CHALLENGES OF HUMAN RESOURCE PLANNING
In the human resource planning function, the number and type of employees
needed to accomplish organizational goals are determined. Research is an
important part of this function because planning requires the collection and
analysis of information in order to forecast human resources supplies and to
predict future human resources needs. The basic human resource planning
strategy is staffing and employee development.
Job analysis:
Job analysis is the process of describing the nature of a job and specifying
the human requirements, such as skills, and experience needed to perform
it. The end product of the job analysis process is the job description. A job
description spells out work duties and activities of employees. Job
descriptions are a vital source of information to employees, managers, and
personnel people because job content has a great influence on personnel
programmers' and practices.
Staffing:
Staffing emphasizes the recruitment and selection of the human resources
for an organization. Human resources planning and recruiting precede the
actual selection of people for positions in an organization. Recruiting is the
personnel function that attracts qualified applicants to fill job vacancies. In
the selection function, the most qualified applicants are selected for hiring
from among those attracted to the organization by the recruiting function.
On selection, human resource functionaries are involved in developing and
administering methods that enable managers to decide which applicants to
select and which to reject for the given jobs.
Orientation:
Orientation is the first steps toward helping a new employee adjust himself
to the new job and the employer. It is a method to acquaint new employees
with particular aspects of their new job, including pay and benefit
programmers', working hours, and company rules and expectations.
Training and development:
The training and development function gives employees the skills and
knowledge to perform their jobs effectively. In addition to providing training
for new or inexperienced employees, organizations often provide training
programmers for experienced employees whose jobs are undergoing change.
Large organizations often have development programmers which prepare
employees for higher level responsibilities within the organization. Training
and development programmers provide useful means of assuring that
employees are capable of performing their jobs at acceptable levels.
Advantages of training
(i) Self-confidence. Training helps to improve the self-confidence of an
employee. It enables him to approach and perform his job with enthusiasm.
(ii) Higher earnings. Trained employees can perform better and thereby by
earning more employees become more efficient.
(iii) Safety. Training helps an employee to use various safety devices. He can
handle the machines safely and becomes less prone to accidents which can
save organizations from legal actions.
(iv) Adaptability. Training enables an employee to adapt to changes in work
procedures and methods.
(v) Promotion. Through training, employee can develop himself and earn
quick promotions.
(vi) New skills. Training develops new knowledge and skills among
employees. The new skills are a valuable asset of an employee and remain
permanently with him.
Performance appraisal:
This function monitors employee performance to ensure that it is at
acceptable levels. Human resource professionals are usually responsible for
developing and administering performance appraisal systems, although the
actual appraisal of employee performance is the responsibility of supervisors
and managers. Besides providing a basis for pay, promotion, and disciplinary
action, performance appraisal information is essential for employee
development since knowledge of results (feedback) is necessary to motivate
and guide performance improvements.
Advantages of performance appraisal
It offers a rare change for a supervisor and subordinate to have "time out"
for a one-on one discussion of important work issues that might not
otherwise be addressed. Almost universally, where performance appraisal is
conducted properly, both supervisors and subordinates have reported the
experience as beneficial and positive. Appraisal offers a valuable opportunity
to focus on work activities and goals, to identify and correct existing
problems, and to encourage better future performance. Thus the
performance of the whole organization is enhanced. For many employees, an
"official" appraisal interview may be the only time they get to have exclusive,
uninterrupted access to their supervisor.
Career planning:
Career planning has developed partly as a result of the desire of many
employees to grow in their jobs and to advance in their career. Career
planning activities include assessing an individual employee's potential for
growth and advancement in the organization
Compensation:
Human resource personnel provide a rational method for determining how
much employees should be paid for performing certain jobs. Pay is obviously
related to the maintenance of human resources. Since compensation is a
major cost to many organizations, it is a major consideration in human
resource planning. Compensation affects staffing in that people are generally
attracted to organizations offering a higher level of pay in exchange for the
work performed. It is related to employee development in that it provides an
important incentive in motivating employees to higher levels of job
performance and to higher paying jobs in the organization.
Benefits:
Benefits are another form of compensation to employees other than direct
pay for work performed. As such, the human resource function of
administering employee benefits shares many characteristics of the
compensation function. Benefits include both the legally required items and
those offered at employer's discretion. The cost of benefits has risen to such
a point that they have become a major consideration in human resources
planning. However, benefits are primarily related to the maintenance area,
since they provide for many basic employee needs.
Labour relations:
The term "labour relations" refers to interaction with employees who are
represented by a trade union. Unions are organization of employees who join
together to obtain more voice in decisions affecting wages, benefits, working
conditions, and other aspects of employment. With regard to labour
relations, the personnel responsibility primarily involves negotiating with the
unions regarding wages, service conditions, and resolving disputes and
grievances.
Record-keeping:
The oldest and most basic personnel function is employee recordkeeping.
This function involves recording, maintaining, and retrieving employee
related information for a variety of purposes. Records which must be
maintained include application forms, health and medical records,
employment history (jobs held, promotions, transfers, lay-offs), seniority lists,
earnings and hours of work, absences, turnover, tardiness, and other
employee data. Complete and up-to-date employee records are essential for
most personnel functions. More than ever employees today have a great
interest in their personnel records. They want to know what is in them, why
certain statements have been made, and why records may or may not have
been updated.
Human resource planning model
There is no single approach to developing a human resources strategy. The
specific approach will vary from one organisation to another. Even so, an
excellent approach towards an hr strategic management system is evident in
the model presented below. This approach identifies six specific steps in
developing an hr strategy:-
1. Setting the strategic direction
2. Designing the human resource management system
3. Planning the total workforce
4. Generating the required human resources
5. Investing in human resource development and performance
6. Assessing and sustaining organisational competence and
performance
The modern organization structure whether in the public or private sector
is composed of a highly unpredictable resource: people. They enter the
organization at different points and bring to it an almost infinite variety of
skills. The staffing of an organizational entity, therefore, contains many
uncertainties. To reduce the effect of these uncertainties, the authors have
developed a sophisticated human resources forecasting system using
computer-based modeling and simulation techniques. This model was
designed and developed for use in a large branch banking system operating
statewide. It is, however, applicable for use in other industries having
different organizational structures. The manpower planning quotas model
(mpq) is a tool which permits management to experiment with alternative
staffing policies to achieve an optimum level of qualified personnel.
