Concept Notes 5: Staffing

INTRODUCTION

Staffing is an important management function. It relates to the recruitment,

selection, development, training, and compensation of human resources in an
organization. It is a continuous management function and involves the
top management of most businesses. Staffing plays a very important role in any
organization. This Module focuses on the nature of staffing, the steps in the
recruitment and selection process, the nature and varieties of training programs,
compensations, performance evaluation, labor-management relations, employee
movements, as well as the components of the organization’s reward system.

OBJECTIVES
at the end of this module, you should be able to:
• Discuss the nature of staffing.
• Explain the steps in the recruitment and selection process.
• Recognize the different training programs.
• Identify the policy guidelines on compensation/wages and performance
evaluation/appraisal.
• Discuss the importance of employee relations.
• Differentiate various employee movements.
• Adopt effective rewards system.

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 PRE-TEST
Instructions: Encircle the correct answer for each question.

1. Which of the following is refers to a management functions that determines human resources needs,
recruit, selects, trains and develops human resources for job created by an organization?
a. Staffing b. Programming c. Recruitment d. Forecasting

2. Which of the following is an assessment of future human resource needs of the organization in
relation to its current capabilities?
a. Recruitment b. Staffing c. Forecasting d. Programming

3. The attracting qualified persons to apply for the vacant positions in the company so that those who
are best suited to serve the company may be selected.
a. Staffing b. Recruitment c. Selection d. Orientation

4. The source of applicant where the current employees sometimes recommend relatives and friend
who may be qualified.
a. Referrals from employee b. Schools c. Newspapers d. Competitors

5. These are useful sources of qualified but underutilized personnel. The recruiting firm has the
advantages of hiring personnel who may have been previously trained by competitors.
a. Referrals from employees b. Schools c. Newspapers d. Competitors

6. Which of the following is refers to the act of choosing from those that are available the individuals
most likely to succeed on the job?
a. Recruitment b. Staffing c. Selection d. Programming

7. Those written by previous employers, co-workers, teachers, club officers, etc. about a person are
called ___.
a. References b. Interviews c. Selection d. Application blanks

8. Information may be gathered in an _______ by asking a series of relevant questions to the job
candidate.
a. References b. Interviews c. Selection d. Application blanks

9. Which of the following psychological test where we measure a person’s capacity or potential ability
to learn?
a. Aptitude test b. Performance test c. Personality test d. Interest test

10. Which of the following psychological test measures a person’s interest in various fields of works?
a. Aptitude test b. Performance test c. Personality test d. Interest tes

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 INFORMATION

How many people will be needed to man all

the positions created in the various
departments of an organization? This is on of
the important questions considered in the
Human Resources Planning. Added to this are
the questions about how applicant can be
motivated to apply, where the right people
can be sourced, and when they must be
acquired. “Right people” means those who fit
the requirements of the job in terms of
education, skills and abilities, experience, as
well as values and attitudes. Objectives and
targets along these areas must be properly
aligned with the path or direction the
organization is going to traverse.

Integrating individual goals with those of the organization is a challenge for many
managers. This is because when a person enters an organization, he or she brings a
different talent, level of expectation, contribution, and sometimes problem to the
organization. A company cannot just hire an unfit person and then discharge him or her
after a few days simply because of a defective recruitment procedure. This can be very
costly for the organization, and traumatic for the individual.

This Module focuses on the nature of staffing, the steps in the recruitment and selection
process, the nature and varieties of training programs, compensations, performance
evaluation, labor-management relations, employee movements, as well as the components
of the organization’s reward system.

STAFFING

Staffing – management function that determines human resources needs, recruit, selects,
trains and develops human resources for job created by an organization.

The staffing process consists of the following series of steps:

1. Human Resources Planning – the planned output of any organization will require
a systematic deployment of human resources at various levels. To be able to do it,
the manager will have to involve himself with human resource planning.

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 Human resource planning may involve the following activities:

Forecasting – assessment of future human resource needs of the

organization in relation to its current capabilities.

Programming – translating the forecasted human resource needs to

personnel objectives and goals.

Evaluation and Control – refers to monitoring human resource action plans

and evaluating their success.

