Determination of periodic optimal recruitment and wastage schedule using dynamic programming approach

Abstract

In this paper we propose a dynamic programming (DP) model that can assist organizations in determining future manpower requirement in terms of number, level of skills, and competence as well as formulating plans to meet those requirements. The model which incorporates both wastage and recruitment costs in its formulation is derived with an algorithm for obtaining planned periodic wastages and recruitments which can result in maximum net accruable revenue. We applied data obtained from an institution of higher learning to illustrate our proposed DP model based on wastage and recruitment costs and the results reveals that there should be no staff wastage in periods 2, 5, 9 and 10, and no recruitment should take in periods 2, 5, 8, 9 and 12 if the total accruable revenue from human resources to the organization is to be maximized. We also observed that the dual objective function value and that of the primal are equal which is in agreement with the duality theorem for symmetric duals.