4.2.1 Manpower Planning
Manpower planning in the organizational have two inter-related functions:
-to review the existing manpower of the organization,
-and to anticipate the future requirement.
The ultimate purpose of manpower planning is to make available to the organization the right kind of personnel at the appropriate time and to ensure optimum utilization of manpower.
The first task in manpower planning would be the drawing up of manpower inventory of individual municipalities in terms of position, age, qualification, pay scale etc. The next step would be to make analysis of manpower in terms of availability of skilled personnel, age group, salary ranges, career paths, etc. The results of this analysis can be used to formulate policies. Analysis of skills available in the organization will lead to policies with regard to training, future recruitment, fixation of qualifications for recruitment etc. Analysis of personnel in terms of age and salary ranges will help in taking decisions on promotion, manpower acquisition plans, revision of pay and allowances, projection of establishment expenditure etc. Since one of the major purposes of manpower planning is optimum utilization of manpower, review of existing manpower should also include analysis of terms of utilization. Manpower norms for different kinds of municipal personnel can be developed through work-study, as have been explained in the next section. If such norms are available then analysis may be made with fair amount of objectivity about the manner in which manpower is used. Such a review of deployment of existing manpower may then be used for indicating steps for optimum use of manpower.
Another aspect of manpower planning is forecast of future manpower requirement. Though the nature of municipal activity is liable to change either due to a change in the functional domain or due to change in technology, the various functions performed by local bodies can be broadly grouped under four heads-service delivery (obligatory functions),
regulation (like building bye laws), extraction (like collection of taxes) and assigned functions (like scheme implementation and management). The designation of a municipal body into a planning authority in pursuance of the Town and Country Planning Act will require expertise in town planning within the municipal body. Again changeover from service privies to sanitary latrines will require a different kind of work force within the conservancy department. Further, construction of a new water-supply system or a crematorium will bring a new dimension in maintenance management and create the need for skilled professionals not presently available within the municipality. Hence the necessity of manpower forecast. Once this forecast is available, plans for acquisition could be drawn up. Such acquisition plans should aim at least-cost solution and avoidance of strains in employer-employee relations. These considerations are important, because introduction of new works create redundancy in some departments and generate new works in others. Quite often, it is discovered that utilization of surplus manpower in new kinds of works after imparting adequate training to them, is a better solution from the point of view of cost or employer-employee relations than resorting to open market recruitment. Unfortunately in the absence of manpower planning, such solutions are not attempted. One of the causes of overstaffing in Government institutions is a virtual absence of manpower planning. It requires professional skill to undertake an exercise in manpower planning. The State Government may assist the municipal bodies to draw up their manpower plans, by undertaking directly such exercises for some selected municipal bodies.