Post Vocabulary Alpha 2016 Pt. 1 Flashcards
Accounts payable
Money an organization owes its vendors and suppliers.
Accounts receivable
Money an organization’s customers owe the organization.
ADA Amendments Act (ADAAA)
Amendments to U.S. Americans with Disabilities Act covering the definition of individuals regarded as having a disability, mitigating measures, and other rules of construction to guide the analysis of what constitutes a disability.
ADDIE model
Five-step instructional design process that governs the development of learning programs.
Adverse impact
Type of discrimination that results when a neutral policy has a discriminatory effect; also known as disparate impact.
Affinity diagramming
Data sorting technique in which a group categorizes and subcategorizes data until relationships are clearly drawn.
Age Discrimination in Employment Act (ADEA)
U.S. act that prohibits discrimination in the workplace on the basis of age.
Alternative dispute resolution (ADR)
Umbrella term used to describe a number of problem-solving and grievance resolution approaches.
Amendment
Modification of the U.S. Constitution or a U.S. law.
Americans with Disabilities Act (ADA)
U.S. act that prohibits discrimination against a qualified individual with a disability because of his/her disability.
Andragogy
Study of how adults learn.
Applicant tracking software (ATS)
Software that provides an automated way for organizations to manage the recruiting process.
Apprenticeship
Related to technical skills training; often a partnership between employers and unions.
Arbitration
Procedure in which disputes are submitted to one or more impartial persons for final determination.
Assessment centers
Assessment tools that provide candidates a wide range of leadership situations and problem-solving exercises.
Assets
Financial, physical, and sometimes intangible properties an organization owns.
Assignees
Employees who work outside their home countries.
Auditory learners
People who learn best by relying on their sense of hearing.
Authentic leadership
Leadership grounded in an individual’s values and principles and focused on empowering others to act.
Balanced scorecard
Measurement approach that provides an overall picture of an organization’s performance as measured against goals in finance, customers, internal business processes, and learning and growth.
Balance sheet
Statement that reports the financial position of the organization at a specific point in time; shows assets, liabilities, and shareholder equity.
Behavioral interview
Type of interview that focuses on how applicants previously handled real situations.
Benchmarking
Process that compares performance levels and/or processes of one entity with those of another to identify performance gaps and set goals aimed at improving performance.
Benefits
Payments or services provided to employees to cover issues such as retirement, health care, sick pay/disability schemes, life insurance, and paid time off.
Bias
Occurs when an appraiser’s values, beliefs, or prejudices distort performance ratings.
Big data
High-volume, high-velocity, and high-variety information assets that require innovative forms of information processing for enhanced insight and decision making.
Bill
A proposal presented to a legislative body for possible enactment as a statute.
Blended learning
Planned approach to learning that includes a combination of instructor-led training, self-directed study, and/or on-the-job training.
Blogs
Broadcast-style communications that enable authors to publish articles, opinions, product or service reviews, etc., on a web page.
Blue ocean strategies
Strategies that generate competitive advantage by creating a new marketplace arena in which there are no other competitors.
Bona fide occupational qualification (BFOQ)
Situation in which religion, sex, or national origin is reasonably necessary to carrying out a particular job function in the normal operations of an organization.
Brain drain
Exit of educated and skilled citizens from emerging and developing countries for better-paying jobs in developed countries.
Broadbanding
Combining several salary grades or job classifications with narrow pay ranges into one band with a wider salary spread.
Burlington Industries, Inc. v. Ellerth
U.S. court ruling that distinguished between supervisor harassment that results in tangible employment action and supervisor harassment that does not.
Business Acumen competency
The ability to understand and apply information with which to contribute to the organization’s strategic plan.
Business case
Presentation to management that establishes that a specific problem exists and argues that the proposed solution is the best way to solve the problem in terms of time, cost efficiency, and probability of success.
Business intelligence
Ability to gather and analyze data from inside and outside the organization so that information is available for decision makers.
Career development
Process by which employees progress through a series of stages in their careers, each of which is characterized by relatively unique issues, themes, and tasks.
Career management
Preparing, implementing, and monitoring employees’ career paths, with a primary focus on the goals and needs of the organization.
Career planning
Actions and activities that individuals perform in order to give direction to their work lives.
Cash flow statement
Statement that shows incoming and outgoing cash in the areas of operations, investments, and financing and remaining cash reserves; reflects an organization’s ability to meet its current and short-term obligations.
Center of excellence (COE)
HR structural alternative established as an independent department that provides services within a focused area to internal clients.
Central tendency error
Error that occurs when an appraiser rates all employees within a narrow range, regardless of differences in actual performance.
Chain of command
Line of authority within an organization.
Civil law
Legal system based on written codes (laws, rules, or regulations).
Civil Rights Act of 1964
First comprehensive U.S. law making it unlawful to discriminate on the basis of race, color, religion, sex, or national origin.
Civil Rights Act of 1991
U.S. act that expands the possible damage awards available to victims of intentional discrimination to include compensatory and punitive damages; gives plaintiffs in cases of alleged discrimination the right to a jury trial.
Cloud computing
Style of computing in which scalable IT-enabled capabilities are delivered as a service using Internet technologies.
Code of conduct
Principles of conduct within an organization that guide decision making and behavior; also known as code of ethics.
Codetermination
Form of corporate governance that requires a typical management board and a supervisory board and that allows management and employees to participate in strategic decision making.
Co-employment
Situation in which an organization shares responsibility and liability for their alternative workers with an alternative staffing supplier; also known as joint employment.
