Dictionary of Human Resources
and Personnel Management
O & M 180 obsolete
O
O & M abbr organisation and methods OAP abbr old age pensioner
object /əb_d"ekt/ verb to refuse to do something or to say that you do not ac-cept something (NOTE: you object to
something)
objection /əb_d"ekʃən/ noun to raise an objection to something to ob-ject to something The union delegates raised an objection to the wording of the agreement.
objective /əb_d"ekt v / noun some-thing which you hope to achieve The company has achieved its objectives. We set the sales forces specific objec-tives. Our recruitment objectives are to have well-qualified and well-placed staff. long-term or short-term objec-tive an aim which you hope to achieve within a few years or a few months to achieve one’s objectives to do what you set out to do The company has achieved almost all its objectives. ad-jective considered from a general point of view rather than from that of the per-son involved You must be objective in assessing the performance of the staff. They have been asked to carry out an objective survey of the market. (NOTE:
the opposite is subjective)
objective setting /əb_d"ekt v set ŋ/ noun the process of planning tar-gets (e.g. for negotiations). manage-
ment by objectives
objective test /əbd"ekt v _test/ noun a test where each question has only one possible answer (NOTE: the op-
posite is subjective test)
obligation /ɒbl _ e ʃ(ə)n/ noun a duty to do something There is no obli-gation to help out in another department
to be under an obligation to do
something to feel it is your duty to do something
obligatory /ə_bl ət(ə)ri/ adjective necessary according to the law or rules
Each member of the sales staff has to pass an obligatory medical examination.
observance /əb_z__v(ə)ns/ noun do-ing what is required by a law The company’s observance of the law con-cerning discrimination.
observation /ɒbzə_ve ʃ(ə)n/ noun the act of noticing what is happening
observational method /ɒbzə-
ve ʃ(ə)n(ə)l _meθəd/ noun a way of evaluating the performance of employ-ees, by watching them work and observ-ing their conduct with others
observe /əb_z__v/ verb 1. to obey a rule or law Failure to observe the cor-rect procedure will be punished. Res-taurants are obliged to observe the local fire regulations. 2. to watch or to notice what is happening Officials have been instructed to observe the conduct of the ballot for union president.
observer /əb_z__və / noun a person who observes Two official observers attended the election meeting.
obsolescence /ɒbsə_les(ə)ns/ noun the process of a product going out of date because of progress in design or technology, and therefore becoming less useful or valuable
obsolescent /ɒbsə_les(ə)nt/ adjec-tive becoming out of date
obsolete /_ɒbsəli_t/ adjective no lon-ger used Computer technology changes so fast that hardware soon be-comes obsolete.
COMMENT: A product or asset may be-come obsolete because it is worn out, or
obstacle / 181 / odd jobsbecause new products have been devel- / occupational / illness
oped to replace it. / /ɒkjυpe ʃ(ə)nəl _ lnəs/ noun an illness
obstacle /_ɒbstək(ə)l/ noun some- / associated with a particular job (NOTE:
thing which prevents you from doing / Occupational / illnesses include lung
something / disease, which can affect miners, re-
obstruct /əb_str$kt/ verb to get in the / petitive strain injury, which can affect
keyboard users, and asbestosis, which
way or to stop something progressing
is caused by working with asbestos.)
occupation /ɒkjυ_pe ʃ(ə)n/ noun 1.
occupational / injury
the act of living or staying in a place 2. a
/ɒkjυpe ʃ(ə)nəl _ nd"əri/ noun an in-
job or type of work What is her occu-
jury which is caused by a certain type of
pation? His main occupation is house
work
building.It is not a well paid
occupational / mobility
occupation.
‘…the share of white-collar occupations in total / /ɒkjυpe ʃ(ə)nəl məυ_b l ti/ noun the
employment rose from 44 per cent to 49 per / extent to which people can move from
cent’ [Sydney Morning Herald] / one type of occupation to another Oc-
occupational /ɒkjυ_pe ʃ(ə)nəl/ ad- / cupational mobility is increasing be-
jective referring to a job / cause of rising unemployment in some
occupational / accident / areas.
