.

Apprenticeship Training

A structured training method where a learner studies under the tutelage of a master craftsperson, blending in-classroom instruction with on-the-job training.

Job Instruction Training (JIT)

The systematic listing of each job's basic tasks along with key points to provide step-by-step training for employees.

Adventure-Based Learning

A traditional team-training technique involving challenging, structured physical activities designed to develop cooperation, trust, communication, problem-solving, and leadership.

Simulation Training (Vestibule Training)

Training employees on specialized synthetic equipment or in artificial environments replicating job realities to reduce on-the-job hazards and training costs while maintaining high retention.

Transfer of Training

The application of skills, behaviours, and knowledge acquired during a training program to the actual work environment and their ongoing maintenance over time.

Controlled Experimentation

An evaluation design utilizing both a trained group (modified) and an untrained control group (unmodified), with performance data collected before and after to assess the precise impact of training.

Kirkpatrick's Training Evaluation Model

A four-level framework used to assess training programs based on Reaction (feelings of trainees), Learning (knowledge acquired), Behaviour (changes on the job), and Results (organizational payoffs).

Performance Management

An ongoing organizational system that defines, measures, and develops the performance of the workforce, directly aligning employee activities and outputs with strategic goals.

Performance Appraisal

A formal, relatively infrequent process in which an employee's performance is evaluated against a predetermined set of criteria and quantified via a formal performance score.

Task Performance

An individual's direct contribution to their specific job-related processes and core technical duties.

Contextual Performance

An individual's indirect contribution to organizational effectiveness by improving social, psychological, and organizational behaviours that extend beyond core job requirements.

Coaching

A hands-on, two-way, frequent-contact process aimed at helping employees improve work performance and capabilities through continuous feedback and guidance.

Performance Improvement Plan (PIP)

A structured action plan that highlights employer and employee expectations with a typical timeline of $30$ to $90\text{ days}$ to correct unsatisfactory performance.

Formal Appraisal Discussion

An interview in which the supervisor and employee review the formal appraisal, analyze performance deficiencies, formulate remedies, and reinforce demonstrated strengths.

Simple Ranking

A performance assessment method where managers rank all employees within their work group from highest to lowest performer.

Alternation Ranking Method

An iterative performance appraisal technique where the supervisor alternates between selecting the highest-performing and lowest-performing employees until all members are ranked.

Forced Distribution Method

An appraisal technique where predetermined percentages of employees are placed into fixed performance categories, typically following a bell curve ($5\%$ poor, $20\%$ fair, $50\%$ average, $20\%$ good, and $5\%$ excellent).

Paired Comparison Method

A ranking technique where all possible pairs of employees are charted and compared on each performance trait, indicating the better employee with a plus sign ($$+$) to identify the highest scorer.

Graphic Rating Scale

A rating tool that lists a number of traits and performance dimensions alongside a standardized scale of performance levels (such as $1$ to $5$) to describe each employee.

Critical Incident Method

Keeping an ongoing record of uncommonly effective or undesirable examples of an employee's work-related behavior and reviewing the list with the employee at predetermined times.

Behaviourally Anchored Rating Scales (BARS)

An appraisal method combining narratives, critical incidents, and quantified ratings by anchoring numerical scale levels with specific behavioral exemplars of good and poor performance.

Behavioral Observation Scales (BOS)

An assessment tool that measures individual performance by determining the explicit frequency with which an employee engages in specific, critical job-related behaviours.

Management by Objectives (MBO)

A goal-setting appraisal technique where managers and employees collaboratively set specific, measurable organizational and individual goals and periodically review progress against those benchmarks.

360-Degree Appraisal

A performance appraisal technique that gathers confidential, anonymous evaluation data from multiple sources across the organization, including supervisors, peers, subordinates, and customers.

Logrolling

A collusive distortion in peer evaluations where coworkers intentionally exchange positive ratings with each other regardless of true individual performance.

Halo Effect

A rating error that occurs when a supervisor's positive perception of an employee on one trait biases their evaluation of that employee on other traits.

Horns Effect

A rating error that occurs when a supervisor's negative perception or low rating of an employee in one area skews the evaluation in other areas downward.

Central Tendency Error

The tendency of an evaluator to rate all employees toward the middle of the rating scale, avoiding exceptionally high or low ratings.

Strictness/Leniency Error

A rating problem occurring when a supervisor has a persistent tendency to evaluate all employees either consistently too low (strictness) or consistently too high (leniency).

Appraisal Bias

The tendency to allow individual characteristics unrelated to job performance, such as age, race, or sex, to distort an employee's appraisal score.

Recency Effect

The rating error that occurs when an evaluation is heavily swayed by an employee's most recent performance rather than their performance across the entire appraisal cycle.

Similar-To-Me Bias

The tendency of evaluators to award higher performance ratings to employees who are perceived to share characteristics, backgrounds, or traits with the rater.

Marketing

The activity, set of institutions, and processes for creating, communicating, delivering, and exchanging offerings that have value for customers, clients, partners, and society at large.

Customer Value

The unique combination of benefits received by target buyers relative to the costs incurred to acquire the product ($\text{Customer Value} = \text{Customer Benefit} - \text{Customer Cost}$).

Marketing Exchange

The voluntary trade of things of value between two or more parties where each party has the ability to communicate, deliver, and realize mutual benefit.

Marketing Myopia

An excessive organizational focus on immediate business needs and short-term selling rather than long-term customer needs, leading to a failure to innovate and adapt.

