INTRODUCTION
1. PROCESS OF STAFFING
Recruitment
According to Basavanthappa (2004:93) recruitment is a process of securing applications to fill vacant positions, and further more Skidmore (1990:203) explains the aims of recruitment as a way of employing staff members who are competent and have the capabilities of bringing change within the organisations. This is the process of attracting the best candidates to make applications in the agency.
Steps to be followed when recruiting
Identify a need for new staff
The staffing team must first identify that there is a need to employ new staff members. That can be identify through inability to attain the agency objectives/goals and it can be through work loads of present employees.
Approval from the management, and the budget for the new employees
This means that the team must receive the allowance from the high management before they can employ new employees, and they must plan a budget for them before applications could be made, they must come to a conclusion of how much they will pay new employee.
Prepare the advertisements
This means the what, how and where can applications be advertised, it can either be on the radio, internet, news papers, etc.
The advertisers must allow enough time for replies
Applicants must be given an enough time to respond.
Screening of the replies
The staffing team must screen the replies by screening it means that they must go through the applications and compare the competence of the applicants, and to see whether the applicants qualifies or meet the organisational requirements that were stated within the advertisement.
Draw a short list of candidates
The team must draw the list of candidates who are slightly or mostly meet the requirements of the organisation. This must be concluded with the approval of the interviewing panel or board.
Conduct Interviews
Interview is explained as a conversation with a purpose, designed to help you gather information about people’s assumptions/perceptions of activities.
2. SELECTION
According to Basavanthappa (2006:206) defines selection as the process of choosing the best candidates to fill the position. This process follows the recruitment process.
Important aspects to consider when selecting new staff
The staffing team must have knowledge about the agency’s needs and expectations. It must have knowledge about the agency’s goals, vision and mission, and again its objectives. They must again compare the candidates’ aims, visions, goals and desires whether they are in line with those of the agency.
These are the process of selection
Application forms: It focus on the training, experiences, and personal qualities and qualifications of the new applicant.
The initial selection
This is the interview, It focuses on the qualifications, training and the self of the possible candidates.
Testing
The aim of testing is to measure the competence of the applicants. The following is the example of tests: intelligence test; Aptitude test; Cognitive test and Personality test etc.
3. APPOINTMENT
According to Skidmore (1990:203) appointment is another major of the employing process. This happens after the applicant got the approval from the staffing team to qualify to be part of the agency. This process provides an opportunity to the candidates to learn the company or agency very well, and get to build working relationships.
THE FOLLOWING ARE THE IMPORTANT ASPECTS TO BE EMPHASISED WHEN APPOINTING
The agencies goals, missions, visions and aims.Responsibilities and opportunities should be shared with the new employee. Including his/her duties must be clearly stipulated to the employee. The important information about the job must be spelled out such as salaries, payment dates, pay periods, working hours, and vacation policies, fringe benefits.
4. ORIENTATION
According to Basavanthappa (2004:95) Orientation is the process of acquitting a new worker with the agency’s environment in order for the worker to relate quickly and effectively to new surroundings. The purpose of orientation is to make the new employee feel welcomed, and accepted by future co workers and superiors. This is to introduce the employee to the agencies policies, regulations, history and its goals, mission, vision, and aims as an agency. This process acts as a beginning step for the new worker to become a full employee of the agency.
It is important during this stage for the new employee to be given the opportunity to explore the agency and access full information about the agency, ask questions were she does not understand, like be given an opportunity to know more about the structure of the organisation and also must know were he/she fits in. There must be signing of contract during this stage, that is were the new employee will be having an agreement with the agency its code of conduct, and rules and regulations.
5. TRAINING AND DEVELOPMENT
The training of employees and development of their skills and careers have many advantages for the agency. Firstly it helps the agency meet its mediate human resource needs. Over the long run training and development ensures that the agency’s employees are ready to meet future challenges. (J. Aldag and W. Kuzuhara, 2005: page 504)
Determining training and development needs
Training and development may arise for many reasons. In general, training and development should follow systematic needs assessment. The needs assessment should consider 3 sets of factors:
The organization: What is the environment for training in terms of the organization’s goals, resources and climate for training?
The task: What are the work to be performed and the conditions under which it will be performed. The person. What personal capabilities are needed to do the job, and what are the people who will do the job.
