4. Agency tariff a rate bureau publication that contains rates for many carriers

Agglomeration A net advantage a company gains by sharing a common location with other companies.

Annual meeting A yearly meeting at which a corporation’s stockholders have the opportunity to meet and vote on various issues related to company management.

Annual report A yearly report to stockholders prepared by publicly – held corporations, containing required financial performance information and other material designed to promote the organization.

Appropriation Commercial use of an entity’s picture, likeness, or name without permission.

Audience coverage Whether and how well intended publics were reached, which messages reached them, and who else heard the messages.

Audit An evaluation and inventory of an organizational system.

Auditing Determining the correct transportation charges due the carrier; auditing involves checking the freight bill for errors, correct rate, and weight.

Aware public People who know about a problem but don’t act on it.

Bank note. А noninterest-bearing promissory note of а bank issued for general circulation as money and payable to the bearer on demand. In the United States only the Federal Reserve banks now issue bank notes.

Beneficiary. 1. The person in whose favor а letter of credit is issued. 2. The person designated со receive the income or principal of а trust estate. 3. The person who is со receive the proceeds of or benefits accruing under an insurance policy or annuity. In general, а third party who is to receive all or а share of the benefits arising from an arrangement between two other parties, one of whom holds title со money or property in а fiduciary capacity.

Benchmarking A management tool for comparing performance against an organization that is widely re­garded as outstanding in one or more areas, in order to improve performance.

Boundary spanners Individuals within organizations assigned responsibility for communicating with other organizations.

Brainstorming A technique of group discussion used to generate large numbers of creative alternatives or new ideas.

Brandstanding Corporate sponsorship of special events as a way of getting publicity and gaining goodwill.

Broker An intermediary between the shipper and the carrier. The broker arranges transportation for ship­pers and secures loads for carriers.

Burnout The idea that a message loses its punch if consumers hear it too often or too much in advance of an event.

Business logistics The process of planning, imple­menting, and controlling the efficient, effective flow and storage of goods, services, and related information from the point of origin to the point of consumption for the purpose of conforming to customer require­ments. Note that this definition includes inbound, out­bound, internal, and external movements.

C

Cabotage A federal law that requires coastal and inter-coastal traffic to be carried in U.S.-built and -registered ships.

Capital The resources, or money, available for invest­ing in assets that produce output.

Censure An official expression of disapproval broadcast to fellow members of a group and possibly to the public.

Certificate of deposit. А formal receipt for funds left with а bank. as а special deposit. Such deposits may bear interest, in which саse they are payable at а definite date in the future or after а specified minimum notice of withdrawal; or they may be noninterest bearing, in which сазе they may be payable on demand or at а future date. These deposits are payable only upon surrender of the formal receipt properly endorsed, and they are carried on the general ledger of the bank under heading Certificate of Deposit rather than on the individual ledgers under the name of the person со whom the certificate was originally issued.

Charter (bank). A document issued by a bank supervisory authority (national or state) giving a bank the right to do business, enumerating its powers, and prescribing the conditions under which it may operate.

Check (sometimes spelled cheque). A draft drawn on a bank by a depositor and payable on demand.

Civil libel Damaging negligently published communication that injures an identified individual.

Classification An alphabetical listing of commodities, the class or rating into which the commodity is placed, and the minimum weight necessary for the rate dis­count; used in the class rate structure.

Clearing. A banking term referring to the interbank presentment of checks, the offsetting of counterclaims and the settlement of resulting balances. The term may be used in a purely local operation, a regional operation, or on a nationwide basis.

Closed – system evaluation A pre/post event assessment that considers only the controlled message elements.

Code of ethics A formal set of rules governing proper behavior for a particular profession or group.

Coin. In banking terminology, coin refers со metallic money only.

Collateral. Specific property which а borrower pledges as security for the repayment of а loan, and agrees that the lender shall have the right to sell the collateral for the purpose of liquidating the debt if the borrower fails to repay the loan at maturity or otherwise defaults under the terms of the loan agreement.

Collateral loan. А loan which is secured by the pledge of specific property, the borrower depositing with the lender either the property itself or а document bearing evidence of title to the property.

Collective bargaining A continuing institutional relationship between an employer and a labor organization concerned with the negotiation, administration, interpretation, and enforcement of contracts covering wages, working conditions, and other issues related to employment.

