Business Management and Operations Practice Flashcards

Comprehensive vocabulary flashcards covering the internal business environment, management approaches (Classical, Behavioral, Contingency), operations processes, and the Human Resource Management cycle based on the lecture transcript.

Internal environment

Factors over which the business has some degree of control, including products, location, resources, management, and business culture.

Location influences

Internal factors that can determine success or failure; a good location leads to sales and profits, while a bad location is a liability.

Human Resources

Employees of the business who are generally considered its most important asset.

Information resources

The knowledge and data required by a business, such as market research, sales reports, and economic forecasts.

Financial resources

The funds available to and used by the business.

Physical resources

Tangible assets including equipment, machines, and raw materials.

Business culture

The values, ideas, expectations, and beliefs shared by members of the organization.

Values (Business Culture)

Basic beliefs shared among a business's employees.

Rituals

Routine behavior patterns in a business's everyday life.

Heroes

Successful employees who reflect the values of the business.

Classical approach to management

An approach that stresses how best to manage and organize workers to improve productivity, focusing on efficiency and control.

Scientific management

An approach developed by Taylor that studies a job in great detail to discover the best way to perform it.

Bureaucracy

According to Weber, the most efficient form of organization involving a strict hierarchical structure, clear lines of communication, and defined rules.

Strategic planning

Long-term planning covering $3$ to $5$ years that assists in determining where in the market the business wants to be relative to competitors.

Tactical planning

Medium-term, flexible, and adaptable planning covering $1$ to $2$ years.

Operational planning

Short-term planning focusing on day-to-day activities to achieve goals.

Controlling

The process of evaluating performance and taking corrective action to ensure objectives are being achieved.

Management hierarchy

An arrangement providing increasing authority at higher levels, where senior managers have greater accountability and power.

Autocratic leadership style

A style where the manager makes all decisions, dictates work methods, and expects obedience without employee participation.

Behavioral approach

An approach that stresses people (employees) should be the main focus of how a business is organized.

Motivation

The internal process that energizes and sustains an individual’s behavior, causing them to behave in a particular way.

Participative/Democratic leadership style

A leadership style where the manager consults with employees and considers their suggestions when making decisions.

Contingency approach

An approach that stresses the need for flexibility and adaptation of management practices to suit changing circumstances.

Operations management

Activities in which managers engage to produce a good or service by creating and controlling a transformational process.

Tangibles

Goods that can be touched, produced by manufacturing businesses and capable of being stored.

Intangibles

Services that cannot be touched, where consumption and production usually occur at the same time.

Inputs

Resources used in the transformation process, including transformed resources (materials, information, customers) and transforming resources (human resources and facilities).

Transformation

The conversion of inputs into outputs (goods and services).

Quality Control

The use of inspections at various points in the production process to check for problems and defects.

Quality Assurance

The use of a system so that a business achieves set standards in production.

Total Quality Management (TQM)

An ongoing business-wide commitment to excellence applied to every aspect of operations by sharing responsibility among all members.

Kaizen

Japanese term for continuous improvement.

Human Resource Management (HRM)

The effective management of the formal relationship between the employer and employees.

Acquisition

The first stage of the human resource cycle involving hiring new employees through planning, recruitment, and selection.

Job description

A written statement describing an employee's duties, tasks, and responsibilities associated with a job.

Job specification

A list of key qualifications, education, skills, and experience needed to perform a particular job.

Internal recruitment

Filling job vacancies with present employees rather than looking outside the business.

Training

The process of teaching staff how to perform their job more efficiently by boosting current skills and knowledge.

Development

Activities aimed at preparing staff for greater responsibilities and future skills for promotion.

Employment contract

A legally binding, formal agreement between an employer and an employee, usually governed by the Fair Work Act $2009$.

National Employment Standards (NES)

A set of $10$ minimum employment conditions to which employees are entitled, such as annual leave and hours of work.

Award

A legally binding agreement that sets out the minimum wage and conditions for a group of employees performing similar jobs.

Enterprise agreements

Collective agreements made at a workplace level between an employer and a union or group of employees regarding terms and conditions.

Redundancy

A form of voluntary or involuntary separation occurring when a person’s job no longer exists due to technological change or mergers.

Dismissal

Involuntary separation where a business terminates an employee's contract due to unacceptable behavior.