The needs assessment may indicate a requirement for specific skills that are not readily available, such as computer programming, accounting or medical skills or it may suggest needs for future career development among employees.
Performance appraisal
It is a process of measuring employee’s performance against established goals and expectations.
Why appraised performance?
There are many reasons to measure how employees are performing. Firstly, if companies don’t have good performance appraisals, they may make poor promotions, salary and termination decisions. They may also find themselves vulnerable to law suits claiming unfair action on the part of the company. Secondly, if employees are to their jobs better or work better in the future, they need to know how well they have done them in the past. Thirdly, appraisals can have powerful motivating effects. When employees know their performance will be evaluated, they try harder to meet performance goals.
Improving performance appraisal
Performance appraisals are clearly very important, but many managers find the process difficult and unpleasant. They often have had little training and experience in conducting performance appraisals and they are reluctant to make critical comments about their subordinates.
Suggestions for improving performance appraisals
Ensures that the performance appraisals measure is reliable and valid, example avoids personal liking and favoritism. Involve employees in the process. Make sure performance ratings are discussed. Integrate performance evaluation into the broader process of day to day performance management.
Types of performance measures
Performance may be appraised in 3 major ways. Appraisal can focus on employee’s traits, behavior and accomplishment.
Trait approaches: here a manager rates an employee on such traits as friendliness, efficiency and punctuality.
Behavioral approaches: these approaches involve or recording of specific employee actions.
Outcome approaches: rather than considering traits or actions, some appraisals techniques rate what the employee is supposed to accomplish on the job. This approach is time consuming and may cause people to focus only on objectives that can be easily expressed in numbers.
6. INDUCTION:
Induction is known as employee socialization, it is very important in supplying new employees with the basic information and skills that they require to successfully perform their new work (Nel, Werner, Hansbroek, Poisat, Sono and Schultz 2007:261)
The objectives and benefits of induction
The main purpose of induction is to assist the new employee in his or her integration in the organization. The induction programme helps the individual to understand the social, technical and cultural aspects of the work place. According to Klynshans et al (2006:106) as cited in Werner et al (2007:261) the goals of induction programme should be to:
Help people to be less absent from work. Help new employee fit in easier and quickly. Help the employee to understand the big picture. Make new employee part of a team. Develop plans and goals for the new employee. To enhance employee- employer relationships.
Reasons for poor inductions
Kleynhans et al (2006:106) as cited in Werner et al (2007:262) gave various reasons why organizations do not pay enough attention to induction although it is important.
The responsible person does not have enough time to run proper induction programme.In some cases where an induction programme does exist, some of the most important issues are left out.Some programmes are designed to focus on the image of the organization and not on the fears and anxiety of the new employees.Many organizations do not regard employee stress as important enough to be in induction programme to minimize their stress.
Compensation: An organization is formed to fulfill a specific mission or purpose without hiring people who have the skills, knowledge, aptitudes and interest to help the organization to meet its mission and vision.
A compensation system is a reward mechanism that emanates from the allocation, conversion, and transfer of a portion of the revenue of an organization to its workers and for their monetary and in-kind claims of goods and services.
The objectives of a compensation system
The objective of a compensation package is to influence employee motivation in a positive manner so as to lead to improved organizational performance and strategy. If rewards are to be successfully in stimulating desired behaviors, they must meet the demands of the employees whose behaviors are intended to influence.
Affirmative action It is the policy that stands for the most disadvantaged people. Designated groups such as blacks, women, and people with disabilities.
The arguments for affirmative action
The justification for affirmative action is the need to create more diversity in a particular organization. Affirmative action programmes have increased the labor force participation rate for women and blacks (M.C Whirter 1996: 6-8) as cited in (P.S Nel et al 2007:169)
Arguments against affirmative action
Zelnick (1996) as cited in (P.S Nel et al 2007: 169) regards affirmative action as a racially discriminatory practice against whites and other non- favored ethnic groups. It favors the less qualified over the more qualified, and it is therefore a systematic attack upon objective merit selection criteria.
