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Personnel Planning—A Strategic View
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Long Range Planning Vol. 12
June 1979
Personnel Planning-A Strategic View-* ]. M. M. de Swartt* Planning is a matter of reviewing, rather than previewing. In many organizations personnel planning is yet an underdeveloped field. The limited possibilities of the labour market and social security legislation makes staffing a complicated and costly affair; two major impulses for the growing interest in personnel planning. Personnel is the 'material' that can be planned, a process comparable with financial and inventory planning. The planning cycles and processes are almost identical. Yet, personnel is a specific type of material, with its own peculiar features. The nature of the 'material' provides specific possibilities for the planning process and the results thereof Personnel planning is the planning of human beings by human beings, with positive effects on the planning of other aspects. The experience obtained is scarce, but encouraging.
Introduction In the introductory article of the series 1 , the essence of the management dilemma is defined as follows: management can either try to make the best of concrete situations, acting on the principle of opportunism, or aim at optimum realization of corporate objectives along the lines of a previously outlined policy. The first is the merchant type of management, the second shows strategic leadership. Of course this characterization has its consequences for management responsibilities other than planning, and for aspects other than personnel only. But these two types have a dual meaning for personnel planning: on the one hand the selection of personnel is • A version of this article was originally published in Dutch in
lntermediair. tAkzo Nederland br, Vielperweg 76, Posthus 472, 6800, Amkern. =!=As a sociologist J. M. M. de Swart studied the problems of exminers who had been forced to change over to other jobs. He joined the Kon. Machinefabriek Stork at Hengelo as a personnel man and witnessed all the company"s ups and downs. As head of the Personnel and Organization department of a large operating company he obtained an extensive experience of the aspects of personnel planning mentioned in this article. After 8 years with Stork he joined Akzo in 1975. In the organization department he deals with the social-organizational aspects of projects aimed at changes in divisions and operating companies.
decided by personnel, on the other hand personnel is decisive for the selection of personnel. Personnel planning seems to lend itself particularly well for a vicious circle argumentation: opportunist managers will recruit people who are also likely to improvise, and this tends to perpetuate the usual practice. Personnel planning is the field of dilemmas: human beings are cause and result, subject and object of the planning. Another trait of the material of this type of planning can break this vicious circle, however. The merchant type of manager wiU realize that strategic planning is essential for a profitable continuation of the enterprise. He has the possibility of developing into a strategic manager or recruiting others for the purpose. The central theme of this paper therefore deals with the question to what extent personnel planning equals or exceeds, say, materials planning, and what the possibilities and difficulties are. An important factor is the underlying planning philosophy. Practical examples support the plea for participative personnel planning as a basis for more integral corporate planning.
Personnel Planning-The Planning of Human Beings In literature on personnel planning no difference is generaily made between this type of planning and other types. 'The forecast of manpower needs is part of the total corporate plan and should be placed on a level with other plannings of production tools, such as materials and investments.' Personnel planning is the specification of the personnel aspect of total planning. What are the objectives of personnel policy? Through what activities are these objectives pursued and what are the expected effects? Personnel planning is aimed at realizing an optimum staffing within the scope of corporate plans. Staffing may be regarded as' optimum' when, at the right moment, the organization is provided with an acceptable number and type of persons who are able and wiUing to do the necessary work.
Personnel Planning-A Strategic View This comparatively compact description of the aims and purposes of personnel planning includes more starting points than can be taken and worked out in this context. The essential point is that personnel planning be regarded as a dynamic and continuous process of people dealing with people. The staffing plan is a solidification of the process in time: it is an instantaneous shot of static nature that comes to life in day-to-day decisions in respect of personnel aspects. Part of the planning process is the realization of the plans: planning is for action. Effective planning is: making the link between planning and the realization of plans, and vice versa. A specific aspect of personnel planning is the fact that the subject of the planning-people-can makes plans themselves, or even learn to improve the planning. The personnel planning process may ther~(ore be regarded as a process of learning, in lllhich people learn by doing their jobs. This 'learning by doing' has a dual meaning: people can learn to make better plans by carrying out the plans made, so that they can see and test the practical effects. This shows the two specific aspects about personnel planning: integration of planning and the realization of plans leads to effective behaviour and participation in the planning process leads to motivated behaviour. In personnel planning, the link between planning and realization lies with people motivated by participation. In the planning of people by people lies the major possibility of tackling the complexity of planning in general and personnel planning in particular. Objectives of personnel planning other than those of optimum staffing within the scope of corporate plans are:
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question of a systematic or rati~nal approach in the behaviour of the demand side of the labour market'. It is our impression that the actual causes of the manpower
shortages are too often ignored in the adopted staff recruitment methods. S~ort-term campaigns predominate in personnel planmng, because the well-known mechanisms of dismissal, transfer and recruitment still turn out to be effective. Although the size of the personnel problem leaves no doubt about the necessity of planning, there are two factors of a qualitative nature that emphasize the use of a systematic approach of personnel planning.
An important factor in this context is the flexibility of personnel (categories). This is the complex of psychological and physical properties that affect people's usefulness in other jobs. The flexibility of persons and groups is of vital importance in personnel planning because it is connected with the necessity of planning: if people can be used in various jobs within and outside the organization, in other jobs at higher, equivalent or lower levels than their present one, the necessity of planning is less evident than in the case of, say, older and less educated employees who are very much attached to the area in which they are living. Another qualitative factor to make systematic personnel planning a useful activity is the reliability of the personnel forecast. The reliability depends on various aspects, including: (a) The measure in which the information-to-date has been processed.
(a) Information and motivation of people within the organization. Personnel planning permits people to give their opinion on future developments and to get an idea of their own place and possibilities in that context.
(b) The measure in which the danger of over-or underestimation has been emphasized.
(b) Contribution towards better communication and cooperation on the basis of more open labour relations.
(d) The quality of corporate planning.
(c) Possibilities of making links between personnel plans for recruitment and training, promotion, dismissal, transfer, remuneration, etc. (d) An aid towards the systematic realization of personnel objectives by management and personnel functionaries.
(c) The way in which the supposition and adopted criteria have been made explicit. (e) The hardness offorecasts of external developments. Figure 1 shows the use and necessity of personnel planning expressed in terms of flexibility of the factor to be planned and reliability of the envisaged plan.
(e) An instrument for early recognition of consequences in the field of manpower. All these objectives provide ample reasons for paying much attention and devoting a lot of energy to personnel planning, but is it always worth the trouble? Or is a systematic approach only necessary in certain concrete situations with far-reaching consequences?
