MANPOWER

PLANNING
Manpower Planning is essentially the process of getting
the number of qualified employees & seek to place the
right employees in the right job at the right place so that
an organization can meet its objectives. It is a very
important part of overall planning of a business
organization. It is obvious that a business cannot
prosper unless the right number of employees , having
required skills , talents & qualifications is available at
right time. It is done to fulfill two main objectives:-

 To utilize the present employees fully

 To fill up future manpower requirements
Definition of
Manpower planning
“The process by which a management determines how an
organization should make from its current manpower
position to its desired manpower position. Through
planning a management strikes to have the right number &
the right kinds of people at the right places, at the right
time to do things which result in both the organization &
the individual receiving the maximum long range benefit.”

-BY ERIC W. VETTER

 features
 WELL DEFINED OBJECTIVES:- The objectives of the
organization in strategic planning & operating planning may form the
objectives of human resource planning. Human resource needs are planned
on the basis of companies goals. Besides, human resource has its own
objectives like developing human resource, updating technical expertise,
ensuring better commitment of people & so on.
 DETERMINING PERSONNEL NEEDS:- Human resource
planning is related to the determination of personnel needs in the
organization. The thinking will have to be done in advance so that the
persons are available at a time when they are needed. The organization may
also have to undertake recruiting, selecting & training processes also.
 HAVING MANPOWER INVENTORY:- It includes the
inventory of present manpower in the organization. The manager should
know the persons who will be available to him for undertaking higher
responsibilities in the near future.
 ADJUSTING DEMAND & SUPPLY:- Manpower
requirements have to be planned well in advance as suitable persons are not
immediately available. In case sufficient persons will not be available in
future then efforts should be made to start recruitment process well in
advance. The demand & supply of personnel should be seen in advance.

 CREATING PROPER WORK ENVIORNMENT:-

Besides estimating & employing personnel, manpower planning also ensures
that proper working conditions are created. People should like to work in the
organization & they should get proper job satisfaction.
 Need for
Manpower planning
 REPLACEMENT OF PERSONS:- A large no. of persons are to be
replaced in the organization because of retirement, old age, death etc. There
will be a need to prepare persons for taking up new positions in such
contingencies.

 LABOUR TURNOVER:- There is always a labour turnover in every

organization. The degree of labour turnover may vary from concern to
concern but it cannot be eliminated all together. There will be a need to
recruit new persons to take up the positions of those who left the
organization. If the concern is able to forecast turnover rate precisely then
advance efforts are made to recruit & train persons so that work does not
suffer for want of workers.

 EXPANSION PLANS:- Whenever there is a plan to expand or

diversify the concern then more persons will be required to take up new
positions. Human resource planning is essential under these situations.
 TECHNOLOGICAL CHANGES:-The business is working
under changing technological environment. There may be a need to
give fresh training to personnel. In addition, there may also be a
need to infuse fresh blood into the organization. Human resource
planning will help in meeting the new demands of the organization.

 ASSESSING NEEDS:- Human resource planning is also

required to determine whether there is any shortage or surplus
persons in the organization. If there are less persons required, it will
adversely affect the work. On the other hand, if more persons are
employed than the requirement then it will increase labour cost etc.
 Assessing manpower needs for future & making plans
for recruitment & selection.
 Assessing skill requirement in future.
 Determining training & development needs of the
organization.
 Anticipating surplus & shortage of staff & avoiding
unnecessary directions.
 Controlling wage & salary costs.
 Keeping the organization to cope with the technological
development & modernization.
 Ensuring higher labour productivity.
 Ensuring career planning of every employee of the
organization & making succession programmes.
Process of
Manpower planning
DECIDING GOALS & OBJECTIVES

ESTIMATING FUTURE MANPOWER

REQUIREMENTS

MANPOWER INVENTORY

PLANNING JOB REQUIREMENTS & JOB

DESCRIPTIONS

DEVELOPING A HUMAN RESOURCE PLAN

 DECIDING GOALS & OBJECTIVES:-Human resource
management helps in achieving individual & organization goals. The main purpose is
to relate future human resources to the future enterprise needs.

