Module 2: Human Resource Management

Week 3 – Day 1:
- Human Resource Planning
- Career Management
 Week 3
- HR planning,
- Career management
- Talent management,
- Staff Retention, and
- Performance management
Day 1
 Classroom Rules

Switch your phone off & mute

Dress appropriately yourself unless advised otherwise
by the tutor

Ask only relevant questions during Do not interrupt the lecturer or

teaching time session when you arrive late

4
Learning Outcome

At the end of this lecture, students should be able to:

Show an understanding of Human Resource planning

Comprehend the methods for forecasting Personnel Needs

Demonstrate an understanding of how to forecast the Supply of

Internal as well as external Candidates

Show an Understanding of Career management & Career motivation

Understand the barriers to HRP

 1. Human Resource Planning
What is Human Resource Planning (HRP)?

 It is also referred to as workforce planning or personnel planning.

 It “is the process of assessing current HR capability and forecasting future labour supply and

demand, to produce HR plans that will enable an organisation to achieve its strategic objective”

(Wilton, 2022 p.154).

 Human resource planning (HRP) is a strategy used by a company to maintain a steady stream of

skilled employees while avoiding employee shortages or surpluses.

 It is the process of deciding on what positions will have to fill, and how to fill them.

(See: Armstrong, 2017)

 Human Resource Planning continue
 It has both an internal and external dimension.

 In other words, HRP is the system of matching the supply of people both internally (existing employees)

and externally (those to be hired or searched for), unto the openings that the organisation expects to

have over a given time frame.

 HRP is crucial because the long-term success of any organisation depends on having the right people

in the right jobs at the right time .

 Hence, all organisations either formally or informally engage in HRP. Some HRPs are good (more

effective), while others are poor (less effective).

 That is, some organisations do a good job, while others do a poor job.
(see: Armstrong, 2017; and Wilton, 2022 p.153 - 158 )
• Bottomline: Access to talent to ensure future success/ forecasting!
Drivers of Human Resource planning

What does a company take into consideration in deciding on HRP?

a. Company Strategy
b. Employment needs
c. Skill shortages
d. Competency gaps
e. Redundancies
f. Downsizing
g. Rightsizing

What are they?

What are some examples for each?
i) Company Strategy

 It is also known as Business Strategy

 It is the strategic initiatives a company pursues in order to create

value for the organization and its stakeholders

 It is the strategy geared at gaining a competitive advantage in the

market.

 This strategy is crucial to a company's success and is needed before

any goods or services are produced or delivered.
Example of Company Strategy: McDonald's
 Company Strategy, Contd

 Business Strategy necessitates Strategic Planning

The Stages of Strategic Planning involves:

• Futures Thinking

–Thinking about what the business might need to do 10–20 years ahead

• Strategic Intents

–Thinking about key strategic themes that will inform decision making

• “The thicker the planning document, the more useless

it will be”.
– (Brent Davies: 1999)
 ii) Employment needs

 Employees need good working conditions

 One way to think about employee needs is through Maslow’s Hierarchy of Needs
 In 1943, Psychologist Abraham Maslow proposed this theory in his paper about human
motivation.

See: https://www.profit.co/blog/employee-engagement/10-most-important-employee-
needs-in-2022-how-to-meet-them/
iii) Skill shortages

 Skills shortage exists when there are more vacancies than job

seekers in a given occupation.

 By contrast, an oversupply of skilled staff exists when there

are more job seekers than job vacancies in a given occupation.

 Skills shortages and an oversupply of skilled staff are key

drivers for both companies and for job seekers.

iv) Competency gaps

 It is also known as competence gap analysis

 It is the process of identifying and measuring the difference

between:

 the current and desired skills,

 knowledge, and

 abilities of employees or teams.

 It can help you improve performance, plan training, and align

your talent strategy with your business goals.
v) Redundancies

 Redundancy is dismissal from your job, caused by your

employer needing to reduce the workforce.

 Reasons for redundancy vary and may include:

 new technology or

 new system has made your job unnecessary

 the job you were hired for no longer exists

 With the advent of machines, robots and AI, the problematic of

redundancy is becoming prevalent in all modern societies.
 vi) Downsizing

 A downsizing strategy reduces the scale (size) and scope of a

business to improve its financial performance.

 A reduction of the workforce is one of only several possible ways

of improving profitability and reducing costs.

 Firms downsize for a number of reasons, including:

 Cost reduction

 Reducing layers of management

 To increase productivity

 To generate positive reaction from shareholders

 vii) Rightsizing
 Organisational rightsizing is the process of a corporation reorganising or
restructuring their business by:

 Reduction of workforce

 Cost Cutting

 Maintaining the right workforce

 Reorganising upper-level management

 Rightsizing is often triggered by three factors:

 When the company’s bottom line is threatened

 Technological advancement

 Organisational Restructuring
Human Resource (Workforce) planning Steps
 Class Activity

In group research and present the answer to the question below to

the class:

What are the importance and benefit of Human Resource Planning to

an organisation?