The Use and Necessity of Personnel Planning In his researches into labour power and staffing, Hamaker3 comes to the conclusion that 'there is little or no
Measure of Flexibility Personnel Categories)
High
Low
High
Personnel Planning Easy, but not Exactly Necessary (Young Graduates)
Personnel Planning Very Well Possible and Urgently Necessary (in the Textile Industry)
Low
Personnel Planning Difficult, but not Exactly Necessary (Staff Specialists)
Personnel Planning Difficult and Urgently Necessary (Rand D Specialists
Measure of Reliability Personnel Forecast
Figure 1. Use and necessity of personnel planning
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Long Range Planning Vol. 12
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The diagram can be illustrated by a few examples: young graduated specialists can be placed fairly easily and supplies and needs can be calculated without difficulty by local, regional and national data. However, the reverse applies for top specialists and experienced middle-aged managers and specialists, notably in difficult professional groups {metal and building industries). A striking example of a situation in which planning was very well possible and urgently necessary is that of the position of the miners in Holland since 1966. As a result of the Government's decision to close down the mines one after the other a professional group oflimited flexibility was 'planned away', on the basis of a forecast of external developments that seemed hard at the tiine. The examples show that the well-known regulating mechanism of personnel planning does not work in situations like these. This is due less to the size of the problems than to the qualitative aspects of the groups and situations planned. Although a systematic approach and scientific analysis are not always required, they tend to deepen the policy-making process and illuminate policy implementation.
power on the basis of rating and career development systems. (c) The personnel plan, showing and defining the differences between the supply and need of manpower, and indicating how such differences-if any-can be eliminated. The personnel plan provides the basis for other plans, covering recruitment, dismissal, training, etc. The relation between the three elements of personnel planning is shown in Figure 2. Let's have a further look at the successive stages.
Aspects of Personnel Planning (the numbers refer to Figure 2) 1.1 Corporate Plan. This plan shows the developments and objectives relative to products, market, etc. Personnel aspects of this plan are: i::I development of the level oflabour costs (international,
national, branch of industry); i::I developments on the labour market (national,
regional, local) ; i::I developments in social law (joint consultative com-
mittees act etc.); i::I general social developments (mobility, working
What Happens in the Personnel Planning Process?
hours, shift work, etc.).
The planning process is made up of the following elements {partial plans): (a) The personnel needs plan, made on the basis of corporate and organization plans. This plan deals with the number of directly and indirectly productive employees, the level of education and training, etc. (b) The internal labour supply, resulting from analysis of characteristics and potentialities of available man-
1.2 Organization Plan. This plan shows the status of the present organization and trends of the future organization, such as: i::I changes in the organization structure (more/less
levels); i::I changes in procedures relating to continuity and
communication; i::J changes in jobs as a result of changed product policies, automation, etc.;
1.1 Corporate Plan
''
2.1 Inventory Current Personnel Strength
'
1.2 Organization Plan
2.2 Career Possibilities Available
1.3 Personnel Needs Plan
2.3 Internal Supply of Manpower
3.2 Pull Activities
Personnel
'
I
' t
3. 1 Personnel Plan 3.3 Development and Maintenance Activities
3.4 Push Activities
Make Activities: Education and Training Job Rotation
Activities Aimed at Introduction Co-operation, Work Structuring
Break Activities: Check on Recruitment, Gradual Reduction of Training Budget
Buy Activities: Recruitment, Selection
Researches into Labour Market, Studies, etc.
Sell activities: Dismissal, External Mediation
Figure 2. The personnel planning process
Personnel Planning-A Strategic View *: changes of organization principles under the influence
of internal and external developments (delegation, autonomy). 1.3 Personnel Needs Plan. 1.1 and 1.2 produce planning data relating to quantitative manpower needs: (a) Number and type of directly and indirectly productive personnel. (b) Number and type of employees in supporting departments.
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study and research, work structuring, co-operation, etc. These activities border on organization, training and education but are not dependent on extension or reduction only. They depend mainly on the philosophy behind the management's policy and once they have been initiated and expectations have been raised, they are hard to terminate. Where internal supplies exceed the needs we find the so-called push-activities, which may be split up into:
(c) Qualitative standards for key jobs.
(a) Break activities in the form of a check on recruitment.
(d) Management style, taking into account the development stage of the organization.
(b) Sell activities, such as dismissal, lay-off, and external mediation.
In order to meet manpower needs, personnel will of course in the first place be recruited from amongst the company's own ranks.
There is of course a lot more to be said about the available methods and techniques of making a manpower inventory and a plan covering the personnel needs.
2.1 Inventory Current Personnel Strength. Personnel may be split up into categories on the basis of many different aspects:
A much-used method of forecasting personnel needs is the so-called subjective method by which people on management level supply an estimate on the basis of experience and intuition.
(a) By age and seniority. (b) On the basis of turnover and absence data. (c) By function classification and ratios. (d) By level of education and training. (e) Development of department size. 2.2 Career Possibilities Available Personnel. Promotables' wishes; rating results; occupational resettlement, retraining, supplementary training; and individual demotion and external mediation. 2.3 Internal Supply of Manpower. On the basis of2.1 and 2.3 quantitative and qualitative surveys can be made of the future supply of manpower. (a) Number and level of promotables. (b) Wishes in respect of job rotation. (c) Career plans and possibilities. Manpower needs can now be compared with the forecasted future supply of manpower in 3.
Then there are several objective methods which are largely based on statistical and operations research techniques. Within the scope of this article we shall not go into these methods, however. Those interested are referred to the literature listed below. The same applies for the development of the various methods that may be adopted in connection with the activities referred to in the personnel plan. With the latter activities we enter upon the field of personnel policy, although in some publications these activities are considered to come under personnel planning as well. A final remark about the personnel planning procedure. The personnel plan in its turn is checked against the organization and corporate plans which can be affected to such an extent that they must be adapted or changed.
(b) Making, i.e. occupational resettlement, training, promotion, job rotation.
The necessity of integrating personnel and organization planning has been pointed out at regular intervals over the past few years. The argument used is the new connection found in social-organizational problems. An effective approach to these problems is often impeded by specialization and subspecialization between and within the personnel relations and organization departments. In practice there is often competition rather than constructive co-operation between the staff concerned. The existing organization structures and procedures often impede an integrated approach of social-organizational problems rather than furthering it. This differentiation calls for co-operation between specialists so as to realize effective assistance. Management is also getting tired and irritated about this differentiated approach.
Another type of activity aimed at 'development and maintenance' of the manpower aspect lies in the field of
The co-operation and integration of the so-called P and 0 functions finds its starting point in the complicated
3.1 The Personnel Plan. This plan shows the activities designed to deal with the quantitative and qualitative shortage or excess of manpower. First of all the so-called 'pull-activities' whereby, from the point of view of quantity and/or quality, internal supply is insufficient to meet the needs. Depending on the analysis of liabilities and income there is the choice between: (a) Buying, i.e. recruitment and selection.
