The Equal Employment Opportunity Commission (EEOC) is a federal agency created by the passage of the Civil Rights Act of 1964.

Two terms commonly used in American business but often misunderstood are equal employment opportunity and affirmative action. In general, “equal employment opportunity” means that individuals will be considered for jobs or employment actions without any regard to their race, color, religion, sex, or national origin.

Environmental scanning is the process of monitoring and collecting information about business conditions affecting a market. As marketers develop and then implement their marketing strategies—combinations of pricing, PRODUCT, distribution, and SALES PROMOTION decisions for each target market—businesses must keep track of changes in the marketplace.

The Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) is the major federal agency responsible for protection of the natural environment.

An environmental impact statement (EIS) is a public report of a government-funded project, usually industrial, and its potential impact on the environment. An EIS summarizes the project’s long-term and short-term effect on noise, water, and air pollution as well as the impact on EMPLOYMENT and living, social, and local service standards. An EIS explains the proposed project and describes any alternatives to it.

Entrepreneurship is the ability and urge to find new, creative solutions to problems. Entrepreneurs forsake the security of regular EMPLOYMENT in pursuit of their dreams. Their compensation is measured by their initiative, skill, and performance. An academic definition states that entrepreneurs are individuals willing to risk investing time and money in a business activity that has the potential to make a PROFIT or incur a loss.

See EMPOWERMENT ZONES, ENTERPRISE ZONES.

The Endangered Species Act, passed by Congress in 1973, provides for the protection and conservation of endangered species and their habitats. The act refers to all species of plants and animals with the exception of pest insects.

Empowerment and enterprise zones are areas identified by the Secretary of Housing and Urban Development or the Secretary of Agriculture that have a condition of persuasive poverty, UNEMPLOYMENT, and general distress. To help rebuild these distressed urban or rural areas, tax incentives encourage businesses to locate in these areas and to hire the people who live there.

Empowerment in business is participatory decision making and teamwork within organizations. Empowerment includes greater worker control, accountability, and, often, flexibility in scheduling, work hours, and prioritizing of tasks.

See PAYROLL TAXES.

Employment-at-will is the concept that EMPLOYMENT is a CONTRACT between an employer and an employee and therefore subject only to the terms of the agreement between the two. As such, workers are hired for an indefinite duration, and either the employee or the employer may end the relationship for any reason and at any time. Implicit in employment-at-will is the idea that government does not determine employment relationships.

Every organization needs to be staffed with knowledgeable personnel. When evaluating applicants, there are two major concerns: hiring the right person for the available position and being sure that the applicant is right for the company.

Employee stock-ownership plans (ESOPs) are programs where a corporation contributes shares of the company’s stock into a trust, which then allocates the stock to employee accounts within the trust.

The Employee Retirement Income Security Act (ERISA, 1974) imposed requirements, on covered employers, to manage employee pension funds for the benefit of their workers. For years many U.S. employers engaged in a variety of practices such as arbitrary termination in pensionplan participation, arbitrary benefit reductions, and mismanagement of pension-fund ASSETS.

People are the one resource that every organization needs to accomplish its mission successfully. How, when, and where to find these people; determination of appropriate COMPENSATION AND BENEFITS; and then securing their EMPLOYMENT constitute the essence of employee recruitment.

Employee motivation involves the willingness of people to work towards and obtain their goals at work. Multiple factors affect employee motivation, including the nature of the organization’s formal reward structure, perceived pay equity, employee benefits, interesting work, leadership style and quality, and individual needs.

Benefits are one part of the COMPENSATION AND BENEFITS package that an employee receives as a member of the workforce of a particular company. Total compensation costs to an employee include salary or wages, incentives, and benefits.

An employee-assistance program (EAP) is a series of company-sponsored services designed to address employees’ work and personal problems affecting their performance. In the 1980s many U.S. companies, recognizing the benefits of healthy, focused employees, implemented EAPs as part of EMPLOYEE BENEFITS packages.

A legal term for one of the “sovereign” powers inherent in all governments, eminent domain allows for the taking (with “just compensation”) of private property for public use without the consent of the owner. The government exercises this right, by either judicial or administrative proceedings, through condemnation.

Emerging markets are economies that present high RISK but also potentially high rates of growth; they have low per capita GROSS DOMESTIC PRODUCT (GDP). Economists and investors use a variety of terms to differentiate among economies.

Embezzlement occurs when employees steal from a company. Whereas theft and larceny involve an outsider’s taking funds or property, embezzlement is the misappropriation of funds or ASSETS by someone within an organization.

An embargo is a government-sponsored injunction against the sale of goods to a foreign country and/or the importation of goods from another country.

Electronic funds transfer (EFT) is the movement of funds using an encrypted electronic format. Moving money electronically is generally more efficient, more secure, and less costly than handling cash or paper checks. Although payments by cash and checks still dominate in the United States, nonpaper, or “e-payments,” are growing rapidly through integration of existing and new electronic technology.