The forecasting of manpower needs mat be undertaken using any of the following
quantitative method:
• Time series methods – use historical data to develop forecasts.
• Explanatory or causal models – are attempts to identify the major variables
that are related to or have caused particular past conditions and then use
current measures of these variables to predict future condition.

Three major types of explanatory models are as follows:

o Regression models - used to investigate the relationship between two or
more variables and estimate one variable based on the others.
o Economic models – system of regression equations estimated from past
time-series data and used to show the effect of various independent
variables on various dependent variables.
o Leading indicators – refers to time series that anticipate business cycle
turns.
• Monitoring methods – provide early warning signals of significant changes in
established patterns and relationships so that the manager can assess the likely
impact and plan responses if required.

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 2. Recruitment – attracting qualified persons to apply foe vacant positions in the
company so that those who are best suited to serve the company may be selected.

Sources of applicants – when management wants to fill certain vacancies, the

following sources may be tapped:
• The organization’s current employees – some of the organizations current
employees may be qualified to occupy positions higher than the ones they are
occupying. They should be considered.
• Newspaper advertising – newspapers are good sources of applicants. There are
at least three major daily newspaper distributed throughout the Philippines.
Readership appears to be highest during Sundays.
• Schools – these are places where potential employees may be asked to apply.
Representatives of companies may interview applicants inside campuses.
• Referrals from employees – current employees sometimes recommend
relatives and friend who may be qualified.
• Recruitment firms – these are companies organized specifically to assist client
firms in recruiting qualified persons.
• Competitors – these are useful sources of qualified but underutilized personnel.
The recruiting firm has the advantages of hiring personnel who may have been
previously trained by competitors.

3. Selection – refers to the act of choosing from those that

are available the individuals most likely to succeed on the
job.

Ways of determining the qualifications of a job

candidate. The available means for determining the
qualifications of candidates are the following:
• Application blanks – provides information about a
person’s characteristics such as age, marital status,
address, educational background, experience, and special
interest.
• References – those written by previous employers, co-
workers, teachers, club officers, etc.. about a person are called references.
• Interview – information may be gathered in an interview by asking a series of
relevant questions to the job candidate.
• Testing –involves an evaluation of the future behavior or performance of an
individual.

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Types of test. There are various types of test. They may be classified as follows:
• Psychological test – is an objective, standard measure of a sample behavior of
the individual. It is further classified as follows:
o Aptitude test – measures as person’s capacity or potential ability to learn.
o Proficiency test – measures how applicant can do a sample of the work to be
performed.
o Personality test – measures a personality traits such as dominance,
sociability, and conformity.
o Interest test – measures a person’s interest in various fields of work and
determines how a person’s interest compare with the interest of successful
people in a specific job.
o Job Knowledge test – measures the job-related knowledge possessed by a
job applicant.
• Physical examination – done to assess the applicant’s physical health is
adequate to meet the job requirements.

4. Induction and Orientation – after an applicant is finally selected and subsequently

hired, the next steps undertaken are induction and orientation.
• Induction – the new employee is provided with the necessary information about
the company. His duties, responsibilities, and benefits are relayed to him.
• Orientation – the new employees is introduced to the immediate working
environment and co-workers. Location, rules, equipment, procedures, training
plans, and performance expectations are discussed.

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 5. Training and Development – if the newly hired
employee is assessed to be lacking the necessary skills
required by the job, training becomes necessity.
• Training – refers to the learning that is provided in
order to improve job performance. Training programs may
be classified into the following:
o Training Program for Non-Managers – this types of
training is directed to non-managers to increase knowledge
and skills to perform a particular job. The four methods
under this type are:
▪ On-the-Job training – the trainee is placed in an actual
work situation under the direction of his immediate
supervisor, who acts as trainer.
▪ Vestibule School – the trainee is placed in a situation almost
exactly as the work environment. It duplicates the job, as well as
the required machinery and materials.
▪ Apprenticeship program – a combination of on-the-job training
and experience with classroom instruction in particular subjects
are provided to trainees.
▪ Special courses – those that provide more emphasis on education
rather than training.
o Training Program for Managers – the training needs of managers may
be classified into four areas: decision-making skills, interpersonal skills,
job knowledge, and organizational knowledge.

