Human resource planning (HRP) is the process of anticipating and carrying out the movement of people into, within, and out of the organisation.
Human resources planning is done to achieve the optimum use of human resources and to have the correct number and types of employees needed to meet organisational goals.
Learn about the meaning, definition, concept and importance of human resource planning.
Human Resource Planning is the process of getting the right number of qualified people into the right job at the right time so that an organisation can meet its objectives. In other words it may be defined as a strategy for procurement, development, allocation and utilisation of human resource in an organisation.
What is Human Resource Planning? – Meaning, Definitions, Concept, Features, Benefits and Objectives
What is Human Resource Planning? – Definitions and Features
There is no doubt about the importance of planning for the success of any firm. But, it should be remembered that the plans made are to be executed by the men in the organisation only. So, we do not over emphasise the importance of “Human Resource Planning” when we consider it to be a very important part of the overall planning of a business firm.
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Besides, growth and expansion also calls for additional manpower. The factors like death, retirement, leaving the organisation by the employees, etc., would cause the demand of manpower for an organisation. It is obvious that a business could not prosper if the right number of employees, having required skills and qualifications, is not available to it.
In absence of proper Human Resource Planning, the organisation may have insufficient number of people with it, or excess manpower than necessary. In the first case, the output will be affected and in the second situation, it would mean more expenditure on the part of the firm.
Human Resource Planning is done with the two objectives in mind. First, to utilize the present employees fully and second, to fill future manpower needs. In real sense, it is a generic term and manpower planning means more than sheer forecasting the future manpower requirement.
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It also covers the development plans so as to have optimum utilization of manpower. The fulfilment of the two objectives is highly necessary for success of any business. So, there will not be any exaggeration if we say that Manpower Planning is an inevitable requirement for the survival of any business unit.
Definition:
Human Resource Planning is done on two levels. First, on national level (i.e., macro-level), and second, at the level of an undertaking (i.e., micro-level). Here, we would look at manpower planning at micro-level.
Let us see the definitions, given by different authors of human resource planning:
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1. E.W. Vetter, has described “Human resource planning is the process by which the management determines how an organization should move from its current manpower position to its desired manpower position to its desired manpower position. Through planning the management strives to have the right number and the right kinds of people at the right places, at the right time, to do things which result in both the organization and the individual receiving the maximum long-range benefit”.
2. According to E.B. Geisler- “Human Resource Planning is the process including forecasting, development and controlling by which a firm ensures that it has the right number of people and the right kind of people at the right places at the right time doing work for which they are economically most useful”.
3. According to James J. Lynch- “Human Resource Planning is the integration of manpower policies, practices and procedures so as to achieve the right numbers of right people in the right jobs at the right lime”.
The following features of human resource planning become clear from the above definitions:
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1. At micro-level the first task is the ‘Stock-taking’ of existing manpower. It is known as ‘manpower inventory’. The knowledge about the present employees, their skills and qualifications, are helpful in estimating future manpower demand.
2. In human resource planning, the future manpower demand is estimated. For this the factors like retirement, death, dismissal and resignation are to be taken in account.
3. Estimation of the supply of manpower is an important part of manpower planning. The number of people with specific skills, required in future is determined. For this, mostly statistical methods are utilised.
4. A plan is prepared to form an equilibrium between the demand and supply of manpower. The development of the business is not possible if the right number of persons with right qualifications are not acquired. For this, plans about the matters like recruitment, selection, training and development, transfers, promotions, etc., are prepared.
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5. Human resource planning is done so as to benefit both the firm as well as employees. It is obvious that the firm would be benefited if the human resources are used up to optimum level. But on other hand, training and development, transfer, promotion and policies about such matters should be so framed as to benefit the employees too.
What is Human Resource Planning? – Viewpoints of Eminent Management Philosophers: Miner and Miner, C. Wikstrom and Gary Dessler
Planning, in general, involves determining the future course of action under given circumstances. Similarly, HRP (also called employment/personnel/human capital/manpower planning) involves making future plans for manpower, visualising the kind and number of personnel possessing specified skills and knowledge requited at different times, determining the possible sources of supply of the required manpower, preparing training and development plans, working out programmes for effective use of the human resources and so on.
