Staffing Questions and Answers [With PDF]

A business is only as good as its people. Staffing is the management function that finds, selects, trains and keeps the right people for the right jobs. This chapter covers the staffing process, recruitment and selection, interviews, training methods, promotion and outsourcing. Here are 25 important questions with clear answers and comparison tables, ready for exams, vivas and job interviews.

This is Chapter 5 of our Management course. It follows Organizing and comes before Leadership.

Meaning and Process of Staffing

Q1. What is human resource management (HRM)?

Human resource management is the management of an organization’s people. It covers planning, recruitment, selection, appointment, training and development, pay and benefits, and employee relations, with the aim of building and keeping a skilled and motivated workforce.

Q2. What is staffing?

Staffing is the managerial function of filling the positions in an organization with suitable people, and keeping them filled. It includes recruitment, selection, appointment, training and development.

Q3. What is the importance of staffing?

• It puts the right person in the right job.
• It raises productivity and the quality of work.
• It prepares people for promotion and future roles.
• It improves morale and reduces employee turnover.
• It uses human resources fully, so nothing is wasted.

Q4. What are the steps of the staffing process?

1. Manpower (human resource) planning: estimating how many and what kind of staff are needed.
2. Recruitment of candidates.
3. Selection of employees.
4. Appointment and placement.
5. Training and development.
6. Performance appraisal and promotion.

Q5. What is manpower planning?

Forecasting the number and kind of people the organization will need in future, and comparing it with the people it has now, so that gaps can be filled in time.

Recruitment

Q6. What is recruitment?

Recruitment is the process of finding and attracting suitable candidates to apply for the vacant jobs in an organization. It builds the pool of applicants from which the best are later selected.

Q7. What are the steps of the recruitment process?

1. Collect the requisitions of the departments that need staff.
2. Decide the source of recruitment (internal or external).
3. Publish the vacancy notice or advertisement.
4. Receive the applications.

Q8. What are the sources of recruitment?

Q9. What are the advantages of internal recruitment?

• It builds loyalty and commitment.
• The organization already knows the person’s abilities.
• It boosts morale, because staff see a path for growth.
• It reduces employee turnover.
• It saves cost and time.
• The person already knows the organization, so he adjusts quickly.

Q10. What are the disadvantages of internal recruitment?

• Promoting someone leaves a vacancy in his old position.
• It blocks fresh talent from entering.
• It can lead to favouritism and office politics.
• It limits new ideas and fresh thinking.
• There may not be enough capable candidates inside.

Q11. What are the advantages of external recruitment?

• A wider choice of capable candidates.
• New skills, ideas and experience come in.
• Existing employees are motivated to perform better.
• It can create new jobs in the economy.
• It reduces the pressure of favouritism among current employees.

Q12. What are the disadvantages of external recruitment?

• It costs more (advertising, interviews).
• It takes more time.
• It can lower the morale of existing employees who expected promotion.
• The new person may take time to settle and to coordinate with others.
• It is harder to judge the true ability of an outsider.

Q13. What is an employment agency (employment exchange)?

An institution that brings job seekers and employers together and arranges placements, often in return for a fee or commission.

Selection

Q14. What is selection?

Selection is the process of choosing the most suitable candidates from the applicants gathered through recruitment, by testing and screening them against the needs of the job.

Q15. What are the steps of the selection process?

1. Receive and screen the applications.
2. Invite shortlisted candidates to the selection test.
3. Conduct the written or practical test.
4. Hold the interview.
5. Make a preliminary selection.
6. Check background and references.
7. Conduct a medical examination.
8. Take the final decision and offer the job.

Q16. What is the difference between recruitment and selection?

Q17. What is an interview?

An interview is a formal, usually face-to-face conversation between the interviewer and the candidate (the interviewee), used to judge the candidate’s knowledge, attitude, communication and suitability for the job.

Q18. What are appointment, placement and the joining letter?

Appointment is the decision to give a job to a selected candidate, confirmed by an appointment letter. Placement is assigning the person to the right job. After accepting, the employee gives a joining letter (joining report) to the organization to confirm that he has taken up the post.

Q19. What is induction (orientation)?

A programme that introduces a new employee to the organization, his colleagues, the rules and the job, so that he settles in quickly and comfortably.

Training and Development

Q20. What is training, and why is it important?

Training is a planned effort to teach employees the knowledge and practical skills they need to do their jobs better.

• It improves efficiency and quality.
• New employees learn their work faster.
• Supervision needs fall.
• Waste and indirect costs fall.
• Employees come up with new ideas.
• Accidents are reduced.
• Employee turnover and unrest go down.

Q21. What are the methods of training?

Q22. What is apprenticeship training?

A method in which a new worker learns a skilled trade by working under an experienced person for a fixed period, combining practical work with some theory. It builds skill and prepares the person for a permanent job.

Promotion, Appraisal and Outsourcing

Q23. What is promotion, and on what bases is it given?

Promotion is the advancement of an employee to a higher position with more responsibility, status and usually higher pay.

Q24. What is performance appraisal?

The regular evaluation of how well each employee is doing his job. Its results guide promotion, pay, training needs and other decisions.

Q25. What is outsourcing?

Outsourcing is the practice of giving a function or task, such as payroll, IT support or cleaning, to an outside company instead of doing it within the organization. It lets the firm focus on its core work and can reduce costs.

Quick Revision Points

• Staffing steps: manpower planning, recruitment, selection, appointment and placement, training, appraisal.
• Recruitment finds candidates. Selection chooses among them.
• Internal sources: promotion, transfer. External sources: advertisements, agencies, campuses.
• Training: on the job (apprenticeship, rotation) and off the job (lectures, workshops).
• Promotion can be by seniority, merit or both.

Test yourself with the chapter quiz below, then continue to Leadership.