Enterprise Planning for Change; Co-ordination of Manpower and Technical Planning. Industrial Relations Aspects of Manpower Policy, No. 5.

Forty case studies made by research teams of independents or governmental agencies in Austria, Canada, France, Germany, Norway, Sweden, United Kingdom, and the United States were analyzed to provide managements and trade unions with illustrations of present systems of technical and manpower changes at the enterprise level and to describe the methods used. The material (1) draws upon a general body of literature dealing with the manpower aspects of technical change for comparison with the case studies, (2) analyzes the various types of economic change which confronted the firms and organizations, (3) studies the organizational forms of manpower planning and assesses their relevance to the problems which arose, (4) discusses the various adjustment procedures which were used, and (5) considers the role of worker consultation in manpower planning. It was concluded that procedures for coordination of technical change are possible without undue interference or costly adaptation programs and are necessary to prevent losses in production and overhead costs. The coordination should be organized in advance and on a long-term basis rather than improvised as the need arises. The appendix contains 29 case studies which are presented in "Technical Changes and Manpower Planning: Coordination at Enterprise Level." (VT 006 379). (HC)