Important Questions for CBSE Class 12 Business Studies Meaning, Definition, Importance and Process of Staffing

Staffing Important Questions for CBSE Class 12 Business Studies Meaning, Definition, Importance and Process of Staffing

1. Meaning of Staffing
It has been described as the managerial function of filling and keeping the positions filled in the organisational structure.
In other words, staffing is that part of the process of management which is concerned with obtaining, utilising and maintaining a satisfactory work force.

2. Definition of Staffing
According to Koontz and O’ Donnell, ‘The managerial function of staffing involves the organisational structure through proper and effective selection, appraisal and development of personnel to fill the roles designed into the structure’.

3. Importance of Staffing

Obtaining competent personnel.
Higher performance.
Continuous survival and growth.
Optimum utilisation of human resources.
Motivation and morale.

4. Process of Staffing
(i) Estimating manpower requirements It means to estimate the number and type of persons required in the organisation.
(ii)Recruitment It is the process of searching for prospective employees and stimulating them to apply for jobs.
(iii) Selection It means to choose the best from amongst the applicants, majorly by interviewing and conducting selection tests.
(iv) Placement and orientation Once the employee is selected, he is given the post. This is known as placement. Orientation means introducing the new employee to the other employees and the organisation
(v) Training and development Training is conducted to increase the skill and knowledge of the person to do the specific job. Whereas development aims for overall growth of the employee.
(vi) Performance appraisal It means evaluating an employee’s current or past performance against the pre-determined standards.
(vii) Promotion and career planning Promotion refers to the advancement of an employeein the management hierarchy. ”
(viii) Compensation It refers to all types of pay or rewards given to an employee, whether financial or indirect payments.

Previous Years Examination Questions

1 Mark Questions
1. How does staffing improve job satisfaction and morale of employees? State. (Compartment 2014)
Ans. Staffing helps in improving job satisfaction and morale of the employees by employing right people at right job, train them and developing their abilities, evaluating their performance and promoting them.

2. How is staffing a continuous process? State. (Compartment 2014)
Ans. Staffing function is described as filling and keeping filled the positions in the organisation. Staffing is a continuous process because new jobs may be created and some of the existing employees may leave the organisation.

3. State how staffing ensures ‘continuous survival and growth of enterprise’. (All India 2013)
Ans. Proper staffing ensures continuous survival and growth of an enterprise through succession planning for managers.

4. Give the meaning of ‘orientation’ as a step in the process of staffing. (Delhi 2012)
Ans. Orientation refers to introduction of new employees to the existing ones in the organisation and familiarising them with the rules and policies of the organisation.

5. What is meant by ‘estimating manpower requirement’ as a step in the process of staffing? (Delhi 2012)
Ans. ‘Estimating manpower requirement’ means finding out the number and their types of persons or employees needed by the organisation in near future.
6. Give the meaning of ‘placement’ as a step in the process of staffing. (All India 2012)
Ans. Placement refers to the employees occupying the position or post for which the person has been selected.

7. Give the meaning of ‘compensation’ as a step in the process of staffing(All India 2012)
Ans. Compensation refers to all forms of pay or rewards offered to employees. It may be in the form of direct financial payments like wages, salaries, incentives, commission and bonus or may be in the form of indirect payments like employer paid insurance and vacations, etc.

8. What is meant by staffing? (Delhi 2010c)
Ans. Staffing has been described as the managerial function of filling and keeping filled the positions in the organisation structure. In other words, staffing is that part of the process of management which is concerned with obtaining, utilising and maintaining a satisfactory work force.

9. How does staffing help to ensure higher performance of employees? (All India 2010)
or
How does staffing help to ensure optimum utilisation of human resources? (Delhi 2010C)
Ans. Staffing helps in ensuring optimum utilisation of human resources by putting right person on the right job. It prevents under-utilisation of personnel and high labour cost. At the same time, it avoids disruption of work by indicating the shortage of personnel.
3 Marks Questions
10. Give the meaning of placement, orientation and training in the process of staffing. (Delhi 2012)
Ans. Placement refers to the employees occupying the position or post for which the person has been selected.
Orientation refers to introduction of new employees to the existing employees of the organisation and familiarising them with the rules and policies of the organisation.
Training refers to the systematic development of knowledge, skills and attitude required by an individual to perform efficiently a given task/job.

11. Why is staffing considered as an important function of management in all types of
organisations? State any three reasons. (Delhi 2011; All India 2011)
Ans. Staffing is considered as an important function of management because of the following reasons:
(i) It helps in discovering and obtaining competent personnel for various jobs.
(ii) It results in improved performance by putting right person on the right job.
It ensures the continuous survival and growth of an enterprise through the succession planning by managers.
4/5 Marks Questions

12. Sahil, the director of a garments company, is planning to manufacture bags for the utilisation of waste material for one of his garments unit. He decided that this manufacturing unit will be set up in a rural area of Orissa, where people have less job opportunities and labour is available at a very low rate. He also thought of giving equal opportunities to men and women.
For this, he selected S Chatterjee, Indeijeet Kaur, Aslam and Sarabjeet as heads of sales, accounts, purchase and production departments.

Identify and state the next two steps that Sahil has to follow in the staffing process after selecting the above heads
Also identify two values which Sahil wants to communicate to the society by settingup this manufacturing unit.

(HOTS; VBQ; All India 2013)

Ans. (i) Selection is done in the third step, in which a prospective candidate is chosen from the pool of candidates. It ensures that the organisation gets the best among the available and it enhances the morale of the selected candidates. The next two steps are as follows:

Placement and orientation In this step, employee occupies the position or is placed, for which he/she has been selected. After this a brief presentation about the company is given and employee is introduced to his superiors, subordinates and colleagues.
Training and development In this step, training is imparted to the selected candidates, by which he/she can enhance his/her skills, knowledge and through this, one can also explore the opportunities.