Almost similar views have been expressed by Miner and Miner. According to them, manpower planning attempts to ensure that the right number and the right kind of people will be available at the right places at the right time in the future, capable of doing things needed so that the organisation can continue to achieve its goals.
C. Wikstrom has interpreted manpower planning as a series of activities consisting of –
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(a) Forecasting future manpower requirements, in terms of either mathematical projections of trends to the economy and developments in the industry or judgemental estimates based upon specific future plans of the organisation,
(b) Preparing an inventory of the present manpower resources and analysing the extent to which these manpower resources are employed optimally,
(c) Anticipating or visualising manpower problems, by projecting present resources into the future and making comparison of the same with the forecast of requirements, to determine their adequacy both quantitatively and qualitatively and
(d) Planning the necessary programmes of recruitment, selection, training, development, utilisation, transfer, promotion, motivation, compensation and so on to enable the organisation to meet its future manpower requirements.
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As a matter of fact, HRP helps an organisation to have the right number and the right kind of personnel at the right places at the right time in such a fashion that both the organisation and the personnel receive the maximum advantage.
In other words, an HR plan is a document on the basis of which the management of the organisation can strive to have the right number of people possessing the right type of skills at right times, in right jobs and at right places with a view to enabling the organisation to achieve its both short- and long-term goals.
According to Gary Dessler, [Employment planning] refers to planning to fill any or all the firm’s future positions, from maintenance clerk to CEO. It is the process of formulating plans to fill future openings based on an analysis of the positions that are expected to be open and whether these will be filled by inside or outside candidates.
However, it should not be forgotten that the most significant factors affecting planning involve the goals of the controlling interests in the organisation. As stated by Ivancevich, ‘If planning and effective utilization of human resources are not a significant goal for the organisation, employment planning will be done in a slipshod manner’.
For example, if the goals of the organisation embrace rapid expansion, diversification or, other factors with a significant impact on future employment needs, then HRP will be more important than if the goals of the top management include stable growth.
Thus, we observe that HRP plays a key role in the achievement of goals in an organisation. If handled attentively, HRP can boost the health of the organisation as also of its personnel.
What is Human Resource Planning? – Benefits
HRP or manpower planning are synonymous. It is mainly concerned in the process of estimating and projecting the supply and demand of different categories of persons for any organism for the future. In a narrow sense, it may be defined as replacement planning which encompasses the analysis of labour turnover, recruitment policies, develop models for planning, recruitment and promotion of employees.
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According to Coloman – HRP is the process of determining manpower requirements and the means for meeting those requirements in order to carry out the integral plan of the organisation.
Human Resource planning is a procedure through which the manpower requirement is determined in order to carry out the integrated plans of the organisation. It is the safeguard against the evils of over-employment or under-employment. It also makes the employee development programmes effective. It reduces the labour cost and industrial unrest also.
Human resource planning has several benefits.
These are as follows:
1. Reducing labor costs associated with attrition.
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2. Reducing recruiting and replacement costs.
3. Focus training resources appropriately.
4. Increase the ability to take advantage of new business opportunities.
5. Improve employee morale and satisfaction.
6. Control rapid expansion or reduction of the workforce.
7. Monitor staffing and retention policies of the organization.
What is Human Resource Planning? – Meaning and Concept
Human Resource Planning is much broader and more profound than its predecessor, manpower planning. First, a human resource plan includes all employees. Second, it must encompass consideration of both casual and end- result variables that describe and define the state of an organization’s human resources.
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The casual variable consists of factors over which management has control. The end-result variable consists of the effects of these factors on people, which lead to the achievement of organization goals.
Planning for the right numbers at the right place and time will continue to be important; however, human resource planning will become more concerned with training potential job applicants, attracting them, and managing a workforce that is highly diverse in terms of backgrounds, needs, sex, age, country of origin and values (Schuler).
Human resource planning is directly tied to strategic business planning. Strategic business plans define steps that the organization will take to meet the demands of the future. Human resource plans assure that the right number and the right kind of people become available at the right time and place so that organizational needs can be met.
