FSOT

  1. Acceptance theory of management
    principle that emphasizes the willingness of subordinates to accept those with authority to act.
  2. Accountability
    the answering for one's actions and accepting the consequences.
  3. Affirmative Action
    a plan that requires employers to make an extra effort to hire and promote people who belong to a protected group.
  4. Authority
    the formal and legitimate right of a manager to make decisions, issue orders, and allocate resources to achieve organizational goals.
  5. Behavioral management theory
    a method that focuses on people as individuals with needs (also known as the human relations movement).

    human relations movement: see behavioral management theory.
  6. Boundary spanning
    the process of gathering information from the external environment to identify current or likely events and determine how those events will affect the organization.
  7. Brainstorming
    an idea-generating process that encourages the development of alternatives while withholding criticism of those alternatives.
  8. Bureaucracy
    a form of organization based on logic, order, and legitimate use of formal authority.
  9. Centralized organization
    authority is concentrated at the top of the organization.
  10. Chain of command
    a line of authority that links all persons in an organization and defines who reports to whom.
  11. Classical administrative
    the branch of classical management theory that emphasizes the flow of information in organizations.
  12. Classical management theory
    a theory, developed during the Industrial Revolution, that proposes "one best way" to perform tasks. Classical management theory developed into two separate branches: the classical scientific school and the classical administrative school.
  13. Classical Scientific
    a branch of the school of classical management theory, whose emphasis is on increasing productivity and efficiency.
  14. Closed System
    an organization that interacts little with its external or outside environment.
  15. Coercive Power
    authority to punish or recommend punishment.
  16. Communication
    the exchange of ideas, messages, or information, by speech, signals, or writing.
  17. Compensation
    all work-related payments, including wages, commissions, insurance, and other benefits.
  18. Competitive advantage
    any aspect of an organization that distinguishes it from its competitors in a positive way.
  19. Condition of certainty
    situation that occurs when the decision maker has perfect knowledge of all the information needed to make a decision.
  20. Content Theory
    identifies physical or psychological conditions that act as stimuli for human behavior.
  21. Contingency Planning
    development of alternative courses of action that can be implemented if and when the original plan proves inadequate because of changing circumstances.
  22. Contingency Theory
    this principle examines the fit between the leader and the situation and provides guidelines for managers to achieve an effective fit (also known as situational theory).

    situational theory: see contingency theory.
  23. Continuous Process
    a system that produces goods by continuously feeding raw materials through highly automated technology.

    ongoing plans: see continuing plans.
  24. Control
    the systematic process of regulating organization activities to make them consistent with the expectations established in plans, targets, and standards of performance.
  25. Concurrent Control
    method of regulation applied to processes as they are happening.
  26. Cost-leadership Strategy
    system that focuses on keeping costs as low as possible through efficient operations and tight controls.
  27. Crisis Problem
    an unexpected problem that has the potential to lead to disaster if not resolved quickly and appropriately.
  28. Cross-Functional Teams
    groups of experts in various specialties (or functions) who work together on solutions to organizational problems.
  29. Decentralized Organizations
    firms that consciously attempt to spread authority to the lowest possible levels.
  30. Decision Tree
    a diagram that analyzes hiring, marketing, investment, equipment purchases, pricing, and similar decisions. Decision trees assign probabilities to each possible outcome and calculate payoffs for each decision path.
  31. Delegation
    the downward transfer of authority from a manager to a subordinate.
  32. Demographics
    measurements of various characteristics of the people and social groups who make up a society.
  33. Development Plans
    a series of steps that can help employees acquire skills to reach long-term goals, such as job promotions.
  34. Differentiation Strategy
    a plan whereby a company attempts to set the organization's products or services apart form those of other companies.
  35. Embargo
    a prohibition on trade in a particular area.
  36. Employee Benefits
    legally required or voluntary compensation provided to employees in addition to their salaries.
  37. Empowerment
    giving individuals an organization autonomy.
  38. Expectancy Theory
    a motivational theory stating that the three factors that influence behavior are the value of the reward, the relationship of the reward to performance, and the effort required for performance
  39. Expert Power
    a leader's special knowledge or skills regarding the tasks performed by followers.
  40. Exporting
    selling of an organization's products to a foreign broker or agent.
  41. Feed Forward Controls
    method used to identify and prevent defects and deviations from standards.
  42. Financial Audits
    formal investigations to ensure that procedures, policies, laws, and ethical guidelines are followed in the handling and reporting of financial activities.
  43. Financial Ratio Analysis
    the relationship between specific figures on an organization's financial statements; helps explain the significance of those figures.
  44. Financial Statements
    reports that provide management with information to monitor financial resources.
  45. First-Line Management
    the lowest level of management.
  46. Flextime
    an employment alternative that allows employees to decide, within a certain range, when to begin and end each work day.
  47. Force-Field Analysis
    a technique to implement change by determining which forces drive change and which forces resist it.
  48. Formal Structure
    the hierarchical arrangement of tasks and people within an organization.
  49. Functional Authority
    authority to make decisions about specific activities undertaken by personnel in other departments.
  50. Functional Structure
    an organizational design that groups positions into departments on the basis of the specialized activities of the business.
  51. Functional Teams
    work groups that perform specific organizational functions with members from several vertical levels of the hierarchy.
  52. Grapevine
    the informal communications network within an organization (also known as social network and informal channels).