/ɒkjυpe ʃ(ə)nəl __ks d(ə)nt/ noun an / Occupational / Pensions / Board
accident which takes place at work / /ɒkjυpe ʃ(ə)nəl _penʃənz bɔ_d/ noun
occupational / association /ɒkjυ- / a government / body set up to / oversee
and / validate / occupational / pension
pe ʃ(ə)nəl / əsəυsi_e ʃ(ə)n/ / noun / an
schemes. Abbr OPB
organisation / which represents people
occupational / pension / scheme
doing a certain type of work and de-
fends their interests / /ɒkjυpe ʃ(ə)nəl _penʃən ski_m/ noun
occupational / deafness / pension scheme where the worker gets a
pension from a fund set up by the com-
/ɒkjυpe ʃ(ə)nəl _defnəs/ noun deaf-
pany he or she has worked for, which is
ness caused / by / noise at work (as / by
related to the salary he or she was earn-
someone using a pneumatic drill)
ing (NOTE: also called company pen-
occupational / disease / /ɒkjυ-
sion scheme)
_pe ʃ(ə)nəl / d zi_z/ noun / a disease / occupational / psychology
which affects people in certain jobs
/ɒkjυpe ʃ(ə)nəl sa _kɒləd"i/ noun the
occupational / family
study of the behaviour of people at work
/ɒkjυpe ʃ(ə)nəl / _f_m(ə)li/ / noun / a
occupational / sick / pay
group of jobs having the same personnel
/ɒkjυpe ʃ(ə)nəl _s k pe / noun extra
requirements For jobs in certain oc-
cupational / families, finding / qualified / payments / made / by an employer to / a
member of staff who is sick, above the
staff is going to be difficult.
statutory sick pay. Abbr OSP
occupational / group
occupational / therapy
/ɒkjυpe ʃ(ə)nəl _ ru_p/ noun a cate-
/ɒkjυpe ʃ(ə)nəl _θerəpi/ noun light
gory of job or profession
occupational / hazard / work / or / hobbies / used as / a / means / of
treatment / for / an / illness, / condition / or
/ɒkjυpe ʃ(ə)nəl _h_zəd/ noun a dan-
disability
ger which applies to certain jobs
occupy /_ɒkjυpa / verb to occupy a
Heart attacks are one of the occupa-
tional hazards of directors. / post to be employed in a job
occupational / health / odd-job-man /ɒd _d"ɒb m_n/ noun
/ɒkjυpe ʃ(ə)nəl _helθ/, occupational / a person who does various pieces of
hygiene /ɒkjυpe ʃ(ə)nəl _ha d"i_n/ / work
noun a branch of medicine dealing with / odd jobs /ɒd _d"ɒbz/ plural noun
the health of people at work (NOTE: also / small pieces of work, not connected to
called industrial health) / each other and paid for individually
odd number 182 official
We have a number of odd jobs needing doing, but nothing adding up to full-time employment.
odd number /ɒd _n$mbə/ noun a number which cannot be divided by two, e.g. 17 or 33 Buildings with odd numbers are on the south side of the street
off /ɒf/ adverb not working or not in operation The agreement is off. They called the strike off. It’s my day off tomorrow. to take three days off We give the staff four days off at Christ-mas. preposition away from work to take time off work
offence /ə_fens/ noun a crime or act which is against the law to be charged with an offence to be accused formally of having committed a crime
The manager was charged with three serious offences. to commit an of-fence to carry out a crime (NOTE: the
usual US spelling is offense)
offender /ə_fendə/ noun a person who breaks a law or regulation When we investigated who was making private calls during the working hours, the worst offender was the human resources manager.
