An oxymoron is a rhetorical subject in which incongruous or contradictory terms are combined, as in a deafening silence and a mournful optimist.

What about the word Human Resources? Is this term incongruous or contradictory? The intended reason for this department in companies is to ensure that the conditions for all the other teams to succeed are in the company. Should it matter that the department often is in place only to protect the company, a nonperson, instead of employees who are persons?

What about the employees who are humans? Are they also resources? Resources often seem nonhuman, like stock or supply of money, materials, and other assets that a person or organization can draw on to function effectively. Some may feel the staff is a resource believing that the skills and abilities of the people are possessions of the company. This conflicts with the reality that those humans who possess these skills and abilities can leave the company when they want, which shows that the resource is just the commitment to use skills and abilities on behalf of the company.

The actual Human Resources would just consist of its employees' willingness to stay committed to the company. That reality puts at odds an HR department more concerned with protecting the company and, by doing so, lessoning the employees’ commitment.