HRPD - Human Resources Planning and Development-1-2

Unit-1
HRP concepts, importance, objective, type of HR plan, HRP approaches, (Social demand
approach, rate of return approach and man power requirement approach).
Human Resource is the most important asset of an organization. Human resources planning are the
important managerial function. It ensures the right type of people, in the right number, at the right time
and place, who are trained and motivated to do the right kind of work at the right time, there is
generally a shortage of suitable persons.
According to E.W. Vetter, human resource planning is “the process by which a management determines
how an organization should make from its current manpower position to its desired manpower position.
Through 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 which result in both the organization and the individual
receiving the maximum long range benefit.”
Concept of Human Resource Planning:
Human resource (HR) planning or manpower planning is the process by which the organization ensures
that it has the right kind of people, at right time, at right place and they are working effectively and
efficiently and help the organization in achieving the overall objective. It is a continuous process. Of
developing and determining objectives, policies that will procure, develop and utilize human resources
to achieve the goal of the organization.
Importance of Human resource planning/ manpower planning:
1. HRP / manpower planning is helpful in finding out surplus/ shortage of manpower.
2. It is helpful in employee development.
3. It is useful in finding out the deficiencies in existing manpower and providing corrective training.
4. It is helpful in overall planning process of the organization.
To meet up requirements of the organisation: To do work in the organisation, every organisation needs
personnel of desired skill, knowledge and experience. This human resources requirement of
organisation can be effectively fulfilled through proper human resource planning. It helps in defining the
number of personnel as well as kind of personnel required to satisfy its needs. It ensures the reservoir of
desired human resources as and when required.
Counterbalance insecurity and change: There must be proper utilisation of human and non-human
resources in the organisation. Sometimes the organisation may have adequate non-human resources
e.g. machines, materials and money but inadequate human resources as a result, manufacturing
process/production cannot be started. Human resource planning helps to offset uncertainties and
changes as far as possible and enables to ensure availability of human resources of the right kind, at
right time and at right place.
It helps in checking labour imbalance: Human resource planning helps to anticipate shortages and/or
surpluses of manpower in the organisation. The shortage of manpower as well as surplus of manpower
is not good for the organisation. It proves very expensive for the organisation. In case of shortage of
human resources, physical resources of the organisation cannot be properly utilized. In case of surplus
of human resources, this resource may remain under-utilized It helps in counter balancing the problem
of shortage and surplus employees very comfortably. Human resource planning helps in correcting this
imbalance before it become unmanageable and expensive.
Right-sizing the human resource requirements of the organisation: In an existing organisation, there is
a constant need for right-sizing the organisation. In the organisation, some posts may fall vacant as a
result of retirement, accidents, resignations, promotions or death of employees. Consequently, there is
constant need of replacing people. Human resource planning estimates future requirements of the
Dr. S.K. Acharya, (M.Phil, MA PMIR, MBA(HR), M.Com), Asst. Prof. Business Administration, DDCE, Utkal University
organization and helps to ensure that human resources of right kind, right number, in right time and
right place.
To meet expansion and diversification needs of the organization: It helps to execute future plans of the
organization regarding expansion, diversification and modernization. Through human resource planning
it is ensured that employees in right number and of right kind are available when required to meet these
needs of the organization. It ensures that people of desired skills and knowledge are available to handle
the challenging job requirements.
Training and Development of Employees: There is constant need of training and development of
employees as a result of changing requirements of the organization. It provides scope for advancement
and development of employees through training and development etc. Thus, it helps in meeting the
future needs of the organization of highly skilled employees.
Fulfill Individual Needs of the Employees: It helps to satisfy the individual needs of the employees for
promotions, transfer, salary encashment, better benefits etc.
Helps Formulation of Budgets: It helps in anticipating the cost of human resources e.g. salary and other
benefits etc. It facilitates the formulation of human resource budget for various departments/divisions
of the organization. So, it may also help in, the formulation of suitable budgets in an organization.
To Check Joblessness: In the exercise of right-sizing of employees by the organization, some of the
employees may become surplus. It means their services are no more required in the organization. It tries
to foresee the need for redundancy. It plans to check job loss or to provide for alternative employment
in consultation with various concerned parties and authorities.
Objectives of Human resource planning/ manpower planning:
• To ensure proper utilization of human resources.
• To check the development of the employees for the achievement of the organization goal.
• To ensure proper human resource policies.
• To provide proper control measures whenever required.
• To recruit and maintain the HR of requisite quantity and quality.
• To predict the employee turnover and make the arrangements for minimizing turnover and filing up
of consequent vacancies.
• To meet the requirements of the programmes of expansion, diversification etc.
• To anticipate the impact of technology on work, existing employees and future human resource
requirements.
• To progress the knowledge, skill, standards, ability and discipline etc.
• To appraise the surplus or shortage of human resources and take actions accordingly.
• To maintain pleasant industrial relations by maintaining optimum level and structure of human
resource.
• To minimize imbalances caused due to non-availability of human resources of right kind, right
number in right time and right place.
Scope of Human resource planning/ manpower planning:

1. To make the list of current manpower.
2. To check how much current manpower is being utilized.
3. To find out how much manpower is required.
4. To make manpower procurement plans.
5. To make the training programmes.
Features of Human Resource Planning:
1. Well Defined Objectives:
Enterprise’s objectives and goals in its strategic planning and operating planning may form the
objectives of human resource planning. Human resource needs are planned on the basis of company’s
goals. Besides, human resource planning has its own objectives like developing human resources,
updating technical expertise, career planning of individual executives and people, ensuring better
commitment of people and so on.
2. Determining Human Resource Reeds:
Human resource plan must incorporate the human resource needs of the enterprise. The thinking will
have to be done in advance so that the persons are available at a time when they are required. For this
purpose, an enterprise will have to undertake recruiting, selecting and training process also.
3. Keeping Manpower Inventory:
It includes the inventory of present manpower in the organization. The executive should know the
persons who will be available to him for undertaking higher responsibilities in the near future.
4. Adjusting Demand and Supply:
Manpower needs have to be planned well in advance as suitable persons are available in future. If
sufficient persons will not be available in future then efforts should be .made to start recruitment
process well in advance. The demand and supply of personnel should be planned in advance.
5. Creating Proper Work Environment:
Besides estimating and employing personnel, human resource planning also ensures that working
conditions are created. Employees should like to work in the organization and they should get proper
job satisfaction.
Major reasons for the emphasis on HRP at macro level include:

Employment-Unemployment Situation: Though in general the number of educated unemployed is on
the rise, there is acute shortage for a variety of skills. This emphasises the need for more effective
recruitment and retaining people.
Technological Changes: The myriad changes in production technologies, marketing methods and
management techniques have been extensive and rapid. Their effect has been profound on job contents
and job contexts. These changes cause problems relating to redundancies, retraining and redeployment.
All these suggest the need to plan manpower needs intensively and systematically.
Organizational Changes: In the turbulent environment marked by cyclical fluctuations and
discontinuities, the nature and pace of changes in organizational environment, activities and structures
affect manpower requirements and require strategic considerations.
Demographic Changes: The changing profile of the work force in terms of age, sex, litercy, technical
inputs and social background have implications for HRP.
Skill Shortages: Unemployment does not mean that the labour market is a buyer’s market.
Organizations have generally become more complex and require a wide range of specialist skills that are
rare and scarce. Problems arise when such employees leave.
Governmental Influences: Government control and changes in legislation with regard to affirmative
action for disadvantaged groups, working conditions and hours of work, restrictions on women and child
employment, casual and contract labour, etc. have stimulated the organizations to become involved in
systematic HRP.
Legislative Controls: The days of executive fiat and ‘hire and fire’ policies are gone. Now legislation
makes it difficult to reduce the size of an organization quickly and cheaply. It is easy to increase but
difficult to shed the fat in terms of the numbers employed because of recent changes in labour law
relating to lay-offs and closures. Those responsible for managing manpower must look far ahead and
thus attempt to foresee manpower problems.
Impact of Pressure Groups: Pressure groups such as unions, politicians and persons displaced from land
by location of giant enterprises have been raising contradictory pressures on enterprise management
such as internal recruitment and promotions, preference to employees’ children, displace persons, sons
of the soil etc.
Systems Concept: The spread of systems thinking and the advent of the macro computer as part of the
on-going revolution in information technology which emphasizes planning and newer ways of handling
voluminous personnel records.
Lead Time: The long lead time is necessary in the selection process and for training and deployment of
the employee to handle new knowledge and skills successfully
Various levels of human resource planning in an industrial enterprise:

1. National Level
2. Sectoral Level
3. Industry Level
4. Unit Level
5. Departmental Level
6. Job Level
1. National Level: Generally, central government plans for human resources for the entire nation. It
anticipates the demand for and supply of human requirements at the national level.
2. Sectoral Level: Central and state governments also plan human resource requirements at sectoral
level. It tries to satisfy needs of some particular sectors like Agriculture
Sector, Industrial Sector and Service Sector.
3. Industry Level: This level of planning is done to suit manpower needs of a particular industry such as
Engineering, Heavy Industries, Paper Industry, Consumer Goods Industries. Public Utility Industries,
Textile, Cement/Chemical Industries etc.
4. Departmental Level: This level of planning is done to suit the manpower needs of a particular
department in a company e.g. Marketing Department, Production Department. Finance Department,
etc.
5. Job Level: This level of planning fulfills the human resource needs of a particular job family within
department. For example, the requirement of number of sales executes in the marketing department.
PROBLEMS IN HRP PROCESS
The main problems in the process of HRP are as follows:
a) Inaccuracy: Human Resource Planning is entirely dependent on the HR forecasting and supply, which
cannot be a cent per cent accurate process.
b) Employee resistance: Employees and their unions feel that by Human Resource Planning, their
workload increases so they resist the process.
c) Uncertainties: Labour absenteeism, labour turnover, seasonal employment, technological changes
and market fluctuations are the uncertainties which Human Resource Planning process might have to
face.
d) Inefficient information system: In Indian industries, HRIS is not much strong. In the absence of
reliable data it is not possible to develop effective Human Resource Planning.
e) Time and expense: Human Resource Planning is time consuming and expensive exercise, so industries
avoid.
Short Term and Long Term Manpower Planning
1. Short Term Manpower Planning:
It is concerned with the process of matching the existing employees with their present jobs so that they
perform efficiently.
There should be perfect correlation between the jobs and individuals. In the short run, it is the duty of
the management to adjust employees with the jobs.
It is very difficult to retrench the employees due to legal constraints and social obligations on the part of
the employer. Some adjustments in the jobs should be made in the short run to accommodate the
employees.
Following steps may be taken for successful implementation of short term manpower planning:
(A) When employee is less qualified as compared to job specifications, qualifications etc.
Following steps may be undertaken:
(i) Employees are given training for improvement in performance.
(ii) If the job is not liked by the employee, it may be changed.
(iii) Transfer and demotion also helps in adjustment of employees.
(iv) In case of responsible jobs, assistants may be provided for help.
(b) Sometimes the employee is more qualified than the requirements of a job:
Under such circumstances the abilities and skills of the employee are not utilized to the fullest extent.
Following steps may be taken for making adjustments:
(i) Job enlargement may be undertaken i.e. scope of the job undertaken by the employee may be
widened.
(ii) If there are vacant positions at the higher levels, promotion may be given to the employees.
(iii) Advice and counseling may be sought from the employer.
(iv) The employee may be given additional temporary assignments.
2. Long-Term Manpower Planning:

