HR Competencies

Question 1

Accounts payable

Answer 1

Money an organization owes its vendors and

suppliers.

Question 2

Accounts receivable

Answer 2

Money an organization’s customers owe the

organization.

Question 3

Affinity diagramming

Answer 3

Data-sorting technique in which a group
categorizes and subcategorizes data until
relationships are clearly drawn

Question 4

Assets

Answer 4

Financial, physical, and sometimes intangible

properties an organization owns

Question 5

Balance sheet

Answer 5

Statement of an organization’s financial position
at a specific point in time, showing assets,
liabilities, and shareholder equity

Question 6

Bribery

Answer 6

Exchange of anything of value to gain greater

influence or preference.

Question 7

Business case

Answer 7

Presentation to management that establishes
that a specific problem exists and argues for a
proposed solution.

Question 8

Business intelligence

Answer 8

Ability to use information to gain a deeper
understanding of an organization and make
sound business decisions.

Question 9

Cash flow statement

Answer 9

Statement of an organization’s ability to meet its
current and short-term obligations, showing
incoming and outgoing cash and cash reserves
in operations, investments, and financing.

Question 10

Civil law

Answer 10

Legal system based on written codes (laws,

rules, or regulations)

Question 11

Code of conduct

Answer 11

Principles that guide decision making and

behavior in an organization.

Question 12

Common law

Answer 12

Legal system in which each case is considered
in terms of how it relates to legal decisions that
have already been made; evolves through
judicial decisions over time.

Question 13

Confidentiality

Answer 13

Treatment of personal information that has been

disclosed to another person or organization.

Question 14

Cultural intelligence

Answer 14

Capacity to recognize, interpret, and
behaviorally adapt to multicultural situations and
contexts.

Question 15

Culture

Answer 15

Basic beliefs, attitudes, values, behaviors, and
customs shared and followed by members of a
group, which give rise to the group’s sense of
identity.

Question 16

Delphi technique

Answer 16

Technique that progressively collects
information from a group of anonymous
respondents.

Question 17

Due process

Answer 17

Concept that laws are enforced only through

accepted, codified procedures.

Question 18

Emotional intelligence (EI)

Answer 18

Ability to be sensitive to and understand one’s

own and others’ emotions and impulses

Question 19

Equity

Answer 19

Amount of owners’ or shareholders’ portion of a

business.

Question 20

Extraterritoriality

Answer 20

Extension of the power of a country’s laws over
its citizens outside that country’s sovereign
national boundaries.

Question 21

Focus group

Answer 21

Small group of invited persons (typically six to
twelve) who actively participate in a structured
discussion, led by a facilitator, for the purpose
of eliciting their input.

Question 22

Global mindset

Answer 22

Ability to take an international perspective,

inclusive of other cultures’ views.

Question 23

Gross profit margin

Answer 23

Ratio of gross profit to net sales.

Question 24

High-context cultures

Answer 24

Societies or groups characterized by complex,
usually long-standing networks of relationships;
members share a rich history of common
experience, so the way they interact and
interpret events is often not apparent to
outsiders

Question 25

Income statement

Answer 25

Statement that reports revenues, expenses, and
profits for a specified period of time, for
example, quarterly or annually.

Question 26

Jurisdiction

Answer 26

Right of a legal body to exert authority over a
given geographical territory, subject matter, or
persons or institutions.

Question 27

Liabilities

Answer 27

Organization’s debts and other financial

obligations.

Question 28

Low-context cultures

Answer 28

Societies in which relationships have less
history; individuals know each other less well
and don’t share a common database of
experience, so communication must be very
explicit.

Question 29

Mean

Answer 29

Average score or value.

Question 30

Median

Answer 30

Middle value in a range of values

Question 31

Mind mapping

Answer 31

Data-sorting technique in which group members
add related ideas and indicate logical
connections, eventually grouping similar ideas.

Question 32

Mode

Answer 32

Value that occurs most frequently in a set of

data

Question 33

Motivation

Answer 33

Factors that initiate, direct, and sustain human

behavior over time.

Question 34

Negotiation

Answer 34

Process by which two or more parties work

together to reach agreement on a matter.

Question 35

Net profit margin

Answer 35

Ratio of net income (gross sales minus

expenses and taxes) to net sales.

Question 36

Networking

Answer 36

Process of developing mutually beneficial

contacts through the exchange of information.

Question 37

Nominal group technique

NGT

Answer 37

Technique in which participants each suggest
ideas through a series of rounds and then
discuss the items, eliminate redundancies and
irrelevancies, and agree on the importance of
the remaining items.

Question 38

Online analytical

processing (OLAP)

Answer 38

Processing applications that store data in a
multidimensional “cube,” which enables users to
analyze data quickly in a variety of different
ways.

Question 39

Ratio analysis

Answer 39

Comparing the sizes of two variables to produce
an index or percentage; commonly used to
analyze financial statements.

Question 40

Regression analysis

Answer 40

Statistical method used to predict a variable

from one or more predictor variables.

Question 41

Reliability

Answer 41

Extent to which a measurement instrument

provides consistent results.

Question 42

Root-cause analysis

Answer 42

Type of analysis that starts with a result and
then works backward to identify fundamental
cause.

Question 43

Rule of law

Answer 43

Concept that stipulates that no individual is
beyond the reach of the law and that authority is
exercised only in accordance with written and
publicly disclosed laws.

Question 44

Scenario/what-if analysis

Answer 44

Statistical method used to test the possible
effects of altering the details of a strategy to see
if the likely outcome can be improved.

Question 45

Social intelligence

Answer 45

Ability to create connections or rapport with

others.

Question 46

Stakeholder concept

Answer 46

Concept that proposes that any organization
operates within a complex environment in which
it affects and is affected by a variety of forces or
stakeholders who all share in the value of the
organization and its activities.

Question 47

Transparency

Answer 47

Extent to which an organization’s agreements,
dealings, information, practices, and
transactions are open to disclosure and review
by relevant persons

Question 48

Trend analysis

Answer 48

Statistical method that examines data from
different points in time to determine if a variance
is an isolated event or if it is part of a longer
trend.

Question 49

Unweighted mean

Answer 49

Raw average of data that gives equal weight to

all values, with no regard for other factors.

Question 50

Validity

Answer 50

Extent to which a measurement instrument

measures what it is intended to measure.

Question 51

Value

Answer 51

The benefit created when an organization
meets its strategic goals; measure of
usefulness, worth, or importance.

Question 52

Value chain

Answer 52

The process by which an organization creates

the product or service it offers to the customer

Question 53

Variance analysis

Answer 53

Statistical method for identifying the degree of
difference between planned and actual
performance or outcomes.

Question 54

Weighted mean

Answer 54

Average of data that adds factors to reflect the

importance of different values