ESTIMATING FUTURE MANPOWER REQUIREMENTS:-

The estimation of manpower requirements, at a given point of time of the
organization structure, should be undertaken. Some of the factors to be considered for
forecasting are:-
a) LIKELY TREND IN ECONOMIC ENVIRONMENT:-The likely trend in economic
environment in the future will determine the level of business activity.

b) DEVELOPMENT IN INDUSTRY:-Manpower needs will depend upon the

development of industry. If the development is more than there will be more demand of
employees.
c) WORK-LOAD ANALYSIS:-Workload analysis determines manpower needs in
future. This is done on the basis of production schedules or marketing targets.

d) WORK-FORCE ANALYSIS:-Workforce analysis helps in determining the number of

employees needed in an enterprise. It takes into consideration the labour turnover rate
& absenteeism in the unit.
 MANPOWER INVENTORY:-The next step is to
determine the present supply of manpower. This is done through
manpower inventory. It involves the cataloging the characteristics of
personnel in the organization, decides counting their number. It
involves the following steps:-
o The first step is to decide who should form a part of it.
o After determining the persons to be included in manpower
inventory, the second step is to collect information about them.
o Next step is to appraise to talent catalogue. The present & future
capabilities of persons are assessed. Besides appraisal tests,
remarks about persons are also given.

SO MANPOWER INVENTORY WILL HELP IN KNOWING

THE PRESENT & FUTURE POTENTIAL OF THE
EXECUTIVES IN THE ORGANIZATION.
• PLANNING JOB REQUIREMENTS & JOB
DESCRIPTIONS:-
• After deciding how many persons would be needed, it is
necessary to prepare job analysis. The data relating to the
job may be classified as follows:-

1) Job identification
2) Nature of the job
3) Operations involved in doing the job
4) Materials & equipment required to do the job
5) Personnel qualities required to do the job
6) Relation of the job with other jobs in the organization.
 DEVELOPING A HUMAN RESOUCE PLAN:-
Human resource plan consists of finding out the sources of labour supply
with the view of making an effective use of these resources. Generally,
most of the organizations fill up higher vacancy by promotion & lower
level position by recruitment from the labour market.

The labour market is influenced by many factors such

as:-
1) Population density
2) Local unemployment level
3) Availability of part time labour
4) Competition for labour force from other organizations
5) Output from the educational system
6) Pattern of in-migration & out-migration
7) Transport facilities & communication pattern
THE PERSONNEL MANAGER SHOULD HAVE A
THOROUGH KNOWLEDGE OF LABOUR MARKET.
 Responsibility for
Manpower planning
Personnel manager is generally responsible for manpower planning. In this
task he is aided by the industrial engineering department & top
management. The overall policy in manpower planning is framed by Board
of Directors but actual execution is done at personnel dept level.

Geisler explains the responsibility of personnel department with

regard to manpower planning as follows:-

 To assist, counsel & pressurize the operating management to plan &

establish objectives.
 To collect & summarize data in total organization terms & to ensure
consistency with long range objectives & other elements of the total
business plan.
 To monitor & measure performance against the plan & keep the top
management informed about it.
 To provide the research necessary for effective manpower &
organizational planning.
 EXISTING STOCK OF MANPOWER

 WASTAGE

 FUTURE MANPOWER REQUIREMENT

1. Existing Manpower Inventory – Utilization of the existing
manpower is the first basis of manpower planning and is the starting point
of all planning processes. To analyse the existing manpower, one must
study the position of total manpower by dividing it into groups on the
basis of function, occupation, level of skills or qualification.

2. Wastage – For good planning, appropriate adjustment in the

existing stock of manpower should be made for the possible wastage of
manpower caused by any foreseeable changes in the organization.

