Vocab1 Flashcards
Accident
Undesired event that results in physical harm to a person or damage to property.
Accounts payable
Money an organization owes its vendors and suppliers.
Accounts receivable
Money an organization’s customers owe the organization.
Acquired immune deficiency syndrome (AIDS)
Bloodborne pathogen transmitted through intimate contact.
Action plans
Detailed steps a unit, department, or team will take in order to achieve short-term objectives.
ADA Amendments Act (ADAAA)
Amendments to 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 human resource development programs.
Adverse impact
Occurs when the selection rate for an employment decision works to the disadvantage of a protected class; also known as disparate impact.
Affirmative action (AA)
Practice in which employers make efforts to increase the presence of women, minorities, covered veterans, and disabled individuals in the workplace and take positive steps to correct their underutilization.
Affirmative action plans (AAPs)
Written plans that outline an organization’s programs, policies, and procedures for proactively ensuring equal opportunity in all aspects of employment, such as recruiting, hiring, training, promoting, and compensating.
Age Discrimination in Employment Act (ADEA)
Act that prohibits discrimination in employment for persons age 40 and over.
Agency shop
Clause that states that even if workers do not join the union, they must still pay the equivalent of dues to the union.
Agent-principal relationship
Principle under which regulations that apply to employers and unions also apply to acts of their agents.
Albemarle Paper v. Moody
1975 court ruling that items used to validate employment requirements must be job-related.
Ally doctrine
States that when a struck employer effectively uses the employees of an ally as strike breakers and when a union extends its primary picketing to this employer, no violation of the LMRA’s secondary boycott prohibitions exists.
Alternative dispute resolution (ADR)
Umbrella term used to describe a number of problem-solving and grievance resolution approaches.
Alternative staffing
Use of alternative recruiting sources and workers who are not regular employees; also known as flexible staffing.
Amendment
Modification of the Constitution or a law; modification may be either formal (written) or informal (unwritten).
Americans with Disabilities Act (ADA)
Act that prohibits discrimination against a qualified individual with a disability because of his/her disability.
Analysis
Level of learning characterized by understanding information to the level of being able to break it down and explain how it fits together.
Andragogy
Study of how adults learn.
Application
Level of learning characterized by ability to use learned information in a new situation.
Apprenticeship
Relates to technical skills training; often a partnership between employers and unions.
Aptitude
Ability to learn information or acquire a skill.
Aptitude tests
Tests that measure the general ability or capacity to learn or acquire a new skill.
Arbitration
Procedure in which disputes are submitted to one or more impartial persons for final determination.
Assessment centers
Method of evaluating candidates using content-valid work samples of a job; typically for managerial positions.
Assets
Financial, physical, and sometimes intangible properties an organization owns.
Asynchronous learning
Type of e-learning in which participants access information at different times and in different places.
Attorney work product
Materials used in preparing a legal case (e.g., written reports, notes, data); usually excluded from discovery phase.
Auditory learners
People who learn best by relying on their sense of hearing.
Authorization cards
Cards signed by employees to indicate that they want union representation.
Availability analysis
Analysis in which organization considers internal and external availability in determining theoretical availability of minorities and women for established job groups.
Balance billing
Practice where an uncontracted medical provider bills a patient for all charges not paid for by the patient’s insurance plan, even if those charges are above the plan’s usual and customary rate or are considered medically unnecessary.
Balance sheet
Statement of a firm’s financial position at a particular time.
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.
Bannering
Union practice of displaying a banner outside the property of an employer to advertise union’s message.
Bargaining unit
Group of employees a union wants to represent.
Base pay
Basic compensation an employee receives, usually as a wage or salary.
Behavioral interview
Type of interview that focuses on how applicant previously handled real situations.
Benchmark jobs
Jobs used as reference points when setting up a job classification system and when designing or modifying a pay structure.
Bias
Occurs when an appraiser’s values, beliefs, or prejudices distort performance ratings.
Bill
Proposal presented to a legislative body for possible enactment as a law.
