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Introduction
Manpower planning is indispensable for an organization to perform its activities efficiently and
in a way that produces desired results. It should be apparent that the organizational development
as well as the success of a business is an account of highly competent people that a business
organization keeps. Manpower planning is of great significance for various reasons necessitating
the process; at the same time, it contributes significantly to the achievement of organizational
objectives. Many factors will continue to drive manpower planning need in the organization; it is
essential when turnover of labour is to be determined and situations become inevitable. There are
times when the situation give rise to replace employees who have grown old, who are forced to
remain absent from their stations of duties because of illness, weakness, injury, mental disorders
or medical condition, involving disturbance to usual functioning of the mind or body.
The purpose of manpower planning is to provide for the continuous and proper staffing of an
organization. Manpower planning includes an analysis of the levels of skills in the organization;
an analysis of current and expected vacancies due to retirements, discharges, transfers,
promotions, sick leaves, leaves of absence, or other reasons; an analysis of current and expected
expansions or curtailments in the departments. Plans are then made for internal shifts or cutbacks
in manpower, or for training and development of present employees, for advertising openings,
for recruiting and hiring of new people with the appropriate qualifications or for all these
approaches, (Wendel 1970).
Manpower planning, as affecting organizational performance, is a part of general organizational
planning. It should not be seen in isolation but in the context of the growth of the organization.
No nation or organization can carry out any of its development programmes without adequate
and competent manpower planning. In every area of development, human resources play an
important role, but if badly managed, it can limit progress in every direction. The significance of
micro manpower planning lies in the fact that, it deals mainly with the requirement of manpower
guided by the corporate objectives. This is epitomized by the major objective of business
namely, to make profit, to survive, grow and to satisfy societal needs. To achieve these
objectives, corporate goal is concerned with either the provision of goods and services or both.
The same characteristics occur if the same principle is applied to public sector Ikelegbe (1995).
Strengthening the relationship that manpower planning has with organizational performance
according to Dyer (1967) involves: relating human resources needs to the overall activity of the
institution, making long range estimation of institutional manpower needs and, maximizing the
returns on investment in human resources through effective manpower utilization. This involves
actively making decisions and establishing programmes for targeting manpower needs to meet
the organizational goals and objectives on a continuous basis. This invariably and essentially
leads to: development of essential human competence, skills and attitudes that promote
performance and matching education and training to suit occupational, professional, technical
and administrative positions.
In this respect, a performing organization engages itself in, or cherishes: setting manpower
objectives, developing manpower policies, employment functions-recruiting, selecting, placing,
orientation, training and development function, compensation function, health and safety,
employee services, research and organizational development. Obviously, if the organizational
performance must be enhanced, manpower planning must be integrated with overall
organizational plans pertaining to sales and production, the purchase and use of equipment,
research and engineering, financial situation of the organization and the planning of physical
facilities.
It can be rightly deduced from the above that manpower planning is an integrated view of the
personnel system of the organization. It allows managers to make informed day-to-day decisions
that will be consistent with the total organization’s long-run needs. The need for effective
manpower planning in every organization is inevitable in this regard. Moreover, it has been
realized that all aspects of economic growth and development are pivoted on only one factor i.e.
human resource. No nation or organization can carry out any of its development programmes
without adequate and competent manpower. The human resource of any organization holds the
key to its survival, prosperity and future economic and social development. The hallmark of this
is central to effective organizational performance. The higher the quality of manpower in an
organization, the greater the advantage the organization has over her technological and economic
development.
Furthermore, human resource planning is essential for organizational performance as it integrates
internal and external environment of an organization and as well, focuses personnel decisions
towards organizational goals and objectives. The obvious conclusion that can be drawn here is
that manpower planning is essential to sound management. Without manpower planning some
skills may be in short supply, while the supply of others may be in excess. Without the right
people in the right job at the right time, any of the vital management processes can become so
inefficient as to threaten the performance and existence of the organization. Performance or
productivity implies issues of efficiency as much as its output outweighs the inputs and
minimum cost expended and effective as much as it can achieve its purposes.