Long Range Planning Vol. 12
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June 1979
problems around man and organization; people work in a job that fits in a structure within which problems may arise around job classification, transfer, dismissal, illness, etc. Although much more should be said on the subject, and we must accept the complex nature of the problems. On the analogy of the public health sector an advisory structure in terms offirst and second lines could be a solution. The personnel and organization specialist would be the management's consultant in this structure, whereby both personnel and organization specialists could be consulted, if necessary. For the purposes of this article we must confine ourselves to the statement that personnel and organization planning lends itself particularly well for co-operation and integration.
Strategic and Operational Planning So far the planning process has been described without considering the terms covered by the plans. Term should be understood to mean the complexity of the period covered as well. The terms generally adopted in corporate and consequently in personnel planning may be defined as follows and may vary between the following limits: (a) Long range of operational planning-term 5-10 years;
(b) Medium range of operational planning-term 2-5 years;
The Practice of Personnel Planning In their paper 4 Schulz-Wild and Sengenberg mention a few quantified results relating to the practice of personnel planning in West Germany. A few interesting findings: (a) Two-thirds of the companies with 50 employees and over have some kind of personnel planning. It turns out that investment, production and sales planning is applied on a far larger scale than personnel planning. (b) In recent years personnel planning has been improved again and again, particularly in large enterprises. (c) Planning terms are short on the whole (up to 1 year). Few companies have 2 or 4-year plans and even fewer have 4 or 5-year plans. Investment plans cover a longer period than production plans which are of the short-term type. 1:I One out of every five companies engaged in planning has two planning systems, varying in time/term; large companies show a higher percentage. 1:I The degree of differentiation between the various categories of personnel in personnel planning is comparatively slight and so is the amount of qualitative personnel planning. 1:I Generally speaking, adjustments in the higher and lower personnel categories have become comparatively expensive. In view of the necessity of minimizing adjustment costs, this will tend to stimulate personnel planning. What aspects affect the application and further development of personnel planning?
(c) Short term or budget planning-term 1-2 years. The emphasis placed on quantities will vary, depending on the term. One of the consequences for the personnel plan is that data relating to the supply and need of manpower in the budget and operational plans will be more concrete and better quantified. Often the planning will result in task-setting agreements, after approval on division or concern level. This also applies for activities referred to in the personnel plan: recruitment campaigns, training programmes or external mediation activities. The strategic plan on the other hand will reflect development in society, including the labour market, education, legislation and branch of industry. The strategic plan is more descriptive, qualitative in nature. Although there is every good reason to distinguish between the various types of planning, the plans should form one complex whole. The relation between the individual plans will become visible in their realization. This also applies for plans covering parts of the organization that are dissimilar in size, such as operating companies, divisions, the concern as a whole. Before going into details a few remarks about the practice of personnel planning and the key problems.
The Key Problems of Personnel Planning The most important problem encountered in personnel planning today, is the impossibility of making a strategic corporate plan that also supplies the tools required to realize the plans. The paradox that the need for planning grows as it becomes more difficult to survey the situation and plan ahead, has its consequences notably for personnel planning. Recruitment of large groups of, say, foreign labour and particularly the laying off of groups of employees are activities that evoke so much resistance within and outside the organization that the planning data concerned are discussed at length and realization is often postponed. This is only one aspect of the planning problem, however. Another important reason why comparatively little thought is given to strategic personnel planning is the fact that the attention of many on a management level is far more keenly directed to executive activities. Using the key concept of his organization development theory (timespan of discretion) E. Jacques 5 developed
Personnel Planning-A Strategic View quite a workable theory. He defines the term 'timespan of discretion' as 'the period of time between the moment a decision is made and the moment when results become visible'. The longer the period, the higher the organizational level. If the highest organizational level is too much occupied with operational-short term-matters, people on lower levels will tend to be occupied with even shorter term matters, so that all the thinking has been done and the executive level is left with the doing only. If specialists on all levels of management want to prove themselves and their jobs, their 'added value' will have to be found in the first place in the faculty oflong-term vision. Otherwise, Jacques argues, a disturbed balance would cause social-organizational problems. He analyses and describes the problems encountered with managers who are too keenly directed to executive activities in terms of disturbances in the balance between their capacities, the degree of difficulty of their work, and the payment (the so-called C-W-P balance). The fact that someone is keenly directed to executive activities could indicate that the work (W) makes higher demands on the person than can be met by his capacities (C) and this is how time is taken-borrowed or stolen-from jobs covering a longer term (planning), to the benefit of short-term activities (giving effect to the plans, etc.). Problems like these constitute the problem, but also the potential of personnel planning, the paradox as referred to above. The lack of interest on the part of management and planning specialists often reflects a certain reluctance to take up personnel planning. Particularly in strategic planning the objectives and strategies are often described one-sidedly in financial and technical-commercial terms. Planning talks of the management committee are not attended by personnel staff, and this again indicates that there is a certain resistance to planning. Although the situation is improving, there are still too many cases in which personnel specialists are excluded from policymaking activities, to which they could have contributed their share. There is yet another factor that explains the underdeveloped stage of personnel planning: the idea that per"sonnel problems can be solved within a comparatively short time by the regulating mechanisms of recruitment, lay-off, and money. However, there is a certain form of personnel planning, though less systematic and strategic than it should be, or could be, compared with other corporate activities. Many of the larger companies and institutions have developed systems and procedures for the planning of senior staff and key executives by number, promotion, and development; there are also examples of strategic plans affecting the personnel sector, e.g. the recruitment, transfer, or lay-off of personnel in difficult situations. Almost every company or institution has its annual budget, which is, among others, based on the personnel
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plan. In the case of vacancies the long-term perspectives are taken into consideration, etc. Is it correct to assume that strategic personnel planning will be complete and generally accepted when the above key problems have been solved? Before answering that question we shall go into the various planning philosophies. They are of great importance to personnel planning.
