staffing

1. CHAPTER 5
STAFFING

2. Introduction
The success of any organisation doesn’t
depend upon the physical and financial
resources but it depends upon the
utilization of these resources by human
resources. So, hardworking efficient
people are the most important asset of an
organisation for its success. Staffing
function is concerned with the bringing
right and efficient people in the
organisation

3. Meaning
Staffing is a managerial function of
filling and keeping filled positions in
the organisation structure which is
achieved by identifying number of
employees required followed by
recruitment, selection, placement,
promotion, appraisal and
development of personnel.

4. Need and Importance of staffing
Staffing function gives more emphasis on the human
elements such as attitude, aptitude, commitment,
loyalty while selecting the right person for the right
job.
Researches on various aspects of staffing such as
recruitment, selection, compensation, incentives,
training and development are utilized for better
results.
Staffing function has been assumed on greater
importance these days because of rapid development
of technology, increasing size of organisation and
complicated behaviour of human beings.
It ensures the optimum utilization of human
resources by way of avoiding surplus of workforce
and prevents under utilization of personnel.

5. Need and Importance of staffing
It avoids disruption of work by
indicating in advance the shortage of
personnel.
This function improves the job
satisfaction and morale of the
employees through objective
performance appraisal and fair
rewarding system.
All other resources will become waste if
there is no right kind of personnel
working in the organisation

6. Staffing as part of Human
Resource Management
In small organisation, no doubt, the
number of personnel will be less as
well as the volume of staffing
activities and its complexity will be
limited to certain extend (i.e.
confined to recruitment, selection,
compensation and welfare). So, it
will be possible for all the line
mangers to perform all duties related
to employees in small organisations.

7. Staffing as part of Human
Resource Management
But, as organisations grow into large size and number
of persons employed increases, the duties related to
human resources will become more complex and the
volume of human resource activities will extended to
large extend such as Estimation of human resource
requirement, Recruitment, Selection, Training,
Development, Maintenance, Compensation,
Incentive plans, Protecting health and physical
conditions, Liaison with government and trade
unions, Providing social security, welfare
activities, Review and audit of personnel policies
etc. So, separate department called as human resource
department consisting of specialized experts is very
much required in large organisation.

8. Evolution of Human Resource
Management
The evolution of human resource management can
be understood from the following points.
Due to the emergence of industrial revolution,
trade union activities became very active.
The trade union activities forced the management
to appoint a separate person, called as Labour
welfare officer, who will act as a link between
employer and employees and his role was limited
up to the welfare of employees only.
Then, due to the introduction of factory system,
large number of labourers was employed under
one roof which further forced the management to
appoint one more person known as personnel
officer who was given responsibility of
Recruitment, Selection and Placement of persons

9. Evolution of Human Resource
Management
Then, as a final stage, due to the importance of
human relation approach and frequent changes
taking place in the various factors of business
environment, the employees had to be trained,
developed and updated to latest knowledge in
order to take the challenges of the organisation.
So, this requirement of human relation approach
led to replacement of personnel manager to
human resource manager who has to be assisted
by various experts in different fields such as
Sociology, Psychology, Economy, Anthropology,
Technology etc. All were collectively grouped
under a department called as “Human Resource
Management

10. Brief explanation of various
stages in staffing process
1. Estimating the manpower requirements:-
For the purpose of understanding the
manpower requirements, the organisation has to do
two analysis such as workload analysis and workforce
analysis.
Workload analysis means the assessment of
number and type of human resources necessary for
the performance of various jobs and accomplishment
of objectives.
Workforce analysis would reveal the number
and type of human resource presently available within
the organisation as well as helps to understand
whether the organisation is overstaffed or
understaffed. A situation of overstaffing will make the
organisation to for employee removal or transfer
whereas a situation of understaffing would
necessitates the organisation to start the recruitment
process

11. Brief explanation of various
stages in staffing process
Here, the important thing is that before
going for recruitment stage, organisation
has to develop the two important
statements mentioned below:
Job Description which consists of the
nature and characteristics of the various
jobs.
Desirable profile of the occupant of the
job which consists of desirable
qualifications, experiences, personality
etc.

