What is Manpower Planning? Objective, Process 

Introduction 

Manpower is like any other a very important resource of the company, and its planning helps the company to achieve its goals and objectives. Today, we’ll discuss what is manpower planning; its objectives, importance, and process.

What is Manpower Planning? 

Manpower planning also goes by the name of human resource planning. It’s the process of developing strategies relevant to the manpower supply matching the availability of jobs in the country. However, it comprises analyzing existing resources of employees, predicting the future requirement, and availability in the region, and taking practical steps to make sure that the supply of skilled people meets the company’s demand.

In simple words, we can say manpower planning is the process of hiring the right number of employees, placing the right type of employees in the right place, performing the right tasks at the right time matching the goals and objectives of the company. It plays a significant role in industrialization, and it follows a systematic approach and set of procedures. Some of the main steps are as follows;

• Studying the inventory of existing human resource
• Predicting the demand for future human resource
• Launching the employment programs
• Designing the training programs

Objectives of Manpower Planning 

Some of the main objectives of manpower planning are as follows;

• Comprehending the capability-based approach in human resource
• Using tools to recognize the gap and competencies of the current staff relevant to the goals and targets of the company
• Showing skills in conducting the training need analysis
• Developing strategies for recognized training needs, estimating the cost, developing training course curriculum, designing and preparing training modules
• Decision-making body approving the human resource development plan
• Organizing training programs relevant to the needs of the specific group
• Formulating a comprehensive implementation schedule
• Building evaluation tool
• Launching the training and development activities, plans, and programs
• Writing a report professionally
• Showing your knowledge by using the analytical tool for planning
• Explaining the link between the strategic plan of the company and the SHRD planning process
• Analyzing the existing HRD planning process

Importance of Manpower Planning 

Higher Productivity

Productivity of the company would increase when it employs the resources in an efficient manner. It also reduces the wastage of energies, efforts, money, time, and resources. It becomes possible through staffing of relevant activities like remuneration, training and development, and performance appraisal.

Better Human Relations

Human relationships within the company can become strong and stable through concerned leadership, effective supervision, clear communication, and effective control. The staffing function of the company focuses on developing better human relations, cooperation among employees, and training and development helping them to do so.

Motivation

Staffing allows the company to allocate the right type of employees to the right job. It includes motivational programs like incentives and benefits to promote further involvement of employees. Therefore, various forms of incentives and benefits plans are a significant part of staffing.

Efficient Utilization

The efficiency of management, processes, and operations is very important in the industrial world. When it comes to building large-scale organizations, then it demands the management of manpower (staffing) of a higher level. However, staffing allows you to do so effectively and efficiently.

Managerial Functions

Planning, organizing, directing, and controlling are the four main functions of management. HR allows you to apply various types of management activities, and staffing plays a key role in the functions of management.

Process of Manpower Planning – Steps 

Analyzing Existing Inventory of Manpower

First of all, you should check out the status of the existing inventory of manpower before forecasting the future need of the workforce. You should keep in mind the following things while analyzing it;

• The workforce in every work unit
• Total number of departments
• Type of a company

The manager would register various factors before moving to the next stage of forecasting.

Forecasting Future Needs of Manpower

After knowing the factors impacting the forecasting needs, you can conduct planning to know the requirements of the workforce in various departments. Some of the main forecasting techniques employed by companies are as follows;

• Expert Forecast: it comprises Delphi techniques, formal expert survey, and informal decision
• Trend Analysis: you can do so by statistical analysis (central tendency measure), indexation (yearly basis), and extrapolation (based on the past trends)
• Workload Analysis: nature of workload in every department, unit, or division
• Workforce Analysis: after analyzing the time and production period, due allowances would assist you to know the net requirements of manpower
• Other Methods: mathematical models, computer-aided applications help you to know the needs of manpower like venture analysis, regression, planning analysis, and budgeting

Launching Employment Programs

After analyzing the existing inventory and forecasting future demand, you can develop and frame the employment program accordingly. It comprises placement plans, selection procedures, and recruitment.

Designing Training Programs

It is based on development programs, expansion plans, diversification, etc. The training program depends on the advancement and improvement in technology, and it allows you to improve the knowledge of workers, capabilities, and skills.

Conclusion: What is Manpower Planning? Objective, Importance, Process 

After an in-depth study of what is manpower planning; its objectives, importance, and process; we have realized manpower planning is significant for a company’s growth. If you want to work on human resource planning, then you should keep in mind the steps involved in the process.