XAT SYLLABUS, PATTERN etc.

Xavier Aptitude Test (XAT)

XAT - XLRI Admission Test is a National Level Admission Test conducted by XLRI Jamshedpur for admission to Post Graduate Management Jamshedpur in XLRI Jamshedpur and many other top MBA Colleges, Institutes, reputed B-Schools in India.

XLRI Jamshedpur (School of Business & Human Resource) announces XAT 2013 for admission to it’s

* Two years Post Graduate Programme in Business Management (BM) and Human Resource Management (HRM)
* One year General management Programme
* Four year Fellow Programme in Management

XAT Syllabus

Analytical Reasoning and Decision Making:-

Conditions and Grouping Test 
Data Arrangement Test:- Complex Arrangement 
Logical Ability(Case lets) 
Decision Making

Verbal Ability :-

English Grammar based questions 

English Proficiency :- Analogy, Fill in the Blanks, Para jumble, Cloze Test

English Comprehension

Logical Reasoning :- Fact Inference Judgment, Passage Conclusion, Statement Argument

Data Interpretation and Quantitative Ability:-

Data Interpretation :- Case lets, Table Chart

Data Sufficiency

Quantitative Ability :-

• Elementary Mathematics 

• Arithmetic:- Number System, Ratio and Proportion

• Additional Topic in Arithmetic:- Problems on Trains, Clock and Calendar, Mixtures and Allegation

• Unitary Method:- Time and Distance

• Commercial Maths:- Profit and Loss, Interest

• Geometry:- Triangles, Circles

• Mensuration 

• Algebra:- Permutation & Combinations, Sequence & Series

• Trigonometry:- Heights and Distance

• Linear Programming 

• Coordinate Geometry:- Cartesian Plane and lines

• Probability 

XAT Eligibility
Candidates must have a bachelor degree under the 10+2+3 system from a recognized university or a deemed university. Candidates completing final year examination are also eligible to apply.

Important Dates for XAT 2013
XAT 2013 will be held on Sunday, January 6, 2013. The announcement was made on August 8, 2012. The registration process has started from August 20, 2012 and will continue till November 30, 2012.

Participating Institutes
XAT 2013 scores will be accepted by 106 B-schools. The top B-schools under the XAT umbrella are: Xavier Labor Relations Institute (XLRI) Jamshedpur; Xavier Institute of Management (XIM) Bhubaneswar; Xavier Institute of Management and Entrepreneurship (XIME) Bangalore; Xavier Institute of Development Action and Studies (XIDAS) Jabalpur; Xavier Institute of Social Service (XISS) Ranchi; Loyola Institute of Business Administration (LIBA) Chennai; SP Jain Institute of Management and Research (SPJIMR) Mumbai; Goa Institute of Management (GIM) Goa, BIMTECH, Greater Noida; BULMIM, New Delhi; Asia-Pacific Institute of Management, New Delhi; IFMR, Chennai; SPJIMR, Mumbai; Xavier Institute of Management &Research, Mumbai; We School, Mumbai; Jaipuria Institutes of Management; Gitam Institute of Management, Vishakhapatnam, TAPMI Manipal to name a few.

If your dream is to enter the campuses of XLRI Jamshedpur, SPJIMR Mumbai, LIBA Chennai, TAPMI Manipal, Goa Institute of Management and other top B-schools, this is the right time to start preparing for the XAT exam to be held in January 6, 2013. This article presents to you all the information about XAT and offers you an analysis of the XAT exams over the last five years, including XAT 2012.

XAT, the MBA entrance exam conducted by XLRI Jamshedpur, is different from other exams as it carries a question on essay writing. Previously, XAT papers used to ask candidates to write an essay and the time allotted for it was 20 minutes excluding 120 minutes allotted for the paper. But this year onwards, the duration of XAT would be of 2 hours and 30 minutes.

“XAT has always been an innovative and analytical test to gauge decision-making power and sharpness of a candidate’s mind rather than asking difficult questions. In order to enhance these abilities among candidates, we are increasing the duration of the test to 2 hours and 30 minutes,” said a source from XLRI.

XAT comprises the following sections (excluding essay writing):

-- Data Interpretation & Quantitative Ability

-- Analytical Reasoning & Decision Making

-- Verbal Ability & Logical Ability

XAT is usually scheduled for the first Sunday of January and aspirants are never sure what to expect out of the paper. Some of the recent surprises have been:

-- 5 options instead of 4 for each question

-- Introduction of 'Management Decision Making' questions involving case studies

-- Certain questions in the logical reasoning section having true/false statements, which effectively removed the elimination process 

CMAT SYLLABUS

Common Management Admission Test, CMAT is to be conducted by AICTE form 27 September to 1 October 2012.

What is CMAT?
CMAT is an MBA Entrance exam conducted twice in a year. Second CMAT of 2012 is to be conducted between September 27 and October 1. CMAT is a 3 hour exam with 
four sections. Each section is expected to have 25 questions in it. CMAT tests candidates on Quantitative Aptitude and Data Interpretation, Reasoning ,Verbal Ability and General Awareness.There is a penalty of one mark for every wrong answer.

