Although staffing clearly is important to the success of an organization, there are also good reasons as to why a company may focus on other critical areas instead of prioritizing resources for recruitment and selection. Many companies may choose to focus their money on the product or service that they sell. This might be in research and design or just into the materials and equipment needed to produce the product or service. It is easy to see how leadership within a company would look at the product/service as the organization’s most important function because this is how the company creates revenue. It can be difficult for many people to see the connection that staffing has with creating value within a company whereas it is much easier for people to see how something more concrete and product focused (like design or materials) adds value.
The strengths that arise from an organization’s decision to focus on other areas of the company are that the money is still being invested in the company. In the case of my example, an investment is being made in the company’s product which is not a bad thing. This type of investment still has the opportunity to bring the company and customer value. The weakness faced by a company that does not prioritize recruitment and selection is that they are missing out on an opportunity to invest in a process that brings in people who can contribute to the company and add value in many different areas, not just one department or function.
I can totally see how a company may think that focusing the majority of their attention and resources on their product or service (or the R&D behind it) is best, because these are the assets to the business that most directly earn the company a profit. However, taking a deeper dive into the structure of a business, the products or services that create profit for a company would not be possible with the employees that create or provide them.
I like your thoughts on how investing in a product is great but you need to consider investing in the process as a whole. In my article I approached it a different way because I was thinking of the two as separate entities. I felt that R&D and Marketing were more important than employee selection but they all tie together. Even if you come out with a perfect product, if you have no one to sell it for you and connect with the customers than you will not make any money. It adds values to all the areas of the company, not just one.
In my post I also discussed the benefits of companies focusing on investing in product design as well as R&D. I still personally believe that hiring and selection is vital to a company, but for the purpose of the assignment, we share the same views. Great post!
I think your point on it being easy for leadership in a company to overlook recruitment investing compared to investing in their product or service directly is very accurate, as the product directly is what brings in the revenue to sustain the company. Some management within companies want to focus their money on innovating and perfecting their products because that is was people directly see or experience and pay for. It is definitely difficult to show people the cost savings and positives that come from investing in recruitment and selection, as positive results on investments here are not very directly seen by all and can take months or years to be seen by any.
Hi Katharine,
It sounds like we had similar approaches to the need for staffing while balancing resources for other critical areas of the business. I specifically like the point you made about investing in the company’s product. This is a necessary step if the company wants to maintain a technology advantage or continue to innovate. But as you pointed out, the company may not attract the right employees to innovate if staffing is not invested in as well.
Thanks,
Sara