SHRM Flashcards
Single-rate pay
Provides each incumbent of a job with the same rate of pay, regardless of performance or seniority; also known as flat-rate pay.
Job rotation
Movement between different jobs.
Age Discrimination in Employment Act (ADEA)
U.S. act that prohibits discrimination in the workplace on the basis of age.
Staffing
HR function that acts on the organizational human capital needs identified through workforce planning and attempts to provide an adequate supply of qualified individuals to complete the body of work necessary for the organization’s financial success.
Independent contractors
Self-employed individuals hired on a contract basis for specialized services.
Orientation
Process by which new employees become familiar with the organization and with their specific department, coworkers, and job.
Realistic job preview (RJP)
Tool used to provide a job applicant with honest, complete information about a job and the work environment.
Employee engagement
Employees’ emotional commitment to an organization, demonstrated by their willingness to put in discretionary effort to promote the organization’s effective functioning.
Compensation
All financial returns (beyond any tangible benefits payments or services), including salary and allowances.
Sarbanes-Oxley Act (SOX)
U.S. act that requires that all publicly held companies establish internal controls and procedures for financial reporting to reduce the possibility of corporate fraud.
Workforce planning
Activities needed to ensure that workforce size and competencies meet current and future organizational and individual needs.
Protected class
People who are covered under a particular federal or state antidiscrimination law.
Restructuring
Act of reorganizing the legal, ownership, operational, or other structures of an organization.
National origin
Refers to the country (including those that no longer exist) of one’s birth or of one’s ancestors’ birth.
Onshoring
Relocation of business processes or production to a lower-cost location inside the same country as the business.
Identity alignment
Extent to which diversity is embraced in management of people, products/services, and branding.
Mission statement
Concise outline of an organization’s strategy, specifying the activities the organization intends to pursue and the course its management has charted for the future.
Globalization
Status of growing interconnectedness and interdependency among countries, people, markets, and organizations worldwide.
Transfer of learning
Effective and continuing on-the-job application of the knowledge and skills gained through a training experience.
Annualized loss expectancy (ALE)
Expected monetary loss for an asset due to a risk over a one-year period; calculated by multiplying single loss expectancy by annualized rate of occurrence.
Faragher v. City of Boca Raton
U.S. court ruling that distinguished between supervisor harassment that results in tangible employment action and supervisor harassment that does not.
Occupational Safety and Health (OSH) Act
U.S. act that established the first national policy for workplace safety and health and continues to deliver standards that employers must meet to guarantee the health and safety of their employees.
Span of control
Refers to the number of individuals who report to a supervisor.
Software as a service (SaaS)
Software that is owned, delivered, and managed remotely and delivered over the Internet to contracted customers on a pay-for-use basis or as a subscription based on use metrics.
Job analysis
Process of systematically studying a job in order to identify the activities/tasks and responsibilities it includes, the personal qualifications necessary to perform it, and the conditions under which it is performed.
Selection interviews
Interviews designed to probe areas of interest to the interviewer in order to determine how well a job candidate meets the needs of the organization.
Equity
Amount of owners’ or shareholders’ portion of a business.
Quid pro quo harassment
Type of sexual harassment that occurs when an employee is forced to choose between giving in to a superior’s sexual demands and forfeiting an economic benefit such as a pay increase, a promotion, or continued employment.
Balanced scorecard
Performance management tool that depicts an organization’s overall performance, as measured against goals, lagging indicators, and leading indicators.
Labor union
Group of workers who coordinate their activities to achieve common goals in their relationship with an employer or group of employers; also called trade union.
Broadbanding
Combining several salary grades or job classifications with narrow pay ranges into one band with a wider salary spread.
Employee resource group (ERG)
Voluntary group for employees who share a particular diversity dimension (race, religion, ethnicity, sexual orientation, etc.); also known as affinity group or network group.
Benefits
Mandatory or voluntary payments or services provided to employees, typically covering retirement, health care, sick pay/disability, life insurance, and paid time off.
Fair Labor Standards Act (FLSA)
U.S act that establishes minimum wage, overtime pay, youth employment, and record-keeping standards affecting full- and part-time workers in the private sector and in federal, state, and local governments.
Leading indicator
Type of metric describing an activity that can change future performance and predict success in the achievement of strategic goals.
High-context cultures
Societies or groups characterized by complex, usually long-standing networks of relationships; members share a rich history of common experience, so the way they interact and interpret events is often not apparent to outsiders.
Career development
Progression through a series of employment stages characterized by relatively unique issues, themes, and tasks.
Whistleblowing
Reporting of an organization’s violations of policies and processes by employees.
National Federation of Independent Business v. Sebelius
U.S. Supreme Court ruling that Patient Protection and Affordable Care Act requirement that individuals purchase health insurance was constitutional but requirement that states expand Medicaid was not.
Active listening
Communication technique to increase the engagement between communicators and their audiences. It involves two-way communication and attention to nonverbal signs that indicate interest and reactions to the message and speaker.
Bona fide occupational qualification (BFOQ)
Factor (such as religion, gender, national origin, etc.) that is reasonably necessary, in the normal operations of an organization, to carry out a particular job function.
