Definition of 'Human Resource Planning - HRP'

The ongoing process of systematic planning to achieve optimum use of an organization's most valuable asset its human resources. The objective of human resource (HR) planning is to ensure the best fit between employees and jobs, while avoiding manpower shortages or surpluses. The three key elements of the HR planning process are forecasting labor demand, analyzing present labor supply, and balancing projected labor demand and supply.

Investopedia explains 'Human Resource Planning - HRP'

The HR plan needs to be flexible enough to meet short-term staffing challenges, while adapting to changing conditions in the business and environment over the longer term. Human resource planning is also a continuous process. Human resource planning is concerned with the flow of people into, through and out of the organization. HR planning involves anticipating the need for labor and the supply of labor and then planning the programmes necessary to ensure that the organization will have the right mix of employees and skills when and where they are needed. Forecasting the future can be very inexact science, so human resource planning may also include multiple scenerios and contingency plans. Some Other Definitions: HRP has been defined by Geisler (1967),

As a process of forecasting, developing and controlling human resources in an enterprise. This process helps the enterprise to ensure that it has right number of people and the right kind of people at the right place at the right time performing tasks for which they are most effective. Similarly Wilkstorm (1971) defines it As a process involving; forecasting of future requirements, inventorying the present resources and assessing the extent to which these resources are optimally utilized and also planning of necessary HR programmes. Vetter defines it as the process by which management determines how the organization should move from its current manpower position to its desired manpower position.

Human Resources Planning

Planning for human resource is more important than planning for any other resource as demand for the later depends upon the size and structure of the former whether it is in a country or in an industry. Further ,management of human resources hardly begins from human resources planning .In fact it is the basis for most of the other functions. Objectives of Human Resources Planning The important objectives of manpower planning in an organization are 1. to recruit and retain the human resources of required quantity and quality. 2. to foresee the employee turnover and make the arrangements for minimizing turnover and filling up of consequent vacancies 3. to meet the needs of the program of expansion, diversification etc., 4. to foresee the impact of technology on work, existing employees and future human resources requirements 5. to improve the standards skill .knowledge,, ability, discipline etc., 6. to assess the surplus or shortage of human resources and take measures accordingly., 7. to maintain congenial industrial relations by maintaining optimum level and structure of human resources; 8. to minimize imbalances caused due to non-availability of human resources of right kind ,right number in right time and right place; 9. to make the best use of its human resources; and 10. to estimate the cost of human resources. What is Human Resources Planning? E.W Vetter viewed human resources planning as a process by which an organization should move from its current manpower position to its desired manpower position. Through planning management strives to have the right number and right kind of people at the right places at the right time, doing things

which result in both the organization and the individual receiving maximum long-run benefit. According to Leon C Megginson human resources planning is an integrated approach to performing the planning aspects of the personnel function in order to have a sufficient supply of adequately developed and motivated people to perform the duties and tasks required to meet organizational objectives and satisfy the individual needs and goals of organizational members. Human resources planning may be viewed as foreseeing the human resource requirements of an organization and the future supply of human resources and 1. making necessary adjustments between these two and organizational plans ;and 2. foreseeing the possibility of developing the supply of human resources in order to match it with requirements by introducing necessary changes in the functions of human resources management .In this definition, human resource means skill knowledge, values, ability, commitment, motivation etc., in addition to the number of employees.

What is human resources planning (or HR planning)?

There are many ways to define HR planning, or explain what it is, but the following definitions, taken from the Government of Canada human resources site, is a good, useful working definition: Rigorous HR planning links people management to the organization's mission, vision, goals and objectives, as well as its strategic plan and budgetary resources. A key goal of HR planning is to get the right number of people with the right skills, experience and competencies in the right jobs at the right time at the right cost. Note the emphasis on linkage to strategic planning and business planning in the first sentence, and the emphasis on the arrangement and alignment of staff and employees in the last sentence. Here's another definition, perhaps a bit simpler: The process by which management ensures that it has the right personnel, who are capable of completing those tasks that help the organization reach its objectives.

Human Resources Planning Questions and Answers

Human resources planning is such an essential part of the success of any company that we've set up a section to both explain the HR planning function, and help HR professionals execute those plans effectively.

Is strategic human resource planning the same as human resource planning?

