CHAPTER 8:

STAFFING
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Staffing
Staffing
Process of recruiting & selecting prospective
employees
Has significant impact on organizations bottom line
Requires staffing process to become strategically
focused

Recruitment & selection activities offer organization

numerous choices to find & select new employees
Staffing decisions need to ensure employees fit
organizations culture
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Recruiting
Temporary versus permanent employees
Increase headcount temporarily or permanently
should be strategically-driven
Basis for decisions is HR forecast
Temporary employees less costly
Temporary headcount increases can be obtained
from specialized agencies
Headcount increases can be avoided by
subcontracting work
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Exhibit 8-1

Advantages & Disadvantages of Internal &

External Recruiting

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Recruiting
When & how extensively to recruit
When do recruiting efforts need to begin?
How large an applicant pool needed?
Data from past recruiting efforts utilized
To answer questions where feasible
Adjust for changed conditions

Yield ratios
Offer information on how many applicants eliminated/remain
at each step in recruitment process
Can determine proper or necessary size of applicant pool
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Exhibit 8-2

Recruiting Pyramid

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Exhibit 8-3

Recruiting Timeline

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Methods of Recruiting

Informally or formally
Internally or externally
Targeted advertising in selected media
Recruiting on Internet
Outsourcing to staffing agencies
Private Industry Councils (PICs)
Executive search firms
On-campus recruiting

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Recruiting on Internet
One of fastest-growing recruitment methods
More cost-effective than newspaper advertising
Low cost, speed, & ability to target applicants
with technical skills
Allows applicants to assess interests & needs with
employers offerings
Global exposure to potential applicants
Can cut search process time by as much as 75%

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Recruiting on Internet
Some potential challenges
Ensuring security
Viruses
Access to unauthorized areas
Disparate impact against certain protected
classes
Can complicate reporting of data related to
compliance with federal & state laws
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110

Selection Process Issues

Reliability
Consistency of measurement
Screening criteria should elicit same results
in repeated trials across time & evaluators
Reliability influenced by criterion deficiency &
contamination errors
Reliability is prerequisite for validity

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111

Selection Process Issues

Validity
Degree to which what is assessed is related to actual
performance
Ability to establish job-related validity is crucial to employers
in defending themselves in discrimination allegations
Content validity illustrates that measure or criterion is
representative of actual job content or knowledge
Criterion (empirical) validity demonstrated by relationship
between screening criteria & job performance

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112

Interviewing Process Issues

Who should be involved?
Prospective supervisors, peers, subordinates

Which interview format?

Individual or group interviews

Common interviewer errors

Similarity errors
Contrast errors
First impression
Halo errors
Personal biases

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113

Behavioral Interviewing
Used with experienced & inexperienced
applicants
Asks about situations candidate is likely to
face on job
Candidates can present real-life situations
they were involved in & how they handled
them

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114

Testing
Work sample tests
Ask applicant to complete representative sample of
actual work

Trainability tests
Measure
Aptitude in certain areas
Ability to understand critical job components that
firm will teach new hires

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115

Testing
Realistic job previews
Make applicants aware of both positive & negative
aspects of job
Decrease likelihood new employee will become
dissatisfied
Increase likelihood of candidates self-selecting out
of position

Personality testing is useful in anticipating

how applicants are likely to behave
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116

Exhibit 8-4

The Big Five Personality Dimensions

Personality Dimension

Characteristics of Person Scoring

Positively on Dimension

1) Extraversion

Outgoing, talkative, social, assertive

2) Agreeableness

Trusting, good-natured, cooperative,

soft-hearted

3) Conscientiousness

Dependable, responsible,
achievement-oriented, persistent

4) Emotional stability

Relaxed, secure, unworried

5) Openness to experience

Intellectual, imaginative, curious,

broad-minded

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117

Other Testing Methods

Personality testing
Useful to anticipate how applicants likely to behave
Few, if any, jobs require specific personality type
Have been successfully challenged in court

Physical testing
Restricted under ADA to testing only for specific
critical job-related physical performance
requirements

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118

Other Testing Methods

Honesty testing
Declined since passage of Polygraph Protection
Act in 1988

Drug testing
Challenged in courts as invasion of privacy

References
Little information available due to former employer
fears of liability for libel, slander & defamation

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119

Selection for International Assignments

Reasons for failure on international
assignments
Interpersonal & acculturation abilities
Rarely technical skills

Test employees adaptability, openmindedness, ability to tolerate uncertainty

& ambiguity & independence
Interview & screen family members who
would accompany employee
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120

Exhibit 8-4

Strategic Issues in Staffing

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121

Reading 8.1

Hiring for Organization, Not Job

New model of selection geared toward hiring
whole person who fits into organizations
culture
Strong situation
Intensity of situation suppresses variation in behavior
attributable to person

Weak situation
Allows range of employee responses to work requirements

In organizations that are weak situations

More important to do good job of hiring right people
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Reading 8.1

Hiring Process for Person-Organization Fit

Assess overall work environment
Job analysis
Organizational analysis

Infer type of person required

Technical knowledge, skills & abilities

Social skills
Personal needs, values & interests
Personality traits

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Reading 8.1

Hiring Process for Person-Organization Fit

Design rites of passage for organization entry
that allow both organization and applicant to
assess their fit

Tests of cognitive, motor & interpersonal abilities

Interviews by potential coworkers & others
Personality tests
Realistic job previews, including work samples

Reinforce person-organization fit at work

Reinforce skills & knowledge through task design & training
Reinforce personal orientation through organization design
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Reading 8.1

Potential Benefits & Problems with Hiring

for Person-Organization Fit
Potential benefits
More favorable employee attitudes
More desirable individual behaviors
Reinforcement of organizational design

Potential problems
Greater investment of resources in hiring process
Relatively undeveloped & unproven supporting selection
technology
May be difficult to use full model where payoffs are greatest
Lack of organizational adaptation
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Reading 8.2

Reasons for Expatriate Early Departure

Not performing job effectively

Received other, more rewarding offer (other co.)
Expatriate or family not adjusting
Expatriate or family missing home
Received more rewarding offer (current co.)
Unable to adjust to deprived living standards
Concerned with problems of safety & health
Believed childrens education was suffering
Feared assignment would slow career advance
Spouse wanted career
Compensation package inadequate

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48.4%
43.7%
36.6%
31.0%
17.2%
10.3%
10.3%
7.1%
7.1%
6.1%
0.0%
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Reading 8.3

Frequently Mentioned Obstacles to Global

Staffing System
Legal requirements across
countries/regions
Education system across
countries/regions
Economic conditions across
countries/regions
Ability to acquire & use
technology
Labor market variations
Value differences across
cultures
Availability of off-the-shelf
translated tools
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Level of HR experience varies

across regions
Role of HR in hiring varies
across regions
Familiarity with a tool or
practice varies
Misperceptions that something
is a cultural difference
Limited local resources for
implementation
Beliefs about whether a global
system is US-centric or
imposed
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Reading 8.3

Frequently Mentioned Benefits to Global Staffing

System
Global database of qualified
talent
Quick identification of
candidates to meet needs of
specific location
Provision of consistent message
about company to candidates
worldwide
Quality of all hires is ensured
Better understanding of
country/regional needs by all
HR

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Global succession planning is

enabled
Global HR personnel have
access to the latest versions of
products/tools
Shared vision of HR globally
Comparisons of staffing results
across locations
Global database as internal
benchmark of achievement in
different parts of world

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