Planning Philosophies m Relation to Personnel Planning The most important contribution from scientists to planning is not so much the development and use of suitable techniques and aids, but the way in which the latter are made into a system, i.e. an integral planning process. This applies in particular to personnel planning and the way in which it is made part of total planning. The philosophy behind the planning process is that developed by the makers of the plan, and those steering and approving it. Another important factor is the nature of the material to be planned, personnel. Personnel planning is the planning of people whose specific characteristics provide the possibility for the set-up and approach of the planning process. We shall first discuss the general criteria that have their influence on the planning philosophy and then go into the specific nature of personnel planning. According to R. L. Ackoff7 planning can be approached from three different angles: (a) conservative planning in which a satisfactory situation is pursued on the basis of a few simple objectives, generally defined in terms of finance only, say, a 10 per cent increase in profits. The planning and its set-up are the responsibility of the planning department, and management is interested in the first place in financial results. The underlying philosophy is 'a not so excellent, but realizable plan is always better than an ambitious but unrealistic plan'. In this type of planning the policy pursued up to a certain moment is continued on the same lines, and drastic changes in the situation of personnel and organization are avoided. This attitude towards planning is often found in organizations that are still in what Lievegoed8 refers to as 'the pioneer phase'. An important fact about personnel planning is that the planning is a limited activity with a resulting task-setting function for some people. Policy deficiencies have to be 'made good' in the work to be carried out; (b) in optimum planning the objectives, and the ways and means of realizing them are clearly defmed. The optimizing approach is aimed at quantifying the planning aspects and making them explicit, often with the aid of mathematic models and techniques. The success wholly depends on the completeness and accuracy of figures and models. This approach to planning is typical of organizations in the differentiation and organization phase. It turns out that this type is particularly useful in short
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Long Range Planning Vol. 12
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term planning. The important point for personnel planning is that, here too, a comparatively limited number of people, management and specialists, are involved in the planning process, resulting in task-setting objectives for many on management level; (c) adaptive planning aims at harmonization of personal objectives and the interests of employees and organization. Not only the results of the planning are considered important but certainly also the effects on the 'awakening' of people: 'the planning itself is the principal product'. The value of this type ofplanning to those on management level lies first of all in their participating in the process, and not in the use they make of instructions and data supplied by experts. In an earlier article on personnel planning9 I described this type as 'participative personnel planning'.. This planning philosophy is particularly valuable for personnel planning because here the planning philosophy itself is the objective of and the action programme for participative personnel planning. Adaptive personnel planning is aimed not so much about a flexible type of planning system, as about making people within the organization flexible. I am convinced that this adaptive or participative type of planning can provide the solution to planning problems and could produce an integrated type of planning. The underlying management philosophy is that people are able to act intelligently provided that they are aware of the objectives and their own tasks. In the individual jobs the planning and executive activities and the flexible consultation structures are combined. For human beings themselves are largely responsible for the mess that has to be put in order or avoided through planning. Personnel planning could contribute materially to the realization of this planning philosophy and practice, as appears from the practical examples given below. But why personnel planning?
Distinctive Features of Personnel Planning Personnel planning covers a very special type of material, people, with specific potentialities and problems. Potentialities lie in the human capacity of learning and development, with possibilities of quality improvement, flexibility and repeated use. Unlike other kinds of material, human beings are able to make plans and take action: they may change their job, put suggestions in the suggestion box, or offer resistance. People working together can make more out of 2 + 2 than 4. They are able to convert organizational objectives into decisions, changing over from an annual planning procedure to a day-to-day activity. The waywardness of the material is a difficult point in personnel planning. A systematic approach is almost
impossible, for there are, as the saying goes 'many heads, many minds'. A made-to-measure approach seems to be the only solution. Storage, even temporary storage is extremely difficult. Call-off orders are out of the question; people's own will and a rigid legislation form an impediment to agile management. Even the purchasing possibilities are limited. Although money turns out to be an essential element, money alone will not buy the 'material'. Human beings are more than just a cost item. Planning of this 'material' is difficult, planning by this material is necessary. Personnel planning may initiate a break-through in the planning process.
Personnel Planning as a Basis for Planning by People It is my experience, and others have found the same, that personnel planning lends itself particularly well to participation. Thus, participative personnel planning may provide a basis for participative, or-to use one of Ackoff's terms-'adaptive planning' of a department ora larger organization unit. As a Personnel and Organization man I worked for a couple of years on the introduction of the above ideas in an industrial enterprise of some 1500 employees, part of a large concern.
Wide experience of participative personnel planning has been gained at Hoogovens, IJmuiden, where, since the beginning of the 1970s, processes and procedures have been developed by which the tenor of the personnel planning and the discussion about the planning have been linked together. Roughly speaking the process covers the stages from information about the contemplated policy on the part of the management, via 'translation' of that policy to a policy on a department level. The latter is taken as a starting point for the discussions about the personnel plan. On the basis offigures and personnel data an evaluation is made of the required numbers and types of personnel and the potential of available manpower. This shows the actual needs, and the discussion is about how this problem is to be solved. The personnel plans of the various departments are collected and discussed, the limited means are distributed and the plans can be realized and subjected to further evaluation. I used to work with a questionnaire, split up into the categories: 'personnel', 'training' and 'organization', each category covering both strategic and operational planning. The object of the talks organized on a department level was to discuss employees' plans and views on personnel and organization in relation to aspects of the policy on a department level.
Personnel Planning-A Strategic View It is my experience that:
(a) It is difficult to keep operational and strategic plans strictly separated. The planning terms overlap each other and are mixed up in the discussion and the short-term solution is often given preference over long-term solutions. (b) Discussions about personnel and organization plans often show a fair amount of frankness about expectations, objectives, improvement of management and co,...operation, the value of which is even increased by the combination of personnel and organization aspects. (c) People are more inclined to accept decisions relating to personnel than matters concerning training activities ('it may be necessary, but .. .'). (d) Participation in this sort of planning requires extensive information. The latter has to be adapted for use in the department. (e) It is impracticable to extend the discussion to the lowest level of the organization. Time is an important factor, especially as the plan will have to fit in with the time planning of the corporate plan.
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Conclusion Personnel planning as 'materials planning' is a necessity; personnel planning as a process of participation is of great value. It may initiate a horizontal and vertical change from 'aspect planning' to integrated corporate planning. Horizontal, in so far as it concerns corporate aspects that are considered individually and jointly by the responsible team. Vertical, in so far as it concerns the integration of plans and views ofpeople on different levels of the organization, varying in abstracting capacity and planning perspective. Finally, the activities of planning and the realization of plans can be integrated. Starting on a participative (personnel) planning process means accepting the challenge not to persist in making the comparatively easy planning techniques even more perfect, but to further the mobilization of people instead.
Some English Literature D. J. Bell, Manpower in Corporate Planning, Long Range Planning 1976 (4). A. Th. Hollingworth and P. Creston, Corporate Planning, A Challenge for Personnel Executives, Personnel Journal, 1976 (8).
(f) Large-scale information about the company's objectives, position and course is valued highly, especially if supplied systematically and at regular intervals.
J. M. Cassell, Manpower Planning.
(g) The management style in day-to-day affairs is an important factor for support of this kind of planning talks.
The series The practice of strategic policy making' was prepared in close co-operation with the 'Vereniging voor Strategische Beleidsvorming' (association for strategic policy making) at The Hague.