Under long term planning, management has ample time to make required adjustments by taking
necessary steps. Long term manpower planning covers a longer period say 15 to 20 years or so, for
meeting manpower requirements of a concern.
Following steps are suggested in case of long term manpower planning:
(i) Projecting Manpower needs:
The first important step in long- run manpower planning is to develop that organizational structure that
will meet future manpower requirements in the best possible manner. The basic aim is to keep pace
with the changes in future. Due to rapid technological advancement at present, it is not an easy task to
predict accurately future jobs needed for the organization.
“That some firms claim that executive manpower needs are too intangible to forecast, that management
cannot be defined or planned for in any constructive manner.” —Edwin. B. Flippo
It may be pointed out that if the process of manpower planning is systematically undertaken, it brings
about the desired results.
An analysis of the under mentioned problems in the process of manpower planning may be helpful in
projecting the future manpower need of an organization.
(a) Rate of loss of manpower due to retirement, separation, resignation and retrenchment must be
predicted and need for replacement must be kept in mind.
(b) Need of new manpower requirements over and above the replacements should be predicted.
(c) Job specifications i.e. qualifications and abilities needed for different types of jobs must be clearly
laid down.
(ii) Inventory and Analysis of Manpower:
Manpower inventory and analysis involves the appraising of personnel by cataloguing their
characteristics by incorporating their educational and professional qualifications. The personnel
inventorying includes the counting of number of persons available at present.
It does not include counting of employees only but extends to the determination of personnel to be
inventoried, systematic and detailed appraisal of those individuals (after catloguing them) and a detailed
study of those who possess good potential for development.
It can be concluded that manpower inventory and analysis provides valuable information pertaining to
present and future employees in the organisation. The information may not be completely accurate but
is valuable and provides basis for the recruitment, selection and training processes to be followed in the
organisation in the days to come.
(iii) Recruitment and Selection:
Long term manpower planning establishes the processes of recruitment and selection on proper lines. It
brings about scientific recruitment and selection methods, which in turn helps in appointing the best
type of employee in the organisation.
(iv) Development and Training of the Employees:
Manpower planning is concerned with development and training of employees to take up new and
challenging tasks and responsibilities. Well trained employees are invaluable assets for the organisation.
Planning to Plan
Have you ever heard the saying 'Those who fail to plan, plan to fail'? While I can't speak to all facets of
life, this is certainly true in business. Managers find themselves planning for all sorts of things. So much
so, that planning is one of the four major functions of management. In doing so, a manager can be
certain that he or she is working toward some organization goal.
There are three main types of plans that a manager will use in his or her pursuit of company goals,
which include operational, tactical and strategic. If you think about these three types of plans as
stepping stones, you can see how their relationship to one another aids in the achievement of
organizational goals. Operational plans are necessary to attain tactical plans and tactical plans lead to
the achievement of strategic plans. Then, in true planning fashion, there are also plans to backup plans
that fail. These are known as contingency plans. To better understand how each type of plan is used by
managers, let's take a look at an example from Nino's Pizzeria and how Tommy, Martha and Frank carry
out their planning responsibilities.
Strategic Plans
To best understand the relationship between the different types of plans, let's start at the top. Strategic
plans are designed with the entire organization in mind and begin with an organization's mission. Top-
level managers, such as CEOs or presidents, will design and execute strategic plans to paint a picture of
the desired future and long-term goals of the organization. Essentially, strategic plans look ahead to
where the organization wants to be in three, five, even ten years. Strategic plans, provided by top-level
managers, serve as the framework for lower-level planning.
Tactical Plans
Now that you have a general idea for how organizational planning evolves, let's look at the next level of
planning, known as tactical planning. Tactical plans support strategic plans by translating them into
specific plans relevant to a distinct area of the organization. Tactical plans are concerned with the
responsibility and functionality of lower-level departments to fulfill their parts of the strategic plan.
Operational plans
Operational plans sit at the bottom of the totem pole; they are the plans that are made by frontline, or
low-level, managers. All operational plans are focused on the specific procedures and processes that
occur within the lowest levels of the organization. Managers must plan the routine tasks of the
department using a high level of detail.
Ongoing plans
Ongoing plans are those plans that are built to withstand the test of time. They are created with the
intent to be used several times and undergo changes when necessary. Outlining an employee's
performance goals for the year would be considered an ongoing plan that Frank must develop, assess
and update, if necessary. Ongoing plans are typically a policy, procedure or rule. Policies are general
statements, or guidelines, that aid a manager in understanding routine responsibilities of his or her role
as a manager. Examples of policies include things such as hiring, training, outlining and assessing
performance appraisals and disciplining and terminating subordinates. A procedure details the step-by-
step process of carrying out a certain task, such as assessing, ordering and stocking inventory. A rule
provides managers and employees with specific and explicit guidelines of behavior that is what they
should and should not do as a member of the organization.
Strategic HR Planning
Strategic HR planning is an important component of strategic HR management. It links HR management
directly to the strategic plan of your organization. Most mid- to large sized organizations have a strategic
plan that guides them in successfully meeting their missions. Organizations routinely complete financial
plans to ensure they achieve organizational goals and while workforce plans are not as common, they
are just as important.
Even a small organization with as few as 10 staff can develop a strategic plan to guide decisions about
the future. Based on the strategic plan, your organization can develop a strategic HR plan that will allow
you to make HR management decisions now to support the future direction of the organization.
Strategic HR planning is also important from a budgetary point of view so that you can factor the costs
of recruitment, training, etc. into your organization's operating budget.
Strategic HR management is defined as:
Integrating human resource management strategies and systems to achieve the overall mission,
strategies, and success of the firm while meeting the needs of employees and other stakeholders.
Introduction to strategic HR planning
The overall purpose of strategic HR planning is to:
• Ensure adequate human resources to meet the strategic goals and operational plans of your
organization - the right people with the right skills at the right time
• Keep up with social, economic, legislative and technological trends that impact on human resources
in your area and in the sector
• Remain flexible so that your organization can manage change if the future is different than
anticipated
• Strategic HR planning predicts the future HR management needs of the organization after analyzing
the organization's current human resources, the external labour market and the future HR
environment that the organization will be operating in. The analysis of HR management issues
external to the organization and developing scenarios about the future are what distinguishes
strategic planning from operational planning. The basic questions to be answered for strategic
planning are:
• Where are we going?
• How will we develop HR strategies to successfully get there, given the circumstances?
• What skill sets do we need?
The strategic HR planning process

The strategic HR planning process has four steps:
• Assessing the current HR capacity
• Forecasting HR requirements
• Gap analysis
• Developing HR strategies to support organizational strategies
Assessing current HR capacity
Based on the organization's strategic plan, the first step in the strategic HR planning process is to assess
the current HR capacity of the organization. The knowledge, skills and abilities of your current staff need
to be identified. This can be done by developing a skills inventory for each employee.
The skills inventory should go beyond the skills needed for the particular position. List all skills each
employee has demonstrated. For example, recreational or volunteer activities may involve special skills
that could be relevant to the organization. Education levels and certificates or additional training should
also be included.
An employee's performance assessment form can be reviewed to determine if the person is ready and
willing to take on more responsibility and to look at the employee's current development plans.
Forecasting HR requirements
The next step is to forecast HR needs for the future based on the strategic goals of the organization.
Realistic forecasting of human resources involves estimating both demand and supply. Questions to be
answered include:
• How many staff will be required to achieve the strategic goals of the organization?
• What jobs will need to be filled?
• What skill sets will people need?
When forecasting demands for HR, you must also assess the challenges that you will have in meeting
your staffing need based on the external environment. To determine external impacts, you may want to
consider some of the following factors:
• How does the current economy affect our work and our ability to attract new employees?
• How do current technological or cultural shifts impact the way we work and the skilled labour we
require?
• What changes are occurring in the Canadian labour market?
• How is our community changing or expected to change in the near future?
To read more about the changing labour force and why it matters to non-profit employers, go to the
Diversity at Work section of the HR Toolkit:
• Why diversity at work matters
Gap analysis
The next step is to determine the gap between where your organization wants to be in the future and
where you are now. The gap analysis includes identifying the number of staff and the skills and abilities
required in the future in comparison to the current situation. You should also look at all your
organization's HR management practices to identify practices that could be improved or new practices
needed to support the organization's capacity to move forward. Questions to be answered include:
• What new jobs will we need?
• What new skills will be required?
• Do our present employees have the required skills?
• Are employees currently in positions that use their strengths?
• Do we have enough managers/supervisors?
• Are current HR management practices adequate for future needs?
Developing HR strategies to support organizational strategies
There are five HR strategies for meeting your organization's needs in the future:
• Restructuring strategies
• Training and development strategies
• Recruitment strategies
• Outsourcing strategies
• Collaboration strategies
1. Restructuring strategies
This strategy includes:
• Reducing staff either by termination or attrition
• Regrouping tasks to create well designed jobs
• Reorganizing work units to be more efficient
If your assessment indicates that there is an oversupply of skills, there are a variety of options open to
assist in the adjustment. Termination of workers gives immediate results. Generally, there will be costs
associated with this approach depending on your employment agreements. Notice periods are
guaranteed in all provinces. Be sure to review the employment and labour standards in your province or
territory to ensure that you are compliant with the legislation.
2. Training and development strategies
• Providing staff with training to take on new roles
• Providing current staff with development opportunities to prepare them for future jobs in your
organization
Training and development needs can be met in a variety of ways. One approach is for the employer to
pay for employees to upgrade their skills. This may involve sending the employee to take courses or
certificates or it may be accomplished through on-the-job training. Many training and development
needs can be met through cost effective techniques. See the HR Toolkit section on Learning, Training
and Development for more information.
3. Recruitment strategies
• Recruiting new staff with the skill and abilities that your organization will need in the future
• Considering all the available options for strategically promoting job openings and encouraging
suitable candidates to apply
For strategic HR planning, each time you recruit you should be looking at the requirements from a
strategic perspective. Perhaps your organization has a need for a new fundraiser right now to plan
special events as part of your fundraising plan. However, if your organization is considering moving from
fundraising through special events to planned giving, your recruitment strategy should be to find
someone who can do both to align with the change that you plan for the future.
4. Outsourcing strategies
• Using external individuals or organizations to complete some tasks
Many organizations look outside their own staff pool and contract for certain skills. This is particularly
helpful for accomplishing specific, specialized tasks that don't require ongoing full-time work.
Some organizations outsource HR activities, project work or bookkeeping. For example, payroll may be
done by an external organization rather than a staff person, a short term project may be done using a
consultant, or specific expertise such as legal advice may be purchase from an outside source.
When deciding to outsource to an individual, ensure you are not mistakenly calling an employee a
consultant. This is illegal and can have serious financial implications for your organization. To
understand the differences between employees and self-employed people, visit the Canada Revenue
Agency's website.
Each outsourcing decision has implications for meeting the organization's goals and should therefore be
carefully assessed.
5. Collaboration strategies
Finally, the strategic HR planning process may lead to indirect strategies that go beyond your
organization. By collaborating with other organizations you may have better success at dealing with a
shortage of certain skills.
Types of collaboration could include:
• Working together to influence the types of courses offered by educational institutions
• Working with other organizations to prepare future leaders by sharing in the development of
promising individuals
• Sharing the costs of training for groups of employees
• Allowing employees to visit other organizations to gain skills and insight
Documenting the strategic HR plan

