steps in human resource planning process

Human Resource Planning Process

Steps in Human Resource Planning Process

Human resource planning process focuses on the demand and supply of the labor. It involves in the acquisition, development, and departure of people.

Human resources are definitely the most significant part of the organization as the success of any organization depends upon its qualified, skilled and effective personnel.

The purpose of manpower planning is to ensure that a predetermined number of persons with the correct skills are available at a specific time in future.

Thus, human resource planning is the process of identifying systematically that what must be done to fulfill the availability of the human resources needed by an organization in the future to meet its strategic business objectives.

human resource planning process

Analyzing of Organization Objectives;

The human resource management manager first observes the objectives of the organization. Then the manager prepares a  list of all the activities such as jobs, human resources etc. that are required to achieve the organization objectives efficiently.

There are some corporate level strategies like expansion, diversification, mergers, acquisition, reduction in operations, technologies to be used, method of production etc.

So, HRP should start with analyzing these corporate level strategies. Therefore, human resource planning should analyze the corporate plans of the organization  before setting out on fulfilling its tasks.

Manpower Forecasting;

Forecasting the overall human resource requirement like skills, knowledge, values and capabilities in accordance with the organizational plan is one of the key aspects of demand forecasting.

(a)  Executive or Managerial Judgment. In this method the managers decide the number of employees in the future according to the need of the organization. They adopt one of these approaches mentioned below.

  • Bottom Up Approach. In this approach the concerned supervisors send their proposals to the top management who compare these proposal with the organizational plans, and then implement necessary adjustments and finalize them to execute.
  • Top Down Approach. In this approach management prepares the requirements and proceed the information downwards to the supervisory level who finalize the draft and improves it.
  • Participate Approach. In this approach projections are made after participation and joint consultation of supervisors and management.

(b)  Statistical Techniques. In this method statistical methods and mathematical techniques are used to forecast and predict the supply and demand of human resources in the future.

(c)  Ratio Trend Analysis. In this method the past data of human resources like number of employees in each departments and work load, etc. are estimated. Past values are examined in this method to get the fairly and accurate idea of future projections.

(d)  Work Study Method. This technique is suitable to study the correlation between volume of work and labor i.e, demand of human resource is estimated on the workload. Work study method is very much suitable to the field of repetitive and manual jobs when it is feasible to measure work and set standards.

(e)  Delphi Technique. ‘Delphi’ is the name given to this technique after the Greek Oracle at the city of Delphi. The views of different experts related to industry are taken into consideration in this method and the then consensus about the human resource requirement is arrived at. Delphi technique primarily used to estimate the long term requirement of human resources.

Analyzing Human Resource Supply;

The human resource department manager estimates the manpower supply. The manager examines and find out that how many managers and employees are available in the organization.

Every organization has two sources of supply of human resources such as internal source and external source. Internally, human resource for certain posts can be obtained through promotions and transfers.

In order to judge the internal supply of human resource in future human resource inventory or human resource audit is necessary. Human resource inventory assist to determining and evaluate the quantity of internal existing human resources.

Once the future internal supply is estimated, supply of external human resource is analyzed.

Estimating Manpower Gaps;

Manpower gaps can be clarified by matching the demand forecasts and supply forecasts. Such matching will show the deficit or surplus of human resources in future.

Deficit suggests the number of persons to be recruited from outside, whereas surplus implies redundant employees to be redeployed or terminated. 

Action Planning;

Once manpower gaps are identified, plans are prepared to bridge these gaps. Plans to meet the additional personnel may be redeployment in other departments of the organization and may be retrench.

People may be persuaded to quit voluntarily through a golden handshake. Deficit may be fulfill through recruitment & selection of the employees, transfer of the employees, and promotion of the employees.

If there is shortage of certain skilled employees, then organization has to take care not only about recruitment but also retention of present employees. Therefore, the organization should make a plan to retain the existing employees.

Modify the Organizational Plans;

If future supply of personnel is estimated to be inadequate or less than the requirement, then the manpower planner has to suggest the management regarding the alterations or modifications in the organizational plans.

