SHRM Organization Flashcards
Alternative dispute
resolution (ADR)
Umbrella term for the various approaches and
techniques, other than litigation, that can be
used to resolve a dispute.
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.
Artificial intelligence (AI)
Ability of a computer to imitate human thought
and behavior.
Chain of command
Line of authority within an organization.
Cloud computing
Style of computing in which scalable IT-enabled
capabilities are delivered as a service using
Internet technologies.
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.
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.
Constructive discipline
Form of corrective discipline that implements
increasingly severe penalties for employees.
Cosourcing
Arrangement in which an enterprise and a
vendor share different tasks within a larger
complex, often strategic responsibility.
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.
Departmentalization
Way an organization groups jobs to coordinate
work.
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).
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.
Employment at-will (EAW)
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.
Encryption
Conversion of data into a format that protects or
hides its natural presentation or intended
meaning.
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.
Firewalls
Software and/or hardware that filters incoming
and outgoing communication according to
preset rules
Formalization
Refers to the extent to which rules, policies, and
procedures govern the behavior of employees
in an organization.
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
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.
Geographic structure
Organizational structure in which geographic
regions define the organizational chart.
Grievance procedure
Orderly way to resolve differences of opinion.
Hacking
Act of deliberately accessing computer data
without permission.
HR audit
Systematic and comprehensive evaluation of an
organization’s HR policies, practices,
procedures, and strategies.
HR information system
HRIS
Information technology framework and tools for
gathering, storing, maintaining, retrieving,
revising, and reporting HR data.
Industrial actions
Various forms of collective employee actions
taken to protest work conditions or employer
actions.
Information system (IS)
Way to collect, organize, store, analyze, and
share data.
Intellectual property (IP)
Ownership of innovation by an individual or
business enterprise; includes patented,
trademarked, or copyrighted property.
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.
Judgmental forecasts
Use of information from past and present to
predict future conditions.
Knowledge management
KM
Process of creating, acquiring, sharing, and
managing knowledge to augment individual and
organizational performance.
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.
Line units
Work groups that conduct the major business of
an organization.
Lockout
Action of an employer to shut down operations
to prevent employees from working
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.
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.
Non-compete agreement
NCA
Common form of post-employment agreement
that prevents employee from leaving to work for
one of employer’s competitors.
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.
Organizational
development (OD)
Process of enhancing the effectiveness and
efficiency of an organization and the well-being
of its members through planned interventions.
Picketing
Positioning of employees at a place of work
targeted for the action for the purpose of
protest.
Policy
Broad statement that reflects an organization’s
philosophy, objectives, or standards concerning
a particular set of management or employee
activities.
Product structure
Organizational structure in which functional
departments are grouped under major product
divisions
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.
Replacement planning
“Snapshot” assessment of the availability of
qualified backup for key positions.
Restructuring
Act of reorganizing the legal, ownership,
operational, or other structures of an
organization.
Secondary action
Attempt by a union to influence an employer by
putting pressure on another employer, for
example, a supplier.
Service-level agreement
SLA
Part of a service contract where the service
expectations are formally defined.
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.
Simulations
Representations of real situations; give
organizations the opportunity to speculate as to
what would happen if certain courses of action
were pursued.
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.
Social engineering
In a computer context, tricking a user into
sharing information that can then be used to
access systems.
Social networks
Online clustering of individuals in groups with
common or shared interests
Software as a service
SaaS
Software that is owned, delivered, and
managed remotely and delivered over the
Internet to contracted customers on a pay-foruse basis or as a subscription based on use
metrics.
Span of control
Refers to the number of individuals who report
to a supervisor.
Staff units
Work groups that assist line units by providing
specialized services, such as HR.
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
Sympathy strike
Action taken in support of another union that is
striking the employer.
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.
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.
Turnover
Act of replacing employees leaving an
organization; attrition or loss of employees
Turnover rate
Annualized formula that tracks number of
separations and total number of workforce
employees per month.
Unfair labor practice (ULP)
Violation of employee rights; act prohibited
under labor relations statutes.
Wildcat strike
Work stoppages at union contract operations
that have not been sanctioned by the union.
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.
Workforce management
All activities needed to ensure that workforce
size and competencies meet the organization’s
strategic needs
Workforce planning
Activities needed to ensure that workforce size
and competencies meet current and future
organizational and individual needs.
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.
Work-to-rule
Situation in which workers slow processes by
performing tasks exactly to specifications or
according to job or task descriptions.