Once the strategies for HR in your organization have been developed they should be documented in an
HR plan. This is a brief document that states the key assumptions and the resulting strategies along with
who has responsibility for the strategies and the timelines for implementation.
Implementing the strategic HR plan
Once the HR strategic plan is complete the next step is to implement it:
Agreement with the plan
Ensure that the board chair, executive director and senior managers agree with the strategic HR plan. It
may seem like a redundant step if everyone has been involved all the way along, but it's always good to
get final confirmation.
Communication
The strategic HR plan needs to be communicated throughout the organization. Your communication
should include:
• How the plan ties to the organization's overall strategic plan
• What changes in HR management policies, practices and activities will be made to support the
strategic plan
• How any changes in HR management will impact on staff including a timeframe if appropriate
• How each individual member of staff can contribute to the plan
• How staff will be supported through any changes
• How the organization will be different in the future
It is impossible to communicate too much (but all too easy to communicate too little), especially when
changes involve people. However, the amount of detail should vary depending upon the audience.
Legislation and mandate
Ensure that the actions you are considering are compliant with existing laws, regulations and the
constitution and bylaws of your organization.
To review laws relating to employment, visit the HR Toolkit section on Employment Legislation and
Standards
Organizational needs
Whether you are increasing or reducing the number of employees, there are implications for space and
equipment, and on existing resources such as payroll and benefit plans.
Evaluation
HR plans need to be updated on a regular basis. You will need to establish the information necessary to
evaluate the success of the new plan. Benchmarks need to be selected and measured over time to
determine if the plan is successful in achieving the desired objectives.
Manpower Planning
Manpower Planning which is also called as Human Resource Planning consists of putting right number of
people, right kind of people at the right place, right time, doing the right things for which they are suited
for the achievement of goals of the organization. Human Resource Planning has got an important place
in the arena of industrialization. Human Resource Planning has to be a systems approach and is carried
out in a set procedure. The procedure is as follows:
1. Analysing the current manpower inventory
2. Making future manpower forecasts
3. Developing employment programmes
4. Design training programmes
Steps in Manpower Planning
1. Analyzing the current manpower inventory- Before a manager makes forecast of future manpower,
the current manpower status has to be analyzed. For this the following things have to be noted-
• Type of organization
• Number of departments
• Number and quantity of such departments
• Employees in these work units
Once these factors are registered by a manager, he goes for the future forecasting
2. Making future manpower forecasts- Once the factors affecting the future manpower forecasts are
known, planning can be done for the future manpower requirements in several work units.
The Manpower forecasting techniques commonly employed by the organizations are as follows:
▪ Expert Forecasts: This includes informal decisions, formal expert surveys and Delphi technique.
▪ Trend Analysis: Manpower needs can be projected through extrapolation (projecting past trends),
indexation (using base year as basis), and statistical analysis (central tendency measure).
▪ Work Load Analysis: It is dependent upon the nature of work load in a department, in a branch or in
a division.
▪ Work Force Analysis: Whenever production and time period has to be analysed, due allowances
have to be made for getting net manpower requirements.
▪ Other methods: Several Mathematical models, with the aid of computers are used to forecast
manpower needs, like budget and planning analysis, regression, new venture analysis.
3. Developing employment programmes- Once the current inventory is compared with future
forecasts, the employment programmes can be framed and developed accordingly, which will
include recruitment, selection procedures and placement plans.
4. Design training programmes- These will be based upon extent of diversification, expansion plans,
development programmes, etc. Training programmes depend upon the extent of improvement in
technology and advancement to take place. It is also done to improve upon the skills, capabilities,
knowledge of the workers.
Importance of Manpower Planning
1. Key to managerial functions- The four managerial functions, i.e., planning, organizing, directing
and controlling are based upon the manpower. Human resources help in the implementation of
all these managerial activities. Therefore, staffing becomes a key to all managerial functions.
2. Efficient utilization- Efficient management of personnels becomes an important function in the
industrialization world of today. Seting of large scale enterprises require management of large
scale manpower. It can be effectively done through staffing function.
3. Motivation- Staffing function not only includes putting right men on right job, but it also
comprises of motivational programmes, i.e., incentive plans to be framed for further
participation and employment of employees in a concern. Therefore, all types of incentive plans
becomes an integral part of staffing function.
4. Better human relations- A concern can stabilize itself if human relations develop and are strong.
Human relations become strong trough effective control, clear communication, effective
supervision and leadership in a concern. Staffing function also looks after training and
development of the work force which leads to co-operation and better human relations.
5. Higher productivity- Productivity level increases when resources are utilized in best possible
manner. higher productivity is a result of minimum wastage of time, money, efforts and
energies. This is possible through the staffing and it's related activities ( Performance appraisal,
training and development, remuneration)
Need of Manpower Planning
Manpower Planning is a two-phased process because manpower planning not only analyses the current
human resources but also makes manpower forecasts and thereby draw employment programmes.
Manpower Planning is advantageous to firm in following manner:
1. Shortages and surpluses can be identified so that quick action can be taken wherever required.
2. All the recruitment and selection programmes are based on manpower planning.
3. It also helps to reduce the labour cost as excess staff can be identified and thereby overstaffing
can be avoided.
4. It also helps to identify the available talents in a concern and accordingly training programmes
can be chalked out to develop those talents.
5. It helps in growth and diversification of business. Through manpower planning, human
resources can be readily available and they can be utilized in best manner.
6. It helps the organization to realize the importance of manpower management which ultimately
helps in the stability of a concern.
Human Resource Planning Approaches

HR planning is a mechanism created to forecast the required human resource to perform a specific task.
It also assesses the skill requirement of employees for each job. It is a complex task which estimates the
future demand and supply position of HR in the organization. Hence, it gives a picture of infinite future
in advance in terms of human resource requirement for the company. Here, the approaches to HR
planning are as follows:
1. Quantitative Approach
It is also known as top down approach of HR planning under which top level make and efforts to prepare
the draft of HR planning. It is a management-driven approach under which the HR planning is regarded
as a number's game. It is based on the analysis of Human Resource Management Information System
and HR Inventory Level. On the basis of information provided by HRIS, the demand of manpower is
forecasted using different quantitative tools and techniques such as trend analysis, mathematical
models, economic models, market analysis, and so on. The focus of this approach is to forecast human
resource surplus and shortages in an organization. In this approach major role is played by top
management.
2. Qualitative Approach
This approach is also known as bottom up approach of HR planning under which the subordinates make
an effort to prepare the draft of HR planning.Hence, it is also called sub-ordinate-driven approach of HR
planning. It focuses om individual employee concerns. It is concerned with matching organizational
needs with employee needs. Moreover, it focuses on employee's training, development and creativity.
Similarly, compensation, incentives, employee safety, welfare, motivation and promotion etc. are the
primary concerns of this approach. In this approach, major role is played by lower level employees.
3. Mixed Approach
This is called mixed approach because it combines both top-down and bottom-up approaches of HR
planning. In fact, the effort is made to balance the antagonism between employees and the
management. Hence, it tends to produce the best result that ever produced by either of the methods.
Moreover, it is also regarded as an Management By Objective(MBO) approach of HR planning. There is a
equal participation of each level of employees of the organization
Approach To Human Resources Planning

