CHAPTER 10

STAFFING
DEFINITION
1 There are several definitions of staffing. The process of
staffing can be seen as a series of steps that is
performed continuously in order for an organization to
obtain suitable candidates to hold suitable positions at
a suitable time.

2 The staffing process is the management of human

resources that involves activities of preparing employees
for the organization and maintaining a satisfactory level of
employee performance.
THE IMPORTANCE OF STAFFING
1 The importance of staffing in terms of quantity and quality depends on
organizational goals.

2 Organizations focusing on hiring a large number of employees should

perform general recruitment. General recruitment is suitable for hiring
operational staff whereby the organization requires a group of employees to
perform the same jobs, for example the hiring of sales staff and production
operators.

3 In performing a general recruitment, organizations follow a simple and

standard procedure.

4 Organizations focusing on having quality staff should emphasize on their

staff's experience, knowledge, and motivation.

5 Hiring quality staff requires special recruitment, for example the recruitment
of executive level positions.

6 The development of staff in terms of quality can be performed through

training, individual self-development, and by encouraging staff development.
STAFF-HIRING PROCESS

Step 1: Human Resource Planning

Step 2: Hiring/ Recruitment
Step 3: Selection
Step 4: Induction and Orientation
Step 5: Training and Career Development
Step 6: Performance evaluation
Step 7: Employee termination/ separation
1 According to Mondy and Noe (1986), human resource
planning is a process of determining the type and
number of employees that need to be hired to fill the
vacant positions in an organization at a certain period
of time.

2 In other words, human resource planning is a process of

identifying the workforce and the type of workforce
(either from inside or outside the organization) needed
to perform organizational operations at a certain time.
3 The process of human resource planning must take into
consideration both internal and external factors of the
organization.
(a) Internal factors refer to the requirement for current skills
and vacant positions that are expected to exist in the
organization by taking into consideration the available
financial resources and the number of existing
employees in the organization.

(b) External factors refer to factors outside the

organization's control such as the economic
condition, labour market condition, and the number of
graduates graduating from higher educational
institutes in a certain period.
(c) The first goal of HRM is to attract individuals who show
signs of becoming valued, productive and satisfied
employees. The first step in attracting an effective
workforce involves HR planning, in which managers or
HRM professionals predict the need for new employees
based on the types of vacancies that exist in the
organization.

The second step is to use recruiting procedures to

communicate with potential applicants. The third step is to
select from the applicants those persons believed to be the
best potential contributors to the organization.
Finally, the new employee is welcomed into the
organization. For example, an audit firm with its human
resource headquarters based in Kuala Lumpur may choose
to advertise a new job vacancy for its branches nationwide
on the job availability/search website. Interested individuals
will apply for the job.

The most qualified candidates will be selected for

interviews. The Human Resource model process will
become a reality when the new employees report for work
as auditors at various audit branches nationwide
• Current Evaluation
Current evaluation involves a job analysis or a review of the status of
human resources at a specific time. Job analysis can be divided into
job description and job specification.

1 Job description

Job description outlines a detailed description of the type of jobs and

the job requirements in an organization. The objectives of creating a job
description are to facilitate organizational restructuring, avoid the
overlapping of jobs and responsibilities, and help implement petty jobs
in the organization.

Job description comprises the following four main elements:

(i) Information about the job's identity;
(ii) Job summary;
(iii) List of employees' duties and responsibilities;
(iv) Job specification and the minimum qualification required for the job.
2 Job specification

(a) Job specification is a statement that lists the skills,

ability, knowledge, and work experience required to
perform a job.
Future Evaluation

1 Future evaluation involves the evaluation of the

workforce requirements based on the organization's
goals and strategies.

2 Future evaluation also involves forecasting and future

planning of the environment based on the current
labour market, for example, the number of science
graduates who will start looking for jobs in the year 2008.
Hiring/Recruitment
1 Hiring is a process of identifying and attracting the
interests of qualified individuals in applying for vacant
positions in the organization. Hiring is also known as
recruitment.

2 Hiring is also the effort to identify and attract

candidates to apply for a job according to the
organization's human resource planning process.