Apply organisation example to support points made.

 Why is HRP important
HRP can provide several advantages, including:
• It allows for better control over employee costs and number of
staff.
• It encourages organisations to design clear and explicit links
between their business and HR plan.
• Enhancing the value of present employees
• Enables businesses to keep a competitive advantage
• Enable organisations to be able to forecast future labour
demand and supply
(Wilton, 2022 pp.154 – 155; Beardwell and Thompson, 2017, pp. 103 - 112.)
 Why is HRP important – cont.
• Helping companies adapt to industry changes

• Boosting the company's long-term viability

• HRP allows a business to better maintain and target the right

kind of talent to employ—having the right technical and soft
skills to optimize their function within the company.

• It also allows managers to better train the workforce and help

them develop the required skills.
(Wilton, 2022 pp.154 – 155; Beardwell and Thompson, 2017, pp. 103 - 112)
Forecasting Personnel Needs (Labour Demands)

 Like any good plans, employment plans are built on forecasts.

 That is, they are built on basis assumptions about the future.
 The employer/manager will usually need to set three (3) sets of employment
forecasts:
 One for personnel needs (Demand)
 One for the supply of inside candidates, and
 One for the supply of outside candidates
 With the 3 forecasts, the manager can identify needs-supply gaps, then develop
training and other plans to fill the anticipated gaps.

What is the process for forecasting personnels needs/demands?

 Forecasting Personnel Needs: Methods

 Forecasting workforce demand starts with estimating what the demand will be for your products or services.
 Short-term management should be concerned with daily, weekly, and seasonal forecasts.
 Longer term managers will try to get a sense of the future demand by speaking customers and by following
economic forecasts.
 Predictions will usually not be precise but should help you address the potential changes in demand.
 Managers must consider a number of key factors: projected turnover, decisions to upgrade or downgrade
products & services, productivity changes, financial resources, and decisions to enter or leave the business.
 The basic tools (Methods) for projecting personnel needs include (not exclusive): Trend Analysis, Ratio
Analysis, the Scatter Plot, Computerised forecast, Delphi Technique, Impact Analysis, and Scenario
Planning.
Forecasting the Supply of Internal Candidates

 The personnel demand forecast provides only half of the staffing equation,
by answering the question: “How many employees in what positions will we
need?”

 Next, the manager must forecast the supply (availability) of inside and
outside candidates.

 The firm must start with inside candidates. The main task is determining
which current employees are qualified or trainable for the projected
openings.
Forecasting the Supply of Internal Candidates
 Managers can use different devices to track employees’ suitability for the vacant roles:

- Personnel Replacement Charts: These are company records showing present performance
and promotability of inside candidates for the most important positions.

- Position Replacement card: It is a card prepared for each position in a company to show
possible replacement candidates and their qualifications.

- Markov Analysis: Employers also use a mathematical process known as Markov Analysis (or
“transition analysis”) to forecast availability of internal job candidates. Markov analysis involves
creating a matrix that shows the probabilities that employees in the feeder positions for key job
(such as from junior engineer, to enginer, to senior engineer, to engineering supervisor, to
Director of Engineering) will move from position to position and therefore be available to fill the
key position.
 Forecasting the Supply of Outside Candidates

 Factors Impacting the Supply of outside candidates:

 General Economic Conditions
 Expected Unemployment rate

 If there won’t be enough inside candidates to fill the anticipated openings (or you want to go outside
for another reason), you will turn to outside candidates.
 Forecasting workforce availability depends first on the manager’s own sense of what is happening
in his or her industry and locale. For example, unemployment rates above 7% a few years ago
signalled to HR managers that finding good candidates might be easier.
 The manager then supplements such observations with formal labour market analysis. For
example, look for economic projections online from the US Congressional Budget Office (
www.cbo.gov). In the UK: https://www.gov.uk/government/collections/data-forecasts
 Barriers to HRP
• Conflicts may exist between short term
and long-term HR needs.
• Improper linkage between HRP and
Corporate Strategy.
• Environmental Uncertainty
• Conflicts between Quantitative and
Qualitative approaches to HRP.
• Rigidity in Attitudes
• Non-involvement of operating managers
renders HRP ineffective
• Inappropriate HR Information System
 Group Exercise
Pair the Class in Subgroups
Exercise 2
• Exercise 1 In the aftermath of COVID-19 pandemic, a
• You are the Human Resource Manager of Birmingham based firm, Layback Peoples Ltd has
asked all its staff to work remotely. Most of the
Elegant Electric Vehicles (EEV) Ltd. Following workers however have very little IT knowledge.
the global rise in petroleum prices, your
 What kind of staff should the company hire to
company has suddenly witnessed a surge in remedy this situation? And why?
demand for your electric cars.
 What steps should the company take in the hiring
• In order to meet long and short-term process?
increase in demands, the company CEO has
asked you to prepare a Memo to guide the
company in hiring new staff. Group Exercise Time: 7 Minutes
Discussion Time: 10 Minutes
• What would you include in your memo?
• What have you taken into consideration in
preparing your memo?
2. Career Management
 The second concept for internal talent development is career management.
 Career can be a complex concept. It is therefore useful to define career and its
multifaceted meanings as well as perspectives before exploring the contribution of career
management and development to talent management practice.