Quantitative Aptitude & Data Interpretation: Syllabus
Quantitative Techniques has questions on Arithmetic, Algebra, Geometry, Mensuration and Probability.
Data Interpretation and Sufficiency essentially has questions involving tables, charts and graphs. Candidates are required to solve such questions using 
simple mathematical calculations.

Logical Reasoning: Syllabus
This section mainly constitutes of the following:
Critical Reasoning problems based on - Assumption Premise Conclusion, Assertion and reasons, Statements and assumptions, Strong arguments and Weak arguments, 
Inference based questions, Cause and Effect. Visual Reasoning problems based on - Linear arrangements, Family tree problem, Symbol Based problems, Coding and 
decoding, Sequencing, Alphabetical Series, Blood Relations and Direction Sense.

Language Comprehension: Syllabus
Language Comprehension for CMAT can be broadly divided in two categories –

1. Vocabulary based questions
2. English Grammar based questions

Aspirants need to prepare themselves on Antonyms, Synonyms, Sentence correction, Sentence completion, Odd One out problems, One word Substitution, Idioms, Fill in the Blanks, Parajumble questions.

General Awareness: Syllabus 
General Awareness is a section for which students need to keep themselves updated.
Areas on which they should keep a close eye are Indian and International Personalities, Historical events, Science News, Sports, Abbreviations, Business news, National and International Current Affairs, Political happenings.

WHAT IS EXECUTIVE MBA?

An Executive MBA is a postgraduate level business degree. It is a lot like a regular MBA programme which is usually of 2 years. The main difference is that the executive MBA is primarily designed for working professional like managers, entrepreneurs and other business leaders.

Executive MBA programs are for those who are already specialists in their field or industry and need to Get better at management skills to continue rising up the corporate ladder.

Executive MBA is typically designed for working professionals and for those having 3 years or more working experience. They tend to be flexible and allow students to attend class in the evenings and on weekends. The average program also allows working individuals to earn their executive MBA degree in two years or less.

The courses offered by an E-MBA programme are normally the same as those taught in regular MBA programs – accounting, finance, statistics, and management, marketing and information systems. However, E-MBA courses are enhanced by the extensive professional experience of the participants and are structured to teach a maximum amount of course material in an accelerated timetable.

After getting an executive MBA degree, you could continue to work in your current position. You may be able to accept more responsibility or pursue promotion opportunities. You could also explore new career options in your industry or within those organizations that are looking for executives with an MBA education.

How to Solve Para-jumbles in MBA Entrance Examinations?

What are Parajumbles: Para jumbles are basically jumbled up sentences from a logically coherent paragraph. All major MBA entrance exams now focus on Para jumbles with typically 3-4 questions from this area.
What Kind of questions are asked: To increase the difficulty level of a Para jumble; question makers can pick sentences from different paragraphs that follow each other logically or even sentences that are from the same article but on different pages, as a result of which they might not come together in the source form. As a test taker one might wonder about arranging sentences that someone else has arranged or designed? In reality it is not that difficult. Language too flows with a logical structure and hence using logic, one can arrange sentences.

The points one needs to keep in mind while arranging sentences are

1.Making Mandatory Pairs:  Mandatory pairs are sentences that would always come together irrespective of their position. Eg: If a sentence is labeled as A, B, C, D and E then in the solution BC would always come together. Irrespective of whether they begin the Para jumble or end it.
2.Selection by Elimination: Once you have identified the mandatory pair, proceed to the options and pick options using selection by elimination.

How to make mandatory pairs

1.Pronoun antecedents: A proper noun is used only during its introduction in the text. After that the pronoun takes over. This reference is called a Pronoun Antecedent.

For eg: Ravi works with DCB bank as a Chief Consulting Officer. He is responsible for their security policies.  He is the pronoun antecedent for “Ravi” and would always be preceded by Ravi.  Hence they make a mandatory pair.

2.Chronological order: Look for number clues. Certain dates and events would always occur on chronological order.

3.Cause and Effect: The cause would occur before the effect as a result of which the effect would be an explanation for the cause.

