SUMMARY STAFFING ORGANIZATIONS – HENEMAN,
JUDGE & MUELLLER
CHAPTER 1 – Staffing Models and Strategy
THE NATURE OF STAFFING
The Big Picture
The term ‘workforce quality’ refers to an organization’s human capital. Staffing is the organizational
function used to build this workforce. For most organizations, a workforce is an expensive proposition
and cost of doing business. It is estimated that an average organization’s employee cost is over 22% of
its total revenue. The percentage is much greater for organizations in labor intensive industries.
Organizations that deliver superior customer service, much of which is driven by highly knowledgeable
employees with fine-tuned customer service skills, have a definite and hopefully long term leg up on
their competitors. In addition to direct bottom-line implications, an organization’s focus on creating
an effective selection system also has more direct implications for competitive advantage by enhancing
employees’ well-being and retention.
Definition of Staffing
Staffing is the process of acquiring, deploying, and retaining a workforce of sufficient quantity and
quality to create positive impacts on the organization’s effectiveness.
Implications of Definition
Acquire, Deploy, Retain
An organization’s staffing system must guide the acquisition, deployment, and retention of its
workforce. Acquisition activities involve external staffing systems that govern the initial intake of
applicants into the organization. These involve planning for the number and types of people needed,
establishing job requirements in the form of qualifications or KSAOs needed to perform the job
effectively , establishing types of rewards the job will provide, conducting recruitment campaigns,
using selection tools, decide which applicants are most qualified and putting together job offers.
Deployment refers to the placement of new hires in the actual jobs they will hold. It also
encompasses guiding the movement of current employees throughout the organization through
internal staffing systems.
Retention systems seek to manage the inevitable flow of employees out of the organization.
These outflows can be voluntary or involuntary. Through various retention strategies and tactics, the
organization can combat these types of turnover, seeking to retain those employees it thinks it cannot
afford to lose.
Staffing as a process or system
Staffing is a process that establishes and governs the flow of people into the organization, within the
organization, and out of the organization. Organizations use multiple interconnected systems to
manage the people flows. These include planning, recruitment, selection, decision making, job offer
and retention systems. Occurrences or actions in one system, inevitably affect other systems.
Quantity and quality
Staffing the organization requires attention to both the numbers and the types of people brought into,
moved within, and retained by the organization.
JUDGE & MUELLLER
CHAPTER 1 – Staffing Models and Strategy
THE NATURE OF STAFFING
The Big Picture
The term ‘workforce quality’ refers to an organization’s human capital. Staffing is the organizational
function used to build this workforce. For most organizations, a workforce is an expensive proposition
and cost of doing business. It is estimated that an average organization’s employee cost is over 22% of
its total revenue. The percentage is much greater for organizations in labor intensive industries.
Organizations that deliver superior customer service, much of which is driven by highly knowledgeable
employees with fine-tuned customer service skills, have a definite and hopefully long term leg up on
their competitors. In addition to direct bottom-line implications, an organization’s focus on creating
an effective selection system also has more direct implications for competitive advantage by enhancing
employees’ well-being and retention.
Definition of Staffing
Staffing is the process of acquiring, deploying, and retaining a workforce of sufficient quantity and
quality to create positive impacts on the organization’s effectiveness.
Implications of Definition
Acquire, Deploy, Retain
An organization’s staffing system must guide the acquisition, deployment, and retention of its
workforce. Acquisition activities involve external staffing systems that govern the initial intake of
applicants into the organization. These involve planning for the number and types of people needed,
establishing job requirements in the form of qualifications or KSAOs needed to perform the job
effectively , establishing types of rewards the job will provide, conducting recruitment campaigns,
using selection tools, decide which applicants are most qualified and putting together job offers.
Deployment refers to the placement of new hires in the actual jobs they will hold. It also
encompasses guiding the movement of current employees throughout the organization through
internal staffing systems.
Retention systems seek to manage the inevitable flow of employees out of the organization.
These outflows can be voluntary or involuntary. Through various retention strategies and tactics, the
organization can combat these types of turnover, seeking to retain those employees it thinks it cannot
afford to lose.
Staffing as a process or system
Staffing is a process that establishes and governs the flow of people into the organization, within the
organization, and out of the organization. Organizations use multiple interconnected systems to
manage the people flows. These include planning, recruitment, selection, decision making, job offer
and retention systems. Occurrences or actions in one system, inevitably affect other systems.
Quantity and quality
Staffing the organization requires attention to both the numbers and the types of people brought into,
moved within, and retained by the organization.