There is no limitation to people planning process in Human Resource Planning but have unlimited
boundary. The utilization of existing manpower and future needs is dependent on Human Resource
Planning. There exist two notions-integration and analysis in HRP. Balancing organizational demands
with the desire of people is known as integration. HRP have following advantages:
• Skilled and talented manpower are responsible for providing maximum employees the
appropriate levels of knowledge, skills, and work attitudes,
• the system development that helps for a worker in fitting the job,
• Developing skill that enables to merge expertise planning into the corporate planning system in
the company
Approach to HRP are,
Need forecasting. Today's view describes cost needed for the employees were positioned at the higher
level as compared to all the other costs. Forecasting can be done by using various tools trend analysis,
Ratio analysis and scatter plotting. We can also forecast the supply of inside candidates such as
inventories qualification and the supply of outside candidate such as people economic handling capacity
rate of unemployment and so on.
Advance planning. Stage in the planning cycle enables an organization to efficiently improve goals.
Human resource needs are generally developed in long run strategic planning. Employment or Personnel
Planning is referred as the way of analyzing the position that an organization has to fill and how to fill
the form. It is the core of strategic planning process Example: Expansion strategy. Succession Planning is
the way of deciding how the company must fill the important executive jobs positions.The computer
software that manager use for managing the human resources functions in the company is called human
resource information system. It has the capability for maintaining records of a job for all staff members,
and manager can use it for collecting metrics surrounding the firm’s staffing, performance management,
compensation and benefits activities. Although only some organization utilizes an HRIS , there are many
advantages for doing so such as reporting, recruiting, administration and so on.
Work analysis and Human resource information system. Better controlling and staffing is only possible
through work analysis. Hence work analysis is an important task in HRP. Similarly, the technology
advancement in firm possesses information systems such as Enterprise Resource Planning Systems,
specialized HR systems etc. for generating the data and analysis that help met the organizational goal.
Performance measurement and management: Employees performance can be enabled by considering
them as capital and also giving them the chance of making the decision for making them productive. In
the past employee was not given the chance of showing their skill and they were limited to work on a
single task. Today people with competent skills are demanded by the organization so that they can be
assigned on the need of company. Therefore motivation, job design, job structure, individual
competence, and appropriateness of performance goals and standards of measurement are the core
aspect of HRP and are easy to assist and control. The basis of assessment is also difficult to forecast and
are inflexible. The trend is towards more specific job-related appraisal rather than the global assessment
of personality traits. Performance planning and appraisal system are designed to analyze the difficulties.
Today many organizations develop the worker in this process and they are told to prepare their plans
and past performance reviews in advance of discussion with their managers.
Changing workers life. Sustainable job and adapting time are making communication more flexible in
the organization. Better value and innovations are developed in people in business. These added values
are given in the form of rewards for the designs of a job, and compensation incentives that provide
more meaning to employees. Incentives can help employee motivate and also direct them towards
achieving the goal in the organization.
Career management. Employee careers are given more attention by the organization. The high
absenteeism rate has forced an organization to plan to retain the employees by managing the career of
the employee. External recruitment is given less emphasis and the organization is focused on human
resource planning and utilization of their talent. Hence attention towards the stage of human resource
selection, appraisal, career planning, and innovative training and development programmed are more
considered.Career Management defines in a way where others can know about you and your value.
Career Management includes five phases of career development planning. It includes front and center
as activities are related to career management in order to identify whether they are relevant to all the
other phases. Also, career management is a never ending process which occurs throughout one's career
and not just at discrete times. It may be helpful to think of career management.
Management development: This is a complex activity where company deals with the second line of
people in every level of the company. Individual backup for key positions are less emphasized and focus
on the talent pool of employee by the firm. Changing adaptability in planning developmental
assignments is being allowed by HRP. The framework for helping workers for developing their personal
and business skills, knowledge, and abilities is called management development. The opportunities such
as workers training, employee career development, management of works and development,
coaching,developing succession planning, key employee identification, assistance for tuition and
development of business.
Career planning. Ocean is formed by a small drop of water so the contribution of every people are
engaged in the stage of growth, Developing every individual talent fully and matching them to the
opportunities that best fit the organizational needs is a complex procedure. Counseling and more
flexible work/retirement task for employees to face retirement for changing career are given by the
organization. Moreover, the trend lies beyond planning and providing resources for the employees to
career development. The roles like strategic role, administrative role, and specialized role can be
analyzed by a specialist. The strategic role formulating HR strategies and managers relation.
Administrative Role includes resources of the organization is structured and social welfare activities. The
specialized role involves collecting and analyzing the given data, designing and applying forecasting
systems and managing career development, However, we should know that each role cannot be
differentiated . The Every role is combined with the one another role as given. These roles are important
to the HR specialist for effectiveness. These skills are different and are hard to develop when comparing
with administrative skills. The managing the staff function of HRP and managing employee welfare
activities determine administrative task. The demand of attention is seen as secondary. The remaining
three roles represent specialized functions performed. The business needed and inflexible business
environment changes with the change in the roles. HRP helps to anticipate the need of company and
looking the company need. The goal is to gain objective for understanding these elements.
1. Cost reduction: sales and revenue, compensation and benefit total cost and expenses,
replacement of employee expenses including recruiting and training, legal and regulatory
expenses, labor relations, costs etc.
2. effective operation: complex technology and specialist needed, flexible and employee
motivation for achieving job requirements, efficiency and style of manager and philosophy etc.
3. undertaking new ventures: New enterprises and changing maintenance are comprised and
developing human resources, management resources width, flexibility, competent. Cost factor
may include the cost of financial capital and the cost of materials. Capital money, equipment,
and materials cannot be controlled easily because of raise in price and issue of fall in price.
Controlling incentives and rewards, and staffing mix are crucial to the human resource
management. Qualitative aspect of cost is necessary for competing with quantitative factor
There are four categories of records that make up the human resource records:
1. Personal records includes records related to personally-identifiable information, such as name, date
of birth, home address, emergency contact, social security number, etc.
2. Personnel records include records covering employment, position classification, wage or salary,
employee relations, performance management, training, organizational development, attendance
and paid time-off usage, etc.
3. Benefits program records include records covering benefit plan enrollments in such plans as health
care, retirement, investments, tuition benefit, and voluntary plans, as well as beneficiaries in these
plans where applicable.
4. Medical records include all medical certifications, physician statements, and related information
that describe the health and medical history or condition of an employee or an employee’s family
members. These include ADA and FMLA forms and correspondence, disability documents, claims
for medical services, doctors’ notes, workers’ compensation records, injury or illness reports, and
drug screening results. (Not an inclusive list.) They do not include attendance reports from such
systems as TIME or ePTO that simply record what category of paid time-off to which an absence
from work is charged.
Human Resource Records: Types, Objectives, Essentials and Precautions

Human resource records refers to the informational documents utilized by an organisation to carry out
its functions. It represents the memory of organisation. The records provide information about the
organisation which is maintained in tangible form i.e. written, pictorial, charts etc.
They are therefore tangible evidence of the activities of the organisation. Personnel records provide
information about the position of HR in the organisation e.g. – records relating to training, performance,
absenteeism, wages and salary, labour turnover, productivity, morale surveys, job satisfaction, social
security, employee welfare etc. Conventionally records are stored in the form of papers, cards, files,
charts, blue prints etc. But in modern times records are stored in C.Ds, video films, audio cassettes etc.
Types of Information:
The records are prepared from reports, minutes of meetings, orders etc. They contain information about
employees, trade unions, employer, government, job description, job analysis, recruitment, selection,
promotion, transfer, termination, redeployment, training and development, lay off, strikes, PF
contributions, employee benefits, wage and salary, grievances disputes etc.
Objectives of Personnel Records:
The main objective of record in not storing but to have information for making analysis of various
problems. Effectively stored records enable better analysis of the problems.
Records serve the following purpose.
(1) Help managers to identify, prepare and implement training programmes for employees and
executive development for managers.
(2) Facilitates in decision making in respect of transfer, promotion, demotion, redeployment etc.
(3) Helps in preparing wage and salary sheets.
(4) Enables to provide information relating accidents, absenteeism, labour turnover, wages and salaries
to governmental agencies.
(5) Facilitates human resource audit.
(6) Enable research in human relations.
(7) Provide knowledge about validity of employment tests and interviews.
(8) Maintain data in respect of leaves, training, promotion, transfer, layoffs, dismissals, expenses
incurred on employee benefits etc.
Essentials of a Good Record:
To achieve the above objectives a good record must include the following features:
(1) It should be objective. It should be maintained to fulfill the stated objectives.
(2) Record keeping should be simple and easy to understand.
(3) It should be accurate without any chance of errors or fraud.
(4) It should be consistent with the needs.
(5) It should be easily traceable or available.
(6) In maintaining the records principle of economy should be followed. Maintenance of records should
not be expensive.
(7) It should be useful for better management of business. Needless papers should not be kept in
records.
(8) There should be easy access to required information, hence should be maintained accordingly.
(9) Different records should be easily differentiated.
(10) There should be no duplication.
(11) Record keeper should be deputed to look after maintenance of records.
Precautions in Maintaining Records:
The records serve many purposes. The records of personnel’s are to be maintained from the date of
their induction till the time of their retirement or leaving the organisation. According to Jucius Michael
certain precautions are essential in maintaining the personnel records.
They are:
(1) All hiring information for every employee may be kept in a folder. The other information concerning
the employee such as performance evaluation, educational qualifications, training, disciplinary actions, if
any, against the personnel etc. are placed in the folder.
(2) Besides folder a card containing important information may be filed in the folder enabling the easy
availability of the employee record at any point of time.
(3) In some cases, where the number of employees is very large, data processing equipment may be
used for maintaining records.
Types of Personnel Records:
The basic records of personnel’s in industrial enterprises are the following:-
Individual Service Record:
This record includes name and address, sex, age, educational qualifications, experience, department &
section, date of appointment, date of superannuation, wage, increment, promotion received, transfer
etc. of employee.
Performance Record:
Ratings given to each employee on the basis annual performance appraisal is included in this record.
Leave Records:
It includes the different types of leaves taken by the employees and the leaves balance.
Training Record:
This includes the training programmes attended by the employees with date and time periods.
Health and safety Records:
These records include the information about accidents, medical reports, insurance records etc.
Personnel Records
Personnel Records are records pertaining to employees of an organization. These records are
accumulated, factual and comprehensive information related to concern records and detained. All
information with effect to human resources in the organization are kept in a systematic order. Such
records are helpful to a manager in various decision -making areas.
Personnel records are maintained for formulating and reviewing personnel policies and procedures.
Complete details about all employees are maintained in personnel records, such as, name, date of birth,
marital status, academic qualifications, professional qualifications, previous employment details, etc.
Types of Personnel Records
1. Records of employment contain applicants past records, list sources, employees progress,
medical reports, etc.
2. Wages and salaries records contains pay roll records, methods of wages and salaries, leave
records, turnover records and other benefit records.
3. Training and development contains appraisal reports, transfer cases, training schedule, training
methods.
4. Health and safety records include sickness reports, safety provisions, medical history, insurance
reports, etc.
5. Service Records are the essential records containing bio-data, residential and family
information, academic qualifications, marital status, past address and employment records.
Purposes of Personnel Records
According to the critics of personnel records, this system is called as a wastage of time and money.
According to personnel records, followers of this : Dale Yoder, an economist of Michigan University, USA
has justified the significance of personnel records after making an in-depth study.
1. It helps to supply crucial information to managers regarding the employees.