Knowledge management (KM)
Process of creating, acquiring, sharing, and managing knowledge to augment individual and organizational performance.
Pilot programs
Learning/development programs offered initially in a controlled environment with a segment of the target audience.
Compliance
State of being in accordance with all national, federal, regional, and/or local laws, regulations, and/or other government authority requirements applicable to the places in which an organization operates.
Total rewards strategy
Plan or method implemented by an organization that provides monetary, benefits-in-kind, and developmental rewards to employees who achieve specific business goals.
Amendment
Modification of the U.S. Constitution or a U.S. law.
Work-to-rule
Situation in which workers slow processes by performing tasks exactly to specifications or according to job or task descriptions.
Worker Adjustment and Retraining Notification (WARN) Act
U.S. act that requires some employers to give a minimum of 60 days’ notice if a plant is to close or if mass layoffs will occur.
Turnover
Act of replacing employees leaving an organization; attrition or loss of employees.
Sympathy strike
Action taken in support of another union that is striking the employer.
Lockout
Action of an employer to shut down operations to prevent employees from working.
Staff units
Work groups that assist line units by providing specialized services, such as HR.
Individual development plan (IDP)
Document that guides employees toward their goals for professional development and growth.
Disability
Physical or mental impairment that substantially limits one’s major life activities.
Risk management
System for identifying, evaluating, and controlling actual and potential risks to an organization.
Repatriation
Process by which employees returning from international assignments reintegrate into their home country’s culture, conditions, and employment.
Leader development
Training and professional development programs targeted at assisting management- and executive-level employees in developing the skills, abilities, and flexibility required to deal with a variety of situations.
Risk scorecard
Tool used to gather individual assessments of various characteristics of risk (e.g., frequency of occurrence; degree of impact, loss, or gain for the organization; degree of efficacy of current controls).
Remuneration surveys
Instruments that collect information on prevailing market compensation and benefits practices (including starting wage rates, base pay, pay ranges, statutory and market cash payments, variable compensation, and paid time off).
Green-circle rates
Situations in which an employee’s pay is below the minimum of the range.
Performance-based pay
Situation where an individual’s performance on the job is the basis for the amount and timing of pay increases; also called merit pay or pay for performance.
Consolidated Omnibus Budget Reconciliation Act (COBRA)
U.S. act that provides individuals and dependents who may lose health-care coverage with opportunity to pay to continue coverage.
Firewalls
Software and/or hardware that filters incoming and outgoing communication according to preset rules.
Recruitment
Process by which an organization seeks out candidates and encourages them to apply for job openings.
Organizational learning
Acquisition and/or transfer of knowledge within an organization through activities or processes that may occur at several organizational levels; ability of an organization to learn from its mistakes and adjust its strategy accordingly.
Time-based step-rate pay
System in which pay is based on longevity in the job and pay increases occur on a pre-determined schedule.
Functional HR
HR structural alternative in which headquarters HR specialists craft policies and HR generalists located within divisions or other locales implement the policies, adapt them as needed, and interact with employees.
Business case
Presentation to management that establishes that a specific problem exists and argues for a proposed solution.
Noise
In communication, any factor that can disrupt the sending and receipt of a message?Çöfor example, physical factors such as loud environments, cultural factors such as a distinctive accent, or cognitive factors such as the use of unfamiliar jargon.
Well-being
Physical, psychological, and social aspects of employee health.
Employment practices liability insurance (EPLI)
Type of liability insurance covering an organization against claims by employees, former employees, and employment candidates alleging that their legal rights in the employment relationship have been violated.
Social networks
Online clustering of individuals in groups with common or shared interests.
Risk
Uncertainty that has an effect on an objective, where outcomes may include opportunities, losses, and threats.
Accounts payable
Money an organization owes its vendors and suppliers.
Ethics
Set of behavioral guidelines that an organization expects all of its directors, managers, and employees to follow to ensure appropriate moral and ethical business standards.
Veto
Action of rejecting a bill or statute.
Moral hazard
Situation in which one party engages in risky behavior knowing that it is protected against the risk because another party will incur any resulting loss.
Confidentiality
Treatment of personal information that has been disclosed to another person or organization.
Risk position
Organization’s desired gain or acceptable loss in value.
Regulation
Rules or orders issued by an administrative agency of government that usually have the force of law.
Global integration (GI)
Globalization strategy that emphasizes consistency of approach, standardization of processes, and a common corporate culture across global operations.
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.
Workforce analysis
Systematic approach to anticipate human capital needs and data HR professionals can use to ensure that appropriate knowledge, skills, or abilities will be available when needed to accomplish organizational goals and objectives.
Strategic fit
State in which an organization’s strategy is consistent with its external opportunities and circumstances and its internal structure, resources, and capabilities.
Duty of care
Principle that organizations should take all steps that are reasonably possible to ensure the health, safety, and well-being of employees and protect them from foreseeable injury.
Artificial intelligence (AI)
Ability of a computer to imitate human thought and behavior.
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 to guide the analysis of what constitutes a disability.
Employee life cycle (ELC)
Activities associated with an employee’s tenure in an organization.