Controlling and Review;

When the action plans are set and implemented, than human resource structure and the processes should be controlled and reviewed according to action plans.

Problems in HRP process

As the future is uncertain so there may be some problems in the process of human resource planning which can be grouped as;

Inefficient information system;

For making the successful human resource planning the human resource information system should be reliable and strong. In the absence of reliable data, it is not possible to develop effective HR planning.

Uncertainties;

Labor absenteeism, labor turnover, seasonal employment, technological changes and market fluctuations are some uncertainties which human resource planning process might have to face.

Inaccuracy;

Human resource planning is entirely dependent on HR forecasting and supply, which can not be cent per cent accurate process.

Time and Expense;

Some of the industries avoid the human resource planning because it is very time consuming and expensive.

Employee resistance;

Employees and their unions feel that the human resource planning increases their workload so they resist the process.

Human Resource Planning at Different Levels

Human resource planning is done at various levels according to their requirements. There are several levels of human resource planning according to different enterprises.

National Level;

Generally, central government plans human resources for the entire nation. It anticipates the demand and supply of human requirements at the national level.

Sectoral Level; 

Central and state governments also plan human resources requirements at sectoral level. It offer to meet the needs of some special sectors like Agriculture.

Industry Level; 

Different types of industries need the different types of personnel according to their nature of work. There are some personal requirements of the particular industries according to their nature of work.

These industries are such as Engineering, Heavy Industries, Paper Industries, Consumer Goods Industries, Public Utility Industries, Textiles, Cement, Chemical Industries, etc. Planning is executed to match personnel requirements of a particular industry.

Departmental Level;

This level of planning is done to fulfill the manpower needs of a particular department in a company, e.g. Marketing, Finance, and production departments etc.

Job Level;

This level of planning fulfills the human resources needs of a particular job family within department. For Example, the number of sales executives required in the marketing department of any organization.


Related Posts;

Human Resource Planning (HRP)

Human Resource Management (HRM)

Training and Development

The purpose of Human Resource Planning process is to assure the availability of predetermined number of people required in the future.

By Maaz Anwar, ago

Human Resource Planning

Planning is very vital function to our everyday activities in every field and every type of work. Human resource planning is also a important and valuable part of  human resource management.

Several definitions have been given by different writers that what human resource planning is all about and it’s importance to achieve the organizational goals. Organization that do not plan for future have less opportunities to survive the competition ahead.

What is Human Resource Planning?

Human resource planning may be defined as strategy for acquisition, utilization, improvement, and preservation of the human resources in the organisation. The objective of HRP is to provide the right personnel for the right work and optimum utilization of existing human resource.

The major activities of HRP include: forecasting (future requirements), inventorying (present strength), anticipating (comparison of present and future requirements), and planning (necessary programs to meet future requirements).

HRP involves the gathering of information, making objectives, and making decision to enable the organization to achieve it’s goals and objectives.

Surprisingly, this aspect of HR is one of the most neglected aspects in human resource management field. HRP is a function which is applied accurately in the field of  Human resource management in order to reply the answers to the following questions.

  1. How much strength of staff does the organization have?
  2. What types of skills and abilities the employees have in the organization?
  3. What are the functions required by an organization for the optimum utilization of  the available human resources?
  4. How can the organization improve the skills and working conditions of the employees?
  5. How can the organisation satisfy the needs of employees?

HRP Definitions

According to Dale S. Beach, “HRP is defined as a process of determining and assuring that the organization will have an adequate number of qualified persons, available at the required times, performing jobs which meet the requirements of the enterprise and which provide satisfaction for the individuals involved”.

According to International Labor Organisation, “HRP is the process by which management ensures that it has the right personnel, who who are capable of performing those tasks which helps the organization to achieve its objectives. It involves the forecasting of human resources needs and the projected matching of individuals with expected vacancies”.

According to Jeisler, “Manpower planning is the process which includes forecasting, developing and controlling – through which a firm ensures that it has the right number of people, the right kind of people, and at the right places at the same time doing things for which they are economically most useful”

According to R. Wayne Monday’s in Human Resource Management, Human resource planning is the systematic process of matching the internal and external supply of candidates with job openings that a company anticipates over a certain period of time. Put simply, human resource planning is keeping an up to date compilation of candidates inside and outside the company for future positions”.

