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Student Registration Number: 2732748 Module Code: HRMU9S3

rd
3 – Nov-2019 Assignment Received:
Assessment Due Date: (office use only)
Tutor’s Name: Shanthi Rajan

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40-49%

50-59%

60-69%

70-79%
0-29%
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progression from one point to the next, evidence of
understanding of issues, logical conclusion.

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Human Resource planning as a part of Human Resource
Activity

Module name : Fundamentals of Human Resource Management

Module number: HRMU9S3

Student ID: 2732748

Contents
1. Introduction............................................................................................................................. 1

2. Importance of human Resource Management .................................................... 2

3. Human Resource Activites ................................................................................................ 2

4. Human Resource Planning................................................................................. 3

5. Drawback of human resource planning............................................................................................... 4

6 Organizational Strategy....................................................................... 5

7. Process of Human Resource Planning............................................................. 5

8. Strategic Human Resource Management ................................................................ 8

9. Linkage ................................................................................................................................. 8

10. Conclusion...................................................................................................................... 10

12. Reference ............................................................................................................................... 12

13. Figures

13.1…………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………7

13.2…………………………………………………………………………………………………………………….10
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Human Resource Planning as an Important part of Human Resource Activity

1. Introduction.

Introduction of any business book or theory starts with the definition of the organization. The

organization is a group of people consists of different skills and talents come together to achieve a

common goal. The organization consists of many departments that integrate and harmonize with

each other. The organization consists of departments and functions like the marketing department,

finance, and accounts department, human resource department. One of the important department or

function is of human resource department which is linked with managing human resource activities.

Human resource management is consists of some activity that is linked with the overall objective of

business or organization. HRP is considered as an important part of human resource activity.

In this report, it is shown how human resource contributes importantly to human resource activity

through support.

The organization is made of people, and about having an absolute happy and skilled employees

working for the organization who would take it to a great height. If employees are clear about their

goals, tasks, and roles in the organization, which would make it successful. It is very important to see

the employees as great assets to the company. In this competitive environment, a good employee

identifies the weakness of the firm and tries to overcome by using their strengths. Organizations

should see their people as the key to have a successful business. For doing this, a human resource

manager who deals with employees of the firm and takes certain responsibility should identify its

goals like Productivity which related to efficiency and effectiveness, low absenteeism, low turnover.

2. Importance of Human Resource Management

As the name mention itself, it mainly focuses on human working under each heads. It is the

responsibility of the human resource managers to look after every small feature from both employees
 2

and the employer side. The attitude and behavior would affect the whole image and goodwill of the

company (Wilton 2016). The following points would support the above statement

1. Even w02/11/19ith highly efficient machines and other technology, human touch to work has

remained highly valued and enviable (Nwankwo 2000).

2. In the present world, employees look much more than having a regular job, what they look

forward to is to have a career development via training and employment development by

mentioned by Armstrong and Taylor (2014).

3. Choosing the right type of person with the right type of skills and talents at the right time is a

pretty crucial and main focus

3.Human Resource Activities

Effective people management is possible with good human resource activity with recruiting, selecting,

training and development of an employee’s, evaluating and rewarding them by using the right technic

of motivation and rewarding. By following HR activities rightly, managing people in an organization

would be easier. There will be an understanding between employees and management. There is a

series of processes or activities that take place in an organization. Apart from internal managing

factors, a human resource manager performs a very critical task which would affect the whole

working of the business like fluctuation changes in the external environment adversely affect the

working of the business. External factors like globalization workforce, changes in demographics,

change in skills and talent requirements and labor market conditions would adversely change the

view on human resources (Paauwe et al 2005). It is of utmost crucial to constantly monitor those

trends and analysis that the current workforce as it would have huge impacts whole. To support this

statement a study by Macharia (2014) on insurances firms in Kenya showed that, due to economic

changes along with political and technological changes put on a huge impact on that business, the

proper forecast was avoided, neglected new government policies along with new skills and trained

emp02/11/2019loyees to handle work. `

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Human resource planning is the terminology that is used for guiding human resource planning

activities.

4.Human Resource Planning

A few years ago, ‘manpower planning’ was the common term used during 1979’s but soon the

concept behind this changed as the meaning behind getting the work done by humans meant a lot

more. Managers realized that manpower planning is rigid and the main aim was to get profit for the

short run. But soon enough, seeing the power of human knowledge and ability change the traditional

word as manpower. The power of knowledge and creativity that possessed in employees was seen

as greatest assets rather than as mean of getting money as explained by Lepak and Gowan (2010)

they have explained in details.

Human resource planning is a way to ensure that the organization has desired or suitable employees

along with guiding other human resource activities (Samwel cited in Jahania 2009). Human resource

planning is very essential for any business as it serves more than one purpose. Given below is the

list of importance of human resource planning in an organization by various researchers.

1. Planning: As the name indicates, every organization needs a plan for its human resources.

Competing in a very dynamic environment, it is very important to look ahead and analysis the

type of skills and competencies that the organization would need it (Stredwick 2008).

