Question

Briefly discuss the following;

(a) Staffing Policy

(b) The various types of Human Resource Staffing Policies

Answer 1

1. Staffing policy is concerned with the selection of employees for particular jobs. At one level, this involves selecting individuals who have the skills required to do particular jobs. At another level, staffing policy can be a tool for developing and promoting corporate culture.

B. Types of Staffing Policy      -----------

1. The Ethnocentric Approach --------------The ethnocentric policy approach to staffing designates home country nationals as top ranking employees in global operations. For instance, executive positions are given to Americans in an office of an American company located in Indonesia. The main benefit of this staffing policy approach is that it allows the organization to ensure that the people in the top positions are experienced in the business of the firm. This is especially the case where the host country does not have enough qualified workers for staffing top positions in the organization. The ethnocentric staffing policy approach is also used to ensure that the culture of the entire organization is unified rather than diversified. However, the problem with the ethnocentric policy approach is that it does not fully support the transfer of local knowledge to the company. Also, this staffing policy approach could block locals from promotion in the organization.

2. The Polycentric Approach       ------------The polycentric policy approach to staffing assigns home country workers to top positions in the central offices or headquarters, and overseas local workers to other positions. The main advantage of this policy approach is that it facilitates organizational learning on local markets. This staffing policy approach also provides better opportunities for locals to improve their careers through promotion. However, this promotion is limited to key positions in the local operations, and does not include central or corporate top positions. This staffing policy approach is disadvantageous because it could create knowledge and performance gaps between overseas managers and managers in the home country.

3. The Geocentric Approach ---------------The geocentric policy approach to staffing assigns job positions to any person best suited for the position, regardless of the employee’s background, culture or country of origin. The main advantage of this staffing policy approach is that it is highly flexible. It can increase the firm’s cultural knowledge about the different markets and countries. However, a disadvantage of this staffing policy approach is that it could be difficult to apply. Immigration policies, costs of worker relocation and diversity management create pressure on HR management.

3.