Business Concepts and Strategies

Intellectual Capital

• Shared knowledge of a workforce

Globalization

• The trend of businesses and technologies spreading throughout the world

Shamrock 3

• Full-time workers, contract workers, and part-time workers

Portfolio Worker

• Someone with up-to-date skills, able to move between jobs

Productivity

• The quantity and quality of work performance

Performance Effectiveness

• The output measure of goal accomplishment

Performance Efficiency

• An input measure of resource cost associated with goal accomplishment

Sustainable Innovation

• When a business creates new products and production methods that reduce environmental impacts

Specific Environment

• Also called task environment; the actual organizations, committees, groups and individuals a business interacts with

Value Creation

• The creation of value for satisfying stakeholder needs

Strategic Positioning

• Helping an organization do the same things as other businesses but in different ways

Environmental Uncertainty

• A lack of information for the external environment of a business or organization

Manager

• A person who supports, activates, and is responsible for the work of others

Top Manager

• Guides the performance of the organization as a whole

Middle Manager

• Managers who report to top managers, in charge of large divisions

Line Manager

• Directly contribute to producing the organization’s goods or services

Staff Manager

• Use special technical expertise to advise and support line workers

Functional Managers

• Responsible for one area

General Managers

• Responsible for complex, multifunctional units

Admins

• A manager in a public organization

Accountability

• The requirement to show performance results to a superior

Effective Manager

• Helps others achieve high performance and satisfaction at work

Quality of Work Life

• The overall quality of experiences in the workplace

Management

• The process of planning, organizing, leading, and controlling the use of resources to accomplish performance goals

Planning

• The process of setting objectives and determining what should be done to accomplish them

Organizing

• Arranging tasks, people, and resources to accomplish the work

Leading

• Inspiring people to work hard to achieve high performance

Controlling

• Measuring performance and taking action to ensure desired results

Information Roles

• How a manager processes and exchanges information

Interpersonal Roles

• How a manager interacts with other people

Decisional Roles

• How a manager uses information in decision making

Social Capital

• A capacity to get things done with the help of others

Learning

• A change in behaviour resulting from experience

Lifelong Learning

• Continuous learning from daily experiences

Skills

• The ability to transfer knowledge into performance

Technical Skills

• The ability to use expertise in order to perform special tasks

Human Skills

• The ability to cooperate and work with others

Conceptual Skills

• The ability to think critically and analytically

Managerial Competency

• A skill-based capability that contributes to high performance results

Motion Study

• The science of reducing a task to its most basic physical motions

Bureaucracy

• A rational and efficient form of organization founded on logic, order, and legitimate authority

Hawthorne Effect

• The tendency of persons singled out for special attention to perform as expected

Human Relations Movement

• Suggested that managers using good human relations will achieve productivity

Organizational Behaviour

• The study of individuals and groups in organizations

Need

• A physiological or psychological deficiency that a person wants to satisfy

Theory X

• People hate work

Theory Y

• People love work

Self-Fulfilling Prophecy

• Occurs when a person acts in ways that conform to another's expectations

Management Science and Operations Research

• Use quantitative research and applied mathematics to solve problems

Operations Management

• The study of how organizations produce goods and services

System

• A collection of interrelated parts working together for a purpose

Subsystem

• A smaller component of a larger system

Open System

• An open system interacts with its environment and transforms resource inputs into outputs

Contingency Thinking

• Tries to match management practices with situational demands

Total Quality Management

• Managing with an organization-wide commitment to continuous improvement, product quality, and customer needs

Continuous Improvement

• Involves always searching for new ways to improve work quality and performance

ISO Certification

• Indicates conformity with a rigorous set of international quality standards

Knowledge Management

• The process of using intellectual capital for competitive advantage

Learning Organization

• Continuously changes and improves

High-Performance Organization

• Consistently achieves excellence while creating a high-quality work environment

Evidence-Based Management

• Involves making decisions based on hard facts about what really works

Global Economy

• Resources, markets, and competition that are worldwide in scope

World 3.0

• A world where nations cooperate in the global economy while respecting each other's cultures

Global Management

• Involves making operations in more than one country

Global Manager

• Culturally aware and informed on international affairs

Global Business

• Conducts commercial transactions across national boundaries

Global Sourcing

• Materials or services are purchased around the world for local use

Licensing Agreement

• A local firm pays a foreign firm for rights to make or sell its products

Foreign Direct Investment

• Building, buying all or part ownership of a business in another country

Greenfield Investment

• Builds an entirely new operation in a foreign country

Political Risk

• The potential loss in value of a foreign investment due to instability and political changes in the host country

Political Risk Analysis

• Tries to forecast political disruptions that can threaten the value of a foreign investment

World Trade Organization

• Member nations agree to negotiate disputes about trade agreements and tariffs

Most Favored Nation Status

• Gives a trading partner most favorable treatment for imports and exports

Protectionism

• A call for tariffs and favorable treatment to protect domestic firms from foreign competition

Global Corporation

• A multinational business with extensive operations in more than one foreign country

Transnational Corporation

• An MNC that operates worldwide on a boarder less basis

Corruption

• Involves illegal practices to further one's business interest

Sustainable Development

• Meets the needs of the present without hurting future generations

Culture

• A shared set of beliefs, values, and patterns of behavior common to a group of people