Let us apply these to solve an example

a.This initiative is aimed at doubling the direct distribution reach in rural markets, customize trade promotions and provide focused servicing through a dedicated sales team in these markets.
b.While reaping the benefits of a benign raw material scenario, companies are expected to invest in expanding their reach to grow sales.
c.This initiative has already started to bear fruits, according to Sunil Duggal, CEO, Dabur India , and is expected to translate into higher growth for the company with rural demand growing at a faster pace compared to urban markets.
d.Dabur India has already undertaken an initiative to substantially expand its distribution footprint and drive growth.

a.BDAC    b. ABCD     c. DCBA        d. ACBD

In D Dabur India is a proper noun, so it can be used to start the paragraph, but the sentence also uses the word “already”, which implies there should be a reference to this initiative which is captured in B. Hence, BD is a mandatory pair. A and C both start with “this initiative” which means they are referring to the initiative started by Dabur India.  If we now go by selection by elimination, BD as a mandatory pair is present in two options Aand D. As the initiatives needs are an effect of the cause started by Dabur India, the paragraph should begin with BD. Hence we can now zero down to option A.
One important thing that many test takers think is that a conclusion should always be towards the end. This may not be true, as we have discussed in the beginning that sentences could have been picked up from any position of the article. Hence, a conclusion could actually begin the Para-Jumble

HOW TO PREPARE FOR CAT EXAMS

Common Admission Test (CAT) is one amongst the largest MBA entrance exams conducted by Indian Institute of Management every year. Through this examination, prospective management students are shortlisted by six IIMs - IIM Ahmedabad, IIM Bangalore, IIM Calcutta, IIM Lucknow, IIM Indore, and IIM Kozhikode. Besides these IIMs, the score card of this examination is also accepted by more than 102 other institutes. Cracking CAT examination is one of the biggest dreams of MBA aspirants and to make it true one has to do a lot of efforts. Jagranjosh.com has jot down some tips on how to prepare for CAT exam:

• Be focussed on Exam Pattern:  As the test will consist of two sections - (a) Quantitative Ability & Data Interpretation (b) Verbal Ability & Logical Reasoning, the candidates must focus on these two sections only. Aspirants must not go beyond these sections while preparing for CAT examination.
• Set a Time Table: The first step to start the preparation must be setting a time table as it will help the candidates to devote proper time in the daily routine jobs along with the study. Not only setting a time table will help but the aspirants must follow the same to get some fine results.
• Systematic and meticulous study: Candidates must ensure that they are very systematic in their approach as it will help them to wind up their topics according to their time table. The best way to furnish this is to choose a topic first and decide the required number of days for concluding that topic. Try to resolve all your confusions regarding various concepts, formulae and reasoning on that topic within the stipulated time period decided by you.
• Know your strength and weaknesses: Candidate must thoroughly study the syllabus of the examination and do smart work rather than hard work. In CAT examination, the candidates are judged on conceptualized knowledge, analytical skills and decision making capabilities. So, try to know your weaknesses and work hard on that and brush up your strengths to excel in examination.
• Practise Mock test papers to develop speed and accuracy: As there will be 30 questions in each section and time allotted to each section will be 1 hour and 10 minutes (that is 70 minutes), so the candidates must practise mock test papers to develop speed and accuracy. It will also help them to know their pitfalls and mistakes by the time to overcome that.
• Healthy Diet and Proper Sleep: Just study, study and study will not lead a student to crack the exam but the healthy diet and right amount of sleep along with the study will show the good results. Both are very necessary to keep the mind fresh and to improve concentration power.
• Revise before the big Day: On the Examination day, aspirants should remain calm. Revision of the studied topics is very necessary. One should not start studying new topics on the examination day.

TIPS TO CRACK Common Management Admission Test (CMAT)

Common Management Admission Test (CMAT) is held by All India Council for Technical Education (AICTE) for admission to Post graduate programmes in various AICTE approved Management Colleges and Institutes. CMAT is generally held two times in a year in objective mode with Multiple Choice Questions.

The test paper of CMAT will comprise four sections including Quantitative Techniques & Data Interpretation, Logical Reasoning, Language Comprehension and General Awareness. There will be 25 questions in each section and time allotted to solve the test paper is 180 minutes. There is a provision of negative marking too and one-fourth mark will be deducted for each incorrect answers. One of the major wishes of the MBA aspirants is to crack CMAT and for that they leave no stone unturned. We at jagranjosh.com have scribbled some relevant tips to crack CMAT February 2013:

• Be Selective: Since just few days are left for the examination, you must be very selective in preparing the topics. Don’t try to even touch those topics which you are not sure of completing within the short time span. Prefer those chapters that seems important from the examination point of view and can easily be covered within short duration.
• Time Management: Time management is the important aspect in the preparation of examination. Allot feasible time to each and every topic that you choose to cover for the examination and try to finish off the assigned topic within the stipulated time span.
• Prepare Notes: While studying make brief notes of formulae, facts and other significant points covering the topic or chapters. It will be useful during the revision as you will have lack of time to revise the whole
• syllabus and these notes will help you remind all the relevant points.
• Read Newspapers, Magazines, and Journals etc: Keep yourself abreast with current affairs by reading newspapers, current affairs journals and news magazines. It will enable you to precisely answer the questions pertaining to General Awareness section. More over, it will also help you to improve language and comprehension which is the second section of the CMAT February 2013.
• Take Mock Tests: Practising sample papers, previous years’ papers are necessary to crack the examination. This will acquaint you with the type of questions that will be set in the test papers by the examiner. Moreover, these papers enable you to make out your faults and give opportunity to correct them so that these can’t be repeated in the examination. Take and evaluate mock tests keeping in mind the fact of negative marking in the examination.
• Proper Rest and Healthy Diet: Study, study and study theory will not help you to crack the examination. Healthy diet and right amount of sleep (at least 8 hours) along with study will give good results.

