action

en-verb

action (third-person singular simple present actions, present participle actioning, simple past and past participle actioned)

actions (present singular third-person)
actioning (participle present)
actioned (participle past)
actioned (past)

From Middle English accion, from Old French aucion, acciun, from Latin āctiō(n) (“act of doing or making”), from āctus + action suffix -iō(n), perfect passive participle of agere (“do, act”), ultimately from Proto-Indo-European *h₂éǵeti; see also act, active. By surface analysis, act + -ion.

der

‘Here, give me the minutes of Monday’s meeting. I’ll action your points for you while you get on and sort out the open day.’

2004, Ros Jay, Richard Templar, “Fast thinking: project”, in Fast Thinking Manager's Manual, 2nd edition, Pearson Education, →ISBN, Fast Thinking Leader, page 276:

Violent reactions from the Jewish authorities were expected and difficulties of actioning the new guidelines were foreseen.

2005, Fritz Liebreich, “The physical confrontation: interception and diversion policies in theory and practice”, in Britain's Navel and Political Reaction to the Illegal Immigration of Jews to Palestine, 1945-1948, Routledge, →ISBN, page 196:

HMRC said that one reason they had not actioned her appeal was because she had said in her appeal form ‘I am appealing against the overpayment for childcare for 2003-04, 2004-05’, thus implying she was disputing her ‘overpayment’.

2007, Great Britain: Parliamentary and Health Service Ombudsman, “Case study: 11257”, in Tax Credits: Getting it wrong? 5th report session 2006-2007, The Stationery Office, →ISBN, Chapter 2: Changes and developments since June 2005, page 26:

Do say: “I can action that for you going forward, my little summer squash.”

2024 May 13, “Spice up your spreadsheets! Should you run your relationship like a business?”, in The Guardian, →ISSN:

(transitive, management) To act on a request etc, in order to put it into effect.


VA

en-noun

VA (countable and uncountable, plural VAs)

(management) Initialism of value analysis.


TOC

theory of constraints
w:theory of constraints

(management) Initialism of theory of constraints.


ABM

ABM (countable and uncountable, plural ABMs)

(management) Initialism of activity-based management.


ABC

ABC (countable and uncountable, plural ABCs)

Activity-based costing is a powerful control tool. With ABC, the manager can access all departments and monitor the costs associated with any activity he or she wants to control.

2008, Gary Dessler, Jean Phillips, “Planning and Controlling Now: Controlling”, in Managing Now, Houghton Mifflin Company, →ISBN, page 222:

activity-based costing
w:activity-based costing

(business management) Initialism of activity-based costing.


PBS

PBS (countable and uncountable, plural PBSs)

product breakdown structure
w:product breakdown structure

(management) Initialism of product breakdown structure.


AI

AI (countable and uncountable, plural AIs)

Audio (US)


crash

en-verb

crash (third-person singular simple present crashes, present participle crashing, simple past and past participle crashed)

crashes (present singular third-person)
crashing (participle present)
crashed (participle past)
crashed (past)

From Middle English crasshen, crasschen, craschen (“to break into pieces”), of uncertain origin. Perhaps from a variant of earlier *crasken, from crasen (“to break”) + -k (formative suffix); or from earlier *craskien, *craksien, a variant of craken (“to crack, break open”) (for form development compare break, brask, brash).

разбивам

to severely damage or destroy by causing to collide with something else

Using the project plan, the team started to work out different scenarios to crash the schedule and bring the date to the regulatory deadline.

2008, Rick A. Morris with Brette McWhorter Sember, Project management that works, page 109:

(transitive, management) To accelerate a project or a task or its schedule by devoting more resources to it.


manager

→ Albanian: menaxher

→ Burmese: မန်နေဂျာ (mannegya)

→ Catalan: mànager

→ Cebuano: manedyer

→ Dutch: manager

→ French: manager
→ Turkish: menajer

→ German: Manager

→ Greek: μάνατζερ (mánatzer)

→ Hungarian: menedzser

→ Italian: manager

→ Japanese: マネージャー (manējā)

→ Korean: 매니저 (maenijeo)

→ Polish: menedżer

→ Romanian: manager

→ Russian: ме́неджер (ménedžer)

→ Scottish Gaelic: manaidsear

→ Spanish: mánager

→ Swahili: meneja

→ Tagalog: manedyer

→ Ukrainian: ме́неджер (ménedžer)

Although they did not want to risk wasting money, faster-climbing managers did value generosity and fair-mindedness.

2009, Bernard M. Bass, Ruth Bass, The Bass Handbook of Leadership: Theory, Research, and Managerial Applications, →ISBN, page ii:

And it was a fitting victory for Liverpool as Anfield celebrated the 100th anniversary of the birth of their legendary Scottish manager Bill Shankly.

2013 September 1, Phil McNulty, BBC Sport:

(management) A person whose job is to manage something, such as a business, a restaurant, or a sports team.


silo

From Spanish silo, of unclear origin. See Spanish silo for more.

A silo is created when members in one department or function do not interact with those in another department, even though there might be operational benefits to the interaction.

2006, Albert J. Mills, Jean C. Helms Mills, John Bratton, Organizational Behaviour in a Global Context, page 116:

Graeme Bickerdike, a member of campaign organisation The HRE Group, told RAIL: "This infilling and demolition programme - costing much more than repair - has been conceived with no thought for its impact beyond the silos where distant, unaccountable officials manage their spreadsheets.