Weaknesses of the affirmative action
Every employee is now a representative of a group. Affirmative action is a contrived programme of preferential policies based on membership of a specific group. Affirmative action is based on political empowerment and not on economic empowerment. Specific individuals are conferred the rights of groups. There thus seem to be no more specific individual rights, but only generic groups rights (P.S Nel et al 2007: 169)
7. TERMINATION
It can be as results of retirements where employees are going for pension, or where employees are taking transfer for other organizations or for the greener pastures. It can also be as a result of retrengedment.
INTERNAL STAFFING PROCESS
I. PROMOTION
Promotion is a position requiring great skills, higher qualification, longer experience, higher rate of pay and also a change of title or status is also considered. Promotion should be made without regard to race, gender, age, religion and disability or place of origin.
To be eligible for promotion, the person/ employee must meet certain requirements, skills or experience.
Certain procedures are to be followed when promoting an individual:
Application, appointment or get elected:
Application itself consist of the interview and hence appointment. The selection of highly qualified individuals is a pre-requisite in most cases, these factors would be considered, attendance and work records, performance evaluation and letters of recommendation from previous supervisor(s). for example when a person apply for another sector/department in the same organization, the manager to the department in which he is going to be interviewed or promoted to should in case require the letter of reference from the former supervisor of the employee
What to look for when promoting an employee?
(Dr. Monica Burns-Capers; self growth.com; accessed on 21.08.2009)
Leadership attitude, she must be able to be in a position to guide, advice and deal with other members effectively by creating a conducive environment.
Respect for others, self control, confidence. Can also be able to take a constructive criticism. Should be also a people’s person: having a pleasant attitude and be in a position to convince or show others on how to do things. It should be someone who always or in most cases takes the initiative, who doesn’t mind to be cross-trained in other departments. Who commits to ongoing development and leadership training and who is also willing to delegate without biasness. Have the ability to motivate others who are on the same level, also appreciate, acknowledge and recognize others and their task.
II. DEMOTION
According to the Industry News Journal ;( issue no.07; 2009), demotion can be seen as an alternate to dismissal. The labor court tribunal such as the CCMA also encourages more creativity when penalties are imposed, and dismissal being used as a last resort.
Employers are always encouraged to act fairly and also don’t break the laws, employers should consider the following. According to the Labor Law for Managers: Practical Hand Book,
Demotion should have the following characteristics:
1. Demotion as a penalty may only be used as alternative to dismissal
2. It should be fair
3. Allow the worker a second chance, if the charge is equivalent to dismissal, inform the employee whether he is prepared to settle for a demotion as an alternative or not
4. Let the person sign the document that says that he is prepared to settle for demotion
The labor relations act; section 186 (2) says that demotion, like dismissal should be handled by the book. It also allows employees to take employers for task if an unfair labor practice has been practiced
We have a unilateral demotion which is one kind of demotion; it is when the employer is demoted hence the salary and status (role) is also reduced.
Reasons for demotion:
(a) Poor work performance
(b) To place the person to a level where he can perform better at.
III. TRANSFERENCE OF EMPLOYEES
The labor relations act 66 of 1995, says that:
1. No employee may be transferred from the place of work without his or her consent
2. If the member is so transferred, the conditions of service of the employee should also apply to him/her. The conditions of service may not be less favorable than the conditions of services which applied to the employee immediately before the transference occurred.
Reasons for transference: To keep an employee’s job. to avoid him and to fill a vacant position to the next department or region.
IV. LAY –OFFS
Lay-off means the retrenchment of employees and it can vary according to different reasons of termination.
Reasons of layoffs:
(a) Unsatisfactory/ Poor performance of the employee
(b) Company’s low or no budget and
(c) economic meltdown
Following the economic meltdown, we have seen a quite number of jobs looses across all sectors. The hardest hit according to the Financial News 24, it is the mining sector.
The meeting held on the 2nd of December 2008, between Minerals and Energy department, Chamber of Mines and Mine Workers Union (MWU); it was assumed that the fall down in mines will add to the country’s 23.6 percent unemployed including those who gave up looking for job to make 30 percent.
Economic Development minister; Ebrahim Patel, said South Africa could face another round of job losses due to the weak rand- Quoted in S.A fm(28/08/2009 at 10H00)
Impacts of job loss or layoffs:
The impact of job loss is tremendous. The loss of a job is never easy, even if it is expected. Unexpected job loss has an even greater emotional impact on us.