3. Future Manpower Requirements – After evaluating the

existing stock of manpower and analyzing the various factors of wastage
caused by any foreseeable change in the organization, one may very easily
assess the future requirements of manpower in an industry.
 Short term
manpower
planning
Types of
Manpower
planning
Long term
manpower
planning
 SHORT TERM MANPOWER PLANNING:-
Short term planning is made for a short time that is for a period of more than
2 years. The problems which are faced in the short run are:-

a) The weak incumbent

b) The strong incumbent
c) An unexpected vacancy

A. THE WEAK INCUMBENT:-The first & the most difficult problem in

short term planning is experienced when an existing personnel is not
according to the specifications of the job. In such circumstances, there are
four approaches for matching jobs & individuals.

i. Changing of the man

ii. Change in the contents of the job
iii. Changing the job & the man
iv. Removal of the incumbent
B. THE STRONG INCUMBENT:-Some people in the
organization may have greater ability than their present job
requires. In such a case, again there is a problem of matching
jobs with the man because a portion of individuals ability
remains unutilized. For the proper utilization of the ability,
the following approaches may be tried out:-

i. Assigning additional duties

ii. Assigning some special problems
iii.Advice
iv.Change in job
C. AN UNEXPECTED VACANCY:-The next problem which the
management has to face in the short run is the filling up of posts falling vacant
due to some unexpected reasons such as death, resignation or some other social
reason.

 LONG TERM MANPOWER PLANNING:-

Long term manpower planning is concerned with all jobs & persons
at once with matching total available personnel in the organization
to total job requirements. The long term manpower planning has
the following elements:-
i. PROJECTING MANPOWER REQUIREMENTS:-The first essential
step in projecting the manpower requirements is to forecast the organization
structure. The following factors should be analyzed to forecast the manpower
requirements:-

a) The rate of loss due to known(example retirement & transfer etc.) &
unknown(example resignation, discharge etc.) factors may be guessed.
a) The manpower requirement in future will depend upon the
expansion or contraction in the size of the organization.

b) A job analysis should also help in long term planning. A

prediction of what capabilities will be required in the people
to perform the job effectively.
ii. TAKING STOCK OF EXISTING MANPOWER:-Having
projected the manpower requirements, the next step in manpower
planning is to take stock of existing manpower & to find out how far the
present stock of manpower would fulfill the qualifications of the
anticipated jobs or how far they would be developed through training.

iii. RECRUITMENT & SELECTION:-Once the requirement of

manpower is known, the process of recruitment & selection starts to
identify the prospective candidates & to stimulate them to apply for job.
 Level
Of
Manpower
planning

Top
Plant level
Departmental
level Or
Divisional level
• PLANT LEVEL:-Manpower at plant level can be conducted by an
operating committee on the basis of past data & future projections. The
committee shall prepare a manpower plan for the next year, including the
number of employees required & the sources which could be utilized to meet
these requirements.

• DEPARTMENTAL OR DIVISIONAL LEVEL:-The

plant level plan would be submitted to the next organizational level which
would be the departmental level. The divisional committee would integrate all
the manpower plans of its plants as well as those of its divisional staff sections.

• TOP LEVEL:- At the top level, departmental plans are reviewed &
integrated with manpower plans for head office staff. Special emphasis is placed
at this level on management development plans. Finally, the company’s
manpower plans is integrated with the organizational plans.
 Human Resource Planning(HRP) does not stop with finding the
required kind and number of employees but also determines the
action plan for all the function of personnel management. The major
benefits of human resource planning are:

 REDUCED LABOUR COSTS:-With the help of manpower planning

management is able to anticipate shortages & surpluses of manpower.

 OPTIMUM UTILISATION OF MANPOWER FORCE:-With the

help of manpower planning there is optimum utilisation of labour force in
the organization. Workers are given those jobs to perform for which they
are skilled.

