Staffing is the process of filling all positions in the organization with adequate and qualified personnel. According to Koontz and O’Donnell, “staffing is the executive function where the recruitment, selection, compensating, training, promotion and retirement of subordinate managers”.
Staffing consists of manpower planning, recruitment, selection, training, compensation, promotion and maintenance of managerial personnel. It involves finding the right person for the right job, having him in the right place, doing the right job at the right time.
The objective of staffing function is to obtain competent employees and to provide me climate which will be most conducive to superior performance. Staffing is the responsibility of every manager.
Unless the manager fulfills his function of seeing that a constant stream of subordinate managers is recruited, selected, trained, developed and promoted, he is not fulfilling one of his most crucial duties.
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Efficient staffing helps to avoid under-utilization of personnel as well as shortages of personnel. It is helpful in discovering talented people and. developing them to move up the corporate ladder.
Every organization is concerned about the quality of its manpower, especially its managers. Managerial talent is the most valuable asset of an organization and, therefore, staffing is one of the most important functions of management.
In the absence of competent managers and operatives, an organization is a mere skeleton that has no life and no fruitful activity. An important body of knowledge and experience has been developed in the area of staffing. Staffing is an ongoing activity of managers.
Staffing function is difficult as it deals with the human factor where completely objective judgment is not always possible. Staffing is the cornerstone of management because no manager can be effective without the right approach to the staffing job.
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Human beings are the most important asset of an organization. Therefore, efficient procurement, development, maintenance and utilization of human resources, particularly, a manager is indispensable for the successful working of every organization.
In big organizations there is a separate personnel department. But this department provides expert advice and assistance in staffing to line managers.
Every manager is actively involved in the selection, training and appraisal of his subordinates. Staffing is significant to every manager because it provides competent personnel for efficient working of his unit and it ensures a team of competent successors to him.
Therefore, staffing can be described as a pervasive or essential function of management. Staffing is a continuous process because the work force of an enterprise is subject to constant change. Changes in the organization create new jobs and these must be filled.
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Staffing function has become important with growing size of organization, technological advancements and recognition of the human factor in industry: staffing is more than mere acquisition of personnel.
It is “concerned with the placement, growth and development of all those members of the organization whose function is to get things done through the efforts of other individuals.”
Staffing is an executive function which involves the recruitment, selection, training, promotion and appraisal of subordinate managers. Staffing is sometimes differentiated from personnel management which is concerned with non-managers, i.e., workers, salesmen, clerks, etc.