2. To keep an update record of leaves, lockouts, transfers, turnover, etc. of the employees.
3. It helps the managers in framing various training and development programmes on the basis of
present scenario.
4. It helps the government organizations to gather data in respect to rate of turnover, rate of
absenteeism and other personnel matters.
5. It helps the managers to make salary revisions, allowances and other benefits related to salaries.
6. It also helps the researchers to carry in- depth study with respect to industrial relations and
goodwill of the firm in the market.
5 essential skills of a Human Resources Manager

Human Resources is an integral component of any organization’s business strategy, and as such it
requires a comprehensive set of interconnected skills. HR professionals plan, organize, and evaluate the
operations of personnel departments to recruit and retain the human capital that best permits an
organization to thrive. The HR team requires leadership capabilities to motivate and mesh together a
diverse workforce, optimizing productivity and job satisfaction.
Communication skills are of utmost importance in all aspects of the position, from reading stacks of
applications, conveying the specifications of occupations hired for, to speaking and listening to
management and employees to determine needs and focus. Organization skills are required to maintain
a systematic approach to problem solving and wisely manage time. HR professionals are the conscience
of the company, so discretion, apt judgment and a commitment to the truth are important to uphold.
The following essential job functions will reveal the value of multitasking, as learned with a DEC in
Human Resources. On a typical day, HR professionals will have to deal with such diverse tasks as an
employee’s personal issues, a manager’s immediate recruitment needs and compensation management.
Recruitment and Hiring
Interpersonal and decision-making skills are necessary to find the right people for the job. Identifying
the best talent comes with practice, integrating social media tools and effective strategy. HR is the face
of the organization and must both communicate efficiently and effectively represent the company.
Evaluating talent means understanding non-verbal communication, excellent listening and other soft
skills.
Training and Development
Communication, organization and leadership skills are vital to create effective training programs,
instruct and present material, and accurately assess employee comprehension and job suitability. Team
members will want to grow with the company and so understanding the best fit for an employee’s skills
will be valuable for retention.
Compensation and Benefits
Human Resources Management professionals must work with management to develop an effective
compensation system and benefit structures. Maintaining attractive compensation packages are
essential to retaining top talent and acquiring new employees. This requires analytical, negotiation and
problem solving skills to assess the overall package in relation to industry norms and present insights to
management.
Performance Evaluation
Successful HR managers balance the needs of employees and management to win trust from all
concerned. Establishing and implementing a complete performance improvement process is a
challenging but rewarding role of human resources to encourage ongoing professional development.
Productive evaluation frames development positively, requiring versatile communication skills and
assessment techniques. Conflict management skills and understanding a problem from both sides are
skills learned in a human resources program.
Finance and Administration
Business acumen is needed to effectively strategize and communicate company goals to the workforce.
An HR manager must increasingly be aware of big-picture strategy to move the company forward while
working with an established budget. It takes a combination of all an HR manager’s skills to empower,
motivate and optimize an organization’s people management.
Primary Responsibilities of a Human Resource Manager

Similar to other department managers, a human resource manager has two basic functions: overseeing
department functions and managing employees. For this reason, a human resources manager must be
well-versed in each of the human resources disciplines – compensation and benefits, training and
development, employee relations, and recruitment and selection. Core competencies HR managers have
are solid communication skills and decision-making capabilities based on analytical skills and critical
thought processes.
Overall Responsibilities
Human resource managers have strategic and functional responsibilities for all of the HR disciplines. A
human resource manager has the expertise of an HR generalist combined with general business and
management skills. In large organizations, a human resource manager reports to the human resource
director or a C-level human resource executive. In smaller companies, some HR managers perform all of
the department's functions or work with an HR assistant or generalist that handles administrative
matters. Regardless of the size of department or the company, a human resource manager should have
the skills to perform every HR function, if necessary.
Human resource managers provide guidance and direction to compensation and benefits specialists.
Within this discipline, human resources managers develop strategic compensation plans, align
performance management systems with compensation structure and monitor negotiations for group
health care benefits. Examples of human resource manager responsibilities include monitoring Family
and Medical Leave Act compliance and adherence to confidentiality provisions for employee medical
files. Human resource managers for small companies might also conduct open enrollment for
employees' annual elections pertaining to health care coverage.
Employee training and development includes new hire orientation, leadership training and professional
development seminars and workshops. Human resource managers oversee needs assessments to
determine when training is necessary and the type of training necessary to improve performance and
productivity. Human resource managers responsible for conducting needs assessment have a hands-on
role in evaluating overall employee performance to decide if the workforce would benefit from
additional training and orientation. They examine employee performance records to identify areas
where employees could improve through job skills training or employee development, such as seminars
or workshops on leadership techniques.They also play an integral role in implementing employee
development strategy and succession planning based on training and professional development. Human
resource managers responsible for succession planning use their knowledge of employee development,
training and future business needs to devise career tracks for employees who demonstrate the aptitude
and desire for upward mobility.
Employee Relations
Although the employee relations specialist is responsible for investigating and resolving workplace
issues, the human resource manager has ultimate responsibility for preserving the employer-employee
relationship through designing an effective employee relations strategy. An effective employee relations
strategy contains specific steps for ensuring the overall well-being of employees. It also ensures that
employees have a safe working environment, free from discrimination and harassment. Human resource
managers for small businesses conduct workplace investigations and resolve employee complaints.
Human resource managers may also be the primary contact for legal counsel in risk mitigation activities
and litigation pertaining to employee relations matters. An example of risk mitigation handled by a
human resource manager includes examining current workplace policies and providing training to
employees and managers on those policies to minimize the frequency of employee complaints due to
misinterpretation or misunderstanding of company policies.
Recruitment and Selection
Human resource managers develop strategic solutions to meet workforce demands and labor force
trends. An employment manager actually oversees the recruitment and selection processes; however,
an HR manager is primarily responsible for decisions related to corporate branding as it relates to
recruiting and retaining talented employees. For example, a human resource manager in a health care
firm might use her knowledge about nursing shortages to develop a strategy for employee retention, or
for maintaining the current staffing levels. The strategy might include developing an incentive program
for nurses or providing nurses with cross-training so they can become certified in different specialties to
become more valuable to the organization. Corporate branding as it relates to recruitment and
retention means promoting the company as an employer of choice. Human resource managers
responsible for this usually look at the recruitment and selection process, as well as compensation and
benefits to find ways to appeal to highly qualified applicants.
The main functions of HRD are:-

1. Training and development Training and development is aimed at improving or changing the
knowledge skills and attitudes of the employees. While training involves providing the knowledge and
skills required for doing a particular job to the employees, developmental activities focus on preparing
the employees for future job responsibilities by increasing the capabilities of an employee which also
helps him perform his present job in a better way. These activities start when an employee joins an
organization in the form of orientation and skills training. After the employee becomes proficient, the
HR activities focus on the development of the employee through methods like coaching and counseling.
2 Organization development OD is the process of increasing the effectiveness of an organization along
with the well being of its members with the help of planned interventions that use the concepts of
behavioral science. Both micro and macro changes are implemented to achieve organization
development. While the macro changes are intended to improve the overall effectiveness of the
organization the micro changes are aimed at individuals of small groups. Employee involvement
programmes requiring fundamental changes in work expectation, reporting, procedures and reward
systems are aimed at improving the effectiveness of the organization. The human resource development
professional involved in the organization development intervention acts as an agent of change. He often
consults and advising the line manager in strategies that can be adopted to implement the required
changes and sometimes becomes directly involve in implementing these strategies.
3. Career development It is a continuous process in which an individual progresses through different
stages of career each having a relatively unique set of issues and tasks. Career development comprises
of two distinct processes. Career Planning and career management. Whereas career planning involves
activities to be performed by the employee, often with the help of counselor and others, to assess his
capabilities and skills in order to frame realistic career plan. Career management involves the necessary
steps that need to be taken to achieve that plan. Career management generally focus more on the steps
that an organization that can take to foster the career development of the employees.
Recruitment
The success of recruiters and employment specialists generally is measured by the number of positions
they fill and the time it takes to fill those positions. Recruiters who work in-house -- as opposed to
companies that provide recruiting and staffing services -- play a key role in developing the employer's
workforce. They advertise job postings, source candidates, screen applicants, conduct preliminary
interviews and coordinate hiring efforts with managers responsible for making the final selection of
candidates.
Safety
Workplace safety is an important factor. Under the Occupational Safety and Health Act of 1970,
employers have an obligation to provide a safe working environment for employees. One of the main
functions of HR is to support workplace safety training and maintain federally mandated logs for
workplace injury and fatality reporting. In addition, HR safety and risk specialists often work closely with
HR benefits specialists to manage the company's workers compensation issues.
Employee Relations
In a unionized work environment, the employee and labor relations functions of HR may be combined
and handled by one specialist or be entirely separate functions managed by two HR specialists with
specific expertise in each area. Employee relations is the HR discipline concerned with strengthening the
employer-employee relationship through measuring job satisfaction, employee engagement and
resolving workplace conflict. Labor relations functions may include developing management response to
union organizing campaigns, negotiating collective bargaining agreements and rendering interpretations
of labor union contract issues.
Like employee and labor relations, the compensation and benefits functions of HR often can be handled
by one HR specialist with dual expertise. On the compensation side, the HR functions include setting
compensation structures and evaluating competitive pay practices. A comp and benefits specialist also
may negotiate group health coverage rates with insurers and coordinate activities with the retirement
savings fund administrator. Payroll can be a component of the compensation and benefits section of HR;
however, in many cases, employers outsource such administrative functions as payroll.
Compliance
Compliance with labor and employment laws is a critical HR function. Noncompliance can result in
workplace complaints based on unfair employment practices, unsafe working conditions and general
dissatisfaction with working conditions that can affect productivity and ultimately, profitability. HR staff
must be aware of federal and state employment laws such as Title VII of the Civil Rights Act, the Fair
Labor Standards Act, the National Labor Relations Act and many other rules and regulations.
Employers must provide employees with the tools necessary for their success which, in many cases,
means giving new employees extensive orientation training to help them transition into a new
organizational culture. Many HR departments also provide leadership training and professional
development. Leadership training may be required of newly hired and promoted supervisors and
managers on topics such as performance management and how to handle employee relations matters
at the department level. Professional development opportunities are for employees looking for
promotional opportunities or employees who want to achieve personal goals such as finishing a college
degree. Programs such as tuition assistance and tuition reimbursement programs often are within the
purview of the HR training and development area.
Role of Human Resource Management
The human resources management team suggests to the management team how to strategically
manage people as business resources. This includes managing recruiting and hiring employees,
coordinating employee benefits and suggesting employee training and development strategies. In this
way, HR professionals are consultants, not workers in an isolated business function; they advise
managers on many issues related to employees and how they help the organization achieve its goals.
Collaboration
At all levels of the organization, managers and HR professionals work together to develop employees'
skills. For example, HR professionals advise managers and supervisors how to assign employees to
different roles in the organization, thereby helping the organization adapt successfully to its
environment. In a flexible organization, employees are shifted around to different business functions
based on business priorities and employee preferences.
Commitment Building
HR professionals also suggest strategies for increasing employee commitment to the organization. This
begins with using the recruiting process or matching employees with the right positions according to
their qualifications. Once hired, employees must be committed to their jobs and feel challenged
throughout the year by their manager.
Building Capacity
An HRM team helps a business develop a competitive advantage, which involves building the capacity of
the company so it can offer a unique set of goods or services to its customers. To build the an effective
human resources, private companies compete with each other in a "war for talent." It's not just about
hiring talent; this game is about keeping people and helping them grow and stay committed over the
long term
WHAT IS HUMAN RESOURCES PLANNING?