12. 2. Recruitment
Recruitment is defined as the process of
searching for prospective employees and
stimulating them to apply for jobs in the
organisation.
The organisation has to disclose
the contents of job description and
desirable profile of the occupant
developed in the previous stage in the
advertisement called “situation vacant”.
The advertisement may be displayed in
the Factory gate or in print media or
flashed in electronic media. Both internal
sources and external sources of
recruitment should be explored.

13. 3. Selection
Selection is the process of choosing from
among the pool of prospective job
candidates developed at the stage of
recruitment.
Selection serves two important
purposes mentioned below:
Organisation gets best among the
available
Enhances the self-esteem and prestige of
those selected.
Selection involves the series of tests
and interviews, employment contract
which is a statement containing the terms
and conditions of employment.

14. 4. Placement and Orientation
Placement means putting the selected
candidates on right job. It is the
process of matching the candidates
with the most suitable jobs. The
placement is done after considering
various factors such as skills required,
location of job, employees knowledge,
marital status, home town, interest
etc.

15. Placement and orientation
Orientation means introducing and
familiarizing newly appointed candidates
through following manners:
Brief presentation about the history of the
company
Introduction of superiors, subordinates
and his colleagues
Taken around the work place
Familiarizing the policies, rules and
regulations
Various facilities available.

16. 5. Training and Development
Training means act of improving
knowledge and skills for doing a specific
job. The employees are imparted training
to improve their performance and to
update their knowledge to match the
requirement of external environment.
Development means growth of a
person in all respects. It is a process by
which managers and executives acquire
not only skills and competence of present
job but also the capabilities for future
tasks of increasing difficulty and scope

17. THREE ASPECTS OF STAFFING
Following three aspects of staffing
will be discussed in details
Recruitment
Selection
Training and Development

18. 1. RECRUITMENT
Meaning and Definition:-
Recruitment means inducing or
attracting more and more candidates to
apply for vacant job positions in the
organisation.
Recruitment has been defined as
the process of searching for prospective
employees and stimulating them to apply
for jobs in organisation.

19. Process of Recruitment
The various activities involved in the
process of recruitment are given below:
Identification of the different sources of
labour supply
Assessment of their validity
Choosing the most suitable source or
sources
Inviting applications from the prospective
candidates

20. Sources of Recruitment
There are two important sources of
recruitment:
Internal source of recruitment
External source of recruitment

21. 1. Internal source of recruitment
It means the filling up of vacant job
positions of the organisation by using
the existing employees of the
organisation and no outsiders are
permitted.
Two methods of internal
source of recruitment have been
discussed below

22. (a) Transfer
Transfer involves shifting of an employee from
one job to another or from one department to
another or from one shift to another without any
substantive change in the status, responsibilities
and salary. Mainly the place of working is
changed. E.g.: Transfer of clerk from
Accounts department to Purchase department.
Transfer can be used in the organisation
for following purposes;
Shortage of suitable personnel in one branch or
department may be filled through transfer from
other branch or department
To avoid the termination of employees as an act
of punishment
To remove individual problems and grievances
To train the employees for learning different jobs

23. (b) Promotion
Promotion refers to the shifting of
employee from the lower job position to
the higher job position carrying higher
responsibilities, increasing authority level,
status, prestige, pay and facilities.
The main objective of promotion
is to improve the motivation, loyalty and
satisfaction level of the employees.