From the foregoing analysis, it can be rightly deduced that, manpower is a resource which
enables an organization to distinguish its performance from other organizations. In this respect,
proper planning of manpower resources at the organizational level will ensure optimum
utilization of human and material resources, leading to efficient and effective performance.
Otherwise, the whole process will for a long time remains a mirage and a fleeting illusion. By
and large, manpower is the vital resource which must be planned and managed effectively when
dealing with human and material resources for higher organizational performance. It is against
this background that this paper “An Assessment of the Impact of Manpower Planning on
Organizational Performance” is written with a view to examining the relationship between
manpower planning and organizational performance in Ashaka Cement Company.
Statement of the Problem
Planning for and managing human resources is emerging as an increasingly important
determinant of organizational performance. As organizations evolve, the complexity of the
environments within which they operate will cause increased dependence upon the very people
making up the organizations. A highly important aspect of effectively managing the staffing
process is manpower planning. Many organizations have increased tremendously, in recent years
and some appear to have difficulty in determining the exact size of the workforce. They appear
incapable of updating the retrievable information which is essential to manpower planning.
The rate of technological change causes serious difficulties in manpower planning in Nigeria.
This is because, at times, it is difficult to cope with technical development. There is always
resistance to change within the organization. There are lots of organizations in Nigeria that did
not use Information and Communication Technology (ICT) in carrying out their activities. These
kind of organizations are likely to be affected by the technological changes do to their obsolete
system of administration.
Lack of sensitivity to problems and solutions is another problem affecting the manpower
planning in most of the Nigerian organizations. This obstacle to the implementation of effective
manpower planning is caused by the general apathy of line managers. Management still seems to
be particularly concerned about financial and material resources and has tendency to neglect the
critical factor of human resources. Although, there are many researches on cement factories in
general and Ashaka Cement in particular, Uwuigbe (2012), Dugguh (2014), Gabriel & Nneji
(2015), Mojekwu etal (2013), Ahmed & Yohanna 2014, Gombe & Zakari (2016), Ayatse (2012),
Abutu (2015) and Magaji & Hassan (2015), all these works do not give attention to the role of
manpower planning in the performance of an organisation especially with reference to Ashaka
Cement and this is the literature gap that this work seeks to fill.
Objectives of the Study
The objectives of the study are categorised as follows:
(i) To examine the relationship between the role of manpower planning and organisational
performance in Ashaka Cement Company;
(ii) To investigate whether effective manpower planning determine performance in Ashaka Cement
Company and
(iii) To evaluate how manpower planning is affected by technological change in Ashaka Cement
Company
Research Questions
The research questions are as follows:
(i) Is there any relationship between the role of manpower planning and organisational performance
in Ashaka Cement Company?
(ii) Does effective manpower planning determine performance in Ashaka Cement Company?
(iii) Is manpower planning affected by technological change in Ashaka Cement Company?
Methodology
The paper is both theoretical review of existing literature on manpower planning and empirical
analysis of its impact on Ashaka Cement Company. Basically, the paper therefore employs
Content Analysis as a methodology for the study. This means that the study relies on secondary
source of data which consists of text- books, magazines, journals, periodicals, institutional
publications and articles respectively. The paper will also use reports on Ashaka Cement
Company published by the Company itself and other organisations.
Literature Review
Many scholars have defined manpower planning based on their own perception. In order to put
forward a meaningful understanding and interpretation of the concept of manpower planning, it
is imperative to review these arguments. The focal point to start with is the definition given by
the United State of America Department of Employment and Productivity in 1974 which defined
manpower planning as a strategy for the acquisition, retention, utilization and improvement of
enterprise human resources (Cole1986:134). Cole however opined that the above definition of
manpower planning fails to maintain staff disengagement. He therefore defined manpower
planning as any rational and planned approach for ensuring, the recruitment of staff, the
improvement of staff performance and the disengagement of staff as necessary.
Also, Ebegbuna (1992) views manpower planning as the process by which an organization
ensures that it has the right number of qualified people available at the right time, performing
jobs that are useful to the organization. In this respect, he further identified the following as the
constituents of manpower planning: definition of the corporate policy of the organization,
leading to an overall corporate plan; forecast of demand for particular number of employees,
skills and expertise; an inventory or audit of current personnel; an analysis of manpower supply;
a programme to recruit, transfers or reduce staff and control of cost.
