A good organization structure and a good plan can be ruined by merely placing the wrong men on the jobs. While putting the right men on the right jobs, still offers a chance that they might be able to develop sound plans and a sound organization structure. It is what staffing is all about, i.e. “filling and keeping the jobs filled with the right persons for the jobs.”
Staffing is an important function of all managers some experts are of the view that staffing is the branch of organizing but in fact staffing is separate from organizing. Organizing refers to putting people into framework of Organization. It is the process of matching the jobs with individuals. It is a function of manning the jobs.
After organizing the activities, which are to be performed, the manager comes to know about the manpower requirement of the company. At that time management becomes able to take necessary steps for recruitment and selection of employees. Staffing helps in supply of manpower. For this purpose the employees can be selected from inside the organization or outside the organization.
Definitions of Staffing
The managerial function of staffing is defined as:
Filling positions in the organization structure through identifying work force requirements, inventorying the people available, recruiting, selecting, placing, promoting, appraising, compensating and training.
System Approach to Staffing
The staffing function can be understood with the help of following figure.
—————–Internal environment, Personal policies, Reward System—————–
Above figure shows that the staffing is the management function relates to the total management system. The enterprise plans (planning) become the basic for organization plans (organizing) that are necessary to achieve enterprise objectives. The staff selected, will perform its functions under the supervision of first two aforesaid plans.
The present and projected structure determines “the number and kind of managers required, estimating the man power requirement. These demand for mangers are compared with available talent through the management inventory”. Based on this analysis, “external and external sources are utilized in the process of “Recruitment, selection, placement and promotion”. Other essential aspects of staffing are appraisal, training and development of managers.
Staffing, as seen in the figure, affects leading and controlling. For instance well-trained managers create an environment in which people, working together in groups, can achieve enterprise objectives and at the same time accomplish personal goal. In other words, proper staffing facilitates the function of leading. Similarly, selecting quality mangers affects controlling by e.g. preventing many undesirable deviations from becoming major problems.