STAFFING FUNCTION OF MANAGEMENT

What is Staffing?
“The managerial function of staffing involves manning the organizational
structure through proper and effective selection, appraisal and development
of personnel to fill the roles designed into the structure.” – Koontz and O’
Donnell

“Staffing relates to the recruitment, selection, development, training,

compensation of subordinate managers.” – Theo Haimann

“Staffing is the function by which managers build an organization through

the recruitment, selection, and development of individuals as capable
employees.” – McFarland

Staffing is defined as, “filling and keeping filled, positions in the

organizational structure.

This is done by:

 identifying work-force requirements,
 inventorying the people available,
 recruiting,
 selecting,
 placing,
 promoting,
 appraising,
 planning the careers,
 compensating,
 training and developing existing staff or new recruits, so that they can
accomplish their tasks effectively and efficiently.
Staffing – A Function of Management: Staffing is a critical
organizational function which consists of the process of acquiring,
deploying, and retaining a workforce of sufficient quantity and quality to
create positive impacts on the effectiveness of the organization.

Importance of Staffing
The staffing function is a very important function of the management due to
the following reasons.
 Staffing helps in discovering and obtaining competent personnel for
various jobs.
 It helps in the optimum utilization of the human resources.
 It helps in developing professionals in every field of organizational
activity.
 It helps to improve the quantity and quality of the output by putting the
right person on the right job.
 It helps in developing competencies in the organization to face the
challenges. It helps to improve job satisfaction of the employees and
hence their morale.
 It facilitates higher productive performance of the organization by
appointing right man for right job.
 It reduces the cost of manpower by eliminating the wastage of the
human resources.
 It facilitates growth and diversification activities in the organization.
 It provides for the development of the employees and through them it
ensures continuous survival and growth of the organization.

PROCESS OF STAFFING FUNCTION (STAFFING PROCESS)

The process of the staffing function involves Human Resource Planning

(HRP). Human Resource Planning is estimating the size and nature of
the personnel required for the recruitment and selection of the best
candidates to train, to induct, to reward and to have regular and effective
communication with them.

The process of staffing consists of the following 10 steps: (Fig 1).

1. Manpower Planning –It involves forecasting and determining the future

manpower needs of the organization. It is the estimation of the required
manpower keeping in view the present and future needs of the
organization.

It involves in creating and evaluating the manpower inventory after

considering the development of the required talents among the existing
employees through their promotion and advancement.

2. Recruitment – Once the requirements are known, the organization

invites and solicits applications from the desirable candidates.

It is the process of creating the application pool so as to attract maximum

number of applicants so as to have more options for the selection.

3. Selection –It is the process of elimination of the candidates who appear

unpromising for the post. It is the process of picking the best amongst the
application pool.

The purpose of selection process is to determine whether a candidate is

suitable for employment in the organization or not and involve rejection of
the candidates not found suitable.

4. Placement and Orientation –Once selection process is over, the

selected candidates are appointed.
 After this, the placement of the appointed employees takes place by
putting right man on the right job. It means putting the appointed
employee on the job for which he/she is selected.

Orientation is the introduction of the appointed employee with the job.

He/she is made familiar to the work units and work environment through
the orientation programmes.

5. Training –Training is given to acquaint the appointed employees with the

processes and the procedures which they are required to follow for the
job.

It provides the appointed employees benefits of in depth knowledge of

their functional areas. It is necessary that the organization has a
systematic training programme otherwise employees will try to learn the
job by trial and error which can prove to be a very costly method.

6. Development –The process of development is for preparing the

employees for variety of jobs. It widens their outlook and enhances their
conceptual ideas.

It opens promotional avenues for them and thus provides for their growth
in the organization.

7. Promotion – Promotion implies upgrading of an employee to a higher

position involving increase in rank, prestige or status.
It generally consists of shifting the employee to a higher job which
requires bigger responsibilities. Generally increase in pay and
enhancement of powers accompanies promotion but it is not essential
ingredients.
8. Transfer –Usually employees are transferred to different work units and
branches of the organization. Normally transfer takes place between jobs
paying approximately the same salaries but sometimes employees are
also transferred during their promotion.

9. Appraisal – The main objective of performance appraisal is to improve

the efficiency of the employees by mobilizing their best possible efforts
and through them achievement of the objectives and the goals of the
organization.

The qualities for which the employees are generally apprised through
performance appraisal include:
(i) ability to do work, (ii) spirit of cooperation, (iii) job knowledge, (iv)
discipline and sincerity, (v) managerial ability, (vi) self-confidence, (vii)
initiative, (viii) problem solving abilities, and (ix) intelligence etc.

