Glossary of Human Resource Management Terms
1. SWOT Analysis
A comparison of one’s strengths, weaknesses, opportunities, and threats.
2. Organizational Culture
Refers to the shared values, beliefs, and assumptions people in an organization have.
3. Protected Class
Individuals of a minority race, women, older people, and those with disabilities who are covered by federal laws on equal employment opportunity.
4. Wage Compression
When the pay range increases but wages do not.
5. Agility
A firm’s ability to make quick changes to gain a competitive advantage.
6. Downsizing
The planned elimination of jobs.
7. Outsourcing
Contracting outside the organization to have work done that formerly was done by internal employees.
8. Offshoring
The business practice of sending jobs to other countries.
9. Corporate Social Responsibility
The responsibility of the firm to act in the best interests of the people and communities affected by its activities.
10. Sustainability
Doing business in a way that does as little harm to the environment and depletes as few natural resources as possible.
11. Furloughing
A situation in which an organization asks or requires employees to take time off either for no pay or reduced pay.
12. Stakeholders
Key people and groups that have an interest in a firm’s activities and that can either affect them or be affected by them.
13. Human Capital
The knowledge, skills, and capabilities of individuals that have economic value to an organization.
14. Strategic Planning
Procedures for making decisions about the organization’s long-term goals and strategies.
15. Mission
The basic purpose of the organization as well as its scope of operation.
16. Core Values
The strong and enduring beliefs and principles that guide a firm’s decisions and are the foundation of its corporate culture.
17. Human Resource Planning
The process of anticipating and providing for the movement of people into, within, and out of an organization.
18. Skills Inventories
Files of personnel education, experience, interests, skills, and so on that allow managers to quickly match job openings with employee backgrounds.
19. Quid Pro Quo
This for that.
20. Bona Fide Occupational Qualification
Employers are permitted limited exemptions from antidiscrimination regulations if the employment preferences are based on an actual qualification for performing the job. (ex. a female for modeling women’s clothing).
21. Glass Ceiling
An invisible barrier that prohibits protected class members from reaching top organizational positions.
22. Lily Ledbetter Act
The Lily Ledbetter Act states that the 180-day statute of limitation for filing an equal pay lawsuit resets with each new paycheck an employee receives.
23. Severance Package
A waiver that employers may get to have an older employee leave could include a severance package.
24. Hostile Environment
A second type of harassment that occurs when repeated comments or actions interfere with work performance or creating an intimidating, hostile, or offensive working environment.
25. Sexual Harassment
A male employee telling a female employee she has beautiful eyes, or a female employee telling a mail employee that he has a nice butt, can be an form of this.
26. Reasonable Accommodation
An attempt by employers to adjust, without undue hardship, the working conditions or schedules of employees with disabilities or religious preferences.
27. Americans with Disabilities Act (of 1990)
Prohibits discrimination in employment against people with physical or mental disabilities or the chronically ill: enjoins employers to make reasonable accommodation to the employment needs of the disabled: covers employers with 15 or more employees.
28. Pregnancy Discrimination Act (of 1978)
This law prohibits discrimination in the hiring, promotion, transfer, or termination of women because of pregnancy.
29. Title VII of Civil Rights Act (of 1964)
Prohibits discrimination in employment on the basis of race, color, religion, sex, or national origin: created the EEOC to enforce provisions of Title VII.
30. Equal Employment Opportunity Commission (EEOC)
EEOC.
31. EEO (Equal Employment Opportunity)
The employment of individuals in a fair and non-biased manner.
32. Job Description
A statement of the tasks, duties, and responsibilities of a job to be performed.
33. Hostile Environment
Harassment that occurs when repeated comments or actions interfere with work performance or creating an intimidating, hostile, or offensive working environment.