ABSTRACT
Responsibilities of individuals employed in the Human Resources Department include hiring, firing, approving promotions, and arbitrating disputes between management and workers. The prior term for this function was the Personnel Department. However, many companies have deliberately chosen to change this name to a more impersonal one—Human Resources Department. This name change gives workers the message that they are considered an unfeeling resource, just like furniture, buildings, and typewriters, enforcing the notion that management considers employees just one of the many cogs in its business. The term commodity is most appropriate.