10. Remuneration- It is a kind of compensation provided monetarily to the

employees for their work performances. This is given according to the
nature of job- skilled or unskilled, physical or mental, etc.
Job evaluation is one of the systematic techniques to determine the worth
of the job.
There are two main types of Employee Remuneration, Time rate and
piece rate.
a) Time Rate Method:
 Under time rate system, remuneration is directly linked with the time
spent or devoted by an employee on the job.
 The employees are paid a fixed pre-decided amount hourly, daily,
weekly or monthly irrespective of their output. It is a very simple
 method of remuneration. It leads to minimum wastage of resources
and lesser chances of accidents.
 Time Rate method leads to quality output and this method is very
beneficial to new employees as they can learn their work without any
reduction in their salaries. This method encourages employees unity as
employees of a particular group/cadre get equal salaries.
 There are some drawbacks of Time Rate Method, such as, it leads to
tight supervision, indefinite employee cost, lesser efficiency of
employees as there is no distinction made between efficient and
inefficient employees, and lesser morale of employees.
 Time rate system is more suitable where the work is non-repetitive in
nature and emphasis is more on quality output rather than quantity
output.

b) Piece Rate Method:

 It is a method of compensation in which remuneration is paid on the
basis of units or pieces produced by an employee.
 In this system emphasis is more on quantity output rather than quality
output. Under this system the determination of employee cost per unit
is not difficult because salaries differ with output.
 There is less supervision required under this method and hence the per
unit cost of production is low. This system improves the morale of the
employees as the salaries are directly related with their work efforts.

 There are some drawbacks of this method, such as, it is not easily
computable, leads to deterioration in work quality, wastage of
resources, lesser unity of employees, higher cost of production and
insecurity among the employees.

 Piece rate system is more suitable where the nature of work is

repetitive and quantity is emphasized more than quality
EMPLOYEE SELECTION PROCESS
Employee Selection is the process of putting right men on right job.
The Employee selection Process takes place in following order-

1. Preliminary Interviews- It is used to eliminate those candidates who do

not meet the minimum eligibility criteria laid down by the organization.
The skills, academic and family background, competencies and interests
of the candidate are examined during preliminary interview.

Preliminary interviews are less formalized and planned than the final
interviews. The candidates are given a brief up about the company and
the job profile; and it is also examined how much the candidate knows
about the company. Preliminary interviews are also called screening
interviews.

2. Application Blanks: The candidates who clear the first stage are
required to fill application blank. It contains data records of the candidate
such as details on age, qualifications, previous jobs and why they left,
experience, etc.

3. Written Test: Various written tests are conducted during the selection
procedure so as to assess the potential candidate, such as:

 Cognitive ability tests: measures intelligences, such as reasoning skills,

math skills, and verbal skills.
 Aptitude test: is a test designed to determine a person's ability in a
particular skill or field of knowledge. It can measure things such as
mechanical aptitude and clerical aptitude (e.g., speed of typing or
ability to use a particular computer program). It also measures a
person’s ability to learn new skills.

4. Employee Interviews:
It is a one-one interaction between the interviewer and the potential
candidate. It is used to find out whether the candidate is best suited for the
required job or not.

There are different types of interviews

a) Traditional interview. This type of interview normally takes place in the

office. It consists of the interviewer and the candidate, and a series of
questions are asked and answered.
b) Telephone interview. A telephone interview is often used to narrow the
list of people receiving a traditional interview. It can be used to determine
salary requirements or other data that might automatically rule out giving
someone a traditional interview.
c) Panel interview. A panel interview occurs when several people are
interviewing one candidate at the same time.
d) Information interview. Informational interviews are usually used when
there is no specific job opening, but the candidate is exploring possibilities
in a given career field. The advantage to conducting these types of
interviews is the ability to find great people ahead of a job opening.
e) Meal interviews. Many organizations offer to take the candidate to
lunch or dinner for the interview. This can allow for a more casual meeting
where, as the interviewer, you might be able to gather more information
about the person, such as their manners and treatment of waitstaff.
f) Group interview. In a group interview, two or more candidates interview
at the same time. This type of interview can be an excellent source of
information if you need to know how they may relate to other people in
their job.
g) Video interviews. Video interviews are the same as traditional
interviews, except that video technology is used. This can be cost saving
if one or more of your candidates are from out of town such as Skype.
h) Non-directive interview (sometimes called an unstructured
interview). In a non-directive interview, the candidate essentially leads
the discussion. Some very general questions that are planned ahead of
time may be asked, but the candidate spends more time talking than the
interviewer.

5. Medical Examination: Medical tests are conducted to ensure physical

fitness of the potential employee.
6. Appointment Letter: A reference check is made about the candidate
selected and then finally he/she is appointed by being given a formal
Appointment Letter.

BENEFITS OF STAFFING
The benefits of an effective staffing function are as follows.
1. Staffing helps in getting right people for the right job at the right time.

The function of staffing enables the management to find out as to how

many employees are needed and with what qualifications and
experience.
2. Staffing contributes to improved organizational productivity. Through
proper selection the organization can enhance the quality of the
employees, and through proper training the performances level of the
employees can also be improved.
3. Staffing helps in providing job satisfaction to the employees and thus
keeps their morale high. With proper training and development
programmes their efficiency improves and they feel assured of their
career advancements.
4. Staffing maintains harmony in the organization. Through proper
staffing, individuals are not just recruited and selected but their
performance is regularly appraised and promotions made on merit. For
all these, certain procedures are made and are duly communicated to
all concerned. This fosters harmony and peace in the organization.