THE COPPERBELT UNIVERSITY
DIRECTORATE OF DISTANCE EDUCATION AND
OPEN LEARNING
NAME : NTAINDA KANTALAMBA
SIN : 17122534
PROGRAMME : BARCHELOR OF ARTS IN HUMAN RESOURCE MGT
COURSE : HUMAN RESOURCE MANAGEMENT
COURSE CODE : HR 280
TASK : ONE (1)
LECTURER : MS MHANGO
DUE DATE : 30TH MAY 2019
PO BOX 21900 MOPANI COPPER MINES PLC WUSAKILE HOSPITAL
Introduction
Human resource planning has several aims and challenges which guides and affect
organisations. It has been defined by different authors, different processes
highlighted and approaches discussed. It is critical a component of effective and
efficient human resource management. According MC Graw Hill (2004) human
resource planning delivers a rational basis for priotizing, developing and funding the
practices needed to support business objectives. It translates the organisation
objectives and plans into the number of workers needed to meet these objectives.
Through human resource planning, the organisation is able to achieve different
objectives among others: Determining the future manpower requirements, attracting
and retention of qualified and skilled staff, succession planning, career development,
ensuring equal employment opportunity. In summary human resource planning is
about having the right number of people, with the right skills, in the right place, at the
right time, with the right attitude, doing the right work, at the right cost and with the
right work output. However, people can be complicated, and working with them as a
human resources (HR) administrator can be just as complicated. This is because
you will not only need to navigate through corporate rules, policies and procedures,
but you also have to deal with different types of personalities, needs and crises.
Understanding some of the challenges that one may face in human resources
planning can help to better address them as they arise. Some of the challenges are:
dealing with employee attitudes which will involve mediation, coaching and even
disciplinary action; Workplace diversity; integrating human resource management
with business plans or corporate goal; Forecasting the microenvironment of the firm,
and establishing relevant information about the existing staff among others.
Human resource planning is a systematic process of identifying the workforce
competencies required to meet the company’s strategic goals and for developing the
strategies to meet these requirements. It is a methodical process that provides
managers with a framework for making human resource decisions based on the
organisation’s mission, strategic plan, budgetary resources, and a set of desired
workforce competencies (Armstrong, 2003). It is the process by which an
organisation ensures that it has the right number and kinds of people, at the right
place, at the right time, capable of effectively and efficiently completing those tasks
that will help the organisation achieve its overall objectives (decenzo and robbins,
2005).It involves understanding of organisational goals, demand forecasting, supply
forecasting, forecasting requirements, productivity and cost analysis, action planning,
as well as budgetary and control activities. Human resource planning assesses
manpower needs for the future and make plans for recruitment and selection. For its
employees planning determines training and development needs. It anticipates
surplus or shortage of staff and avoids unnecessary detentions or dismissals.
Furthermore, it ensures optimal use of human resources in the organisation,
controlling wage and salary costs, career planning of every employee of the
organisation and making succession programmes. Planning then translates the
organisation’s objectives and plans into the number of workers needed to meet those
objectives. Without clear planning, estimation of organisations human resource
needs is reduced to mere guesswork. Effective and efficient managing of staff
requires a broad process known as human resource planning. Thus planning
constitutes one of the major strategies to enhance and improve work performance.
This it does by removing deficiencies and prevent deficiencies from occurring.
Human resource planning helps the organisation to tap efficiently talents which will
help to integrate both the individual and organisational goal. This will consequently
minimise some of the problems associated with low productivity, absenteeism and
labour turnover. In summary, it aims at firstly Identification of Gaps in existing
Manpower. Human resource planning identifies gaps in existing manpower in terms
of their quantity and quality with the help of suitable training and/or any other steps,
these gaps can be filled in time. Existing manpower can also be developed to fill
future vacancies. Manpower planning facilitates career succession planning in the
organization. It provides enough lead time for internal succession of employees to
higher position through promotions. Thus, manpower planning contributes to
management succession as well as development.
Planning also leads to Improvement in Overall Business Planning by being an
integral part of overall business planning. No management can be successful in the
long run without having the right type and right number of people doing the right jobs
at the right time. Ultimately Manpower planning facilitates the expansion and
diversification of an organization. In the absence of human resource plans, the
required human resources will not be available to execute expansion and
diversification plans at the right time. Furthermore, it leads to a great awareness
about the effectiveness of sound manpower management throughout the
organization. It also helps in judging the effectiveness of human resource policies
and programmes of management. A good human resource planning must respond
appropriately to the rapid change in the society and must go beyond forecasting to
all aspects of personnel management.
However, James Walker (1980) pointed out that for some companies, human
resources planning is essentially management succession and development
planning. For others it is the staffing process which include forecasting and planning
for recruitment, deployment, development and attrition of talent in relation to
changing needs. Safely, we can conclude that it refers to a systematic step through
which the various human resource activities and decisions are identified and
appropriate actions are implemented to achieve the desired organisational goals.it is
a process which is linked inextricably both to the corporate aims of the organisation
and intentions and plans to the economic, social and political environment.
