Employment Laws and Practices: A Comprehensive Guide, Exams of Sociology

Download Employment Laws and Practices: A Comprehensive Guide and more Exams Sociology in PDF only on Docsity! SHRM CP EXAM STUDY GUIDE 2024 Planning ✔ Actions & activities that individuals perform in order to give direction to their work lives. Brain drain ✔ Exit of educated & skilled citizens from emerging & developing countries for better paying jobs in developed countries. Auditory learners ✔ People who learn best by relying on their sense of hearing. Andragogy ✔ Study of how adults learn. Cost-of-living adjustment (COLA) ✔ Pay adjustment given to eligible employees regardless of performance or organizational profitability; usually linked to inflation. Compa-ratio ✔ Pay rate divided by the midpoint of the pay range. Broadbanding ✔ Combining several salary grades or job classifications with narrow pay ranges unto one brand with a wider salary spread. Behavioral interview ✔ Type of interview that focuses on how applicants previously handled real situations. Applicant tracking software (ATS) ✔ Software that provides an automated way for organizations to manage the recruiting process. Developmental activities ✔ Activities that focus on preparing employees for future responsibilities while increasing their capacity to perform their current jobs. Compensation ✔ All financial returns (beyond any benefits payments or services), including salary and allowances. Career development ✔ Process by which employees progress through a series of stages in their careers, each of which is characterized by relatively unique, themes, and tasks. Benefits ✔ Payments or services provided to employees to cover issues such as retirement, health care, sick pay/disability schemes, life insurance, and paid time off. Apprenticeship ✔ Related to technical skills training; often a partnership between employers and unions. Competency-based interview ✔ Type of interview in which the interviewer asks questions related to competencies for the position and asks candidates to provide examples of times they demonstrated the competencies. ADDIE model ✔ 5 step instructional design process that governs the development of learning programs. Assessment centers ✔ Assessment tools that provide candidates a wide range of leadership situations and problem-solving exercises. Blended learning ✔ Planned approach to learning that included a combination of instructor-led training, self-directed study, and /or on-the-job training. Career management ✔ Preparing, implementing, and monitoring employees' career paths, with a primary focus on the goals and needs of the organization. Competencies ✔ Clusters of highly interrelated attributes, including knowledge, skills, or abilities (KSA) that give rise to the behaviors needed to perform a given job effectively. Strategy ✔ A plan of action for accomplishing an organization's long-range goals. SWOT analysis ✔ Process for assessing an organization's strategic capabilities in comparison to threats and opportunities identified during environmental scanning. Value drivers ✔ Actions, processes, or results that are needed to deliver a desired value. Vision statement Vicarious liability ✔ Legal doctrine under which a party can be held liable for the wrongful actions of another party. Weingarten rights ✔ Union employees' right in U.S. to have a union representative or coworker present during an investigatory interview. Worker Adjustment and Retraining Notification (WARN) Act ✔ U.S. act that requires some employers to give a minimum of 60 days' notice if a plant is to close or is mass layoffs will occur. Workweek ✔ Any fixed, recurring period of 168 consecutive hours (7 days time 24 hours = 168 hrs) Uniform Guidelines on Employee Selection Procedures ✔ Procedural document designed to assist employers in complying with federal regulations prohibiting discrimination. Uniformed Services Employment and Reemployment Rights Act (USERRA) ✔ U.S. act that protects the employment reemployment, and retention rights of persons who serve or have served in the uniformed services. Vesting ✔ Process by which a retirement benefit becomes nonforfeitable. Veto ✔ Action of rejecting a bill or statute. Stakeholders ✔ All those affected by an organization's social, environmental, and economic impact shareholders, employees, customers, suppliers, regulators, and local communities. Sustainability ✔ Practices that balance economic, social, and environmental interests to secure the interests of present and future generations. Totaization agreements ✔ Bilateral agreements entered into by many countries to eliminate double taxation for individuals on international assignments. Triple bottom line ✔ Economic, social, and environmental impact metrics used to determine an organization's success. Risk management ✔ Identification, evaluation, and control of risk that may affect an organization, typically incorporating the use of insurance and other strategies. Risk position ✔ An organization's desired gain or acceptable loss in value. Risk scorecard ✔ Tool used to gather individual assessments of various characteristics of risk (e.g. frequency of occurrence, degree of impact/loss/gain for the organization, degree of efficacy of current controls). Risk tolerance ✔ Amount of uncertainty an organization is willing to pursue or to accept to attain its risk management. Reverse innovation ✔ Innovations created for or by emerging-economy markets and then imported to developed-economy markets. Risk ✔ The effect of uncertainty or objectives; outcomes may include opportunities or threats. Risk appetite ✔ Amount