CHAPTER 5

STAFFING THE ENGINEERING ORGANIZATION

What is staffing?

Staffing is the process of acquiring, deploying, and retaining a workforce of sufficient

quantity and quality to create positive impacts on the organization’s effectiveness. (Heneman and
Judge, 2005).

Objectives:

 Establish a basic ground of what staffing.

 Identify and appreciate the basic process of staffing and its benefits.
 Develop staffing techniques in order to be an efficient engineer manager.
 Address company issues with an effective staffing management application.

The goal of staffing ….

Is to match people with jobs so that the realization of the organization’s objectives will
be facilitated.

As an Engineer Manager… One must be concerned with putting the right persons in various
positions within his area of concern.

As an Engineer Manager… There is great responsibility in assuring that the right persons are
assigned to positions that fit their qualifications.

The 8 steps in staffing process

1. Human resource planning

2. Recruitment
3. Selection
4. Induction and Orientation
5. Training and development
6. Performance Appraisal
7. Employment decision
8. Separations

1. Human resource planning

Human resource planning is first step in staffing and is defined as the on- going process
of systematic planning to achieve optimum use of an organization's most valuable asset -
its human resources. The objective of human resource planning is to ensure the best fit
between employees and jobs, while avoiding manpower shortages or surpluses.

The 3 Key Elements of Human Resource Planning

1. Forecasting – is an assessment of future human resource needs in relation

to the current capabilities of the organization.
Methods of Forecasting:
 Time series methods
 Explanatory or casual method
 Monitoring methods
2. Programming - which means translating the forecasted human resource
needs to personnel objectives and goals.
3. Evaluation and control – which refers to monitoring human resource
action plans and evaluating their success.
2. Recruitment

Recruitment refers to attracting qualified persons to apply for vacant positions in

the company so that those who are best suited to serve the company may be selected.

Source of applicants:

 Organizations current employees

 Referrals from employees
 Recruitment firms
 Newspaper advertisement
 Schools
 Competitors
 Internet

3. Selection
Selection refers to the act of choosing from those that are available the
individuals most likely to succeed on the job. The purpose of selection is to evaluate each
candidate and to pick the most suited for the position available. Selection procedures may
be simple or complex depending on the cost of a wrong decision. If the management
picks the wrong person and the subsequent effect to the organization is negligible, then
the selection process is made simple. Subsequently, when the position under
consideration involves special skills, a more elaborate selection process is undertaken.

Ways of Determining Qualifications of Candidate

a. Application blanks. The application blanks provides information about the

persons characteristics such as age, marital status, address, education,
background, experience, and special interest. After reading the application blank,
the evaluator will have some basis on whether or not to proceed further in
evaluating the applicant.
 b. References. References are those written by previous employees, co- workers,
teachers, club officers, etc. there statement may provide some vital information on
the character of the applicant.
c. Interviews. Information may be gathered in an interview by asking a series of
relevant questions to the job candidate.
d. Testing. This involves an evaluation of the future behaviour or performance of an
individual.
i. Psychological test – Is an objective, standard measure of a sample
behaviour it is classified into: aptitude test, performance test, personality
test, interest test.
ii. Physical examination - a type of test given to assess the physical healthy
of an applicant.

4. Induction and Orientation

The employee is informed about his duties, responsibilities, and responsibilities.

Induction •Socialization process Orientation.

5. Training and Development

Training refers to the learning that is provided in order to improve performance

on the present job.

General types of training

 Training Programs for non-managers

o Training and educational programs for executive.
 Training Programs for Nonmanagers
o On-the-job training
o Vestibule
o Apprenticeship
o Special Course Managers
 o In-basket
o Management games
o Case studies
o Role-playing
o Behavior modeling
o Sensitivity training
o Transaction analysis

Benefit of Training

 Build up confidence
 Improves morale of employees
 Build trust of the employee

6. Performance Appraisal

Is the act of evaluating the employee.

8th ways of appraising the employee

i. Rating scale method

ii. Essay method
iii. Management by objective method
iv. Assessment center method
v. Checklist method
vi. Work standard method
vii. Ranking method
viii. Critical-incident method
7. Employment Decision
a. Monetary Reward – this are given to employees whose performance is at par or
above standard requirements.
b. Promotion – this refers to a movement by a person into a position of higher pay
and greater responsibilities and which is given to a reward for competence and
ambition.
c. Transfer – this is the movement of the person to a different job at the same or
similar level of responsibility in the organization.
d. Demotion – this is a movement from one position to another which has less pay
or responsibility attached to it. This is also a form of punishment.

8. Separation
a. Voluntary - it is the will of the employee to resign and he must notify the
company weeks before he resign.
b. Involuntary – or termination is the last option that the manager exercises
when employees performance is poor or when an employee violates the rules
and regulation of the company.