W. Brown and E. Jaques, Glacier Project Papers (1965). Editor of the series : ...
Long Range Planning Vol. 12
June 1979
Personnel Planning-A Strategic View-* ]. M. M. de Swartt* Planning is a matter of reviewing, rather than previewing. In many organizations personnel planning is yet an underdeveloped field. The limited possibilities of the labour market and social security legislation makes staffing a complicated and costly affair; two major impulses for the growing interest in personnel planning. Personnel is the 'material' that can be planned, a process comparable with financial and inventory planning. The planning cycles and processes are almost identical. Yet, personnel is a specific type of material, with its own peculiar features. The nature of the 'material' provides specific possibilities for the planning process and the results thereof Personnel planning is the planning of human beings by human beings, with positive effects on the planning of other aspects. The experience obtained is scarce, but encouraging.
Introduction In the introductory article of the series 1 , the essence of the management dilemma is defined as follows: management can either try to make the best of concrete situations, acting on the principle of opportunism, or aim at optimum realization of corporate objectives along the lines of a previously outlined policy. The first is the merchant type of management, the second shows strategic leadership. Of course this characterization has its consequences for management responsibilities other than planning, and for aspects other than personnel only. But these two types have a dual meaning for personnel planning: on the one hand the selection of personnel is • A version of this article was originally published in Dutch in
lntermediair. tAkzo Nederland br, Vielperweg 76, Posthus 472, 6800, Amkern. =!=As a sociologist J. M. M. de Swart studied the problems of exminers who had been forced to change over to other jobs. He joined the Kon. Machinefabriek Stork at Hengelo as a personnel man and witnessed all the company"s ups and downs. As head of the Personnel and Organization department of a large operating company he obtained an extensive experience of the aspects of personnel planning mentioned in this article. After 8 years with Stork he joined Akzo in 1975. In the organization department he deals with the social-organizational aspects of projects aimed at changes in divisions and operating companies.
decided by personnel, on the other hand personnel is decisive for the selection of personnel. Personnel planning seems to lend itself particularly well for a vicious circle argumentation: opportunist managers will recruit people who are also likely to improvise, and this tends to perpetuate the usual practice. Personnel planning is the field of dilemmas: human beings are cause and result, subject and object of the planning. Another trait of the material of this type of planning can break this vicious circle, however. The merchant type of manager wiU realize that strategic planning is essential for a profitable continuation of the enterprise. He has the possibility of developing into a strategic manager or recruiting others for the purpose. The central theme of this paper therefore deals with the question to what extent personnel planning equals or exceeds, say, materials planning, and what the possibilities and difficulties are. An important factor is the underlying planning philosophy. Practical examples support the plea for participative personnel planning as a basis for more integral corporate planning.
Personnel Planning-The Planning of Human Beings In literature on personnel planning no difference is generaily made between this type of planning and other types. 'The forecast of manpower needs is part of the total corporate plan and should be placed on a level with other plannings of production tools, such as materials and investments.' Personnel planning is the specification of the personnel aspect of total planning. What are the objectives of personnel policy? Through what activities are these objectives pursued and what are the expected effects? Personnel planning is aimed at realizing an optimum staffing within the scope of corporate plans. Staffing may be regarded as' optimum' when, at the right moment, the organization is provided with an acceptable number and type of persons who are able and wiUing to do the necessary work.
Personnel Planning-A Strategic View This comparatively compact description of the aims and purposes of personnel planning includes more starting points than can be taken and worked out in this context. The essential point is that personnel planning be regarded as a dynamic and continuous process of people dealing with people. The staffing plan is a solidification of the process in time: it is an instantaneous shot of static nature that comes to life in day-to-day decisions in respect of personnel aspects. Part of the planning process is the realization of the plans: planning is for action. Effective planning is: making the link between planning and the realization of plans, and vice versa. A specific aspect of personnel planning is the fact that the subject of the planning-people-can makes plans themselves, or even learn to improve the planning. The personnel planning process may ther~(ore be regarded as a process of learning, in lllhich people learn by doing their jobs. This 'learning by doing' has a dual meaning: people can learn to make better plans by carrying out the plans made, so that they can see and test the practical effects. This shows the two specific aspects about personnel planning: integration of planning and the realization of plans leads to effective behaviour and participation in the planning process leads to motivated behaviour. In personnel planning, the link between planning and realization lies with people motivated by participation. In the planning of people by people lies the major possibility of tackling the complexity of planning in general and personnel planning in particular. Objectives of personnel planning other than those of optimum staffing within the scope of corporate plans are:
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question of a systematic or rati~nal approach in the behaviour of the demand side of the labour market'. It is our impression that the actual causes of the manpower
shortages are too often ignored in the adopted staff recruitment methods. S~ort-term campaigns predominate in personnel planmng, because the well-known mechanisms of dismissal, transfer and recruitment still turn out to be effective. Although the size of the personnel problem leaves no doubt about the necessity of planning, there are two factors of a qualitative nature that emphasize the use of a systematic approach of personnel planning.
An important factor in this context is the flexibility of personnel (categories). This is the complex of psychological and physical properties that affect people's usefulness in other jobs. The flexibility of persons and groups is of vital importance in personnel planning because it is connected with the necessity of planning: if people can be used in various jobs within and outside the organization, in other jobs at higher, equivalent or lower levels than their present one, the necessity of planning is less evident than in the case of, say, older and less educated employees who are very much attached to the area in which they are living. Another qualitative factor to make systematic personnel planning a useful activity is the reliability of the personnel forecast. The reliability depends on various aspects, including: (a) The measure in which the information-to-date has been processed.
(a) Information and motivation of people within the organization. Personnel planning permits people to give their opinion on future developments and to get an idea of their own place and possibilities in that context.
(b) The measure in which the danger of over-or underestimation has been emphasized.
(b) Contribution towards better communication and cooperation on the basis of more open labour relations.
(d) The quality of corporate planning.
(c) Possibilities of making links between personnel plans for recruitment and training, promotion, dismissal, transfer, remuneration, etc. (d) An aid towards the systematic realization of personnel objectives by management and personnel functionaries.
(c) The way in which the supposition and adopted criteria have been made explicit. (e) The hardness offorecasts of external developments. Figure 1 shows the use and necessity of personnel planning expressed in terms of flexibility of the factor to be planned and reliability of the envisaged plan.
(e) An instrument for early recognition of consequences in the field of manpower. All these objectives provide ample reasons for paying much attention and devoting a lot of energy to personnel planning, but is it always worth the trouble? Or is a systematic approach only necessary in certain concrete situations with far-reaching consequences?