Human resources planning is faced with a series of difficulties or challenges that the
planners face. Firstly, Information related challenges; Up-to-date, accurate data on
employees is needed by planners, policy makers and leaders of institutions in order
to plan and implement changes in a rational, efficient manner. Most organisations,
however, lack accurate or up-to-date Human Resource information (Elmer,
etal.1997).The findings show that there are many Human resource information
related challenges facing many organisations. Some company departments have no
records of the personnel in terms of dates promotion or appointments, educational
background, skills, and training. This challenge is however being overcome by the
coming of information technology.
Secondly, attraction and staff retention of staff; Attraction and retention of staff is key
in the progress of any institution. Short-term and contracting and compensation
arrangements are now beginning to appear alongside fulltime or part-time job
positions with longevity and institutional entitlements ranging from health benefits to
pensions ( Kevin, 2001). These arrangements require careful technical and fiscal
planning, attention to labour laws and often negotiations and discussions with
unions.
Compensation or incentives based on performance require a fair, well planned and
implemented performance planning and evaluation system that objectively
documents performance in an on-going fashion. Most noted contributing factors are
poor remuneration, allowances, health schemes and non-uniform salaries.
Thirdly, existing staffing levels especially in government-run work places, reveals
shortages. Examples are nurses, clinical officers, with vacancy rates of about 75%
and 90% respectively (Martinez, 2002). This shortage affects vastly affects planning
on a country scale.
Infrastructure also is another challenge. Managers must create an infrastructure for
continuous improvement in each organisation (Martinez, 2002). Infrastructure
negatively affects staffing. These include communication structures; office
facilities/space; inadequate staff houses, lack of willingness by the staff to work in
certain stations especially the hard to each area.
The twin challenge for Human resource planning; Lack of enough resources and;
lack of proper training needs assessment also affect planning. Inadequate resources
negatively affect planning. Resources provide fuel to drive an organisation. Lack or
inadequacy of resources removes the platform which planners would build their
future on. On the other hand, even in the presence of resources but in the absence
of training needs an assessment, planning becomes difficult. If training projection
and skills inventory for instance is weak, training mainly rely on those who apply for
any course. Some of the staff however, maybe unaware of the training opportunities.
Sadly, for many organisations training maybe available but deterred by the workload
and a few number of staff to continue providing the services while some staff are out
for the training.
Jaffery and mello (2003) tried to classify challenges as “factors” affecting human
resource planning. They categorised these into External and internal factors.
External factors covering ;Government Policies (like labour policy, industrial relations
policy, policy towards reserving certain jobs for different communities or ‘sons of the
soil’) ;level of economic development which determines the level of human resource
development in the country and thereby the supply of human resources in future in
the country ;business environmental factors which influence the volume and mix of
production and thereby the future demand for human resources; level of technology
determining the kind of human resources required; Human mobility, competition,
unionisation and international factors covering demand for resources and supply of
human resources in various countries. Internal factors on the other hand cover
company policies and strategies, human resource policies, job analysis, organisation
culture, leadership style and experience as well as time horizons.
Company policies and strategies relating to expansion diversification,alliances, etc.
determines the human resource demand in terms of quality and quantity. In the
same vein human resource policies of the company regarding quality of human
resource, compensation level, quality of work life, etc. also influence human resource
plan. Fundamentally, human resource plan is based on job analysis.Job description
and job specification determines the kind of employees required. They conclude by
emphasising that companies with stable competitive environment can plan for the
long run whereas the firm with unstable competitive environment can plan for only
short-term range. Technological developments such as computerisation may
influence human resource plans, at times resulting in some staff losing their jobs if
work load is reduced. When an organisation is unionised in terms of the industrial
relations act, employment practices including Human resources planning have to
take into account agreements reached between employee and employer
organisation. Issues such as the criteria for promotion, sources of recruitment and
layoffs et cetera may be mentioned in this regard. Organisations may also face
Competition from others in the labour market where salaries and conditions of
service could be major determinants. Internally, the vision, mission goals and
objectives of the organisation has an effect on planning. Depending on the vision
and mission of an organisation, particular goals and objectives may be formulated to
enhance organisational effectiveness and efficiency. Thus always having an impact
on Human Resource Planning. Leadership style and experience of leaders involved
also affects planning. Task oriented leaders for instance, have very little cocer for the
people who have to do the work.
In conclusion, planning is a critical component of effective and efficient human
resource management. It has different objectives including; determining the future
manpower requirements, attracting and retention of qualified and skilled staff,
succession planning, career development, ensuring equal employment opportunity.
Human resource planning however is faced with a series of difficulties which result
into challenges that the planners face. These range from external to internal factors.
Up to date and accurate information is also very crucial for planning and informed
decision making. The need for automation of the process is imperative for efficiency
and effectiveness in human resource management. An effective human resource
planning will further translate into effective achievement of overall Organisation
goals.
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