3 During the hiring process, human resource managers will

study the information stated in the job description and job
specification.
• 6 There are two methods in hiring: internal hiring and
external hiring:

(a) Internal hiring

(i) Internal hiring refers to the hiring of employees who

are currently employed in the organization. The internal
hiring is usually conducted on employees who will be
promoted. An example of internal hiring is an employee
holding a clerical position in the organization is promoted to
executive officer.
(ii) Human resource managers must take the following
steps in performing the internal hiring method:

• Inform employees about the vacancy through notices, a

vacancy list, or through email;
• Review employee records to identify whether the
employee is qualified for the vacant position;
• Check the organizational chart to see the suitability of
promotion of the employee.
(iii) There are several advantages of internal hiring as follows:
• Management would know the employee filling the
vacancy;

• Facilitates the communication process among

employees, as they know one another;

• Save cost, time, and energy especially in terms of

training;

• The selected employee will have a bigger opportunity

to develop his career;

• The selected employee is familiar with the

organization's policies, procedures, and norms.
(iv) There are also several disadvantages of performing an
internal hiring as follows:

• The promotion of senior employees within the

organization can cause difficulties to the
organization in terms of organizational growth as
new ideas would not be generated;

• Create jealousy and feelings of envy among

employees who were not selected.
(b) External hiring

(i) External hiring involves hiring people from outside

the organization such as graduates from higher
educational institutions, employees from other
organizations, and the public. Advertisement are placed in
newspapers, job agencies, the labour department, or
employees' union in order to attract individuals to apply for
the vacant position.
(ii) There are several methods to conduct external hiring as
follows:

• Applicants submit their application forms to the

organization's human resource officer directly or through
appointment. Most organizations encourage prospective
candidates to apply for the advertised job via online
application. In this method, individuals use their own
initiative to apply for the vacancy.
• Employing the services of job agencies, especially for higher
level positions such as managerial level positions. The service
fees charged by these agencies are high.

• Advertisement through radio, television, newspapers,

advertisement boards, and the internet. This method provides a
wider coverage.

• Job referral, whereby an organization's employees refer their

friends to apply for vacancies existing in the organization.

• Professional bodies list the members who are looking for

jobs, for example the Management Institute of Malaysia or
Academy of Management.

• Recruitment of future graduates (campus recruitment) from

universities or colleges
• Internship whereby university students who underwent
practical training in the organization will be offered jobs in
that organization after completing their studies.

• Organizations hold open days to enable the public to

meet their representatives and apply for vacant positions in
the organization.

• References from customers or suppliers.

• Organizations who provide scholarship to students hire

these students when they have completed their studies.
(iii) There are several advantages of external hiring as
follows:

• Employees who are offered positions usually can fulfil the

job description and specification requirements.

• New employees normally have a high self image and a

high level of creativity.

• New employees have a strong motivation to complete the

job responsibilities effectively and efficiently.
(iv) External hiring also has its disadvantages as follows:

• Management has to incur high costs to train the new

employees.

• Management must conduct orientation and induction for

new employees which wastes time and resources.

• At the early stage, communication between new and

existing employees is limited as they need time to get
acquainted with one another.
Selection
1 Selection is a process of selecting the best or most
qualified candidate from a group of applicants to fill a
vacancy in an organization.

2 By using their judgment, managers must be able to

predict the candidate that can perform the duties that would
be entrusted to them based on the performance evaluation
criteria set by the organization.
3 There are several factors influencing the selection of
candidates as follows:

• (a) Discrimination law in terms of gender and age;

• (b) Duration of time taken to make a decision;
• (c) The number of applicants and the number of
employees required;
• (d) Organizational goals.
Induction and Orientation
1 Induction and orientation are activities that are conducted to
reduce the new employees' stress in the organization by
familiarizing them with organizational policies, existing
employees, and the organizational environment.

2 According to Gomershall and Mayers (1996), a weak

orientation programme can have a negative impact on the
organization's financial position as it reduces job efficiency and
may increase the level of dissatisfaction among employees.

3 Induction involves the effort to inform new employees

about the jobs that are to be performed by them. Orientation
involves enabling new employees to adjust to the new
workplace through the following steps:
3 Induction involves the effort to inform new employees
about the jobs that are to be performed by them.
Orientation involves enabling new employees to adjust
to the new workplace through the following steps:

(a) Introducing the organization's background in terms of its

administrative policies and the types of products or
services provided by the organization;
(b) Holding a programme to introduce new employees to
the organization's existing employees;
(c) Describing employee benefits and facilities;
(d) Listing the job's duties and responsibilities that must be
performed by the employee.
4 There are other objectives of conducting induction and
orientation in the organization, as follows:

