Chapter 1. The nature of staffing
The average organizations’ employee costs (wages/salaries) are over 22%
of the total revenue. There is a shift from viewing “employees as just a
cost of doing business”, to valuing employees as human capital that
creates competitive advantage. Improvements in staffing procedures lead
to improvements in performance and profits.
An organizations’ focus on creating an effective selection system
also has indirect implications for a competitive advantage by enhancing
employee well-being and retention.
People who perceive that their company uses effective selection
practices are more committed to their organizations.
Those higher levels of commitment lead to more helping or
citizenship behaviors on the part of employees, as well as stronger
intentions to remain employed.
There is a new paradigm in staffing: changes in the delivery of
assessments (computerized adaptive testing (CAT) and mobile
assessment), novel ways of assessing knowledge, skills and abilities. This
new paradigm is not without limitations:
There’s a potential threat of reduced effectiveness due to decreased
face-to-face contact in assessment.
Potential for cognitively demanding nature of electronic assessments
to adversely affect members of the applicant pool.
A strategic consideration of the context and its environment is important
for assessing the value of staffing, as staffing practices tend to be more
effective in dynamic industries with less collective turnover.
Definition of staffing: staffing is the process of acquiring, deploying and
retaining a workforce of sufficient quantity and quality to create positive
impact on the organizations’ effectiveness.
Acquisition activities involve external staffing systems that govern the
initial intake of applicants into the organization. Deployment refers to the
placement of new hires in the actual jobs they will hold, such as the
specific work unit or geographic location. It also encompasses internal
mobility (internal staffing). Internal staffing systems mimic external
staffing systems in many respects, such as recruiting employees for
promotion. Retention systems seek to manage the inevitable flow of
employees out of the organization. Outflows can be involuntary on the part
of the employee. Organizations should try to minimize types of turnover
where the employee leave for greener pastures elsewhere: voluntary
avoidable turnover.
Staffing is a process, not an event. Staffing the organization requires
attention to quantity and quality of the people brought into. This
combination creates a maximally effective staffing system. Staffing
systems should be used to contribute to the attainment of organizational
goals (a macro view), such as survival and growth. Micro activities are
procedural, transactional and routine nature.
, Leadership retention can be detrimental for an organization: they
carry a lot of knowledge and skills, which leaves a hole that may be hard
to fill. They may also take other employees along to other organizations.
Talent acquisition is essential for growth even when it does not have
such competitive advantage characteristics. Underqualified employees are
a challenge, and they need to be trained and supervised.
Staffing models
1. Staffing quantity: Level
Organizations must be concerned about staffing levels. The
organization forecasts workforce quantity requirements and then
compares these with forecasted workforce availabilities to determine
its likely staffing level position. Being understaffed means the
organization will have to gear up its staffing efforts.
2. Staffing quality: Person/job match
This model seeks to align characteristics of individuals with jobs in
ways that will result in desired outcomes. Jobs are characterized by
their requirements (interpersonal skills, previous budgeting
experience) and embedded rewards. Second, individuals are
characterized by their level of qualification and motivation. There
needs to be a match between the person and the job, when the
match is good, it will likely have a positive impact on the outcomes.
There is a need for a dual match.
The view is that the positive interaction of individual and job
characteristics creates the most successful match. Some important
points for the organization:
a. By ignoring or downpaying the motivation portion of the
match, the organization may have difficulty getting people to
accept job offers.
b. Job requirements often extend beyond task and KSAO
requirements. For example, travel requirements may involve
assessing applicants’ availability.
c. Job rewards often extend beyond pay and benefits.
Organizations should pay attention to the match between
providing career experiences and their need for such
experiences.
d. Jobs become more challenging over time and people lose the
KSAOs to meet job demands.
, 3. Staffing quality: Person/organization match
Seeking to determine how well the person matches to the
organization. Organizational values are norms of desirable attitudes
and behaviors for the organizations’ employees. The effects of a
mismatch between the person and the organization on values can be
strong, leading to low performance and a decreased ability to adapt.
When an individual is hired into a newly created job or a job that is
an amalgamation of previously distributed tasks,
person/organization match is more important than person/job match.
The core staffing process has several components that represent steps
and activities that occur over the course of these flows. Staffing begins
with a joint interaction between the applicant and the organization.
Sometimes, the organization is the dominant player (targeted recruiting)
and sometimes the applicant when he/she seeks employment. Mostly, the
process involves a balanced and natural interplay. The initial stage is
recruitment which involves identification and attraction activities by the
organization and the applicant. For the applicant, the employment stage
involves self-selection, a term that refers to whether to continue in the
staffing process or to drop out.
, The above staffing components apply both to externa land internal
staffing. Job opportunities exist within the organization and are filled
through the activities of the internal labor market.
This overall staffing organizations model depicts that the organizations
mission drives both organization strategy and HR and staffing strategy,
which influence each other when they are being formulated. Staffing levels
and staffing quality are the key focal points of staffing strategy. The
organization strategy expresses the overall purpose or mission, goals
and objectives that will help fulfill the organizations mission. HR strategy
represents the key decisions about how these workforce assumptions will
be handled. Such HR strategy may not only flow from the organization
strategy but may also contribute directly to the formulation of the
organization’s strategy. HR strategies seek to align acquisition and
management of the workforce with organization strategy.
Staffing strategy deals directly with the key decisions regarding the
acquisition, deployment and retention of the organizations’ workforces.