of risk the organization or function is willing to pursue or accept to attain its goals. Risk control ✔ An action taken to manage a risk. Redeployment ✔ Process by which an organization moves an employee out of an international assignment; can involve moving back to the home country, moving to a different global location, or moving to a new location or position in the current host country. Regulation ✔ A rule or order issues by an administrative agency; often has the force of law. Repatriation ✔ Process of reintegrating employees back into the home country after an assignment; includes adjustment to the new job and readjustment to the home culture and conditions. Residual risk ✔ Amount of uncertainty that remains after all risk management efforts have been exhausted. Protected class ✔ People who are covered under a particular federal or state anti-discrimination law. Prudent person rule ✔ States that an Employee Retirement Income Security Act plan fiduciary has legal and financial obligations not to take more risks when investing employee benefit program funds than a reasonable knowledgeable, prudent investor would under similar circumstances. Public comment period ✔ Time allowed for the public to express its views and concerns regarding an action of an administrative agency. Quid pro quo harassment ✔ Type of sexual harassment that occurs when an employee is forces to choose between giving in to a superior's sexual demands and forfeiting an economic benefit such as a pay increase, a promotion, or continues employment. Portal-to-Portal Act ✔ U.S. act that defines what is included as hours worked and is therefore compensable and a factor in calculating overtime. Pregnancy Discrimination Act ✔ U.S. act that prohibits discrimination on the basis of pregnancy, childbirth, or related medical conditions. Principal-agent problem ✔ Situation in which and agent (e.g. an employee) make decisions for a principal (e.g. an employer) potentially on the basis of personal incentives that may not be aligned with the agent's incentives. Process alignment ✔ Extent to which underlying operations such as IT, finance, or HR integrate across locations. Overtime pay ✔ Required for nonexempt workers under U.S. Fair Labor Standards Act at 1.5 time the regular rate of pay for hours worked over 40 in a workweek. Patient Protections and Affordable Care Act (PPACA) ✔ 2010 U.S. law the requires virtually all citizens and legal residents to have minimum health coverage and requires employers with more than 50 full-time employees to provide health coverage that meets minimum benefit specifications or pay a penalty. Local responsiveness (LR) strategy ✔ Globalization strategy that emphasizes adapting to the needs of local markets and allows subsidiaries to develop unique products, structures, and systems. Insourcing ✔ Transferring a previously outsourced function back in-house. Key risk indicators (KRIs) ✔ Metrics that provide an early signal of increasing risk exposures in the various areas of an enterprise. Labor-Management Relations Act (LMRA) ✔ U.S. act that provides balance of power between union and management by designating certain union activities as unfair labor practices; also knows as Taft-Hartley Act. Labor-Management Reporting and Disclosure Act (LMRDA) ✔ U.S. act that protects the rights of union members from corrupt or discriminatory labor unions; also known as Landrum-Griffin Act. Hostile environment harassment ✔ Occurs when sexual or other discriminatory conduct is so severe and pervasive that it interferes with an individual's performance; creates an intimidating, threatening, or humiliating work environment; or perpetuates a situation that affects the employee's psychological well-being. Identity alignment ✔ Extent to which diversity is is embraced in management of people, products/services, and branding. Immigration Reform and Control Act (IRCA) ✔ U.S. act that prohibits discrimination against jobs applicant on the basis of national origin or citizenship; establishes penalties for hiring illegal aliens and requires employers to establish each employee's identity and eligibility to work. Inclusion ✔ Extent to which each person in an organization feels welcomed, respected, supported, and valued as a team member. Governance ✔ System of rules and processes an organization puts in place to ensure its compliance with local and international laws, accounting rules, ethical norms, and its own codes of conduct. Griggs v Duke Power ✔ U.S. case that recognized adverse impact discrimination. Hazard ✔ Potential for harm, often associated with a condition or activity that, if left uncontrolled, can result in injury or illness. High-context culture ✔ Society or group where people have close connections over a long period of time and where many aspects of behavior are not made explicit, because most members know what to do and thing from years of interaction. Global integration (GI) strategy ✔ Globalization strategy that emphasizes consistency of approach, standardization of processes, and a common corporate culture across global operations. Global remittances ✔ Monies sent back home by migrants working in foreign countries. Globalization ✔ Growing interconnectedness and interdependency of countries, people, and companies. Glocalization ✔ Characteristic of an organization with a strong global image but an equally strong local identity. Gender ✔ Refers to the society constructed system that associates masculinity or femininity to certain roles, behaviors, activities, and attributes. Gender identity ✔ Refers to one's internal, personal sense of being a man