Everyone talks about the weather, but no one does anything about it. Likewise, the subject of human resource planning (HRP) continues to command a very prominent role in articles, seminars, and conventions; yet in terms of practice, very few seem to be doing anything about it (Hoffman, Wyatt, Gordon).
Human resource planning professionals need to evaluate their own skills and values in relationship to these roles and determine what they lack and what they are interested in or have the orientation for.
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If they are technically oriented, they need to either develop managerial and change-based skills or work with existing or new employees in the development of a strategic human resource planning function. Responsibility for planning and management of resources rests clearly with line management at all organizational levels.
Responsibility to support managers in the development and implementation of such plans resides with a variety of staff groups at division, branch and corporate levels.
Manpower/human resource planning has increasingly become an important area in the management of industrial and business organisations. The need for a formal planning of human resources has emerged on the account of certain developments in economic and related fields.
Notable among these are the following – (i) rapid technological changes generating the demand for highly skilled workers with requisite specialisation, (ii) substantial changes in jobs, job requirements and occupations, (iii) need for re-training and regular up-gradation of skills, (iv) increasing mobility of labour and (v) congregation of workers possessing different levels of skills and having different cultural backgrounds in a single workplace.
Concept:
The term “human resource planning” has been interpreted differently by different scholars and practitioners. The major areas of emphasis have been the process involving identification of the current and future human resources needs of an organisation; forecasting of the demands and supplies of manpower; and updating of competency; and replacement of problematic employees by potential manpower. Precisely, human resource planning may be considered as a process that identifies the current and future human resources needs for an organisation to achieve its goals.
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The main elements of human resource planning comprise the following – (i) formulating a plan for effective utilisation of human resources; (ii) forecasting HR needs both in terms of quantity and quality; (iii) developing appropriate strategies to meet such needs; (iv) installing a system for the development of available manpower through training and career planning; (v) adopting measures for the improvement of working conditions most congenial to the effective utilisation of human resources and (vi) establishing a system of reviewing and controlling the processes involved with a focus on the requirements of future change and selecting the most appropriate of the available options.
What is Human Resource Planning? – Meaning and Definition Provided by Various Authors: Bruce P. Coleman, Prof. John Gennard and Mary L. Tanke
Human resource is the most important asset of an organization. It is important to ensure that organization has a pool of talented employees that will help in achievement of organizational objectives. It can be done only through proper planning of human resources. Human resource planning is a systematic process of identifying manpower requirements in terms of quality & quantity to undertake organizational activities & achieve organizational goals.
It provides base for several HR activities such as selection, training, placement, performance appraisal, promotion, transfer, career development and so on. The planning of human resource ensures that right kind and right quality of employees are employed in the organization. It aids the organization to achieve its goals.
Human resource planning is one of the most important and primary function of Human resource management (HRM). It is a process of estimating the quantity of manpower required by the organization and determining the kind of people required (in terms of skill, ability and knowledge) to achieve goals of the organization. The process also involves determination of sources from which the required demand of manpower will be met.
In simple words, human resource planning is the process of deciding what positions the firm has to fill & how to fill them. The planning ensures that right numbers of qualified people are employed for the right job at the right time.
Human resource planning, or HRP, is the ongoing continuous process of systematic planning to achieve optimum use of an organization’s most valuable asset — its human resources.
The human resources plan needs to be flexible enough to meet short-term staffing challenges while adapting to changing conditions in the business environment over the longer term. Human resource planning starts by assessing and auditing the current capacity of human resources.
Definition:
Bruce P. Coleman opines, “Manpower planning is the process of determining manpower requirements in order to carry out the integrated plan of the organisation.” Department of Employment “Manpower planning is a strategy for the acquisition, utilisation, improvement and retention of an enterprise’s human resources.”
Prof. John Gennard opines, “Human Resource Planning is a strategy for the acquisition (recruitment/selection), utilisation (deployment), improvement (training and development) and preservation (pay and rewards) of an organisation’s human resources.”
Mary L. Tanke opines, “Human Resource Planning is implementation of strategies, plans and programmes required to attract, motivate, develop, reward and retain best people to meet organisational goal and objective of enterprises.”
