Significance of Manpower planning

Manpower Planning which is also called as Human Resource Planning consists of putting right number of people, right kind of people at the right place, right time, doing the right things for which they are suited for the achievement of goals of the organization. Human Resource Planning has got an important place in the arena of industrialization. Human Resource Planning has to be a systems approach and is carried out in a set procedure. Manpower Planning :1. Provides quality workforce. 2. Reduces labor costs. 3. Facilitates rise in skills. 4. Effective motivation. 5. Safety of health. 6. Key to managerial functions. 7. Efficient utilization. 8. Better human relations. 9. Higher productivity.

Manpower planning in HRM

Manpower planning may be defined as strategy for the procurement, development, allocation and utilization of an enterprise's human resources. One of the functions of personnel management is the procurement of employees in sufficient number. The success of the organization depends upon the right type of persons placed on the job. It is the responsibility of personnel management to see whether qualified personnel have been placed on the job in sufficient number. This requires planning. Manpower planning is the planning for manpower resources. Manpower planning ensures adequate supplies, proper quantity and quality, as well as effective utilization of human resources. Manpower planning is defined as "the process by which an organization ensures that it has the right number of people and the right kind of people at the right place at the right time, doing things for which they are economically most useful." "An executive manpower planning programme can be defined as an appraisal of an organizations ability to perpetuate itself with respect to its management as a determination of measures necessary to provide the essential executive talent."

Long term manpower planning

Long term manpower planning is concerned with all jobs and all persons at oncewith matching complete rosier of personnel to total job requirements. It is more concerned with fdling future vacancies rather than with matching existing candidates with existing jobs. Thus, it allows time for long run learning. The long term manpower planning has four following elements:(i) (ii) (iii) (iv) Projecting Manpower Recruitment Manpower the organization and and structure. analysis selection. development.

inventory

(i) Projecting the Organisation Structure- The first step in long run manpower planning is to forecast organisation structure that will best meet future needs of the organisation. The whole job structure should keep pace with changes in the environment. In matching the change with present job structure, the management must predict the manpower requirements in future. For this purpose, following three factors should be analysed. (a) Rate of loss- Rate of loss depends upon the degree of quits, discharges, mutually satisfactory release, leave, death, retirement and transfers. These can be anticipated to some extent

on the basis of analysis of past records and present circumstances. (b) Expansion or contraction- The manpower requirement in future will depend upon the expansion or contraction in the size of the organisation. The size of the organisation may be predicted on the basis of the past rate of growth by projecting the trend in the size of sales, capital requirements or manpower stock. (c) Job Analysis- After projecting the manpower needs job analysis should be made. Job analysis is the process of collecting and analyzing all the facts relating to the nature of a specific job through scientific observation and study. A prediction of what capabilities will be required in the people to perform the job effectively. Such prediction is more important in case of managerial personnel because it takes more time to develop managerial skill. Again, the development of other personnel also depends upon the management abilities. (ii) Manpower Inventory and Analysis- Manpower inventory and analysis involves the appraising of present key personnel, pointing out their characteristics without reference to specification to a particular position. Hence the management has to take stock of existing manpower and 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. This process will enable the management to know the present and potential abilities of individuals and their suitability for specific jobs and positions.

(iii)

Once manpower requirements have been determined recruitment and selection should be started. Recruitment is the process of identifying the sources for prospective candidates and to stimulate them to apply for the jobs. Selection is the process of logically choosing individuals who possess the necessary skills, abilities and personality to fill specific jobs. (iv) Manpower Development- Manpower development includes the development of individuals through training so that they can meet the challenges with their full capabilities. Having predicted the future needs of personnel, the existing personnel are trained and developed.

Recruitment

and

selection-

Importance of Manpower Planning

1. Key to managerial functions- The four managerial functions, i.e., planning, organizing, directing and controlling are based upon the manpower. Human resources help in the implementation of all these managerial activities. Therefore, staffing becomes a key to all managerial functions.

2. Efficient utilization- Efficient management of personnels becomes an important function in the industrialization world of today. Seting of large scale enterprises require management of large scale manpower. It can be effectively done through staffing function.