    • informal channels: see grapevine.
    • social network: see grapevine.
  53. Incentive Pay
    links compensation and performance by paying employees for actual results, not for seniority or hours worked.
  54. Income Statement
    a report that presents the difference between an organization's income and expenses to determine whether the firm operated at a profit or loss over a specified time.
  55. Informal Organization
    the pattern, behavior, and interaction that stems from personal rather than official relationships.
  56. Interpersonal Communication
    real-time, face-to-face, or voice-to-voice conversation that allows immediate feedback.
  57. Intrapreneurship
    organizational culture that allows employees flexibility and authority in pursuing and developing new ideas.
  58. Job Analysis
    a study that determines all tasks and qualifications needed for each position.
  59. Job Description
    a written statement of a job's requirements, processes, and rationale.
  60. Job Enlargement
    a type of job re-design that increases the variety of tasks a position includes (also known as horizontal job loading).

    horizontal job loading: see job enlargement.
  61. Job Enrichment
    a type of job re-design that not only includes an increased variety of tasks, but also provides the employee with more responsibility and authority (also known as vertical job loading).

    vertical job loading: see job enrichment.
  62. Job Rotation
    temporarily assigning employees to different job, or tasks to different people, on a rotating basis.
  63. Job Sharing
    process in which one full-time job is split between two or more persons (also known as twinning).

    twinning: see job sharing.
  64. Joint Venture
    a business relationship formed between a domestic and foreign firm.
  65. Kaizen
    a Japanese term used in the business setting to mean incremental, continuous improvement.
  66. Leading
    establishing and influencing others to follow a specific direction.
  67. Learning Organizations
    firms thatutilize people, values, and systems to continuously change and improve performance based on the lessons of experience.
  68. Legitimate Power
    vested authority stemming from a formal management position in an organization.
  69. Licensure Agreement
    Contract that grants one firm the right to make or sell another company's products.
  70. Line Authority
    a manager's right to direct the work of his or her employees and make decisions without consulting others.
  71. Liquidity Ratios
    measurements of an organization's ability to generate cash.
  72. Management
    the process of administering and coordinating resources effectively, efficiently, and in an effort to achieve the goals of the organization.
  73. Management Information Systems
    (MIS)collects, organizes, and distributes data in such a way that the information meets managers' needs.
  74. Manager
    a person responsible for the work performance of one or more other persons.
  75. Mass Production
    a system used to manufacture a large number of uniform products in an assembly line.
  76. Means-End Chain
    the effective design of organizational goals that encourages the accomplishment of low-level goals as a way of achieving high-level goals.
  77. Mechanistic Structure
    a highly bureaucratic organizational method, with centralized authority, detailed rules and procedures, a clear-cut division of labor, narrow span of controls, and formal coordination.
  78. Mission Statement
    a document that describes what an organization stands for and why it exists.
  79. Motion Study
    research designed to isolate the best possible method of performing a given job.
  80. Multinational Corporations (MNC)
    organizations operating facilities in one or more countries.
  81. Need Theory
    a construct of motivation based upon physical or psychological conditions that act as stimuli for human behavior.
  82. Network Structure
    an operating process that relies on other organizations to perform critical functions on a contractual basis.
  83. Nonverbal Communication
    actions, gestures, and other aspects of physical appearance that can be a powerful means of transmitting messages (also known as body language).