Family and Medical Leave Act (FMLA)
U.S act that provides employees with up to 12 weeks of unpaid leave to care for family members or because of a serious health condition of the employee.
Lilly Ledbetter Fair Pay Act
U.S. act that creates a rolling time frame for filing wage discrimination claims and expands plaintiff field beyond employee who was discriminated against.
Risk control
Action taken to manage a risk.
Strategic planning
Process of setting goals and designing a path toward a competitive position.
Succession planning
Process of implementing a talent management strategy for identifying and fostering the development of high-potential employees or other job candidates who, over time, may move into leadership positions of increased responsibility.
Multinational enterprises (MNEs)
Organizations that own or control production or service facilities in one or more countries other than the home country.
Apprenticeship
Related to technical skills training; often a partnership between employers and unions.
Turnover rate
Annualized formula that tracks number of separations and total number of workforce employees per month.
Corporate social responsibility (CSR)
Varying ways an organization can create value, looking beyond traditional profit measures of revenue and expenses; includes such areas as philanthropy, volunteerism, corporate-sponsored community programs, social change, sustainability, corporate governance, employee rights, and workplace safety.
Rule of law
Concept that stipulates that no individual is beyond the reach of the law and that authority is exercised only in accordance with written and publicly disclosed laws.
Works councils
Groups that represent employees, generally on a local or organizational level, for the primary purpose of receiving from employers and conveying to employees information about the workforce and the health of the enterprise.
Sustainability
Practice of purchasing and using resources wisely by balancing economic, social, and environmental concerns, with the goal of securing the interests of present and future generations.
Risk appetite
Amount of uncertainty an organization is willing to pursue or to accept to attain its risk management goals.
Mind mapping
Data-sorting technique in which group members add related ideas and indicate logical connections, eventually grouping similar ideas.
Job enlargement
Process of broadening a job’s scope by adding different tasks to the job.
Point-factor system
Job evaluation method that looks at compensable factors (such as skills and working conditions) that reflect how much a job adds value to the organization; points are assigned to each factor and then added to come up with an overall point value for the job.
National Labor Relations Act (NLRA)
U.S. act that protected and encouraged the growth of the union movement; established workers’ rights to organize and bargain collectively with employers.
Performance appraisal
Process of measuring and evaluating an employee’s adherence to performance standards and providing feedback to the employee.
Phillips v. Martin Marietta Corporation
1971 U.S. case that stated that an employer may not, in the absence of business necessity, refuse to hire women with preschool-aged children while hiring men with such children.
Productivity-based pay
Pay based on the quantity of work and outputs that can be accurately measured.
Training
Process by which employees are provided with the knowledge, skills and abilities (KSAs) specific to a task or job.
Cloud computing
Style of computing in which scalable IT-enabled capabilities are delivered as a service using Internet technologies.
J curve
Visualization of the impact of change on productivity. When change is introduced, there is typically a decrease in productivity and then a gradual return to, or, ideally, a surpassing of previous levels of productivity.
Retention
Ability of an organization to keep its employees.
Occupational injury
Injury that results from a work-related accident or exposure involving a single incident in the work environment.
Blended learning
Planned approach to learning that includes a combination of instructor-led training, self-directed study, and/or on-the-job training.
Uniform Guidelines on Employee Selection Procedures
Procedural document designed to assist employers in complying with federal regulations prohibiting discrimination.
Principal-agent problem
Situation in which an agent (e.g., an employee) makes decisions for a principal (e.g., an employer) potentially on the basis of personal incentives that may not be aligned with the principal’s incentives.
Value
The benefit created when an organization meets its strategic goals; measure of usefulness, worth, or importance.
Value chain
The process by which an organization creates the product or service it offers to the customer.
Conflict of interest
Situation in which a person or organization may benefit from undue influence due to involvement in outside activities, relationships, or investments that conflict with or have an impact on the employment relationship or its outcomes.
Vicarious liability
Legal doctrine under which a party can be held liable for the wrongful actions of another party.
Lagging indicator
Type of metric describing an activity or change in performance that has already occurred.
Equal Pay Act (EPA)
U.S. act that prohibits wage discrimination by requiring equal pay for equal or “substantially equal” work performed by men and women.
Sexual orientation
Sexual, romantic, or emotional/spiritual attraction that one feels for persons of the opposite sex or gender, the same sex or gender, or both sexes and more than one gender.
Systems thinking
Process for understanding how seemingly independent units within a larger entity interact with and influence one another.
Force-field analysis
Group decision-making tool designed to analyze the forces favoring and opposing a particular change. A factor is weighted, and the factors on each side are summed and compared.
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.
Hacking
Act of deliberately accessing computer data without permission.
NLRB v. Weingarten
Landmark 1975 U.S. labor relations case that dealt with the right of a unionized employee to have another person present during certain investigatory interviews.
Stay interviews
Structured conversations with employees for the purpose of determining which aspects of a job encourage employee retention or may be improved to do so.
Triple bottom line
Economic, social, and environmental impact metrics used to determine an organization’s success.
Webinar
Form of webconferencing where a presenter facilitates communication of material or information to an audience in real time.
