SACE Stage 2 Workplace Practices flashcards

33 cards. Read the term and the definition here. The deck at the top of this page is optional.

National Employment Standards

Eleven legislated minimum entitlements applying to all national system employees, covering hours, flexible work requests, parental leave, annual and personal leave, community service leave, long service leave, public holidays, notice and redundancy pay.

Better off overall test

The test the Fair Work Commission applies when approving an enterprise agreement, requiring every employee to be better off overall than under the relevant modern award.

Unfair dismissal

Dismissal that is harsh, unjust or unreasonable, not a genuine redundancy, and made against an employee who meets the minimum employment period and lodged within 21 days.

Adverse action

Action such as dismissing, injuring or altering an employee's position taken because of a protected attribute or the exercise of a workplace right, prohibited under general protections.

Casual employment

Engagement with no firm advance commitment to ongoing work, no paid leave entitlements, and a casual loading paid in compensation for that lack of leave.

Independent contractor

A worker engaged under a commercial contract to produce a result, paying their own tax and insurance, with no leave entitlements and no PAYG withholding by the hirer.

Primary duty of care

The work health and safety obligation on a person conducting a business or undertaking to ensure health and safety so far as is reasonably practicable.

Hierarchy of controls

A ranked order of risk controls from most to least effective: elimination, substitution, engineering controls, administrative controls, and personal protective equipment.

Workplace bullying

Repeated unreasonable behaviour directed at a worker that creates a risk to health and safety; a single unreasonable act is not bullying.

Matrix structure

An organisational design in which employees report to two managers simultaneously, typically a functional manager and a project or product manager.

Span of control

The number of subordinates directly reporting to a single manager; narrow spans create tall hierarchies, wide spans create flat ones.

Chain of command

The unbroken line of authority from the most senior level to the lowest, defining who reports to whom and through whom instructions flow.

Competing values framework

A model describing organisational culture across clan, adhocracy, market and hierarchy types, distinguished by flexibility versus control and internal versus external focus.

Tuckman's team stages

The sequence forming, storming, norming, performing and adjourning through which teams develop, with conflict most likely during storming.

Grapevine

An informal communication channel that spreads information rapidly through social networks but with lower accuracy than formal channels.

Transformational leadership

A leadership style using vision, inspiration, intellectual stimulation and individual consideration to raise followers' motivation beyond simple reward exchange.

Performance appraisal

A formal, periodic review of an employee's performance against agreed standards, usually feeding into training, promotion and remuneration decisions.

Induction

The process of introducing a new employee to the organisation's policies, culture, colleagues and safety requirements to speed integration and reduce risk.

Quaternary sector

The knowledge-based sector of the economy, including education, research, information technology, finance and consulting services.

Small business definition

Under the Fair Work Act a business with fewer than 15 employees; the Australian Bureau of Statistics uses fewer than 20 employees.

SWOT analysis

A planning tool that matches internal strengths and weaknesses against external opportunities and threats to inform strategy.

PESTLE analysis

A tool for scanning the external environment across political, economic, social, technological, legal and environmental factors.

Transferable skills

Capabilities such as communication, teamwork, problem solving and digital literacy that apply across roles and industries rather than to one job.

STAR response

An interview technique answering behavioural questions by describing the situation, task, action taken and result achieved.

Selection criteria

The stated knowledge, skills and experience an applicant must address in an application, used to shortlist candidates against a common standard.

Enterprise agreement

A collective agreement on wages and conditions negotiated between an employer and employees, approved by the Fair Work Commission after passing the better off overall test.

Protected industrial action

Industrial action taken during bargaining for an enterprise agreement, authorised by a successful protected action ballot and after any existing agreement's nominal expiry date.

Conciliation

A dispute resolution process in which an independent third party helps the parties reach their own agreement but cannot impose an outcome.

Arbitration

A dispute resolution process in which an independent third party hears both sides and imposes a binding decision on the parties.

BATNA

The best alternative to a negotiated agreement; the fallback option that determines the point at which a negotiator should walk away.

Indirect discrimination

A requirement or condition that appears neutral but disadvantages people with a protected attribute, and is not reasonable in the circumstances.

Lewin's change model

A three-stage model of organisational change: unfreezing existing behaviour, introducing the change, then refreezing to embed new norms.

Kotter's eight steps

A change leadership sequence beginning with creating urgency and forming a coalition, and ending with consolidating gains and anchoring change in culture.