The Use and Necessity of Personnel Planning In his researches into labour power and staffing, Hamaker3 comes to the conclusion that 'there is little or no
Measure of Flexibility Personnel Categories)
High
Low
High
Personnel Planning Easy, but not Exactly Necessary (Young Graduates)
Personnel Planning Very Well Possible and Urgently Necessary (in the Textile Industry)
Low
Personnel Planning Difficult, but not Exactly Necessary (Staff Specialists)
Personnel Planning Difficult and Urgently Necessary (Rand D Specialists
Measure of Reliability Personnel Forecast
Figure 1. Use and necessity of personnel planning
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The diagram can be illustrated by a few examples: young graduated specialists can be placed fairly easily and supplies and needs can be calculated without difficulty by local, regional and national data. However, the reverse applies for top specialists and experienced middle-aged managers and specialists, notably in difficult professional groups {metal and building industries). A striking example of a situation in which planning was very well possible and urgently necessary is that of the position of the miners in Holland since 1966. As a result of the Government's decision to close down the mines one after the other a professional group oflimited flexibility was 'planned away', on the basis of a forecast of external developments that seemed hard at the tiine. The examples show that the well-known regulating mechanism of personnel planning does not work in situations like these. This is due less to the size of the problems than to the qualitative aspects of the groups and situations planned. Although a systematic approach and scientific analysis are not always required, they tend to deepen the policy-making process and illuminate policy implementation.
power on the basis of rating and career development systems. (c) The personnel plan, showing and defining the differences between the supply and need of manpower, and indicating how such differences-if any-can be eliminated. The personnel plan provides the basis for other plans, covering recruitment, dismissal, training, etc. The relation between the three elements of personnel planning is shown in Figure 2. Let's have a further look at the successive stages.
Aspects of Personnel Planning (the numbers refer to Figure 2) 1.1 Corporate Plan. This plan shows the developments and objectives relative to products, market, etc. Personnel aspects of this plan are: i::I development of the level oflabour costs (international,
national, branch of industry); i::I developments on the labour market (national,
regional, local) ; i::I developments in social law (joint consultative com-
mittees act etc.); i::I general social developments (mobility, working
What Happens in the Personnel Planning Process?
hours, shift work, etc.).
The planning process is made up of the following elements {partial plans): (a) The personnel needs plan, made on the basis of corporate and organization plans. This plan deals with the number of directly and indirectly productive employees, the level of education and training, etc. (b) The internal labour supply, resulting from analysis of characteristics and potentialities of available man-
1.2 Organization Plan. This plan shows the status of the present organization and trends of the future organization, such as: i::I changes in the organization structure (more/less
levels); i::I changes in procedures relating to continuity and
communication; i::J changes in jobs as a result of changed product policies, automation, etc.;
1.1 Corporate Plan
''
2.1 Inventory Current Personnel Strength
'
1.2 Organization Plan
2.2 Career Possibilities Available
1.3 Personnel Needs Plan
2.3 Internal Supply of Manpower
3.2 Pull Activities
Personnel
'
I
' t
3. 1 Personnel Plan 3.3 Development and Maintenance Activities
3.4 Push Activities
Make Activities: Education and Training Job Rotation
Activities Aimed at Introduction Co-operation, Work Structuring
Break Activities: Check on Recruitment, Gradual Reduction of Training Budget
Buy Activities: Recruitment, Selection
Researches into Labour Market, Studies, etc.
Sell activities: Dismissal, External Mediation
Figure 2. The personnel planning process
Personnel Planning-A Strategic View *: changes of organization principles under the influence
of internal and external developments (delegation, autonomy). 1.3 Personnel Needs Plan. 1.1 and 1.2 produce planning data relating to quantitative manpower needs: (a) Number and type of directly and indirectly productive personnel. (b) Number and type of employees in supporting departments.
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study and research, work structuring, co-operation, etc. These activities border on organization, training and education but are not dependent on extension or reduction only. They depend mainly on the philosophy behind the management's policy and once they have been initiated and expectations have been raised, they are hard to terminate. Where internal supplies exceed the needs we find the so-called push-activities, which may be split up into:
(c) Qualitative standards for key jobs.
(a) Break activities in the form of a check on recruitment.
(d) Management style, taking into account the development stage of the organization.
(b) Sell activities, such as dismissal, lay-off, and external mediation.
In order to meet manpower needs, personnel will of course in the first place be recruited from amongst the company's own ranks.
There is of course a lot more to be said about the available methods and techniques of making a manpower inventory and a plan covering the personnel needs.
2.1 Inventory Current Personnel Strength. Personnel may be split up into categories on the basis of many different aspects:
A much-used method of forecasting personnel needs is the so-called subjective method by which people on management level supply an estimate on the basis of experience and intuition.
(a) By age and seniority. (b) On the basis of turnover and absence data. (c) By function classification and ratios. (d) By level of education and training. (e) Development of department size. 2.2 Career Possibilities Available Personnel. Promotables' wishes; rating results; occupational resettlement, retraining, supplementary training; and individual demotion and external mediation. 2.3 Internal Supply of Manpower. On the basis of2.1 and 2.3 quantitative and qualitative surveys can be made of the future supply of manpower. (a) Number and level of promotables. (b) Wishes in respect of job rotation. (c) Career plans and possibilities. Manpower needs can now be compared with the forecasted future supply of manpower in 3.
Then there are several objective methods which are largely based on statistical and operations research techniques. Within the scope of this article we shall not go into these methods, however. Those interested are referred to the literature listed below. The same applies for the development of the various methods that may be adopted in connection with the activities referred to in the personnel plan. With the latter activities we enter upon the field of personnel policy, although in some publications these activities are considered to come under personnel planning as well. A final remark about the personnel planning procedure. The personnel plan in its turn is checked against the organization and corporate plans which can be affected to such an extent that they must be adapted or changed.
(b) Making, i.e. occupational resettlement, training, promotion, job rotation.
The necessity of integrating personnel and organization planning has been pointed out at regular intervals over the past few years. The argument used is the new connection found in social-organizational problems. An effective approach to these problems is often impeded by specialization and subspecialization between and within the personnel relations and organization departments. In practice there is often competition rather than constructive co-operation between the staff concerned. The existing organization structures and procedures often impede an integrated approach of social-organizational problems rather than furthering it. This differentiation calls for co-operation between specialists so as to realize effective assistance. Management is also getting tired and irritated about this differentiated approach.
Another type of activity aimed at 'development and maintenance' of the manpower aspect lies in the field of
The co-operation and integration of the so-called P and 0 functions finds its starting point in the complicated
3.1 The Personnel Plan. This plan shows the activities designed to deal with the quantitative and qualitative shortage or excess of manpower. First of all the so-called 'pull-activities' whereby, from the point of view of quantity and/or quality, internal supply is insufficient to meet the needs. Depending on the analysis of liabilities and income there is the choice between: (a) Buying, i.e. recruitment and selection.
