A JOB VACANCY MODEL FOR ORGANIZATIONAL MANPOWER MANAGEMENT.

Abstract

This paper summarizes a research project employing computer simulation to model job opportunities and internal mobility within organizations. Organizations have been described as internal labor markets composed of institutional rules thru influence the allocation and mobility of human resources. These rules take the form of collective bargaining contracts, civil service regulations, employer personnel policies, and unwritten customs or tradition. Rules pertain to such matters as entry jobs, hiring standards, rates and channels of promotion, compensation levels, and even organizational design issues. When organizations change these industrial relations rules, they often alter the pattern of manpower flows between jobs. As the manpower flows are changed, the quantity and quality of the manpower inventory is altered in a predictable manner. This paper examines the relationship between job opportunities and internal mobility within organizations. After considering single flow Markovian models in which only manpower flows, we advance to a dual flows model. In the dual flows model, job vacancies flow down through the organizational hierarchy. Manpower moves only to job vacancies, regardless of their readiness for promotion. Personnel rules are incorporated as decision parameters in the model. The case of rapid growth in a managerial-type internal labor market is discussed to illustrate the applicability of the job vacancy model. Finally, the paper briefly summarizes a computer simulation program developed as a technique enabling manpower managers to explore the multiple outcomes of alternative manpower strategies.