Performance bonus
One-time payment made to an employee; also called a lump-sum increase (LSI).
Reliability
Extent to which a measurement instrument provides consistent results.
Cosourcing
Arrangement in which an enterprise and a vendor share different tasks within a larger complex, often strategic responsibility.
Code of conduct
Principles that guide decision making and behavior in an organization.
Onboarding
Process of assimilating new employees into an organization through orientation programs and their experiences in their first months of employment.
Pregnancy Discrimination Act
U.S. act that prohibits discrimination on the basis of pregnancy, childbirth, or related medical conditions.
Reverse innovation
Innovations created for or by emerging-economy markets and then imported to developed-economy markets.
Distance learning
Process of delivering educational or instructional programs to locations away from a classroom or site.
Information system (IS)
Way to collect, organize, store, analyze, and share data.
On-the-job training (OJT)
Training provided to employees at the work site utilizing demonstration and performance of job tasks.
Disparate impact
Type of discrimination that results when a policy that appears to be neutral has a discriminatory effect; also known as adverse impact.
Center of excellence (COE)
An organizational structure that leverages staff expertise in certain areas to improve the entire organization’s strategic performance.
Compensation philosophy
Short but broad statement documenting an organization’s guiding principles and core values about employee compensation.
Near-shoring
Practice of contracting a part of business processes or production to an external company in a country that is relatively close (e.g., within the same own region).
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.
Nonexempt employees
Employees covered under U.S. Fair Labor Standards Act regulations, including minimum wage and overtime pay requirements.
Fair Credit Reporting Act (FCRA)
U.S act that protects privacy of background information and ensures that information supplied is accurate.
Low-context cultures
Societies in which relationships have less history; individuals know each other less well and don’t share a common database of experience, so communication must be very explicit.
Global mindset
Ability to take an international perspective, inclusive of other cultures’ views.
Assignees
Employees who work outside their home countries.
Bribery
Exchange of anything of value to gain greater influence or preference.
Essential functions
Primary job duties that a qualified individual must be able to perform, either with or without accommodation.
Encryption
Conversion of data into a format that protects or hides its natural presentation or intended meaning.
Business intelligence
Ability to use information to gain a deeper understanding of an organization and make sound business decisions.
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.
Collective bargaining
Process by which management and union representatives negotiate the employment conditions for a particular bargaining unit for a designated period of time
Occupational illness
Medical condition or disorder, other than one resulting from an occupational injury, caused by exposure to environmental factors associated with employment.
Learning organization
Organization characterized by a capability to adapt to changes in environment.
Incentive pay
Form of direct compensation where employers pay for performance beyond normal expectations to motivate higher performance.
Enterprise resource planning (ERP)
Business management software, usually a suite of integrated applications, that a company can use to collect, store, manage, and interpret data from many business activities.
Job description
Document that describes a job and its essential functions and requirements (including tasks, knowledge, skills, abilities, responsibilities, and reporting structure).
Accounts receivable
Money an organization’s customers owe the organization.
Non-compete agreement (NCA)
Common form of post-employment agreement that prevents employee from leaving to work for one of employer’s competitors.
Coaching
Focused, interactive communication and guidance intended to develop and enhance on-the-job performance, knowledge, or behavior.
Selection screening
Analyzing candidates’ application forms, curricula vitae, and resumes to locate the most-qualified candidates for an open job.
Hostile environment harassment
Occurs when sexual or other discriminatory conduct is so severe and pervasive that it interferes with an individual’s performance; creates an intimidating, threatening, or humiliating work environment; or perpetuates a situation that affects the employee’s psychological well-being.
Assessment centers
Assessment tools that provide candidates a wide range of leadership situations and problem-solving exercises.
Comparable worth
Concept that jobs filled primarily by women that require skills, effort, responsibility, and working conditions comparable to similar jobs filled primarily by men should have the same classifications and salaries.
Culture
Basic beliefs, attitudes, values, behaviors, and customs shared and followed by members of a group, which give rise to the group’s sense of identity.
Line units
Work groups that conduct the major business of an organization.
Market-based job evaluation
Job evaluation method in which the relative worth and pay structure of different jobs are based on their market value or the going rate in the marketplace.
HR audit
Systematic and comprehensive evaluation of an organization’s HR policies, practices, procedures, and strategies.
Strategy
Plan of action for accomplishing an organization’s overall and long-range goals.
Kinesthetic learners
People who learn best through a hands-on approach; also called tactile learners.
Adverse impact
Type of discrimination that results when a policy that appears to be neutral has a discriminatory effect; also known as disparate impact.
Variance analysis
Statistical method for identifying the degree of difference between planned and actual performance or outcomes.
Risk tolerance
Amount of uncertainty an organization is willing to pursue or to accept to attain its risk management goals.
Public comment period
Time allowed for the public to express its views and concerns regarding an action of an administrative agency.
Prudent person rule
States that a fiduciary of a plan covered by the U.S. Employee Retirement Income Security Act has legal and financial obligations not to take more risks when investing employee benefit program funds than a reasonably knowledgeable, prudent investor would under similar circumstances.
