Expanded 12-Unit Human Resource Management Study Pack

Vocabulary practice flashcards covering core definitions, frameworks, and distinguishing concepts across all 12 units of the Human Resource Management Expanded Study Pack.

Human Resource Management (HRM)

The policies, practices and systems that influence employee behaviour, attitudes and performance while helping the organisation achieve its objectives.

Strategic HRM

The alignment of HR policies and practices with the organisation’s strategy and future capability needs.

Best Practice (HRM)

The view that some high-quality HR practices can improve performance across many organisations.

Best Fit (HRM)

The view that HR practices should be tailored to the organisation’s strategy, workforce and environment.

Vertical Alignment

The strategic alignment where HR policies and practices directly support the broader business strategy.

Horizontal Alignment

The internal alignment where recruitment, development, reward, and other HR practices reinforce one another.

Operational HR

The administrative and day-to-day management of HR tasks, such as payroll and records, rather than long-term workforce capability building.

People Management

The broader day-to-day management of employees, contrasted with formal HRM systems and policies.

Human Resource Planning

The process of analysing organisational goals and the internal and external environment to determine future workforce requirements.

Talent Management

The coordinated attraction, development, deployment and retention of employees whose capabilities are important to organisational success.

Succession Planning

Identifying critical roles and developing people who may fill them in the future to build a longer-term pipeline.

Replacement Planning

The short-term practice of naming an immediate backup for a role, in contrast to developing a long-term succession pipeline.

Workforce Gap

The difference between future workforce demand and the expected supply of people or skills.

Demand Forecasting

Assessing what future roles, numbers, and capabilities the organisation will require.

Supply Analysis

Determining what people and capabilities will be available internally and externally to the organisation.

Job Analysis

A systematic process for identifying a job’s tasks, responsibilities, authority, conditions and required capabilities.

Job Description

A document describing the job’s purpose, duties, responsibilities, relationships and conditions.

Person Specification

A statement of the knowledge, skills, abilities, qualifications and experience required from the job holder.

Job Design

The organisation of tasks, responsibilities and relationships within a role.

Skill Variety

A core job dimension involving the use of different capabilities and skills in performing work.

Task Identity

A core job dimension involving the completion of a whole, identifiable piece of work.

Task Significance

A core job dimension defined by the substantial impact a job has on the lives or work of other people.

Autonomy (Job Characteristics Model)

The degree of freedom, independence, and discretion an employee has over work scheduling and methods.

Feedback (Job Characteristics Model)

The provision of direct, clear information about the effectiveness of work performance and results.

Human Resource Development (HRD)

The organisation’s coordinated effort to build the skills, knowledge and competencies needed by employees and the organisation.

Training

Planned learning focused mainly on skills and performance required in the current role.

Development

Broader, future-focused learning that prepares employees for greater or different responsibilities.

Organisational Learning

Processes through which knowledge is created, shared, retained and applied across the organisation.

Explicit Knowledge

Knowledge that can be formally articulated, documented in procedures, manuals, and systems.

Tacit Knowledge

Experience-based know-how that is personal, context-specific, and difficult to fully document.

Recruitment

The process of identifying, attracting and encouraging qualified people to apply for employment.

Selection

The process of assessing applicants and choosing the candidate who best satisfies established criteria.

Person–Job Fit

The alignment between a person’s knowledge, skills and abilities and the demands and tasks of the job.

Person–Organisation Fit

The alignment between an individual’s values and the organisation’s culture, mission, and values.

Selection Validity

The degree to which a selection assessment tool measures what it claims to measure and predicts relevant future job performance.

Selection Reliability

The consistency and repeatability of results produced by a selection tool or method.

Halo Effect

A cognitive bias in selection where an assessor allows one positive feature or perception of a candidate to spill over and unduly influence the overall rating.

Similarity Bias

A selection bias in which an interviewer unconsciously shows preference for an applicant who shares a similar background, values, or attributes.

Structured Interview

A selection process where all candidates receive the exact same job-related questions and are evaluated using a standardised scoring guide.

Onboarding

The process of clarifying role standards, facilitating social connection and cultural norms, and providing early resources so new employees can contribute effectively.

Employee Retention

Organisational strategies and conditions intended to prevent valuable employees from leaving the organisation.

Work Engagement

A positive, fulfilling work-related state characterised by vigour, dedication and absorption.

Vigour

An engagement dimension defined by high levels of energy, mental resilience, and persistence while working.