Biometric verification
Use of an individual’s physical characteristics such as fingerprints and voice patterns to allow access to computers and databases.
Blended learning
Planned approach to learning that includes a combination of methods such as classroom, e-learning, self-paced study, and performance support such as job aids or coaching.
Bloodborne pathogens
Microorganisms in human blood that can cause disease in humans.
Bloodborne Pathogens standard
OSHA standard that requires employers to protect employees from potentially infectious materials.
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.
Break-even analysis
Analysis that shows point in time at which total revenue associated with a program is equal to the total cost of the program.
Broadbanding
Combining several salary grades or job classifications with narrow pay ranges into one band with a wider salary spread.
Building-related illness (BRI)
Situation in which building occupants experience acute health and comfort effects that can be attributed directly to airborne building contaminants.
Bumping
Giving more-senior workers whose jobs have been eliminated the right to transfer into jobs of less-senior workers.
Business case
Description of an organizational challenge and possible alternative solutions, arguing for a specific solution.
Business continuity planning
Management process that identifies potential threats and impacts to an organization and provides a framework for ensuring that it is able to withstand disruption, interruption, or loss of normal business functions/operation.
Call-back pay
Pay that employees receive when they are called back for an extra shift in the same workday.
Capacity
To an operations department, the ability to yield output.
Capitated health-care plan
Type of health-care plan in which the physician is paid on a per capita (per head) basis rather than for actual treatment provided.
Career development
Process by which individuals 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 of the organization.
Career planning
Actions and activities that individuals perform in order to give direction to their work life.
Cash balance plan
Form of defined benefit plan that defines the promised benefit in terms of a hypothetical account balance and features benefit portability.
Cash flow statement
Record of how much cash is flowing into and out of an organization, including its sources or destinations.
Cause-and-effect diagram
Diagram that maps out a list of factors that are thought to affect a problem or a desired outcome.
Central tendency error
Error that occurs when an appraiser rates all employees within a narrow range, regardless of differences in actual performance.
Centralization
Degree to which decision-making authority is restricted to higher levels of management in an organization.
Certification of representative
NLRB certification indicating that a union has won an election and will be the exclusive representative of the bargaining unit.
Certification of results
NLRB certification indicating that a union has lost an election.
Check sheets
Simple visual tools used to collect and analyze data.
Circuit City Stores v. Adams
Case in which Supreme Court ruled that a pre-hire employment application requiring that all employment disputes be settled by arbitration was enforceable under the Federal Arbitration Act.
City of Richmond v. J. A. Croson Company
1989 Court ruling that the numerical quota system of Richmond, Virginia, was unconstitutional because the city had not laid the proper groundwork and had not adequately identified or documented discrimination.
Civil Rights Act of 1964
First comprehensive U.S. law making it illegal to discriminate on the basis of race, color, religion, sex, or national origin.
Civil Rights Act of 1991
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.
Civil Service Reform Act
Act that extended collective bargaining rights to federal employees.
Clawback provision
Allows a publicly traded company to take back previous executive incentive-based compensation in specific circumstances.
Clayton Act
Act that minimally restricted the use of injunctions against labor and legalized peaceful strikes, picketing, and boycotts.
Cliff vesting
Requires participants to complete a specific number of years of service with an employer before they get any vested benefits, after which they are 100% vested.
Closed questions
Questions that can usually be answered with yes or no.
Closed shop
Clause that states that union membership is a condition of hiring; is illegal (except in the construction industry).
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.
Coalition bargaining
When more than one employer negotiates with the union; also known as multiple employer bargaining.
Code of ethics
Principles of conduct within an organization that guide decision making and behavior.
Cognitive ability tests
Tests that assess skills the candidate has already learned.
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 (CBA)
Agreement or contract negotiated through collective bargaining process.
Commission
Payment made to salespeople, usually calculated as a percentage of sales.
Committee
Group of people and resources who come together for the accomplishment of a specific organizational objective.
Common law
Dictates that custom and usage have the force of law, even if not specifically found in legislatively enacted, codified, written laws.
Common situs picketing
Situation in which lawful picketing of a primary employer also affects a secondary employer that occupies common premises.