Types and approaches to Vocabulary questions in CAT

The one thing that most test takers are apprehensive about is vocabulary. The word itself sends shivers down the spine of many stalwarts in the queen’s language. To begin with let us understand that nobody can remember words through rote learning. It is not possible for any person to be a walking talking dictionary. Therefore the test makers of CAT too understand this hence the vocabulary based questions that appear in CAT are all usage based. It makes perfect sense for a person to know the word but what is important is to know how to use it and use it correctly in sync with grammar rules.

CAT has two types of questions on vocabulary:

1. Fill in the blanks (FIB):  As the name suggests one needs to fill in the blanks in context to the sentence that is given. The thing to remember while doing these questions is to understand the meaning of the entire sentence (i.e. understand the meaning in reference to the context being used) so as to fill in the blank.

We will look at the below example to understand how to solve such questions.

Q. When Facebook launches something __________, it’s easy to get irrationally ___________about its potential.

a. minor:sad                                                         b. major : exuberant

c. important: impractical                                         d. huge: happy

Solution: While solving this question let us first understand the context of the sentence. The sentence is conveying that when Facebook (a hugely popular social networking site) puts in a new feature on its website then everyone wants to try out the new feature. With this in mind we can easily rule out option A as the second blank is ‘sad’, which does not convey the meaning of everyone trying out the new feature. Since it is a social networking site anything that it launches cannot be termed as ‘important’. Hence option C can also be ruled out. In case of option D, the sentence seems to come from a press release, so the usage of the word ‘huge’ is casual. Hence we zero down to option B.  Inspite of three options being close, we can indicate the correct answer by understanding the sentence contextually.   

1. Usage based: Such questions have a word given and four usages in the options. One needs to pick the correct/incorrect usage as stated in the questions.

 BLUE

1. All my Monday mornings are blue.
2. The colour of her eyes was as blue as the ocean.
3. The idea came to him right out of the blue when he was making coffee in the kitchen.
4. Her parents were blue with rage when they found out that she lied to them.

Solution: In this question one needs to pick the sentence where the usage of the word ‘BLUE’ is incorrect.  Let us go through all the options.

Option A means that all Monday mornings are gloomy or sad. In this sentence Blue refers to being sad.

Option B means that her eyes are blue in colour.

Option C means that an idea struck him suddenly that seemed to solve his problem or query while he was doing another chore which means he was not thinking about it and it just came to him.

In option D “her parents were blue with rage”, when a person is filled with rage (anger), the person turns red and not blue. Hence our answer is option D.

The only approach to solve vocabulary related questions is with the logic we have discussed above as well as read, practice and use the words in daily communication.

CAT EXAMS

CAT Eligibility

The candidate must hold a Bachelor’s Degree, with at least 50% marks or equivalent CGPA [45% in case of the candidates belonging to Scheduled Caste (SC), Scheduled Tribe (ST) and Differently Abled (DA) (It may also referred to as Persons with Disability (PWD) category)], awarded by any of the Universities incorporated by an act of the central or state legislature in India or other educational institutions established by an act of Parliament or declared to be deemed as a University under Section 3 of the UGC Act, 1956, or possess an equivalent qualification recognized by the Ministry of HRD, Government of India.  The percentage of marks obtained by the candidate in the bachelor’s degree would be calculated based on the practice followed by the university/institution from where the candidate has obtained the degree. In case the candidates are awarded grades/CGPA instead of marks, the conversion of grades/CGPA to percentage of marks would be based on the procedure certified by the university/ institution from where they have obtained the bachelor’s degree. In case the university/ institution does not have any scheme for converting CGPA into equivalent marks, the equivalence would be established by dividing the candidate’s CGPA by the maximum possible CGPA and multiplying the result with 100.  

Candidates appearing for the final year of bachelor’s degree/equivalent qualification examination and those who have completed degree requirements and are awaiting results can also apply.  If selected, such candidates will be allowed to join the programme provisionally, only if he/she submits a certificate latest by June 30, 2013 from the Principal/Registrar of his/her College/Institute (issued on or before June 30, 2013) stating that the candidate has completed all the requirements for obtaining the bachelor’s degree/equivalent qualification on the date of the issue of the certificate.  IIMs may verify eligibility at various stages of the selection process, the details of which are provided at the website www.catiim.in. Applicants should note that the mere fulfillment of minimum eligibility criteria will not ensure consideration for shortlisting by IIMs.

Prospective candidates must maintain a valid and unique email account and a phone number throughout the selection process.

