Skilled Manpower Selection for Micro, Small and Medium Enterprises: A Fuzzy Decision Making Approach

Abstract

Supply of skilled manpower is a major strategy for entrepreneur to run the production process smoothly. Skilled manpower categorization, selection and performance evaluation are decisions of strategic importance to micro, small and medium enterprises. Global competition, mass customization, high customer expectations and harsh economic conditions are forcing enterprises to rely on external skilled manpower to contribute finished products and to manage a growing number of processes and functions that were once controlled internally. Thus skilled manpower performance evaluation is very important to choose the right manpower for the right enterprises. In this paper a fuzzy manpower selection algorithm (FMSA) is implemented to rank the technically efficient manpower according to the both predetermined performance criteria and additional skilled-related performance criteria. The algorithm is based on calculating fuzzy suitability indices for the efficient manpower alternatives, and then, ranking the fuzzy indices to select the best skilled manpower alternative. A comprehensive example is provided to illustrate the decision making procedure.