What is Human Resource Planning? – Need in an Organisation
In the era of competition, companies do not have any other choice but to compete better than their competitors. Human resource management plays a vital role in supporting the corporate strategic plan.
All the HR functions contribute positively to achieve the objective. As HR department supports other departments, there is a critical need to get the best people in the right place at the right time.
HR forecasting helps to match the requirements and the availabilities of employees. There are two kinds of forecasting methods- qualitative as well as quantitative methods.
Miles and Snow typology could be used by companies as a tool to identify their positions. It discusses the importance of typology and forecasting for successful human resource management to function in a company.
Human resource planning is a process designed to predict and integrate the human resources response to an organization’s strategic plan.
Human resource planning enables the organization to:
i. Have proper allocation of resources in a manner that will allow the organization to meet its goals.
ii. Prepare a framework for the organization’s orderly growth and progress.
iii. Have a strategic base for making business decisions.
iv. Maximize organizational effectiveness by integrating the organization’s mission, strategic plan, budget, technical knowhow and human resource needs.
Human resource planning also known as man power planning is a systematic process for identifying, acquiring, developing, and retaining employees to meet the needs of the organization.
Thus, it is a comprehensive process, drawing together program management, strategic planning, budget, human resources, and staff. It involves active collaboration and information sharing. Strategic planning sets direction for the organization and articulate measurable goals and objectives. Human resources provides tools for identifying competencies needed for recruiting, developing, training and motivating employees to build the human resource of the future.
Human resource planning is an effort to help an organization make decisions for both the short and long-term, at the same time allowing flexibility in the changing environment. HRP is intended to help solve staffing problems related to manage position movement into, around, and out of an organization.
Human resource planning ties human resource decisions to the organization’s strategic plan. It allows HR decisions move away from piecemeal, individualized decisions to become part of the larger, more strategic goals of the organization.
It is important that a human resource plan must reflect the management environment of the organization for which it is developed. In addition, organization culture is an important aspect to be considered in human resource planning. Organization culture consists of the patterns of shared values and beliefs shared by the members of the organization and also provide norms for acceptable and unacceptable behavior.
Questions to be considered by organizations:
a. Are there certain occupational groups with increasing turnover?
b. What are the factors influencing turnover?
c. Has turnover reduced the skill set of a certain occupational group?
Answering these questions help organizations to develop plans for stable staffing, succession planning, and skill development. The process of human resource planning requires all parties to think away from preconceived notions and to seriously consider change. The members of the organization need to have a vision of what is to be accomplished. Participants should discard personal considerations to make the process effective.
Although different HRP (human resource planning) models exist, all varies widely. They all rely on identification of staffing levels as well as competencies needed in the future; an analysis of the present workforce; a comparison of the present work force to future needs to identify gaps and surpluses; the development of strategies for building the manpower needed in the future; and an evaluation process to assure that the manpower plan remains valid so that objectives are being met. The approach selected by the organization must be flexible rather than a rigid process. There is no one “right” way to practice human resource planning for the organization.
What is Human Resource Planning? – Meaning and Definition
Human resource planning (HRP) is the process of anticipating and carrying out the movement of people into, within, and out of the organisation. Human resources planning is done to achieve the optimum use of human resources and to have the correct number and types of employees needed to meet organisational goals.
Thus, it is a double-edged weapon. If used properly, it leads not only to proper utilisation, but also reduces excessive labour turnover and high absenteeism, and improves productivity. It can also be defined as the task of assessing and anticipating the skill, knowledge and labour time requirements of the organisation, and initiating action to fulfil those requirements.
Thus, if the organisation as a whole or one of its subsystem is not performing to the benchmark, in other words, it is declining, it may need to plan a reduction or redeploys its existing labour force. On the other hand, if it is growing or diversifying, it might need to find and tap into a source of suitably skilled labour.
Organisation can achieve its goals effective through effective contingencies of all the HR functions; for example, the structure of an organisation and the design of the job within it affect an organisation’s ability to achieve only through the efforts of people. It is essential therefore, those jobs within the organisation be staffed with the personnel who are qualified to perform them. Meeting these staffing needs require effective planning for human resources.
