Why do company do manpower planning

Annual plans are made as a part of Five-Year Plans at national level. These one year plans are short-term plans. Short-term plans are very useful at company level. For better results, short-term plans should be integrated with each other and should be considered as ingredients of a medium-term plan.

Generally, any plan of period from 2 to 5 years is considered to be a medium-term plan. At national level, medium-term plans are essentially prepared as a part of financial planning, medium-term plans, at national level, for manpower planning give special attention towards employment opportunities.

Such plans at micro-level think much of training and development of employees. Thus, it is possible to visualise the requirements of personnel possessing right type of skills for coming five years.

The planning for a longer period such as 10 to 15 years is known as long-term planning. This type of long-term planning is generally done at national level. This is important to estimate manpower needs of a nation and accordingly to raise educational and training facilities, keeping in view long-term interests of the nation. Such long-term planning is not necessary at micro-level except a long-term development scheme has been visualised by the management of a firm.

But, in normal practice, such long-term planning is not found at company level. The process of manpower planning consists of three elements:.

Estimating the demand for manpower is the starting point of a fairly elaborate methodology associated with human resource planning. The demand for manpower in technology, changes in the organization, change in the existing product mix, personnel policy, etc.

The human resources demand of an organization can be drawn from existing human resources in the organization and the external market. It is a general practice that the search for human resources starts from within the organization. After assuring the available resources in the organization, one has to look for assessing the external market. Requirement and availability of human resources is based on continuous checking human resource audit of the utilization of the existing resources, manpower wastage potential losses , and how an organization collects, maintains, analyzes, and reports information on people and jobs human resource information system.

The importance of manpower planning has been recognised by the Western countries. In India, much attention is not being given towards this section of planning. If manpower planning is practised in its true perspective, following gains can be achieved:.

Arrangements for recruiting new employees or training current employees can be made, keeping future manpower needs in mind. When present employees are trained for some higher positions, their spirits soar higher. While carrying on the process of manpower planning deficiencies of the personnel of the organisation can be noticed. Training programmes can be undertaken to cover up these deficiencies. Though the unemployment problem is a burning problem of India, scarcity of skilled and efficient persons to occupy top management positions is always felt.

In such a situation manpower needs as for top management positions can be fulfilled by training intelligent and efficient people in the organisation. In some manufacturing concerns, labour charges constitute 25 to 40 per cent of total cost of production. In certain units engaged in providing services, salaries from 50 to 60 per cent of the total expenditure.

To control these costs effectively, manpower planning is a must. Manpower planning can guarantee the availability of persons with required skills for long-term plans. As a result the company can proceed confidently with its long-term plans. Manpower planning tries to see that there is no excess or lack of manpower in future. If there is excess manpower, it would mean additional costs for the company.

Also, the company may not be in a position to retrench workers because of powerful trade unions. On the other hand, lack of manpower would mean a fall in output and consequently fall in profitability of the firm. Manpower planning includes forecasting the demand and supply of human resources. In this way the effectiveness of planning is conditional as it depends upon the accuracy of forecasts.

In case the forecasts are not cent per accurate, as may often happen planning will not be hundred per cent accurate. It is found that a great number of human resource specialists and the managers are unable to understand the whole manpower planning process.

Because of this, there is generally an identity crisis. Till the specialists develop a strong sense of purpose, planning cannot be effective. Manpower planning needs full and whole hearted support from the top management. Without of this support and commitment, it would not be possible, to ensure the necessary resources, cooperation and support for the success of the manpower planning. Manpower planning is a many consuming as well as time consuming process. Employers may resist manpower planning, feeling, as it tends to it increase the cost of manpower.

Successful human resource planning flourishes slowly and gradually and is time consuming. Sometimes sophisticated technologies are forcefully introduced, only due to the fact that competitors have adopted them.

These may not be successful unless matched with the needs and environment of the particular enterprise. A common observation is that employees and trade unions resist manpower planning. They fear that this planning will enhance their overall workload and regulates them through productivity bargaining. Another fear that they entertain is that it would lead to widespread unemployment, especially of unskilled labour. In view of the rapid changes in the environment there are a great number of uncertainties like is risky to depend upon general estimates of manpower, absenteeism, turnover, seasonal employment, technological changes and market fluctuations there uncertainties work as constraints to manpower planning.

Although discounts are made for these factors, while preparing the plan, but these factors cannot be estimated correctly. Effectiveness of planning depends upon the reliability of the information system. In most of the Indian industries, human resource information system has not fully developed. In view of the lack of reliable data, it would not be possible to have effective planning.

It is often observed that the manpower planners, like to remain aloof from other operating managers and to become totally absorbed in their own standard. To be effective, manpower planning must be integrated with other management functions.

It is said that most of the human -resource experts have unbalanced approach. The reason is they give more importance on the quantitative aspect of manpower only. They do it to ensure that there is adequate flow of people in and out of die organisation. They overlook the qualitative aspects like career development and planning, skill levels, morale, etc. It is evident that such unbalanced approach affects the effectiveness of manpower planning. Hence, manpower planning have two types of problems.

One is inherent due to the problems of forecasting and second comes from human weaknesses. Article Shared by. Related Articles. Job Satisfaction Theory.

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You also have the option to opt-out of these cookies. But opting out of some of these cookies may affect your browsing experience. Necessary Necessary. 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. George N. Root III began writing professionally in By George N. Root III. Staffing Levels Staffing levels can change based on company growth, losses due to layoff or temporary and seasonal employment needs.

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. Strategic manpower planning is critical for future success.

Employers that invest time and effort in this process will reap the benefits of having an effective workforce, with the necessary skills; where each individual is assigned to a role that is the best-fit for them, and ultimately achieve business goals and objectives for the organisation. The Fair and Progressive Employment Index FPEI is a free, online self - assessment tool that allows employers to evaluate organisational workplace culture and benchmark their practices against industry peers.

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