Human Resources planning is a process by which management determine how the organization should
move from its current manpower position to its desired manpower position. Through planning,
management strives to have the right number and the right kinds of people, at the right place, at the
right time, doing things, which result in both organization and the individual receiving maximum long-
run benefits. It is four-phased process. The first phase involves the gathering and analysis of data
through manpower inventories and forecasts, the second phase consist of establishing manpower
objectives and policies and gaining top management approval of these. The third phase involves
designing and implementing plans promotions to enable the organization to achieve its manpower
objectives. The fourth phase in consumed with control and evaluation of manpower plans sent
programs to facilitate progress to benefits both the organization and the individual. The long run view
means that gains may be sacrificed in the short run for the future grounds. The planning process enables
the organization to identify what its manpower needs is and what potential manpower problems
required current action. This leads too more effectively and efficient performance.
OBJECTIVES OF THE HUMAN RESOURCES PLANNING
1. To ensure optimum use of human resources current employees.
2. To assess or forecast future skill requirement.
3. To provide control measures to ensure that necessary resources are available as when required.
A number of specified reasons for attaching importance to manpower planning and forecasting
exercises are:
• To link manpower planning with the organizational planning
• To determine recruitment levels.
• To anticipate redundancies.
• To determine optimum training levels.
• To provide a basis for management development programs.
• To cost the manpower.
• To assist productivity bargaining.
• To assess future accommodation requirement.
• To study the cost of overheads and value of service functions.
• To decide whether certain activity needs to be subcontracted, etc.
The HR forecasts in responsible for estimating number of people and the jobs needed by an organization
to achieve its objectives and realize its plans are time in the most efficient and effective manner
possible in the simplest sources, HR needs are computed by subtracting HR supplies or numbers of the
people available from expected HR demands or number of people required to produce at a desired
level. It is a strategy for acquisition, utilization, improvement and preservation of the human resources
of an enterprise. The objective is to provide right personnel for the right work and optimum utilization
of the existing human resources. HRP exists as the part of planning process of business. This is the
activity aims to coordinating requirements for the availability of the different types of employers. The
major activities are include the forecasting, (future requirements), inventorying (present strength),
anticipating (comparison of present and future requirements) and planning (necessary program to meet
the requirements).
The objectives of human resource planning may be summarized as below:
ü Forecasting Human Resources Requirements: HRP is essential to determine the future needs of HR in
an organization. In the absence of this plan it is very difficult to provide the right kind of people at the
right time.
ü Effective Management of Change: Proper planning is required to cope with changes in the different
aspects which affect the organization. These change needs continuation of allocation/ reallocation and
effective utilization of HR in organization.
ü Realizing the Organizational Goals: In order to meet the expansion and other organizational activities
the organizational HR planning is essential.
ü Promoting Employees: HRP gives the feedback in the form of employee data which can be used in
decision-making in promotional opportunities to be made available for the organization.
ü Effective Utilization of HR: The data base will provide the useful information in identifying surplus and
deficiency in human resources.
The objectives of HRP is to maintain and improve the organizational capacity to reach its goals by
developing appropriate strategies that will result in the maximum contribution of HR. HR planning
should involve in the following areas:
• They should collect, maintain, improve and interpret the relevant information regarding human
• resources.
• They should report periodically human resource objective and requirements, existing
employees, and allied features of human resources.
• They should develop procedures and techniques to determine the requirements of different
types of human resources over period of time from the standpoint of organizational goals.
• They should develop the measures of HR utilization as components of forecast of human
resources requirements along with independent validation.
• They should employ suitable techniques leading to effective allocation of work with a view to
improving human resources utilization.
• They should conduct research to determine the factors hampering the contribution of the
individuals groups to the organization with a view to modifying or removing these handicaps.
• They should develop and employ methods of economic assessment of human resources to
reflect its features as income generator and cost and accordingly improve the quality of
decisions affecting the human resources.
• They should evaluate the procurement, promotion, and retention of the effective human
resources.
• They should analysis the dynamic process of recruitment, promotion, and the loss to the
organization and control these process with a view to maximizing the individual and the group
performances without involving high cost.
It is usually the top management that formulates the vision and translates the vision into the objectives.
Further, these objectives get translated into strategy and long-range plans. These plans usually form the
guidelines for the human resources department to plan for the human resources requirements. The HR
department should coordinate the above information and prepares the human resources plan.
NEEDS OF HRP
Major reasons for the emphasis on HRP at the Macro level:
Employment-Unemployment Situation: Though in general the number of educated unemployment is
on the rise, there is acute shortage for a variety of skills. This emphasis is the need for more effective
recruitment and retaining people.
Technological Change: The myriad changes in production technologies, marketing methods and
management techniques have been extensive and rapid. Their effect has been profound on the job
contents and job contexts. These changes cause problems relating to redundancies, retaining and
redeployment. All these suggest the need to plan manpower needs intensively and systematically.
Organizational Change: In the turbulence environment marked by cyclical fluctuations and
discontinuities, the nature and pace of changes in organizational environment, activities and structures
affect manpower requirements and require strategic considerations.
Demographic Change: The changing profile of the work force in terms of age, sex, literacy, technical
inputs and social background has implications for HRP.
Skill Shortage: Unemployment does not mean that the labour market is a buyer’s market. Organizations
generally become more complex and require a wide range of specialist skills that are rare and scare.
Problems arise when such employees leave.
Governmental Influences: Government control and changes in legislation with regard to affirmative
action for disadvantages groups, working conditions and hours of work, restrictions on women and child
employment, causal and contract labour, etc. have stimulated the organizations to be become involved
in systematic HRP.
Legislative Control: The policies of “hire and fire” have gone. Now the legislation makes it difficult to
reduce the size of an organization quickly and cheaply. It is easy to increase but difficult to shed the fat
in terms of the numbers employed because of recent changes in labour law relating to lay-offs and
closures. Those responsible for managing manpower must look far ahead and thus attempt to foresee
manpower problems.
Impact of the Pressure Group: Pressure groups such as unions, politicians and persons displaced from
land by location of giant enterprises have been raising contradictory pressure on enterprise
management such as internal recruitment and promotion, preference to employees’ children, displace
person, sons of soil etc.
Systems Approach: The spread of system thinking and advent of the macro computer as the part of the
on-going revolution in information technology which emphasis planning and newer ways of handling
voluminous personnel records.
Lead Time: The log lead time is necessary in the selection process and training and deployment of the
employee to handle new knowledge and skills successfully.
Approaches to Human Resources Planning

