Effectiveness of Manpower Planning Practices in Commercial Banks of Bangladesh

Abstract

Banking sector is the most prominent and stable sector compared to other industrial sectors of Bangladesh. At present there are fifty-nine scheduled banks including forty-eight private commercial banks in Bangladesh operating under the regulation of the central bank of Bangladesh - Bangladesh Bank. There is a paramount importance of manpower planning of these commercial banks for achieving competitive advantage, banks’ strategic objectives and keeping this sector stable in the economy. The basic function of manpower planning in a bank is to identify the future needs and availability of human resources along with the skills required to perform bank’s activities to achieve their strategic goals. Hence, this paper aims at evaluating the effectiveness of manpower planning practices of the private banks in Bangladesh. This study is based on a survey of 206 employees of different levels of commercial banks of Bangladesh. Both descriptive and inferential statistics were used to analyze the data. Descriptive statistics were used to describe the present manpower planning practices of the commercial banking sector of Bangladesh. Inferential statistics like factor analysis and multiple regression analysis were used to identify the relationships between the manpower planning practices and the factors that are concerned with effectiveness of manpower planning practices of the commercial banks in Bangladesh. Results show that Delphi technique and skill inventory practices and key position auditing techniques are the significant manpower planning techniques of the commercial banks in Bangladesh. Factors like timely planning and audit, evenly distribution of work, addressing job turnover, adequate workload, and comprehensive recruitment plan are also significantly related to the overall effectiveness of manpower planning practices of the commercial banks in Bangladesh. This study suggests that the policymakers of the banks of Bangladesh should give importance on timely planning and audit, evenly distribution of work, addressing job turnover, providing adequate workload, and comprehensive recruitment plan in order to bring effectiveness of manpower planning practices in the commercial banks of Bangladesh. The policymakers also should adopt Delphi technique and skill inventory practices, and key position auditing techniques in order to make manpower planning more effective in the banks.