Community of interests
Mutuality of interests among employees in bargaining for wages, hours, and working conditions.
Compa-ratio
Pay rate divided by the midpoint of the pay range.
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.
Compensable factors
Reflect the dimensions along which a job is perceived to add value to the organization; used to determine which jobs are worth more than others.
Competencies
Set of behaviors encompassing skills, knowledge, abilities, and personal attributes that are critical to successful work accomplishment.
Competency model
Set of competencies that together make up a profile for success for a particular job.
Compliance evaluation
Evaluation that requires an organization to provide details on and documentation of its affirmative action plan.
Comprehension
Level of learning characterized by ability to translate or interpret information.
Compressed workweek
Work schedule that compresses a full week’s work into fewer than five days.
Computer vision syndrome (CVS)
Vision problems such as headaches and blurred vision that are associated with video display terminals.
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.
Concurrent validity
Type of criterion-related validity determined by relating the test scores of a group of test takers who take a test (Test A) to some other criterion measure (Test B) that is administered at the same time.
Confined Space Entry standard
OSHA standard designed to protect workers in confined spaces from hazardous atmospheres, entrapment, or engulfment by liquids or small particles.
Congressional Accountability Act
Act that requires that federal employee relations and civil rights legislation enacted by Congress apply to employees of Congress.
Consent election
Type of representation election that involves an agreement between an employer and a union to waive the preelection hearing.
Consolidated Omnibus Budget Reconciliation Act (COBRA)
Act that provides individuals and dependents who may lose medical coverage with opportunity to pay to continue coverage.
Construct validity
Extent to which a selection device measures the theoretical construct or trait (e.g., intelligence or mechanical comprehension).
Constructive confrontation
Intervention strategy that focuses on job performance.
Constructive discharge
Occurs when an employer makes working conditions so intolerable that an employee has no choice but to resign.
Consumer Credit Protection Act
Act that limits the amount of wages that can be garnished or withheld in any one week by an employer to satisfy creditors.
Consumer picketing
Product boycotts involving such activities as distributing handbills, carrying placards, and urging customers to refuse to purchase products from a particular retail or wholesale business.
Consumer price index (CPI)
Measure of the average change over time in the prices paid by consumers for goods and services.
Consumer-directed health care
Health-care options intended to help employers better control costs while allowing employees to make more decisions about their health care.
Content validity
Degree to which an interview, test, or other selection device measures the knowledge, skills, abilities, or other qualifications that are part of the job.
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.
Control
To an operations department, an after-the-fact evaluation of a company’s ability to meet its own specifications and its customers’ needs.
Control chart
Chart that illustrates variations from normal in a situation over time.
Control of Hazardous Energy standard
OSHA standard that requires action so equipment cannot be activated (lockout) and signs or labels (tagout) are attached to dangerous equipment that should not be activated.
Coordinated bargaining
When an employer bargains with several unions simultaneously but on a separate basis.
Coordination of benefits
Eliminates the duplication of payments when an employee, spouse, or dependents have health coverage under two or more plans.
Copayment
Specified percentage (typically 20% to 30%) of covered medical expenses that employee pays or fixed dollar amount that covered person pays each time he or she visits a physician or purchases prescription drugs.
Copeland “Anti-Kickback” Act
Act that prohibits federal contractors from receiving kickbacks from employees or subcontractors for wages earned on federal projects.
Copyright
Form of protection provided by the U.S. government to authors of “original works” to exclude others from printing or otherwise duplicating, distributing, or vending copies of their literary, artistic, and other creative expressions.
Copyright Act
Act that defines the protection provided to authors of “original works” to exclude others from printing or otherwise duplicating, distributing, or vending copies of their literary, artistic, and other creative expressions, including through the various means of technology.
Core competencies
Skills, knowledge, and abilities that employees must possess in order to successfully perform job functions that are essential to business operations.
Corporate espionage
Act of spying or using spies to obtain secret or confidential information about a business competitor for commercial purposes.
