contingent workers
These include temporaries, parttimers, contract, leased (outsourced), and other workers who are hired to handle extra job tasks or workloads.

diversity
(1) The condition that describes the variety of people who make up the contemporary workforce (i.e., African Americans, Hispanics, Asians, Caucasians, and so on). (2) Any mixture of themes characterized by differences and similarities.

downsizing
reduction in a company's workforce.

external environmental influences
The environmental forces outside the organization, such as unions, government, and economic conditions.

internal environmental influences
The organization's internal environmental forces, such as goals, organizational style, tasks, work group, and the leader's style of influencing.

motivation
The attitudes that predispose a person to act in a specific goal-directed way. It is an internal state that directs a person's behavior.

outsourcing
The practice of hiring another firm to complete work that is important and must be done efficiently.

personality
The characteristic way a person thinks and behaves in adjusting to his or her environment. It includes the person's traits, values, motives, genetic blueprint, attitudes, abilities, and behavior patterns.

productivity
The output of goods and services per unit of input of resources used in a production process.

restructuring
Redesigning a work unit, job, or project by establishing a new structure in terms of hierarchy, reporting lines, span of control, decision making latitude, etc.

skills gap
The mismatch between the high-skill demands of jobs and the lack of qualifications of job applicants.

strategy
What an organization's key executives hope to accomplish in the long run.

work group
Two or more people who work together to accomplish a goal and who communicate and interact with each other.