Test Duration and Pattern

The CAT 2012 will have only two sections. The first section isQuantitative Ability & Data Interpretation; the second section isVerbal Ability & Logical Reasoning. These two sections will be implemented sequentially with separate time limits. The examination will be 140 minutes. Candidates will have 70 minutes to answer 30 questions within each section which will have an on-screen countdown timer. Within the 70 min provided for the section, candidates can review the answers. Once the time ends for the first section, they will move to the second section and will no longer be able to go back.

 

A 15-minute tutorial will be provided before the start of the test, and candidates are advised to go through that carefully before starting the main examination. The total duration will be two hours and thirty five minutes including the tutorial. A practice test to provide candidates with a feel of the timed sections, as well as navigation and functionality of the actual test will be made available in the coming weeks. Once again candidates are advised to go though them carefully to familiarise themselves with the screens, layout, and navigation.

 

At the test venue, each candidate will be seated at a desk with a computer terminal and he/she will be provided with a scratch paper for calculations. After the test, candidate must leave the scratch paper at the desk. Rough work cannot be done on any other paper/sheet, as nothing will be allowed inside the testing room. No breaks will be given during the test.

ADMISSION PROCESS:

Please note that each IIM shortlists candidates for second stage of selection which may be independent of each other. The process may include Written Ability Test (WAT), Group Discussions (GD) and Personal Interviews (PI).Performance in CAT2012 examination is an important component in the admission process. IIMs may use previous academic performance of the candidates, relevant work experience and other similar inputs in short listing and ranking of candidates at various stages of the admission process. The processes, academic cut-offs and the weights allocated to the evaluation parameters may vary across IIMs. For more information you may refer the admissions policies of IIMs from their respective websites

 

CAT Result and Short-listing

CAT 2012 result will be announced on 09 January 2013 on the CAT website. List of shortlisted candidates for the next level of selection will be made available on the individual IIM websites. Each IIM will send interview letters to the candidates it has short-listed. The criteria for short-listing varies from IIM to IIM. Please visit the admission hotlinks of the respective websites of IIMs for further information. 

Important terms in Human Resource Management/ Personnel Management

Important terms in Human Resource Management/ Personnel Management

Human Resources
The total knowledge, skills, creative abilities, talents and aptitudes of an organisation’s workforce, as well as the value, attitudes and beliefs of individuals involved 



Human Resource Management (HRM)
HRM refers to a set of programmes, functions and activities designed and carried out in order to maximise both employee as well as organisational effectiveness.
Human Resource Management is a function of guiding human resources into a dynamic organisation that attains its objectives with a high degree of morale and to the satisfaction of those concerned.
HRM is that phase of management which deals with the effective control and use of manpower as distinguished from other sources of power.
The management of human resources is viewed as a system in which participants seeks to attain both individual and group goals.
The objective of HRM is to understand what has happened and is happening and to be prepared for that will happen in the area of working relationships between the managers and the managed.
Manpower/Human Resource Planning
It is the process of determining manpower requirements and the means for meeting those requirements in order to carry out the integrated plan of the organisation.”

Job Analysis
Job analysis is the process of determining, by observation and study, and reporting pertinent information relating to the nature of s specific job.  It is the determination of the tasks which comprise the job and of the skills, knowledge, abilities and responsibilities required of the worker of a successful performance and which differentiate one job from all others
Job Description
It is an organised, factual statement of the duties and responsibilities of a specific job.  In brief it should tell what is to be done, how it is done and why?  It is a standard of function, in that it defines the appropriate and authorised content of a job.
Job Specification
Job specification or man specification or employee specification is a statement of the minimum acceptable human qualities necessary to perform a job properly.  In contrast to the job description it is a standard of personnel and designates the qualities required for acceptable performance.


Job Evaluation
Job evaluation is an attempt to determine and compare demands which the normal performance of a particular job makes on normal workers without taking into account the individual abilities on performance of the workers concerned.”
Absenteeism
Absenteeism means the failure of a worker to report for work when he is scheduled to work.  Labour Turnover
Labour turnover refers to the rate of change in the workforce of an enterprise during a given time period. 
Recruitment
Recruitment is the process of searching for prospective employees and stimulating and encouraging them to apply for jobs in an organisation.
Recruitment Policy
Recruitment policy specifies the objectives of recruitment and provides a framework for the implementation of the recruitment programme.
Selection
Selection involves picking for hire a subset of workers from the total set of workers who have applied for the job.
Interview
Interview is a face-to-face, observational and personal appraisal method of evaluating the applicant where the interviewer who is higher in status is in a dominant role.
Placement
It is a decision to place a selected individual in one job than in another. 
Induction
It is the process of inducting a new employee into the new social setting of his work.
Promotion
A promotion takes place when an employee moves to a position higher than the one formerly occupied.
Dry Promotion
When there is no increase in the employee’s pay as a result of promotion it is called as a dry promotion. 
Demotion  
 It is a downward movement of an employee in the organisational hierarchy with lower pay, status or responsibilities.
Transfer  
A transfer implies a lateral movement of an employee in the hierarchy of positions with the same pay and status. 
Training and Development
The organised procedure by which people learn knowledge and/or skill for a definite purpose is training.
Job Rotation
This type of training involves the movement of the trainee from one job to another. 
Management Development Programme
It is a systematic process of growth and development by which the managers develop their abilities to manage. 
Career
It is a sequence of separate but related work activities that provides continuity, order and meaning in a person’s life.