On the theoretical plane there are three options to any educational planner. The first option is to treat
the education as consumption goods and demand for education as an aggregate of individual
consumer’s demand schooling, and to provide the facilities for education and training according. The
second option is to view education an investment goods, evaluate the investments in education at par
with investment in education with the rate of return on investment in physical capital. The third option
is to considered skilled manpower as basic inputs to the production goods and services within the
economy; assess the skill requirements to achieve any predetermined economic growth target, and to
gear the expansion of educational system to provide the needed education and training.
There are three approaches to educational planning:
• Social demand approach
• Rate of return approach, and
• Manpower requirement approaches.
Social Demand Approach: The social demand approach lies on the assessment of society’s requirement
for education. In principles, it is an aggregate of individuals demand for education in respect of all
individuals within the society. It is not always possible particularly in large societies, to assess individual
demand for education. In practice, therefore, social demand approach relies on a projection of past
trends in demographic aspects of population and the enrollment at the different levels of education.
Social demand approach is thus capable of revealing the number of students with differently types
of professional preparations that may be a given target date, based on past experiences. Projections of
social demand for education are contingent upon given levels of:
• Income of educated people,
• Taste and references of household for education,
• Demographic characteristics such as fertility and mortality,
• Direct costs of education,
• Student grants, and
• Existing standard of admission to various levels of education.
Added to these constraints, there are the perennial problems associated with the data base on
demographic aspects at disaggregated levels such as districts, blocks and villages and data on wastage
and stagnation in education, and intensity of utilization of existing educational facilities. Social demand
approach thus suffers from the difficulties associated with any futurological exercise.
Rate of Return Approaches: Critics of social demand approach argue that the decision to choose
more or less of education, beyond a legal school-learning age, is made by an individual who attaches
a positive value to the present and the future benefits of education. Aggregate of individuals demand
for education, which is constructed the social demand for education, should then be based exaggerate
of individuals assessment of benefits of education-reflecting the social benefits.
This brings us the rate of return approach to education:
Rate of return approach looks upon education as a contributor to productivity and this sense, it is
expected to facilitate investment decisions in education whether or not the students should undergo
more schooling, or whether or not the state should invest more and expand educational facilities.
Like in the rate of return on investment analysis, rate of return on investment in education is used
to expand educational facilities until schooling equalizes.
• On the one hand yield of investment in different types of education, and
• On the other hand yield of investment in education vis-à-vis other sectors of economy.
Manpower Requirement Approach: The fundamental axioms of manpower requirements approach is
that there is a definite link between the education and economic growth and that lack of skilled
manpower in required number impedes growth. In this approach an attempt is made to forecast future
requirements of educated manpower to fulfill a future target of Gross National Product (GNP) or
specified targets of industrial production. Based on the forecasts of educated manpower requirement
over a specified period, the planners would then indicate the directions of development of the
educational sector over the same specific period.
The basic steps involved in this exercise are as under:
• Anticipating the directions and the magnitude of development of each individual sectors of the
economy.
• Evolving norms of the employing manpower in each individual sector keeping the view the
• Technological options—Present as well as future—for each sector of the economy.
• Translating the physical targets for the development of each individual sector into the
manpower requirement using the sector specific manpower norms.
• Estimating the educational; equivalents of the manpower requirement.
• Analyzing the implications of estimates of educated manpower requirements for educational
development, based on assumptions regarding the enrollment rates, transitions probability and
wastage and the stagnation rates at the each level of education.
Limitations of the Manpower Requirement Approach:
The first limitation assumes that the educated manpower of different types are used in fixed
proportions and that there no substitutions possibilities among the various categories of educated
manpower.
The second limitation is that it postulates a definite link between an industrial task and an educational
level. Prices, either in terms of cost of producing educated manpower or in terms of salaries and wages
of educational people do not play any role in matching demand with supplies of educated manpower in
this brand of educational planning. This makes the good sense if formal education and training is the
only means of producing educated manpower. If there are alternative ways of producing a given
category of skilled manpower, then prices play a significant role and the manpower requirements
approach fails to take cognizance of this respect. In the Indian context, even in the case of highly skilled
occupation where graduate level engineers are required, it has been observed that over 30 per cent of
the manpower do not have the basic minimum qualification. They have reached these levels through on-
the-job training and such other informal training, in the requisite skills. Such persons are categorized as
“practical” and these practical are to be found in every occupation.
The crucial information in all forecasting exercises is the assumptions about the distant unknown
future. Any error in judgment, in this regard, will seriously affect manpower balances at a later date
resulting in either excess supply or excess demand. In the context of educational planning, excess
demand is relatively easier to manage. Excess supply, on the other hand, leads to serious economic
and sociological problems which are often difficult to deal with.
HUMAN RESOURCE PLANNING PROCESS
Often we express that the most important asset in organization is our people. Without the right people,
it is unlikely that even the most comprehensive and business plans/strategies will deliver negative
performances. The vast majority of organization comes when the right people with right knowledge,
skills and behaviour are deployed throughout an organization.
HR planning is how to achieve that match of skills, knowledge and behaviours. It is about:
• Developing an understanding of everything possible about the internal and external environment
• and how these will affect our current and future workforce. It is about understanding the make up
of our current workforce and the necessary skills, capabilities and aptitudes that will be required to
achieve business outcomes in our current and changing environment.
• It is about assuring that we link our human resources strategies with business outcomes and that
• our workforce plans reflect those initiative/strategies and provide our managers with a framework
for making informed decisions in line with our managers with a framework for making informed
decisions in the line with our mission, strategies plan and financial resources.
• Also, it provides the opportunity for longer term thinking about future service pressures and
needs, and what you need to do now to get workable strategies in place not only for the employees
development, but for strategies financial and human capital management.
HR planning has a critical role to play in delivering improved services and is an important issue for
an organization. At its simplest, HR Planning is a planning process and analytical capability to measure
and compare the current workforce (supply or faces) with the future workforce (demand or space). This
planning process provides insight into the best policies and initiative needed to improve the overall
human resources system. It has a critical role in developing personnel requirements/data elements,
which should be linked to strategic organizational planning, budgeting processes and all recurring
recruitment needs, training recruitments and planning activities. There is no one set of model of
workforce planning but the underlying concepts are similar. All models are concerned about analyzing
your current workforce, and then extending that analysis to identify the future skills and competencies
needed to deliver new and improved services that are aligned with achieving the organizational mission.
(Demand and supply analysis) The comparison between the present workforce and desired future
workforce will highlight your shortages, surpluses and competency gaps, whether due to external
pressure or internal factors. (Gap Analysis) These gaps become the focus of each detailed workforce
plan in identifying and implementing strategies that will build the relevant skills and capacity needed for
organizational success.
An ideal Human Resources Planning System should be:
• Holistic in its approach linked with strategies planning and budget process.
• Built around our service needs and skills required to deliver quality service.
• Responsive to change variables i.e., economic, technological, political, environmental mandate.
• Supportive of continual learning and development concepts.
• Data driven that allow for scenario building because of changing assumptions for different
desired outcomes.
Before beginning the human resources planning process, you have to need to have a firm grasp on main
drivers for workplace planning and any influence of those drivers on the human resources planning
exercise being done. These drivers set the context for everything you will be looking at throughout this
process. The four main drivers for any human resources planning are:
Organization Directions: Includes the organizational plans, budget forecasts new technology,
working practices, organizational culture and reward systems.
Internal labour: Which includes a determination of human resources profile by multidimensions
(gender, age, grade, occupations, length of services etc.); identification of any internal management
issues like retention, separation, promotion patterns, etc. identify potential area of our workplace that
are vulnerable to current or future skills gaps imbalances and look at geographical issues that could be
the cause of issues identified. All of these factors have implications for recruitment and retention of our
workforce across the organization.
External Labour: Demographic change in our potential workforce is affecting both the demand for
services and workforce supply to fill our vacancies.
Business Change: Technological changes are leading to changes in service/information delivery,
way of working and the skills needed in the workforce. Consequently, this will change the competencies
for positions and how we need to recruit, hire and engage our current and future workforce.
The scope of human resources planning is to build a longer term context within which short-term
staffing decisions can be made. Human resources planning is a living process and needs to be
periodically reviewed in order to respond to changing circumstances. Regular monitoring will ensure
that organizational element will avoid strategic drift and ensure that organization’s human resource
planning remain current. This process is still about the ensuring that sufficient people with the right
skills are in place to deliver a seamless service to the internal and external stakeholders.
Five Phases for Human Resources Planning
1. Analyzing: What are the key human resources information needed?
2. Forecasting: Demand versus supply analysis.
3. Planning: Identification of stretogy
4. Implementing: Exemling the new stratogy
5. Evaluating: Feedback on effective of outcomes.
Analyzing: What are the key human resources information needed?
The over all human resources planning system should be well thought out, systematic and well
documented. The effectiveness of planning depends on the detail, accuracy and reliability of the
information sources. It is important to identify all factors that could influence future demand for
output/services as well as competencies of the internal and external supply of labour. Information
gathered during the analyzing phase must be reliable and accurate as this will be the basis of the
forecasting phase.
The begin the analyzing phase; there are four information sources that will provide key human
resources information needs. These includes; Organization direction and environmental factors
(demand analysis); internal and external labour (supply analysis). Each sources is listed below and
provides the ways to collect this information. The organization simply analyzing the supply (current
workforce profile) against the demand (future workforce profile).
Suggested checklist for organization information:
• Demand Analysis.
• Strategic plan/Business priorities.
• Internal or External reports that could affects business outcomes.
• Budget Estimates (Short-Term and Long-Term).
• Plans for New Technology.
• Employee Survey Information.
• External Contract Services.
• Organization Culture.
• Changing Competencies.
Forecasting: Demand versus Supply analysis