Culture Shock

• The confusion and discomfort a person experiences when in an unfamiliar culture

Ethnocentrism

• The tendency to consider one's culture superior to others

Cultural Intelligence

• The ability to accept and adapt to new cultures

Low-Context Culture

• Emphasizes communication via spoken or written word

High-Context Culture

• Relies on nonverbal and situational cues as well as spoken or written communication

Monochromatic Cultures

• People tend to do one thing at a time

Polychromatic Cultures

• Time is used to accomplish many different things

Proxemics

• How people use space to communicate

Ecological Fallacy

• Assumes that a generalized cultural value applies equally well to all members of the culture

Masculinity-Femininity

• The degree to which a society values assertiveness and materialism

Comparative Management

• Studies how management practices differ among countries and cultures

Ethnocentric Attitudes

• Managers believe the best approaches are found at home and tightly control foreign operations

Polycentric Attitudes

• Respect local knowledge and allow foreign operations to run with substantial freedom

Geocentric Attitudes

• Managers are high in cultural intelligence and take a collaborative approach to global management practices

Intercultural Competencies

• Skills and personal characteristics that help us be successful in cross-cultural situations

Ethical Behavior

• Right or good in the context of a governing moral code

Terminal Values

• Preferences about desired end states

Instrumental Values

• Preferences regarding the means to desired ends

Utilitarian Views

• Ethical behavior delivers the greatest good to the greatest amount of people

Individualism View

• Ethical behavior advances long-term self-interests

Moral Rights View

• Ethical behavior respects and protects fundamental rights

Justice View

• Ethical behavior treats people fairly and justly

Procedural View

• The way rules are applied are concerned that they are applied fairly

Distributive Justice

• Concerned that people are treated the same regardless of their personal characteristics

Interactional Justice

• The degree to which others are treated with dignity and respect

Communicative Justice

• The degree to which an exchange or a transaction is fair to all parties

Cultural Relativism

• Suggests that there is no one right way to behave, ethical behavior is determined by its cultural context

Universalism

• Suggests that ethical standards apply absolutely across all cultures

Ethical Imperialism

• Imposing one's ethical standards on other cultures

Ethical Dilemma

• A situation that offers potential benefit or gain and is also unethical

Ethics Intensity

• Indicates the degree to which an issue or situation is recognized to pose important ethical challenges

Ethical Framework

• A personal rule for making ethical decisions

Ethical Training

• Seeks to help people understand ethical standards into their daily behavior

Immoral Manager

• Chooses to behave unethically

Amoral Manager

• Fails to consider the ethics of their behavior

Moral Manager

• Makes ethics a personal goal

Ethics Mindfulness

• Enriched awareness that leads to consistent ethical behavior

Social Entrepreneurship

• A mission to solve pressing social problems

Classic View of CSR

• Business should focus on only profits

Socio-Economic View of CSR

• Business should focus on border social welfare as well as profits

Obstructionist Strategy

• Avoids social responsibility and reflects mainly economic priorities

Virtuous Circle

• Occurs when CSR improves financial performance, which leads to more CSR

Defensive Strategy

• Seeks protection by doing the minimum legally required

Accommodative Strategy

• Accepts social responsibility and tries to satisfy economic, legal, and ethical criteria

Proactive Strategy

• Meets all the criteria

Corporate Governance

• The oversight of top management by the BOD

Organizational Structure

• A system of tasks, reporting relationships, and communication linkages

Organization Chart

• Describes the arrangement of work positions within an organization

Formal Structure

• The official structure of the organization

Informal Structure

• The set of unofficial relationships among an organization's members

Departmentalization

• The process of grouping people and jobs into work units

Functional Structure

• Groups together people with similar skills who perform similar tasks

Functional Chimneys Problem

• A lack of communication and coordination across functions

Divisional Structure

• Groups together people who work on the same product

Product Structure

• Groups together people and jobs focused on a single product

Customer Structure

• Groups together people and jobs that serve the same customers or clients

Work Process Structure

• A group of related tasks that collectively creates a valuable work product

Process Structure

• Groups jobs and activities that are part of the same process

Matrix Structure

• Combines functional and divisional approaches to emphasize project or program teams

Team Structures

• Uses permanent and temporary cross-functional teams to improve lateral relationships

Cross-Functional Teams

• Brings together people from different departments

Project Teams

• Convened for a particular task or project and disband once it is completed

Boundaryless Organization

• Eliminates internal boundaries among subsystems and external boundaries with the external environment

Bureaucracy

• Formal authority

Mechanistic Design

• Centralized, with many rules and procedures; a clear-cut division of labor and formal coordination

Organic Design

• Decentralized with fewer rules and procedures; an open division of labor; wide spans of control; and more personal coordination

Adaptive Organization

• Operates with a minimum of bureaucratic features and encourages worker empowerment

Integration

• The love or coordination achieved between subsystems

Chain of Command

• Links all persons with successively higher levels or authority

Span of control

• The number of subordinates directly reporting to a manager

Staff Positions

• Provide technical expertise for other parts of the organization

Explore fundamental business concepts including intellectual capital, globalization, and value creation. This quiz covers strategic positioning, performance measures, and sustainable innovation to enhance your understanding of modern business dynamics.