1.

Describe the Human Resource Planning process

Meaning of Human Resource Planning:
Is both a process and a set of plans. It is the process used by organisations for
assessing the supply and demand for future human resources. In addition, an
effective HR plan also provides the mechanisms that will be used to eliminate any
gaps that may be exist between supply and demand. Thus HR planning is
process that is used to determine the number of employees to be recruited in to
the organisation or the phased out of it.
• HRP is also called manpower planning, personnel planning or employment
planning.

Fig: 1.1 Human Resource Planning.

 Human Resource Planning as a process involving the following activities:

1. Forecasting of future human resource requirements;

2. Task of inventorying present resources and assessing the extent to which these resources are optimally
utilized;
3. Anticipation of human resources problem, and
4. Planning of necessary human resource programme.

Manpower Planning Provides information in three dimensions:

 The estimated manpower requirements (including expectations of
manpower utilization);
 The analysis of the external manpower market situation,&
 The resulting estimate of manpower availability from the two
dimensions.

Strategies for Manpower Planning:

Manpower planning involves the application of a set of 9 strategies:
1. Collect, maintain and interpret relevant information regarding human
resources;
2. Report periodically manpower objectives, requirements and existing
employment and allied features of manpower;
3. Develop procedures and techniques to determine the requirements of different types of manpower
over a period of time from the standpoint of organizational goals and modify these goals, if they make
unrealistic demands for human resources

4. Develop measures of manpower utilization as a component of forecasts of manpower requirements

along with –if possible- independent validation;

5. Employ- if suitable- techniques leading to effective allocation of work with a view to improving manpower
utilization;

6. Conduct research to determine factors hampering the contribution of the individuals and groups to the
organization with a view to modifying or removing these handicaps

7. Develop and employ methods of economic assessment of human resources reflecting its features as
income generator and cost and accordingly improving the quality of decisions influencing manpower;
8. Evaluate the procurement, promotion and retention of the effective human resources in the context of
the forecast requirements of the enterprise; &
9. Analyze the dynamic process of recruitment , promotion and loss to the organization and control these
processes and organization structure with a view to encouraging the maximum individual and group
performance without involving excessive costs.

Reasons for Human Resource Planning

 More effective and efficient use of human resources:
Human resources planning should precedes all other HRM activities. Careful analysis of
all HRM activities shows that their effectiveness and efficiency, which result in increased productivity,
depend on human resource planning.
 More satisfied and better developed employees:
Employees who work for organizations that use good human resource planning systems
have a better chance to participate in planning their own careers and to share in training and
development experiences. Thus they are likely to feel their talents are important to the employer, and
they have a better chance to utilize those talents.
 More effective equal employment opportunity planning:
The govt. has increased its demands for equal employment opportunities.In sum, effective human
resource planning ensures that HRM activities and programme will be built on a foundation of good
planning. Proper planning should cut down on the number of surprises that occur involving human
resource availability, placement and orientation.

HR Planning involves distinct phases or stages:

A. Situation analysis or environmental scanning : The first stage in HR Planning is where the
HRM function and strategic planning initially interact.
I. Environmental Circumstance: The strategic plan must adapt to environmental
circumstances, and the HRM function is one of the primary mechanisms that an
organization can use during the adaptation process.
 II. Technological Changes: For e.g. rapid changes in the technological environment can
force an organization to quickly identify and hire employees with new skills that previously
weren’t needed by the organization.
III. legislative issues & Social concerns : Changing legal provisions such as equal opportunity laws are
being passed which bars discrimination on the basis of age, sex, race, religion, disability, national
origin etc. Health and occupational safety rules are also affect HRM.
IV. Demographic changes & Political changes: Without an effective HR plan to support the
recruitment and selection functions in the organization, it will be impossible to move fast
enough to stay competitive.

B. Forecasting future demand for employees: The next phase of an effective HR Planning
process is estimating not only how many but what kinds of employees will be needed in
the future.

I. Staffing Requirement: Forecasting yields these advanced estimates or calculations

of the organization’s staffing requirement. Although there are many quantitative
tools to help with forecasting, it is a process that involves a great deal of human
judgment. In addition, many successful HR planners also rely heavily on their “gut
instincts” about future conditions.

For e.g., planners at Unilever attribute much of their global successes to

such instincts.

C. Analysis of the supply of current Employees: The third phase of HR Planning is designed
to answer the question “How many and what kind of employees do I currently have in
terms of the skills and training necessary for the future?” This phase of HR Planning
involves much more that simply counting the number of current employees in the
organization.
i. Skill Inventory: It is the major tool used to assess the current supply of
employees. It is a list of names, certain characteristics and skills of the people
working for the organization. It provides a way to acquire these data and
makes them available where needed in an efficient manner.
D.Action plan development: After the HR Planning system has analyzed both the
supply of and demands for future workers, these two forecasts are compared to
determine what, if any, action should be taken. Whenever there is a discrepancy
between these two estimates, a course of action is chosen for eliminating the gap.
The exact match between supply & demand forecasts is rare. Even when overall
estimates are similar, there are frequently important gaps in certain subgroups. These
data become inputs to facilitate decisions about training, promotion, demotion and similar
decisions.

1) Action decisions with a shortage of employees:

When employment specialists comparing demand to supply find the supply
of workers is less than the demand, several possibilities are open to the organization.

I. Shortage is small: If the shortage is small and employees are willing

to work overtime, it can be filled with present employees.
 II. Shortage of highly skilled employees: If there is shortage of highly
skilled employees, training and promotions of present employees,
together with the recruitment of lower skilled workers, are
possibilities.
2) Action decisions in surplus conditions:
III. When comparison of employee demand and supply indicates a
surplus, the alternative solutions include attrition, early retirements,
demotions, layoffs, and terminations. Employee decisions in
surplus conditions are some of the most difficult decisions,
because the employees who are considered surplus are seldom
responsible for the conditions leading to the surplus.
IV. Example: A shortage of raw material such as fuel, or a poorly
designed or marketed product can cause an organization to have
a surplus of employees.

In short, Human Resource Planning is a process by which the

management of an organization ensures that it has
the Right number and Right kind of people at the
Right places and at the Right times to successfully achieve its
overall objectives. Human Resource planning differs from
Manpower Planning in the sense that the former is primarily
concerned with the human aspects of people, the latter mainly
concentrates on the power of the people.
Example: Tata’s H.R philosophy “attract good people, retain the better people and advance
the best people” is a right step in this direction. It may appear a bit harsh but at present it
appears to be the only scope for a fast changing health care organisation.