2021 May 5, Tony Streeter, “Network News: Disused structures "assets to be preserved", say MPs”, in RAIL, number 930, page 23:

"And the mindset of a silo of rail engineers, and a silo of highway engineers, and a silo of bus experts, and a silo of active travel people, you're not going to integrate just because you put them in one organisation.
"You have to actively look at ways to cross-fertilise that thinking, to get multi-modal projects hard-wired in. And from our view, I see TfW as a behaviour change organisation.

2024 February 7, Lee Waters tells Conrad Landin, “A mission to improve transport for Wales”, in RAIL, number 1002, page 34:

(informal, derogatory, management) An organizational unit that has poor interaction with other units, negatively affecting overall performance.


year-to-date

(management, accounting) Relating to the period from the beginning of a fiscal year to the end of a reporting period.


collaborative

1895, (no by-line), "In The Halls of Learning: Columbian University", The Evening Times (Washington, DC) (19 October 1895, page 2) -- this appears to be a unique usage; very difficult to find non-adjectival uses prior to the 1970s
In the literature class, which is conducted by Prof. George J. Smith, lately of Central High School, and which is a collaborative of Dr. Farquhar's course, the students are pursuing their new course.

Concern over possible conflict between their collaborative and one set up a year ago ....

1976, (no by-line), "Educational collaborative to hire full-time executive", The Birkshire Eagle (Pittsfield, Massachusetts (19 June 1976, page 6)

These collaboratives would consist of a team of managers, researchers, and consultants from a variety of organizations whose aim would be to better understand problems in effective health care management […]

2004, Ann Page, Keeping Patients Safe, →ISBN, page 153:

This collaborative aims at discussing ways in which patients can participate in the FDA's regulatory discussions about medical products.

2018, Applied Clinical Trials Editors, “CTTI Selected to Support FDA Efforts to Increase Patient Engagement”, in Applied Clinical Trials:

(management) An organized group of people or entities who collaborate towards a particular goal


outsource

en-verb

outsource (third-person singular simple present outsources, present participle outsourcing, simple past and past participle outsourced)

outsources (present singular third-person)
outsourcing (participle present)
outsourced (participle past)
outsourced (past)

They decided to outsource the design and manufacture of the system to a vendor.

Read said maintenance would be outsourced, with "positive discussions" held with two companies.

2020 April 8, “Network News: Varamis plans electric freight to carry light goods”, in Rail, page 17:

(chiefly US, business, management, transitive) To transfer the management or day-to-day execution of a business function to a third-party service provider.


cost centre

(UK, accounting, management) Alternative form of cost center


action item

Please take the issue of database maintenance fees as an action item for next week.

(management) A task; especially, regarding an agenda item discussed in a meeting that requires further activity or investigation in order to reach a conclusion, select an alternative, or implement a change.


OD

en-noun

OD (countable and uncountable, plural ODs)

organization development
w:organization development

(management) Initialism of organization development.


See the Wikipedia article ISO 216, the international standard on paper sizes.

(countable, management) A one-page document, often tabular or graphical, on such paper.


deliverable

/dɪˈlɪvɹəbəɫ/

Due to inclement weather, we will be unable to provide our deliverables.

We packaged the deliverable, a program called FLOOD.EXE, in an installer file.

(business, management) The tangible end product; that which will be delivered.


year to date

years to date (plural)
year-to-date (alternative)

(management, accounting) The period from the beginning of a fiscal year to the end of a reporting period.


TOR

terms of reference
terms of reference#English

(management) Initialism of terms of reference.


core competency

core competency (plural core competencies)

The publisher's core competency was paperbacks, but they decided to branch out into online publishing.

(management) An important special capability or expertise, especially that of a business affording it sustainable competitive advantage.


organigram

organigrams (plural)
organogram (alternative)
organigramme (alternative)

(management) A graphical representation of the structure of an organization, showing groups and departments and their interconnections and linked responsibilities.

organisaatiokaavio

representation of a structure or organization


QTF

(management, operations) Initialism of quality task force.


red ink

GCN has gleefully swum against the political mainstream. Less comfortable has been the financial torrent that now washes the paper in red ink. Being out of step politically has meant not having access to lucrative advertisers.

1991 December 1, Gordon Gottlieb, “The Struggle Continues”, in Gay Community News, volume 19, number 20, page 11:

(idiomatic, business, management, accounting, euphemistic) Financial loss.


cost center

cost centers (plural)
cost centre (alternative UK)

Coordinate term: profit center

(accounting, management) A division or project of an organization to which costs can be specifically allocated.


human resources

(management) The personnel department of an organization, dealing with the recruitment, administration, management and training of employees.

recursos humans

the personnel department of an organization


human resources

(management) The personnel employed in an organization.

人力資源 /人力资源

the personnel employed in an organization


intrapreneur

/ˌɪn.tɹə.pɹəˈnɜː/

/ˌɪn.tɹə.pɹəˈnɝ/

/ˌɪn.tɹə.pɹəˈnʊɚ/

(business, management) A person employed to work independently within a company in order to introduce innovation and to revitalize and diversify its business.


SSA

SSA (countable and uncountable, plural SSAs)

(management) Initialism of supervisory special agent.


CXO

As someone taught me many, many years ago, businesses aren't run by CXO-level executives but by the people on the front lines working with customers or supporting the people who do.

2010, Susan Cramm, 8 Things We Hate About IT, Harvard Business Press, →ISBN, page 9:

(management) “chief X officer”, with X as functional placeholder (finance, operating etc.)


MBR

MBR (countable and uncountable, plural MBRs)

The Data Center relocation planning process took place within a “management by results” (MBR) framework. / MBR as applied to the Great Western DP environment consisted of: […]

1975 October 1, “Planning Helps DP Center Move 10 Miles in Two Days”, in Computerworld, volume 9, number 40, page 27:

(management) Initialism of management by results.


mission statement

mission statement (plural mission statements)

Her mission statement is that clothes made from sustainable viscose and cruelty-free alternatives to leather should not be targeted at a niche market, but shown to hold their own on the Paris fashion week catwalk.