The decision-making skills of the manager may be enhanced through any of

the following methods of training:
▪ In-Basket – the trainee is provided with a set of notes, messages,
telephone calls, letters and reports, all pertaining to a given
company situation. The trainee is expected to handle the situation
within a given period of 1 or 2 hours.
▪ Management Games –training method where trainees are placed
in a simulated situation and are required to make an ongoing
series of decisions about that situation.
▪ Case studies – this present actual situations in organizations and
enables one to examine successful and unsuccessful operations.

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 The interpersonal competence of the manager may be developed through
any of the following methods:
▪ Role-playing – the trainees are assigned roles to play in a given
case incident. They are provided with a script or a description of a
given problem and of the key persons they are to play.
▪ Behavior modeling – it attempts to influence the trainee by
showing model persons behaving effectively in a problem
situation.
▪ Transactional analysis – intends to help individuals not only
understand themselves and others but also improve their
interpersonal communication skills.

In acquiring knowledge about the job the manager is currently holding the
following methods are successful:
▪ On-the-job experience – it provides valuable opportunities for
the trainee to learn various skills while actually engaged in the
performance of a job.
▪ Coaching – this method requires a senior manager to assist a
lower-level manager by teaching him the needed skills and
generally providing direction, advice, and helpful criticism.
▪ Understudy – under this method, a manager works as assistant to
a higher-level manager and participates in planning and other
managerial functions until he is ready to assume such position
himself.

In the attempt to increase the trainee’s knowledge of the total organization,

exposure to information and events outside of his immediate job is made. In
this regard, the following methods are useful:
▪ Position rotation – under this method, the manager is given
assignment in a variety of departments.
▪ Multiple Management – this method is premised on the idea that
junior executives must be provided with means to prepare them
for higher management position.

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 6. Compensation/wages and performance
evaluation/appraisal.

Performance Appraisal – it is the measurement

of employee performance. The purposes of
performance appraisals are as follows:
▪ To influence, in a position manner, employee
performance and development.
▪ To determine merit pay increase.
▪ To plan for future performance goals.
▪ To determine training and development needs
▪ To assess the promotion potential of employees.

Ways of appraising performance. An employee’s performance may be measured

using any of the following methods:

▪ Rating scale method – each trait or characteristic to be rated is represented by a

line on which the rater indicates the degree to which the individual possesses the
trait or characteristic.
▪ Essay method – the evaluator in this method composes statements that best
describe the person evaluated.
▪ Management by objectives method – specific goals are set collaboratively for the
organization as a whole, for various subunits, and for each individual member.
▪ Assessment center method – one is evaluated by persons other than the
immediate superior. This method is used for evaluating managers.
▪ Checklist method – the evaluator checks statement on a list that are deemed to
characterize an employee’s behavior or performance.
▪ Work standards method – standards are set for a realistic worker output and
later on used in evaluating the performance of non-managerial employees.
▪ Ranking method – each evaluator arranges employees names in rank order from
the best to the poorest.
▪ Critical-incident method – the evaluator recalls and writes down specific (but
critical) incidents that indicate the employees performance.

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Employee Relations
Employment Decision – after evaluating the performance of employees(managerial or
otherwise), the management will now be ready to make employment decisions. These may
consist of the following:
a. Monetary rewards – given to employees whose performance is at par or above
standard requirement.
b. Promotion – refers to the movement by a person into a position of higher pay and
greater responsibilities and which is given as a reward for competence and
ambition.
c. Transfer – movement of a person to a different job at the same or similar level of
responsibility in the organization.
d. Demotion – movement from one position to another which has less pay or
responsibility attached to it.

Reward System – this is a rewards program adopted by a business enterprise in inspiring

and motivating appropriate employee behavior. And this kind of reward system can be
monetary or in other ways.

Reward system helps to motivate employees to achieve high quality performance. It helps
to attract and retain highly skilled workers. Reward systems promote fairness and equity
by rewarded employees according to their contribution and effort to the organization.

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