Commercial bank. А banking corporation which accepts demand de- posits subject to check and makes short term loans to business enterprises, regardless of the scope of its other services.

Commercial speech Public communication by business organizations through advertising or public relations to achieve sales or other organizational goals.

Commercial zone The area surrounding a city or town to which rate carriers quote for the city or town also apply; the ICC defines the area.

Communication climate The degree of trust and openness that exists in the communication processes of an organization.

Communication flow The direction (upward, downward or horizontal) messages travel through the networks in an organization.

Communication load The total amount of communication received and initiated in a given channel.

Communication networks The patterns of communication flow between individuals in organizations.

Communication policies Final statements of organizational positions related to communication activities and behaviors and information sharing.

Communication rules Mutually accepted standards of communication behavior, which provide the basis for coordinated interpersonal interaction.

Community relations A public relations function consisting of an institution’s planned, active, and continuing participation with and within a community to maintain and enhance its environment to the benefit of both the institution and the community.

Commuter An exempt for-hire air carrier that pub­lishes a time schedule on specific routes; a special type of air taxi.

Comptroller of the Currency. An appointed official in the United States Treasury Department who is responsible for the chartering, supervision, and liquidation of national banks.

Consolidation Collecting smaller shipments to form a larger quantity in order to realize lower transportation rates.

Consumer goods Commodities whose ultimate use is to contribute to the satisfaction of human wants — such as food or clothing — as distinguished from producers' or capital goods, which are used to produce other goods.

Content analysis Systematic coding of questionnaire responses of other written messages into categories, which can be totaled.

Contract An agreement containing a legal offer, a legally effective acceptance, and an exchange of acts and promises called consideration.

Controlled media Those media that the public relations practitioner has actual control over, such as a company newsletter.

Control total. А figure obtained by а process in which all transactions, or balances of а given type are included in а single total, so that the accuracy of their recording may be proved.

4. Copyright Legal protection from unauthorized use of an intellectual property fixed in any tangible medium of expression.

5. Corporate philanthropy Recognition of corporate obligations and responsibilities to communities represented by monetary and other contributions to charitable organizations.

6. Correspondent bank. A bank which maintains an account relationship with another bank or engages in an exchange of services with another bank.

Counseling firm A public relations or marketing company hired by another organization to help with campaigns or run an entire public relations function.

Coupon. One of а series of promissory notes of consecutive maturities attached to а bond or other debt certificate and intended to be detached and presented on their respective due dates for payment of interest.

7. Credit. An advance of cash, merchandise, or other commodity in the present in exchange for а promise to pay а definite sum at а future date, with interest if so agreed. Long-term credit is credit granted for а long реriod of time. It is generally obtained by the sale of bonds or mortgages. Short-term credit, as the term is ordinarily used, is credit granted со а business enterprise for а short period of time (usually а few months to one or two years) for the purpose of supplying the tem- porary commercial needs of the business. Short-term credit granted со an individual for personal use is called consumer credit.

Criminal libel Public defamatory communication causing breach of the peace or incitement to riot.

8. Currency. Technically, any form of money which serves as а circulating medium including both paper money and metallic money (coins). In banking terminology, however, the term generally refers to paper money only.

Cybernetics The study of how systems use communication for direction and control.

D-E

Defamation Any communication that holds a person up to contempt, hatred, ridicule, or scorn.

Delphi Model A technique for reaching consensus through mailed questionnaires.

Diffusion of information The way in which information spreads through a public.

Econometric Involving statistical measurement of the economy.

Economic education Widespread efforts to overcome economic illiteracy.

Economic illiteracy A lack of understanding on the part of individuals or the general public concerning economic concepts, relationships, and issues.

Ecosystem A system serving as an environment for several smaller systems.

Employee benefits Aspects of employee compensation, often including health and life insurance, vacation and sick leave, pension programs, and other valuable considerations.

Environmental monitoring Formal systems for observing trends and changes in public opinion that are used either once, periodically, or continuously.

Ethics Standards of conduct and morally.

Evaluation An examination of the effectiveness of a public relations effort.

Expert system A computer program that mimics a hu­man expert.

Export declaration A document required by the De­partment of Commerce that provides information about an export activity's nature and value.

F

Fair comment A defense against libel, the expression of opinion on matters of public interest.

