Define and discuss the need of human resource planning.

Define and discuss the need of human resource planning. Take an
account of the human resource planning in your organization or an
organization you are familiar with and give a brief note on that. Describe the
organization you are referring to.


Answer. Human resource planning can be defined as an information-decisionmaking
process designed to ensure that enough competent people with
appropriate skills are available to perform jobs where and when they will be
needed As such, it entails defining the organization's human needs for particular
positions and assessing the available pool of people to determine the best fit.
Planning is not as easy as one might think because it requires a concerted effort to
come out with a programme that would easy your work. Commencing is
complicated, but once you start and finish it you have a smile because everything
moves smoothly.
Planning is a process that have to be commenced form somewhere and
completed for a purpose. It involves gathering information that would enable
managers and supervisors make sound decisions. The information obtained is
also utilized to make better actions for achieving the objectives of the
Organization. There are many factors that you have to look into when deciding for
an HR Planning programme.
HR Planning involves gathering of information, making objectives, and making
decisions to enable the organization achieve its objectives. Surprisingly, this
aspect of HR is one of the most neglected in the HR field. When HR Planning is
applied properly in the field of HR Management, it would assist to address the
following questions:
1. How many staff does the Organization have?
2. What type of employees as far as skills and abilities does the Company have?
3. How should the Organization best utilize the available resources?
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4. How can the Company keep its employees?
HR planning makes the organization move and succeed in the 21st Century that
we are in. Human Resources Practitioners who prepare the HR Planning
programme would assist the Organization to manage its staff strategically. The
programme assists to direct the actions of HR department.
The programme does not assist the Organization only, but it will also facilitate the
career planning of the employees and assist them to achieve the objectives as
well. This augment motivation and the Organization would become a good place to
work. HR Planning forms an important part of Management information system.
HR have an enormous task keeping pace with the all the changes and ensuring
that the right people are available to the Organization at the right time. It is
changes to the composition of the workforce that force managers to pay attention
to HR planning. The changes in composition of workforce not only influence the
appointment of staff, but also the methods of selection, training, compensation and
motivation. It becomes very critical when Organizations merge, plants are
relocated, and activities are scaled down due to financial problems.
Inadequacy of HR Planning
Poor HR Planning and lack of it in the Organization may result in huge costs and
financial looses. It may result in staff posts taking long to be filled. This augment
costs and hampers effective work performance because employees are requested
to work unnecessary overtime and may not put more effort due to fatigue. If given
more work this may stretch them beyond their limit and may cause unnecessary
disruptions to the production of the Organization. Employees are put on a
disadvantage because their live programmes are disrupted and they are not given
the chance to plan for their career development.
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The most important reason why HR Planning should be managed and
implemented is the costs involved. Because costs forms an important part of the
Organizations budget, workforce Planning enable the Organization to provide HR
provision costs. When there is staff shortage, the organization should not just
appoint discriminatory, because of the costs implications of the other options, such
as training and transferring of staff, have to be considered.
EXAMPLE: HRP AT MCDONALDS
McDonald’s in India is a 50-50 joint venture partnership between McDonald’s
Corporation [USA] and two Indian businessmen. Amit Jatia’s company Hardcastle
Restaurants Pvt. Ltd. owns and operates McDonald's restaurants in Western India.
While Connaught Plaza Restaurants Pvt. Ltd headed by Vikram Bakshi owns and
operates the Northern operations.
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Amit Jatia and Vikram Bakshi are like-minded visionaries who share McDonald's
complete commitment to Quality, Service, Cleanliness and Value (QSC&V).
Having signed their joint-venture agreements with McDonald's in April 1995, they
trained extensively, along with their Indian management team, in McDonald's
restaurants in Indonesia and the U.S.A. before opening the first McDonald’s
restaurant in India.
Reasons, Motives and Approaches to HRP
McDonald’s develops a HRP that reaches three years ahead and is reviewed
quarterly and annually. Much of the HRP work at McDonald’s is focused on career
planning and succession planning in order to develop individual plans for the
employees. According to McDonald’s, the HR work consists mainly of education
and development and they say that it is impossible to look further than three years
ahead.
HRP at McDonald’s has taken a drastic change compared to what it used to be in
the past. McDonald’s did not have an HR function up until 1994. In 2001,
McDonald’s added a leadership program to its HRP with the motive to retain
leaders within the company. Before the start of this program there were no
descriptions or qualification criteria expressed for any of the positions in the
organisation. Since the start of the program the turnover rate of leaders has
decreased considerably. McDonald’s argues that the leadership program can
explain the reduced turnover rate, as today’s leaders are able to forecast their
futures within McDonald’s.
The HRP work and the recruitment process involve a top management team
consisting of four people and a lower level management team consisting of ten to
fifteen people. Each business unit manager leaves proposals based on their
business unit’s needs, both for recruitment and the overall work for HRP.
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McDonald’s use different support instruments such as job profiles, developed by
an outside expert, in their attempt to minimize subjectivity in the recruitment
process. However, the continuous and most of the time sub-conscious work (the
evaluation of an employee’s daily work by his/her manager) with finding potential
successors to leadership positions is to a great extent influenced by subjectivity,
but it is not perceived as a problem.
At McDonald’s, the linkage between the general business strategy and HRP is
scarce, if any linkage at all. The competencies profiles that are used in the
recruitment process are purely based on today’s reality and are not affected by the
three-year plan.
According to McDonald’s, the purpose of HRP is to achieve a more competent
workforce and to retain employees, especially leaders, by developing career plans
for everyone in the organization. McDonald’s say that, this plan should be
presented as career possibilities and then provide the environment that facilitates
those possibilities. By doing this, the employee is responsible for his/her own
careers.
McDonald’s argue that it can be dangerous to follow a plan rigorously. They revise
the three-year HRP annually and sometimes even quarterly in order to update and
adjust the plan according to changes and current conditions. According to
McDonald’s, it is difficult to say whether or not it is possible to measure the
outcomes of the planning. However, it is possible to measure the returns on
investments made in the HR work and they are currently developing a system that
measures the outcomes/returns from such investments. McDonald’s scans the
business environment annually by looking at trends in the society and the world
economy in order to analyze customer purchasing power and recruitment
opportunities. The market department does all the research and therefore the HR
department must leave a proposal to the market department if they want any
research for their own account to be carried out.