Defining Human Resource Planning

Human resource planning is the management process

that involves analyzing organizations human resources
needs under changing condition and then developing
policies and systems to satisfy these needs.
The process of matching internal and external supply of
people with job openings, the organization expects to
have over a given period of time.
Human resource planning is the process by which
management determines how an organization should
move from its manpower position to its desired
position.
Note: In other books Human Resource Planning can be
termed as Manpower Planning.
 Types of Manpower Planning
i. Short-term Manpower Planning
ii. Long-term Manpower Planning
 
Short-term HRP
Short term HRP is done for a very short period for
instance less than two years.
Why!
–Matching the present employees to the present jobs
–Filling the present vacancies with the available
employees
 
 Types of Manpower Planning
Long-term HRP
Long term manpower planning implies the manpower
beyond the two years.
Doing long term manpower planning the help of
specialists is needed.
Why!
–To estimate future manpower requirement
–To estimate the present qualifications and
capabilities of employees and the future
requirement of qualifications and capabilities
–Planning the individual development
 Types of Manpower Planning
In case of any change in organization structure,
change in the market, the demand and supply
of workers and managerial personnel such
changes requires manpower planning to be
reviewed to make it effective and efficient.
 SOFT AND HARD VERSION OF
HRP
Soft Human Resource Planning
According to Torrington and Hall (1991) soft HRP
involves the assessment of four categories or
areas:
– Defining where the company is now
– Defining where it wants to be in the future
– Analyzing its external environment,
influences and trends
– Formulating plans to implement necessary
changes
 Soft Human Resource Planning
These four categories are important stages in the
strategic planning process.
That is to say Soft HRP is concerned with the
formulation of the following:-
• Mission,
• Goals,
• Objectives and
• Strategy of the organization and how
variables such as Growth, Product life cycle,
competitive advantage and HR development
will impact on its human resources.
 Hard Human Resource Planning

Hard HRP determine the type of activities that HR

department need to carry out in order to ascertain
the appropriate level of human resources; whether
its current level is sufficient; whether there is a
deficiency in one department over another, etc.

Therefore hard HRP activities include:

1. Forecasting the number of employees required in
the future to support the demand for the
organization’s products and services.
 Hard Human Resource Planning
This forecasting also includes assessment of the
internal and external supply of human
resources.
2. Analysis of how current employees are being
utilized throughout the organization and how
this impacts on demand.
3. Monitoring and review/reconciling HR plans
with actual practice and facilitating
amendments to plans as necessary.
Guidelines for Effective Human Resources
Planning
The following are the pre-requisites to improve HRP
1. Tailor-made.
Human resource plans should fit with the corporate plans
of the organization. Methods and techniques should fit
with the objective, strategies and the organization
environment.

 2. Appropriate time horizon.

It is a plan for specific time refer short and long term HRP
plan. However it is emphasized that whenever the size
and structure changes there is a need for consideration of
HRP
 
 Guidelines for Effective HRP
3. Adequate organization.
It should start from the base unit, section, to the department
for adequate focus.

4. Top management focus.

The top managers are the one who provide financial support
(budget) for the process therefore it is imperative for top
management to be notified for the process for support. 

5. Participation.
The process needs participation for all officers responsible so
as to reduce resistance because sometimes the process can
end up to demotion, transfers etc.
 Guidelines for Effective HRP
6. Information System.
A strong data base is a base for current HRP.
Therefore development of strong HCIMS is
imperative.

7. Balanced Focus.
The right quality of human resources should be
taken to fill open vacant than merely matching
existing people.
 JOB ANALYSIS
A job is a grouping of tasks, duties, and responsibilities
that constitutes the total work assignment for
employees. These tasks, duties, and responsibilities may
change over time and therefore the job may change. 

Job Analysis is the most important task of HR

management.

Job analysis is a systematic way to gather and analyze

information about the content, context, and human
requirement of jobs. Job analysis involves collecting
information on the characteristics of a job that
differentiate it from other jobs.
 Job Analysis Components

Job description and Job specification

 Job analysis components
Job Description Components
A typical job description contains several
major parts.
i. Job identification
ii. General summary
iii. Essential functions and duties
Overviews of the most common
components are presented next.
 Job Description Components
1. Identification
Job identification includes:-
• Job title,
• Reporting relationships,
• Department,
• Location and date of analysis may be given.

However the identification part shall have:

• Job code,
• Pay grade, and
• Exempt/nonexempt status under Labour Laws
 Job Description Components
2. General Summary
The second part, the general summary, is a
concise statement of the general responsibilities
and components that make the job different
from others.
 