or a woman (or boy or girl), which may or may not be the same as one's sexual assignment at birth. General Duty Clause ✔ Statement in U.S. Occupational Safety and Health Act that requires employers subject to OSHA to provide employees with a safe and healthy work envrionment. Genetic Information Nondiscrimination Act (GINA) ✔ U.S. act that prohibits discrimination against individuals on the basis of their genetic information in both employment and health insurance. Fair Credit Reporting Act (FCRA) ✔ U.S. act that protects privacy of background information and ensures that information supplies is accuate. Fair Labor Standards Act (FLSA) ✔ U.S. act that establishes minimum wage, overtime pay, youth employment, and record-keeping standards affecting full-time and part-time workers in the private sector and in federal, state, and local governments. Family and Medical Leave Act (FMLA) ✔ U.S. act that provides employees with up to 12 weeks of unpaid leave to care for family members or because of a serious health condition of the employee. Faragher v. City of Boca Raton ✔ U.S. court ruling that distinguished between supervisor harassment that results in tangible employment action and supervisor harassment that does not. Equal Pay Act (EPA) ✔ U.S. act that prohibits wage discrimination by requiring equal pay for equal or "substantially equal" work. Ethics ✔ Set of behavioral guidelines by which all directors, managers, and employees of an organization are expected to behave to ensure appropriate moral and ethical business standards, typically beyond the letter of the law. Exempt employees ✔ Employees who are excluded from U.S. Fair Labor Standards Act minimum wage and overtime pay requirements. Fair and Accurate Credit Transactions Act (FACT Act) ✔ U.S. act that provides some relief to employers using third parties to conduct workplace investigations. Employee Retirement Income Security Act (ERISA) ✔ U.S. act that established uniform minimum standards for employer-sponsored retirement and health and welfare benefit programs. Employees ✔ Individuals who exchange work for wages or salary; in the U.S. workers who are covered by Fair Labor Standards Act regulations as determined by the IRS. Employment practices liability insurance (EPLI) ✔ Type of liability insurance covering an organization against claims by employees, former employees, and employment candidates alleging that their legal rights in the employment relationship have been violated. Equal Employment Opportunity Act ✔ U.S. court ruling that distinguished between supervisor harassment that results in tangible employment actions and supervisor harassment that does not. Civil Rights Act of 1964 ✔ 1st comprehensive U.S. law making ti unlawful to discriminate on the basis of race, color, religion, sex, or national origin. Civil Rights Act of 1991 ✔ U.S. act that expand the possible damage awards available to victims of intentional discrimination to include compensatory and punitive damages; gives plaintiffs in cases of alleged discrimination the right to a jury trial. Code of conduct ✔ Principles of conduct within an organization that guide decision making and behavior; also knows as code of ethics. Americans with Disabilities Act (ADA) ✔ U.S. act that prohibits discrimination against a qualified individual with a disability because of his/her disability. Assignees ✔ Employees who work outside their home countries. Bill ✔ A proposal presented to a legislative body for possible enactment as a statute. Bona file occupational qualification (BFOQ) ✔ Situation in which religion, sex, or national origin is reasonably necessary to carrying out a particular jobs function in the normal operations of an organization. ADA Amendments Act (ADAAA) ✔ Amendments to U.S. American with Disabilities Act covering the definition of individuals regarded as having a disability, mitigating measures, and other rules of construction to guide the analysis of what constitutes a disability. Adverse impact ✔ Type of discrimination that results when a neutral policy has a discriminatory effect; also known as disparate impact. Age Discrimination in Employment Act (ADEA) ✔ U.S. act that prohibits discrimination in the workplace on the basis of age. Amendment ✔ Modification of the U.S. Constitution or a U.S. law. Workplace management ✔ All activities need to ensure that the skills, knowledge, abilities, and performance of the workplace meet current and future organizational and individual needs. Workforce planning ✔ Process of analyzing the organization's workforce and determining steps required to prepare for future needs. Works council ✔ Groups that represent employees, generally on a local or firm level; primary purpose is to receive from employers and to convey to employees information that might affect the workforce and the health of the enterprise. Work-to-rule ✔ Situation in which workers slow processes by performing tasks exactly to specifications or according to jobs or task descriptions. Unfair labor practices (ULP) ✔ Violation of rights under labor-relations statutes. Unitarianism ✔ Belief that employers and employees can act together for their common good. Wildcat strike ✔ Work stoppage at union contract operations that have not been sanctioned by the union. Workforce analysis ✔ Systematic approach to anticipate human capital needs and data HR professionals can use to ensure that appropriate knowledge, skills, or abilities will be available when needed to accomplish organizational goals and objectives. Sympathy strike ✔ Action taken in support of another union that is striking the employer. Talent