Project labor agreement (PLA)
Agreement that requires specific contractors to accept certain conditions in project contracts, such as paying a fair wage and contributing to health insurance, pension, and training funds.
External equity
Situation in which an organization’s compensation levels and benefits are similar to those of other organizations that are in the same labor market and compete for the same employees.
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.
Situation judgment tests (SJTs)
Assessment tools that present prospective leaders with sample situations and problems they might encounter in a work environment.
Career planning
Actions and activities that individuals perform in order to give direction to their work lives.
Trade union
Group of workers who coordinate their activities to achieve common goals in their relationship with an employer or group of employers; also called labor union.
Functional structure
Organizational structure in which departments are defined by the services they contribute to the organization’s overall mission, such as marketing and sales, operations, and HR.
Weighted mean
Average of data that adds factors to reflect the importance of different values.
Competencies
Clusters of highly interrelated attributes, including knowledge, skills, and abilities (KSAs), that give rise to the behaviors needed to perform a given job effectively.
Multi-criteria decision analysis (MCDA)
Group decision-making tool in which the group defines the characteristics of a successful decision and then scores each alternative against those criteria.
Standard deviation
Distance of any data point from the center of a distribution when data is distributed in a “normal” or expected pattern.
Visual learners
People who learn best by relying on their sense of sight.
Older Workers Benefit Protection Act (OWBPA)
U.S. act that amended the Age Discrimination in Employment Act to include all employee benefits; also provided standards that an employee’s waiver of the right to sue for age discrimination must meet in order to be upheld by a court.
Residual risk
Amount of uncertainty that remains after all risk management efforts have been exhausted.
Lechmere, Inc. v. NLRB
1992 case in which the U.S. Supreme Court ruled that an employer cannot be compelled to allow nonemployee organizers onto the business property.
Civil law
Legal system based on written codes (laws, rules, or regulations).
Strategic management
System of actions that leaders take to drive an organization toward its goals and objectives.
Environmental scanning
Process that involves a systematic survey and interpretation of relevant data to identify external opportunities and threats and to assess how these factors affect the organization currently and how they are likely to affect the organization in the future.
Transparency
Extent to which an organization’s agreements, dealings, information, practices, and transactions are open to disclosure and review by relevant persons.
Simulations
Representations of real situations; give organizations the opportunity to speculate as to what would happen if certain courses of action were pursued.
Auditory learners
People who learn best by relying on their sense of hearing.
Vision statement
Description of what an organization hopes to attain and accomplish in the future, which guides it toward that defined direction.
Bill
Proposal presented to a legislative body for possible enactment as a statute.
Vesting
Process by which a retirement benefit becomes nonforfeitable.
Governance
System of rules and processes set up by an organization to ensure its compliance with local and international laws, accounting rules, ethical norms, internal codes of conduct, and other standards.
Compa-ratio
Pay rate divided by the midpoint of the pay range.
Scenario/what-if analysis
Statistical method used to test the possible effects of altering the details of a strategy to see if the likely outcome can be improved.
Labor-Management Relations Act (LMRA)
U.S. act that imposed several restrictions and requirements on unions.
Median
Middle value in a range of values.
Diversity
Differences in people’s characteristics (such as socioeconomic status, beliefs, personality, thought processes, work style, race, age, ethnicity, gender, religion, education, job function, etc.).
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.
Overtime pay
Required for nonexempt workers under U.S. Fair Labor Standards Act at 1.5 times the regular rate of pay for hours over 40 in a workweek.
Liabilities
Organization’s debts and other financial obligations.
Job evaluation
Process of determining a job’s value and price for the purpose of attracting and retaining employees by comparing the job against other jobs within the organization or against similar jobs in competing organizations.
PESTLE analysis
Scanning process that searches for environmental forces in political, economic, social, technological, legal, and environmental categories.
Secondary action
Attempt by a union to influence an employer by putting pressure on another employer, for example, a supplier.
Flat-rate pay
Provides each incumbent of a job with the same rate of pay, regardless of performance or seniority; also known as single-rate pay.
Policy
Broad statement that reflects an organization’s philosophy, objectives, or standards concerning a particular set of management or employee activities.
Incentive
Factor that motivates performance of a desired behavior or discourages performance of an undesired behavior.
Jurisdiction
Right of a legal body to exert authority over a given geographical territory, subject matter, or persons or institutions.
Learning management system (LMS)
System that holds course content information and has the capability of tracking and managing employee course registrations, career development, and other employee development activities.
Portal-to-Portal Act
U.S. act that defines what is included as hours worked and is therefore compensable and a factor in calculating overtime.
Assets
Financial, physical, and sometimes intangible properties an organization owns.
Gender identity
Refers to one’s internal, personal sense of being a man or a woman (or boy or girl), which may or may not be the same as one’s sexual assignment at birth.
Social intelligence
Ability to create connections or rapport with others.
Red-circle rates
Situations in which employees’ pay is above the range maximum.
Benchmarking
Process by which an organization identifies performance gaps and sets goals for performance improvement by comparing its data, performance levels, and/or processes against those of other organizations.
Uniformed Services Employment and Reemployment Rights Act (USERRA)
U.S. act that protects the employment, reemployment, and retention rights of persons who serve or have served in the uniformed services.
