Abstract
The question of how to obtain a specified quantity of satisfactory manpower inputs for a given time period is a problem which confronts almost any personnel decisionmaker. The staffing model proposed in this paper defines selection, training, and any selection/training combination as being alternative staffing strategies which are available for coping with an organization's manpower requirement problems. Very few personnel decisionmakers, however, approach such problems with any appreciable knowledge of the relative costs associated with different alternative input strategies and of the costs of different misclassification errors which can result.
The staffing model described here incorporates cost and utility considerations and suggests that the relative costs of alternative staffing strategies are amenable to systematic analysis. The model specifies the probability estimates for success and failure in both selection and training, the direct costs for each, and the potential costs which result from errors of misclassification. Then, an expression and rationale for determining the minimum total cost associated with various combinations of selection and training strategies are presented.
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