3. Essential Functions and Duties
The third part of the typical job description lists
the essential functions and duties. It contains
clear, precise statements on the major tasks,
duties, and responsibilities performed.  
 Job Specifications
The next portion of the job description gives the
qualifications needed to perform the job
satisfactorily.
The job specifications typically are stated as:
(1) Knowledge, skills, and abilities (KSAs),
(2) Education and experience, and
(3) Physical requirements and/or working
conditions.
 ATTRACTIONS/ RECRUITMENT
Definitions
Is the process of generating a pool of capable
people to apply for employment to an
organizations
OR
It is the process of attracting individuals on
timely bases, in sufficient numbers and with
appropriate qualifications to apply for job
within an organizations
 Sources of Recruitment
i. Internal (recruitment from within the
organizations).
ii. External (recruitment from outside the
organizations).
Recruitment from inside the organizations
involves strategies like;
– Transfer
– Promotions
– Recategorization etc.
 Recruitment from outside the organizations
Recruitment from outside the organizations involves
strategies like;
1. Advertisement
2. Head hunting (Looking to ready known hard
workers and convince working with you).
3. Intermediaries (The use of third part to find
employee for instance recruiting agents).
4. Door to door visit (for instance, If you are looking
for HR personnel then you think which institutes
provide suitable candidate then you can go and place
your advertisement or contact department head for
support to identify good performer in last year so that
you can recruit).
Recruitment from inside the organizations
Advantage
i. Career planning for existing employees &
morale
ii. Motivator for good performer
iii. Reduce recruitment cost
iv. Saves time
v. Causes succession of promotions
vi. Easier tracking background of the
employees
Recruitment from inside the organizations
Disadvantage
i. Employee lack skills or ability to perform
high level jobs
ii. Managers seek new ideas from outside the
organizations
iii. Employers wish to avoid what is known as
employee inbreeding
iv. Increase the cost of productions
v. Lead to conflict sometimes
 Recruiting from outside the
organization
Advantages
i. Large pool of talents
ii. Lead to a better candidate selection
iii. New ideas may bring challenges and act as a
catalyst in continuous improvement
iv. Cheaper and faster than training professional
 Concept of employee’s attractions

  Attraction can be defined as the process of

aligning candidates’ priorities with the
organisations’ total reward package.

Attraction policies lead to programmes for

external resourcing (recruitment and
selection of people from outside the
organization).
………………

THANKS
 Topic Four
The Process of Human Resource Planning
i. Forecasting Demand (nature, factors,
techniques and approaches)
ii. Forecasting Supply (nature, techniques)
iii. Determining Manpower Gaps

In the previous lecture we have seen levels for human

resource planning
iv. National level plan
v. Sectorial level plan
vi. Industry level plan
 The Process of HRP
Similarly one has long-range plans and short range
plans. You should also remember that long range
planning are related to the corporate strategic
planning which is basically planning for more that
two years while short-term planning are those
planning related to one year time frame.

The important question that comes to mind is who

is responsible for this process
Top-level executives are responsible for manpower
planning, as it is one of the important factors
influencing the success of an organization.
 The Process of HRP
However, you have to note the responsibilities of
Human Resource Department in respect of manpower
planning thus:
• Assist and counsel operating managers to plan and
set objectives.
• Collect and summarize manpower data keeping
long-run objectives and broad organizational
interests in mind.
• Monitor and measure performance against the plan
and keep top management informed about it.
• Provide proper research base for effective
manpower and organizational planning.
 The Process of HRP
Thus, the three key elements of the process are:-
• Forecasting the demand for labor,
• Performing a supply analysis &
• Balancing supply and demand considerations.
 
Once the Corporate strategy and objectives are clear,
estimates of demand and supply can be made with the help
of certain approaches and methods.

When each projection is formulated, the difference between

them is determined. This difference is termed as Manpower
gap. You should have to not that, the whole purpose behind
human resources planning is to close this gap.
Human Resource Planning Model
 Forecasting Demand
A key component of HRP is forecasting the number and type of
people needed to meet organizational objectives. Since
organization exist in open, a variety of organizational factors,
including competition, technology, structure, and productivity can
influence the demand for labor. For example, utilization of
advanced technology is generally accompanied by less demand for
low-skilled workers and more demand for knowledge workers.