2017 October 2, Jess Cartner-Morle, “Stella McCartney lays waste to disposable fashion in Paris”, in the Guardian:

Unsurprisingly, Perry puts her best foot forward on opener “Never Really Over,” a song that not only maintains a catchy, hummable refrain, but also ironically doubles as a sort of mission statement for the artist.

2020 September 27, Alex McLevy, “With Smile, Katy Perry is desperately trying to have fun again”, in The A.V. Club, archived from the original on 2020-08-28:

(management) A formal declaration of the overall goal or purpose of an organization.

missió

declaration of the purpose of an organization


AAR

(military, management) after-action report; after-action review.


systems analyst

systems analyst (plural systems analysts)

business analyst
business analyst#English

(business, management) Synonym of business analyst


post mortem

post mortems (plural)
postmortem (alternative)
post-mortem (alternative)

From Latin post (“afterwards”) + mortem, from mors (“death”).

Each user-visible outage or SLA violation should be followed by a postmortem and conclude with implementation of the recommendations in the postmortem report.

2014 September 3, Thomas A. Limoncelli, Strata R. Chalup, Christina J. Hogan, The Practice of Cloud System Administration (Designing and Operating Large Distributed Systems; 2), Addison-Wesley, page 300:

After a serious delay there is often a post mortem on what happened, but this is usually in-house.

2019 October, Ian Walmsley, “Cleaning up”, in Modern Railways, page 44:

Grinspoon finishes with some sage advice on the best way to avoid greening out: "Keep the doses low and know yourself. If it happens to you, try to do a postmortem on what happened, like: 'Was there alcohol involved? Was there nicotine involved?' Was I overtired? Did I take five puffs when I usually take two puffs?'"

2022 April 20, Ross Buchanan, “Why You Sometimes Feel Sick or Vomit After Smoking Weed”, in Vice:

(figuratively, management) Any investigation after the conclusion of an activity, particularly when said activity produces an unwanted outcome.

jälkiselvittely

investigation after something considered unsuccessful


Gantt chart

/ˈɡænt ˌtʃɑː(ɹ)t/

Designed and named after American mechanical engineer and management consultant Henry Gantt in the 1910s.

named-after

(management) A graphical representation of the tasks and resources needed to complete a job or project; may show ranges of possible start and end dates and the relationships between tasks; used to pinpoint bottlenecks and assign priorities.

diagrama de Gantt

graphical representation of tasks and resources


supervisor

supervisors (plural)
supervisour (alternative obsolete)

Attested since the 15th century C.E.; from Middle English supervisor, supervisour, supervysor, supervysour, from Latin supervīsor, from supervideō, in turn from super + videō. By surface analysis, supervise + -or.

Thus, today, even if the objective does seem "goalish," the supervisor assumes the problem inherent in trying to "accomplish" that goal will become clear to the librarian as the action plan evolves […]

1985, Drexel Library Quarterly, volume 21, page 104:

The 1999 merger between Citibank (banking) and Travelers (insurance) created the model for megafinance and confirmed new challenges for supervisors.

2001, Wendy Dobson, Gary Hufbauer, World Capital Markets, →ISBN, page 103:

I had learned a lot about supervising by observing other supervisors—the good things and the not-so-good things they did.

2012, Kathryn M. Johnson, The Insider's Guide to Supervising Government Employees:

(management) A person with the official task of overseeing the work of a person or group, or of other operations and activities.

مُشْرِف

a person with the official task of overseeing the work of a person or group etc.

esimies

superior who is responsible for overseeing the work of their subordinates

valvoja

general term for anyone tasked with overseeing


C-suite

THE customer is king. So some firms have started appointing chief customer officers (CCOs) to serve the king more attentively. These new additions to the (already crowded) C-suite are supposed to look at the business from the customer’s point of view.

2012 September 22, “Schumpeter: The magic of good service”, in The Economist:

(management) The group of officers of a business organization who have the word chief in their titles.

diretor

those with chief in their business titles

(management) Senior headquarters executives.


foreman

foremen (plural)
forman (alternative obsolete)

→ Gulf Arabic: فورمن (fōrman)

→ Burmese: ဖိုမင် (hpuimang)

From Middle English foremon, forman; equivalent to fore- + man. Compare West Frisian foarman, Dutch voorman, German Vormann, Danish formand, Swedish förman, Icelandic formaður.

Since we’re getting too friendly, Ephraim Winslow, tell me, what’s a timber man want with being a wickie? Not enough quiet for ye up north? Sawdust itching yer nethers? Foreman found ye too high-tempered for carrying an axe?

2019, Robert Eggers, Max Eggers, The Lighthouse (motion picture), spoken by Thomas Wake (Willem Dafoe):


governance

en-noun

governance (countable and uncountable, plural governances)

governances (plural)
gouvernance (alternative)
gouvernaunce (alternative)
governaunce (alternative)

/ˈɡʌvəɹnəns/

From Middle English governaunce, from Old French gouvernance, governance, equivalent to govern + -ance.

(management) Accountability for consistent, cohesive policies, processes and decision rights.


golden hello

(idiomatic, management) A payment offered to an employee as an inducement to join, especially if currently working for a competitor.


reimbursement

reimbursement (countable and uncountable, plural reimbursements)

(business, management, accounting) The act of compensating someone for an expense.


change order

We'd lose money on most of our jobs if it wasn't for change orders.