Tokunbo (1992) sees manpower planning as essentially a method for determining future
manpower requirements and developing action plans for enacting them. While Sikula (1976),
defines manpower planning as the process of determining manpower requirements and the need
for meeting those requirements in order to carryout integrated plans of the organization.
Ogunniyi (1992) defined it as a concept that involves critical analysis of demand, supply,
shortage, wastage and utilization of human resources. He said, its primary goal is the adoption of
policy, actions and strategies which will not be stressful and or be a negative endeavor to balance
the question of demand and supply of manpower required for socio-economic and political
development of a nation.
Gosh (1976), defines manpower planning as the integration of manpower policies, practices and
procedures so as to achieve the right number of people in the right job at the right time. Geisler
(1967) compared a variety of definitions on the subject matter and concluded that an adequate
definition of the function and process of manpower planning must recognize the importance of
effective utilization, forecasting needs, developing appropriate policies, programme, reviewing
and controlling the total process.
Vetter (1997) observed that manpower planning is the process by which management determines
how organization should move from its current manpower position to its desired position.
Similar to this Dyer (1967) said that it is the process through which organizational goals are put
forth in mission statement and business plans are translated into manpower objectives.
Blaunt and Popoola (1985:35), observed manpower as the activity of management which is
aimed at coordinating the requirements for and the availability of different types of employees.
Usually this involves ensuring that the firm has enough of the right kind of labour at such times
as it is needed. It may also involve adjusting the requirements to the available supply.
In analyzing some of the definitions cited above, one observes critically that they are narrow in
scope. Manpower planning encompasses more than the optimum utilization of human resources
currently employed, and provision for the future manpower needs of the organization in terms of
skills, numbers, competence and availabilities.
Therefore, manpower planning can be seen as a multi-dimensional activity of an organization or
a nation which integrates the various concerns of personnel management like recruitment,
selection, training and development, career advancement, pay, motivation etc. It also involves
the sequence of activities which are carried out and aimed at providing and establishing policies
and programmes for targeting manpower needs to meet the organizational goals and objectives
on continuous basis.
Objectives of Manpower Planning in an Organisation
Manpower planning is very vital in any organisation as it plays an unparalleled role in
determining the strengths and future demands of the organisation as well as its performance. One
important function of manpower planning in any organisation is; to provide for the present and
future personnel needs of the organisation both qualitative and quantitative. This is very
important because any organisation that maintains such proper record and planning will always
be having enough competent manpower on time of need without much difficulty. It is also an
objective of manpower planning to ensure optimum utilisation of the current employees. This
can be done by motivating them and compensating them adequately to ginger them to offer their
best in the service of the organisation.
It is very vital that, manpower planning has the priority of recruiting and retaining human
resources of required quality and quantity. This can be done through preparing for the immediate
needs of the organisation and identifying the required manpower through invitation or
advertisement to come up and fill the gap. It also foresee employee turnover and make the
arrangement for minimising such turnover and filling up of attendant vacancies. This is why
manpower planning in strategic organisations is given much priority and attention because it is a
carefully designed process of engaging the qualified hands to steer the will of the organisations
towards achieving their organisational goals (Blau & Scott, 1992).
Another main objective of manpower planning in addition to the above discussed so far, consists
of; meeting the needs of the programme of expansion and diversification. For instance, in
Ashaka Cement Company, there was the planning for internal supply of coal for production and
expansion of productivity to cover the whole of Northern Nigeria. Such plan needs more
competent hands who can fill in the requirements for the extension and diversification. Besides,
another objectives identified in this study is; to foresee the impact of technology on work,
employees and the environment. This is most especially in the current era of digital work where
everything is virtually computerised and is e-age of internet and media. This will guide the
organisation in the utilisation of modern technology and innovation in integrating it with
manpower operation for a maximum results (Blau & Scott, 1992).