2. Competitive advantage: Human resource planning is a part of human resource activity.

Selection and recruitment are based on a plan which was originated in an early stage. It plays a

very important role in recruiting and selecting employees. Employees are considered as an

important asset of the organization. By recruiting and selecting the ‘Best' and ‘right ‘candidate

for the concern job at the given give an absolutely competitive advantage as the business is

working with its best assets.

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3. Demand and supply: The problem to acquire the balance between demand and supply of

workforce or manpower can be solved by human resource planning. It is the responsibility of a

human resource manager to make sure each department or functions of an organization has

the right number of heads. (Samwel cited in Reilly 2003)

4. Harmony among departments: To achieve the overall goal of an organization, each department

or function draws its own goal as a way to achieve it's main. With the help Human Resource

planning system, it provides harmony between all the goals and gives the direction to achieve.

In simpler terms explained by Armstrong (2014) that human resource planning shaped the

overall business strategy.

5 .Drawback of human resource planning

Human resource planning has a positive effect over the organization but it does have few draws

back. It has a few drawbacks as well. Human resource managers should identify them.

1. Wrong Interpretation: As planning is based on data and research, there is a high

chance that data can be wrongly interpreted.

2. Uncertainty in the environment: Presently seeing the trends that keep on changing

frequently, it is not possible to be 100 per-cent sure that current plan work would work

out for the long term. Plans have to changes due to environment turbulent (Avasalu et

al 2003).

3. High risk: planning for human resources is very risky in terms of cost and time. Planning

involves time as it needs to analyze every aspect of the external market and internal

environment and rightly interpret. Along with time, it involves a cost for the same and

investing behind hiring an employee's tents to be higher.

As mentioned above, planning for human resource is not an easy task, yet to some extent, it

can be avoided.
 5

6.Organizational Strategy

Organizational strategy is a source of direction for the long-term, indicating the strategy to opt

after reviewing internal factors of the firm and external environmental factors which would help the

business to remain its position in a market (Ajabe 2016). There are three types of organization

strategy known as Stability, Expanding, and Retrenchment. After deciding the type, the process of

human resource planning would be linked to human resource planning and strategic human resource

management. A case study of KCB – Kenya Commercial Bank, was undergoing a critical situation

like huge losses and NPLs even though the bank has a good customer base and huge assets base

and political base. This was called for an organizational strategy to cope with this situation and as the

result, it was safe to expand its customer base area as it the bank was well known in other localities

also (Kavale 2012). The organizational strategy helps to understand competitiors and our

weaknesses and strengths. It includes elements like Mission, vision, goals, objectives, and plans.

They conduct a SWOT analysis of their own company and competitors for better understanding.

7. Process of human resource planning

Upon reviewing the pros and cons, it is impossible to avoid human resource planning. As explained

earlier, human resource play’s an important role in human resource activity. However, if each step in

planning done right it could prove to be successful. There are four elements or processes in human

resource planning.

As explained by Pamela et al (2017) the various steps that stand with human resource planning is to

Analysis and investigation of current human resource then to forecast the manpower requirement,

and pass the supply of the same if needed , then to implement the plan to achieve the overall goal

along with departmental goals and lastly process of controlling.

The following steps involve in human resource planning are explained below briefly.
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1. Analysis and investigation: The need for planning starts at the point where there is an

organization strategy that has changed. Along with this, it has to analysis the current

talents and skills that the company has already attained. It is important to have an

analysis of the Current workforce as this information will be taken into consideration

for other steps and human resource activities.

The investigation will be on the market situation, PESTLE, and as well as on our

employee’s behavior like turnover rate, training, and development, (Jallah et al 2016).

These steps will synergies with human resource goals with organizational strategy.

2. Forecasting demands: In this step, the requirement for new employees would be

measured in terms of ‘demands'. The requirement for the demand can arise from

reviewing organization strategy, looking into mission, visions, and goals and the latest

trends will help in forecasting demands. It is important to analyze market labor and

see if it is safe to recruit labor and is there is actual demand in the organization as any

firm would not appreciate. Firms having under staff and over staff lead to a problem. A

study on restructuring the strategy of an NHS hospital as mentioned in An introduction

to human resource management by Stredwick (2008) leads to having a complete

revision on heads in each department. It includes forecasting elements like area

functions, required skills and knowledge, comparing current staff with future required

skills needs and using updated technology.

3. Supply: The following step is to forecast to fulfill the supply if there any demand for

new employees. One of the main aims of human resources is to eliminate the gap

between demand and supply. This step contains sub-steps. This step guides to other

functions of human resource management like recruitment and selection.

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4. New plans: One of the main key to human resource planning to shape organizational

strategy by retaining the right people with the right kind of skills at the right place for

the long term (Avasalu et al 2002)One of the ways to achieve this is by making a plan

which will shape other objectives from both employees and employer view. This plan

should support other plans as well to achieve an overall organizational goal effectively

and efficiently as said by Armstrong (2014).

5. Implement and Control: The last step is to implement and control. This step is a

concern if putting the plan into action. To get the result it is necessary to put he plan

into action and monitor them. Unless and until a plan is not put into action, the whole

point of doing human resource planning into waste. This also led to monitoring them

to identify any changes and correct them if needed. It is extremely important to

monitor progress. This involves many players like department heads, top managers,

first-line managers if needed (Sekhri 2010).The main aim of this step is to review

policies and practices against the expected outcome.

