Staffing — NCERT Solutions

Training and development benefit both the organisation and the employee. For the organisation, they improve productivity, quality, morale, succession planning, and the ability to respond to change. For employees, they improve skills and knowledge, help in career growth, increase efficiency, reduce accidents, and raise satisfaction and morale.

The case describes a portal website launched for senior management jobs. This is the source of recruitment called web publishing or internet recruitment.

Four benefits of web publishing as a source of recruitment are:

1. Wide reach — the internet can attract candidates from a large area.
2. Faster recruitment — vacancies can be seen and applied for quickly.
3. Lower cost — it is cheaper than many traditional methods like print advertising.
4. Better choice of candidates — it helps the organisation get a larger pool of applicants, especially for specialised jobs.

The chapter also says that websites are commonly visited by both prospective employees and organisations searching for suitable people.

The staffing process the company should follow is:

1. Estimating manpower requirements — first determine how many workers and what type of workers are needed for the new plant.
2. Recruitment — search for prospective employees and stimulate them to apply.
3. Selection — choose the best candidates from the applicant pool through tests and interviews.
4. Placement and orientation — place selected employees in suitable jobs and familiarise them with the company, rules and work environment.
5. Training and development — train them in the required skills so they can work efficiently in the auto components sector.
6. Performance appraisal — assess their performance after some time.
7. Promotion and career planning — provide growth opportunities.
8. Compensation — design proper wage and salary plans to motivate and retain them.

Since the company is in a competitive manufacturing sector, staffing must ensure the right people in the right jobs and also build a skilled and motivated workforce.

The company should rely on both internal and external sources of recruitment, but for a new plant and a rapidly growing manufacturing business, external sources will be more important.

Recommended sources

• Advertisement — to attract a wide pool of qualified applicants.
• Employment exchange — useful for skilled and unskilled operative jobs.
• Placement agencies and consultants — helpful for technical and managerial personnel.
• Campus recruitment — suitable for engineering, technical and management talent.
• Employee recommendations — can bring reliable candidates.
• Web publishing — useful for quick and wide circulation of vacancies.

Reasons

• The company is new, so it cannot depend on internal recruitment alone.
• It needs fresh talent and a wide choice of candidates.
• Manufacturing auto components requires trained technical personnel, which external sources can provide.
• External recruitment brings new blood, competitive spirit, and specialised skills needed for expansion and exports.

Internal sources like promotions and transfers can still be used for some posts after the plant starts functioning, but they cannot meet all initial manpower needs.

The selection process the company should follow is:

1. Preliminary screening — check applications and reject clearly unsuitable candidates.
2. Selection tests — use tests such as:

• Intelligence tests,
• Aptitude tests,
• Personality tests,
• Trade tests for technical skills,
• Interest tests if needed.

3. Employment interview — assess suitability in a formal interview.
4. Reference and background checks — verify the candidate’s information and character.
5. Selection decision — choose the best candidate.
6. Medical examination — ensure fitness for the job.
7. Job offer — issue the appointment letter.
8. Contract of employment — finalise the terms and conditions.

Reasons

Because the company is in auto component manufacturing, it needs people with technical skill, reliability and discipline. Therefore, trade tests, aptitude tests and reference checks are especially important to ensure the right person for the right job.

The problems in the company are:

• It is losing qualified candidates to a competitor.
• The labour market is a jobseeker’s market, so recruiting good employees is difficult.
• The company is getting applicants who have soft skills but lack the required hard skills and training.
• This shows a mismatch between job requirements and the available workforce.
• The recruiting and training system is not bringing in enough suitably trained people.

The problem can be resolved by:

• Improving the recruitment strategy to attract better candidates.
• Using stronger external sources such as advertisements, placement agencies, campus recruitment and web publishing.
• Strengthening the training programme so that candidates who have soft skills can be given the hard skills needed for the job.
• Offering better compensation, incentives and career opportunities to attract and retain talent.
• Making the workplace and job more attractive so the company can compete with rivals.

Impact on the company

• Better quality of employees
• Improved productivity and service quality
• Lower turnover and better retention
• More efficient operations and better customer service
• Stronger position in the competitive market

Thus, proper recruitment plus training would help the company build a skilled workforce and improve performance.

Ms. Jayshree, as the Human Resource Manager, is supposed to perform the duties of the Human Resource Department. These include:

• Recruitment — searching for qualified people.
• Job analysis — collecting information about jobs and preparing job descriptions.
• Compensation and incentive planning — deciding wages, salaries and rewards.
• Training and development — improving employee skills and helping career growth.
• Maintaining labour relations — handling relations between management and workers/unions.
• Handling grievances and complaints.
• Social security and welfare measures for employees.
• Defending the company in legal cases and avoiding legal complications.

Since the company is expanding, she will also need to help with staffing new posts and maintaining performance and morale.

The problems she may face are:

• Large manpower requirement because the company already has 800 employees and needs about 200 more.
• Recruitment and selection pressure to find suitable people for many different jobs.
• Training needs for new employees and existing workers.
• Maintaining labour relations, morale and motivation in a growing organisation.
• Performance appraisal and promotion issues as the company expands.
• Handling wages, welfare and grievances for a larger workforce.
• Legal and compliance responsibilities in a manufacturing company.

So her job will be demanding because she must manage both current employees and the needs created by expansion.

To perform her job efficiently, she should take these steps:

1. Estimate manpower requirements for the present workforce and the additional 200 employees.
2. Recruit suitable candidates from the best available sources.
3. Select carefully through screening, tests, interviews and background checks.
4. Place and orient employees properly in the organisation.
5. Arrange training and development so employees gain the required skills.
6. Appraise performance regularly and give feedback.
7. Plan promotions and career growth.
8. Design fair compensation and incentives to motivate employees.
9. Maintain good industrial relations, welfare and grievance handling.

These steps will help her ensure that the company gets and keeps the right people in the right jobs.

Her role is highly significant in the organisation. As the Human Resource Manager, she will be responsible for managing the human element of the company, and the success of the organisation depends to a great extent on the competence, motivation and performance of its human resources. In a large company with 800 employees and plans for expansion, she will help ensure that the right people are available in the right number and at the right time, and that they are properly recruited, selected, trained, developed, motivated and retained. She will also help in maintaining good labour relations, improving morale, handling grievances, and supporting the company’s growth and efficiency. Since human resources are the most important asset of an organisation, her work will have a direct effect on productivity, quality and overall organisational success.