ASSESSING THE ROLE OF STAFFING ON THE PERFORMANCE OF MICRO FINANCE ORGANIZATIONS

The research title ‘Assessing the role of staffing on the organizational performance in micro finance organizations’ was carried out in Awing central Cooperative Credit Union Limited Bamenda, North West region Cameroon. This thesis was carried out based on the observation that in most micro finance organizations in Cameroon, the technique of staffing used is the concur method; where examinations are written and successful candidates are selected for training which in most cases is a furtherance of class room work guided towards professionalism which is not a proper staffing procedure. This study is arranged into five different structures; introduction, review of related literature, presentation and analysis of data and recommendations. Research questions were issued and some found responses in the literature reviewed. From primary data, the researcher used a questionnaire which was administered on tables with a sample of 20 persons and discussion with staff; on the spot observation and interview. The simple random probability technique was used to analyze the data collected from field survey work. Tables and Graphs were used for presentation of data collected. From the analysis of data, it was discovered that most senior staffs are highly performing due to the availability of good working conditions, good compensation program, motivation and effective training and development schemes they had undergone. Generally it could be observed from this research work that; despite the increasing importance of human resources (people) which is considered as the most valuable asset of every organization be it profit making or non-profit making, most organizations still fail to meet up with the man power need of their organizations. This is because most workers recruited are not qualified to do the job they have been recruited for; poor recruitment and selection procedures used in organizations could be the main reason. Thus leading to numerous cases of dismissals and waste of company’s resources. The researcher recommended that, Awing central Cooperative Credit Union should create a separate human resource management department that will effectively manage the staffing functions which includes; human resource planning, recruitment, selection, induction/socialization, training and development, performance appraisal, promotion and other related human resource management functions like occupational health and safety. The researcher then suggested that further studies should be carried out in this same field so as to illustrate the full importance of staffing on the performance of an organization not just limiting them to recruitment and selection but other related surveys could be carried out.

This study evaluates the role of staffing on organizational performance in micro finance organization. The research is carried out at the Awing Central cooperative credit union ltd Bamenda a micro finance firm in Cameroon. The introduction will examine the problem, background of study, its objective, research questions, research hypothesis, and significance of study, scope of study and definition of key terms. One of, if not most valuable resource(s) of an organization is its human resources. This implies the performance of an organization is affected by its workforce. This depends on the quantity as well as the quality of staff or human resources. As a result, most organizations are going for the right mix of human resources, which can help them perform effectively and efficiently.

Recruitment and selection practices have therefore become the corner stone of staffing for most organization especially those of the private sector in Cameroon that has as a technique of staffing; the concur method, where examinations are written and successful candidates selected for training which in most cases is a furtherance of class room work though guided towards professionalism. This therefore has not seem to be satisfactory as most clients or customers complaint of the quality of service offered in some private organizations and therefore prefer the services rendered in more standardized organizations that have better management than others in the same private sector because better management and control means there is no corruption, embezzlement, and the hospitable nature of staffs.

The disparity and scenario has called for attention and thus raise the need to assess the role of staffing in organizational performance, with the case of private micro finance companies as main focus. This research is aimed at achieving the following goals; to access the role of staffing on organizational performance, to examine how organizational performance can be measured, to examine the tools that can be used to achieve high organizational performance and also to make possible recommendations. The researcher has the following research questions in mine; (1) do staffing have any role in the performance of private limited companies?, (2) are there tools that can be used to achieve high organizational performance in private companies? (3) Can organizational performance be measured? (4) Are there barriers to organizational performance? (5) Are there techniques that can be used to achieve organizational performance?

Management according to Follet (2012) is the act of getting things done through people. Drucker defines management as “management is an organ; organ can be described and defined only through their functions” (Ramasamy 2010, 2). Staffing is a managerial function that has the responsibility of putting the right number of people, right kind of people at the right places, right time, doing the right things for which they are suited for the achievement of the organizational goals. Staffing has to do with the function of recruitment, selection and induction. Recruitment here can be done either internally or externally. To carry out the recruitment properly, the organization has to do job analysis, job description and job specification.

Selection can be done through interview. There are three types of interviews, selective interviews, panel interview and board interview.

Induction, socialization and placement are carried out when the right candidate to fill the vacant position has been chosen. Apart from these functions, we also have the staffing process which shows the stages of carrying out effective staffing. Also the researcher look at other related factors that affect organizational performance like; training and development, performance appraisal, health and safety, participation, dispute procedures, communication compensation and motivation.

Top management is viewed as the organ that makes crucial decisions and actions that result in the formulation, implementation and control of plans designed to achieve an organization’s mission, vision, strategy and objectives within the business environment in which it operates. After considering all these, Awiccul Micro finance company ltd Bamenda Cameroon which is the case company in question is supposed to take a greater consideration on the recruitment and selection process in other that the right workers are selected and positioned at the right post to perform the right task.