management ✔ Development and integration of HR processes that attract, develop, engage, and retain the knowledge, skills, or abilities of employees that will meet current and future business needs. Trade union ✔ Group of workers who coordinate their activities to achieve common goals in their relationship with an employer or group of employers; also called labor union. Turnover ✔ Annualized formula that tracks number of separations and total number of workforce employees per month. Span of control ✔ Refers to the number of individuals who report to a supervisor. Staff units ✔ Work groups that assist line units by providing specialized services, such as HR. Strictness ✔ Error that occurs when an appraiser believes standards are too low and inflates the standards in an effort to make them meaningful. Succession planning ✔ A talent management strategy to help identify and foster the development of high- potential employees. Sit-down strike ✔ Refusal by workers to work; also refusal by workers to leave their workstations, making it impossible for the employer to use replacement workers. Six Sigma ✔ A set of techniques and tools for quality process improvement. Social movement unionism ✔ Type of union activity that focuses on social topics such as antidiscrimination, environmental actions, and HIV/AIDS treatment and prevention. Software as a service (SaaS) ✔ Software that is owned, delivered, and managed remotely and delivered over the Internet to contracted customers on a pay-for-use basis or as a subscription based on use metrics. Differential pay ✔ Pay rates that are affected by where or when an employee works. Distance learning ✔ Process of delivering educational or instructional programs to locations away from a classroom or site. Domestic partners ✔ Unmarried couples, of the same or opposite sex, who live together and seek economic and non-economic benefits comparable to those granted to their married counterparts. Dual career ladders ✔ Career development programs that identify meaningful career paths for professional and technical people outside traditional management roles. Weighted average ✔ Average of data that adds factors to reflect the importance of different values. Halo effect ✔ Type of measurement bias in which analyst allows one strong point that he or she values highly and that works in subject's favor to overshadow all other information. Jurisdiction ✔ Right of a legal body to exert authority over a given geographical territory, subject matter, or persons or institutions. Median ✔ Middle point above and below which 50% of scores in a set of data lie. Regression analysis ✔ Statistical method used to determine whether a relationship exists between variables and the strength of the relationship. HR Expertise (HR Knowledge) ✔ The knowledge of principles, practices, and functions of effective human resource management. Leadership and Navigation competency ✔ The ability to direct and contribute to initiatives and processes within the organization. Negative emphasis ✔ Type of measurement bias that involves weighting a small negative reaction or piece of information more than it should objectively merit. Reliability ✔ Ability of an instrument to provide results that are consistent. Horn effect ✔ Type of measurement bias in which analyst allows one strong point that he or she values highly and that works against subject to overshadow all other information. Key performance indicators (KPI's) ✔ Quantifiable measures of performance used to gauge progress toward strategic objectives or agreed standards of performance. Mode ✔ Value that occurs most frequently in a set of data. Relationship Management competency ✔ The ability to manage interactions to provide service and to support the organization. Intercultural wisdom ✔ Capacity to recognize, interpret, and behaviorally adapt to multicultural situations and contexts; also called cultural intelligence. Variance analysis ✔ Statistical method that identifies the degree of difference between planned and actual performance. Unweighted average ✔ Raw average of data that gives equal weight to all values, with no regard for other factors. Stakeholder concept ✔ Concept that proposed that any organization operates within a complex environment in which it affects and is affected by a variety of forces or stakeholders who all share in the value of the organization and its activities. Extraterritoriality ✔ Extension of the power of a country's laws over its citizens outside that country's sovereign national boundaries. Due process ✔ Concept that laws are enforced only through accepted, codified procedures. Critical Evaluation competency ✔ The ability to interpret information with which to make business decisions and recommendations. Common law ✔ Legal system in which each case is considered in terms of how it relates to legal decisions that have already been made; evolves through judicial decisions over time. Mean ✔ Average score or value Negotiation ✔ Process in which two or more parties work together to reach agreement on a matter. Root-cause analysis ✔ Type of analysis that starts with a result and then works backward to identify fundamental cause. Ethical Practice competency ✔ The ability to integrate core values, integrity, and accountability throughout all organizational and business practices. Global and Cultural Effectiveness competency ✔ The ability to value and to consider the perspectives and backgrounds of all parties in global business. Emotional intelligence (EI) ✔ Quality of being sensitive to and understanding of ones' own and others' emotions and the ability to manage