Technically, it's possible to do short term human resource planning that is a bit different than strategic human resource planning, in the same sense one can plan tactically or strategically. However, in basic terms, planning within human resources should be done strategically, since longer term thinking is required to effectively manage human resources over time. If you consider the complexity of any human resource planning process, it seems obvious that the process needs to be strategic in nature. Unfortunately, many companies do not allocate enough time or resources to developing long term strategic HR plans. So, the short answer, is that they should be the same. All HR planning should be strategic. In practice, many companies plan their human resources in a shorter term, or bandaid type fashion that involves reacting to short term forces, rather than being proactive long term.

How is human resource planning linked to overall strategic planning?

Particularly for those working in HR departments, it's easy to forget that HR planning (and HR functions) do not exist as ends in themselves, but exist to serve the rest of the organization in achieving the business goals of the organization. Often HR functions and human resource planning get accidentally de-linked from business goals.

Since human resources functions and strategies are a means to achieve corporate ends, they need to be tied to, and driven by the corporate role, mission, vision and strategic goals, or else they simply end up as processes that add overhead, but down increase return. The solution is obvious. Human resource planning needs to reference the details of the overall strategic plan of the organization. In effect, it serves the strategic plan.

Can you suggest a process to use for human resource planning?

As with strategic planning, there is no one way to undertake human resource planning. However, here's a model which relies on gap analysis, and attempts to link human resource planning to overall business planning or strategic planning. Workforce Analysis: A key component of HR planning is understanding your workforce and planning for projected shortages and surpluses in specific occupations and skill sets. Internal Scan: Identify factors internal to the organization that may affect HR capacity to meet organizational goals. External Scan: Determine the most important environmental factors expected to affect workforce capacity, given known operational and HR priorities and emerging issues. Gap Analysis: Based on an analysis of the environmental scan and operational business goals, what are the organizations current and future HR needs? Priority Setting and Work Plan: Based on the organizations priorities, environmental scan, and HR performance related data: 1) what are the major human resources priorities; and 2) what strategies will achieve the desired outcome? Monitoring, Evaluating, Reporting: Monitoring, evaluating, and reporting (internally and pubicly) performance results advances our capacity to measure performance, set targets, and, most importantly, to integrate results information into decision making processes and determine future priorities.

Strategic Planning Terms and Definitions

Here you'll find strategic planning terms and definitions explained. Note that because there are different models for strategic planning, and that each model can contain differently named components, that not all of the definitions will be consistent with others.

What Is Visioning, or Creating A Vision?

One of the functions of strategic planning is to inspire people in the organization to work towards the creation of a new state of affairs. The vision is a means of describing this desired future, but it works best to inspire and motivate if it's vivid -- in other words, a vision should be a "picture" of the future. The visioning process is usually the very first step in the strategic planning process. Imagine it as creating a little movie of the future. A future to be worked towards. Once it's created the next step is to summarize it in the form of a mission statement and a role statement.

How Does A Strategic Plan Get Implemented?

If we make the distinction between the strategic plan and the operational plan, part of the answer is straightforward, at least with respect to goals and objectives. During strategic planning, a set of longer term goals and objectives will be part of the work product. Ultimately, these goals and objectives need to be transfered and translated in such a way that they guide the action of the workunits and the employees in those work units. So, part of the implementation involves using the strategic planning goals and objectives (and values) as a basis for creating operational plans for the entire organization, and its workunits. It's a logical process. The larger and broader strategic planning goals are divided, or sub-divided and assigned to the work units, during yearly operational planning. It is then the responsibility of the managers of the sub-units to ensure that their "bits" of the overall operational plan for the organization get done.

Once the workunits have their yearly operational goals, they, in turn, are broken down into more actionable tasks, and assigned to employees and teams, often during the performance planning process (as part of performance management). So, the strategic plan ---> the operational plan The whole organization's operational plan ---> work unit's plans The workunit's operational plan ---> individual employee assignments, goals and objectives This cascading is what provides better goal alignment in the organization. Note also that in larger hierarchical organizations, there may be more steps (i.e. division goals, department goals). The principle is the same.