Reilly (2003) defined workforce planning as- ‘A process in which an organisation attempts to estimate the demand for labour and evaluate the size, nature and sources of supply which will be required to meet the demand.’
Human Resource Planning is the process of getting the right number of qualified people into the right job at the right time so that an organisation can meet its objectives. In other words it may be defined as a strategy for procurement, development, allocation and utilisation of human resource in an organisation.
Human resource plans are prepared for varying time periods, i.e., short-term plans covering a time frame of 2 years and long-term plans encompassing a period of 5 years or more.
The staff manager is expected to:
(i) Report about manpower utilisation in the present and the past;
(ii) Provide help and advice managers on the assessment of manpower utilisation and to develop sources of information and techniques for purposes of comparison;
(iii) Administer the procedure of forecasting or objective setting;
(iv) Present the overall forecasts of departmental managers; and
(v) To advise line managers on forecasting techniques.
Human resource planning include the processes of forecasting, developing and controlling by which a firm ensures that it has:
1. The right number of people,
2. The right kind of people,
3. At the right places, and
4. At the right time, doing work for which they are economically most useful.
What is Human Resource Planning? – Definition by Different Authors: Edwin B. Geisler, Dale Yoder, D.S. Beach, Russ C.F. and Stainer
Manpower Planning, also known as Human Resource Planning (HRP), has attained great importance in modern days since people working in an organisation are a valuable resource whose talents have to be developed and utilised in the best possible manner to achieve the organisation goals.
Manpower planning, in a narrow sense, means forecasting or predicting the number of people whom the enterprise has to hire, train or promote in a given period of time. But in a broader sense, man-power planning represents a systems approach.
According to Edwin B. Geisler, “Human resource planning is a process (including forecasting, developing, implementing and controlling) by which a firm ensures that it has the right number of people and the right kind of people at the right place and at the right time for things for which they are economically most useful”.
It is a process by which a management determines how an organisation should move from the current man-power position to its desired man-power position as per plan. Just as the management plans for finding new markets, new capital investments, new products and production techniques, similarly it has to plan for the man-power requirements at present as well as for future. Planning of human resources is the major responsibility of the management.
In the words of Dale Yoder, “Human resource planning is a process by which a firm ensures that it has the right number of people and the right kind of people, at the right places and at the right time, doing things in the organisation”.
According to D. S. Beach, “Human resource planning is a process of determining and assuring that the organisation will have an adequate number of qualified persons, available at the proper time, performing jobs which meet the needs of the entire enterprise and which provide satisfaction for the individuals involved”.
In the words of Russ C. F., “Human resource planning (HRP) is the process of getting the right number of qualified people into the right job at the right time”.
According to Stainer, “Human resource planning is the strategy for the acquisition, utilisation, improvement and preservation of an organisation’s human resources. It is aimed at co-ordinating the requirements for and availability of different types of employees”.
Thus, human resource planning translates effectively the plans into actions through the people. It is basically a strategy for procurement, development and allocation and utilisation of organisation’s human resources.
Human resource planning is a process by which the management of an organization determines its future human resource requirements and how the existing human resources can be effectively utilized to fulfil these requirements. In the process of human resource planning, the management strives to have the appropriate number and the appropriate kind of people at the appropriate place.
It is a system of matching the supply of existing people with openings or opportunities the organization expects over a given period of time.
Human resource planning is a futuristic form of assessment. It tries to assess human resource requirements in advance keeping the organizational objectives, production schedules, and demand fluctuations in the background. It forms an integral part of the overall corporate strategy and reflects the broad thinking of the management about human resource needs.
What is Human Resource Planning? – Definitions Provided by Various Academicians
Organizations need people just as they need raw materials, equipment, and other materials in order to function successfully. In fact, it is not uncommon to hear managers acknowledge- “Our people are our most important asset.” Organizations undertake human resource planning to enable them to meet their future “people” needs in the same way in which they plan for their non-human resources.
More than ever before human resource planning plays an essential and integral role in the achievement of the overall business strategy.
The purposes are to explain and discuss the techniques applied to human resource planning and to demonstrate how the HR plans relate to the organisations overall business plan.