Target Market

A specific, distinct segment of a population that an organization deliberately directs its marketing programs and resources toward.

Marketing Mix

The four controllable decision-making areas (Product, Price, Place, and Promotion) coordinated by an organization to satisfy customer needs.

Product Strategy

Marketing decisions concerning variables such as product quality, design, features, brand names, packaging, customer service, guarantees, and warranties.

Product Differentiation

A marketing strategy that highlights unique features or tangible advantages of a product to distinguish it from competing brand offerings.

Price Strategy

The development of a pricing structure that is fair and equitable for consumers while remaining profitable for the organization.

Distribution Strategy (Place)

The selection and management of marketing channels and physical logistics to transfer goods and services efficiently from producer to final consumer.

Marketing Communications Strategy (Promotion)

The blending of advertising, sales promotion, experiential marketing, personal selling, and public relations to present a consistent and persuasive message.

Integrated Marketing Communications (IMC)

The strategic coordination of diverse promotional and communication tools into a unified program to maximize market impact on consumers.

Sales Promotion

Marketing activities providing direct incentives to stimulate immediate action and purchases from consumers, distributors, or the sales force.

Experiential Marketing

A promotional approach that builds consumer awareness and emotional connection by engaging customers in direct, memorable interactions with a product or brand.

Customer Relationship Management (CRM)

Organizational strategies and programs designed to optimize profitability, revenue, customer retention, and customer satisfaction by gathering and analyzing consumer data.

Loyalty (Frequent Buyer) Programs

Programs that offer consumers accumulating rewards, points, or bonuses upon purchase to encourage repeat transactions and customer retention.

Production Orientation

A historical business philosophy from the early 1900s centered on the efficient mass production of quality products with little attention paid to specific customer needs.

Selling Orientation

A business philosophy prominent in the 1920s to 1930s emphasizing forceful sales techniques and promotional pushes to sell existing goods without tailoring to customer desires.

Marketing Orientation

A business philosophy established in the 1950s focused on researching target consumer needs and delivering satisfaction more effectively than competitors.

Socially Responsible Marketing Orientation

A philosophy emphasizing that an organization must consider customer satisfaction, company profitability, and the long-term well-being of society and the natural environment.

Cause Marketing

A cooperative effort between a for-profit business and a non-profit organization to support a social cause for mutual benefit without altering core corporate practices.

Societal Marketing Concept

A marketing orientation where an organization proactively alters its products or business practices to minimize societal harm and benefit public well-being.

Brand Democratization

The empowerment of the general public and consumers to produce content and communicate publicly about a given brand, shifting brand narrative control.

Influencer Marketing

Collaborating with social media personalities to promote an organization's offerings, whose effectiveness relies on perceived expertise and product congruence.

Environmental Scanning

The ongoing process of continually acquiring and analyzing information on external trends, events, and relationships to identify opportunities and threats.

Direct Competitors

Competing businesses that market similar products within the same product category to satisfy the exact same consumer needs.

Indirect Competitors

Businesses that offer different kinds of products or services that ultimately satisfy the same fundamental consumer need.

Monopoly

A market structure where a single firm serves the entire market with no viable substitute goods, typically regulated closely by the government.

Oligopoly

A competitive structure dominated by a small number of large firms that control the market, characterized by significant barriers to entry and follow-the-leader behavior.

Monopolistic Competition

A competitive environment where many large and small sellers offer differentiated products, using distinct marketing mixes to attract consumers.

Pure Competition

A market condition where numerous small sellers offer an identical commodity product, with no individual buyer or seller able to influence market prices.

Market Share

The sales volume of one competing product or company expressed as a percentage of the total market sales volume in that industry.

Niche Marketing

A strategy of targeting a product line to one particular market segment and dedicating all organizational marketing resources to satisfying that group.

Gross Income

The total amount of money made in one year by an individual, household, or business before any taxes and deductions.

Disposable Income

The amount of income remaining after paying taxes, used to cover the costs of basic necessities such as food, shelter, and clothing.

Discretionary Income

The income remaining after paying taxes and meeting all basic living necessities, which consumers can spend on vacations, luxury items, or savings.

Census Metropolitan Area (CMA)

An area encompassing all rural and urban regions linked socially or economically to a city's central urban core.

Sandwich Generation

A demographic cohort of adults simultaneously pressured to support their growing children financially while caring for aging parents.

Consumer Behaviour

The actions consumers take when buying and using products, encompassing both purchase activities and consumption activities.

Evoked Set (Consideration Set)

The group of acceptable brands that a consumer actively considers among competing options when making a purchase decision.

Cognitive Dissonance Theory (Leon Festinger)

A psychological theory stating that holding conflicting beliefs, or contrasting a purchased product against positive aspects of rejected alternatives, produces tension that consumers are motivated to reduce.

Consumer Involvement

The personal importance, effort, and interest that a consumer attaches to the purchase and consumption of a product.

Choice Overload Hypothesis (Paradox of Choice)

The proposition, studied by Iyengar & Lepper (2000), that presenting consumers with an extensive array of options can be cognitively taxing, demotivating, and reduce purchase likelihood.

Sensory Marketing

Marketing strategies designed to engage consumer senses (sight, sound, taste, touch, smell) to build emotional connections with a product or brand.

Reference Group

A group of people with common interests and values that influences an individual's attitudes, beliefs, and consumer purchasing behaviours.

Market Research

The systematic and objective process of generating information to aid in making marketing decisions, reducing uncertainty, and increasing strategic confidence.