Motivation
It is defined as any idea, need, emotion or organic stage, that prompts a man to an action.
Job Satisfaction
It refers to the feelings and the emotional aspects of individuals experience towards his jobs,
Performance Appraisal
It is the systematic, periodic and an impartial rating of an employees’ excellence in matters pertaining to his present job and his potential for a better job.
Management By Objectives (MBO)
It is a process whereby the supervisor and subordinate managers of an organisation jointly identify its common goals, define each individual’s major areas of responsibility in terms of unit and assessing the contributions of each of its members.
Trade Unions
It is a voluntary organisation of workers formed to promote and protect their interests by collective action.
Collective Bargaining
It refers to a process by which employers on the one hand and representatives on the other, attempt to arrive at agreements covering the conditions under which employees will contribute and be compensated for their services.
Workers Participation in Management
It is a process by which authority and responsibility of managing industry are shared with workers.
Job Design
It is the process of deciding on the contents of a job in terms of its duties and responsibilities, on the methods to be used in carrying out the job, in terms of techniques, systems and procedures and on the relationships that should exist between the job holder and his superiors, subordinates and colleagues.

Important terms in Marketing Management

Important terms in Marketing Management 

1. Administered Vertical Marketing System: An arrangement that coordinates distribution activities through the market and/or economic power of one channel member or the shared power of two channel members.
 It can also be said that, it is a system in which the channel members, while retaining much of their autonomy, are informally coordinated in their marketing activities by the dominant member of the channel.  Dominance is achieved through the exercise of political or economic power rather than through outright ownership. 

Contractual Channel System / Contractual Vertical Marketing System: A system in which independent channel members at two or more levels have entered into formal agreements to coordinate their marketing efforts in an attempt to take advantage of the economies of scale.  Contractual vertical marketing systems are generally of three types: i. Voluntary chains, ii. Retail cooperatives, and iii. Franchisee operations.

Corporate System / Corporate Vertical Marketing System: A system in which a large corporation controls two or more levels of a marketing channel.  For example, a manufacturer may own the distribution facilities for his product as well as the retail outlets through which it is sold.

2. Advertising: All activities involved in presenting to an audience a nonpersonal, sponsor-identified, paid-for message about a product/service of an organization.
3. Advertising Agency: An independent company that provides specialized advertising services and may also offer more general marketing assistance.
4. Advertising Media: The communication vehicles (such as newspapers, radio, television etc) that carry advertising as well as other information and entertainment.
5. AIDA: A sequence of steps in various forms of promotion, notably personal selling and advertising, consisting of Attention, holding Interest, arousing Desire, and generating buyer Action.
6. Marketing Plan: A written document that presents the master blueprint for a year’s marketing activity for a specified organizational division or major product.
7. Automatic Vending: A form of nonstore retailing where the products are sold through a machine with no personal contact between the buyer and seller.
8. Banner Ad: A boxed-in promotional message often appearing at the top of a web page.
9. Behavioural segmentation: Market segmentation based on consumers’ product-related behaviour, typically the benefits desired from a product and the rate at which the consumer uses the product.
10. Brand: A name and/or mark intended to identify and differentiate the product of one seller or a group of sellers.
11. Brand mark: The part of a brand that appears in the form of a symbol, design, or distinctive colour or types of lettering.
12. Brand Name: The part of a brand that can be vocalized-words, letters, and/or numbers. 
13. Broker: A middleman who brings buyers and sellers together and provides market information to either party and that ordinarily neither physically handles products being distributed nor works on a continuing basis with those sellers or buyers.
14. Business Analysis: It is one of the stages in the new product development process which consists of several steps to expand a surviving idea into a concrete business proposal.
15. Buying Motive: The reason why an individual or an organization buys a specific product or makes purchases from a specific firm.
16. Channel Conflict: A situation in which one channel member perceives another channel member to be acting in a way that prevents the first member from achieving.
17. Comparative Advertising: A form of selective-demand advertising in which an advertiser either directly (by naming a rival brand) or indirectly (through inference) points out the differences among competing brands.
18. Consumer buying-decision process: The series of logical stages, which differ for consumers and organizations, that a prospective purchaser goes through when faced with a buying problem.
19. Cost-plus pricing: A major method of price determination in which the price of a unit of a product is set at a level equal to the unit’s total cost plus a desired profit on the unit.
20. Countertrade: An arrangement under which domestically made products are traded for imported goods.
21. Culture: A complex of symbols and artifacts created by a society and handed down from generation to generation as determinants and regulators for human behaviour.