Collective bargaining
Process by which management and union representatives negotiate the employment conditions for a particular bargaining unit for a designated period of time.
Collective bargaining agreement
Agreement or contract negotiated through collective bargaining process.
Common law
Legal system in which each case is considered in terms of how it relates to legal decisions that have already been made; evolves through judicial decisions over time.
Communication competency
The ability to effectively exchange information with stakeholders.
Comparable worth
Concept that states that jobs requiring comparable skills, effort, responsibility, and working conditions filled primarily by women should have the same job classification and salary as similar jobs filled by men.
Compa-ratio
Pay rate divided by the midpoint of the pay range.
Compensation
All financial returns (beyond any benefits payments or services), including salary and allowances.
Competencies
Clusters of highly interrelated attributes, including knowledge, skills, or abilities (KSA) that give rise to the behaviors needed to perform a given job effectively.
Competency-based interview
Type of interview in which the interviewer asks questions related to competencies for the position and asks candidates to provide examples of times they demonstrated the competencies.
Compliance
Being in accordance with all national, federal, regional, or local laws, regulations, and government authority requirements for all the nations in which an organization operates.
Compliance program
System for ensuring that policies and procedures addressing issues identified in the code of conduct are presented to and understood and acted on by everyone in the organization and for evaluating the results of those efforts.
Conciliation
Method of nonbinding dispute resolution involving a third party who tries to help disputing parties reach a mutually agreeable decision; also known as mediation.
Conflict of interest
Situation in which a person or organization has the potential to be influenced by opposing sets of incentives.
Consolidated Omnibus Budget Reconciliation Act (COBRA)
U.S. act that provides individuals and dependents who may lose medical coverage with opportunity to pay to continue coverage.
Constructive discipline
Form of corrective discipline that implements increasingly severe penalties for employees; also called progressive discipline.
Consultation competency
The ability to provide guidance to organizational stakeholders.
Contingency plan
Protocol that an organization implements when an identified risk event.
Contrast error
Error that occurs when an employee’s rating is based on how his or her performance compares to that of another employee rather than objective standards.
Corporate social responsibility (CSR)
Recognition of the impact a corporation has on the lives of its stakeholders and the environment; can include corporate governance, corporate philanthropy, sustainability, and employee rights and workplace safety.
Cosourcing
Situation in which an enterprise outsources only one part of a function, often collocating it at the organization’s workplace.
Cost-benefit analysis
Ratio of value created to cost of creating that value; allows management to determine the financial impact particular activities and programs have on an organization’s profitability.
Cost-of-living adjustment (COLA)
Pay adjustment given to eligible employees regardless of performance or organizational profitability; usually linked to inflation.
Critical Evaluation competency
The ability to interpret information with which to make business decisions and recommendations.
Critical path
Describes the shortest amount of time required to complete a project, taking into account all project task relationships.
Cultural noise
Type of measurement bias in which analyst fails to recognize that individual is responding with answers the analyst wants to hear and that analyst’s culture/values are determining what he or she hears.
Cultural relativism
Concept that argues that ethical behavior is determined by local culture, laws, and business practices.
Culture
Set of beliefs, attitudes, values, and behaviors shared by members of a group and passed down from one generation to the next.
Dashboards
Reporting mechanisms that aggregate and display metrics and key performance indicators.
Database
Data structure that stores organized information (numeric information as well as sound clips, pictures, and videos).
Database management system (DBMS)
Variety of software applications that electronically manage stored data.
Dedicated HR
HR structural alternative that allows businesses with different strategies in multiple units to apply HR expertise to each unit’s specific strategic needs.
Delphi technique
Forecasting technique that progressively collects information from a group without physically assembling the contributors.
Departmentalization
Way an organi?zation groups jobs to coordinate work.
Developmental activities
Activities that focus on preparing employees for future responsibilities while increasing their capacity to perform their current jobs.
Differential pay
Pay rates that are affected by where or when an employee works.
Dilemma reconciliation
Process of charting a course through cultural differences.
Disability
Physical or mental impairment that substantially limits major life activities.
Disparate impact
Type of discrimination that results when a neutral policy has a discriminatory effect; also known as adverse impact.
Disparate treatment
Type of discrimination that occurs when an applicant or employee is treated differently because of his or her membership in a protected class.
Distance learning
Process of delivering educational or instructional programs to locations away from a classroom or site.
Diversity
Differences in characteristics of people; can involve personality, work style, race, age, ethnicity, gender, religion, education, functional level at work, etc.
Diversity council
Task force created to define a diversity and inclusion initiative and guide the development and implementation process.
Diversity dimensions
Framework for understanding the range and complexity of diversity; includes four layers (personality, internal dimensions, external dimensions, and organizational dimensions); also known as identity group.
Diversity of thought
Concept describing the presence of different types of cognitive processes in a workplace; opposed to “groupthink,” or similarity of thought processes and opinions.
Divestiture
Sale by a company of an asset that is not performing well, that is not core to the company’s business, or that is worth more as a separate entity.
Domestic partners
Unmarried couples, of the same or opposite sex, who live together and seek economic and noneconomic benefits comparable to those granted to their married counterparts.
Drug-Free Workplace Act
U.S. law that requires federal contractors with contracts of $100,000 or more as well as recipients of grants from federal government to certify they are maintaining a drug-free workplace.
Dual career ladders
Career development programs that identify meaningful career paths for professional and technical people outside traditional management roles.