Chapter 1

Question 1

competitivenes

Answer 1

a company’s ability to maintain and gain market share in its industry

Question 2

human resource management

Answer 2

the policies, practices, and systems that influence employees’ behavior, attitudes, and performance

Question 3

shared service model

Answer 3

a way to organize the HR function that includes centers of expertise, service centers, and business partners; can help control costs and improve the business relevance and timeliness of HR practices

Question 4

self-service

Answer 4

giving employees online access to HR information (training, benefits, compensation, contracts, enrolling in online services, surveys, etc)

Question 5

outsourcing

Answer 5

the practice of having another company (vendor, third party, consultant) provide services

Question 6

evidence-based HR

Answer 6

the demonstration that human resource practices have a positive influence on the company’s key stakeholders (employees, customers, community, shareholders)

Question 7

HR/workforce analytics

Answer 7

the practice of using quantitative and scientific methods to analyze data from human resource databases or other sources to make evidence based human resource decisions and show that HR practices influence the organization’s bottom line (including profits and costs)

Question 8

sustainabilty

Answer 8

a company’s ability to meet its needs without sacrificing the ability of future generations to meet their needs

Question 9

stakeholders

Answer 9

the various interest groups who have relationships with, and consequently, whose interests are tied to the organization (employees, suppliers, customers, shareholders, community)

Question 10

intangible assests

Answer 10

a type of company asset including human capital, customer capital, social capital, and intellectual capital

Question 11

knowledge workers

Answer 11

employees who own the intellectual means of producing a product or service

Question 12

empowering

Answer 12

giving employees responsibility and authority to make decisions

Question 13

learning organization

Answer 13

a culture of lifelong learning in which employees are continually trying to learn new things

Question 14

change

Answer 14

the adoption of a new idea or behavior by a company

Question 15

employee engagement

Answer 15

the degree to which employees are fully involved in their work and the strength of their job and company commitment

Question 16

talent management

Answer 16

a systematic planned strategic effort by a company to attract, retain, develop, and motivate highly skilled employees and managers

Question 17

alternative work arrangements

Answer 17

independent contractors, on-call workers, temporary workers, and contract company workers who are not employed full-time by the company

Question 18

balanced scorecard

Answer 18

a means of performance measurement that gives managers a chance to look at their company from the perspectives of internal and external customers, employees, and shareholders

Question 19

total quality management

Answer 19

a cooperative form of doing business that relies on the talents and capabilities of both labor and management to continually improve quality and productivity

Question 20

Malcom Baldrige National Quality award

Answer 20

an award established in 1987 to promote quality awareness, to recognize quality achievements of U.S. companies, and to publicize successful quality strategies

Question 21

ISO 9000:2000

Answer 21

quality standards accepted worldwide

Question 22

six sigma process

Answer 22

system of measuring, analyzing, improving, and controlling processes once they meet quality standards

Question 23

lean thinking

Answer 23

a process used to determine how to use less effort, time, equipment, and space but still meet customers’ requirements

Question 24

internal labor force

Answer 24

labor force of current employees

Question 25

externam labor market

Answer 25

persons outside the firm who are actively seeking employment

Question 26

ethics

Answer 26

the fundamental principles of right and wrong by which employees and companies interact

Question 27

Sarbanes-Oxley act of 2002

Answer 27

a congressional act passed in response to illegal and unethical behavior by managers and executives - the act sets stricter rules for business especially accounting practices including requiring more open and consistent disclosure of financial data, CEO’s assurance that the data is completely accurate, and provsions that affect the employe-employer relationship (ex development of a code of conduct for senior financial officers)

Question 28

offshoring

Answer 28

exporting jobs from developed to less developed countries

Question 29

reshoring

Answer 29

moving jobs from overseas to the U.S.

Question 30

social networking

Answer 30

websites and blogs that facilitate interactions between people

Question 31

human resource information system (HRIS)

Answer 31

a system used to acquire, store, manipulate, analyze, retrieve, and distribute HR information

Question 32

cloud computing

Answer 32

a computing system that provides information technology infrastructure over a network in a self-service, modifiable, and on-demand model

Question 33

HR dashboard

Answer 33

HR metrics such as productivity and absenteeism that are accessible by employees and managers through the company intranet or human resource information system (HRIS)

Question 34

high-performance work systems

Answer 34

work systems that maximize the fit between the company’s social system and technical system

Question 35

virtual teams

Answer 35

teams that are separated by time, geographic distance, culture, and/or organizational boundaries and rely exclusively on technology for interaction between team members