STAFFING AND PERSONNEL FUNCTION

What is staffing?

Staffing is define as “Filling and keeping filed, positions in the

organization structure” This process is done by ten concepts.
1. Identifying the work force requirements.
2. Inventorying the people available.
3. Recruiting
4. Selecting candidates.
5. Planning candidates.
6. Promoting candidate.
7. Appraising candidates.
8. Planning careers of candidates.
9. Training candidate.
10. Developing and compensating candidates and
current jobholders

Staffing function is concerned with acquisition. development and maintenance of

an efficient satisfied team. It involves recruitment, training, development and
appraisal of personnel.

Human resource factor is considered the most important resource to

effective utilization of other resources.

Staffing function has become important because of

1. Increase in size of the organization

2. Rapid advancement in technology
3. Complexity of human behavior

Koontz defines staffing as the executive function which involves recruitment ,

selection ,compensation training, promotion and retirement of workers.

1
Managers from top to supervisors have the responsibility of staffing. Human
resource in an organization are important because they make available to the
organization

1. their work
2. their talents
3. their skills
4. their drives
their competent and dedicated performance brings success and
accomplishment of organizational goals.

PERSONNEL MANAGEMENT
Personnel management also called human resource management deals with
problems related to manpower working in an organization.
Personnel management is an important task for the manager. Selection,
training and development of the right kind of personnel constitutes the basis
of personnel management.
George Terry defines personnel management as the one concerned with
obtaining and maintaining of satisfactory and satisfied workforce
Dale Yonder defines it as the function aiding and directing working men
and women in maximizing their contribution and satisfaction in
employment.

OBJECTIVES OF STAFFING
1. to build and maintain cordial relation between people at all levels in the
organization
2. to ensure effective utilization of human resource
3. to provide working conditions, wages and amenities to employees
4. to develop each employee to their fullest potential
5. to help managers solve personnel problems

6. to ensure that organizational positions are filled by the qualified

personnel, who are able to willing to occupy them.
7. to define job, performance appraisal training and development
of people.
2
 8. i to matching the persons with job, identifying job
requirement, job, design etc.

FUNCTIONS OF PERSONNEL DEPARTMENT (STAFFING)

1. managerial functions—planning, organizing, directing, control
2. operative functions which includes
 Procurement
 Development
 Compensation
 Intergration
 Maintanance
 Record and research

These operative functions can be divided into three categories

1. Labour service function which includes procurement, development
and compensation
Staff function which involves providing advice, guiding personnel on
their problems .record keeping and research
2. Welfare functions which are concerned with maintenance of
personnel

DUTIES AND FUNCTIONS OF PERSONNEL

MANAGER
1. Staff recruitment—it includes keeping in touch with
sources of obtaining suitable employees ,inviting
applications and conducting interviews
2. Staff training and development—increasing skills and
efficiency of staff through
 Evaluating performance of staff
 Internal training---in house training within the
organization
 External training –done outside the organization
 Promotion policy—policy on filling senior jobs

3
3. Remuneration policy—these are the wages and salaries
earned by employees. It covers methods of calculating
salary to be paid, job grading etc
4. Staff relation—this is the cooperation which needs to
exist between staff and the employees. It includes
 negotiation with union
 staff welfare—which are facilities provided by
employees in addition to salaries and wages
 staff safety—providing better and safe working
conditions
 communication with staff
5. personnel procedures—these are matters related to staff
they include leave application termination of service and
staff turnover.

RECRUITMENT SELECTION AND TRAINING

The operative function of staffing is procurement or
employment. It involves hiring manpower to fill present
and future jobs.
It includes manpower planning, recruitment selection
and placement

MANPOWER PLANNING
It’s the process by which management determines
how organization should move from its current manpower
position to its desired manpower position.It makes
management have the right number and kind of people
Its an accurate determination of present and future
manpower needs of an organization. Innacuracy in
manpower planning affects labour cost and inefficiency in
organization.
Nature of manpower planning

4
1. it involves forecast for future manpower
2. it determines the right number of people needed to
accomplish organizational goals
3. it ensures effective utilization of present and future
manpower
4. it’s a continuous process due to demand and
supply process
5. it identiys untapped talent by checking status of
current manpower
6. its part of corporate planning
SIGNIFICANCE OF MANPOWER
PLANNING
1. provides successful staff panning
2. it avoids shortages or surpluses of manpower
3. controls labour cost
4. it defines the required human resources
5. matches skills with manpower
6. warns management of upcoming shortages or
surplus
7. It eliminates manpower wastage
8. Talents are more productively used
9. Countries human resource is optimumly used
due to planning