In manpower planning, the organisations should have the priority of improving the standard,
skills, knowledge and discipline of the employee. This is necessary because it is one of the basic
ingredients for a well-trained and professional employer to achieve this in order to maintain
organisational focus in terms of service delivery effectively. Furthermore, another area that
should formed the objective of manpower planning is; to minimise the imbalance due to non-
availability of human resources of the right kind, right number and right place which is
fundamental in proper planning that will avoid future shortage or crisis of manpower (Oyediran,
1992).
Finally, it should be an objectives of manpower planning to ensure that, surplus or shortage of
human resources is assessed in order to take correct and adequate measures of ensuring balance
and rational strength of manpower according to organisational needs.
The Role of Manpower Planning
Manpower planning plays an important role in the growth, expansion and development of any
organisation. Such roles are identified here and discussed briefly.
It determines the personnel needs of the organisation. Thus is possible because only through
proper planning of manpower needs in terms of stock-taking and performance appraisal can
determine what the organisation needs now, what it needs in future and what it doesn’t need now
or in future which saves cost and energy of the management in the present and future. Another
role played by manpower planning is; it directs the organisation to cope with external
competition and government regulations. For example, by appointing a legal adviser for the
Ashaka Cement Company many years back, it shows that, the Company is anticipating a future
compulsory requirements that the government would later set for all corporate organisations to
adhere to. This will save trouble for the Company in future and set it ahead of its competitors
that failed to do so timely (Yahaya & Akinyele, 1992).
Manpower planning plays the role of ensuring that the organisation continue to maintain the
adequate stock of competent, qualified and experienced staff through deliberate personnel
procurement and development policies, motivation, integration, utilisation and succession plans.
It also plays the role of corporate strategic planning process through defining their missions,
vision, goals, strategies and evaluation of strengths and weaknesses of the organisation and how
to achieve a steady position of continuity (Yahaya & Akinyele, 1992).
Lastly, manpower planning plays a vital role of helping in meeting the requirement for
government regulation. Such government policy as equal opportunity for women and minority
groups could necessitate that corporate manpower planning makes provisions to accommodate
these regulations. The quota system policy on employment in public sector organisations in
Nigeria is a good example of such governmental regulations. It necessitates corporate entities
draw their employment plan to conform with government regulations if the policy is extended to
cover business or private organisations.
The Concept of Performance/Productivity
Performance or productivity as discussed here refers to a class of empirical input/ output ratio
that is widely used in economic history, economic analysis and economic policy. In one sense,
performance measures the fruitfulness of human labour under varying circumstances i.e.
effectiveness. In another sense, productivity measures the efficiency with which resources as a
whole including capital as well as manpower are employed in the production process.
Performance or productivity also measures the forces that underlie the trend of real wages. And
in forth sense, performance measures a major factor in the determination of labour or capital
requirement.
Thus, the concepts of effectiveness and efficiency are central to performance or productivity.
Effectiveness according to Ikelegbe (1995) refers to the level of attainment or realization of
policy, programmes and organizational goals and objectives. In other words, effectiveness
measures how much of goals and objectives are achieved. Effective programme or organization
therefore, is one that realizes its objectives.
The concept of organizational effectiveness typically focuses on the degree to which an
organization accomplishes its objectives. A business firm is effective if it makes a profit, a
welfare agency if it provides professional services of high quality and the nation if it achieves its
substantive goals related to foreign policy.
Organizational performance as related to effectiveness includes the organization’s capacity to
maintain its internal system in working order so that it can solve problems effectively and also
includes the relative cost of transforming the human energy inputs into useful organizational
outputs. Organizational effectiveness then is the balance or optimal emphasis upon achieving
objectives, problem-solving competence and human energy utilization.
Efficiency on the other hand as related to performance is defined by Ikelegbe (1995) in terms of
outputs produced in relation to inputs expended. It relates to the resources invested (input) to the
results obtained (output). An efficient programme or organization therefore is one that achieves
high outputs with minimum inputs. This could be in form of crime reduction rate per number of
policemen on payroll, fuel consumed per kilometer by motor vehicle and profit produced per
capital and other input invested in company etc.
