Questions & Answers: Management – Important Terms

Define equal employment opportunity, affirmative action, human resource planning, and human resource management.

· Equal employment opportunity (EEO): a foundation of business ethics in the United States, whereby all people are guaranteed an equal chance for employment, regardless of race, religion, gender, etc.
· Affirmative action: a strategy for increasing the presence of minorities and underrepresented groups in business, by giving special preference to them in hiring.
· Human resource planning: process of predicting and planning for employee needs.
· Human resource management: the set of processes devoted to the hiring, training, and retention of employees, including preparation of compensation packages, performance evaluations, employee discipline, collective bargaining, arbitration, and terminations.


Define chain of command, line position, staff position, departmentalization, functional departmentalization, product departmentalization, customer departmentalization, and geographic departmentalization.

· Chain of command: the paths of authority in an organization, consisting of a series of superior-subordinate relationships.
· Line position: any position within the chain of command that directly contributes to the completion of the organizational goals.
· Staff position: any position that leads, assists, or supports the line positions.
· Departmentalization: the process of placing jobs in categories according to their customer base, geographical location, or function.
· Functional departmentalization: the process of placing jobs in categories according to their function, such as marketing, manufacturing, and sales.
· Product departmentalization: the process of sorting jobs according to their product line.
· Customer departmentalization: the process of sorting jobs according to the customers they serve, for instance, some manufacturers have different departments for dealing with corporate and private customers.
· Geographic departmentalization: the sorting of jobs according to the geographical region served; this process is especially useful for very large international corporations.