one's own emotions and impulses. First-impression error ✔ Type of measurement bias in which investigator makes snap judgements and lets first impression (either positive or negative) cloud subsequent evaluation. Ethical universalism ✔ Concept that argues that there are fundamental ethical principles that apply across cultures. Global mindset ✔ Ability to take an international, multidimensional perspective that is inclusive of other cultures, perspectives, and views. Business Acumen competency ✔ The ability to understand and apply information with which to contribute to the organization's strategic plan. Communication competency ✔ The ability to effectively exchange information with stakeholders. Cultural Noise ✔ Type of measurement bias in which analyst fails to recognize that individual is responding with answers that analyst wants to hear and that analyst's culture/values are determining what he or she hears. Business intelligence ✔ Ability to gather and analyze data from inside and outside the organization so that information is available for decision makers. Conflict of interest ✔ Situation in which a person or organization has the potential to be influenced by opposing sets of incentives. Cultural relativism Onboarding ✔ Programs that help employees develop positive working relationships with coworkers; encompass orientation as well as the first months of an employee's tenure in a position. On-the-job training (OJT) ✔ Training provided to employees at the work site utilizing demonstration and performance of job tasks. Organization learning ✔ Certain types of learning activities or processes that may occur at any one of several levels in an organization. Orientation ✔ Process in which a new employee becomes familiar with an organization as well as his or her department, coworkers, and the job. Paired comparison ✔ Job evaluation method in which each job is compared with every other job being evaluated; the job with the largest number of "greater than" rankings is the highest- ranked job, etc. Pay compression ✔ Occurs when there is only a small difference in pay between employees regardless of their experience, skills, level, or seniority; also know as salary compression. Pay equity ✔ Fairness of compensation and benefits paid to employees. Pay of performance (P4P, PfP) ✔ Situation where and individual's performance on the job is the basis for the amount and timing of pay increases; also called merit pay or performance-based pay. Pay grades ✔ Used to group jobs that have approximately the same relative internal or external worth and are paid at the same rate within the same pay range. Pay ranges ✔ Set the upper and lower bounds of possible compensation for indi Pedagogy ✔ Study of the education of children. Performance bonus ✔ One-time payment made to an employee; also called a lump-sum increase (LSI). Performance-based pay ✔ Situation where an individual's performance on the job is the basis for the amount and timing of pay increases; also called merit pay or pay for performance. Perquisites ✔ Special incidental payments, benefits, or privileges given to individual employees, over and above their regular rewards. Person-based pay ✔ Pay system in which employee characteristics, rather than the job, determine pay. Pilot programs ✔ Learning/development programs offered initially in a controlled environment with a segment of the target audience. Point-factor system ✔ Job evaluation method that looks at compensable factors (such a skills and working conditions) that reflect how much a job adds value to the organization; points are assigned to each factor and then added to come up with an overall point value for the job. Premiums ✔ Payments in return for the achievement of specific, time-limited, targeted objectives. Productivity-based pay ✔ Pay based on the quantity of work and outputs that can be accurately measured. Realistic job preview (RJP) ✔ Part of the selection process that provides an applicant with honest and complete information about a job and the work environment. Reasonable accommodation ✔ Modifications or adjustments to a job of job application process that accommodate persons with disabilities but do not impose a disproportionate or undue burden on the employee. Recruitment ✔ Process of encouraging candidates to apply for job openings. Red-circle rates ✔ Situations in which employees' pay is above the range maximum. Remuneration surverys ✔ Surveys that collect information on prevailing market compensation and benefits practices, including starting wage rates, base pay, pay ranges, other statutory and market cash payments, variable compensation, and time off. Retention ✔ Ability to keep talented employees in the organization. Selection ✔ Process of vetting the most suitable candidate for a position. Selection interviews ✔ Interviews designed to probe areas of interest to the interviewer in order to determine how well a job candidate meets the needs of the organization. Selection screening ✔ Analyzing candidates' application forms, curriculum vitae, and resumes to locate the most-qualifies candidates for an open job. Secondary actions ✔ Attempt by a union to influence an employer by putting pressure on another employer. Service-level agreement (SLA) ✔ Part of a service contract where the service expectations are formally defined. Shared services HR model ✔ HR structural alternative in which centers with specific areas of expertise develop HR policies in those areas; each unit can then select what it needs from a menu of these services. Simulations ✔ Representations of real situations; give organizations the opportunity