22. Customer Relationship Management (CRM): An ongoing interaction between a buyer and a seller in which the seller continuously improves its understanding of the buyer’s needs, and the buyer becomes increasingly loyal to the seller because his needs are being so well satisfied.
23. Decline stage: The fourth, part of a product life cycle during which the sales of a product drops.
24. Delphi Method: A forecasting technique, applicable to sales forecasting, in which a group of experts individually and anonymously assess future sales, after which each member has the chance to offer a revised assessment as the group moves toward a consensus.
25. Demand Forecasting: The process of estimating sales of a product during some future period.
26. Demographic segmentation: Subdividing markets into groups based on population factors such as size, age, and growth.
27. Department store: A large-scale retail institution that has a very broad and deep product assortment, tries not to compete on the basis of price, and offers a wide array of customer services.
28. Diffusion: A process by which an innovation spreads throughout a social system over time.
29. Direct distribution: A channel consisting only of producer and final customer, with no middlemen providing assistance.
30. Direct marketing: A form of nonstore retailing that uses advertising to contact consumers who, in turn, purchase products without visiting a retail store.
31. Direct selling: A form of nonstore retailing in which personal contact between a sales person and a consumer occurs away from a retail store.  Sometimes called in-home selling.
32. Discount store: A large-scale retail institution that has a broad and shallow product assortment, low prices, and few customer services.
33. Distribution channel: The set of people and firms involved in the transfer of title to a product as the product moves from producer to ultimate consumer or business user.
34. Drop shipper: A merchant wholesaler that does not physically handle the product being distributed, but instead sells merchandise for delivery directly from the producer to the customer.  Same as desk jobber.
35. Early adopters: A group of consumers that includes opinion leaders, is respected, has much influence on its peers, and is the second group (following the innovators) to adopt an innovation.
36. Economic environment: A set of factors, including the business cycle, inflation, and interest rates, that affect the marketing activities of an organization.
37. 80-20 principle: A situation in which a large proportion of the total orders, customers, territories, or products account for only a small share of the company’s sales or profit, and vice-versa.
38. Electronic Commerce: The buying and selling of goods and services through the use of electronic networks.
39. Family branding: A strategy of using the company name for branding purposes.
40. Family-life-cycle stage: The series of life stages that a family goes through, starting with young single people, progressing through married stages with young and then older children and ending with older married and single people.
41. First – mover advantage: Strategy of entering a market during the introductory stage of a product in order to build a dominant position; also called pioneer advantage.
42. Focus group: A preliminarly data gathering method involving an interactive interview of 4 to 10 people.
43. Franchising: A type of contracatual vertical marketing system that involves a continuing relationship in which franchiser (the parent company) provides the right to use a trademark plus various management assistance in return for payments from a franchisee (the owner of the individual business unit).
44. Gray marketing: Practice of buying a product in one country, agreeing to distribute it in a second country but diverting it to a third country; also called export diversion.
45. Geographic segmentation: Subdividing markets into groups based on geographic locations.
46. Label: The part of a product that carries information about the product and the seller.
47. Laggards: A group of tradition-bound consumers who are the last to adopt an innovation.
48. Leader pricing: A pricing and promotional strategy in which temporary price cuts are made on a few items to attract customers.
49. Mail survey: A method of gathering data by mailing a questionnaire to potential respondents, and asking them to complete it and return it by mail.
50. Market-aggregation strategy: A plan of action under which an organization treats its total market as a single segment – that is, as one mass market whose members are considered to be alike with respect to demand for the product – and thus develops a single marketing mix to reach most of the customers in the entire market. Same as mass market strategy and undifferentiated market strategy.
51. Market penetration strategy: A strategy in which the initial price of a product is set low in relation to the target market’s range of expected prices.
52. Market potential: The total sales volume that all organizations selling a product during a stated time period in a specific market could expect to achieve under ideal condition.
53. Market segmentation: The process of dividing the total market for a good or service into several smaller groups, such that the members of each group are similar with respect to the factors that influence demand.
54. Market share: The proportion of total sales of a product during a stated period of time in a specific market that is capturedby a single firm.
55. Market-skimming pricing: A strategy in which the initial price of a product is set high in relation to the target market’s range of expected prices.
56. Nonstore retailing: Retailing activities resulting in transactions that occur away from a retail store.
57. Odd pricing: A psychological pricing strategy that consists of setting at uneven (or odd
58. Packaging: All the activities of designing and producing the container or wrapper for a product.
59. Perception: The process carried out by an individual to receive, organize and assign meaning to stimuli detected by the five senses.
60. Personal selling: The personal communication of information to persuade somebody to buy something.
61. Personal selling process: The logical sequence of prospecting, preapproach, presenting, and postsale services that a sales person takes in dealing with a prospective buyer.
62. Physical distribution: All the activities involved in the flow of products as they move physically from producer to consumer or industrial user.  Same as logistics.
63. Positioning: A product’s image in relation to directly competitive products as well as other products marketed by the same company.  Alternatively, a firm’s strategies and actions related to favourably distinguishing itself from competitors in the minds of selected groups of consumers.  Same as product positioning.