Federal Trade Commission (FTC) That federal government regulatory body charged with assuring fair dealing in relation to goods and services in terms of such things as truth and advertising.

Feedback Information received in response to actions or messages about those actions or messages.

Financial analysts Investment counselors, fund managers, and others whose function is to gather information about various companies, develop expectations of the companies’ performances, and make judgments about how securities markets will evaluate these factors.

Financial budget A detailed estimate of how much an organization expects to spend in a given period and where the money will come from.

Financial press Media outlets devoted to coverage of business and financial information.

Financial public relations The process of creating and maintaining investor confidence and building positive relationships with the financial community through the dissemination of corporate information.

First Amendment The initial section of the United States Bill of Rights that guarantees the freedoms of press, speech, assembly, and religion.

Flack (or flak) A derogatory term sometimes applied to describe public relations practitioners, primarily by reporters and editors.

Focus group A group of people representative of an organization’s various publics who are called together, usually only once, to give advance reaction to a plan.

Food and Drug Administration (FAD) A federal government regulatory agency dealing with the efficacy, labeling, packaging, and sale of food, drugs, and cosmetics.

Form 10-K, Form 10-Q, and Form 8-K Reports required by the securities and Exchange Commission from publicly traded companies.

Freedom of information Act (FOIA) A law passed in 1974 requiring disclosure of certain categories of government information.

Full-service leasing An equipment-leasing arrange­ment that includes a variety of services to support the leased equipment; a common method for leasing mo­tor carrier tractors.

G

Gantt chart A graphic illustration of the time required to accomplish various jobs in a project.

Gatekeeper An individual who is positioned within a communication network so as to control the messages flowing through communication channels.

Grass roots lobbying Organizing local constituencies to influence government decision makers.

Gross weight The total weight of the vehicle and the payload of freight or passengers.

H-I

Hierarchy A proposition underlying systems theory, which maintains that systems are organized in a successively more inclusive and complex pattern and that to understand systems of behavior, several appropriate levels should be examined.

Inferential data Information that not only charactizes a particular group of situation, but also allows researches to draw conclusions about ether groups or situations.

Information system (I/S) Managing the flow of data in an organization in a systematic, structured way to assist in planning, implementing, and controlling.

Interdependence A proposition underlying systems theory, which maintains that elements of systems cannot act unilaterally and that all elements of a system influence each other. Behavior is the product of systems, not individual system elements.

Interorganizational communication Structured communication among organizations liking them with their environments.

Interpersonal communication The exchange of messages between individuals through which needs, receptions, and values are shared and by which mutual meanings and expectations are developed.

Intervening public People who may make it more difficult for an organization to reach those it is aiming to influence or gain approval from.

Intrusion Surreptitious recording or observing of other people’s private documents, profession, activities, or communications.

Invasion of privacy Four areas in which one entity may violate the privacy to another: appropriation, publication of private information, intrusion, or publication of false information.

Inventory The number of units and/or value of the stock of goods a company holds.

Investment conferences Meetings attended by investment professionals especially for the purpose of hearing company presentations.

Issue advertising (advocacy advertising) Advertising designed to communicate an organization’s stand on a particular issue seeking to generate support for that position.

Issues management The process of identifying issues that potentially impact organizations and managing organizational activities related to those issues.

K-L-M-N

Key contacts People who can either influence the publics an organization is trying to reach or who have direct power to help the organization.

Latent public People who are not aware of an existing problem.

Level of analysis In the systems approach, the magnitude of the system chosen for examination.

Liaisons Individuals who serve as linking pins connecting two or more groups within organizational communication networks. Sometimes referred to as internal boundary spanners.

Libel Published defamation.

Licensure A formal certification process that indicates a person measures up to a set of professional standards and qualifications.

Line organization A method of structuring organizations as a sequence of ascending levels of responsibility for the production of goods or services.

Link The transportation method a company uses to connect nodes (plants, warehouses) in a logistics system.

Lobbying The practice of trying to influence governmental decisions, usually done by agents who serve interest groups.

Malice A requirement of libel in cases involving public figures, knowledge of the facility of published material, or a reckless disregard for the truth.

Management-by-objectives (MBO) A process that specifies that supervisors and employees will jointly set goals for employees. Usually followed by a joint evaluation of the employee’s progress after a set period of time.

Marginal cost The cost to produce one additional unit of output; the change in total variable cost result­ing from a one-unit change in output.