Fig.1 Process of human resource planning.

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In case of not having human resource planning many impose many problems like low productivity,

lost on directing, poor management, Employee requirement mismatch.

8. Strategic HRM

Explained in a detail by Armstrong (2006), he defined strategic HRM as the strategy that led down

the actual plan that would lead to achieving organizational goals through and by people of the

organization by following certain plans. The main purpose of Human Resource management is to

initiate a tactical and planned strong point by making sure that the firm has skilled and talented

employees who can follow up with strategic plans. It gives the point to address critical situations

relating to employees, and the external environment. It gives direction while dealing with environment

turbulence. Take an example of an excellent mobile company Nokia who was dominating the mobile

industry. It was a profit-oriented company. But they failed to see the drastic change in taste and

preference of the customer. They did not analyze the latest trends. They did not have the skilled

employees who could come up with innovative idea and as a result, the whole company crumple

down to the ground. It is very crucial to work with the right type of skill of people provides us with a

competitive edge in the market.

9. The link between HRP and organizational strategy in Human resource Activity

It is very clear that there is an important link between HRP and organizational strategy. Planning of

human resource play’s an important role in shaping organizational strategy. With the help of human

resource planning, it provides the firm with a piece of very important information about the current

situation about workforce and future situation and provides a strategy for the human resource which

also works with an organizational strategy which would, in turn, help the business to have a

competitive advantage. A study by Singh et al (2016) showed that human resource strategy is a way

to increase profit and organization performance through organizations strategy alone with human

resource planning as one of the activities of HRM is to ensure that the firm has the best employees to
 9

work with. (Werner & DeSimone 2011) reveals that the whole organization is connected with HRP to

achieve its goals as human resource management provides strategy and skills of manpower to

accomplish. With the help of human resource planning and strategic human resource, an

organization will work effectively and efficiently.

Organization strategy and HRM strategy is waste if the business does not have proper human

resource planning because, in the end, it is the people of the organization who have to formulate and

implement those plans and strategies. Only 12% of the companies that were on the Fortune 500 list

in 1955 survive on the list of 2016 (Smartsheet 2019).And that is because they did not have proper

human resource planning. It is very easy to deliver the goal and getting things done from employees

as one of the main tasks of human resource activity HRP is to ensure that firms have the right type of

employees for the right kind of job at the right time.

 10

Fig.2 List of companies that survived both in 1955 and 2016.

10.Conclusion

From the above report, it is very clear that human resource planning is an important part of human

resource activity as it contributes to achieving organizational goals through people. It is very

important to consider the firm's employees as an asset. Human resource planning and organizational

strategy are interconnected and interdepend and both are bound with human resource activity. The

manager needs to understand the link and the importance of human resource planning as a part of

human resource activity. The essence of human resource planning can not be underemphasized.

Neglance if human resource planning would lead to organizational failure. Behind every successful
 11

company, human resource management and human resource planning are some of the reasons

behind it
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REFERANCE LIST

1. Armstrong, M., 2006. Strategic Human Resource Management-A Guide to Action 3rd Ed.

2. Avasalu, Henrik, David Gabrielson, and Jonas Andersson. "HUMAN RESOURCE PLANNING." rapport nr.:

Masters Thesis 2002 (2003).

3. Ijbcnet.com. (2019). [online] Available at: https://www.ijbcnet.com/1-6/IJBC-12-1606.pdf [Accessed 2

Nov. 2019].

4. Jalloh, A.A.A., Habib, M.A. and Turay, B., 2016. the Effects of Human Resource Planning in the

Implementation of Operational Activites in Large Scale Enterprises. International Journal of Information,

Business and Management, 8(1), p.252.

5. Lepak, D. and Gowan, M. (2010). Human resource management. New Jersey: Pearson Education

6.Macharia, A.L.W., 2016. Factors influencing Human Resource Planning among insurance firms in

Kenya. School of Business, University of Nairobi.

6. Nwankwo, B.C., 2000. Basic concepts and principles of manpower planning. Strategic Manpower

Planning and Development, p.10.

7. Paauwe, J. and Boselie, P., 2005. HRM and performance: what next?. Human resource management

journal, 15(4), pp.68-83.

8. Pamela, A.C.J., Umoh, G.I. and Worlu, G., 2017. Human Resource Planning and Organizational

performance in Oil and Gas firms in Port Harcourt. Human Resource Planning, 3(9).

9. Samwel, J.O., 2018. Human Resource Planning as an Important Practice to Anticipate Future Human

Resource Requirements of the Organization–Literature review.

10. Smartsheet. (2019). Human Resources Planning Guide | Smartsheet. [online] Available at:

https://www.smartsheet.com/human-resources-planning-process [Accessed 2 Nov. 2019].

11. Stredwick, J. (2008). An introduction to human resource management. Amsterdam:

Elsevier/Butterworth-Heinemann

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12.Werner, J.M. and DeSimone, R.L., 2011. Human resource development. Cengage Learning.