Universities, banks, and hospitals are all institutions. Until you arrived at the bank, you'd forgotten that financial institutions were closed for the holiday. Thank goodness for the ATM! The noun institution also refers to a long held custom or practice in society. Even if your parents divorced when you were young, you might strongly believe in the institution of marriage. Or you might believe that once you enter the institution of marriage, your next stop will probably be a mental institution.
A consultant (from Latin: consultare to deliberate) is a professional who provides expert advice in a particular area such as security (electronic or physical), management, education, accountancy, law, human resources, marketing (and public relations), finance, engineering, science or any of many other specialized fields.
Related Terms. The process by which a manager or consultant (1) examines and evaluates an employee's work behavior by comparing it with preset standards, (2) documents the results of the comparison, and (3) uses the results to provide feedback to the employee to show where improvements are needed and why.