ABSTRACT
In this first chapter of Staffing Organizations: Contemporary Practice and Theory, we set a historical and conceptual foundation against which you can view contemporary issues and practices in staffing organizations. To provide this background information, we first define “staffing,’’ and then provide beginning thoughts on the relationship between “staffing’’ and “organizations.’’ This relationship is an intimate one because it reveals our simultaneous interest in the people who enter and live in work organizations and the organizations in which they live and work. In the chapter, we provide a brief history of, and orientation to, the major foci of this book: (a) the changing nature of work, (b) the role of individual differences in staffing, (c) the role of work and work context, (d) how staffing contributes to organizational effectiveness, and (e) how federal employment legislation and court cases influence staffing. However, let us first define what we mean by the term “staffing organization.’’
