Wikipedia: “Human resources are the people who make up the workforce of an organization, business sector, or economy. [...] A human-resources department (HR department) of an organization performs human resource management, overseeing various aspects of employment, such as compliance with labour law and employment standards, administration of employee benefits, and some aspects of recruitment and dismissal.”
Where'd you ever get that crazy idea?
>But its true meaning, to execs/stakeholders/corporate persons, is "[the department which manages the] human resources".
Not exactly. The true meaning is "the department which works to exploit the human resources as much as possible".
(Your first meaning never occurred to me.)