Industrial actions
Various forms of collective employee actions taken to protest work conditions or employer actions.
Cost-of-living adjustment (COLA)
Pay adjustment given to eligible employees regardless of performance or organizational profitability; usually linked to inflation.
Mentoring
Relationship in which one person helps guide another’s development.
Selection
Process of evaluating the most suitable candidates for a position.
Income statement
Statement that reports revenues, expenses, and profits for a specified period of time, for example, quarterly or annually.
Sourcing
Process by which an organization generates a pool of qualified job applicants.
Mediation
Method of nonbinding dispute resolution by which a neutral third party tries to help disputing parties reach a mutually agreeable decision; also called conciliation.
Applicant tracking system (ATS)
Software application that automates organizations’ management of the recruiting process (such as accepting application materials, screening applicants, etc.).
Cultural intelligence
Capacity to recognize, interpret, and behaviorally adapt to multicultural situations and contexts.
Diversity council
Task force created to define a diversity and inclusion initiative and guide the development and implementation process.
Reduction in force (RIF)
Termination of employment of individual employees or groups of employees for reasons other than performance, for example, economic necessity or restructuring; also known as downsizing.
Job enrichment
Process of increasing a job’s depth by adding responsibilities to the job.
Glocalization
Characteristic of an organization with a strong global image but an equally strong local identity.
Value drivers
Actions, processes, or results that are needed to deliver a desired value.
Departmentalization
Way an organization groups jobs to coordinate work.
Extraterritoriality
Extension of the power of a country’s laws over its citizens outside that country’s sovereign national boundaries.
Americans with Disabilities Act (ADA)
U.S. act that prohibits discrimination against a qualified individual with a disability because of his/her disability.
Workforce management
All activities needed to ensure that workforce size and competencies meet the organization’s strategic needs.
Negotiation
Process by which two or more parties work together to reach agreement on a matter.
Webconferencing
Using the Internet to conduct meetings and give presentations to an audience who has joined the meeting remotely.
Job ranking
Job evaluation method that involves establishing a hierarchy of jobs from lowest to highest based on each job’s overall value to the organization.
Employee Retirement Income Security Act (ERISA)
U.S. act that established uniform minimum standards to ensure that employee benefit and pension plans are set up and maintained in a fair and financially sound manner.
Framing
Process of constructing a message so that an audience sees communicated facts in a certain way and is persuaded to take a certain action.
Affinity diagramming
Data-sorting technique in which a group categorizes and subcategorizes data until relationships are clearly drawn.
Job classification
Job evaluation method in which descriptions are written for each class of jobs; individual jobs are then put into the grade that best matches their class description.
Trend analysis
Statistical method that examines data from different points in time to determine if a variance is an isolated event or if it is part of a longer trend.
Wildcat strike
Work stoppages at union contract operations that have not been sanctioned by the union.
Human resource information system (HRIS)
Information technology framework and tools for gathering, storing, maintaining, retrieving, revising, and reporting HR data.
Pay grades
Used to group jobs that have approximately the same relative internal or external worth and are paid at the same rate or within the same pay range.
Judgmental forecasts
Use of information from past and present to predict future conditions.
Due process
Concept that laws are enforced only through accepted, codified procedures.
Perquisites
Compensation provided on an individual basis in the form of goods or services.
Pay compression
Occurs when there is only a small difference in pay between employees regardless of their experience, skills, level, or seniority; also known as salary compression.
Key risk indicators (KRIs)
Metrics that provide an early signal of increasing risk exposures for an enterprise.
Inclusion
Extent to which each person in an organization feels welcomed, respected, supported, and valued as a team member.
Weingarten rights
Union employees’ right in U.S. to have a union representative or coworker present during an investigatory interview.
Downsizing
Termination of employment of individual employees or groups of employees for reasons other than performance, for example, economic necessity or restructuring; also known as reduction in force (RIF).
Premiums
Payments in return for the achievement of specific, time-limited, targeted objectives.
Shared services HR model
HR structural alternative in which centers with specific areas of expertise develop HR policies in those areas; each unit can then select what it needs from a menu of these services.
Conciliation
Method of nonbinding dispute resolution by which a neutral third party tries to help disputing parties reach a mutually agreeable decision; also called mediation
Service-level agreement (SLA)
Part of a service contract where the service expectations are formally defined.
Nominal group technique (NGT)
Technique in which participants each suggest ideas through a series of rounds and then discuss the items, eliminate redundancies and irrelevancies, and agree on the importance of the remaining items.
Griggs v. Duke Power
U.S. case that set the standard for determining whether discrimination based on disparate impact exists.
Net profit margin
Ratio of net income (gross sales minus expenses and taxes) to net sales.
Picketing
Positioning of employees at a place of work targeted for the action for the purpose of protest.
Online analytical processing (OLAP)
Processing applications that store data in a multidimensional “cube,” which enables users to analyze data quickly in a variety of different ways.
Non-disclosure agreement (NDA)
Common form of post-employment agreement, especially in knowledge industries, in which employee agrees not to discuss knowledge gained during employment.