Corporate management compliance evaluation (CMCE)
Evaluation designed to ensure that qualified minorities and women do not encounter artificial barriers to future advancement into mid-level and senior corporate management.
Corporate sabotage
Act of deliberately hampering, subverting, or otherwise hurting the efforts of another organization.
Correlation
Measure that indicates the relationship between two variables.
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)
Periodic compensation payment given to eligible employees regardless of their performance or organizational profitability; usually linked to inflation.
Counseling
Form of intervention in which the emphasis is on the cause of a problem rather than on job performance.
Coverdell Education Savings Account (ESA)
Trust created exclusively for the purpose of paying the qualified education expenses of a designated beneficiary.
Criterion-related validity
Refers to the link between a selection device and job performance.
Cultural noise
Failure to recognize responses of a candidate that are socially acceptable rather than factual.
Davis-Bacon Act
Act that established prevailing wage and benefit requirements for contractors on federally funded construction projects.
De minimis violation
Violation of an OSHA standard that does not have a direct impact on employees’ safety and health on the job.
Deauthorization
Removes authority of a bargaining representative in a non-right-to-work state to negotiate or enforce a union security clause.
Decentralization
Degree to which decision-making authority is given to lower levels in an organization’s hierarchy.
Decertification
Means for employees to terminate union representation; removes union from its position as bargaining representative.
Decreasing returns
Type of learning curve in which the amount of learning or skill level increases rapidly at first and then the rate of improvement slows.
Deductible
Initial amount of covered medical expenses an individual must pay before receiving paid benefits under a health-care plan.
Defamation
Injuring someone’s reputation by making a false and malicious statement; may be spoken (slander) or written (libel).
Deferred compensation
Plan that provides income to employees at some future time as compensation for work performed now.
Defined benefit plan
Plan that promises employee a retirement benefit amount based on a formula.
Defined contribution plan
Plan in which the employer and sometimes the employee make an annual payment to the employee’s retirement plan account.
Delphi technique
Forecasting technique that progressively collects information from a group without physically assembling the contributors.
Departmentalization
Way an organization 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 that is based on when the employee works (e.g., overtime pay, shift-pay differential) or where the employee works.
Direct compensation
Pay that is received by an employee, including base pay, differential pay, and incentive pay.
Directed election
Type of representation election ordered by the NLRB regional director after a preelection hearing.
Directive interview
Type of interview in which interviewer poses specific questions to a candidate and keeps control.
Disability
Physical or mental impairment that substantially limits major life activities.
Disaster recovery plan
Guidelines and procedures to be used by an organization for the recovery of business operations when lost due to disasters such as earthquakes, fires, tornadoes, floods, hurricanes, terrorism, or epidemics.
Disparate impact
Occurs when the selection rate for an employment decision works to the disadvantage of a protected class; also known as adverse impact.
Disparate treatment
Occurs when protected classes are intentionally treated differently from other employees or are evaluated by different standards.
Distance learning
Process of delivering educational or instructional programs to locations away from a classroom or site.
Distributive bargaining
When parties are in conflict over an issue and the outcome represents a gain for one party and a loss for the other; each party tries to negotiate for the best possible outcome.
Diversity
Differences in characteristics of people; can involve personality, work style, race, age, ethnicity, gender, religion, education, functional level at work, etc.
Diversity training
Training designed to inform senior management and staff about diversity and to develop concrete skills that will facilitate enhanced productivity and communications among all employees.
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.
Divisional structure
Organizational structure in which segments are separated by product, customer or market, or region.
Dodd-Frank Wall Street Reform and Consumer Protection Act
Law that calls for fundamental changes in executive compensation disclosure, compensation committee independence, shareholder voting rights, and clawback provisions in publicly traded companies.
Double breasting
When a common owner operates both union and nonunion businesses.
Draw
Amount advanced on future commissions.
Drug-Free Workplace Act
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 whose preferences may be outside traditional management roles.
Due diligence
Process of conducting an intensive investigation of an organization as one of the first steps in a pending merger or acquisition.
Dues checkoff
Where employees agree in writing to an automatic deduction of dues from their paychecks.