For a man, the loss of a job can be devastating to his identity, his sense of self worth, and his self respect. If his income is the primary income, a job loss may cause his wife to react negatively out of fear due to a loss of security. He may be blamed for minor things even if it is not his fault, future consequences of his unemployment will begin to be foreseen.
For a woman, job loss may undermine her sense of identity, if she is the primary earner; her source of financial security is threatened. Most women forms a close relationship with their co-workers, she might feel isolated. Yet, it is hard to see or feel dignity when your source of income is removed. There is no simple solution; a job loss will cause stress. Many researchers rank the stress of job loss with Post Traumatic Stress Disorder (PTSD). This is where the intervention of the Social Worker is highly significant.
V. RETRENCHMENT
The word retrench means to cut down or reduce something, therefore retrenchment means cutting off expenses or employees.
For instances when a company or agency goes trough retrenchment it reduces an outgoing money, expenditure and some employees or it redirects focus in an attempt to become more financially solvent.
VI. RETIREMENT
Is the state of being retired from one’s business or occupation or withdrawal from your position?
Retirement is the beginning of new stage of life. Work is only part of what you do as a person but when you retire from working, whether fully or partially you’ll have more time for the other interest in your life. Planning your retirement is a very important and personal process, not simply following a one size fits all plan. Your retirement plan should be based on your vision of the life you hope to lead and must also take your financial picture into account.
The best time to start planning your retirement is while you’re still working and it’s never too early to start your research. The important thing is to get started, so you’re not left making all the important choices in your last few weeks on the job.
Some question to ask yourself are:
Do I want to retire?
How do I want to spend my time in retirement?
How will I handle not having to go to work?
How much will I miss the social contacts and my friends at work?
Will my friends also be retired?
How much income will I need in retirement?
Am I psychologically ready to retire?
Should I consider semi-retirement or a second career?
What impact will my retirement have on my family?
What if I don’t retire and instead keep on working like I am now?
Will I have to get apart time job to keep me going?
VII. DISMISSAL
Is a judgement disposing the matter without trial or official notice that you have been fired from your job?A dismissal may be fair or unfair depending on the circumstances of a dismissal.
According to the labour relation’s act section 24(1) as ammended by the constitution of the republic of south africa, act 108 of 1996, everyone has a right to fair labour practices.
Steps to work through to identify an unfair dismissal
Who claim unfair dismissal?
There are some employees who can never claim unfair dismissal and they are:
Peole who are not employees, such as independent contractor or freelance agents. Employers often claim that people who are actually employees are self-employed, but it is important to check the relationship between the employees and their employer, because this will determine the employee’s actual employment status.
Have u actually been dismissed?
What count as a dismissal:
When your employer end your employment with or without notice.
When your employer does not renew a fixed term contract that has run out.
When your employer refuses to take you back after a strike.
What does not count as a dismissal are:
When you resign without any pressure from your employer or leave by mutual agreement.
When your employer with draws a job offer before you start working.
When circumstances change and you can no longer continue to work for your employer.
Have you been discriminated against?
You may believe that you have been dismissed because of your gender, race, disabilities, religion or age. This is discrimination, you can claim for discrimination to an employment tribunal. In a note” you do not have to work for any particular length of time to be able to claim for discrimination, however in order to claim unfair dismissal you will need to have worked for your employer for one year.
VIII. QUITTING
Refers to discontinue or putting an end to a state or activity. When a person decides to quit a job there can be several helpful tips such as the person naturally want to quit a job the best note possible and this is for if that person requires a references from an ex-employer he/she is more likely to receive those references, because how one quits can influence how people feel about them at a later stage.
Many employment experts advise giving notice to quit a job two or four weeks prior to planning to move to another position. There are few circumstances that justify one to quit a job without notice and if one’s reason for quitting a job is an ongoing harassment or fear of physical threat then quitting without notice is acceptable.
VIX. RESIGNATION
Resignation is the formal act of giving up or quitting one’s office or position. A resignation can occur when a person holding a position gained by election or appointment step down, but leaving a position upon the expiration of a term is not considered resignation. Resigning should not mean shouting out “I quit” and storming out of the building never return and this means there is a best way to resign and it first involves notifying an employer two weeks before the last day of work.