First, we describe a brief background of human resource planning including definitions. Second, we detail the ideas and theoretical concepts that form the basis of human resource planning activities. Next, we examine and discuss the activities in which an operating HR manager is involved, and how these activities may be carried out.
Thus human resource planning may be interpreted as a process of preparing a set of decisions on human resources development for action by human resources in future.
Definition of Human Resource Planning:
HRP has been defined by academicians in different ways, although all of them carry the same meaning. It is an integrated approach to performing the planning aspect of the personnel function in order to have a sufficient supply of adequately developed workforce with requisite expertise in terms of knowledge and skills to perform the duties and task required to meet organizational objective in a given timeframe.
HRP is also meant to satisfy the individual needs and goals of organizational members.
It can also be defined as a process by which a company ensures that it has the right number and kind of people, at the right place and time, doing things for which they are economically useful. It is through HRP that an organization is able to determine manpower requirements in order to carry out the integrated plan of the organization.
It helps in preparing a set of decisions in regards to human resource development and deployment for actions by human resource in future. The actions required to be initiated are exogenous to human resource planning and are generally categorized as (a) employment opportunity and (b) economic development.
Structured HR planning has got an important place in the arena of industrialization, particularly post-globalization. HRP has to be a systems approach and is carried out in a set of procedures. The procedures include analysing the current manpower inventory, making future manpower forecasts, developing employment programmes, and designing training programmes.
The employment opportunity originates from technology upgrading, innovation, and continuous search for newer scope and ideas. For example- after launching of the Computer Numerical Control (CNC) machines, use of old conventional machines has mostly been discontinued in large companies.
The new generation machines have opened up opportunities of employment for software engineers, growth of air conditioner manufacturers, etc. In fact, modern technology explosion has not only changed our lifestyle but has made our lives smoother. This is interrelated to economic development. Obviously then, employment opportunity and technology advancement are interdependent and interacting.
HR planning also calls for deciding the position to be filled based on workload for a considerable period of time through personnel planning and forecasting, building a pull of potential candidate capable of performing the required task through internal and external recruitment, using most suitable selection tools tailor-made for the position, and populating the human resource inventory/ information system.
While negotiating during an interview, the financial as well as non-financial offers must be discussed openly to prevent attrition at a later stage. HR planning manifests its importance as the key to managerial functions, efficient utilization, motivation, better industrial relations, and higher productivity.
Manpower planning is an important aspect of manpower management and administration. A large number of manpower exists but utilizing them for the right job at the right time is a major managerial task. Manpower is the quantity of productive people who can be used in any organization as human capital and assets to achieve the common goal.
Manpower planning is the process that comprises forecasting, developing, and controlling by an organization to ensure that it has right resources for the right job.
The emergence of HRP reflects a broadening of the mission of the personnel function. New, full-time staff roles have been established in many companies to provide support to managerial practices. HRP professionals fulfill various roles, depending on the tasks and organizational priorities.
Consulting role is vital in effective implementation of changes called for in HRP. As companies deal with the changing social and individual values, they come across the application of employment-related laws and experience HR constraints.
What is Human Resource Planning? – Meaning, Objectives and Features
Generally, Human Resource Planning (HR) is called manpower planning and personnel management it deals with the productive exploitation of manpower resources. Manpower management involves choosing the right personnel and it also involves upgrading qualitatively, the existing human resource. Human resource planning is simply the formal process of linking organisational strategy with human resource practices.
Manpower is defined as the total knowledge, skills, creative abilities and aptitudes of an organisations, work force. But when we analyse, planning is nothing but it is mostly deals with the effective implementation of production plans. After preparing the plans, people are grouped together to achieve organisational objectives. In this way, planning is concerned with coordinating, motivating and controlling of the various activities within the organisation.
Human resource executives are now focusing their attention on how human resources can assist the organization achieves its objectives.
When a firm has clearly defined its mission and understood its guiding principles, managers and employees are likely to make their maximum effort in achieving company objectives. Top management expects HR activities to be closely aligned to this mission and strategic goals and to add value towards achieving these goals.
The advantage of strategic planning is most obvious as firms respond to rapidly changing environments. If executives do not get the people process right, they will never fulfill the potential of the business.