 IDENTIFICATION OF GAPS IN EXISTING MANPOWER:-

Human resource planning identifies gaps in existing manpower in terms of
their quantity & quality with the help of suitable training or any other steps.
 Improvement in overall business: Manpower planning is an
integral part of overall business planning. Effective manpower planning
will lead to improvement in overall planning also.

 Career Succession Planning: Manpower planning facilitates

career succession planning in the organisation. It provides enough lead
time for internal succession of employees to higher position through
promotions.

 Creates Awareness in the Organisation: Manpower

planning leads to a great awareness about the effectiveness of sound
manpower management throughout the organisation.

 Growth of the organisation: Manpower planning facilitates the

expansion and diversification of an organisation.

 Beneficial to the country: At the national level manpower

planning facilitates educational reforms geographical mobility of talent.
 Problems in manpower
planningFROM EMPLOYEES:-Many employers resist
 RESISTANCE
HRP as they think that it increases cost of manpower as trade unions
demand for employee based plans, more facilities and benefits including
training and development.

 ACCURACY OF FORECASTS:-Manpower planning involves

forecasting the demand & supply of human resources. Thus the
effectiveness of planning depends upon the accuracy of forecasts.

 IDENTITY CRISIS:-Many human resource specialists & the managers

do not understand the whole manpower planning process because of this
there is generally an identity crisis.

 SUPPORT OF TOP MANAGEMENT:-It requires full & whole

hearted support from the top management.
 UNCERTAINITIES:-Uncertainties are quite prominent in human
resource practises due to absenteeism, seasonal employment, labour turnover,
changing technologies, market conditions making HRP less reliable.

 MANAGEMENT INFORMATION SYSTEM:-Information system

regarding human resources has not yet fully been developed due to industries
giving low status to personnel department and less importance given to HRP.
Further the reliable data and information about the economy, other
industries, labour market, trends in human resources are not available.

 INSUFFICIENT INITIAL EFFORTS:-Successful human resource

planning flourishes slowly & gradually. Sometimes sophisticated technologies
are forcefully introduced just because competitors have adopted them.

 EXPENSIVE & TIME CONSUMING:-It is an expensive & time

consuming process. Employers may resist manpower planning feeling that it
increases the cost of manpower.
COORDINATION WITH OTHER MANAGERIAL
FUNCTIONS:-There is generally a tendency on the part of the
manpower planners to remain aloof from other operating managers
& to become totally absorbed in their own world.
 UNBALANCED APPROACH:-Many human resource experts
give more importance on the quantitative aspect of manpower to
ensure that mere is adequate flow of people in & out of the
organization.
 Suggestion for making
Manpower planning effective
INTEGRATION WITH ORGANIZATIONAL PLANS:-It must
be balanced with organizational plans. It must be based on the
organizational objectives & plans.
PERIOD OF MANPOWER PLANNING:-Period of the planning
should be appropriate to the needs & circumstances of the enterprise
in question.
PROPER ORGANIZATION:-To be effective, the planning function
should be properly organized. If possible, within the human resource
dept, a separate cell or committee should be constituted.
 SUPPORT OF TOP MANAGEMENT:-To be effective in the long run,
manpower planning must have the full support of the top management. The
support from top management is essential to ensure the necessary resources,
cooperation & support for the success of the planning.
INVOLVEMENT OF OPERATING EXECUTIVES:-Human resource
planning is not a function of manpower planners only. To be effective, it requires
active participation & coordinated efforts on the part of operating executives.

EFFICIENT & RELIABLE INFORMATION SYSTEM:-To facilitate

human resource planning, an adequate data base must be developed for human
resources.

BALANCED APPROACH:- The human resource experts should give

equal importance to both quantitative & qualitative aspects of manpower.
CONCLUSION….

GETTING THE RIGHT PEOPLE

AT THE RIGHT PLACE
ON THE RIGHT TIME…….