Offshoring
Method by which an organization relocates its processes or production to an international location through subsidiaries or third-party affiliates.
Stakeholder concept
Concept that proposes that any organization operates within a complex environment in which it affects and is affected by a variety of forces or stakeholders who all share in the value of the organization and its activities.
Employment branding
Process of positioning an organization as an “employer of choice” in the labor market.
Regression analysis
Statistical method used to determine whether a relationship exists between variables and the strength of the relationship.
Merit pay
Situation where an individual’s performance on the job is the basis for the amount and timing of pay increases; also called performance-based pay or pay for performance.
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.
Constructive discipline
Form of corrective discipline that implements increasingly severe penalties for employees.
Labor Management Reporting and Disclosure Act (LMRDA)
U.S. act that imposed regulations on internal union affairs and the relationship between union officials and union members.
Emotional intelligence (EI)
Ability to be sensitive to and understand one’s own and others’ emotions and impulses.
General pay increase
Pay increase given to employees based on local competitive market requirements; awarded regardless of employee performance.
Process alignment
Extent to which underlying operations such as IT, finance, or HR integrate across locations.
Job-content-based job evaluation
Job evaluation method in which the relative worth and pay structure of different jobs are based on an assessment of their content and their relationship to other jobs within the organization.
Root-cause analysis
Type of analysis that starts with a result and then works backward to identify fundamental cause.
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 that they are maintaining a drug-free workplace.
Genetic Information Nondiscrimination Act (GINA)
U.S act that prohibits discrimination against individuals on the basis of their genetic information in both employment and health insurance.
National Defense Authorization Acts (NDAA)
U.S. acts that expanded FMLA leave for employees with family members who are covered members of the military.
Nonverbals
Components of a message apart from its words. This could include physical gestures and posture and vocal tones, volume, and speed.
Organizational values
Beliefs and principles defined by an organization to direct and govern its employees’ behavior.
Networking
Process of developing mutually beneficial contacts through the exchange of information.
Leadership
Ability to influence, guide, inspire, or motivate a group or person to achieve their goals.
Pay ranges
Set the upper and lower bounds of possible compensation for individuals whose jobs fall within a pay grade.
Due diligence
Process of investigating a decision thoroughly before finalizing it to identify all potential factors that could affect the positive and negative impacts of the decision.
Employees
Individuals who exchange work for wages or salary; in the U.S., workers who are covered by Fair Labor Standards Act regulations as determined by the IRS.
Delphi technique
Technique that progressively collects information from a group of anonymous respondents.
Total rewards
Direct and indirect remuneration approaches that employers use to attract, recognize, and retain workers.
Internal equity
Extent to which employees perceive that monetary and other rewards are distributed equitably, based on effort, skill and/or relevant outcomes.
E-learning
Electronic media delivery of educational and training materials, processes, and programs.
Formalization
Refers to the extent to which rules, policies, and procedures govern the behavior of employees in an organization.
Paired-comparison method
Job evaluation method in which each job is compared with every other job being evaluated; the job with the largest number of “greater than” rankings is the highest-ranked job, etc.
General Duty Clause
Statement in U.S. Occupational Safety and Health Act that requires employers subject to OSHA to provide employees with a safe and healthy work environment.
Covering
Defensive behavior that occurs when an organization recruits a diverse workforce but, consciously or otherwise, promotes assimilation rather than inclusion.
Hazard
Potential for harm, often associated with a condition or activity that, if left uncontrolled, can result in injury or illness.
Equal Employment Opportunity Act
U.S act that amended Title VII and gave the Equal Employment Opportunity Commission authority to “back up” its administrative findings and conduct its own enforcement litigation.
Unweighted mean
Raw average of data that gives equal weight to all values, with no regard for other factors.
Employment at-will
Principle of employment in the U.S. that employers have the right to hire, fire, demote, and promote whomever they choose for any reason unless there is a law or contract to the contrary and that employees have the right to quit a job at any time.
Feedback loop
In communication, structuring a message to include opportunities for correction or clarification. This requires two-way communication.
Ratio analysis
Comparing the sizes of two variables to produce an index or percentage; commonly used to analyze financial statements.
Intellectual property (IP)
Ownership of innovation by an individual or business enterprise; includes patented, trademarked, or copyrighted property.
Dedicated HR
HR structural alternative that allows organizations with different strategies in multiple units to apply HR expertise to each unit’s specific strategic needs.
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.
Head count
Number of people on an organization’s payroll at a particular moment in time.
Contingency plan
Protocol that an organization implements when an identified risk event occurs.
Social engineering
In a computer context, tricking a user into sharing information that can then be used to access systems.
Fair and Accurate Credit Transactions Act (FACT Act)
U.S act that frees employers who use third parties to conduct workplace investigations from the consent and disclosure requirements of the Fair Credit Reporting Act in certain cases.
Focus group
Small group of invited persons (typically six to twelve) who actively participate in a structured discussion, led by a facilitator, for the purpose of eliciting their input.
Alternative dispute resolution (ADR)
Umbrella term for the various approaches and techniques, other than litigation, that can be used to resolve a dispute.
Outsourcing
Process by which an organization contracts with third-party vendors to provide selected services/activities instead of hiring new employees.