3. Motivation- Staffing function not only includes putting right men on right job, but it also comprises of motivational programmes, i.e., incentive plans to be framed for further participation and employment of employees in a concern. Therefore, all types of incentive plans becomes an integral part of staffing function.

4. Better human relations- A concern can stabilize itself if human relations develop and are strong. Human relations become strong trough effective control, clear communication, effective supervision and leadership in a concern. Staffing function also looks after training and development of the work force which leads to co-operation and better human relations.

5. Higher productivity- Productivity level increases when resources are utilized in best possible manner. higher productivity is a result of minimum wastage of time, money, efforts and energies. This is possible through the staffing and it's related activities ( Performance appraisal, training and development, remuneration)

Objectives of Manpower Planning

Proper utilization of your workforce can help you save money now, and as you plan for your company's future. Manpower planning requires the interaction of departmental managers with your human resources professionals to maintain current staff levels and plan for future workforce needs. Use manpower planning to provide a framework by which your company can prepare for and monitor future growth.

Staffing Levels
Staffing levels can change based on company growth, losses due to layoff or temporary and seasonal employment needs. The objective of manpower planning is to forecast staffing level needs and work with company managers to make sure each department is properly staffed. The human resources group plans for seasonal rises in employment needs to insure that production levels and customer service quality are not affected. This includes working with temporary agencies to supply seasonal staff and running employment advertisements that bring in part-time candidates.

Future Needs
One of the functions of manpower planning is to anticipate the future skill set needs of the company and begin the process of finding qualified candidates. The human resources department needs to be involved in all aspects of business planning to prepare for recruiting in job duties that the company has not dealt with in the past. For example, a toy manufacturer decides to get into the radio-controlled toy market and needs to hire

technicians and engineers to design and make the toys that the company has never made in the past.

Skill Matching
It is less expensive to utilize existing personnel than to hire new employees to fulfill job needs within the organization. Hiring new employees requires recruiting costs, training expenses and the cost of low productivity as the new employee settles into his job. Manpower planning involves tracking each employee's skill set, which allows the company to move employees around within the company to prevent having to look outside the company. For example, an accounts payable employee who has payroll skills can be moved into the payroll department with a high level of competence.

Efficiency
A company needs to efficiently utilize its workforce to maintain productivity and also keep employee morale high. Developing part-time positions, creating different work shifts, offering overtime to compensate for increased production needs and maintaining a pertinent training program are ways that manpower planning maximizes workforce efficiency. Shift options and offering employees the tools they need to do their job, such as training, help to maintain employee morale.

Factors to be considered for Manpower planning

(1) Goals or objectives of Business- Every business
enterprise has some goals or objectives. The manpower planning must be integrated with business policies as regards to profitability, production, sales and development of resources. Any change in business objectives would certainly affect the manpower planning. For example a company decides to introduce computer system in the enterprise. This change will affect the manpower planning i.e., company will have to recruit computer operators or it will train its existing employees in computer science. Thus, determination of business objectives clearly in advance is a prerequisite for the effective manpower planning.

(2) Support of Top-level management- Manpower

planning must have the initiative and support of top level management. Personnel manager as a staff authority can only advise or guide the top management; he cannot implement decisions. Action on decisions or suggestions of the personnel manager is to be taken only at the initiative of top executives. Thus support of top management is must for the effective manpower planning.

(3) Well-organised personnel department- Manpower

planning requires forecasting the requirements and developments of the personnel for this purpose, there is a need of a well organised personnel department. Personnel department collects, records, analyses, interprets and maintains the facts and figures relating to all the personnel in the organisation.

(4) Responsibility- The responsibility of manpower planning

should be assigned to some responsible senior personnel He should be provided all figures to the planning.

(5) Fixing Planning Period- Planning is concerned with

problem of future. The planning period is divided into short term and long term. Planning period depends on the nature of the business and the social, economic and political environment. Long term planning is preferable for basic and heavy industries. Consumer goods industries may not resort to long term plans. The other important factors arc rate of population growth education and training facilities, cost of training etc.

(6) Manpower standards- In order to avoid the problems of

overstaffing and understaffing, the optimum manpower standards should be determined on the basis of prevailing standards in similar organisations, past experiences and work measurement. These factors will reduce the cost of production and will increase the quality of production and will help in preparation of manpower plans.