 What is Career?
 Career has been defined as: “ A succession of related jobs, arranged in a hierarchy of
prestige, through which persons move in an ordered, predictable sequence” (Wilensky,
1960:554)
 “The evolving sequence of a person’s work experience over time” (Arthur et al., 1989:8).
In a general sense, career can be defined as the occupational positions that a person holds
over the years.
 What is Career Management?
 It is the process through which employees:
 Become aware of their own interests, values, strengths, and values.
 Obtain information about job opportunities within the company, and
 Establish action plans to achieve career goals.
In a general sense, career management is the process for
enabling employees to better understand and develop their
career skills and interests and to use these skills and interests
most effectively both within the company and after they leave
the firm.
Career Development is the lifelong series of activities that
contribute to a person’s career exploration, establishment,
success, and fulfilment.

(Wilton, 2022 pp.348 - 352 )

 Why is Career Management Important?
 The biggest challenge companies face is finding a balance between advancing current
employees’ careers while simultaneously attracting and acquiring employees with new
skills.
 From the company’s perspective, the failure to motivate employees to plan their careers
can result in:
 a shortage of employees to fill open positions.
 lower employee commitment.
 inappropriate use of monies allocated for training and development programs.

 From the employees’ perspective, lack of career management can result in:
 frustration due to lack of personal growth and challenge at work.
 feelings of not being valued in the company.
 an inability to find suitable employment, in case of mergers, acquisitions, restructuring, or
downsizing.
The Employees role in Career management

Ultimately, however, the Employee is responsible for his or her own career.

He/she must assess interests, skills, values, seek out career information resources; and take
steps to ensure a happy and fulfilling career.

For the employee, career planning means matching individual strengths and weaknesses with
occupational opportunities and threats. In other words, the person wants to pursue
occupations, jobs, and a career that capitalise on his or her interests, aptitudes, values, and
skills.

The person just wants to choose occupations, jobs, and a career that make sense in terms of
projected future demand for occupations.

Ideally, he/she should think through an ideal future “self” to strife for.
The Employees role in Career management

The employee, the manager, and the employer all have roles in the employee’s career
development. For example, the manager should perform timely and objective performance
feedback., offer developmental assignments and support, and have career development
discussions with the employee. He or she should act as a coach, appraiser, advisor.

The manager should also mentor, listen to, and clarify the employee’s career plans, giving
feedback, generating career options, and linking the employee to organisational resources and
career options.

The employer should moreover provide career-oriented training, development, and promotional
opportunities, offer career information, and career programs, and give employees a variety of
career options.
The Employers role in Career management

Along with the employee, the person’s manager and employer have career management
responsibilities. These depend partly on how long the employee has been with them.

For example, before hiring, realistic job interviews can help prospective employees more
accurately gauge whether the job is a good fit for them.

This is especially so for college graduates. The first job can be crucial for building
confidence and a more realistic picture of what he or she can and cannot do: providing
challenging first jobs and having an experienced mentor who can help the person learn the
ropes are important.
The Employers role in Career management

Some refer to this as preventing reality shock., a phenomenon that occurs when a new
employee’s high expectations and enthusiasm confront the reality of a boring, unchallenging
job.

Periodic job rotation can help the person develop a more realistic picture of what he or she is
good at, and thus the career moves that might be best.

Finally, it is obvious that once a person has been on the job for a while, career-oriented
appraisals are important.

Here, the manager not only appraises the employee but also uses the result to help the
person match his or her strengths and weaknesses with feasible career path.
 Career Management & Career
Motivation
 In sum, career management goes hand-in-hand with career motivation.
 This has three key components: career resilience, career insight, and career
identity.

 Career Resilience:This is the extent to which employees are able to cope with
problems that affect their work.

 Career Insight:Career insight involves:

 How much employees know about their interests, strengths, and weaknesses.
 The awareness of how these perceptions relate to their career goals.

 Career Identity:This is the degree to which employees define their personal

values according to their work.
 Class Activity
Pair the Class in Subgroups
• Exercise 1
• You are the Line manager of Alice, Manas, and
Davel. Complete the following Occupational
Skills chart with regard to their respective roles:

Group Exercise Time: 7 Minutes

Discussion Time: 10 Minutes
 Group Exercise

 In groups of 4 to 5 persons, do the following exercise at home, and

make a presentation in Week 4, Day 1.

 Since the outbreak of the COVID-19 pandemic, a popular grocery store,

Eatz has been struggling to make profits. It has now hired your student
group from GBS to identify the possible reasons for drop in profits, as well
solutions to become successful and competitive.

Make use of the concepts that you have learnt in week 3.

Any Question
 References

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