Concept and Nature of

Staffing
OBJECTIVES:
K: Identify the nature of staffing
S: Determine the concept of staffing function in
business organizations;
A: Appreciate the importance of staffing in the
business organization.
What do you think is the right word that best
describe the four pictures? What do the pictures
suggest?
Staffing
• is a basic function of management.
• The term ‘Staffing’ relates to the recruitment, selection,
development, training and compensation of the managerial
personnel.
• according to Dyck and Neubert (2012), is the Human
Resource function of identifying, attracting, hiring, and
retaining people with the necessary qualifications to fill the
responsibilities of current and future jobs in the
organization.
• defined as a managerial function of filling and keeping filled
the positions in the organizational structure. The personnel
appointed are a combination of permanent employees, daily
workers, consultants, contract employees etc.
Staffing includes:
1. Identifying the requirement of workforce and its planning.
2. Recruitment and selection of appropriate personnel for new jobs or
for positions which may arise as a result of existing employees leaving
the organization.
3. Planning adequate training for development and growth of
workforce.
4. Deciding on compensation, promotion and performance appraisals
for the workforce.
The following are the basic nature of staffing:
• I. People-oriented – Staffing deals with efficient utilization of human resources in an
organization.
• II. Development-oriented – It is concerned with developing potentialities of personnel in the
organization. It develops their personality, interests, and skills. It enables employees to get
maximum satisfaction from their work.
• III. Pervasive function – Staffing is required in every organization. It is a major sub-system in
the total management system that can be applied to both profit making and non-profit
making organizations.
• IV. Continuous function – Staffing is a continuous and never-ending process.
• V. Human objectives – It develops potentialities of employees so that they can derive
maximum satisfaction from their work. It creates an atmosphere where employees willingly
cooperate for the attainment of desired organizational goals.
• VI. Individuals as well as group-oriented – Staffing is concerned with employees both as
individuals and as group in attaining goals.
• VII. Developing cordial working environment – It develops a cordial
environment in the enterprise where each employee contributes his
best for the achievement of organizational goals.
• VIII. Interdisciplinary nature – Staffing has its roots in social sciences. It
uses concepts drawn from various disciplines such as psychology,
sociology, anthropology, and management.
• IX. Integral part of general management – Staffing is an integral part of
the general management. It is very much a part of every line manager’s
responsibility. Every member of the management group (from top to
bottom) must be an effective personnel administrator.
• X. Science as well as art – Staffing is a science of human engineering. It
is an organized body of knowledge consisting of principles and
techniques. It is also an art as it involves skills to deal with people.
Characteristics of Staffing as a Function of
Management
1. Related to Human Beings- The first important characteristic of staffing is its
relationship with human beings. It means that unlike planning and organizing it is
not mere paper work but involves the appointment of competent persons on
various posts.
2. Separate Managerial Function- The second important characteristic of staffing is
that it is a separate managerial function. Separate managerial function means that
far from being a major part of some function, it is in itself a major function. Staffing
is included in the other categories of managerial functions like planning, organizing,
leading, and controlling.
3. Essential at All Managerial Levels- Staffing is essential at all managerial levels.
The Board of Directors performs the function of staffing by appointing General
Manager.
4. Related to Social Responsibility- Staffing deals with human beings
and man is a social animal. Since it is connected with human beings,
the social responsibility of this function is born.
5. Effect of Internal and External Environment - The performance of
staffing is affected by the internal and external environment of the
enterprise. The internal environment of the enterprise includes
policies connected with the employees — like the promotion policy,
demotion policy, transfer policy, etc
Step # 3. Placement and Orientation:
• Placement refers to place the right person on the right job.
Once the job offer has been accepted by the selected
candidate, he is placed on his new job. Proper placement of
an employee reduces absenteeism, employee’s turnover and
accident rates. Orientation/Induction is concerned with the
process of introduction or orienting a new employee to the
organization.
 7 Important Functions of Staffing

1. Manpower Planning - may be planned for short-term and long-term.

2. Development - is concerned with the development of staff members through
adequate and appropriate training programs. The training is given only to the needy
persons.
3. Fixing the Employment Standards - It involves the job specification and job
description. These enable the management to select the personnel and train them
scientifically. Job description is a systematic and organized written statement of the
duties and responsibilities in a specific job.
4. Sources - is concerned with the method by which the staff members are selected.
The sources may be internal and external sources. Internal source means that a vacancy
is filled up by the company out of the staff members available within the company. The
external source means that a vacancy is filled up by the company from outside the
company. The person selected may be unemployed or working in any other company.
• 5. Selection and Placement - It includes the process of selection of the staff members.
The placement includes giving a job to a person on the basis of his ability, education,
experience and the like.
• 6. Training - The training may be arranged by the company itself. In certain cases, the
staff members may be sent out by the company to get the training. The expense is
borne by the company. The training may be required not only by the new staff
members but also by the existing staff members.
7 Step Process of Staffing
Staffing starts with the estimation of manpower requirements and
proceeds towards searching for talented personnel to fill the various
positions in an organization. Staffing, therefore, should follow a logical
step by step process.
Step # 1. Estimating Manpower
Requirements/Manpower Planning:
The process of manpower planning can be divided into
two parts. One is an analysis for determining the
quantitative needs of the organization, i.e., how many
people will be needed in the future. The other part is
the qualitative analysis to determine what qualities and
characteristics are required for performing a job.
Step # 2. Recruitment and Selection:
• The second step after manpower planning is
recruitment and selection. These are two separate
functions, which usually go together. Recruitment
aims at stimulating and attracting job applicants for
positions in the organization. Selection consists of
making choice among applicants. To choose those
which are most suited to the job requirement keeping
in view the job analysis information.
Step # 4. Training and Development:
• It is more accurately considered as a process of skill
formation and behavioral change. It is a continuous process
of the staffing function. Training is more effectively
conducted when the actual content of jobs for which people
are being trained and developed is known.
Step # 5. Performance Appraisal:
•It means evaluating a performance employee’s
current and past performance as against certain
predetermined standards. This process includes
defining the job, appraising performance and
providing feedback.
Step # 6. Promotion and Career Planning:
• Managers must encourage employees to grow and
realize their full potential. Promotions are an integral
p art of people’s career. They usually mean more pay,
responsibility and job satisfaction.
Step # 7. Compensation:
• It refers to all forms of pay or rewards paid to
employees by the employer/firm. It may be in the
form of direct financial payments (Time based or
Performance based) like salaries and indirect
payments like paid leaves.