Strategic Planning Tools and Techniques

There is a wide range of strategic planning tools available -- in essence mental approaches and procedures to apply to develop effective strategic plans. We've explained some of these in the terms and definitions section of this strategic planning knowledgebase, so some of them will be duplcated here. Keep in mind that many strategic planning tools overlap, so if you are setting up your strategic planning process, don't feel you need to use all of them, or even many of them. Use the strategic planning tools that seem to make sense to you, AND, the tools you feel you really understand.

INTEGRATED STRATEGIC PLANNING AND HUMAN RESOURCE PLANNING

Human resources planning like production planning, financial planning an marketing planning, should be an unified, comprehensive and integrated part of the total corporation. Human resource manager provides inputs like key HR areas, HR environmental constraints and internal HR capabilities and HR capability constraints to the corporate strategists .The corporate strategists in turn communicate their needs and constraints to the HR manager. The corporate strategic plan and Hr plan ,thus incorporates both HR and other functional plans. Corporations formulates plans to fit four times spans: 1. Strategic plans that establish companys vision, mission and major long range objectives. The time span for strategic plans is usually considered to be five or more years. 2. Intermediate range plans covering about a three year period .These are more specific plans in support of strategic plan. 3. Operating plans cover about one year. Plans are prepared month by month in sufficient detail for profit , human resources, budget and cost control. 4. Activity plans are the day-by-day and week-by-week plans These plans may not be documented . Strategic Plan vis--vis Human Resource Plan: Corporate Level Plan Top managements formulates corporate-level plan based on corporate philosophy ,policy, vision and mission .The HRM role is to raise the broad and policy issues relating to human resources .The HR issues are related to employment policy, HRD policies, remuneration policies etc .The HR department prepares HR strategies ,objectives and policies consistent with company strategy. Intermediate Level Plan Large-scale and diversified companies organize Strategic Business Units (SBU) for the related activities .SBUs prepare intermediate plans and implement them .HR managers prepare specific plans for acquiring future managers, key personnel and total number of employees in support of company requirements over the next three years. Operations Plan Operations plans are prepared at the lowest business profit centre level. these plans are supported by the HR Plans relating to recruitment of skilled personnel ,developing compensation structure, designing new jobs, developing ,leadership improving work life etc. Short-term Activities Plan: Day-to-day business plans are formulated by the lowest level strategists .Day-to-day HR plans relating to handling employee benefits ,grievances ,disciplinary cases, accident reports etc. are formulated by the HR managers.
How Is Human Resource Planning Integrated With Strategic Planning? Human resource planning is integrated with strategic planning through the acquisition of employees to achieve future organizational goals. This includes an analysis of the current workforce and how it can be improved to best achieve these goals. Through the objectives of strategic planning, human resources can prepare the organization's future workforce. Function Strategic planning supports the direction a company wants to take. This relates to the organization's vision, mission and its strategic objectives. Goals can be loosely or narrowly defined, but more defined company goals usually lead to better planning and attainment. Human resource planning analyzes the competencies or abilities of the current workforce and compares them to future requirements. It attempts to meet future demands by attracting, retaining and training quality employees. Significance Strategic planning cannot exist without human resource planning.For human resource planning to be effective, the organization's future plans and objectives must be communicated or understood. These plans and objectives will have a direct impact on future employment needs. To assist in realizing objectives, the organization must prepare for a future workforce. If an organization plans to increase its productivity by 20 percent in the next year, it may need to grow its workforce by 2 percent. If it plans to increase future market share by moving into a new territory, it needs to consider what workforce requirements will be needed to achieve this objective. Considerations Before an organization can determine how to change its workforce, it needs to analyze its current employment and compare it to future needs. This comparison will reveal gaps or surpluses that may exist. With this information, human resource planning can prepare plans to accommodate future employment requirements. Benefits Not only is strategic planning necessary for human resource planning, it also allows for future preparation and evaluation of workforce needs. When the human resources department understands the strategic plans of the organization, it can implement plans for building the future workforce. These plans are on based on current and future competencies and should include an evaluation to ensure that the workforce continues to meet the objectives of strategic planning. Types To help achieve strategic objectives, human resources must use several types of planning initiatives. These include employment actions such as recruiting, developing, training and retraining. To meet future workforce requirements, human resources must attract, retain and train skilled employees. Without planning for the necessary staff, in quality and quantity, the organization cannot meet strategic objectives.