    Body language: see nonverbal communication.
  84. Open System
    a method in which an individual or organization must interact with various and constantly changing components in both the external and internal environments.
  85. Operational Goals
    specific, measurable results expected from first-level managers, work groups, and individuals.
  86. Operational Plan
    developed by a first level supervisor as the means to achieve operational objectives in support of tactical plans.
  87. Organic Structure
    a management system founded on cooperation and knowledge-based authority.
  88. Organization
    a group of individuals who work together to accomplish a common goal.
  89. Organizational Change
    a significant change that affects an entire company.
  90. Organizational Chart
    a pictorial display of the official lines of authority and communication within an organization.
  91. Organizational Climate
    the byproduct of organizational culture; it is the barometer for determining the morale of the employees.
  92. Organizational Culture
    an organization's personality.
  93. Organizational Design
    the creation or change of an organization's structure, the configuration and interrelationships of positions and departments.
  94. Organizational Development (OD)
    a plan that focuses on changing an entire organization by changing processes and organizational culture.
  95. Organizing
    the process of establishing the orderly use of resources by assigning and coordinating tasks.
  96. Orientation
    a socialization process designed to provide necessary information to new employees and welcome them into the organization.
  97. Performance Appraisal
    a formal, structured system designed to measure an employee's job performance against designated standards.
  98. Philosophy of Management
    a manager's set of personal beliefs and values about people and work.
  99. Plan
    a blueprint for goal achievement that specifies the necessary resource allocations, schedules, tasks, and other actions.
  100. Planned Change
    the deliberate structuring of operations and behaviors in anticipation of environmental forces.
  101. Planning
    the act of determining the organization's goals and defining the means for achieving them.
  102. Privacy Laws
    legal rights of employees regarding who has access to information about their work history and job performance.
  103. Procedure
    a set of step-by-step directions that explain how activities or tasks are to be carried out.
  104. Process Theories
    rationales that attempt to explain how workers select behavioral actions to meet their needs and determine their choices.
  105. Profitability Ratios
    measurements of an organization's ability to generate profits.
  106. Quality
    reflects the degree to which a goods or services meet the demands and requirements of the marketplace.
  107. Quantitative Approach
    using quantitative techniques, such as statistics, information models, and computer simulations, to improve decision making.
  108. Queuing Theory
    a rationale that helps allocate services or workstations to minimize customer waiting and service cost.
  109. Quotas
    government regulations that limit the import of specific products within the year.
  110. Recruitment
    activities an organization uses to attract a pool of viable candidates.
  111. Reengineering
    redesigning processes requiring input from every employee in the company to achieve dramatic improvements in cost, quality, service, and speed.
  112. Referent Power
    influence that results from leadership characteristics that command identification, respect, and admiration from subordinates (also known as charismatic power).

    Charismatic power: see referent power.
  113. Resources
    the people, information, facilities, infrastructure, machinery, equipment, supplies, and finances at an organization's disposal.
  114. Reward Power
    the authority to reward others.
  115. Risk
    the environment that exists when a manager must make a decision without complete information.
  116. Rule
    an explicit statement that tells a supervisor what he or she can and cannot do.
  117. Satisfice
    the making of the best decision possible with the information, resources, and time available.
  118. Scalar Principle
    a system that demonstrates a clearly defined line of authority in the organization that includes all employees.
  119. Selective Perception
    the tendency to single out for attention those aspects of a situation or person that reinforce or appear consistent with one's existing beliefs, values, or needs.
  120. Self-Fulfilling Prophecy
    a belief that a manager can, through his or her behavior, create a situation where subordinates act in ways that confirm his or her original expectations.
  121. Simulation
    a broad term indicating any type of activity that attempts to imitate an existing system or situation in a simplified manner.
  122. Small-Batch Production
    manufacturing of a variety of custom, made-to-order products.
  123. Strategic Change
    revision that takes place when a company changes its tactics (strategy) - possibly even its mission statement - to achieve current goals.
  124. Strategic Plan
    an outline of steps designed with the goals of the entire organization as a whole in mind, rather than with the goals of specific divisions or departments.
  125. Structural Change
    variation that occurs when a company changes its procedures, policies, and rules, and as a result, its organizational structure.
  126. Structured Problems
    familiar, straightforward, and clear difficulties with respect to the information needed to resolve them.
  127. Tactical Plan
    steps detailing the actions needed to achieve the organization's larger strategic plan.
  128. Tariffs
    taxes placed on imports and/or exports in response to a political event.
  129. Team Structure
    organizational design that places separate functions into a group according to one overall objective.
  130. Technology
    the knowledge, machinery, work procedures, and materials that transform inputs into outputs.
  131. Telecommuting
    a work arrangement that allows at least a portion of scheduled work hours to be completed outside of the office, with work at home as one of the options (also known as flexiplace).

    flexiplace: see telecommuting.
  132. Total Quality Management (TQM)
    a philosophy that states that uniform commitment to quality in all areas of the organization promotes a culture that meets consumers' perceptions of quality.
  133. Unity of Command
    principle that states that an employee should have one and only one supervisor to whom he or she is directly responsible.
  134. Unstructured Problems
    difficulties that involve ambiguities and information deficiencies and often occur as new or unexpected situations.
  135. Validity
    proof that the relationship between a selection device and some relevant job criterion exists.
  136. Vision
    the ability of the leader to bind people together with an idea.
  137. Wholly-Owned Subsidiary
    a foreign firm owned outright, or with a controlling interest, by an out-of-country firm.
  138. Work Specialization
    the degree to which organizational tasks are divided into separate jobs (also known as the division of labor).

    division of labor: see work specialization.
  139. Zero Defects
    a program that emphasizes doing it right the first time.
Author
jnhess
ID
56939
Card Set
FSOT
Description
Foreign Service - Management Vocab
Updated