Market dominance The absence of effective compe­tition for railroads from other carriers and modes for the traffic to which the rail rate applies. The Staggers Act stated that market dominance does not exist if the rate is below the revenue-to-variable-cost ratio of 160 percent in 1981 and 170 percent in 1983.

Mass opinion The consensus of the public at large.

Merger The combination of two or more carriers into one company that will own, manage, and operate the properties that previously operated separately.

Model A way of looking at something.

Moderating public Those people who could make it easier for an organization to get its message through to the public it really wants to reach.

Multinational company A company that both pro­duces and markets products in different countries.

Mutual expectations Shared similar responses to messages and events.

Nationalization Public ownership, financing, and op­eration of a business entity.

National Labor Relations Board (NLRB) The federal government regulatory body charged with overseeing union activities and union/management relations.

News conferences Structured opportunities to release news simultaneously to all media.

News release A story prepared for the media to share information and generate publicity.

Newsroom An area set aside to provide information, services, and amenities to journalists covering a story.

Not-for-profit organization A group of company whose primary purpose is not to make a profit, regardless of whether it actually does so in a given year.

O-P

Off-the-record An agreement with an interviewer not to print information provided.

Open-system evaluation An ongoing assessment of the effectiveness of public relations actions considering the impact of uncontrolled elements.

Operating budget An estimate of the amount and costs of goods and services an organization expects to consume.

Opinion leaders People who are instrumental in influencing other people’s attitudes or actions.

Organizational climate The collective subjective perceptions held by an organization’s employees concerning organizational policies, structure, leadership, standards, values, and rules.

Organizational communication The exchange and interaction of informal and formal messages within networks or interdependent relationships.

Perception The process of making sense of incoming stimuli.

Perceptual screens Filters comprised of needs, values, attitudes, expectations, and experiences, through which individuals process messages to derive meaning.

Per diem A payment rate one railroad makes to use another's cars.

Personal computer (PC) An individual unit an oper­ator uses for creating and maintaining programs and files; can often access the mainframe simultaneously.

Personal discrimination Charging different rates to shippers with similar transportation characteristics, or, charging similar rates to shippers with differing trans­portation characteristics.

Physical distribution The movement and storage of finished goods from manufacturing plants to ware­houses to customers; used synonymously with business logistics.

Planned publicity Publicity that is the planned result of a conscious effort to attract attention to an issue, event, or organization.

Policy A type of standing plan that serves as a guide for decision making and usually is set by top management.

Political action committee (PAC) A group of people who raise or spend at least $ 1000 in connection with a federal election.

Pooling An agreement among carriers to share the freight to be hauled or to share profits. The Interstate Commerce Act outlawed pooling agreements, but the Civil Aeronautics Board has approved profit pooling agreements for air carriers during strikes.

Press agent One who uses information as a manipulative tool, employing whatever means are available to achieve desired public opinion and action.

Press kit A collection of publicity releases packaged to gain media attention.

Primary public The group of people an organization ultimately hopes to influence or gain approval form.

Primary research The gathering of information that is not already available.

Privilege A defense against libel; the allowance of what might otherwise be libelous because of the circumstances under which a statement was produced.

Procedure A type of standing plan that consists of standard instructions for performing common tasks. Procedures carry out an organization’s policies.

Production planning The decision-making area that determines when and where and in what quantity a manufacturer is to produce goods.

Productivity A measure of resource utilization effi­ciency defined as the sum of the outputs divided by the sum of the inputs.

Product liability The principle that companies are responsible for any damage or disease that might be caused by the use of their products. Companies are being held to increasingly stricter standards, sometimes losing lawsuits even though the harm the product caused, or was linked to, resulted from improper use.

Profit ratio The percentage of profit to sales—that is, profit divided by sales.

Program evaluation and review technique (PERT) A network representing a plan to accomplish a project showing the sequence, timing, and costs of the various tasks.

Propaganda of the deed Provocative actions designed solely to gain attention for ideas or grievances.

Proportional rate A rate lower than the regular rate for shipments that have prior or subsequent moves; used to overcome combination rates' competitive disadvantages.

Public A group of individuals tied together by a sense of common characteristics or responses.

Public affairs That aspect of public relations dealing with the political environment of organizations.

