Manpower planning project; Philips India Ltd.

Abstract

The Dutch Electronics MNC , which for a long time under the previous protected environment had been rather sluggish , has speedily responded to this Japanese invasion from Sony and other South Asian competitors. In this dynamic environment , a number of pro-active proceses have been instituted by the Management of the company that wil enable this massive organization to deal with every possible variable on all possible fronts. The exercise of Manopower Planning is one such pro-active process. Philips India Ltd. has seven divisions of which Philips Telcom and Philips Medical systems are the newest in the whole group.Philips as market leader in the combined audio-visual Commercial Electronics market is now striving to maintain the lead it now holds. Akai, Sansui, Sony, BPL and a number of others are rapidly making inroads into this jealously guarded market. As they set up operations m India their easiest source of experienced manpower will understandably be existing market leaders and the prospects of large scale poaching can certainly not be nuled out in the corporate environment that is characterised by spiralling pay packages and frequent job hopping. In addition, the need for long term strategic panning for the next 5/10/15 years has become imperative and the Management of Philips India has clearly defined five year goals. A ramification of this strategic planning is the exercise of Manpower Planning, the achievement of these financial objectives is inherently dependent on the manpower that will effect these targets. There is a positive correlation between the financial and personnel- requirements of any business unit . The byword in most organizations today is ‘Downsizing’ wherein every organization seeks a lean and trim structure. Automation has a key role to play under these circumstances . Managers have to give even more thought to the specific roles of the individuals under them so as to avoid overlaps, redundancies that will cause a maceration of the effectiveness and efficiency of the entire system. The exercise in Manpower Planning seeks to determine well in advance the specific needs of various departments/units/divisions in order that the optimum manpower inventory with the requisite qualifications is always available. Till recently ,the subject of Manpower Planning was not given much attention and staff requisitions -were, made on an ad-hoc basis.as and when the need arose .Most managers had very hazy ideas concerning their future requirement of personnel. Though there was a very clear understanding of financial objectives as these were totally quantifiable, there was a very abstruse linkage between these objectives and the people needed to bring them into reality. The process of Manpower Planning has been initiated and this project seeks to refine various aspects of it It has also been integrated into the MIS system currently under development so that managers have on-line access to all information related to manpower requirements.