Generally, productivity appears as a comparison of an output with one or more inputs i.e. as a
comparison of an output with services of one or more of the resources in the form of a ratio of
the one to other. Then, because the output input ratio of a particular time and place has limited
significance standing by itself, it is compared with the corresponding ratio of another time or
place to estimate changes or differences in productivity level. Change in performance can be
measured by change in relation between output and or more inputs, either with other inputs kept
constant, as an experiment under controlled conditions or with other inputs free to vary.
Performance ratios may differ also with regard to the output included. The output of an industry
can be measured either by the “real value added” by the industry or by its real value of product.
To measure an industry’s total productivity, then one can compare its real value added with its
labour and tangible capital input, or its real value of product with its labor, tangible capital and
material input.
Manpower planning and Performance in Ashaka Cement Company
According to a Report by Lafarge in 2015, Ashaka is committed towards manpower planning
and development. In the Report, the company stressed that, people are at the heart of
LafargeHolcim’s business success. Therefore, an attractive working environment was created for
the people through:
A zero harm culture and
A diverse, inclusive and respective workplace.
The Report further asserted that, the Company is committed towards recruiting best personnel,
committed to offering individuals and teams’ unique opportunities to grow, contribute and
engage to their fullest potentials and recognizing and rewarding remarkable contributions.
In another Report by Lafarge in 2007, it declared being the largest Cement Company worldwide
with 45,000 employees and the Company targets more productivity through effective manpower
planning. The Company sold 10.3 billion Euros in 46 countries during the Report in the Cement
sector alone excluding Gypsum and aggregates and concretes. The Report has largest number of
employees in China followed by France and US and the total number of employees in general
amounted to 77, 721 as at 2007. The Company noted that, the challenge before it is to develop
and apply Group wide standards while respecting the inherent localness of the business. The
Company noted that, they must recruit, develop, and train motivated and skilled employees if the
Company is to stay a successful business.
The 2007 Lafarge Report also observed that, the success of the Company is built upon a
workforce that engaged with the operational and sustainability objectives at business unit level.
One of the methods adopted for manpower planning and development by Ashaka Cement is
called “building the leader for tomorrow programme” in which each business unit was set the
challenge of devising a plan of action of its own to improve on the results. The workforce is fully
informed and consulted on decision making issues. The Company track major engagement with
the workforce both in terms of consultation and the sharing of information. A lot of information
is continuously given health and safety and operational changes. The staff representative body
(Work Councils, Trade Unions etc) are consulted through formal request of their opinion even in
instances where this was not required.
In recognition of global strategic efforts towards women empowerment and also in realizing the
role of women in contemporary business corporations and their achievements, Lafarge has
chosen to concentrate in particular on women in the workforce and has set as one of its
sustainability ambitions achieving 15.2 % of senior managers being women just by 2008
according to the Lafarge 2007 Report. The Lafarge workforce is drawn from more and more
nationalities. For example, in the members of BU Executive Committees Population, there are
people from not less than 51 nationalities. The very fact that Lafarge has a multinational
workforce is also a significant resource for Lafarge. At the end of 2007, Lafarge has 577
employees who had been expatriates.
The Report further emphasised that, Lafarge’s success and sustainability of its products depend
upon the skills of its workforce. The Company gives much emphasis on training and skills
development of the workforce. Without a high skills base a Company is not sustainable in a
competitive market. As a first step towards managing and increasing the skills of the Company
employee globally, the Company set sustainability ambition on being able to report at training at
a business unit level using the criteria set out in the GRI G3 Guidelines by 2007. Broadly, the
Company had achieved its objective through annual social survey. In total, in 2007, more than
1.8 million hours of training were reported to the Company through this mechanism. Almost half
of the training delivered was on health and safety, showing the high premium that Lafarge put on
operating safety and achieving its health and safety sustainability ambition. Lafarge University
created in 2003, continues to make a significant contribution.
The average training time per year and for employee are; managers 41, new managers 25. The
workforce is fairly rewarded and cared for. This includes good remuneration, share ownership,
restructuring, fight against HIV/AIDS and Malaria fever, delivering rights in the work place,
working with unions, subcontractors, health and safety maintenance (Lafarge Report, 2007).