There are many ways to define HR planning, or explain what it is, but the following definitions are good, useful working definitions-
Rigorous HR planning links people management to the organization’s mission, vision, goals and objectives, as well as its strategic plan and budgetary resources. A key goal of HR planning is to get the right number of people with the right skills, experience and competencies in the right jobs at the right time at the right cost.
Human resource planning is “the process by which a management determines how an organization should move from its current manpower position to its desired manpower position.” Through HR planning, a management strives to have the right number and the right kind of people at the right places, at the right time to do things that result in both the organization and the individual receiving the maximum long-range benefit.
Human resource planning involves matching the internal and external supply of people with job openings, anticipated in the organization over a specified period of time.
Manpower planning, therefore, is a technique of correcting imbalances between manpower demand and supply in an organisation at a micro-level and in the economy at the macro-level. So that, it is necessary to plan for long-term growth.
In the human resource planning, we face two aspects – (a) Quantitative and (b) Qualitative.
Again, there are two major objectives of human resource planning:
(1) Formulation of recruitment plans to avoid unexpected shortages, etc. and
(2) Identification of training needs to avoid skill shortages.
Manpower plans covers up for such contingencies by providing for future requirements in a planned way. In statistical terms, it is a process of data collection, analysis and projection to help management match manpower supply with demand in accordance with the requirements of the organisation. Manpower planning is not an isolated paper exercise but an integral management function.
Human resource planning has to be in keeping with organisational objectives.
We may take HR planning as a process and define it as follows:
Human resource planning is the process through which an organization ensures that it has the right personnel who are capable of performing those functions that help it to achieve its objectives.
HR planning has the following features:
1. HR planning is a process which includes various aspects through which an organization tries to ensure that right people, at right place, and at right time are available.
2. It involves determination of future needs of human resources in the light of organizational planning and structure. Therefore, it depends heavily on these factors. Determination of human resource needs in advance facilitates management to take up necessary actions.
3. It also takes into account the human resource availability at a future period in the organization. Therefore, it indicates what actions can be taken to make existing human resources suitable for future organizational positions and the gap between needed and available human resources can be fulfilled.
What is Human Resource Planning? – Meaning and Steps
As a result of the human relations’ movement, the importance of human beings as resource and a power came to be accepted in many organizations. This compelled human resource managers to engage in planning and preserving their human resources as they do for other vital resources. They can no longer rely upon finding talented manpower just when they need it.
Human resource planning in the full sense of the term is a systematic and comprehensive activity concerned with the total manpower resources in a company during the future period, and developing a plan for acquisition or preservation of those resources. Pell expands it further by saying that this activity is concerned with the total manpower resources in a company, an industry, or a nation during a future period.
Some authors look at human resource planning as the process of identifying the current and future human resource requirements, developing and implementing plans to meet these needs, and monitoring their overall effectiveness. It looks like a comprehensive definition.
Thus, human resource planning can be defined in a wide variety of ways, depending on what level and what type of organization we are talking about. But most of the definitions stress that it is a process of determining human resource requirements both qualitatively and quantitatively at different levels of the organization.
Some definitions add another dimension by stating that manpower planning also includes determining the means for meeting the human resource requirements. Let us look at couple of companies in the real world as to how they engage in planning their resources for their entire companies. The terminology used in figuring out the measures and requirements may vary from company to company or industry to industry.
A leading oil company like Exxon, Mobil and Indian Oil, consider their manpower decisions as important as investment considerations and decisions. Manpower planning in this sort of a company is a coordinated effort of the employee relations’ staff and operating managers. Each regional organization submits an annual statement to the home office, along with projection of future manpower requirements based on its business plans.
Each function or sub-function selects a relevant business factor for which both historical (past) and projected data are available. For instance, the refinery operation uses the Intensity Adjusted Capacity (IAC) for measuring projected manpower needs. The historical IAC data and employment figures are used to calculate a manpower coefficient. This coefficient is essentially a measure of productivity, which indicates the number of employees required per thousand barrels of product refined per day.
The coefficient is then charted and projected on a long-term trend line. At this point, operating managers adjust the long-term trend to take into account factors such as technological changes and shifts in the product mix which they believe will influence manpower in the future. Separate projections are made for Managerial, Professional and Technical (MPT) manpower.