Public communication A multistep, multidirectional process in which messages are disseminated to a broad, and sometimes undifferentiated, audience through complex networks of active transmitters.

Public information / public affairs officers Public relations practitioners working for the United States government or other institutions using those titles.

Public opinion An attitudinal measure of the image a public holds concerning some person, object, or concept.

Public relations A management function that helps define an organization’s philosophy and direction by managing communication within a firm and with outside forces and by monitoring and helping a firm adapt to significant public opinion.

Public relations counselor One who informs both publics and organizations in the effort to create relationships of mutual benefit and support.

Public warehousing The storage of goods by a firm that offers storage service for a fee to the public.

Publicity Publication of news about an organization or person for which time or space was not purchased.

Publicity agent One who serves as a conduit of information from organizations to publics, using the information to promote understanding, sympathy, or patronage for the organization.

Purchasing The functions associated with buying the goods and services the firm requires.

Q-R

Qualitative research A method of delving audience opinion without relying on formal, rigorous, number-based research methods.

Readability study An assessment of the difficulty an audience should have reading and comprehending a passage.

Readership survey A study to determine the characteristics, preferences, and reading habits of an audience.

Reconsignment A carrier service that permits a ship- the shipment has reached its originally billed destina­tion and to still pay the through rate from origin to final destination.

Reengineering A fundamental rethinking and radical design of business processes to achieve dramatic im­provements in performance.

Regulation A proposition underlying systems theory which maintains that the behavior of systems is constrained and shaped by interaction with other systems.

Reparation A situation in which the ICC requires a railroad to repay users the difference between the rate the railroad charges and the maximum rate the ICC permits when the ICC finds a rate to be unreasonable or too high.

S-T

Sanctions Restrictions imposed on a member of a profession by an official body.

Scenario constructions A forecasting tool that explores likely consequences of alternative courses of action in a hypothetical, logical future situation.

Secondary research Gathering available information.

Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) The federal government regulatory body charged with overseeing the trade of stocks and bonds and the operations of financial markets.

Single-use plans Plans developed for use in one specific situation.

Slander Oral defamation.

Spontaneous publicity Publicity accompanying unplanned events.

Staff Organizational personnel employed to provide support and advice to line management.

Stakeholder analysis A method for characterizing publics according to their interest in an issue.

Standing plans Plans for dealing with certain types of situations, particularly common situations and emergences.

Statistical process control(SPC) A managerial con­trol technique that examines a process's inherent variability.

Statistical process control (SPC) A managerial con­trol technique that examines a process's inherent variability.

Strategic planning Looking one to five years into the future and designing a logistical system (or systems) to meet the needs of the various businesses in which a company is involved.

Strategic plans Long-range plans concerning a group’s major goals and ways of carrying them out. These plans usually are made by top management.

Strategy A specific action to achieve an objective.

Subsystem A component of a system.

Synergy A proposition underlying systems theory which maintains that the whole is greater than the sum of its parts.

System A set of objects or events grouped together by sets of relationships.

System A set of interacting elements, variable, parts, or objects that are functionally related to each other and form a coherent group.

Sunshine Act A law requiring meetings of governmental boards, commissions, and agencies to be open to the public.

Tactical plans Short-range plans for accomplishing the steps that lead up to achieving an organization’s goals/ These plans are carried out at every level of an organization and on an everyday basis.

Tandem A truck that has two drive axles or a trailer that has two axles.

Target audience. The primary group an organization is trying to influence.

Tariff A publication that contains a carrier's rates, ac­cessorial charges, and rules.

Theory An explanation or belief about how something works.

Total quality management (TQM) A management ap­proach in which managers constantly communicate with organizational stakeholders to emphasize the im­portance of continuous quality improvement.

Trademark A legally protected name, logo, or design registered to restrict its use.

Transit privilege A carrier service that permits the shipper to stop the shipment in transit to perform a function that changes the commodity's physical char­acteristics, but to still pay the through rate.

Travel agent A firm that provides passenger travel in­formation; air, rail, and steamship ticketing; and hotel reservations. The carrier and hotel pay the travel agent a commission.

U-W

Uncontrolled media Those media whose actions are not under the public relations practitioner’s control, such as community newspapers and radio stations.

Universe A system providing the environment for ecosystems.

Whistle-blowing Insiders telling the media what they know about improper practices by others, usually in the same company, with the hope of improving the situation.