In another Report in 2006, the Ashaka (Lafarge) Cement Company has the objective of being the
preferred employer for its people. Safety of employees is always the first priority. The great
efforts made by the employees and management continue to payoff. The care for the
environment is at the heart of the Company’s corporate strategy. The performance in the year
2006 is commendable with a turnover of N 16.77 billion and a profit before tax of N 4.95 billion.
The demand for the Cement was good.
In a field study by Ahmed & Yohanna (2014), they discovered that, 97.14 % of their respondents
agreed that training of Ashaka staff increases productivity with 2.86 % disagreeing. On the issue
of relationship between training and productivity, the respondents; 94.29 % responded positive,
2.86 % negative and 2.86 % undecided. The staff were interviewed or rather asked to comment
on the Company’s training and policy programmes, they responded in the following ways; 28.57
% excellent, 37.14 % good, 31.43 % fair, 0.00 % bad and 2.86 % undecided. This means
majority of the staff believed that, the training policies and a programme of Ashaka Cement is
good on the average.
Theoretical Framework
The theoretical framework underpinning this article is the Systems Approach. A Systems
Approach is central to the analysis of the parts as it relates to the whole. A system is made up of
interdependent parts which interacts with one another in a given environment. The approach lays
emphasis on input and output analysis. A system is also made up of inputs from the environment
in the provision of goods and services.
Bozeman (1979:309) views systems approach as a set of interacting components, acting
independently and sharing a common boundary separating the set of components from its
environments. According to him, a system may be considered an open system to the extent that it
interacts with its environment. The interactions emanating from the environment are termed
outputs. A system that does not interact with its environment is a closed system
According to Ikelegbe (1995), a whole which function as whole by virtue of the interdependence
of its parts is called a system and the method which aims at discovering how this is brought
about in the widest variety of systems is called “general system theory”. A system to him is an
autonomous unit of complex elements which interact and is capable of adapting itself, and each
set of elements is interdependent.
Cole (1986:70) says that, if a unit or component within a system suffers a setback, the whole
system will be affected and productivity and efficiency hindered. The traditional management
thinking often involved a search for simple cause and effect relationships. In practice, it is rare to
find such simple causality. Human behaviour in organizations result from complex interaction
among a number of personnel processes, including supervision, remuneration, career paths,
performance appraisal and others. The challenge is to identify the interrelationship among these
processes.
Byars and Rue (1979:102) opined that, manpower planning refers to the process by which an
organization ensures that it has the right number of people and the right kind of people, at the
right places at the right time, doing things for which they are economically most useful. Couple
with the above analysis, Yahaya and Akinyele (1992:28) emphasized that manpower planning as
a concept entails critical analysis of supply, demand, surplus, wastage, shortage and utilization of
human resources; has its primary goals as that of the adoption of policy actions and strategies
which will not be stressful and or be negation of endeavor to balance the equation of demand and
supply of manpower required for socio-economic and political development of a nation.
Relatively, a system approach, then is an abstract way of looking at a part of reality for the
purpose of analysis which has been prominent in information science, economics and sociology
in which the concept originated, so, the model is important to public administration, because is a
model for planning and evaluation. No wonder that the Manpower Service Commission (1990)
opined that a system approach to manpower planning is the process of identifying inputs,
outputs, components and then the systems seeking to identify the contribution that manpower
can make to improve the organization by enhancing the contribution of the human components
(people) as opposed to machinery and operational procedures. It is also observed that the system
approach is next applied to the manpower design and finally to the interaction between
manpower and the operation to produce a feedback. A systems approach to manpower planning
usage reflects growing awareness that the organization’s parts are so interdependent that a
change cannot be introduced in one place without affecting the total system. Manpower planning
requires management to look at organizational policies and assess their total impacts on
manpower utilization. The decisions made by individual department ramify throughout the
organization. Therefore, the system model provides the basis for understanding and determining
whether the variable of manpower planning is effectively working in the organization to produce
desired results or outputs as performance measurement.