A leading merchandising company plans its human resource from information supplied by each retail store. It develops a five-year consumer demand projection for each position in the company from data on approved organization forms which are completed annually by all store managers. Corporate human resource procedures designate the approved numbers of people for each classification based on the store‘s sales.
In essence, manpower planners project the size and composition of the future workforce. The company then develops employees within the organization to fill many of the forecasted vacancies, and recruiters acquire outside human resources when internal resources are insufficient. Different authors may provide different steps in drawing up their planning models.
Basically, the organizations which engage in active human resource planning go through the following steps:
i. Determination of human resource requirements
ii. Determination of requirements qualitatively and quantitatively
iii. Determination of requirements at various levels of organization
iv. Determination of the means of acquiring those resources
v. Determination of requirements in the short and long-ranges
vi. Detailed plans also include cost factor, and time factors
Determining the human resource requirements for an organization is done in different methods. The basic document is the forecasted data and information. The forecast involves estimating the future requirements of the organization in terms of the nature and kind of activities planned or anticipated, and the number of employees needed to carry out those activities.
To accomplish this, a company may have to analyze the external environment and also look at the internal environment for input, such as skill assessments. This will constitute the qualitative and quantitative determination of needs. Then comes, the difficult task. The future demands should be estimated using certain techniques. A variety of factors may go into this estimate. These may include employee turnover, absenteeism, projected company growth, and so on.
A chart should be set for the current inventory of people in various job classifications, and the number of employees required in those classifications which is only an estimate. Of course, demand and supply factors generally go into such an analysis. Companies should explore the possibilities of getting certain classifications of employees in case there is shortage in certain classifications of employees. Contingency plans have to be developed. But in recent years, most of the problems in human resource planning are solved due to the application and utilization of information technology.
The required needs have to be classified into short and long-range. Immediate plans may have to be drawn to fulfill the short-range requirements. The long-range requirements can be built upon the short-range needs instead of postponing them to a latter period. The short-range needs must be broken down to smaller and smaller segments until the human resource people get a clear idea as to who these people are and how many are needed in each group or class.
The sources and plans of acquiring the needed employees must be worked out. The recruitment phase of the acquisition process starts once the requirements are figured out.
Once set up, annually, the above steps are reviewed, revised, and updated for the coming year of operation. In recent years, all the inputs pertaining to human resource plans go into corporate information system, saving lots of time. Certain safeguards and means for revisions can also be built into the system.
What is Human Resource Planning? – Defined by Bulla and Scott, D.A. Decenzo and S.R Robbins
Every organization needs human resources to perform its activities. Without human resources no organization can think of continuing its operation. So, human resource is a must in an organization like other resources. But for effective running of organization and for achieving organizational objectives, it needs right number and right kind of people at the right time at the right place.
That means, organization does not require excess or less number of people or below standard of people at the time when their use is needed. Thus, the necessity to assess human resource requirement by some process as arises. Human resource planning is such a process which ascertains/identifies the exact number and kind of people an organization needs at the time and place as per its requirement.
Bulla and Scott (1994) have defined HRP as ‘the process for ensuring that the human resource requirements, of an organization are identified and plans are made for satisfying those requirements’. Human resource planning deals with the activity relating to human resource requirement of an organization i.e., identification of human resources – number, skill and deployment of human resources.
According to D.A. Decenzo and S.R Robbins (1989), human resource planning is the process by which an organization ensures that it has the right number and kinds of people, at the right places, at the right time capable of effectively and efficiently completing those tasks that will help organization achieve its overall objectives.
HRP is an important part of business planning which tasks into account corporate vision, strategies and changing perspectives at the time of its formulation. It looks to strategic aspect of an organization and also the process of human resource acquisition, motivation, development, and maintenance, which is carried out in line with corporate strategic planning, business objectives.
So, in broader sense –
i. HRP is an activity process relating to human resource requirement.
ii. It ascertains the number of people required.
iii. It identifies the skills people should possess.
iv. It plans for deployment of people at the right time and at the right places.
v. It is a strategic planning formulated on the basis of business strategy of an organization.