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June 1979
problems around man and organization; people work in a job that fits in a structure within which problems may arise around job classification, transfer, dismissal, illness, etc. Although much more should be said on the subject, and we must accept the complex nature of the problems. On the analogy of the public health sector an advisory structure in terms offirst and second lines could be a solution. The personnel and organization specialist would be the management's consultant in this structure, whereby both personnel and organization specialists could be consulted, if necessary. For the purposes of this article we must confine ourselves to the statement that personnel and organization planning lends itself particularly well for co-operation and integration.
Strategic and Operational Planning So far the planning process has been described without considering the terms covered by the plans. Term should be understood to mean the complexity of the period covered as well. The terms generally adopted in corporate and consequently in personnel planning may be defined as follows and may vary between the following limits: (a) Long range of operational planning-term 5-10 years;
(b) Medium range of operational planning-term 2-5 years;
The Practice of Personnel Planning In their paper 4 Schulz-Wild and Sengenberg mention a few quantified results relating to the practice of personnel planning in West Germany. A few interesting findings: (a) Two-thirds of the companies with 50 employees and over have some kind of personnel planning. It turns out that investment, production and sales planning is applied on a far larger scale than personnel planning. (b) In recent years personnel planning has been improved again and again, particularly in large enterprises. (c) Planning terms are short on the whole (up to 1 year). Few companies have 2 or 4-year plans and even fewer have 4 or 5-year plans. Investment plans cover a longer period than production plans which are of the short-term type. 1:I One out of every five companies engaged in planning has two planning systems, varying in time/term; large companies show a higher percentage. 1:I The degree of differentiation between the various categories of personnel in personnel planning is comparatively slight and so is the amount of qualitative personnel planning. 1:I Generally speaking, adjustments in the higher and lower personnel categories have become comparatively expensive. In view of the necessity of minimizing adjustment costs, this will tend to stimulate personnel planning. What aspects affect the application and further development of personnel planning?
(c) Short term or budget planning-term 1-2 years. The emphasis placed on quantities will vary, depending on the term. One of the consequences for the personnel plan is that data relating to the supply and need of manpower in the budget and operational plans will be more concrete and better quantified. Often the planning will result in task-setting agreements, after approval on division or concern level. This also applies for activities referred to in the personnel plan: recruitment campaigns, training programmes or external mediation activities. The strategic plan on the other hand will reflect development in society, including the labour market, education, legislation and branch of industry. The strategic plan is more descriptive, qualitative in nature. Although there is every good reason to distinguish between the various types of planning, the plans should form one complex whole. The relation between the individual plans will become visible in their realization. This also applies for plans covering parts of the organization that are dissimilar in size, such as operating companies, divisions, the concern as a whole. Before going into details a few remarks about the practice of personnel planning and the key problems.
The Key Problems of Personnel Planning The most important problem encountered in personnel planning today, is the impossibility of making a strategic corporate plan that also supplies the tools required to realize the plans. The paradox that the need for planning grows as it becomes more difficult to survey the situation and plan ahead, has its consequences notably for personnel planning. Recruitment of large groups of, say, foreign labour and particularly the laying off of groups of employees are activities that evoke so much resistance within and outside the organization that the planning data concerned are discussed at length and realization is often postponed. This is only one aspect of the planning problem, however. Another important reason why comparatively little thought is given to strategic personnel planning is the fact that the attention of many on a management level is far more keenly directed to executive activities. Using the key concept of his organization development theory (timespan of discretion) E. Jacques 5 developed
Personnel Planning-A Strategic View quite a workable theory. He defines the term 'timespan of discretion' as 'the period of time between the moment a decision is made and the moment when results become visible'. The longer the period, the higher the organizational level. If the highest organizational level is too much occupied with operational-short term-matters, people on lower levels will tend to be occupied with even shorter term matters, so that all the thinking has been done and the executive level is left with the doing only. If specialists on all levels of management want to prove themselves and their jobs, their 'added value' will have to be found in the first place in the faculty oflong-term vision. Otherwise, Jacques argues, a disturbed balance would cause social-organizational problems. He analyses and describes the problems encountered with managers who are too keenly directed to executive activities in terms of disturbances in the balance between their capacities, the degree of difficulty of their work, and the payment (the so-called C-W-P balance). The fact that someone is keenly directed to executive activities could indicate that the work (W) makes higher demands on the person than can be met by his capacities (C) and this is how time is taken-borrowed or stolen-from jobs covering a longer term (planning), to the benefit of short-term activities (giving effect to the plans, etc.). Problems like these constitute the problem, but also the potential of personnel planning, the paradox as referred to above. The lack of interest on the part of management and planning specialists often reflects a certain reluctance to take up personnel planning. Particularly in strategic planning the objectives and strategies are often described one-sidedly in financial and technical-commercial terms. Planning talks of the management committee are not attended by personnel staff, and this again indicates that there is a certain resistance to planning. Although the situation is improving, there are still too many cases in which personnel specialists are excluded from policymaking activities, to which they could have contributed their share. There is yet another factor that explains the underdeveloped stage of personnel planning: the idea that per"sonnel problems can be solved within a comparatively short time by the regulating mechanisms of recruitment, lay-off, and money. However, there is a certain form of personnel planning, though less systematic and strategic than it should be, or could be, compared with other corporate activities. Many of the larger companies and institutions have developed systems and procedures for the planning of senior staff and key executives by number, promotion, and development; there are also examples of strategic plans affecting the personnel sector, e.g. the recruitment, transfer, or lay-off of personnel in difficult situations. Almost every company or institution has its annual budget, which is, among others, based on the personnel
13
plan. In the case of vacancies the long-term perspectives are taken into consideration, etc. Is it correct to assume that strategic personnel planning will be complete and generally accepted when the above key problems have been solved? Before answering that question we shall go into the various planning philosophies. They are of great importance to personnel planning.