24. Merits of Internal source of
recruitment
A promotion at higher level may lead to a chain of
promotion at lower levels. This motivates the
employees, which lead to increase the commitment
level, loyalty and satisfaction of employees.
It simplifies the process of selection and placement
It is a more reliable way of recruitment since the
candidates are already known to the organisation.
People recruited within organisation do not need
orientation program.
Shortage of personnel can be adjusted by transferring
personnel from surplus department.
It is more economical and fewer amounts spent in
training as well

25. Demerits of Internal source of
recruitment
The scope of induction of fresh talent
and infusion of new blood will be
reduced.
Frequent transfers may reduce the
productivity of employees
Employees may become lethargic if they
are sure of time bound promotion.
A new enterprise can not use the internal
source and no organisation can fill all its
vacancies from internal sources.
There will be only limited choice

26. 2. External sources of
recruitment
When the candidates from outside
the organisation are invited to fill the
vacant job position, then it is known
as external recruitment
Common methods of external
sources of recruitment is
discussed in the following slides

27. 1. Direct Recruitment
Sometimes the organisations paste notice
specifying the details of jobs available at
the gate of their office, factory or
workshop. The people who are interested
in those jobs walk in for interview. This
method is inexpensive and suitable for
unskilled or semi skilled job positions, e.g.
Sweeper, peon, casual workers etc.
Generally, they are paid remuneration on
daily wage basis

28. 2. Casual callers
Generally, large organisations maintain an
application file consisting of unsolicited
applications which the job seekers leave
with reception as well as the applications
of suitable candidates who were not
selected in previous year’s selection
process. This application file is considered
as waiting list. Whenever there is a job
vacancy, the suitable candidates from the
waiting list are called It is also an
inexpensive

29. 3. Advertisement
The most common and popular method of
external recruitment is advertising in
newspapers and trade and professional
journals. Through advertisement, more
information about the organisation and job
can be given. It gives the management
wider range of candidates.
For the job of an accountant, the
advertisement can be given in chartered
accountant journal and for unskilled and
lower rank positions, the advertisement can
be given in local or regional newspapers.
But, for senior positions and skilled jobs,
advertisement is given in national level
reputed newspapers

30. 4. Employment exchanges
Employment exchanges act as middlemen
between job seekers and the organisation
having vacant job positions. The job
seekers leave their Bio-Data with the
employment exchanges and when
organisation approach employment
exchanges, suitable candidates are sent.
Thus, employment exchanges help to
match personnel demand and supply.
Government employment exchanges
charge no fees whereas private
employment exchanges charge
commission.

31. 5. Placement agencies and
management consultants
In technical and professional areas,
private agencies and professional bodies
appears to be doing remarkable work on
selecting suitable personnel from external
sources. These agencies compile Bio-Data
of a large number of candidates and
provide the organisation specialized and
efficient people who can occupy
managerial, technical and professional job
positions. These agencies are having
many experts who are specialized in
manpower requirements and charge fees
or commission for their services

32. 6. Campus recruitment
Many big organisations maintain a close
liaison with the universities, colleges,
management institutes and vocational
schools to recruit qualified personnel for
technical, professional and managerial
jobs. Senior managers of organisations
visit various professional institutions to
prefer fresh graduates, because they can
be molded according to the requirement of
the organisation. E.g. MBAs, Computer
programmers, Engineers are generally
selected in campus recruitment

33. 7. Recommendations of
employees
Many firms encourage their employees to
recommend the names of their relatives,
friends and other known people to fill the
vacant job positions. The organisations
prefer such recommendations by trusting
the goodwill of the present employees.
The organisations can catch hold of
existing employees if there is any problem
with the new employee recommended by
him.

34. 8. Labour Contractors
The contractors are the people who keep
in touch with the labour in villages and
rural areas and whenever there is vacancy
or requirement for labour in factory or in
construction site, they bring the labourers
from villages as well as from outskirts of
city areas and supply them to
businessmen. The labour contractors
charge commission for the same. This
method is suitable only for unskilled
workers and labourers.

35. 9. Web publishing
In internet, there are certain
websites specifically designed and
dedicated for the purpose of
providing information about both job
seekers and job openings in various
organisations. These websites can be
visited by job seekers as well as by
the companies. E.g. Naukri.com,
Monster.com, Jobstreet.com etc.

36. Merits of External source of
recruitment
With external recruitment fresh and new
talent come to the organisation.
Through external recruitment the
organisation gets wider choice.
By using external recruitment the
management can get qualified and
trained persons.
Through external recruitment when
outsiders join the organisation, this
develops a competitive spirit in existing
employees of organisation.