The Systems Theory is applicable in this study in the sense that, Ashaka (Lafarge) Cement
Company is a system; a whole system with some component parts such as management,
employees, community, customers, finance, administration etc. each of the sub-system is
functioning independently but in coordination with other sub-systems. Malfunctioning of one
sub-system might not affect other sub-systems in their role but it will affect the whole system at
large. Thus, employees or manpower planning is a sub-system of the Ashaka Cement Company
which must function appropriately in order for the whole system to function. This explains why
the sector is given much priority as discovered in the reports above in manpower recruitment,
training and development.
Discussions and Findings
The paper finds out that in the traditional management approach to manpower planning,
management assumed that it could always obtain the personnel it required whenever it needed
them and therefore had no need to engage in formal manpower planning. The paper also finds
out that there is a significant relationship between manpower planning and organizational
performance.
It has been discovered that, one of the methods that Ashaka Cement (Lafarge) Company used in
manpower planning and improving performance of staff is; the recruitment of its workforce
universally with personnel cutting across 51 countries according to their 2007 Report. This gives
a room for drawing of qualified and experience workers that will be ready whenever needed for
productivity and action.
The study also discovered that, part of the manpower plan of Ashaka cement is the recruitment
of workforce from expatriate abroad which yielded a good result as the company emerged as the
best in the world in 2007 in terms of Cement production and distribution which must be an
outstanding achievement.
Furthermore, the Company in its design for staffing decided to recognize the role of women and
accorded them managerial position of at least 15.2 % by 2008 which was achieved. This gives a
global strategic recognition and importance for the Company universally and made the
manpower planning effective in terms of gender sensitivity.
The paper also discovered that, Ashaka Cement maintains its manpower planning and
development through proper and regular training of staff on the job and off the job training with
senior managers obtaining at least more than 40 hours of training annually and new managers
more than 20 hours which is recommendable. It helps in making its manpower acquire the
necessary skills it requires.
In addition, the paper also finds that, the emergence of technology does not affect manpower
planning in Ashaka Cement Company negatively but, rather, it affects the Company positively in
general through proper safety and healthy measures as well as maintenance of clean harmless
environment for the employees.
Conclusion
The paper has been able to establish that manpower is the most vital developmental resource of
any organization and nation at large; hence, that needs to be planned. The paper also sees
manpower planning as an activity which seeks to groom human resources for effective utilization
both at present and the future. The paper finds a strong relationship between manpower planning
and organizational performance and it is quite obvious that effective manpower planning is
relevant to organizational success. It provides a cardinal point on which any meaningful
economic development could be based.
Concisely, manpower planning induces or motivates employees of an organization; it also has
bearing on the achievement of organizational goals and objectives. The paper also reveals that
manpower planning affects organizational performance and has links with other organizational
processes such as effective organization, recruitment policy and utilization. Manpower planning
is also essential to sound management and for this plan to be useful, the personnel department
must work cooperatively with all parts of the enterprise in developing necessary data. It is an
indisputable fact that manpower planning is vital to the organization as planning the procurement
and utilization of financial means, material, capital, equipment and market resources. Without
proper manpower planning, some skills may be in short supply while the supply of others may be
in excess and without the right people in the right jobs at the right time, any of the vital
management processes can become so inefficient as to threaten the existence of the organization.
Recommendations
It is believed that, suggestions and recommendations in this paper would be of assistance to the
organizations, both public and private and in particular the Ashaka Cement Nigeria. Plc in their
efforts to sustain performance standard. The under listed measures are hereby recommended,
with a view to confronting the problems of manpower planning in an organization and the nation
at large.
1. Effective planning machinery should be reinforce in organizations, and should be provided with
necessary ingredients needed for proper articulation and effective implementation of manpower
planning policies and programmes.
2. Management of organizations should direct their efforts towards manpower planning by
providing adequate funds to ensure efficient execution of the manpower planning objectives.
3. Staff at various level should be trained and retrained in such a way that internal labour mobility
can be encourage in place of brain drain.
4. A control mechanism to keep the organization’s manpower resources within the framework of
prepared plan should be devised. Control. Mechanism such as manpower budgeting and auditing
should be established and the mechanism should involve the responsibility of keeping records of
the number of manpower employed and monitoring technique of manpower utilization in each
department of the organization.
5. Manpower planning policies should be streamlined or matched with overall goals and objectives
of the organization.
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