Fundamentals of Human Resources Management – Key Vocabulary

Human Resources (HR)

All the people who work for an organization and contribute their skills, effort, and time.

Human Resources Management (HRM)

The set of policies and practices used to recruit, develop, reward and retain an organization’s employees.

Strategic HRM

Aligning HR policies and practices with the long-term goals and strategy of the organization.

Recruitment

The process of finding and attracting qualified candidates to apply for job vacancies.

Selection

Choosing the best candidate from a pool of applicants to fill a specific position.

Training and Development

Planned activities that build employees’ knowledge, skills and abilities for current and future roles.

Compensation and Benefits

All forms of pay, rewards and perks provided to employees in exchange for their work.

Performance Management

Ongoing process of setting goals, providing feedback and evaluating employee performance.

Career Planning

HR activities that help employees map and achieve long-term professional goals.

Employee Relations

Efforts to maintain positive employer-employee relationships and resolve workplace issues.

Motivation and Engagement

Practices aimed at encouraging employees’ commitment, enthusiasm and discretionary effort.

Health and Safety

Policies and procedures that protect employees’ physical and mental well-being at work.

Human Resource Planning (HRP)

Forecasting an organization’s future human-resource demand and supply and creating action plans to match them.

Job Analysis

Systematic process of collecting information about the tasks, duties, and requirements of a job.

Job Description

Written summary outlining a job’s main duties, responsibilities, and working conditions.

Job Specification

Document detailing the knowledge, skills, abilities, and personal characteristics needed to perform a job.

Job Design

Deciding how a job should be structured, what tasks it includes, and how it fits organizational goals.

Job Enlargement

Expanding a job by adding tasks of similar difficulty to provide variety.

Job Enrichment

Redesigning a job to give the holder more autonomy, responsibility, and decision-making authority.

Job Rotation

Planned movement of employees between jobs to broaden skills and reduce monotony.

Job Simplification

Breaking complex work into smaller, repetitive tasks to increase efficiency.

Work Design / Team-Based Design

Structuring work around self-managed teams responsible for complete tasks or projects.

HR Information System (HRIS)

Software that stores, processes, and reports employee data to support HR activities.

Cost Perspective (HRM)

Viewing employees primarily as an expense to be minimized.

Asset Perspective (HRM)

Seeing employees as valuable investments that generate returns for the firm.

Human Capital Perspective

Emphasizing employees’ knowledge, skills, and abilities as key forms of organizational capital.

Resource-Based View (RBV)

Theory that unique, valuable and hard-to-imitate human resources create competitive advantage.

Operational HRM

Day-to-day administrative HR tasks such as payroll, record keeping, and issue resolution.

Strategic HRM (Dimension)

Long-term, forward-looking HR focus on talent pipelines, culture and organizational capability.

Hard HRM

Approach stressing control, efficiency, and treating labour primarily as a resource cost.

Soft HRM

Approach emphasizing employee commitment, engagement and development.

Individual Focus (HRM)

HR practices tailored to specific employees’ needs and careers.

Organizational Focus (HRM)

HR practices designed for the workforce as a whole, such as company-wide pay structures.

Administrative Expert

HR role that ensures efficient delivery of basic services like payroll and benefits.

Employee Champion

HR role that advocates for employees’ interests, well-being and fair treatment.

Change Agent

HR role that guides people through organizational change and builds adaptability.

Strategic Partner

HR role that contributes to business planning and aligns talent strategy with objectives.

Applicant Tracking System (ATS)

Software that streamlines receiving, sorting and tracking job applications.

Employer Branding

Company’s reputation and image as an employer in the labour market.

Internal Recruitment

Filling vacancies with current employees through promotion or transfer.

External Recruitment

Sourcing candidates from outside the organization to fill positions.

Interview (Selection)

Face-to-face, phone, or video conversation used to assess candidates’ suitability.

Structured Interview

Interview using a standardized set of questions asked of every candidate.

Behavioural Interview

Interview style asking candidates to describe past actions that predict future performance.

Biodata

Factual biographical and work-history information gathered during application.

Group Exercise

Selection activity where multiple candidates work together on a task to reveal teamwork skills.

In-Tray Exercise

Simulation where candidates prioritize and respond to a stack of work memos in limited time.

Presentation (Selection)

Candidate prepares and delivers a talk to assess communication and analytical abilities.

Repertory Grid

Psychological technique revealing how a candidate categorizes job-related concepts.

Personality Assessment

Standardized test measuring traits such as conscientiousness or emotional stability.

Assessment Centre

Multi-exercise, multi-rater selection process providing a comprehensive view of candidate ability.

Halo Effect

Bias where one positive trait causes an evaluator to rate all traits highly.

Horns Effect

Bias where one negative trait leads to uniformly poor ratings.

Recency Bias

Over-weighting recent events when evaluating overall performance.

Central Tendency

Rating error where an assessor marks most employees as average to avoid extremes.

Strictness / Leniency

Consistently rating employees too harshly or too generously regardless of actual performance.

Contrast Effect

Judging a candidate relative to a previously evaluated person rather than against criteria.

Stereotyping

Generalizing characteristics of a group to an individual during evaluation.

Placement

Assigning a new hire to the position that best matches their skills and the organization’s needs.

Orientation (Induction)

Systematic introduction of a new employee to the organization, culture and job duties.

Training Needs Assessment (TNA)

Process of identifying the gap between current and required employee competencies.

Organizational Analysis (TNA)

Assessing company-wide factors to decide if training supports strategic goals.

Task Analysis

Examining a job’s duties to identify specific skills or knowledge required.

Individual Analysis

Determining which employees need training and what each needs to learn.

On-the-Job Training (OJT)

Learning job tasks at the actual work site under real conditions.

Coaching

One-to-one guidance by a supervisor to improve specific job skills.

Mentoring

Long-term relationship where a senior employee advises and supports a junior colleague.

Apprenticeship

Structured program combining job experience with classroom instruction for skilled trades.

Job Rotation (Training)

Planned movement through different jobs to broaden experience and develop versatility.

Simulation / Vestibule Training

Practice in a replica of the work environment without real-world risks.

E-Learning

Training delivered via online courses, videos, or virtual classrooms.

Off-the-Job Training

Learning that occurs away from the normal work environment.

Management Development

Programs aimed at enhancing managers’ leadership, decision-making and strategic skills.

Training Manual

Written guide that supports instruction and serves as a post-training reference.

Kirkpatrick Level 1 – Reaction

Evaluation measuring participants’ immediate feelings about a training program.

Kirkpatrick Level 2 – Learning

Evaluation measuring how much knowledge or skill participants gained.

Kirkpatrick Level 3 – Behavior

Evaluation assessing whether trainees apply new skills on the job.

Kirkpatrick Level 4 – Results

Evaluation determining the training’s impact on organizational performance metrics.

Skills Inventory

Database detailing current employees’ qualifications and competencies.

Replacement Chart

Visual tool showing potential successors for key positions and their readiness.

Markov Analysis

Statistical technique predicting internal labour supply based on historical movement patterns.

Succession Planning

Systematic process of identifying and developing employees to fill future leadership roles.

Trend Analysis (HR Forecasting)

Projecting future HR demand by extending historical employment patterns.

Ratio Analysis