Human Resources Organizations Key Terms

Learn the key terms describing essential components of human resources organizations' policies

By Michele Vrouvas

Gone are the days when a payroll clerk could double as your company's HR point man. Today's human resources departments are made up of seasoned professionals performing the sometimes disconnected functions of hiring employees, responding to questions about payroll and benefits, and finding the next wave of effective company leaders. Keeping pace with this ever-changing and highly diversified field gets easier when you become fluent with the following key terms:

Ethics and sustainability

Ethics and sustainability refer to a distinct field within the human resources discipline. They focus on an individual's or organization's conduct in the area of business decision-making.
Try: Get an introduction to this emerging HR field at the Society for Human Resource Management. In particular, you'll learn about codes of ethics and real challenges to them.

Recruitment outsourcing

Recruitment outsourcing happens when you contract with outside HR agencies to hire new employees.
Try: Recruitment Enhancement Services takes you through the components of a typical recruitment outsourcing program, such as the people involved, the process of implementing and launching the project, the communication tools and technology that are necessary and, finally, the solutions.

Effective hiring

Effective hiring allows businesses to identify, recruit and hire the most talented individuals and to know how to place them in jobs where they will realize their full potential.
Try: HR Village reiterates how crucial a skill effective hiring is to any human resources professional. The focus is on recruiting the most productive employees, commonly referred to as "high performers."

Management development

When human resources professionals talk about management development, they are referring to an individual's capacity to manage companies, employees and projects.
Try: Management Help targets the skills necessary for effective management development, taking the subject to the next level in more detailed discussions of supervisorial development and leadership development.

Project management

Project management is based on the theory that effective management of employees follows naturally after effective management of individual projects.
Try: Vault offers tips on successful project management for human resources organizations. Find out what specific questions you should be asking, how to set project management steps, define goals and establish checkpoints.

High-motivation human resource program

A high-motivation human resource program refers to a planned strategy designed to help employees perform their best when they are encouraged, rather than forced, to do so.
Try: Evan Carmichael spells out the eight basic elements of a high-motivation human resource program, defining each element in terms of staff responsibilities and overall benefits to management. You’ll also find out how to communicate the goals of the program to your employees.