Z94.10 Management



PANIC. A reaction preventing effective decision making in which individuals become so upset that they frantically seek a way to solve a problem.

PARALANGUAGE. A category of nonverbal communication that involves vocal aspects of communication that relate to how something is said rather than to what is said.

PARTIAL-FACTOR PRODUCTIVITY. A productivity approach that measures organizational productivity by considering the total output relative to a specific input, such as labor.

PARTICIPATIVE. A leader behavior identified an path-goal theory that is characterized by consulting with subordinates, encouraging their suggestions, and carefully considering their ideas when making decisions.

PATH-GOAL THEORY. A situational leadership theory that attempts to explain how leader behavior impacts the motivation and job satisfaction of subordinates.

PAY SURVEY. A survey of the labor market to determine the current rates of pay for benchmark, or key, jobs which is used to address the issue of external equity (of compensation).

PAYOFF. The amount of decision-maker value associated with a particular decision alternative and future condition in a payoff table.

PAYOFF TABLE. A quantitative decision-making and consisting of a two-dimensional matrix that allows a decision maker to compare how different future conditions are likely to affect the respective outcomes of two or more decision alternatives.

PERCEPTION. The process that individuals use to acquire information from the environment.

PERCEPTUAL DEFENSE. The tendency to block out or distort information that one finds threatening or that challenges one’s beliefs.

PERFORMANCE APPRAISAL. The process of defining expectations for employee performance; measuring, evaluating, and recording employee performance relative to those expectations; and providing feedback to the employee.

PERFORMANCE-OUTCOME EXPECTANCY. A component of expectancy theory that is our assessment of the probability that our successful performance will lead to certain outcomes.

PERFORMING. A stage of group development in which energy is channeled toward a task.

PERSONAL POWER. A form of need for power in which individuals want to dominate others for the sake of demonstrating their ability to wield power.

PERT. The program evaluation and review technique consists of breaking down a project into a network of specific activities, mapping out their sequence and interdependencies, and necessary completion times and dates.

PHYSIOLOGICAL NEEDS. The needs in Maslow’s hierarchy that are required for survival, such as food, water, and shelter.

PLAN. The means devised for attempting to reach a goal.

PLANNED CHANGE. Change that involves actions based on a carefully thought-out process for change that anticipates future difficulties, threats, and opportunities.

PLANNING. The management function that involves setting goals and deciding how best to achieve them.

PLANNING MODE. An approach to strategy formulation involving systematic, comprehensive analysis, along with integration of various decisions and strategies.

PLANNING STAFF. A small group of individuals who assist top-level managers in developing the various components of the planning process.

PLANT CLOSINGS. A generic term that refers to shutting down operations at a factory or nonfactory site either permanently or for an extended period of time (an issue connected with a corporation’s responsibility to employees).

POINT FACTOR METHOD. A job evaluation approach in which points are assigned to jobs on the basis of the degree to which the jobs contain selected compensable factors.

POLICY. A standing plan that provides a general guide specifying the broad parameters within which organization members are expected  to operate in pursuit of organizational goals.

POLITICAL RISK. The probability of the occurrence of political actions that will result in loss of either enterprise ownership or significant benefits from conducting business.

POLYCENTRIC ORIENTATION. An approach to international management (also known as host-country orientation) whereby executives view host-country cultures and foreigners as difficult to fathom and, therefore, believe that the parts of the organization located in a given host country should be staffed by local individuals to the fullest extent possible.

POOLED INTERDEPENDENCE. A type of technological interdependence in which units operate independently but their individual efforts are important to the success of the organization as a whole.

POPULATION ECOLOGY MODEL. A view of the organization-environment interface that focuses on populations, groups or organizations and argues that environmental factors cause organizations with appropriate characteristics to survive and others to fail.

PORTFOLIO STRATEGY APPROACH. A corporate-level strategy approach that involves analyzing an organization’s mix of businesses in terms of both individual and collective contributions to strategic goals.