Duty of fair representation
Requires that unions act fairly on behalf of the employees they represent in negotiating and administering collective bargaining agreements.
Duty of good faith and fair dealing
Imposes on each party in a contract an obligation for honesty in the conduct of the transaction.
Duty of loyalty
Common-law precept that imposes on employees a duty to be loyal to the employer.
Duty of successor employers or unions
Mutual bargaining obligation of an employer and a union when a majority interest in a unionized company is sold to another employer.
E-learning
Delivery of formal and informal training and educational materials, processes, and programs via the use of electronic media.
e-Verify
Internet-based verification system that allows employers to verify the employment eligibility of their employees regardless of citizenship.
E. I. Dupont & Company
1993 NLRB ruling that held certain employee committees to be illegal because Dupont management circumvented the legally chosen employee representatives and usurped the union’s right to represent its members.
Economic Growth and Tax Relief Reconciliation Act (EGTRRA)
Act that adjusts minimum vesting schedules, increases retirement plan compensation and contribution limits, permits catch-up contributions by participants age 50 or older in certain retirement plans, and modifies distribution and rollover rules.
Electromation
1992 court decision that employers must deal cautiously with employee participation committees based on the NLRB’s interpretation of what constitutes a company-dominated labor organization.
Electronic Communications Privacy Act (ECPA)
Act that makes it unlawful to intercept messages in transmission, access stored information on electronic communication services, or disclose this information.
Ellerth v. Burlington Northern Industries
Court ruling that distinguished between supervisor harassment that results in tangible employment action and supervisor harassment that does not.
Emergency Exit Procedures (Means of Egress) standard
OSHA standard that provides guidelines for preparing an emergency action plan and includes specifications regarding exits and maintenance of emergency systems.
Emergency-shift pay
Extra pay that employees receive when they are called into work during an emergency (e.g., a power outage).
Emotional intelligence (EI)
Ability of an individual to be sensitive to and understanding of the emotions of others and to manage his or her own emotions and impulses.
Employee assistance programs (EAPs)
Employer-sponsored programs that deliver a variety of health-related services, which are provided by licensed professionals or organizations and offer employees a high degree of confidentiality.
Employee Commuting Flexibility Act
Amendment to the Portal-to-Portal Act; clarifies that commuting time is not paid working time.
Employee handbook
Explains major HR and employee policies and procedures and generally describes the employee benefits provided.
Employee involvement (EI)
Planned and orderly attempt to link the shared interests of the employee and the organization for their mutual benefit.
Employee participation programs (EPPs)
Programs to improve communication between employees and management and empower employees in some workplace decisions.
Employee Polygraph Protection Act
Act that generally prevents employers engaged in or affecting interstate commerce from using lie detector tests either for preemployment screening or during the course of employment, with certain exemptions.
Employee Retirement Income Security Act (ERISA)
Act that established uniform minimum standards for employer-sponsored retirement and health and welfare benefit programs.
Employee stock-ownership plan (ESOP)
Stock plan structured as a form of ERISA-governed qualified retirement plan.
Employees
Workers who are covered by Fair Labor Standards Act regulations as determined by the IRS.
Employment branding
Process of positioning an organization as an “employer of choice” in the labor market.
Employment contract
Agreement between an employer and an employee that explains the employment relationship.
Employment offer
Makes the hiring decision official; should immediately follow the final decision to hire a candidate; formally communicated through an offer letter.
Employment practices liability insurance (EPLI)
Protects an employer against claims by workers that their legal rights as employees of the organization have been violated.
Employment-at-will
Common-law principle stating 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 employees have the right to quit a job at any time.
Enterprise management
Integrated processes and tools to allow information sharing and process management across functions, sometimes even with external partners, such as suppliers.
Environmental scanning
Process that involves a systematic survey and interpretation of relevant data to identify external opportunities and threats.
Epidemiology
Branch of medicine that investigates the causes and control of diseases in a population.
Equal Pay Act (EPA)
Act that prohibits wage discrimination by requiring equal pay for equal work.