(business, management) A description of changes to be made to a work order that describes the new work to be done (and any modifications) and the price to be paid for this new work.


safety stock

(management, supply chain) Additional inventory planned to buffer against the variability in supply and demand plans, that could otherwise result in inventory shortages.


organigramme

(British, management) An organisation chart.


team player

If you’re not seen as a team player, you won’t have the support of your colleagues when problems arise.

2012 October 17, Jacquelyn Smith, “14 Bad Habits That Can Cost You Your Job”, in Forbes, retrieved 2015-11-20:

(management) A person who can function effectively with others in a group, sharing information and striving towards a common goal.

span speler

person who functions effectively as a part of a group


BPM

BPM (countable and uncountable, plural BPM)

(uncountable, management) Initialism of Business Performance Management.


reconstructed

Coordinate term: restructured

There is a broad-gauge transfer shed, lengths of running track with reconstructed stations, and a bit of Brunel's ill-fated atmospheric railway.

2021 December 29, Stephen Roberts, “Stories and facts behind railway plaques: Didcot (1932)”, in RAIL, number 947, page 61:

(literal or figurative) Constructed again or anew.

(of buildings, infrastructure, financing, management, etc) Rebuilt; reassembled; redesigned and reimplemented; thoroughly renovated even at the structural level.

literal or figurative; financing; etc; financing; etc


turn around

en-verb

turn around (third-person singular simple present turns around, present participle turning around, simple past and past participle turned around)

turns around (present singular third-person)
turning around (participle present)
turned around (participle past)
turned around (past)

The new management team has really turned the company around 180 degrees, and they expect a good profit next year.

The team really turned it around in the second half for a great win.

They were way ahead but the game turned around on them and they lost 4–3.

It took changes from Wenger and a rare defensive lapse from Everton before Arsenal finally turned the game around with two goals in the space of five minutes.

2011 February 1, Phil McNulty, “Arsenal 2-1 Everton”, in BBC:

Pollard, who went into the semifinals with an unsatisfactory 63% return from the kicking tee, turned it around splendidly against Wales and he continued that form despite missing his first attempt in the final.

2019 November 3, Liam de Carme, “Boks, you beauties”, in Sunday Times:

(transitive, business, management, sports) To reverse an expected outcome (of a game, etc.), usually from a losing outcome to a winning one; to return (a business, department, etc.) to effectiveness, profitability, etc.

kääntää + accusative + edukseen (transitive, of games; positive)


X's and O's

Derived from the use of the letters X and O as common stand-ins for other concepts.

(idiomatic, management) The basic delineation of roles in a project.


line function

(management) Any primary business function that would affect customers or profits if interrupted


staff function

(management) Any secondary business activity that supports the line functions of a business, but does not directly affect customers or profits


onshore

onshore (third-person singular simple present onshores, present participle onshoring, simple past and past participle onshored)

onshores (present singular third-person)
onshoring (participle present)
onshored (participle past)
onshored (past)
on-shore (alternative)

I don’t want to suggest that any attempt to onshore production will doom America to runaway costs, supply-chain catastrophes, and frayed global alliances. In many cases, I’m sure there are brilliant reasons to bring back more advanced manufacturing, clean-energy construction, and resource production.

2023 February 8, Derek Thompson, “Don’t ‘Buy American’”, in The Atlantic:

(management) To relocate production, services or jobs to lower-cost locations in the same country.


death march

(management) A project that requires a stretch of unsustainable overwork, or whose participants feel it is destined to fail.

デスマーチ

project requiring stretch of unsustainable overwork


Peter principle

(management) The theory that people in an organization tend to rise (be promoted) to the level of their incompetence.


forewoman

Coordinate term: foreman

(management) A female leader of a work crew.


break-even point

en-noun

break-even point (plural break-even points)

break-even points (plural)
breakeven point (alternative)

(business, management) The point where total costs equal total revenue and the organization neither makes a profit nor suffers a loss.

punt mort

The point where total costs equal total sales revenue


actionee

"The Actionee shall identify the possible options to resolve the issue."

2000, Bruce Sherrington-Lucas, Ray Tricker, Karel Dobbelaere, Soka Gakkai: 2000 in Brief, page 57:

(management) The recipient of an action item; the person assigned responsibility for a specific task or issue.


implementable

en-adj

implementable (comparative more implementable, superlative most implementable)

more implementable (comparative)
most implementable (superlative)

(management, programming) Able to be implemented.


black belt

I had the good fortune of being engaged to participate as a trainer to GE Capital Corporation, where we helped to launch their now well-known and highly regarded black belt program.

2011, Bob Paladino, Five Key Principles of Corporate Performance Management, →ISBN:

(management) A senior manager who is expert in one of various management systems such as Six Sigma or DMAIC and acts in a project leader or mentor role.


foreperson

en-noun

foreperson (plural forepersons or forepeople)

forepersons (plural)
forepeople (plural)


organizational breakdown structure

organizational breakdown structure (plural organizational breakdown structures)

organizational breakdown structures (plural)
as: OBS (abbreviation)

(management) A global hierarchy that represents different levels of responsibilities within a project or enterprise.


CSF

CSF (countable and uncountable, plural CSFs)

critical success factor
critical success factor#English

(management) Initialism of critical success factor.


park that thought

en-verb

park that thought (third-person singular simple present parks that thought, present participle parking that thought, simple past and past participle parked that thought)

parks that thought (present singular third-person)
parking that thought (participle present)
parked that thought (participle past)
parked that thought (past)

hold that thought
hold that thought#English

(idiomatic, management) Alternative form of hold that thought


ramp up

ramp up (third-person singular simple present ramps up, present participle ramping up, simple past and past participle ramped up)

ramps up (present singular third-person)
ramping up (participle present)
ramped up (participle past)
ramped up (past)

Near-synonyms: fire up, spin up

He wants to be first to ramp up his project.