Most employment experts recommend not giving less than two weeks even if you are pressured by another company to start a job sooner. However, it also make sense not to give notice before two weeks, especially if the new job won’t begin in a few months because something could happen which makes that job to disappear, so it is important to stick to the two weeks rule.
INTERNAL AND EXTERNAL FACTORS THAT AFFECT STAFFING
Staffing requires an open-system approach.
staffing is a dynamic process and is affected by several variables both within the organization and outside .staffing as a function of manager is affected by various elements of management process but at the same time, it affects other elements also. Therefore, staffing can be integrated with other functions.Various internal factors which affect staffing are planning and organizing of the organization.
Organizational planning is basically the starting point in which context organizational design takes place. Various organizational positions are created in the light of planning in the organization. For example, planning and organizing together determine the number and type of personnel required in the organization.
This requirement is compared with the personnel available in the organization. The gap between the personnel required and available can be filled through recruitment, selection, promotion, etc. These are followed by training, development, and performance appraisal. Staffing function also affects directing and controlling aspects of management process. For example, staffing will affect the type of personnel made available in the organization which will determine the type of direction given and control exercised. The direction depends on the quality of personnel. For example, if people are well qualified, they will need lesser degree of direction as they can initiate many functions on their own.
Similarly, they need less control as they will exercise self-control in the light of the objectives of the positions occupied by them. The interrelationship between staffing and other elements of management process works in reverse direction also. It is true that staffing is affected by planning and organizing but at the same time, it may affect these elements also. For example, planning and organizing take into account the type of personnel available presently or may be made available in future. Similarly, staffing may be affected by directing and controlling also. For example, availability of personnel to organization is affected by the incentives and motivational plans, quality of leadership and working life, type of control systems used, etc. These are the elements of directing and controlling.
Besides the internal factors, staffing is affected by several factors outside the organization. Such factors like level of education, attitudes to work, rules and regulations framed by the government, general economic conditions, etc., affect staffing function in different ways and put limitations on the organization. For example, an organization may be required to reserve certain positions for socially and economically backward communities.
In such a case, the organization is forced to select personnel belonging to these communities irrespective of the fact whether they meet the organizational requirements or not. Thus managers have to perform staffing function taking into account these factors both internal and external.
Not very manager is required to perform all staffing functions but personnel department is created to take the advantages of specialization. This department works in staff capacity implying that this will provide help and advice to line managers in discharging their staffing functions. Line managers may be concerned only with the final decision of the various aspects of staffing.
Functional responsibilities in a project type organization structure define event management staffing requirements. The importance of team structure, experience, background and expertise of team members plays a crucial role in event management. It is the size and the resource availability in the events enterprise that to an extent defines the exact role of the staff members. In a big firm, there is more scope for specialized functional personnel with limited functional responsibilities, whereas, in a small firm,
there is a fusion of roles depending purely on availability of time and staff. People involved in staffing must be fully cognisant of the internal and external factors.
ADVANTAGES AND DISADVANTAGES OF INTERNAL AND EXTERNAL STAFFING.
INTERNAL STAFFING
Is the recruitment and selection of the best suitable person from the existing employees within the organization based on abilities, experience or skills and attitude to fulfill the requirements needed and to help the organization achieve its goals and objectives .e.g. when filling the vacant post of the senior social worker in Social Development the management can promote the existing social worker who qualify for that position without recruiting from outside.
Advantages of internal staffing
It minimizes cost, like when staffing within the organization, the management does not have to spend lot of money advertizing the vacant post in the newspaper, radios and using electronic recruiting (it means the process of using internet based soft ware to attract, and recruit suitable candidates) instead of putting that vacant post on the boards or making internal staff to be aware of that post therefore it will be a cheaper process in that way.
It is time serving because the short list is already there within the organization unlike going through the procedure of choosing outside candidates who have applied for that vacancy .e.g. when filling the vacancy for manager of student affairs in the university, the management can give the internal qualified staff the opportunity to apply for that vacant post therefore the list would not be long unlike starting from the beginning and select new candidates who have applied.
When vacancies are filled through internal sources, employers do not have to spend time orientating new candidates to the business environment because the existing employees are familiar with the organization’s policies, procedures, customs and how the organization operates. E.g. when filling a vacancy at a certain high school, the management can appoint teachers who are been volunteering in their school because they are used to that environment.
