Introduction
Human resource planning is a branch of human resource management. This paper seeks to discuss the aspects of human resource planning. The paper will look at the aspects in relation to achievements of human resource planning which in the long run complements human resource management.
Human Resource Planning
Human resource management is a branch of business management that deals with the “concepts, methods and techniques for the integration and coordination of human resources” (Reddy, 2005, p. 1). It is illustrated as the process of organizing and managing the workforce of an institution. The human resource planning is the process of predicting the expected needs of an organization in terms of human resource and the establishment of appropriate measures to fulfill the needs.
The process of human resource planning includes setting goals and setting up and applying policies to ensure that people with desired qualifications and skills are acquired and are at the positions at the desirable time of need in the organization. The aim of human resource planning is to improve the utility of the workers in order to enhance the organization’s productivity (Susan and Schuler, 2011).
In its scope, the planning process involves among others: collecting and analyzing data for prediction of demand and supply of human resource, defining the human resource objectives, planning for proper implementation of the objectives as well as conducting, monitoring and evaluating planning processes.
One of the major concerns of a human resource planner is having a good knowledge of the demand and supply of the resources. The demand and supply of resources is governed by the general rule of demand and supply. Wages paid for a particular labor depends on its demand and supply as per the demand and supply curves. Being aware of the forces that affect the demand and supply is equally significant.
Factors which have been claimed to affect demand and supply of wages have been pointed out to include the amount of sales, productivity in the organization or industry, amount of labor available and the skills and knowledge needed for a job. The factors individually or collectively affect the offered wages and hence demand and supply of labor. From the evaluations, managerial measures can be taken to minimize cost on optimum labor productivities (Susan and Schuler, 2011).
Basing on already collected data, an evaluation team can forecast on the quantitative demand and supply of labor to provide basis for monitoring. The predictions can be considered to be a guide to objectives in the human resource plan. Qualitative analysis on labor’s demand and supply can also be done based on informed judgments of experienced and trained personnel and the predictions used to set goals and objectives in the planning.
The techniques used in both quantitative and qualitative forecasts will however vary depending on the nature of the organization’s engagements, its size as well as its scope.
The implementation of the objectives will include the hiring process, the orientation of the employee as well as monitoring the employee’s performance. The hiring process involves recruitment and candidates’ selection. Orientation is then needed to familiarize the employee with the firm’s work environment. The hiring process is quite challenging especially when the task for which a recruitment exercise is being carried out is a sensitive one (Gomez, Balkin and Cardy, 2007).
Conclusion
As an element of human resource management, human resource planning is critical in the efficiency of a firm’s human resource. The planning, implementation and evaluation process ensures efficiency in all departments of the organization. This results in higher levels in productivities. Human resource planning therefore requires attention in every institution.
References
Gomez, R., Balkin, B and Cardy, L. (2007). Managing Human Resources. New York, NY: Pearson/Prentice Hall.
Reddy, M. (2005). Human Resource Planning. New York, NY: Discovery Publishing House.
Susan, E. and Schuler, S. (2011). Human Resource Planning. Rutgers University. Retrieved from: www.rci.rutgers.edu