(transitive, management) To start (something) up; to cause (something) to ramp up.


net net

Net net, what do we have to do today?

(management) Without lengthy explanation.


virtuous circle

en-noun

virtuous circle (plural virtuous circles)

/ˈvɜː.t͡ʃʊ.əs ˈsɜː.kəl/

[T]he less our agriculturists are interfered with by the importation of foreign corn, the more money have they to spend with their manufacturing brethren, who, in turn, secure of their steady profits at home, are able to ship extensively to distant markets with little apprehension as to the result. In political economy there may be "vicious circles," but there are "virtuous circles" too, and this is one of them.

1847, [John Lettsom Elliot], A Letter to the Electors of Westminster. From a Conservative, 2nd edition, [London]: John Hearne, […], →OCLC, page 18:

State structuration, in effect, was characterized by the maintenance of a ‘virtuous circle’ from the post-feudal period to the middle of the twentieth century. This virtuous circle, however, must not be mistaken for inevitability. The state is neither universal nor a higher stage of some sort of teleological evolutionary process. Should other structures […] prove superior in structural capacity in a phase of stress and change, and prove capable of acquiring sufficient legitimation, […] then the virtuous circle could conceivably be broken and the modern state superseded.

1990, Philip G. Cerny, “The Modern State at the Crossroads: Structuring the Field of Political Action”, in The Changing Architecture of Politics: Structure, Agency, and the Future of the State, London, Newbury Park, Calif.: SAGE Publications, →ISBN, part I (The Principles of Political Structuration: Structure, Agency, and the Development of the Modern State), page 100:

Successful social entrepreneurs go through a cycle of growth in several linked stages. At each stage they could fail and the organisation could go into decline. […] We call this complete process the ‘virtuous circle of social capital’ because it starts with the inheritance of social capital and ends with the returns from the investment of social capital.

1997, Charles Leadbeater, “The Virtuous Circle of Social Capital: How Social Entrepreneurs Inherit, Create, and Invest Social Capital”, in The Rise of the Social Entrepreneur, London: Demos, published 2001, →ISBN, page 67:

We can explain these differences in terms of a virtuous circle of positive feedback in response to market stimulus or a vicious circle of defensive and negative feedback that reinforced anti-market orientations associated with their administrative heritage before the advent of economic reforms.

2015, H[ailan] Yang, S[tephen] L. Morgan, “Development of China’s State-controlled Firms: The Case of the Consumer Electronics Sector”, in Hailan Yang, Stephen L. Morgan, Ying Wang, editors, The Strategies of China’s Firms: Resolving Dilemmas (Elsevier Asian Studies Series), Waltham, Mass., Kidlington, Oxfordshire: Chandos Publishing, Elsevier, →ISBN, section 1.8 (Discussion: State Ownership and Competitiveness), page 16:

(idiomatic, management) A situation in which the solution to one problem makes each future problem easier to solve than the original one.

cercle virtuós

a situation in which the solution to one problem makes each future problem easier to solve


cost avoidance

cost avoidance (countable and uncountable, plural cost avoidances)

(management, accounting) An expense one has avoided incurring.


HRM

Human resource management
human resource management#English

(business, management) Initialism of Human resource management.

(Philippines, business, management) Initialism of hotel and restaurant management.


M&A

(management) Initialism of management and analysis.


strategic management

(management) The art and science of formulating, implementing and evaluating cross-functional decisions that will enable an organization to achieve its objectives.


white paper

white papers (plural)
whitepaper (alternative)
white-paper (alternative)

→ Malay: kertas putih (calque)

→ Polish: biała księga (calque)

(management, marketing) A document based on research informing and educating a reader regarding a topic, which may also promote a product or a solution.


zero-based budget

zero-based budget (plural zero-based budgets)

(management) A budget developed disregarding the expenses or costs of the prior year, requiring explicit justification for all expenditures.


total quality management

(management) A strategic approach to management aimed at embedding awareness of quality in all organizational processes.


control chart

statistical control
statistical process control

(management) A tool used to determine whether a manufacturing or business process is in a state of statistical control or not.


vision statement

vision statement (plural vision statements)

(business, management) A form of mission statement, issued by a company or organization, in which its intentions for the future are stated.

visiolausuma

mission statement of intentions for the future


activity trap

(management) The risk of employees spending significant effort looking busy with an activity at the expense of measuring progress toward what the activity is ultimately supposed to achieve.


KPI

key performance indicator
key performance indicator#English

(management) Initialism of key performance indicator.


key performance indicator

key performance indicator (plural key performance indicators)

(management) A financial or non-financial metric used to help an organization define and measure progress towards its goals.

關鍵績效指標 /关键绩效指标

metric used to measure progress towards organizational goals

guānjiàn jìxiào zhǐbiāo (mainland China) or guānjiàn jīxiào zhǐbiāo (Taiwan)


capacity utilization

capacity utilization (usually uncountable, plural capacity utilizations)

(management, operations) The percentage of the capacity of a device or system that is being used productively.


capacity utilization rate

capacity utilization rate (plural capacity utilization rates)

stépenʹ zagrúzki proizvódstvennyx moščnostéj

сте́пень загру́зки произво́дственных мощносте́й


utilization rate

utilization rate (plural utilization rates)

(management, operations) The percentage of the capacity of a device or system that is used productively.


utilization review

utilization review (plural utilization reviews)

(US, medicine, management) A review of the use of medical resources at a medical facility for purposes of cost control.


unoptimized

(chiefly computing, management) Not optimized.


marketize

en-verb

marketize (third-person singular simple present marketizes, present participle marketizing, simple past and past participle marketized)

marketizes (present singular third-person)
marketizing (participle present)
marketized (participle past)
marketized (past)
marketise (alternative)

Marketizing many traditional public services has met both success and failure.

