Glossary of Terms

A-C

Acquisitions

- Acquisitions are when one firm acquires more than 50 percent of the voting stock of another firm and, therefore, controls that firm.

Action Learning

- Action learning builds opportunities for learning around real problems brought to the workplace by employees .

Assessment Centers

- Assessment centers use standardized selection criteria to identify potential managers and executives.

Benchmarking

- Benchmarking is a systematic process of comparing an organization to other organizations for the purposes of identifying better work methods and determining best practices. It helps define customer requirements, establish effective goals and objectives, develop true measures of productivity, and identify education and training needs for current and future employees.

Benefits

- Benefits are the noncash portion of a compensation program intended to improve the quality of work life for an organization's people.

Capital

- Capital is the source of long- term financing (investments and loans) available to an organization.

Capital Investment

- Capital investment refers to commitment or use of money and other assets made in anticipation of greater financial returns in the future and usually involves large sums of money.

Capital Spending

- Capital spending involves risk-return trade-off analysis to secure long-term financial advantage.

Career Assessment

- Career assessment uses the results of standardized interest and personal style inventories to help a person develop career goals, strategies, and a personal educational plan.

Career Development

- Career development attempts to match the person's abilities and interests to the person's position and career plan with a focus on professional growth and enhancement of the work role.

Career Pathing

- Career pathing is a planned sequence of job assignments, usually involving growth-oriented tasks and experiences, that people assume in preparation for future job opportunities.

Cash-flow Analysis

- Cash-flow analysis provides information about inflows and outflows of cash during a specific period of time.

Cause Analysis

- Cause analysis is the process of determining the root cause of past, present, and future performance gaps.

Change Management

- Change management involves problem solving in a concerted effort to adapt to changing organizational needs.

Coaching

- Coaching is the help that managers give to people by evaluating and guiding on-the-job performance.

Collaboration

- Collaboration is cooperating by working together for an improved quality of work life.

Compensation

- Compensation is pay for work and performance, plus disability income; deferred income; health, accident , and liability protection; loss-of-job income; and continuation of spouse's income when there is a loss due to a person's relocation.

Competency Testing

- Competency testing examines current job knowledge and skills that will be needed for present and future performance.

Confirmative Evaluation

- Confirmative evaluation provides information about the continuing competence and effectiveness of people to explain and confirm the value of the performance intervention over time.

Conflict Resolution

- Conflict resolution involves alleviating a disagreement between two or more people who share differing views.

Continuous Improvement

- Continuous improvement is the ongoing, organizationwide framework in which stakeholders (employees, customers, and suppliers) are committed to and involved in monitoring and evaluating all aspects of a company's activities (inputs, processes, and outputs) to continuously improve them.

Culture

- Culture is a shared system of values, beliefs, and behaviors that characterize a group or organization.