Exempt employees
Employees who are excluded from U.S. Fair Labor Standards Act minimum wage and overtime pay requirements.
Mean
Average score or value.
Balance sheet
Statement of an organization’s financial position at a specific point in time, showing assets, liabilities, and shareholder equity.
Gross profit margin
Ratio of gross profit to net sales.
ADDIE model
Instructional systems design framework consisting of five steps that guide the design and development of learning programs.
Redeployment
Process by which an organization moves an employee out of an international assignment; can involve moving back to the home country, moving to a different global location, or moving to a new location or position in the current host country.
Sit-down strike
Refusal by workers to work; also refusal by workers to leave their workstations, making it impossible for the employer to use replacement workers.
Unfair labor practice (ULP)
Violation of employee rights; act prohibited under labor relations statutes.
Immigration Reform and Control Act (IRCA)
U.S. act that prohibits discrimination against job applicants on the basis of national origin or citizenship and establishes penalties for hiring undocumented workers.
Employee surveys
Instruments that collect and assess information on employees’ attitudes on and perceptions of the work environment or employment conditions.
Motivation
Factors that initiate, direct, and sustain human behavior over time.
Job specifications
Written statements of the minimum qualifications for the job incumbent.
Chain of command
Line of authority within an organization.
Product structure
Organizational structure in which functional departments are grouped under major product divisions.
Local responsiveness (LR)
Globalization strategy that emphasizes adapting to the needs of local markets and allows subsidiaries to develop unique products, structures, and systems.
Patient Protection and Affordable Care Act (PPACA)
2010 U.S. law that requires virtually all citizens and legal residents to have minimum health coverage and requires employers with more than 50 full-time employees to provide health coverage that meets minimum benefit specifications or pay a penalty.
SWOT analysis
Method for assessment of an organization’s strategic capabilities through use of the environmental scanning process, by which internal and external factors affecting achievement of organizational goals are identified and considered.
Developmental activities
Activities that focus on preparing employees for future responsibilities while increasing their capacity to perform their current jobs.
Geographic structure
Organizational structure in which geographic regions define the organizational chart.
Career management
Preparing, implementing, and monitoring employees’ career paths, with a primary focus on the goals and needs of the organization.
Validity
Extent to which a measurement instrument measures what it is intended to measure.
Principled negotiation
Process in which negotiators aim for mutual gain, emphasizing the need to focus on the problem instead of personal differences and on mutually beneficial outcomes.
Grievance procedure
Orderly way to resolve differences of opinion.
Workweek
Any fixed, recurring period of 168 consecutive hours (7 days times 24 hours = 168 hours).
Talent management
Development and integration of HR processes that attract, develop, engage, and retain the knowledge, skills, and abilities of employees that will meet current and future organizational needs.
Pay for performance (P4P, PfP)
Situation where an individual’s performance on the job is the basis for the amount and timing of pay increases; also called merit pay or performance-based pay.
Ledbetter v. Goodyear Tire and Rubber Company
2007 case in which the U.S. Supreme Court ruled that claims of sex discrimination in pay under Title VII were not timely because discrimination charges were not filed with the EEOC within the required 180-day time frame.
Employee value proposition (EVP)
Employees’ perceived value of the total rewards and tangible and intangible benefits they receive from the organization as part of employment, which drives unique and compelling organizational strategies for talent acquisition, retention and engagement.
Replacement planning
“Snapshot” assessment of the availability of qualified backup for key positions.
Performance management
Tools, activities, and processes that an organization uses to manage, maintain, and/or improve the job performance of employees.
Performance standards
Behaviors and results as defined by an organization to communicate the expectations of management.
Reasonable accommodation
Modifying job application process, work environment, or circumstances under which job is performed to enable a qualified individual with a disability to be considered for the job and perform its essential functions.
Arbitration
Method of dispute resolution by which disputing parties agree to be bound by the decision of one or more impartial persons to whom they submit their dispute for final determination.
Dual career ladders
Career development programs that identify meaningful career paths for professional and technical people outside traditional management roles.
Person-based pay
Pay systems in which employee characteristics, rather than the job, determine pay.
Organizational development
Process of enhancing the effectiveness and efficiency of an organization and the well-being of its members through planned interventions.
Joint employment
Situation in which an organization shares responsibility and liability for their alternative workers with an alternative staffing supplier; also known as co-employment.
Mode
Value that occurs most frequently in a set of data.
Employee Polygraph Protection Act (EPPA)
U.S. act that prevents private employers from requiring applicants or employees to take a polygraph test for preemployment screening or during the course of employment, with certain exemptions.
Cash flow statement
Statement of an organization’s ability to meet its current and short-term obligations, showing incoming and outgoing cash and cash reserves in operations, investments, and financing.
Single loss expectancy (SLE)
Expected monetary loss every time a risk occurs; calculated by multiplying asset value by exposure factor.
Lump-sum increase (LSI)
One-time payment made to an employee; also called performance bonus.
Matrix structure
Organizational structure that combines departmentalization by division and function to gain the benefits of both; results in some employees reporting to two managers rather than one, with neither manager assuming a superior role.
