DEFINITION OF TERMS

360-degree Feedback

A performance appraisal method involving evaluation input from multiple levels within the firm as well as external sources.

Achievement Testing

Assessments designed to measure an individual's knowledge, skills, or competencies in specific areas relevant to job performance.

Advanced Interviewing

A strategic approach to assess candidates beyond traditional interviews, gathering insights into skills, competencies, experiences, and potential contributions.

Alternation Ranking

A performance appraisal method where the assessor selects and ranks employees based on specific traits or criteria.

Applicant Personality Test

A test used to evaluate personality traits and predict how well an individual might fit into a role or organizational culture.

Appraisal Interview

A formal discussion between an employee and manager about performance, improvement areas, and growth opportunities.

Apprenticeship Training

A program combining on-the-job training with classroom instruction, typically used in skilled trades and professions.

Background Check

An investigation to verify a potential employee's background, including education, criminal records, and past work experience.

Behaviorally Anchored Rating Scale (BARS) Method

A performance appraisal method combining traditional rating scales with critical incident methods, describing performance levels in terms of specific job behaviors.

Benchmarking Jobs

Comparing job roles within or across organizations to determine relative value and pay structures for competitive compensation.

Bonuses

Additional monetary rewards given to employees based on individual, team, or organizational performance.

Buddy System

An onboarding process where a new hire is assigned a buddy to guide them through job aspects and workplace integration.

Candidates

Individuals seeking employment by submitting applications for specific job roles.

Campus Recruitment

An external recruitment source where educational institutions provide students with employment opportunities.

Career Development

A formal approach ensuring qualified individuals are available for organizational needs when required.

Case Studies

In-depth descriptions of organizational experiences used for training purposes to expose trainees to managerial scenarios.

Central Tendency Error

An appraisal error where employees are incorrectly rated near the average or middle of a scale.

Coaching (Understudy Method)

Training where a superior mentors a subordinate as an understudy (e.g., assistant to a manager).

Cognitive Ability Test

A test measuring a candidate's problem-solving and critical thinking abilities.

Compensation Manager

An HR role responsible for designing, implementing, and managing an organization's compensation and benefits programs.

Competency Model

A framework defining the skill and knowledge requirements for successful job performance.

Contingent Personnel

Individuals performing tasks for an organization without being permanent employees.

Corporate HR Teams

Centralized HR units managing strategy and policy across the organization.

Critical Incident Method

A performance appraisal method requiring written records of highly favorable or unfavorable employee actions.

Depth Interview

A semi-structured interview gathering detailed information about candidates' qualifications, experience, skills, and interests.

Direct Recruitment

Recruitment through notices about job vacancies posted directly by the organization.

Embedded HR Teams

HR units integrated into specific departments to provide tailored support.

Employee Benefits Program

Non-wage compensations provided to employees in addition to salaries (e.g., insurance, retirement plans).

Employee Development

The process of improving employees' existing skills and developing new ones to support organizational goals.

Employee Engagement

The level of commitment workers show toward their employer through loyalty and extra effort.

Employee Matrix

A structure grouping employees by functional expertise and project assignments simultaneously.

Employee Orientation

The process of introducing new hires to their jobs, coworkers, responsibilities, and workplace environment.

Employee Referrals

Hiring through references provided by current employees within the organization.

Employee Selection

The process of choosing individuals from a pool of applicants to fill job vacancies effectively.

Employee Testing

Assessing applicants or employees through tests evaluating skills, abilities, knowledge, or personality traits relevant to the job.

Employment Agencies

Firms assisting employers in finding suitable candidates for job openings from pre-screened pools.

Employment Exchanges

Government entities providing employers with details of job seekers for filling vacant positions.

Equal Employment Opportunity Commission (EEOC)

An organization enforcing federal laws prohibiting workplace discrimination based on race, gender, etc.

Essay Method

A performance appraisal method where the rater writes a narrative describing an employee's performance focusing on extreme behaviors.

Exit Interview

Interviews conducted with employees leaving the organization to understand their reasons for departure.

Forced Distribution Method

A performance appraisal method assigning employees into limited categories based on normal frequency distribution principles.

Formal Interview

An organized interview where candidates are informed about dates/times in advance with prepared questions from interviewers.

Group Interview

An interview format where multiple candidates are interviewed together as a group.

Halo Error

An error occurring when one positive trait influences overall employee ratings disproportionately high.

Human Capital

The economic value of a worker's experience and skills including education, training, health, etc.