POSITIVE SYNERGY. The force that results when the combined gains from group interaction are greater than group process losses.

POWER. The capacity to affect the behavior of others.

POWER DISTANCE. A cultural dimension in Geert Hofstede’s framework for analyzing societies that involves the degree to which individuals in a society accept differences in the distribution of power as reasonable and normal.

PROCEDURE. A standing plan that involves a prescribed series of related steps to be taken under certain recurring circumstances.

PROCESS CONSULTATION. An intervention concerned with the interpersonal relations and dynamics operating in work groups.

PROCESS LAYOUT. A type of facilities layout having a production configuration in which the processing components are grouped according to the type of function that they perform.

PRODUCT DIVISIONS. A form of divisional structure involving divisions created to concentrate on a single product or service or at least a relatively homogeneous set of products or services.

PRODUCT LAYOUT. A type of facilities layout having a production configuration in which the processing components are arranged in a specialized line along which the product or client passes during the production process.

PRODUCT/MARKET EVOLUTION MATRIX. A portfolio approach involving a 15-cell matrix (developed by Charles W. Hofer) in which businesses are plotted according to the business unit’s business strength, or competitive position, and the industry’s stage in the evolutionary product/market life cycle.

PRODUCT LIFE CYCLE. The stages through which a product or service goes: (1) conceptual (2) technical feasibility, (3) development, (4) commercial validation and production processes, (5) full scale promotion, (6) product support.

PRODUCTIVITY. An efficiency concept that gauges the ratio of outputs relative to inputs into a productive process.

PROFESSIONAL BUREAUCRACY. The structural configuration in Mintzberg’s typology characterized by functional or hybrid departmentalization, a strong group of professionals operating at the lower levels, low formalization, and emphasis on standardization of skills.

PROFIT BUDGET. An operating budget that focuses on the profit to be derived from the difference between anticipated revenues and expenses.

PROFIT CENTER. A responsibility center whose budgetary performance is measured by the difference between revenues and costs,  in other words, profits.

PROFITABILITY RATIOS. Financial ratios that help measure management’s ability to control expenses and earn profits through the use of organizational resources.

PROGRAM. A comprehensive single use plan that coordinates a complex set of activities related to a major nonrecurring goal.

PROGRAM EVALUATION AND REVIEW TECHNIQUE (PERT). A network planning method for managing large projects.

PROGRAMMED DECISIONS. Managerial decisions made in routine, repetitive, well-structured situations through the use of predetermined decision rules.

PROJECT. A single-use plan that coordinates a set of limited-scope activities that do not need to be divided into several major projects in order to reach a major nonrecurring goal.

PROJECT MANAGERS. Managers who have responsibility for coordinating efforts involving individuals in several different organizational units who are all working on a particular project.

PROJECTION. The tendency of an individual to assume that others share his or her thoughts, feelings, and characteristics.

PROSPECT THEORY. A theory explaining certain decision-making biases which posits that decision makers find the prospect of incurring an actual loss more painful than giving up the possibility of a gain.

PROTOTYPE. A working model of a product, process, or system developed to test the product, process or system functions and features. It is usually hand made.

PROTOTYPING. A means of developing a system that involves building a rough, working model of all or parts of a proposed system for purposes of preliminary evaluation and further refinement.

PROXEMICS. A category of nonverbal communication that involves the influence of proximity and space on communication.

PUBLIC AFFAIRS DEPARTMENT. A permanent department, used as a mechanism for facilitating an organization’s internal social response that coordinates various on-going social responsibilities and identifies and recommends policies for new social issues.

PUBLIC RELATIONS.  An approach to influencing the environment involving the use of communication media and related activities to create a favorable overall impression of the organization among the public.

PUNISHMENT. A type of reinforcement in behavior modification that involves providing negative consequences in order to decrease or discourage a behavior.

PURCHASING. A primary operating system used in operations management that is involved with acquiring necessary goods or services in exchange for funds or other remuneration.

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