BENEFITS OF MANPOWER PLANNING

1. Labour cost is reduced—
overstaffing ,underutilization of talents and
problem areas are identified
2. Internal succession is facilitated i.e, provision of
replacement
3. Provides basis for development of employees
4. Helps in management succession plan I.e. provides
time for identifying and developing managers
5. Identifies gap in existing manpower
6. Its important for economic development—
generates employment
7. Enables growth and diversification of the
organization
5
 RECRUITMENT
It’s the discovery and development of the sources of
required personnel it the process of searching for prospective
employees and stimulating them to apply for jobs in the
organization.it help to seek out and explore ,evaluate induce
and obtain commited employees inorder to fill vacant positions
for success of the organization.
It provides a pool of candidates to enable management to
select suitable cadidates for different jobs.
Sources of recruitment
1. Internal source—transfer, promotions, present
employees
2. External source—
 Advertisement
 Professional magazines
 Educational institutions\
 Professional bodies
 Employment agencies
 Personnel consult
 Circulars and posters
 Field trip
 Unsolicitated applicants
INTERNAL SOURCE
transfer—moving an employee from one
workplace to another without change in the
nature and duties or salary of the employee.
Transfer thus is a source of recruitment to
meet employee demand where he is transferred
to. Transfer is done to avoid retrenchment, to
rotate employees, to correct any faulty
placement and to provide varied experience to
employees

6
 a) Promotions—it means appointing an employee
to a greater position of responsibility. It brings
about a change in the nature of duties and
authority of the employee. Its based on
seniority or merit
b) Present employees—If theres a vacancy
employees may be asked to recomment their
friends or family members for employment.
This ensures employment of sincere people
since they recomment hard working people to
avoid blame if they fail. But this promotes
nepotism and favouritism.

EXTERNAL SOURCE
1. Advertisement this is calling out for external candidates
through the newspapers, weekly magazines etc. It should
give factual information.
2. Professional magazines—its suitable for jobs requiring
highly skilled or professional level employees e.g doctors
and engineers
3. Educational institutions—colleges and universities
have become popular source of recruitment.college
student completing their course are recruited from their
campus.
4. Professional bodies—professional organization
maintains employment registers of qualified people who
wish to change their positions
5. Employment agencies—these are organizations which
tries to assist their registered members to obtain
employment.
6. Personnel consultants—it acts as an intermediary
between am applicant and the enterprise.. It advertises
jobs for companies without disclosing their identity.
Sometimes they screen and interview candidates and
stand as security if the employees don’t perform
7. Circulars and posters—this is used when staff are in
short supply. They are displayed in public places
8. Field trips—this involves sending out experts to
different places where the kinds of personnel needed are
7
 found. Date , time, venue are given for the same e.g.
police recruitment
9. Unsolicitated applicants—these are the people who
gather at the factory gate to serve as casuals
SELECTION

Selection is the process of choosing from among the candidates,

from within the organization or from the outside organization the
most suitable person for the current position or for future
positions.

This is screening or evaluating applicants

Its done to identify who are best suited for the job. Selection
determines who will be employed and who will not be
employed. In selection the qualification and experience of
every candidate are compared with job requirements.
SIGNIFICANT OF SELECTION
1. To avoid mistakes in employment which are costly
2. To avoid labour absenteeism and turnover
3. Poor selection leads to low efficiency of the organization
4. Poor selection leads to waste of tie energy and money spend
on hiring
5. To build a stable workforce and reduce labour cost
6. Leads to high morale and job satisfaction

STEPS IN SELECTION PROCEDURE

1. prelimanary interview
2. application blanc
3. selection test
4. employment interview
5. physical examination
6. reference checks
7. appointment letter
At each step more and more information should be obtained
about the candidate. Selection procedure may vary

8
according to the size of the organization and the personnel
to be selected.
PRELIMINARY INTERVIEW
It takes place at the reception desk. Its done to eliminate the
total unsuitable candidates. Its an exchange of information
about the candidate and the organization and its done by
junior clerks.
Rejecting candidate at this time saves time and cost.

APPLICATION BLANC
It’s a form which is filled indicating name, age, qualification
and experience It gives relevant information about the
candidate.
It provides written record of the candidate which can assist
during interview.
EMPLOYMENT TEST
Its designed to measure various aspects of the candidates
personality. It predicts how one can perform It measures
behavior to determine fitness of a person. Tests helps to
match individual traits with job requirement They measure
intelligence, ability, aptitude and personality Tests must be
reliable, valid and administered by a competent person.
 Intelligence tests measures capability of an individual
interms of memory and perception
 Aptitude test measures individual in learning the skills
 Personality test measures temperament, maturity and
emotional balance
 Proficiency test measures levels of knowledge about
the job e.g. typist
 Interest test helps to find out likes and
dislikes,hobbies etc
EMPLOYMEMT INTERVIEW
Its face to face communication. It provides
information about the candidate and help in judging

9
the suitability of the candidate. It checks the
information obtained through application blank. It
gives detailed information about the job and the
organization. It should be fair and friendly. The venue
should be free from disturbance. Decision of the panel
should be communicated immediately.
PHYSICAL MEDICAL EXAMINATION.
Its important to determine medically fit persons.it
avoids communicable disease entering the
organization. It protects against unwarranted claims.

CHECKING REFERENCES
The employer may want to investigate
background ,reputation and character as well as past
employment of the applicant. One is able to get frank
information of the candidate

APPOINTMENT LETTER
A candidate who has crossed all huddles in the
selection procedure is formally issued an appointment
letter. One is given a probation period which ranges
between six months to a year after which the
appointment is confirmed.
PLACEMENT
This is placing or posting the successful candidate in
appropriate jobs

10
11