37. Demerits of external recruitment
The morale of existing employees goes
down or falls.
the new employees may not adjust in
the rules and regulations of the
organisation which means more chances
of turnovers
It is expensive as to invite the outsider
to apply for the job, companies have to
bear heavy burden of advertising.
External recruitment takes long time to
select suitable personnel

38. 2. SELECTION
Meaning:-
Selection can be defined as
discovering most promising and most
suitable candidate to fill up the
vacant job position among the pool
of prospective job candidates
developed at the stage of
recruitment.

39. Process of selection
In selection, the number of rejected
applicants is generally more than the
selected candidates that are why
selection is considered as a negative
process. The important steps in the
process of selection are as follows;

40. 1. Preliminary Screening
The selection process begins with
screening and detailed investigation of the
applicants. While scrutinizing the
applications, the managers compare the
qualifications and capabilities specified in
application form with the requirement of
vacant job position. The applications
proving the match between both only will
be considered for the next stage in
selection and the remaining unsuitable
applications will be rejected.

41. 2. Selection Tests
The types of test to be conducted depend on the
requirement of the organization. The common types
of tests conducted by the organizations are given
below:
(a) Intelligence test: This is one of the
important psychological test used to measure the
level of IQ, person’s learning ability or the ability to
make decisions and judgments, person’s alertness in
terms of reasoning, memory, comprehension etc.
(b) Aptitude test: These tests are designed to
measure the potential of individuals to acquire new
skills, capacity to develop in future.
(c) Personality test: This test provides clues to
a person’s emotional balance, his/her reactions,
maturity and value system etc. It has to be designed
and implemented with utmost care.
(d) Interest test: Interest test is used to know
the pattern of interest or involvement of a person in a
particular kind of work.

42. 3. Employment interview
Interview is a formal, in-depth
conversation conducted to evaluate
the applicants’ suitability for the job.
There are some qualities which can
be judged only through a face-to –
face talk with candidates. The
interviewer is to seek information
about the interviewee by asking job
related and general questions

43. 4. Reference and Background
checks
Many employers request names,
addresses and telephone numbers of
references of at least two responsible
persons for the purpose of verifying
information and gaining additional
information on an applicant. Previous
employer, University professors,
known persons can act in references

44. 5. Selection decision
The personnel department will send
the list of the selected candidates
who have passed tests, interviews
and reference checks. But, the final
selection has to be made by the
concerned departmental manager.
Because, it is he who is responsible
for the performance of the new
employee.

45. 6. Medical Examination
After the selection decision, the
candidate is required to undergo
medical fitness test conducted by the
panel of doctors prescribed by the
organization. If the result of medical
fitness is positive, then only job offer
will be given.

46. 7. Job Offer
Job offer is made through a letter of
appointment. Such a letter generally
contains date by which the appointee
must report on duty. The appointee
must be given reasonable time for
reporting.

47. 8. Contract of Employment
It is a written document consisting of
job title, duties, responsibilities, date
when continuous employment starts
and the basis of calculating service,
rates of pay, allowances, working
hours, leave rules, grievance
procedures, disciplinary procedures
etc. It has to be signed by the
employee

48. 4. TRAINING AND
DEVELOPMENT
Meaning of Training:-
Training is the process of
improving the job knowledge and
skills of employees so as to enable
them to perform well. It is an
organized activity wherein people
acquire knowledge and skills for
doing a specific job

49. Meaning of Development:-
Development is the process by which
managers and executives acquire not
only skills and competence in their
present jobs but also capabilities for
future tasks of increasing difficulty
and scope. It refers to overall growth
of the employees.