Using internal staffing is that internal staff are more likely to have a throughout understanding of the organizations specialized system than external candidates would have therefore the organization can only develop and improve their skills instead of training the new candidates after hiring them.
When a member is promoted, it encourage excellent performance from the employees and they get motivated to work harder and to think that good performance leads to promotion and the organization will benefit from its employees which will make it to achieve its goals.
Disadvantages of internal staffing
The organization will lack new employees from outside which will lead to lack of new ideas and as a results the organization would not grow from one level to another. E.g. having already existing candidates who does not come up with new ideas and only uses the old ideas would not bring any change in the organization.
Internal staffing demands a higher degree of employee training. In order to develop the skills needed to train the current workforce in the processes, the organization has to provide a more expensive training program .e.g. like paying money for their workshop where they will be provided with training and development.
Management may have to recruit less skilled person due to unavailability of skilled person suitable for some specific job. E.g. when management of Social Development focuses only on doing internal staffing can end up promoting unskilled and unqualified and unqualified person for that position and this may have a bad impact in the organization.
Using the internal staffing for the consideration of vacant positions can lead to conflicts amongst employees whereby one can start to have an attitude to the one who is been promoted because of wishing to be the one who could have been promoted.
EXTERNAL STAFFING
It is when the vacancy in the organization is been filled by suitable applicant from outside.
Advantages of external staffing
The organization can benefit by using new ideas from new candidates .e.g. where new members will come up with new ideas to the organization.
The organization will get experienced person from outside world whereby they can bring changes and make the organization to grow.
The new candidates can motivate the existing employees like in a case of coming up with new something new in the organization can encourage the employees as they will be acquiring new ideas from them.
Disadvantages of external staffing
The organization has to undergo expensive procedures like paying a lot of money to advertize the vacant post in the newspapers, radios and internet where qualified and interested candidates can access that information.
It is a waste of time because the recruitment management will spend lot of time looking for best candidates to fill that vacancy.
e.g. In the department of human and social sciences the management together with the lectures had to spend lot of time interviewing new candidates to fill vacancies because they have to choose someone they know could come with changes and will be useful and as the benefit to the university and students.
The organization has to limit choice of employees to select because they have to make sure that they select few interviewees to be interviewed by the interviewers .e.g. when the vacant post is out many people will apply for that and management has to select the best candidates for the interview because if they cannot select, they will have to interview many people as the list will be long.
CONCLUSION
Staffing is one of the functions of management. It is sequential, logical, systematic and ongoing process. Staffing is important in the organization because help the management to recruit, employ and retrench members. The reason for recruiting and employing new candidates is to get best employees and to use their new ideas to make the organization grow bigger. The other reason is to retrench those who have low performance and does not have any positive influence and bring changes in the organization that can be evident when one resigns or is being retrenched therefore management will go out to find the best candidates to fill that vacant.
One of the disadvantages of staffing can be when management employers unskilled personnel such as friends or relatives and even using bribes when employing candidates and that can have a negative impact on the growth of the organization.
Under the internal staffing, there is lay-off, demotion and promotion, the reason for having these factors is to promote the candidates within the organization. The promotion motivates other candidates to work harder and influences the positive growth in the organization because the more they work harder the organization will also grow. Promotion is the source of positive reinforcement to the candidates as the candidates get encouraged that there is a reward for hard work.
One of the disadvantages to internal staffing without following the procedures correctly can leave the vacancy not occupied and that will lead to insufficient staff like when promoting members but does not fill the gap that promoted member has left. Social workers should be on the staffing management in a case where a social worker will be appointed for a specific vacancy because social workers also have an idea on what kind of a person they want to bring on board.
REFERENCES
1. Kuzuhara Loren W. and Aldag J. Ramon 2005. Mastering management skills: A manager’s Toolkit. Thomson Corporation. South Western.
2. Werner A, Hansbroek G.D, Schultz H.B, Nel P.S, Poisant P, and Sono T. 2008. Human resource management: Oxford University Press. South Africa.
3. The Industry News Journal ; issue no.07; 2009
4. Labor relations act; section 186 (2) and act 66 of 1995
5. Ibrahim Patel, Quoted in S.A fm (28/08/2009 at 10H00)
6. The constitution of the republic of South Africa, act 108 of 1996
