Assignment of employees to workplaces under consideration of employee competences and preferences

Abstract

Purpose

This paper seeks to develop a model for the assignment of employees to workplaces. Assignment methods are of high relevance in practice because employees should be assigned to workplaces according to their competences and preferences to ensure that motivated employees carry out tasks effectively and efficiently.

Design/methodology/approach

Two goal programming models are introduced with inputs and valuations using the analytic hierarchy process.

Findings

The two goal programming models for the assignment of employees to workplaces, which take into account both employee competences and preferences as well as workplace competence requirements and attributes, seem to be effective in helping to arrive at an optimal assignment decision.

Research limitations/implications

In practice, one major problem is that the input data for the goal programming models are not updated regularly. Thus, the documentation of the competence profiles and the preferences of the employees might be out of date or incomplete.

Originality/value

The development of the two goal programming models which could be applied immediately in practical competence management is what makes the work valuable and addresses a gap in the modelling of personnel assignment methodologies.

Citation

Peters, M.L. and Zelewski, S. (2007), "Assignment of employees to workplaces under consideration of employee competences and preferences", Management Research News, Vol. 30 No. 2, pp. 84-99. https://doi.org/10.1108/01409170710722937