Core staffing activities focus on the recruitment, selection and
employment of the workforce. Since staffing levels have already been
The average organizations’ employee costs (wages/salaries) are over 22%
of the total revenue. There is a shift from viewing “employees as just a
cost of doing business”, to valuing employees as human capital that
creates competitive advantage. Improvements in staffing procedures lead
to improvements in performance and profits.
An organizations’ focus on creating an effective selection system
also has indirect implications for a competitive advantage by enhancing
employee well-being and retention.
People who perceive that their company uses effective selection
practices are more committed to their organizations.
Those higher levels of commitment lead to more helping or
citizenship behaviors on the part of employees, as well as stronger
intentions to remain employed.
There is a new paradigm in staffing: changes in the delivery of
assessments (computerized adaptive testing (CAT) and mobile
assessment), novel ways of assessing knowledge, skills and abilities. This
new paradigm is not without limitations:
There’s a potential threat of reduced effectiveness due to decreased
face-to-face contact in assessment.
Potential for cognitively demanding nature of electronic assessments
to adversely affect members of the applicant pool.
A strategic consideration of the context and its environment is important
for assessing the value of staffing, as staffing practices tend to be more
effective in dynamic industries with less collective turnover.
Definition of staffing: staffing is the process of acquiring, deploying and
retaining a workforce of sufficient quantity and quality to create positive
impact on the organizations’ effectiveness.
Acquisition activities involve external staffing systems that govern the
initial intake of applicants into the organization. Deployment refers to the
placement of new hires in the actual jobs they will hold, such as the
specific work unit or geographic location. It also encompasses internal
mobility (internal staffing). Internal staffing systems mimic external
staffing systems in many respects, such as recruiting employees for
promotion. Retention systems seek to manage the inevitable flow of
employees out of the organization. Outflows can be involuntary on the part
of the employee. Organizations should try to minimize types of turnover
where the employee leave for greener pastures elsewhere: voluntary
avoidable turnover.
Staffing is a process, not an event. Staffing the organization requires
attention to quantity and quality of the people brought into. This
combination creates a maximally effective staffing system. Staffing
systems should be used to contribute to the attainment of organizational
goals (a macro view), such as survival and growth. Micro activities are
procedural, transactional and routine nature.
, Leadership retention can be detrimental for an organization: they
carry a lot of knowledge and skills, which leaves a hole that may be hard
to fill. They may also take other employees along to other organizations.
Talent acquisition is essential for growth even when it does not have
such competitive advantage characteristics. Underqualified employees are
a challenge, and they need to be trained and supervised.
Staffing models
1. Staffing quantity: Level
Organizations must be concerned about staffing levels. The
organization forecasts workforce quantity requirements and then
compares these with forecasted workforce availabilities to determine
its likely staffing level position. Being understaffed means the
organization will have to gear up its staffing efforts.
2. Staffing quality: Person/job match
This model seeks to align characteristics of individuals with jobs in
ways that will result in desired outcomes. Jobs are characterized by
their requirements (interpersonal skills, previous budgeting
experience) and embedded rewards. Second, individuals are
characterized by their level of qualification and motivation. There
needs to be a match between the person and the job, when the
match is good, it will likely have a positive impact on the outcomes.
There is a need for a dual match.
The view is that the positive interaction of individual and job
characteristics creates the most successful match. Some important
points for the organization:
a. By ignoring or downpaying the motivation portion of the
match, the organization may have difficulty getting people to
accept job offers.
b. Job requirements often extend beyond task and KSAO
requirements. For example, travel requirements may involve
assessing applicants’ availability.
c. Job rewards often extend beyond pay and benefits.
Organizations should pay attention to the match between
providing career experiences and their need for such
experiences.
d. Jobs become more challenging over time and people lose the
KSAOs to meet job demands.
, 3. Staffing quality: Person/organization match
Seeking to determine how well the person matches to the
organization. Organizational values are norms of desirable attitudes
and behaviors for the organizations’ employees. The effects of a
mismatch between the person and the organization on values can be
strong, leading to low performance and a decreased ability to adapt.
When an individual is hired into a newly created job or a job that is
an amalgamation of previously distributed tasks,
person/organization match is more important than person/job match.
The core staffing process has several components that represent steps
and activities that occur over the course of these flows. Staffing begins
with a joint interaction between the applicant and the organization.
Sometimes, the organization is the dominant player (targeted recruiting)
and sometimes the applicant when he/she seeks employment. Mostly, the
process involves a balanced and natural interplay. The initial stage is
recruitment which involves identification and attraction activities by the
organization and the applicant. For the applicant, the employment stage
involves self-selection, a term that refers to whether to continue in the
staffing process or to drop out.
, The above staffing components apply both to externa land internal
staffing. Job opportunities exist within the organization and are filled
through the activities of the internal labor market.
This overall staffing organizations model depicts that the organizations
mission drives both organization strategy and HR and staffing strategy,
which influence each other when they are being formulated. Staffing levels
and staffing quality are the key focal points of staffing strategy. The
organization strategy expresses the overall purpose or mission, goals
and objectives that will help fulfill the organizations mission. HR strategy
represents the key decisions about how these workforce assumptions will
be handled. Such HR strategy may not only flow from the organization
strategy but may also contribute directly to the formulation of the
organization’s strategy. HR strategies seek to align acquisition and
management of the workforce with organization strategy.
Staffing strategy deals directly with the key decisions regarding the
acquisition, deployment and retention of the organizations’ workforces.
Core staffing activities focus on the recruitment, selection and
employment of the workforce. Since staffing levels have already been