offer /_ɒfə/ noun a statement that you are willing to give or do something, es-pecially to pay a specific amount of money to buy something to make an offer for a company We made an offer of £10 a share. £1,000 is the best offer I can make. to make someone an of-fer to propose something to someone
The management made the union an im-proved offer. to make someone an of-fer they can’t refuse to make an offer to someone which is so attractive that they cannot turn it down to accept or take up an offer to say ‘yes’ or to agree to an offer to turn down an offer to refuse something which has been of-fered verb to say that you are willing to do something to offer someone a job to tell someone that they can have a job in your company She was offered a directorship with Smith Ltd. offer of employment, offer of a job a letter from an employer saying that someone can have a job with them
office /_ɒf s/ noun 1. a set of rooms where a company works or where busi-ness is done 2. a room where someone works and does business Come into my office. The human resources man-ager’s office is on the third floor. 3. a post or position She holds or performs the office of treasurer to take office to start to work in a certain position
office-bearer /_ɒf s beərə/ noun a person who holds an office, especially on a union council
office block /_ɒf s blɒk/ noun a building which contains only offices
office boy /_ɒf s bɔ / noun a young man who works in an office, usually taking messages from one department to another He worked his way up from office boy to general manager in ten years.
office-free /ɒf s _fri_/ adjective refer-ring to an employee whose job does not require them to work in an office
office hours /_ɒf s aυəz/ plural noun the time when an office is open Do not make private phone calls during of-fice hours.
office job /_ɒf s d"ɒb/ noun a job in an office
office junior /ɒf s _d"u_niə/ noun a young man or woman who does all types of work in an office
Office of Fair Trading /ɒf s əv feə _tre d ŋ/ noun a government depart-ment which protects consumers against unfair or illegal business. Abbr OFT
officer /_ɒf sə/ noun 1. a person who has an official position, especially an unpaid one in a club or other association
The election of officers takes place next week. 2. someone holding an offi-cial position, usually unpaid, of a club or society, etc. the election of officers of the association takes place next week
office staff /_ɒf s stɑ_f/ noun people who work in offices
office work /_ɒf s w__k/ noun work done in an office
office worker /_ɒf s w__kə/ noun a person who works in an office
official /ə_f ʃ(ə)l/ adjective 1. from a government department or organisation
official dispute 183 on
She went to France on official busi-ness. He left official documents in his car. She received an official letter of explanation. speaking in an official capacity speaking officially to go through official channels to deal with officials, especially when making a re-quest 2. done or approved by a director or by a person in authority This must be an official order – it is written on the company’s headed paper. This is the union’s official policy. noun a person working in a government department
Government officials stopped the import licence. minor official person in a low position in a government depart-ment Some minor official tried to stop my request for building permission.
official dispute /əf ʃ(ə)l d _spju_t/ noun an industrial action approved by a trade union
officialese /əf ʃə_li_z/ noun the lan-guage used in government documents which can be difficult to understand
officially /ə_f ʃ(ə)li/ adverb according to what is said in public Officially he knows nothing about the problem, but unofficially he has given us a lot of ad-vice about it.
official mediator /əf ʃ(ə)l _mi_die tə/ noun a government official who tries to make the two sides in an in-dustrial dispute agree
official receiver /əf ʃ(ə)l r _si_və/ noun a government official who is ap-pointed to run a company which is in fi-nancial difficulties, to pay off its debts as far as possible and to close it down
The company is in the hands of the offical receiver.
off the books /ɒf ðə _bυks/ adjec-tive US not declared to the tax authori-ties Some of the staff are paid off the books.
off-the-job training /ɒf ðə d"ɒb _tre n ŋ/ noun training given to em-ployees away from their place of work (such as at a college or school)
off-topic /ɒf _tɒp k/ noun irrelevant or off the subject
old /əυld/ adjective having existed for a long time The company is 125 years old next year. We have decided to get
rid of our old computer system and in-stall a new one.
old age /əυld _e d"/ noun a period when a person is old
old age pensioner /əυld e d" _penʃ(ə)nə/ noun a person who receives
the retirement pension. Abbr OAP
old boy network /_əυld bɔ netw__k/ noun the practice of using long-standing key contacts to appoint people to jobs or to get a job or to do business. networking
older worker /əυldə _w__kə/ noun an employee who is above a particular age, usually the age of 50
old-fashioned /əυld _f_ʃ(ə)nd/ ad-jective out of date or not modern He still uses an old-fashioned typewriter.
ombudsman /_ɒmbυdzmən/ noun 1. a management employee who is given the freedom to move around the work-place to locate and remedy unfair prac-tices (NOTE: plural is ombudsmen) 2. an official who investigates complaints by the public against government de-partments or other large organisations