WGU C483 - Principles of Management

WGU C483 - Principles of Management Accommodation A style of dealing with conflict involving cooperation on behalf of the other party but not being assertive about one's own interests Accountability The expectation that employees will perform a job, take corrective action when necessary, and report upward on the status and quality of their performance Accounting audits Procedures used to verify accounting reports and statements Acquisition One firm buying another Activity-based costing (ABC) A method of cost accounting designed to identify streams of activity and then to allocate costs across particular business processes according to the amount of time employees devote to particular activities Adapters Companies that take the current industry structure and its evolution as givens, and choose where to compete Adverse impact When a seemingly neutral employment practice has a disproportionately negative effect on a protected group Advertising support model Charging fees to advertise on a site Affective conflict Emotional disagreement directed toward other people Affiliate model Charging fees to direct site visitors to other companies' sites Affirmative action Special efforts to recruit and hire qualified members of groups that have been discriminated against in the past After-action review A frank and open-minded discussion of four basic questions aimed at continuous improvement Alderfer's ERG theory A human needs theory postulating that people have three basic sets of needs that can operate simultaneously (Existence, Relatedness and Growth) Arbitration The use of a neutral third party to resolve a labor dispute Assessment center A managerial performance test in which candidates participate in a variety of exercises and situations Assets The values of the various items the corporation owns Authentic leadership A style in which the leader is true to himself or herself while leading Authority The legitimate right to make decisions and to tell other people what to do Autocratic leadership A form of leadership in which the leader makes decisions on his or her own and then announces those decisions to the group Autonomous work groups Groups that control decisions about and execution of a complete range of tasks Avoidance A reaction to conflict that involves ignoring the problem by doing nothing at all or deemphasizing the disagreement Balanced scorecard Control system combining four sets of performance measures: financial, customer, business process, and learning and growth Balance sheet A report that shows the financial picture of a company at a given time and itemizes assets, liabilities, and stockholders' equity Barriers to entry Conditions that prevent new companies from entering an industry Behavioral approach A leadership perspective that attempts to identify what good leaders do—that is, what behaviors they exhibit Benchmarking The process of comparing an organization's practices and technologies with those of other companies Bootlegging Informal work on projects, other than those officially assigned, of employees' own choosing and initiative Boundaryless organization Organization in which there are no barriers to information flow Boundary-spanning Interacting with people in other groups, thus creating linkages between groups Bounded rationality A less-than-perfect form of rationality in which decision makers cannot be perfectly rational because decisions are complex and complete information is unavailable or cannot be fully processed Brainstorming A process in which group members generate as many ideas about a problem as they can; criticism is withheld until all ideas have been proposed Broker A person who assembles and coordinates participants in a network Budgeting The process of investigating what is being done and comparing the results with the corresponding budget data to verify accomplishments or remedy differences; also called budgetary controlling Buffering Creating supplies of excess resources in case of unpredictable needs Bureaucratic control The use of rules, regulations, and authority to guide performance Business accelerators Organization that provides support and advice to help young businesses grow Business ethics The moral principles and standards that guide behavior in the world of business Business incubators Protected environments for new, small businesses Business plan A formal planning step that focuses on the entire venture and describes all the elements involved in starting it Business strategy The major actions by which a business competes in a particular industry or market Cafeteria benefit program An employee benefit program in which employees choose from a menu of options to create a benefit package tailored to their needs Carbon footprint The output of carbon dioxide and other greenhouses gases Caux Principles Ethical principles established by international executives based in Caux, Switzerland, in collaboration with business leaders from Japan, Europe, and the United States Centralized organization An organization in which high-level executives make most decisions and pass them down to lower levels for implementation Certainty The state that exists when decision makers have accurate and comprehensive information Charismatic leader A person who is dominant, self-confident, convinced of the moral righteousness of his or her beliefs, and able to arouse a sense of excitement and adventure in followers Chief information officer (CIO) Executive in charge of information technology strategy and development Clan control Control based on the norms, values, shared goals, and trust among group members Coaching Dialogue with a goal of helping another be more effective and achieve his or her full potential on the job Coalitional model Model of organizational decision making in which groups with differing preferences use power and negotiation to influence decisions Cognitive conflict Issue-based differences in perspectives or judgments Cohesiveness The degree to which a group is attractive to its members, members are motivated to remain in the group, and members influence one another Collaboration A style of dealing with conflict emphasizing both cooperation and assertiveness to maximize both parties' satisfaction Communication The transmission of information and meaning from one party to another through the use of shared symbols Comparable worth Principle of equal pay for different jobs of equal worth Competing A style of dealing with conflict involving strong focus on one's own goals and little or no concern for the other person's goals Competitive environment The immediate environment surrounding a firm; includes suppliers, customers, rivals, and the like Competitive intelligence Information that helps managers determine how to compete better Compliance-based ethics programs Company mechanisms typically designed by corporate counsel to prevent, detect, and punish legal violations Compromise A style of dealing with conflict involving moderate attention to both parties' concerns Computer-integrated manufacturing (CIM) The use of computer-aided design and computer-aided manufacturing to sequence and optimize a number of production processes Concentration A strategy employed for an organization that operates a single business and competes in a single industry Concentric diversification A strategy used to add new businesses that produce related products or are involved in related markets and activities Conceptual and decision skills Skills pertaining to the ability to identify and resolve problems for the benefit of the organization and its members Concurrent control The control process used while plans are being carried out, including directing, monitoring, and fine-tuning activities as they are performed Concurrent engineering A design approach in which all relevant functions cooperate jointly and continually in a maximum effort aimed at producing high-quality products that meet customers' needs Conflict Opposing pressures from different sources, occurring on the level of psychological conflict or conflict between individuals or groups Conglomerate diversification A strategy used to add new businesses that produce unrelated products or are involved in unrelated markets and activities Contingency plans Alternative courses of action that can be implemented based on how the future unfolds Continuous process A process that is highly automated and has a continuous production flow Control Any process that directs the activities of individuals toward the achievement of organizational goals Controlling The management function of monitoring performance and making needed changes; takes five steps: 1) set standards, 2) measure performance, 3 compare performance to standards, 4) taking correction. Cooperative strategies Strategies used by two or more organizations working together to manage the external environment Coordination The procedures that link the various parts of an organization for the purpose of achieving the organization's overall mission Coordination by mutual adjustment Units interact with one another to make accommodations to achieve flexible coordination