Forecasting is considering the future needs of organization. One of the most useful outcomes of this
phase is the identification of potential problems or issues facing your organization. This analysis will be
based on the data collected from the information sources in the analyzing phase. The result of this
phase will help to develop the gap analysis and emergent strategies to manage the future. It involves
the identification of any predicted changes and/or developments that may result from demand and
analysis. Business elements may have varying issues identified based on needs of their organizations.
The aim is to create necessary resources/strategies to optimize the future position of organization.
There are four steps in forecasting phase; identifying key workforce assumptions, validating
assumptions, utilizing assumptions for scenario building and performing the gap analysis.
The first step is to identify key workforce assumptions/issues for the elements based on the data/
information collected from the information sources during the analyzing phase. Ensure that all of these
forecasting assumptions describe the potential impact on business element, any inherent risks and any
likelihood of occurrence based on element culture.
The second step is to validate these assumptions by utilizing focus groups or administrating
questionnaires/interviews to various leaders in the organization. The feedback provided will ensure that
gathered assumptions are valid and based on the basic data available. Additionally, feedback should
provide insight in the reasoning behind the assumptions.
The third step is utilizing these assumptions in scenario buildings. Scenarios are a way to develop
alternative futures based on different combinations of assumptions, facts and trends that will help the
organization’s forecasting goals mentioned earlier. Scenarios are generally descriptive statements
resenting a particular picture of the future that includes comments on the probability of certain events
occurring. Moreover, scenarios are usually accompanied by qualitative or quantitative information.
The next step after outlining best, worst and most likely scenarios is to create a preferred scenario
detailing what organization wants as an outcome taking into account the assumptions previously
identified. Additionally use the information from any warning indicators above which should be used to
monitor changes consistent with preferred outcome.
It will be useful to apply SWOT or PESTLE analysis to help through this phase. SWOT is an acronym for
Strength, Weakness, Opportunities and Treats. Strengths and Weaknesses are internal factors.
Opportunities and Treats are external factors. It is a simple technique as it uses four perspectives for
decision-making and summarization. For example what are the strengths, weakness, opportunities and
threats of your scenario? This would be done for each scenario suggesting the best, worst and most
likely outcomes. PESTLE is essentially the same technique but is useful for examining the external factors
affecting a problem. The acronym stand for Political, Economic, Sociological, Technological, Legal and
Environmental.
The tools (SWOT and PESTLE) are useful for handling the qualitative data. Either tool will help to
organize and promote thinking about issues or problems that are facing the organization. It will help to
clarify/identify the organizations future trends and to apply to those trends to the organization to help
explicitly identify any underlying assumptions and to set priorities. The using the SWOT analysis, step
one is to identify organizations assumptions and utilize the matrix using the demands and supply
information obtained in the analysis phase. Step two is to identify organizations assumptions/key
workforce issues from step one and take into account the potential impact on your business elements,
potential impact on assumptions, risk inherent in the assumptions and the likelihood of its occurrence.
The final phase of forecasting is performing Gap Analysis. After completing your preferred scenario the
organization need to look back at your current workforce and your future demands to identify any gaps
in skills, people needed to meet preferred scenarios etc. Demand is based on the preferred scenario and
competencies/skills need to meet demand requirements. The Gap Analysis should indicate the skills gap,
surplus any recruitment issues and retentions issues to meet the demand etc. Organization should
continue this exercise for each scenario until you have developed your suggested
strategy/initiative/action to deal with the preferred outcomes to meet organizations needs.
Techniques of Forecasting
The HRP must lead an organization through the process of determining how many employees the
organization needs and the characteristics that those employees should have to facilitate the
accomplishment of organizational. Human Resources Planning is the process of determining how to staff
the organization with the right employees at the right time and in the right place. HR planning is
increasingly indistinguishable from organizational strategic planning in those organizations where
human capital is the critical factor in organizational success. For the purposes of discussion and
explanation in this section, it is assumed that organization has completed its strategic-planning process
and determined its strategic goals and objectives. The purpose of workforce planning then becomes to
determine the characteristics needed in the organization’s workforce to facilitate achievement of those
objectives. In this scenario, workforce planning is strategic planning at the HR level and involves similar
processes, including a SWOT analysis, which occurs at the organizational level. In simplistic terms, the
HR function must determine the numbers and types of employees needed and evaluate the availability
of both internal and external individuals having the correct characteristics. Based on these analyses, a
determination can be made as to the proper HR programmatic activities required to achieve the correct
workforce composition. Workforce planning then involves three stages: forecasting workforce needs,
determining internal and external supply of employees, and developing appropriate strategies to
achieve forecasted needs in relationship to projected supply. These three processes are discussed in the
following sections.
Forecasting Workforce Needs
The organization’s strategic plan and allied business plan provide guidance as to the number and type of
employees that the organization needs during the planning period. Expansion, retrenchment, new
products or services, introduction of new technology, entrance of new competitors in the market,
economic conditions, employee retirements, workforce turnover, and so forth must be considered when
forecasting workforce needs. Forecasting is the process of using both historical data and predicted
scenarios to determine workforce needs during a stated planning period. Following is a discussion of
several forecasting methods that are often used.
Trend Analysis
Trend analysis involves studying historical organizational employment levels to predict future
employment levels. For example: If, on average, employment levels in the organization have increase 5%
per year, it might be logical to forecast a 5% increase for the next planning period. A more accurate
forecast using this method might be to evaluate trends in separate departments or other organizational
subentities and then aggregate the increases (or, potentially, decreases) at the organizational level.
Doing so provides more specificity as to not only the numbers of employees but also the types of
employees needed.
Trend analysis assumes that history will repeat itself. In today’s more volatile times that might not be
the case. However, trend analysis provides some data on which a final forecast can be made.
Ratio Analysis
Ratio analysis is a forecasting technique that assumes a set relationship between one variable and
nother, and that the relationship allows for the prediction of workforce needs. Assuming no increases in
productivity, an organization might be able to predict total workforce requirements based on predicted
total sales or total productivity. For example: If, historically, it takes five employees for each 100,000
unit of product produced, a projected increase of 1,000,000 units per year will require an additional 50
employees. Organizations often have standard staff tables that can be used in ratio analysis. As an
example, a restaurant chain would know how many servers, cooks, managers, and so forth are needed
to staff a restaurant. Based on a projected expansion in terms of number of restaurants, increase in
workforce needs can be forecast.
Turnover
Analysis of historical turnover—in reality a type of trend analysis—provides additional data for forecasts.
Average turnover rates provide an indication of the number of new employees required just to maintain
current employment levels. Obviously, turnover is affected by many environmental factors, most
notably unemployment rates, so other variables must be considered when using these data for
forecasting.
Nominal Group Technique
The nominal group technique is a group-forecasting and decision-making method that requires each
member of the group to make an independent forecast prior to discussion of any forecasts. Members of
the group meet and independently develop a forecast. Each member must present his or her forecast
before any of the forecasts are discussed. After all presentations are made and clarifying questions
addressed, the group works to come up with a final forecast.
Delphi Technique
The Delphi technique is another group forecasting method in which experts independently develop
forecasts that are shared with each other, but in this approach the experts never actually meet. Each of
the members refines his or her forecasts until a group consensus is reached.
Group Think
The nominal group and Delphi techniques are used to avoid the phenomenon known as group think.
Group think occurs when group members, in the interest of developing group cohesiveness, reach
consensus without fully considering what might be divergent forecasts.
Managerial Judgment
Managers and executives are asked, based on their experience and knowledge, to develop forecasts.
Forecasts, like budgets, can be a top-level overall estimate or a bottom-up aggregation of multiple
departmental estimates. Top-level forecasts provide a gross indicator of needed employment levels, but
do not indicate where those employees should be allocated in the organization. Bottom-up forecasts,
provided by managers in the various departments, provide a better idea of allocation of the workforce
and the types of employees that are needed. However, bottom-up forecasts tend to overestimate
workforce needs as each manager tries to increase staff size.
Statistical Forecasts
Statistical analysis was discussed in Chapter 2 in the section on research. Various statistical procedures,
including regression analyses, can be used to develop forecasts based on scenarios or theorized
relationships between variables.
Computer Modeling
Many organizations use sophisticated forecasting software. This permits the organizations to evaluate
workforce needs under various scenarios.
Multiple Methods
In the final analysis, no single forecasting method is likely to be accurate every time. Most organizations
use multiple methods to develop different forecasts. Ultimately, it is likely to be a top-level manager,
using intuition based on accumulated knowledge and years of experience, that makes the final
determination of the most likely forecast.
Determining Internal and External Supply of Employees
Not only must the demand for employees be determined, but workforce planning must include an
analysis of the potential supply. Forecasts must be made of the supply of candidates for jobs within the
organization and the supply external to the organization in the relevant labour market. Methods of
forecasting supply, internally and externally, are discussed in the following section.
Internal Supply
The internal supply of candidates can be determined using a number of methods, such as replacement
charts, succession plans, human resource management information systems, and departmental
estimates. A brief discussion of each of these methods follows.
Replacement Charts
Replacement charts are manual or automated records indicating which employees are currently ready
for promotion to a specific position. If needs are forecasted for a particular job, replacement charts
provide data with which to determine the supply of internal candidates to fill the openings.
Succession Planning
The concept of succession planning is similar to replacement charting except the time perspective is
different. Succession planning is the process of identifying candidates for future openings. It is a longer-
term plan for developing candidates to fill positions. Traditionally, succession planning has been
reserved for only high-level positions. However, because of the increased importance of human capital
in many organizations, succession plans are being developed for the orderly replacement of lower-level
employees.
Human Resource Management Information Systems

Many human resource management information systems frequently contain data on qualifications or
skills of current employees. After workforce demand is forecast, the database can be queried regarding
the supply of potential internal candidates that possess the necessary qualifications or skills.
Departmental Estimates
Organizations are not static. Most organizations and their component departments experience constant
flows of employees both in and out. Analysis of this movement provides valuable information to
forecast internal supply.
External Supply
There is a huge amount of information available to assist in the forecasting external supplies of labour.
State and local economic and workforce development agencies typically can provide data on the labour
supply availability. The department of labour has data available for virtually any location and publishes
annual forecasts of labour supply by occupation, and the Bureau of Labour Statistics provides a wide
variety of labour force information that is available online. In addition, various professional
organizations regularly analyze labour availability within their respective professions. The availability of
external candidates is affected by:
• Economic conditions.
• Unemployment rates.
• College and high school graduation rates in the relevant labour market.
• Net migration in or out of the area.
• Relative skill levels of potential candidates in the labour market.
• Competition for labour in the labour market.
• Changes in the skill requirements of the organization’s potential job openings.
You should be familiar with the various methods of forecasting both demand for and supply of
employees and candidates.
Determination of Strategies
The analysis of demand and supply for labour leads the SPHR to develop appropriate strategies to
achieve the planned level of employment. The result of the analysis can result in one of three
conditions:
• Equality: In which case the strategy becomes one of retaining current employees.
• Insufficient number of employees: In which case the strategy becomes recruitment.
• Too many employees: In which case the strategy becomes decruitment.
Retention of employees involves strategies designed to maintain or improve job satisfaction and
organizational commitment. They are discussed throughout this entire book as they apply to a particular
program area. For example, retention strategies involve creating pay equity and providing desired
benefits when compensation and benefits strategies are being developed. Both recruitment and
decruitment (organizational exit) are discussed later in this chapter. It would be very similar if the
analysis reveals that only one of the conditions from the preceding list exists. However, that is not often
the case and the SPHR frequently finds that some departments are currently staffed appropriately for
future needs during the planning period, whereas some departments have too many employees and
others too few. Thus, strategies of recruitment, decruitment, and retention must be developed
simultaneously and interdependently because the recruitment objectives of one department can often
serve to fulfill the decruitment objectives of another. It provides a basis for understanding two major
programmatic activities that are discussed later in this chapter: recruitment and selection. Assuming
that an expansion of the workforce is required, strategy determination is affected by the forecasts of
yield rates and the timeframes required for each step in the recruitment and selection process. Yield
rates are a comparison of the number of applicants or potential applicants at one stage in the
recruitment/selection process with the number of applicants that remain available at the next stage. To
determine programmatic activities and action plans, the SPHR must work backward from the total
number and types of employees that will be needed, including dates on which they will be needed.
Based on experience, moderated by any projected changes in timeframes or yield rates, the planning
process must incorporate an evaluation of the scope and timing of activities to produce the desired
results.
Planning: (Identification of Strategy)
After completing the surplus/demand analysis, gap analysis, scenario building exercise, SWOT etc. you
will begin the planning phase. Strategies, initiatives and programs and policies should be developed to
address the gaps identified in the analyzing phase. This will ensure that your element will recruit,
develop and retain the critical staff needed for a successful workforce plan. A few factors should be
considered when deciding upon strategies to address a workforce gap. Human resources planning
should include a wide range of strategies around staff development, succession planning, redeployment,
recruitment, technology improvement, competitive sourcing, changes in work practices etc. The
organizational HR plans should be flexible to address workforce but it must be quite realistic.
Implementation: Executing the New Strategies
After organization have analyzed, forecasted and planned, it is critically important to put together an
implementation plan to carry out the planned activities included in the human resources plan. This will
be the process of using all the information gathered in the previous phases and devising a plan to
execute the new strategies. There are a few basic considerations that should be addressed before
beginning the implementation plan. These includes organization support, allocating the different
resources required, clarifying the roles and responsibilities, identifying who is involved in implementing
what and where coordination among different parts of the organization or with different agencies is
needed, establishing timeliness, determining performances measures and communicating the plans.
Evaluating: Feedback on Effectiveness of Outcomes

Evaluation of organizations human resources plan is imperative in determining if the devised strategies
are address the gaps specified. It is important to obtain feedback concerning the effectiveness of
outcomes. There are several methods in getting feedback such as surveys, focus groups, meetings etc.
regardless of the methods, effectiveness of strategies.

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Unit-1

Scope of Human resource planning/ manpower planning:

Major reasons for the emphasis on HRP at macro level include:

Various levels of human resource planning in an industrial enterprise:

2. Long-Term Manpower Planning:

The strategic HR planning process

Documenting the strategic HR plan

Human Resource Planning Approaches

Approach To Human Resources Planning

Human Resource Records: Types, Objectives, Essentials and Precautions

1. It helps to supply crucial information to managers regarding the employees.

5 essential skills of a Human Resources Manager

Primary Responsibilities of a Human Resource Manager

Compensation and Benefits

Training and Development

Recruitment and Selection

The main functions of HRD are:-

Compensation and Benefits

Training and Development

Role of Human Resource Management

WHAT IS HUMAN RESOURCES PLANNING?

Approaches to Human Resources Planning

Forecasting: Demand versus Supply analysis

Forecasting Workforce Needs

Determining Internal and External Supply of Employees

Human Resource Management Information Systems

Evaluating: Feedback on Effectiveness of Outcomes

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