(economics, management) To convert to management by open-market principles.


one-stop

At a local microlevel 'one-stop' or 'one-window' service delivery arrangements have proved popular.

2004, Christopher Pollitt with Geert Bouckaert, Public Management Reform: A Comparative Analysis, page 85:

Features like storefronts for brands could be understood as attempts by TikTok to catch up to Instagram’s own recent attempts at becoming a one-stop shopping destination.

2021 October 2, John Herrman, “Will TikTok Make You Buy It?”, in The New York Times, →ISSN:

(management) Describing a service operation at which all of a customer's needs may be satisfied without visiting another.


work order

I don't care who you are; I can't do anything without a work order.

(management) An authorization to expend resources to perform a task.


workstrand

In addition, the LIS is a key player in the Education and Training Workstrand, a group of topic specific professionals who inform the LISMG.

2000, B Anagnostelis, “Innovations online”, in Health Libraries Review:

... Sustainable Cities, ‘Investing in Child and Youth Development’ (ICYD) workstrand which began in 2003 and was completed in June 2006

2006, PS Peteru, “Youth participation with local councils: a snapshot of office reflections involving young people in …”, in repositoryaut.lconz.ac.nz:

Twenty five agencies participated in the ASCP, which involved six workstrand areas

2008, WC Council, “Effective Relationships and Collaborative Arrangements between Central and Local Government”, in waitakere.govt.nz:

This workstrand builds directly on the pioneering work of the EVE project which transformed curatorial attitudes to digital surrogates

2008, J Gardner with J Green, A Abu-Zayed, S Milward, et al., “CHARTER Project Plan”, in exeter.openrepository.com:

“This workstrand has estimated that around £16bn per year is spent on IT across the wider public sector...."

2009 April 21, “£7.2bn cuts in government back-office and IT spend”, in Computing:

(management) A group of sequentially related elements of a project.


descope

descope (third-person singular simple present descopes, present participle descoping, simple past and past participle descoped)

descopes (present singular third-person)
descoping (participle present)
descoped (participle past)
descoped (past)

From de- + scope. First attested in US military and aerospace contexts.

The arms controllers who "descoped" the Patriot bear a heavy burden.

1991 March 26, “Lethal Control of Arms”, in Washington Times:

The decision follows a recommendation made by the Oakervee review in February 2020 to descope the original plans for Euston and to re-examine the efficiency of the future station.

2021 November 3, Paul Stephen, “Network News: Ten platforms confirmed for HS2's Euston terminus”, in RAIL, number 943, page 18:

(management, US) To reduce the scope of; to revise objectives downward, sometimes in the context of a funding shortfall.


golden parachute

en-noun

golden parachute (plural golden parachutes)

(idiomatic, business, management) An agreement between a company and an employee, usually an executive, specifying that the employee will receive certain significant benefits if employment is terminated.


timebox

(management) The inflexible period of time allotted for a specific task.


timebox

en-verb

timebox (third-person singular simple present timeboxes, present participle timeboxing, simple past and past participle timeboxed)

timeboxes (present singular third-person)
timeboxing (participle present)
timeboxed (participle past)
timeboxed (past)

(management, transitive) To assign an inflexible period of time to (a task).


metanetwork

metanetworks (plural)
meta-network (alternative)

(communication, management, sociology) A network of networks.


mgt

(chiefly management) Abbreviation of management.


nonmanagerial

The failure to distinguish executive functions from nonmanagerial technical skills is another source of confusion

1974, Harold Koontz with Cyril O'Donnell, Essentials of Management, page 34:

[…] monitoring the finances or operations of the activity in a nonmanagerial capacity.

2005, Sanford M. Guerin, Taxation of Real Estate Transactions, page 89:

In December, […] the average hourly earning for a worker in a nonmanagerial position climbed 8 cents, to $17.04.

2007 January 6, Jeremy W. Peters, “Job Growth Is Strong, Surprising Economists”, in New York Times:


one-window

Why could Alberta Registries not have delivered one-window shopping, better hours and better locations, and nonbureaucratic service directly, using public servants?

1995, Trevor Harrison with Gordon Laxer, The Trojan Horse: Alberta and the Future of Canada, page 107:

(management) Describing a service operation at which all of a customer's needs may be satisfied by a single server, without waiting in a second queue.


general manager

en-noun

general manager (plural general managers)

Coordinate term: duty manager

(management) A manager with overall responsibility for an organisation or a distinct unit of an organisation.


organogram

(management) Alternative spelling of organigram


add value

en-verb

add value (third-person singular simple present adds value, present participle adding value, simple past and past participle added value)

adds value (present singular third-person)
adding value (participle present)
added value (participle past)
added value (past)

An oil refinery adds value to crude oil by distilling it into various desired intermediates and end products.

A flour mill adds value to cereal grain by grinding it into meal or flour.

The new website with additional features will really add value for our customers.

en:make a product or service more desirable or useful

(intransitive, business, management) To make a product or service more desirable or useful.


value-add

(business, management) Something that adds value; a benefit or enhancement.


value proposition

en-noun

value proposition (plural value propositions)

(business, management) The benefit (such as profit or convenience) offered by an organisation's product or service.