50. Distinction between Training and
Development
TRAINING
1. Teaching technical
skill only
2. Suitable technical
staff
3. Development of
skills already
possessed by the
employees
4. Focuses on present
requirement of
organization
5. Superior takes
initiative
DEVELOPMENT
Teaching technical,
human and conceptual
skills.
Suitable for
managerial staff
Development of
hidden qualities of
employees
Focuses on future
requirement of
organization.
Individual takes
initiative

51. Benefits of Training and
Development
Training is systematic learning always better
than hit and trial methods which lead to
wastage of efforts and money.
It enhances employee productivity both in
terms of quantity and quality, leading higher
profits.
It equips the future manager who can take over
in case of emergency
It increases employee confidence and reduces
absenteeism and employee turnover
It helps in obtaining effective response to fast
changing environment.
Improved skills and knowledge lead to better
career of the individual.

52. Benefits of Training and
Development
Increased performance by the
individual helps him to earn more.
It makes the employee more
efficient to handle machines which
will reduce the accidents.
It increases the satisfaction and
morale of employees

53. Training methods
The methods of training are broadly
categorized into two groups:
1. On the job training methods
2. Off the job training methods

54. 1. On the job training methods
This is a method of learning by doing and
suitable only for technical jobs. The
advantage of this method is that the
employees can understand practical
problems. The disadvantage is that it may
lead to wastage of resources. This method
should not be recommended in case the
training involves the handling of very
expensive machines.
Types of on the job training methods:-
The various types of on the job
training methods are discussed below

55. (a) Apprenticeship programmes
In this method, there will be a master
worker (trainer) who guides the workers
on the skills of the job and demonstrates
the job also. The trainees will observe the
demonstration carefully and learning the
skills gradually. After getting the
confidence, the trainees start taking up
the job and the master worker becomes
the observer. When trainee becomes
perfect, the master worker leaves by
handing over the full charge of job
position to the trainee workers. The period
of training may vary from 2 to 5 years.

56. (b) Coaching
Under this method, the superior or senior
manager will take the role of coach. The
superior and trainees together will set
mutually agreed goals. Then, the superior
suggests the trainees how to achieve the
goals by giving guidance and instructions.
The performance of the trainees will be
reviewed periodically by the superior. The
superior will suggest required changes in
behavior and performance of the trainees
in order to overcome their weaknesses
and makes their strength more strong

57. (c) Internship training
The educational institutions and the
corporate sectors enter into an agreement
according to which the institutions send
their candidates to various companies so
that they can practice the theoretical
knowledge acquired by them. The
organizations will get people with fresh
ideas and latest knowledge and the
companies have to pay very less amount
of stipend.

58. (d) Job rotation
Under this method, the employees are
shifted from one job to another job for
short intervals in order to make them
aware of the requirements of all the job
positions. Further, they may be even
shifted from one department to another
department so that trainees get broader
understanding of all parts of the business
and how organization as a whole
functions. This method allows the trainees
to interact with other employees
facilitating future cooperation. Further, the
organization finds it easier at the time of
promotions, replacements or transfers.

59. 2. Off the job training methods
These methods are used away from
the work place. It involves learning
before doing. The various methods of
off the job training methods are
discussed below:

60. (a) Class room lectures and
conferences
It is a highly structured way to
convey a message or specific
information, rules, procedures or
methods. The use of audio-visuals or
demonstrations can make a formal
classroom presentation more
interesting

61. (b) Films
Films can provide information and
demonstrate skills that are not easily
represented by the other techniques.
It is generally used in conjunction
with conference discussions.

62. (c) Case study
Under this method, managers
discuss real problems that they have
faced and trainees are asked to
study, analyze the problems and
develop alternative solutions, select
what they believe to be the best
solution. The case study provides the
bridge between the theoretical
knowledge and its practical
implications

63. (d) Computer modeling
It stimulates the work environment
by programming a computer to
imitate some of the realities of the
job and allows learning to take place
without the risk or high costs that
would be incurred if a mistake were
made in real life situation

64. (e) Vestibule training
Vestibule school means duplicate model of
organization. When the expensive and
delicate machineries are involved then
employers avoid using on the job methods
of training. A dummy model of machinery
is prepared to give training instead of
using original machinery. Actual work
situations are created and employees use
the same materials and equipments.

65. (f) Programmed instructions
Under this method, a learning
package is prepared to give general
instructions and specific skills. The
information is broken into sequence
of meaningful units.