Give three points each on the need and importance of Staffing.

Answer – Staffing fills and keeps filled the positions in an organisation structure with suitable people. Its broad aspects are recruitment, selection, placement, training, development, appraisal, career planning and compensation.

Importance: discovers competent people; places the right person in the right job; improves performance; ensures continuous availability of managers; uses human resources effectively; improves job satisfaction and morale through fair opportunities and rewards.

Staffing is part of human resource management. Every manager has staffing responsibilities, while a specialist human-resource department supports them. HRM also covers manpower planning, job analysis, recruitment and selection, training and development, performance appraisal, pay and incentives, labour relations, employee welfare, safety and social-security arrangements.

People differ in abilities, aspirations and attitudes. Staffing therefore requires judgement and respect for people, not merely filling vacancies.

Evolution of human resource management

Industrialisation and trade unions created a need for a link between owners and workers. Labour welfare officers initially concentrated on basic welfare. Growing factories required recruitment, selection, pay and personnel administration, expanding the personnel manager's role. Scientific management emphasised systematic selection and training; later attention to human behaviour and development recognised people as a resource whose capabilities could grow. Human resource management consequently became broader than welfare or record-keeping.