價值主張 /价值主张

benefit offered by an organization's product or service


ASQ

American Society for Quality
w:American Society for Quality

(management) Initialism of American Society for Quality.


ASQC

(management) Initialism of American Society for Quality Control.


auditee

(management, accounting, taxation) One subjected to an audit.


first in first out

first-in-first-out (alternative)
first-in first-out (alternative)
first in, first out (alternative)
first-in, first-out (alternative)

To the onlooker, and particularly to those whose memories go back to pre-grouping days, the modern cavalcade of "V2s" and "B1s" is apt to become a little monotonous; but to any running man the general utility characteristics of these two classes are a perfect godsend at times of exceptional pressure, when it is often a case of "first in—first out" with locomotive allocations at sheds.

1949 November and December, O. S. Nock, “Twenty-Four Hours at York—2”, in Railway Magazine, pages 357–358:

(management) A policy of assigning priority to tasks and assignments that have arrived for service first.

пе́рвым пришёл — пе́рвым ушёл (pérvym prišól — pérvym ušól)


organization chart

organization chart (plural organization charts)

organization charts (plural)
organisation chart (alternative)

reporting relationship
reporting relationship

(management) A graphic display of reporting relationships in an organization, sometimes displaying position titles and position holders.

組織圖 /组织图

chart of reporting relationships in an organization


organisation chart

organisation chart (plural organisation charts)

organization chart
organization chart#English

(British, management) Alternative spelling of organization chart


people skills

They found that strong people skills correlate loosely or not at all with being a good CEO. Traits like being a good listener, a good team builder....

2009 May 18, David Brooks, “In Praise of Dullness”, in New York Times:

(management) Skills in dealing with or managing people.


errand boy

(management, occasionally derogatory) Someone in a responsible position who performs relatively menial tasks for a senior manager.

juoksupoika

someone nominally in responsible position


executive committee

executive committee (plural executive committees)

The Council is an executive committee composed of representatives from the Asari Republics, the Turian Hierarchy, and the Salarian Union. Though they have no official power over the independent governments of other species, the Council's decisions carry great weight throughout the galaxy. No single Council race is strong enough to defy the other two, and all have a vested interest in compromise and cooperation.

2008, BioWare, Mass Effect (Science Fiction), Redwood City: Electronic Arts, →ISBN, →OCLC, PC, scene: Citadel Council Codex entry:

(management) A subcommittee of a board authorized to make some decisions on behalf of the entire board.


constructibility

(management) A project management technique to review construction processes and potential obstacles from start to finish, before building begins.


purchase price

(management, accounting) The price at which something is actually purchased, especially from the point of view of the purchaser.


break-even

break-even (countable and uncountable, plural break-evens)

break-evens (plural)
breakeven (alternative)

We'll never reach break-even if our variable costs are higher than our selling price.

(business, management) The level of revenues sufficient to cover costs.


month to date

months to date (plural)
month-to-date (alternative)

(management, accounting) The period from the beginning of a calendar month to the end of a reporting period.


timeboxing

(management) A method of planning an activity, by allocating specific timeboxes for a task, which is a distinctive feature of several project management approaches.


CHOSE

emotional intelligence
emotional intelligence#English

(management) Acronym of confidence, hope, optimism, subjective well-being, and emotional intelligence.


profit center

profit centers (plural)
profit centre (alternative UK)

Coordinate term: cost center

(accounting, management) A unit or department of a company which is expected to make an identifiable contribution to the organization's profits.


time box

(management) A fixed timeframe dedicated for a project or a task in a project.


RBM

RBM (countable and uncountable, plural RBMs)

results-based management
w:results-based management

(management) Initialism of results-based management.


clan control

(management) A control system which relies on shared values and norms rather than bureaucratic structures.


management system

management system (plural management systems)

(management) A computer software system for organizing and facilitating collaborative creation of documents and other content, especially for loading to a website


algedonics

From Ancient Greek ἄλγος (álgos, “pain”) + ἡδονή (hēdonḗ, “pleasure”).

The plant is adaptive to environmental changes (we have discussed how this could be done through algedonics). But the built-in control systems keep going wrong.

1994, Roger Harnden, Allenna Leonard, How many grapes went into the wine: Stafford Beer on the art and science of holistic management, →ISBN, page 138:

The final point introduces the idea of 'algedonics' (from the Greek 'aldos', meaning pain, and 'hedos', or pleasure), a signal produced by a statistically recognised event, which is so important that it bypasses the usual channels and gets sent directly to S5.

2011, Angela Espinosa, Jon Walker, A Complexity Approach to Sustainability, →ISBN, page 64:

The information is transferred from S3 to S4, in the form of “algedonics” (dashed line between S3 and S4 in Figure 3).

2012, Paolo Renna, Production and Manufacturing System Management, →ISBN, page 257:

(management) The handling of critical events in ways that bypass the usual chain of reporting in order to respond more urgently.


LMP

(management) Initialism of lighting management plan.


limiting factor

limiting factor (plural limiting factors)

management accounting
management accounting

(management accounting) A constraint that limits the business from achieving a higher level of profitability.


open-door policy

open-door policy (plural open-door policies)

open-door policies (plural)
open door policy (alternative)

Take Continental Airlines's Robert F. Six's view of much touted open-door policies: “‘My door is always open—bring me your problems.’ This is guaranteed to turn on every whiner, lackey and neurotic on the property.”

1986 August 24, Edwin McDowell, “What's New on the Corporate Bookshelf”, in New York Times, retrieved 2016-01-15:

She's a warm but no-nonsense administrator who has an open-door policy for all students.