64. Price: The amount of money and/or other items with utility needed to acquire a product.
65. Price competition: A strategy in which a firm regularly offers products priced aslow as possible, usually accompanied by a minimum of services.
66. Price war: A form of price competition that begins when one firm decreases its price in an effort to increase its sales volume and/or market share, the other firms retaliate by reducing prices on competing products, and additional price decreased by the original price cutter and/or its competitors usually follow.
67. Product life cycle: The aggregate demand over an extended period of time for all brands comprising a generic product category.
68. Product line: A broad group of products intended for essentially similar uses and having similar phyical characteristics.
69. Promotion: The element in an organisation’s marketing mix that serves to inform, persuade, and remind the market of a product and/or the organization selling it in the hope of influencing the recipients’ feelings, beliefs, or behaviour.
70. Promotional mix: The combination of personal selling, advertising, sales promotion, public relations, and publicity that is intended to help an organization achieve its marketing objectives.
71. Psychographic segmentation: Subdividing markets into groups based on personality dimensions, life-style characteristics, and values.
72. Publicity: A special form of public relations that involves any communication about an organization, its products, or its policies through the media that isnot paid for by the sponsoring organization.
73. Public relations: Communication efforts that are designed to favourably influence attitudes toward an organization, its products and its policies.
74. Pull strategy: Promotional effort directed primarily at end users so they will ask middlemen for the product.
75. Push strategy: Promotional efforts that directed primarily at middlemen that are the next link forward in the distribution channel for a product.
76. Reference group: A group of people who influence a person’s attitudes, values and behaviour.
77. Repositioning: Reestablishing a product’s attractiveness in the target market.
78. Retailing: The sale, and all activities directly related to the sale, of goods and services to ultimate consumers for personal, nonbusiness use.  Same as retail trade.
79. Sales forecast: An estimate of probable sales for one company’s brand of a product during a stated time period in a specific market and assuming the use of a predetermined marketing plan.
80. Sales potential: The portion of market potential that a specific company could expect to achieve under ideal condition.
81. Sales promotion: Demand-stimulating devices designed to supplement advertising and facilitate personal selling.
82. Service: An identifiable, intangible activity that is the main object of a transaction designed to provide want satisfaction to customers.
83. Service quality: The degree to which an intangible offering meets the expectations of the customer.
84. Situation analysis: The act of gathering and studying information pertaining to one or more specified aspects of an organization.  Alternatively, a background investigation that helps in refining a research problem.
85. Social class: A division of, or ranking within, society based on education, occupation, and type of residential neighbourhood.
86. Societal marketing concept: A revised version of the marketing concept under which a company recognizes that it should be concerned about not only the buyers of its products but also other people directly affected by its operations and with not only tomorrow but also the long term.
87. Specialty store: A type of retail institution that has a very narrow and deep product assortment (often concentrating on a specialized product line or even part of a specialized product line), that usually strives to maintain manufacturers’ suggested prices, and that typically provides atleast standard customer services.
88. Sub-culture: Groups in a culture that exhibit characteristic behaviour patterns sufficient to distinguish them from other groups within the same culture.
89. Supermarket: A type of retail institution that has a moderately broad and moderately deep product assortment spanning groceries and some nonfood lines, that offers relatively few customer services, and that ordinarily emphasizes price in either an offensive or defensive way.
90. Supply chain management: The combination of distribution channels and physical distribution to make up the total marketing system.
91. SWOT Analysis: It is identifying and evaluating an organisation’s most significant strengths, weaknesses, opportunities and threats.
92. Target market: A group of customers (people of organizations) for whom a seller designs a particular marketing mix.
93. Telemarketing: A form of nonstore retailing in which a sales person initiates contact with a shopper and also closes the sale over the telephone.
94. Telephone survey: A method of gathering data by interviewing people over the telephone.
95. Test marketing: A method of demand forecasting in which a firm markets its new product in a limited geographic area, measures the sales, and then – from this sample – projects the comopany’s sales over a larger area.  Alternatively, a marketing research technique that uses this name approach to judge consumers’ responses to a strategy before committing to a major marketing effort.
96. Trademark: A brand that has been adopted by a seller and given legal protection.
97. Value chain: The combination of a company, its suppliers, and intermediaries, performing their own activities to add value to a product.
98. Vertical Marketing System (VMS): A tightly coordinated distribution channel designed to improve operating efficiency and marketing effectiveness.
99. Wholesaling: The sale, and all activities directly related to the sale, of goods and services to businesses and other organizations for resale, use in producing other goods and services, or the operation of an organization.
100. Environmental Scanning: The process of gathering information regarding a company’s external environment, analyzing it, and foreasting the impact of whatever trends the analysis suggests.  Same as environmental monitoring.