to speculate as to what would happen if certain courses of action were pursued. Radicalism ✔ Belief that management-labor conflict is an inherent characteristic of capitalism and can be resolved only with a change in the economic system. Recency error ✔ Error that occurs when an appraiser give more weight to recent occurrences and discounts an employee's earlier performance during the appraisal period. Replacement planning ✔ "Snapshot" assessment of the availability of qualified backup for key positions. Restructuring Intellectual property (IP) ✔ Ownership of innovation by an individual or business enterprise; includes patented trademarked, or copyrighted property. Hacking ✔ Act of deliberately accessing a computer without permission. HR audit ✔ Systematic and comprehensive evaluation of an organization's HR policies, practices, procedures, and strategies. Human resource information system (HRIS) ✔ Systematic tool for gathering, storing, maintaining, retrieving, and revising HR data. Hybrid structure ✔ Organizational structure that mixes elements of the functional, product, and geographic structures. Gamification ✔ Selective use of game design and game mechanics to drive employee engagement in non-gaming business scenarios. Geographic structure ✔ Organizational structure in which geographic regions define the organization chart. Grievance procedure ✔ Orderly way to resolve differences of opinion in regard to a union contract. Groupware ✔ Umbrella term for specialized collaborative software applications. Formalization ✔ Refers to the extent to which rules, policies, and procedures govern the behavior of employees in an organization. Front-back structure ✔ Organizational structure that divides an organization into "front" functions, which focus on customers or market groups, and "back" functions, which design and develop products and services. Functional HR ✔ HR structural alternative in which headquarters HR specialists craft policies and HR generalists located within divisions or other locales implement the policies, adapt them as needed, and interact with employees. Functional structure ✔ Organizational structure in which departments are defined by the services they contribute to the organization's overall mission, such as marketing and sales, operations, and HR. Enterprise resource planning (ERP) ✔ Business management software, usually a suite of integrated applications, that a company can use to collect, store, manage and interpret date from many business activities. e-procurement ✔ Use of electronic communications and transaction processing when buying (or contracting for/tendering) supplies and services. Focus group ✔ Small group (normally six to twelve) invited to actively participate in a structured discussion with a facilitator. Force-field analysis ✔ Type of analysis in which factors that can influence an outcome in either a negative or positive manner are listed and then assigned weights to indicate their relative strengths. Delphi technique ✔ Forecasting technique that progressively collects information from a group without physically assembling the contributors. Departmentalization ✔ Way an organization groups jobs to coordinate work. Employment at-will ✔ Principle of employment in the U.S. that employers have the right to hire, fire, demote, and promote whomever they choose for any reason unless there is a law or contract to the contrary and employees have the right to quit a job at any time. Encryption ✔ Conversation of data into a format that protects or hides its natural presentation or intended meaning. Dashboards ✔ Reporting mechanisms that aggregate and display metrics and key performance indicators. Database ✔ Data structure that stores organized information (numeric information as well as sound clips, pictures, and videos). Database management system (DBMS) ✔ Variety of software applications that electronically manage stored data. Dedicated HR ✔ HR structural alternative that allows businesses with different strategies in multiple units to apply HR expertise to each unit's specific strategic needs. Constructive discipline ✔ Form of corrective discipline that implements increasingly severe penalties for employees; also called progressive discipline. Contrast error ✔ Error that occurs when an employee's rating is based on how his or her performance compares to that of another employee rather than objective standards. Cost-benefit analysis ✔ Ratio of value created to cost of creating that value; allows management to determine the financial impact particular activities and programs have on an organization's profitability. Critical path ✔ Describes the shortest amount of time required to complete a project, taking into account all project task relationships. Co-employment ✔ Situation in which an organization shares responsibility and liability for their alternative workers with an alternative staffing supplier; also knows as joint employer. Collective bargaining ✔ Process by which management and union representatives negotiate the employment conditions for a particular bargaining unit for a designated period of time. Collective bargaining agreement ✔ Agreement or contract negotiated through collective bargaining process. Conciliation ✔ Method of nonbinding dispute resolution involving a third party who tries to help disputing parties reach a mutually agreeable decision; also knows as mediation. Central tendency error ✔ Error that occurs when an appraiser rates all employees within a narrow range, regardless of differences in actual performance. Chain of command ✔ Line of authority within an organization.