2001 June 13, Rebekah Denn, “Seahawks Academy gives students a sporting chance”, in Seattle Post-Intelligencer, retrieved 2016-01-15:

Ashley: Commander. You have a minute to talk?
Shepard: I keep an open-door policy. If you have any concerns, lay them on me.

2008, BioWare, Mass Effect (Science Fiction), Redwood City: Electronic Arts, →ISBN, →OCLC, PC, scene: Normandy SR-1:

"[M]anagers are trained to be culturally sensitive and have an open door policy to staff for issues like this.

2008 September 29, “Muslim man sues Tesco for being told to handle alcohol”, in Telegraph, UK, retrieved 2016-01-15:

(idiomatic, management, politics) A policy or usual practice, by a person in authority, of permitting subordinates or constituents to visit his or her office unannounced and at any reasonable time for the purpose of discussing matters of concern.


DRI

DRI (countable and uncountable, plural DRIs)

At Apple there is never any confusion as to who is responsible for what. Internal Applespeak even has a name for it, the “DRI,” or directly responsible individual.

2011, Adam Lashinsky, “How Apple Works: Inside the World's Biggest Startup”, in Fortune magazine:

(management, Apple) Initialism of directly responsible individual.


separation of duties

In modern business, tasks that require separation of duties include: Deployment of a nuclear weapon. Two or more staff members are required to insert a key or type a password. Opening a bank vault. Two vault tellers each possess one half of the combination to the vault.

2015, Peter Gregory, CISSP Guide to Security Essentials, →ISBN, page 258:

(management, security) The requirement that two or more people must be involved in order to complete a high-risk task.


siloization

(management, informatics) The splitting of personnel, data, etc. into isolated units with poor communication.


antirequisite

en-adj

antirequisite (comparative more antirequisite, superlative most antirequisite)

more antirequisite (comparative)
most antirequisite (superlative)

Coined by Elliott Jaques in contrast to his use of requisite to describe an organization that promotes positive and effective human interactions.

His book is about the conditions for requisite institutions and how to change antirequisite, “alienating, paranoiagenic, entropic” organizations.

1977 October, Noel Tichy, “A General Theory of Bureaucracy (Book review)”, in The Journal of Applied Behavioral Science:

I have also learned that antirequisite social arrangements massively outweigh personality makeup in calling forth behaviors that reveal the primitive greed, and envy, and destructiveness—the capacity for evil split away in our inner lives.

2001, Elliott Jaques, The Life and Behavior of Living Organisms: A General Theory, →ISBN:

On the other hand, anti-requisite organizations hinder and prevent the formation of normal relationships and are in fact 'paranoiagenic', that is, they create envy, hostile rivalry, and anxiety.

2014, Robert De Board, The Psychoanalysis of Organizations, →ISBN:

(management) Counter to human nature; tending to make people dysfunctional and to interfere with cooperation.


retail price

(management, accounting) The price that customers pay for goods in stores.


CxO

The CIO role may be a bit more technical than some other CxO roles, and Drivers are the most technical type.

2018, Kim Christfort, Suzanne Vickberg, Business Chemistry, John Wiley & Sons, →ISBN:


KRI

(management) Abbreviation of key risk indicator.


critical success factor

en-noun

critical success factor (plural critical success factors)

(management) An element that is necessary for an organization or project to achieve its mission.


siloism

Practitioners and academics from all fields have recognized the problems inherent in siloism.

2017, Janette Hartz-Karp, Dora Marinova, Methods for Sustainability Research, page 100:

(management, informatics) A tendency toward the siloization of information.


value proposition canvas

value proposition canvas (plural value proposition canvases)

(business, management) A diagram mapping the benefits of a company's product or service to the needs and desires of a potential customer.


concrete-head

Purportedly from a calque from Japanese 頭(あたま)が固(かた)い (atama ga katai, “resistant to new ways of thinking”, literally “having a hard head”). Possibly originally from unattested Taiwanese Japanese *頭(あたま)コンクリート (atama konkurīto, literally “concrete-head”), which can be reconstructed from the phonetic borrowing of Taiwanese Mandarin 阿達馬孔固力／阿达马孔固力 (ādámǎ kǒnggùlì, “concrete-head”).

zh-l

(management, slang) A person who is stuck in their ways; one who is unwilling to try new ideas.


longtermism

(business, management) Synonym of long-termism (“concentration on long-term goals rather than short-term security or advantage”).


KRA

(management) Initialism of key result area.


terms of reference

(management) A set of terms that define the purpose of a project, its development, and how it can be evaluated.


KSF

(management) Initialism of key success factor.


C-suiter

(management) One who works in the C-suite.


MRD

en-noun

MRD (countable and uncountable, plural MRDs)

market requirements document
w:market requirements document

(management) Initialism of market requirements document.


business unit

(business, management) A profit center which focuses on a particular product line and/or market segment, having its own marketing plan and campaign, even if part of a larger business entity.


missing time

(business, management) An operational metric which measures the total amount of time on a timeclock that is unassigned to any task, whether productive or not.


pessimistic time

pessimistic time (countable and uncountable, plural pessimistic times)

(business, management) The maximum estimated period of time, assuming there are no issues, in which a task is likely to be completed.


project-oriented

(business, management) Focusing on delivering a product within a set time frame, budget, and scope.


general management

general management (plural general managements)

general managements (plural)
general direction (alternative)

(management) The overall management of an organization's activities.


entrepreneurial customer

entrepreneurial customer (plural entrepreneurial customers)

(business, management) A highly engaged and loyal customer who collaborates with intrapreneurs in order to continuously provide innovative ideas, solutions and insights to develop the organization’s strategy, products and services, contributing to its vision and mission statements in return of financial and/or non-financial incentives.