(a) Reduce feelings of anxiety and worry among new

employees;
(b) Enable new employees to perform their duties efficiently
and effectively;
(c) Enable new employees to feel more comfortable,
especially among senior employees;
(d) Enable new employees to form friendly relationships
with other new and existing employees.
INDUCTION – An introduction with who you are going
to work for:
Includes Company overview.
– Mission, Vision, Values
– History , objectives and clients
– Business verticals , management team and hierarchy
– Policies and dress code
– Business conduct guidelines
ORIENTATION – Aligning with job role &
responsibilities and work culture.
Includes multiple learning methods
– Presentation and videos
– Information sessions and online learning
– Workplace tour and Formal meetings with teams and
departments.
• Information of procedures and processes
• Information of work assignment/ job, clients
• Introduction to team members and key contacts.
• Information about employment terms and conditions.
Training and Career Development
1 Training refers to activities conducted by
organizations to improve the current work performance
of employees, thus enabling them to continue working
with the organization.
2 Employee training can be categorized into three skills as follows:

(a) Technical skills

• Technical skills involve training conducted to improve and increase
the employees' technical skills. Basic technical skills are reading,
writing, and arithmetic.

(b) Interpersonal skills

• An employee's performance depends on the employee's ability to
interact with his colleagues and leaders. Examples of interpersonal
skills are listening, effective communication, and conflict
management.

(c) Problem-solving skills

• Many employees need to solve problems related to their jobs at the
workplace, especially for jobs that are not routine in nature. If
employees are not able to solve the problems faced by them, the
management may need to increase the employees' problem-solving
skills through training.
There are several objectives of conducting training:
(a) Change employees' attitude who fail to demonstrate
good performance such as always being late to work,
inefficient in managing customers, and frequently being
absent at work;
(b) Employees acquire and master the required skills in
order to perform a job better such as technical, conceptual,
and human relations skills;
(c) Train new employees who do not have experience in
order for them to be more efficient in their jobs.
(a) On-the-job training or in-house training

(i) On-the-job training is conducted to familiarize employees

with the workplace.
(ii) Employees will perform the same duties but at the same
time, the supervisor or coordinator will train the employees
by giving counselling, guidance, and opportunities to
handle projects.
(iii) The objective of this type of training is to improve
employee skills.
(b) Off-the-job training or out-house training

(i) Off-the-job training involves programmes to train

employees from the aspect of technical skills or skills to
perform jobs that are not related to routine duties, but
are related to other jobs in the organization.

(ii) This training method includes:

> courses, seminars, workshops, lecture in the classroom,
screening of movies and videos
Performance Evaluation
1 Performance evaluation is a continuous process of
communicating with employees regarding their
expected duties and current work performance in the
organization.

2 It is difficult to accurately evaluate an employee's

performance and deliver the evaluation results to the
employee in a constructive and acceptable manner.
3 Performance evaluation can be divided into two types, as
follows:

(a) Informal performance evaluation

• (i) Performance evaluation of subordinates is continuously
performed by managers on a day to day basis.
Subordinates will meet their manager to obtain the
evaluation of their work performance,

(b) Formal or systematic performance evaluation

• (i) This type of evaluation provides employees with a
comprehensive and formal evaluation in order to create a
continuous feedback process.
Transfer and Separation

1 Transfer refers to the vertical exchange of jobs. It also refers to

the transfer of an employee from one management hierarchy
to another management hierarchy in the organization.

2 Transfer is usually performed to move an individual to fill a

vacant position in the organization in order to effectively fulfil
organizational goals.

3 Transfers are usually conducted when there are no suitable

candidates to hold a position. For example, if an employee
shows good performance in a position, but cannot be promoted,
he will be transferred to provide opportunity for the lower-level
employees to be promoted.
STAFF DEVELOPMENT AND
RETENTION
1 One of the biggest challenges faced by organizations
now is the requirement to conduct a staff development
programme, after the staff or trainee comes back to work
after the training session.

2 If the environment in the organization does not

encourage or support the development of knowledge and
new skills, the training given will be futile.
3 An organization's human resource department is
responsible in ensuring all staff continue to work as long as
their services are needed. For example, a website designer
is required when an organization designs a web page for
the public. .The services of the website designer are
required at all times to ensure the smoothness of the
organization's website operations.

4 Retaining staff is the attempt to ensure an employee

continues working with the organization.
5 A human resource department plays a big role in
retaining staff in the organization. There are several
methods used to retain staff as follows:

(a) Provide financial and non-financial rewards

(b) Provide share ownership
(c) Honour employees and win their heart
(d) Place importance on employee welfare and improve
working conditions
(e) Practise a good management pattern
(f) Create job rotation
(g) Provide retirement benefits