Planning Philosophies m Relation to Personnel Planning The most important contribution from scientists to planning is not so much the development and use of suitable techniques and aids, but the way in which the latter are made into a system, i.e. an integral planning process. This applies in particular to personnel planning and the way in which it is made part of total planning. The philosophy behind the planning process is that developed by the makers of the plan, and those steering and approving it. Another important factor is the nature of the material to be planned, personnel. Personnel planning is the planning of people whose specific characteristics provide the possibility for the set-up and approach of the planning process. We shall first discuss the general criteria that have their influence on the planning philosophy and then go into the specific nature of personnel planning. According to R. L. Ackoff7 planning can be approached from three different angles: (a) conservative planning in which a satisfactory situation is pursued on the basis of a few simple objectives, generally defined in terms of finance only, say, a 10 per cent increase in profits. The planning and its set-up are the responsibility of the planning department, and management is interested in the first place in financial results. The underlying philosophy is 'a not so excellent, but realizable plan is always better than an ambitious but unrealistic plan'. In this type of planning the policy pursued up to a certain moment is continued on the same lines, and drastic changes in the situation of personnel and organization are avoided. This attitude towards planning is often found in organizations that are still in what Lievegoed8 refers to as 'the pioneer phase'. An important fact about personnel planning is that the planning is a limited activity with a resulting task-setting function for some people. Policy deficiencies have to be 'made good' in the work to be carried out; (b) in optimum planning the objectives, and the ways and means of realizing them are clearly defmed. The optimizing approach is aimed at quantifying the planning aspects and making them explicit, often with the aid of mathematic models and techniques. The success wholly depends on the completeness and accuracy of figures and models. This approach to planning is typical of organizations in the differentiation and organization phase. It turns out that this type is particularly useful in short
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Long Range Planning Vol. 12
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term planning. The important point for personnel planning is that, here too, a comparatively limited number of people, management and specialists, are involved in the planning process, resulting in task-setting objectives for many on management level; (c) adaptive planning aims at harmonization of personal objectives and the interests of employees and organization. Not only the results of the planning are considered important but certainly also the effects on the 'awakening' of people: 'the planning itself is the principal product'. The value of this type ofplanning to those on management level lies first of all in their participating in the process, and not in the use they make of instructions and data supplied by experts. In an earlier article on personnel planning9 I described this type as 'participative personnel planning'.. This planning philosophy is particularly valuable for personnel planning because here the planning philosophy itself is the objective of and the action programme for participative personnel planning. Adaptive personnel planning is aimed not so much about a flexible type of planning system, as about making people within the organization flexible. I am convinced that this adaptive or participative type of planning can provide the solution to planning problems and could produce an integrated type of planning. The underlying management philosophy is that people are able to act intelligently provided that they are aware of the objectives and their own tasks. In the individual jobs the planning and executive activities and the flexible consultation structures are combined. For human beings themselves are largely responsible for the mess that has to be put in order or avoided through planning. Personnel planning could contribute materially to the realization of this planning philosophy and practice, as appears from the practical examples given below. But why personnel planning?
Distinctive Features of Personnel Planning Personnel planning covers a very special type of material, people, with specific potentialities and problems. Potentialities lie in the human capacity of learning and development, with possibilities of quality improvement, flexibility and repeated use. Unlike other kinds of material, human beings are able to make plans and take action: they may change their job, put suggestions in the suggestion box, or offer resistance. People working together can make more out of 2 + 2 than 4. They are able to convert organizational objectives into decisions, changing over from an annual planning procedure to a day-to-day activity. The waywardness of the material is a difficult point in personnel planning. A systematic approach is almost
impossible, for there are, as the saying goes 'many heads, many minds'. A made-to-measure approach seems to be the only solution. Storage, even temporary storage is extremely difficult. Call-off orders are out of the question; people's own will and a rigid legislation form an impediment to agile management. Even the purchasing possibilities are limited. Although money turns out to be an essential element, money alone will not buy the 'material'. Human beings are more than just a cost item. Planning of this 'material' is difficult, planning by this material is necessary. Personnel planning may initiate a break-through in the planning process.
Personnel Planning as a Basis for Planning by People It is my experience, and others have found the same, that personnel planning lends itself particularly well to participation. Thus, participative personnel planning may provide a basis for participative, or-to use one of Ackoff's terms-'adaptive planning' of a department ora larger organization unit. As a Personnel and Organization man I worked for a couple of years on the introduction of the above ideas in an industrial enterprise of some 1500 employees, part of a large concern.
Wide experience of participative personnel planning has been gained at Hoogovens, IJmuiden, where, since the beginning of the 1970s, processes and procedures have been developed by which the tenor of the personnel planning and the discussion about the planning have been linked together. Roughly speaking the process covers the stages from information about the contemplated policy on the part of the management, via 'translation' of that policy to a policy on a department level. The latter is taken as a starting point for the discussions about the personnel plan. On the basis offigures and personnel data an evaluation is made of the required numbers and types of personnel and the potential of available manpower. This shows the actual needs, and the discussion is about how this problem is to be solved. The personnel plans of the various departments are collected and discussed, the limited means are distributed and the plans can be realized and subjected to further evaluation. I used to work with a questionnaire, split up into the categories: 'personnel', 'training' and 'organization', each category covering both strategic and operational planning. The object of the talks organized on a department level was to discuss employees' plans and views on personnel and organization in relation to aspects of the policy on a department level.
Personnel Planning-A Strategic View It is my experience that:
(a) It is difficult to keep operational and strategic plans strictly separated. The planning terms overlap each other and are mixed up in the discussion and the short-term solution is often given preference over long-term solutions. (b) Discussions about personnel and organization plans often show a fair amount of frankness about expectations, objectives, improvement of management and co,...operation, the value of which is even increased by the combination of personnel and organization aspects. (c) People are more inclined to accept decisions relating to personnel than matters concerning training activities ('it may be necessary, but .. .'). (d) Participation in this sort of planning requires extensive information. The latter has to be adapted for use in the department. (e) It is impracticable to extend the discussion to the lowest level of the organization. Time is an important factor, especially as the plan will have to fit in with the time planning of the corporate plan.
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Conclusion Personnel planning as 'materials planning' is a necessity; personnel planning as a process of participation is of great value. It may initiate a horizontal and vertical change from 'aspect planning' to integrated corporate planning. Horizontal, in so far as it concerns corporate aspects that are considered individually and jointly by the responsible team. Vertical, in so far as it concerns the integration of plans and views ofpeople on different levels of the organization, varying in abstracting capacity and planning perspective. Finally, the activities of planning and the realization of plans can be integrated. Starting on a participative (personnel) planning process means accepting the challenge not to persist in making the comparatively easy planning techniques even more perfect, but to further the mobilization of people instead.
Some English Literature D. J. Bell, Manpower in Corporate Planning, Long Range Planning 1976 (4). A. Th. Hollingworth and P. Creston, Corporate Planning, A Challenge for Personnel Executives, Personnel Journal, 1976 (8).
(f) Large-scale information about the company's objectives, position and course is valued highly, especially if supplied systematically and at regular intervals.
J. M. Cassell, Manpower Planning.
(g) The management style in day-to-day affairs is an important factor for support of this kind of planning talks.
The series The practice of strategic policy making' was prepared in close co-operation with the 'Vereniging voor Strategische Beleidsvorming' (association for strategic policy making) at The Hague.
W. Brown and E. Jaques, Glacier Project Papers (1965). Editor of the series : ...