Dedication

An engagement dimension characterised by a strong sense of significance, enthusiasm, inspiration, pride, and meaningful challenge.

Absorption

An engagement dimension characterised by being fully concentrated, deeply engrossed, and happily immersed in work.

Stay Interview

A structured preventive discussion conducted with current employees to understand why they remain and what factors might drive them to leave.

Work Health and Safety (WHS)

The systems and legal/moral responsibilities used to protect workers from physical and psychological harm arising from work.

Safety Culture

Shared attitudes, values, norms and behaviours that shape how safety is understood and practised within an organisation.

Psychosocial Hazard

A work-related factor arising from work design, management, or social conditions—such as high workload, low control, or poor support—that may cause psychological or physical harm.

Workplace Bullying

Repeated unreasonable behaviour directed toward a worker or group at work that creates a risk to health and safety.

Reasonable Management Action

Legitimate managerial decisions and directions carried out in a reasonable and fair manner, which do not constitute workplace bullying.

Hazard vs Risk

A hazard is a potential source of harm, whereas a risk refers to the likelihood and consequence of harm occurring from exposure to that hazard.

Performance Management

A continuous process of identifying, measuring, developing and aligning employee and team performance with organisational goals.

Performance Appraisal

A periodic formal assessment of employee performance, serving as one specific component within a broader performance-management system.

Output Measures

Performance metrics evaluating what was achieved, such as volume, units produced, quality standards, or timeliness.

Behaviour Measures

Performance metrics evaluating how results were achieved, including collaboration, safety compliance, and customer interactions.

Evaluative Purpose (Performance Management)

The use of performance reviews to judge past contributions in order to inform decisions such as pay adjustments, promotions, or disciplinary actions.

Developmental Purpose (Performance Management)

The use of performance feedback to identify capability gaps, set learning objectives, and coach employees toward future improvement.

Strategic Remuneration

Reward practices designed to attract, reinforce, encourage and retain behaviour aligned with organisational objectives.

Workplace Diversity

Differences among people in a work unit, including demographic, experiential, cognitive and professional differences.

Inclusion

The extent to which employees are treated as valued group members while satisfying both their need for belongingness and their need for uniqueness.

Belongingness

The feeling and condition of being accepted, integrated, and treated as an insider within a work group.

Uniqueness (Inclusion)

The degree to which an individual's distinctive knowledge, background, and perspectives are accepted and valued by the organisation.

Psychological Safety

A shared belief that the workplace environment is safe for interpersonal risk-taking, allowing employees to speak up, share ideas, and challenge decisions without fear of humiliation or penalty.

Industrial Relations

The collective relationship among employers, employees, unions and government, including bargaining, labour law and dispute resolution.

Employment Relations

The broader individual and collective relationship between employers and employees, including contracts, HR policies, voice, engagement and wellbeing.

National Employment Standards (NES)

A set of statutory minimum employment entitlements forming part of Australia’s workplace-relations framework.

Wage Theft

Deliberate or systemic underpayment or non-payment of lawful employee entitlements.

Direct Voice

Mechanisms allowing employees to communicate individually or participate directly with management regarding ideas, concerns, and work practices.

Representative Voice

Collective representation of worker views and interests through third parties, such as trade unions or elected work councils.

International Human Resource Management (IHRM)

Managing people when an organisation operates across national borders and different legal, cultural and institutional environments.

Ethnocentric Staffing

An international staffing approach where key managerial and operational roles in foreign subsidiaries are filled primarily by parent/home-country nationals.

Polycentric Staffing

An international staffing policy where local subsidiaries are managed and staffed predominantly by host-country nationals.

Geocentric Staffing

An international staffing orientation that seeks the best talent globally for key roles regardless of nationality.

Regiocentric Staffing

An international staffing approach where managers are selected from and transferred within a specific geographic region.

Repatriation

The process of preparing for, returning, and reintegrating an international assignee and their family back to the home organisation and country.

HR Information System (HRIS)

A centralised technological system used to collect, store, manage and report workforce and HR-process information.

People Analytics

The use of workforce data and analysis to understand people-related problems and support HR decisions.

Evidence-Based HRM

Decision-making that integrates the best available research evidence, organisational context and data, professional expertise, and stakeholder considerations.

Predictive Analytics

Advanced analytics that uses statistical models and relationships in data to forecast what is likely to occur in the future.

Data Storytelling (HRM)

A structured communication framework consisting of Problem, Agitate, and Solve to present workforce analytics clearly and prompt targeted action.