Therefore, demand forecasting is the process of estimating future

human resources needs by reference to strategic business plans
and forecasting future levels of activity. These needs are expected
in terms of both number of people required, skills and expertise
needed. Any shift in the mix of skills or other changes,
incorporated in the strategic plan should be assessed so that plans
can be made to recruit, train, retain and develop the human
resources organization need.
 Forecasting Supply
Once an organization has forecast its future
requirements for employees, it then goes on to the
next search that is from where can it fulfill its
requirements. It therefore needs to determine if there
are sufficient numbers and types of employees and
how many are eligible for the plausible positions.
Supply analysis thus, involves planning for
procurement: who, from where, how and when of
recruitment. It scans the internal and external
environment for the best-fit candidate for the positions
in question. Thus, there are two sources of supply
which are internal and external.
 Forecasting Supply
Internal sources are such as;
» Transfer,
» Promotions,
» Recategorization
» Retirement,
» Etc
 
External sources are such as;
» Recruitment
» Employ part-timer
» Call lay-off workers
» Issue contract work
» Migration trend of workers
» Local employment
» etc
 Determining Manpower Gaps
The final stage is to balance out the demand and supply gap. The
closer the gap the better it is for the company when it actually goes
into procuring.
 
A reconciliation of demand and supply forecasts will give us the
number of people to be recruited or made redundant. This forms the
basis for preparing the manpower plan.

In this process a company always needs to keep repeating this step as

it operate in a changing environment.

The human resource requirements identified are translated into a

concrete manpower plan, backed up by detailed policies, and other
human resources instruments and strategies (for example, recruitment,
selection, training, promotion, retirement, replacement, etc.).
 Determining Manpower Gaps
The manpower plan is further divided into
the following resultant operational plans.
» Recruitment plan
» Redeployment plan (Future movement in
terms of training and transfers).
» Redundancy plan
» Training plan
» Productivity plan
» Retention plan
 Methods of Human Resources
Forecasting
» Managerial judgment
» Work-study method
» Ratio-trend analysis-
» Mathematical models

Managerial judgment
Under this method, experience managers estimate man
power requirement for their respective departments on
the basis of their own knowledge of expected future
workload and employee efficiency. This method is
suitable to small organizations.
Methods of Human Resources Forecasting
 Methods of Human Resources Forecasting
Ratio-trend analysis
Under this methods, ratios ( i.e. total output/number of
workers, total sales volume/ number of sales person, direct
workers/ indirect workers, are calculated on the basis of
the past data. Future ratios are calculated on the basis of
the series of time series analysis/extrapolation/projections.
 
Mathematical models
A mathematical model expresses the relationship between
independent variables (i.e. investment, production, sales
etc) and dependent variables are (i.e. number of employee
required).
 Quantitative and Qualitative HRP
Techniques
Quantitative techniques therefore include;
i. Trend analysis
ii. Employee turnover rates
iii. Employees’ absenteeism rates
iv. Staffing table
v. Markov analysis
vi. Skills inventory

Qualitative techniques include;

vii. Managerial forecasts
viii.Delphi techniques
Approaches to HR Demand Forecasting
There are two approaches to demand forecasting
i. Qualitative approach
ii. Quantitative approach

Quantitative Approach
These are statistical techniques for instance
Trend analysis:
Trend analysis projecting hr forecast relaying on
single factor, for instance sales, to the projected
employment need.
 Approaches to HR Demand Forecasting
Qualitative Approach
Expert Forecast/Managerial Forecast:
This is the method of forecasting future human resources requirement
based on expertise/managerial experience and judgments.
 
Delphi Techniques:
These are decisions whereby hr forecast done by a group of preselected
individuals in order to avoid subjectivism. NB while forecasting any
approach can be use (quant quail).
 
Furthermore the demand can be analyzed on the bases of work study thru:-
i. Labour turnover rate/absenteeism rate etc
ii. Workload analysis
iii. Job analysis
 NOTE
The basic demand forecasting methods are:-
i. Work study techniques
ii. Job analysis
iii. Managerial/Executive judgments
iv. Statistical Techniques Projecting Past Trends in Employment
v. Productivity Measurement Method
vi. Time series
vii. Work Study Techniques:
 
Defining Markov analysis
This is the percentage and actual number of employees who
remain in each job from one year to the next. Thus markov analysis
is about tracking of employee’s movement through various jobs.
Approaches to HR Demand Forecasting
Staffing Tables
These are graphic representations of all organization jobs,
along with the number of employees currently occupying
these jobs and future employment requirement.

Skills Inventories (Talent Inventories)

Prepare lists of employees showing each employees
education, past experience, vocational interest, specific
abilities and skills and job tenure. When these data are
gathered on managers, these inventories are called
management inventories.
 Approaches to HR Demand
Forecasting
Replacement Charts
List current job holders and identify possible replacement
should openings occur. Provide information on the
current job performance and promotability of possible
replacement.

Succession Planning
The process of identifying, developing and tracking key
individuals so that they may eventually assume top level
position. Succession planning may be developed for
management employees, non manager’s employees or
both.
…………

Thanks
Thanks