According to Coleman, “Manpower planning is the process of determining manpower requirements and the means for meeting those requirements in order to carry out the integrated plan of the organisation”.

Human Resource Planning Objectives

  • Recruit and maintain human resource optimally.
  • To meet the requirements of the programs of expansion, diversification etc.
  • Supply control measure criteria to assure required availability of human resources at given time.
  • To expect the effect of technology on work, present employees and future human resource requirements.
  • Advancement of  knowledge, skill, ability, and discipline etc.
  • Estimate the excess or shortage of human resources and proceed accordingly.
  •  Maintain pleasant industrial relations by maintaining optimum level of human resources.
  • Minimize imbalances caused due to non availability of personnel of right kind, right number in right time and right place.
  • Making the optimum utilization of human resources.
  • Estimate the cost of human resources.
Human Resource Planning

Human Resource Planning

Therefore, human resource planning is required to achieve the objectives of estimating efficient human resources requirements; to meet changing requirements of the organisation with changing technology. And to make full utilization of existing and potential workforce of the organisation.

Human Resource Planning Importance

Fulfill the requirements of the organization

To do work in an organization, every organization needs personnel of desired skill, knowledge, and experience. This human resource requirement of organisation can be effectively fulfilled through proper human resource planning.

It helps in determine the number of human resources required and the type of human resource required to fulfill its needs.

Checking labor disequilibrium

Manpower planning helps to anticipate shortages and/or surpluses of manpower in the organisation. Both the situations are not good for the organization.

In case of shortage of human resources, the physical resources of the organization can not be properly utilized. And, in case of surplus of human resources, these resources may remain under unused.

Therefore, human resource planning helps in correcting this imbalance before it become expensive and unmanageable.

Counterbalance insecurity and changes

There should be proper utilization of human and non human resources in the organization. Sometimes the organization may have adequate non human resource such as machines, materials, and money but due to inadequate human resources the manufacturing and production process of the organisation cannot be started.

Therefore, human resource planning helps to offset uncertainties and changes as far as possible. And it enables to ensure availability of right human resources at right time and right place.

Fulfill the personnel requirements of the organisation

As in the existing organization, some posts may fall vacant due to retirements, resignations, promotions, accidents, and death of the employees.

Hence, there is a constant need of replacing the people or filling the vacant places with better options.

Therefore, human resource planning estimates the future requirements of the organization and helps to get human resources of right kind, right number, in right time, and right place.

Expansion, diversification, and modernization of the organization

It helps to execute future plans to meet expansion, modernization, and diversification needs of the organization.

Manpower planning ensures that organization has the proper kind of human resources available to meet these needs when required.

It ensures that organization has personnel of desired skills and knowledge available to handle the challenging job requirements.

Training and development of the employees

As a result of changing requirements of the organization due to globalization and the changing technologies day by day, there is a constant need of training and development of the employees.

It improves the skills and provide advancement of employees. Thus, it helps in meeting the future needs of the organization through highly skilled employees.

Fulfill individual needs of employees

It helps to satisfy the individual needs of employees for promotion, transfer, salary encashment, better benefits etc.

Helps in formulation of budgets

It helps in anticipating the cost of human resources such as salary and other benefits etc. It facilitates the formulation of human resource budget various departments or divisions of the organisation. So, it may help in, formulating the suitable budgets for an organization.

To check unemployment

It the method of right sizing of employees by the organization, some of the employees may become surplus. It means that the organization does not require their service now.

It tries to foresee the need of redundancy. It plans to check job loss or to provide for alternative employment in consultation with various concerned parties and authorities.

Conclusion

Human Resource planning is very important part of human resource management and very beneficial for an organization. As the human resource planning is the process by which a management determines how an organization should move from its current manpower position to desired manpower position.

Therefore, through human resource planning the management strives to have the right number and the right kinds of people at the right places, at the right time, to perform things which results in both the organization and the individual receiving the maximum long run benefits.

By Maaz Anwar, ago