Current Issues and Trends Flashcards
The ____ technique is a group decision method in which individual members, acting separately, pool their judgments in a systematic and independent fashion.
Delphi
One of the most popular approaches to technological forecasting was developed by the RAND Corporation and is known as the ______ Method.
Delphi
Technological forecasting involves predicting the state of technology in the future.
The rapid pace of Information Technology (IT) development has led to the creation of Human Resource ___________ Systems that are designed to deal with every aspect of human resource management, including storing data to forecasting labor needs, career planning and policy evaluation.
Information
The Human Resource Information System (HRIS) is meant to reduce the paperwork burden for HR and to assist in controlling HR and making decisions.
The overall effects of Information Technoloy (IT) in HR have to been to better decision-making, reduce costs, increase productivity, improve communications, speed up response times, and _____ administrative costs.
lower
With a modern IT system, communications with employees can be virtually instantaneous, not just locally but in very many parts of the world.
The _________ of the workforce is constantly changing in the US due to demographic changes, such as age, race and gender distribution as well as the educational levels of population.
diversity
The US is in a state of constant demographic flux. The regular arrival of immigrants will mean that the racial make-up of the labor pool will be altering.
__________________ describes the policy whereby employers remedy past discriminatory practices to minorities by adhering to specific guidelines to achieve a balanced and diverse workforce.
Affirmative action
Many firms voluntarily develop their own AAP but it is mandatory for employers with federal contracts exceeding $50,000 and those employers subject to a _____ order.
court
The court may impose an AAP on an employer with previous history of discrimination with set goals and dates for compliance.
Affirmative action is a highly emotional and contentious issue because it affects all workers and can lead to the charge of _______ discrimination.
Reverse
Reverse discrimination describes the situation when preference for the protected classes is practiced to the extent that the non-protected classes believe that they are being discriminated against.
More and more _____ are joining the workforce and employers must constantly meet the challenges of providing them equality of employment, promotion and pay as well as having to create family-friendly policies to accommodate the needs of working parents.
women
Employers are finding that such policies attract good workers, and make them happy and loyal to the company.
Although the educational qualifications of the workforce have risen sharply in recent years, conversely, at the other end, studies have shown that a large proportion of our workers are functionally __________. This indicates that there are insufficient numbers of qualified individuals in the labor pool.
illiterate
There is a widening gap between those who do and those who do not have a basic education.
Employers should aim to manage _________, so that organizations are very aware of the common characteristics amongst employees but at the same time manage them as individuals.
diversity
Employers must not merely accommodate for the differences in employees but also support, nurture and use each employee for the overall benefit of the organization.
Financial gain is no longer the only determinant of success for employees, with many aiming for a ________ life combining work with personal fulfillment.
balanced
Many people now view success in life as mixing family, work and personal goals, rather than pure financial attainment.
Although more companies are introducing family friendly policies, there are costs involved and the risk that such policies can ________ singles.
alienate
Such policies can alienate singles or those who do not qualify, such as older workers. About 60% of the US workforce do not have children under the age of 18.
In order to remain _________ in today’s market, many firms have set up virtual teams who are linked through sophisticated telecommunications and computer networks across the world.
competitive
Virtual teams provide new avenues for cooperation and access to expertise that was previously not available, once barriers such as language and culture are overcome.
Flexible work schedules such as __________ workweek, flextime, job sharing and telecommuting are becoming increasingly popular as employees want to fit their jobs around their lifestyles.
compressed
In a compressed workweek, the number of hours worked each day is lengthened to shorten the workweek. Flextime means working the total number of normal hours of the job, but at times convenient to the employee.