Steps in the process of manpower planning

(A) Deciding objectives of manpower planning- The
ultimate objective of manpower planning is one of matching or fitting employee abilities to enterprise requirements with an emphasis on future instead of present arrangements. The objectives may be laid down for a short term i.e. for one year for example the short term objective may be to hire 50 persons from backward classes for purposes of training. The long- term objective may to start a new industry or to expand the market or to produce a new product or to develop its own sales force.

(B) Estimating future manpower requirements- The

management must estimate the structure of the organisation at a given point in time. For this estimate, the number and types of employees needed have to be determined. This determination is affected by many environmental factors viz., business forecasts, expansion and growth, design and structural changes, management philosophy, government policy, product and human skills mire and competition. After estimating the future organisation structure the next step is to draw up the requirements of human resources, both for existing departments and for new vacancies. In determining the requirements of human resources, the expected losses due to labour turnover dismissals, promotions, layoffs etc. should be considered. Then, the real shortage o( surplus will be found out.

(C) Auditing Human Resources- Once the future human

resources needs are estimated the next step is to determine the present supply of manpower resources through "skills

inventory". A skills inventory contains data about each employee's skills, abilities, work preferences etc. Some organisations prepare "Organisation charts, Manning Table or Manpower Replacement Charts". All these help in determining and evaluating the quantity and quality of the present human resources of an organisation.

(D) Job-Analysis- After having decided how many persons

would be needed, it is necessary to prepare a job analysis which records details of training, skills, qualifications, abilities, experience and responsibilities etc. which are needed for a job. Job analysis includes the preparation of job descriptions and job specification.

(E) Developing a Human Resource Plan- The last step is

to develop and to implement the human resource plan which consists in finding out the sources of labour supply with a view to making an effective use of these sources. The first thing to be decided is whether the personnel be hired from within the organisation or to be obtained from an outside source. The best policy, which is followed by most organisations is to fill up higher vacancies by internal sources i.e. promotion etc and lower level positions by recruitment from external sources. The personnel manager should have a thorough knowledge of the labour market. Which source in the labour market will be tapped, depends upon the policy of a firm, position of labour unions and Government regulations.

Needs of Manpower planning

(1) Increase in the size of Business- Manpower planning is
very helpful when there is expansion of the plant. At the time of taking the decision for expansion of the plant, a large number of workers are required to be recruited. For this purpose a stock of the existing manpower should be taken and future need of the personnel should be assessed. It is very essential to know whether personnel are to be recruited from outside or from inside and how the training facilities are to be arranged for all this manpower planning is essential.

(2) Effective recruitment selection policy- Manpower

planning helps in formulating effective recruitment and selection policy. Manpower planning is concerned with the right type of people from all sources to meet planned requirements. Manpower planning anticipates manpower needs to develop the existing manpower to fill the future gaps. Thus only right man on the right job at the right time may be recruited and selected.

(3) Effective employee development programmeManpower planning reveals the training needs of the working manpower with the result that training and development programmes become more effective. No effective employed, development programme can be worked out unless it is linked with the manpower requirements of the organisation.

(4) Reduction in labour cost- Manpower planning ensures

recruitment and maintenance of better developed manpower resource which results in reduced manpower costs. Forecasting

of long term manpower needs to help the management to forecast the compensation costs involved.

(5) Efficient work force- Manpower planning ensures on the

one hand, development of personnel at work and on the other hand, high morale of the personnel. Manpower planning motivates the existing employees and creates favorable psychological climate for motivation. Management succession gets the best contribution from the workers.

(6) Avoiding disruption in production- Manpower

planning may help the organisation in procuring the skilled and qualified workers because future needs of personnel may be estimated and they are selected and trained on the basis of a well developed selection and training policy ensuring uninterrupted production.

(7) Good Industrial Relations- Manpower planning helps

the management in developing the good industrial relations. With the help of manpower planning management may plan to absorb the redundant workers to some new jobs after training in case redundancies of workers are caused by automation.

(8) National policy on employment- National policy on

employment does not allow any employer to oust the worker once employed by the organisation. It is very essential to recruit the workers carefully according to the needs of the enterprise. Only manpower planning can help the organisation in this regard.

REFERENCES

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