HR Generalist

An HR professional handling daily core functions like recruitment, employee relations, compensation compliance under HR managers.

Human Resource Planning (HRP)

Continuous systematic planning ensuring optimum use-of-quality workforce aligned future workforce gaps

Human resource planning (HRP)

the continuous process of systematic planning to achieve optimum use of an organization's most valuable asset—quality employees. HR planning ensures the best fit between employees and jobs while avoiding manpower shortages or surpluses.

Human Resources Forecasting

The process of predicting how a company's staffing needs change with time so that it can remain prepared to operate successfully. HR forecasting ensures a company will have the right number of employees on staff.

Human Resources Management

Involves coordinating, managing, and allocating human capital, or employees, in ways that move an organization's goals forward. HRM focuses on investing in employees, ensuring their safety, and managing all aspects of staffing from hiring to compensation and development.

In-basket Exercises

The in-basket exercise is designed to assess a candidate's adaptive thinking, problem-solving, judgement, administrative abilities, planning, organizing, delegating, and integrative skills while dealing with memos, e-mails, requests, messages, handwritten notes, and other items while under pressure.

Individual Interview

In an individual interview, the interview takes place on a one to one basis. In this case, there will be a verbal and a visual interaction between two people, an interviewer and a candidate.

Induction

It is the process of receiving and welcoming of the employees, after they have been selected and providing them the required training needed to settle down adequately.

Informal Interview

Such interviews are conducted in an informal way, i.e., the interview will be stable without any written communication and can be arranged at any place.

Internal Recruiting

Refers to the process of identifying and filling job vacancies within an organization from its existing workforce. Instead of hiring external candidates, internal recruiting involves considering current employees for open positions, whether they are within the same department or elsewhere in the organization.

Interviews

Involve one-on-one or group discussions between a job analyst (interviewer) and employees, supervisors, or subject matter experts. During the interview, the analyst asks structured or semi-structured questions to gather information about job duties, skills required, work conditions, and other aspects relevant to job roles.

Internet Job Postings

Involves posting job openings on the organization's internal network or intranet. It is used to inform current employees about job opportunities within the company, encouraging internal mobility and career advancement.

Job Analysis

A procedure through which you determine the duties of the positions and the characteristics of the people to hire them.

Job Analyst

Conducts in-depth research about occupations and job descriptions. They focus on worker classification systems while studying the effects of industry and occupational trends upon worker relationships.

Job Compensation and Salary

Refers to the monetary and non-monetary benefits offered to employees in exchange for their work. It includes base salary, bonuses, incentives, benefits (like healthcare and retirement plans), and other perks that contribute to the overall compensation package.

Job Context

Refers to the broader environment or conditions in which a job is performed. It includes factors such as the physical work environment, organizational culture, relationships with coworkers and supervisors, tools and equipment used, and any other relevant contextual information.

Job Description

A written statement that outlines the duties, responsibilities, tasks, and requirements of a particular job. It typically includes information such as job title, job summary, essential functions, qualifications, and reporting relationships.

Job Enlargement

Expanding a job's scope by adding more tasks or responsibilities of a similar level of complexity. It aims to provide employees with a broader range of duties within their current role to enhance job satisfaction and skill development.

Job Enrichment

Redesigning jobs to incorporate higher levels of responsibility, autonomy, decision-making authority, and complexity. The goal of job enrichment is to enhance the intrinsic motivation and satisfaction of employees by providing opportunities for growth, challenge, and achievement within their current roles.

Job Instruction Training

A structured training method suitable for jobs with clear and logical sequences of steps. It involves breaking down tasks into smaller components, teaching each step sequentially, and ensuring the trainee can perform each task correctly before moving on to the next. This method is effective for quickly teaching specific job skills and procedures.

Job Posting

Refers to the practice of publishing and displaying advertisements of an open job to the employees.

Job Rotation

Involves moving employees through a variety of positions within an organization or department.

Job Specification

A statement that outlines the qualifications, skills, knowledge, abilities, and personal attributes required to perform a specific job effectively. It details the qualifications and characteristics that an ideal candidate should possess to succeed in the role.

Job Vacancy

An open position within an organization or company that requires a qualified individual to fill it.

Legal Hiring Practices

Legal hiring practices refer to the rules, regulations, and ethical standards that organizations must adhere to when recruiting and selecting employees. These practices are designed to ensure fairness, equality, and compliance with applicable laws throughout the hiring process.

Leniency

Giving undeserved high ratings to an employee.

