Staffing: Skill and Training

Staffing Staffing is the selection and training of individuals for specific job functions, and charging them with the associated responsibilities (Business Dictionary, n.d.). Effective staffing involves understanding company needs, such as when it's most important to save money and when it's most important to do the best job possible. It also involves understanding the skills and needs of staff members, as well as their passions and idiosyncrasies in order to find the best possible fit (Gartenstein, n.d.). In this paper problems involving staffing, training and quality will be discussed. The scenario is a supervisor of employees’ is tasked to assemble tuning devices for cell phones. She finds that the quality is not what it should be as many of the devices have been returned. The supervisor’s boss tells her that, “You better do a better job of training your workers.” The questions that will be answered by the conclusion of this paper are: what are some of the staffing factors that could be contributing to this problem? Explain how you would go about assessing whether it is in fact a training problem.
Staffing is not as simple as it may seem. It is a lot deeper than simply hiring someone for a job. You have to make sure you find the best person for the job that would ultimately enhance the company. Gartenstein (n.d.) suggests the following staffing objectives:
• Scheduling – Staffing involves scheduling employees to cover shifts in order to perform the tasks necessary to effectively run a company. If your business must staff a specific number of hours, it makes sense to schedule your best employees during the busiest times and the lowest achievers during the slowest times.
• Flexibility – Successful staffing should have built-in flexibility to allow for extra work when necessary and to cut back on shifts when demand unexpectedly drops.
• Building Skills – Scheduling employees for responsibilities outside of their comfort zone enables them to