Definition Importance Affected Factors of Manpower Planning

Factors of Manpower Planning with their Definition and Importance; According to Gorden MacBeath, manpower planning involves two stages. The first stage is concerned with the detailed; “Planning of manpower requirements for all types and levels of employees throughout the plan”; and, the second stage is concerned with; “Planning of manpower supplies to provide the organization with the right types of people from all sources to meet the planned requirements”. Also learn, What is the Process of Manpower Planning?

Explaining, Definition, Importance, and Affected Factors of Manpower Planning!

According to Vetter, the process by which management determines how the organization should move from its current manpower position to its desired manpower position. Through planning, management strives to have the right number and the right kinds of people, at the right places, at the right time, doing things that result in both the organization and the individual receiving the maximum long-run benefit.

Stainer defines it as a “Strategy for the acquisition, utilization, improvement, and preservation of an enterprise’s human resources. It relates to establishing job specifications or the quantitative requirements of jobs determining the number of personnel required and developing sources of manpower”.

According to Wickstrom, human resource planning consists of a series of activities, viz:

1. Forecasting future manpower requirements, either in terms of mathematical projections of trends in the economic environment and development in industry, or in terms of judgmental estimates based upon the specific future plans of a company;  
2. Making an inventory of present manpower resources and assessing the extent to which these resources are employed optimally;
3. Anticipating manpower problems by projecting present resources into the future and comparing them with the forecast of requirements to determine their adequacy, both quantitatively and qualitatively; and
4. Planning the necessary programmes of requirement, selection, training, development, utilization, transfer, promotion, motivation, and compensation to ensure that future manpower requirements are properly met.

According to Geisler, it is the process—including forecasting, developing, and controlling—by which a firm ensures that it has the right number of people and the right kind of people at the right places at the right time doing work for which they are economically most useful.

Importance of Manpower Planning!

1. Key to managerial functions: The four managerial functions, i.e., planning, organizing, directing, and controlling are based on 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 personnel becomes an important function in the industrialization world of today. The setting of large-scale enterprises requires the management of large-scale manpower. It can be effectively done through staffing functions.

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

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

5. Higher productivity: Productivity level increases when resources utilizing in the best possible manner; higher productivity is a result of minimum wastage of time, money, effort, and energy. This is possible through the staffing and its related activities ( Performance appraisal, training, and development, remuneration).

Factors Affecting Manpower Planning!

The exercise is not an easy tube because it imposing by various factors such as; what are the success factors of manpower planning below are :

1. It suffers from inaccuracy because it is very difficult to forecast long-range requirements of personnel.  
2. It depends basically on organization planning. Overall planning is itself is a difficult task because of changes in economic conditions, which make long-term it planning difficult.
3. It is difficult to forecast about the personnel with the organization at a future date. While vacancies caused by retirements can predict accurately other factors like resignation, deaths are difficult to forecast.
4. Lack of top management support also frustrates those in charge of planning; because, in the absence of top management support, the system does not work properly.
5. The problem of forecast becomes more occur in the context of key personnel; because their replacement cannot arrange the short period of time.

Moreover, any system that requires the support of top management and manpower planning is no exception to this.