Management Assessment Center

This is a structured evaluation method used to assess managerial potential or leadership qualities in individuals. It typically involves a series of simulations, exercises, and interviews designed to evaluate skills such as leadership, decision-making, communication, and problem-solving in a controlled setting.

Miniature Job Training

This refers to a training approach where employees are provided with condensed or abbreviated versions of job tasks or responsibilities to learn and practice. It allows individuals to gain practical experience and skills relevant to their roles in a controlled and manageable setting before performing the tasks independently or in a real work environment.

Outsourcing

The act of hiring an external firm to handle part or all of your human resource needs instead of relying on a dedicated internal HR department or employee.

Onboarding

The process of moving a new hire from applicant to employee status, ensuring that paperwork is done and orientation is completed.

Online Job Boards

Websites or platforms where employers can post job openings to reach a wide audience of potential candidates on the internet. Job seekers can search and apply for positions based on their skills and preferences.

Panel Interview

In this type of interview, three to five members of the selection committee will be asking questions to the candidates on various concepts.

Project Teams (Action Learning)

A temporary team, often consisting of people from different areas or functions, that works on real projects.

Ranking Method

A performance appraisal method in which the rater ranks all employees from a group in order of overall performance.

Rating Scales Method

A performance appraisal method that rates employees according to defined factors.

Rewards and Incentives

Rewards and incentives are mechanisms used by organizations to recognize, motivate, and reward employees for their contributions, efforts, achievements, and behaviors that align with organizational goals and values.

Recruiter

An HR professional responsible for finding and hiring qualified candidates.

Recruitment

Refers to the process of identifying, attracting, interviewing, selecting, hiring and onboarding employees. In other words, it involves everything from the identification of a staffing need to filling it.

Screening

The process of evaluating job applications, scanning resumes and selecting suitable candidates that match with the job description.

Sensitivity Training (T-groups)

A psychological technique in which intensive group discussion and interaction are used to increase individual awareness of self and others; it is practiced in a variety of forms under such names as T-group, encounter group, human relations, and group-dynamics training.

Skill Inventories

Structured databases or systems used by organizations to catalog and manage information about the skills, competencies, qualifications, and experiences of their employees. These inventories are valuable tools for human resources (HR) departments and organizational leaders to understand the capabilities of their workforce and make informed decisions related to talent management, workforce planning, training and development, and succession planning.

Stereotyping

Occurs when managers allow individual differences to affect the ratings they give. These differences are gender, race, or age.

Stress Interview

Conducted to ascertain how a candidate would react during the time of stress and cope up with problems. In this type of interview, the interviewer will come to know whether the candidate can deal in an effective manner with the demands and needs of a complicated job.

Strictness

Being unduly critical of an employee's work performance.

Structured Interview

In this type, the interview is planned, designed and detailed in advance. A structured interview is pre-planned, precise, and reliable in hiring the candidates.

Talent Management Process

The goal-oriented and integrated process of planning, recruiting, developing, managing and compensating employees.

Talent Specialist

An HR professional who sources and screens candidates that best fit the company's future goals. Their duties include establishing hiring criteria, understanding recruiting needs and finding the right candidates.

Performance Appraisal

A systematic process used by organizations to assess and evaluate the job performance of employees. It involves gathering and analyzing information about employees' performance, accomplishments, strengths, weaknesses, and areas for improvement.

Performance Appraisal System

A performance appraisal system (also known as a performance management system) is a structured process used by organizations to assess and evaluate employees' job performance, contributions, and achievements within a specific period.

Performance Management

Refers to the continuous process of setting objectives, assessing progress, and providing feedback to employees to ensure that organizational goals are met effectively and efficiently.

Promotion

Refers to advancement of the employees by evaluating their job performance. It is the process of shifting an employee from a lower position to a higher position with more responsibilities, remuneration, facilities, and status.

Salary

Refers to the fixed amount of money paid to an employee for performing a job role over a specific period, typically on a monthly or annual basis.

Self- Appraisal

Self-appraisal is the process when an employee evaluates their performance. Employees are given a chance to examine their performance and determine their strengths and flaws during this process.

Staffing

The process of hiring eligible candidates in the organization or company for specific positions.

Situational Judgment Test (SJT)

This is a type of psychological test used in the assessment of candidates or employees. It presents hypothetical scenarios relevant to the job and asks respondents to choose the most appropriate action or decision from a set of options. SJTs assess judgment, problem-solving abilities, and decision-making skills in specific contexts.