(ii) By setting up a manufacturing unit in the rural area of Orissa, Sahil wanted to communicate following values to the society:

Manufacturing bags from the waste material, will help in reducing pollutants from the environment and will also reduce wastage.
Giving equal opportunities to men and women, will increase the standard of living of rural area labourers.

2. Define staffing as a function of management and state its importance. (Delhi 2011c)

or
Explain staffing as a function of management. Also explain by giving any four reasons why proper staffing is required in an organisation.(All India 2010)
or
Staffing is an important function of management in all organisations. Why? (Delhi 2009)
or
State any four reasons why staffing is needed in an organisation. (All India 2008)
Ans. According to Koontz and O’ Donnell, ‘The managerial function of staffing involves manning the organisational structure through proper and effective selection, appraisal and development of personnel to fill the roles designed into the structure’.
Staffing function of management helps in obtaining right people and putting them on the right jobs.
Proper staffing ensures the following benefits to the organisation: (Any four)
(i) Obtaining competent personnel In all organisations, there is a need for people to perform work.
Staffing function helps in discovering and obtaining competent personnel for various jobs.
(ii) Higher performance Staffing finds the right person for the right job. It ensures higher performance of the employees as work is assigned according to their capabilities and at the same time, organisational objectives are achieved in the most efficient and effective manner.
(iii) Survival and growth By appointing efficient staff, staffing ensures the continuous survival and growth of an enterprise. An organisation grows with the sincere efforts of its employees only.
(iv) Optimum utilisation of human resources Through manpower planning and job analysis, we can find out the number and types of employees required in the organisation. So, there are no chances of overmanning, shortage or under-utilisation of personnel.
(v) Motivation and morale Staffing as a separate function, is needed to motivate employees for better performance, incentive plans, staff welfare and for other personnel activities. If there is a separate personnel department in the organisation, it motivates employees and develop higher morale in them.

14. Explain in brief the various steps involved in the process of staffing. (All India 2011; Delhi 2008C)
Ans. Various steps in the process of staffing are as follows:
(i) Estimating manpower requirements It refers to finding out the number of persons or employees and type of employees needed in the organisation in near future. As both overstaffing and understaffing are undesirable, the manager tries to find out the manpower requirement by equating work load analysis to work force analysis.

Work load analysis Finding the number and type of employees required to perform various jobs.
Work force analysis Analysing existing work force already occupying the job positions.
Comparison The manager compares both the excess of work load over work force indicated under staffing, and thus fulfils the gap.

(ii) Recruitment It refers to the process of inducing the people to apply for the job in the organisation. After assessing the number and type of required employees, the manager tries to get greater number of applicants for the job, so that the organisation can select better candidates.

(iii) Selection It refers to the choosing of most suitable candidate to fill the vacant job position. Selection is done through a process, which involves tests, interviews, etc.
(iv) Placement and orientation In this step, employee occupies the position or is placed, for which he/she has been selected. After this a brief presentation about the company is given and employee is introduced to his superiors, subordinates and colleagues.
(v) Training and development In this step, training is imparted to the selected candidate, by which he/she can enhance his/her skills, knowledge and through this, one can also explore the opportunities.
(vi) Performance appraisal It refers to evaluating the performance of employees against some standards which are known to employees in advance.
(vii) Promotion and career planning Promotions are an integral part of people’s career. It means people placed in positions of increased responsibility or it usually means more pay, responsibility and job satisfaction.
(viii) Compensation It refers to price of the job. It includes pay, rewards and other incentives given to all the employees. It includes direct as well as indirect payments.

6 Marks Questions

15. Explain the process of staffing. (Delhi 2010; All India 2009)
Ans. Various steps in the process of staffing are as follows:
(i) Estimating manpower requirements It refers to finding out the number of persons or employees and type of employees needed in the organisation in near future. As both overstaffing and understaffing are undesirable, the manager tries to find out the manpower requirement by equating work load analysis to work force analysis.

Work load analysis Finding the number and type of employees required to perform various jobs.
Work force analysis Analysing existing work force already occupying the job positions.
Comparison The manager compares both the excess of work load over work force indicated under staffing, and thus fulfils the gap.

16. Which function of management helps in obtaining right people and putting them on the right jobs? Explain any five points of importance of this function. (HOTS; Delhi 2008)
Ans. Staffing function of management helps in obtaining right people and putting them on the right jobs.
Importance of Staffing
According to Koontz and O’ Donnell, ‘The managerial function of staffing involves manning the organisational structure through proper and effective selection, appraisal and development of personnel to fill the roles designed into the structure’.
Staffing function of management helps in obtaining right people and putting them on the right jobs.
Proper staffing ensures the following benefits to the organisation: (Any four)
(i) Obtaining competent personnel In all organisations, there is a need for people to perform work.
Staffing function helps in discovering and obtaining competent personnel for various jobs.
(ii) Higher performance Staffing finds the right person for the right job. It ensures higher performance of the employees as work is assigned according to their capabilities and at the same time, organisational objectives are achieved in the most efficient and effective manner.
(iii) Survival and growth By appointing efficient staff, staffing ensures the continuous survival and growth of an enterprise. An organisation grows with the sincere efforts of its employees only.
(iv) Optimum utilisation of human resources Through manpower planning and job analysis, we can find out the number and types of employees required in the organisation. So, there are no chances of overmanning, shortage or under-utilisation of personnel.
(v) Motivation and morale Staffing as a separate function, is needed to motivate employees for better performance, incentive plans, staff welfare and for other personnel activities. If there is a separate personnel department in the organisation, it motivates employees and develop higher morale in them.

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