From Manpower Planning to Human Resource Planning

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From Manpower Planning to Human Resource Planning

• Lecture Topic 3

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Overview of Lecture

• Developmental overview of HR Planning
• Purpose of HR Planning
• Various Stages of HR Planning
• The Case Against/For HR Planning
• Adapting Traditional HR Planning

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Definitions of HR Planning (1)

• strategy for the acquisition, utilisation,
  improvement and preservation of an organisations
  human resources
• (Department of Employment 1974)
• (cited by Bratton and Gold, 2003, p194)
• the process for identifying an organisations
  current and future human resource requirements,
  developing and implementing plans to meet these
  requirements and monitoring their overall
  effectiveness
• (Beardwell and Claydon, 2007, p159)

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Definitions of HR Planning (2)

• the process of interpreting the environment,
  predicting its effects on the organisation,
  evaluating these effects, planning and
  controlling the appropriate measures in order
  that the right human resources are available when
  required
• (Boella, 2000)

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Developmental Overview (1)

• Bramham (1994) argues
• Manpower Planning as QUANTITATIVE concerned
  with forecasting demand and supply of labour
• Human Resource Planning as far wider encompassing
  a whole range of activities
• Motivation of employees, employee attitudes,
  organisational culture

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Developmental Overview (2)

• According to Taylor (2002)
• MP and HRP are concerned with
• looking ahead, using systematic techniques,
  i.e. auditing skills to be able to meet org.
  requirements of the future.
• Having the right people, with the right skills,
  in the right places at the right time.

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Why Look ahead and Forecast?

• To deal with changes
• External Environmental Situations
• Expansion
• Competition
• Globalisation
• Technological
• Political
• Social
• Economical
• Ecological
• Legal

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Purpose of HR Planning

• Recruitment Gaps
• Training and Development
• Staff Costings
• Redundancy
• Collective Bargaining
• Accommodation
• (Taylor 2002)

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Stages in HR Planning

• (Taylor 2002)

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The HR Planning Cycle has four general stages

• Forecasting future demand of HR
• Forecasting future internal supply of HR
• Forecasting future external supply of HR
• Formulating responses to the forecasts

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Stage 1 Forecasting Future Demand (1)

• Requires looking at
• Skills required
• To achieve Business Targets (Goals, Design,
  Culture)
• Assess skills available Vs Required
• Predict how many people required
• Skills will depend on
• Timescale
• Nature of Org. activities

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Stage 1 Forecasting Future Demand (2)

• Techniques Used to Forecast Demand
• Systematic Techniques
• Time series or ratio trend analysis
• Work-study approach
• Productivity trend analysis
• Managerial Judgement
• Combined Approach (12)
• Working back from costs

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Stage 2 Forecasting Internal Supply

• Involves identifying/acknowledging the
• existing staff employed by an organisation
• department by department
• grade by grade
• Involves
• Skills Audits
• Predicting Staff Turnover
• Internal promotion analysis

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Stage 3 Forecasting External Supply (1)

• Filling the GAP using the external labour market
• Local
• National
• International
• HR Planners must gain an understanding of the
  dynamics of the Labour Market to update plans as
  trends change and develop

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Stage 3 Forecasting External Supply / Dynamics
of the Labour Market

• The following statistics can be most useful
• General population density
• Population movements
• Age distribution
• Social class
• Unemployment rates
• School leavers
• Proportion with higher education
• Skill levels
• Skills shortages
• Sources of Info include Labour Market Trends,
  Labour Market Quarterly, Annual Social Trends
  survey, Chamber of Commerce, Training and
  Enterprise Councils

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Stage 4 Formulating Responses to the
Forecasts/Action Planning

• Forecasting should identify any potential
  mismatch between future demand and supply
• If demand exceeds supply develop plans to match
  the shortfall
• If supply is likely to exceed demand develop
  plans to reduce the surplus
• (Taylor, 2002 Beardwell and Claydon, 2007)

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Action Planning Alternative View point (Boella,
2000)

• Outsourcing
• Plans
• Redundancy
• Redeployment
• Retirement
• Recruitment
• Training
• Retention
• Succession
• Review
• A plan will always need constant review E.g.
• Extensions
• External environmental factors
• Turnover increases

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Use of HR Planning in Practice

• According to Rothwell, 1995 Flokowski, 1998 and
  Liff, 2000)
• Systematic HR Planning is mainly restricted to
  large public sector organisations and firms
  operating in stable environments
• Other organisations may use it in a casual way
  and may rely more on managerial judgement
• (cited by Taylor, 2002)

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The Case Against HR Planning

• Based on the simple proposition that it is
  difficult to forecast demand and supply with any
  ACCURACY!
• Forecasting relies on past experience to predict
  future developments
• Forecasts are based on questionable assumptions
• The future is uncertain for organisations!
• (Taylor, 2002)

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The Case for HR Planning

• There are 2 main arguments for HRP
• The need to view plans as adaptable
• Plans should be continually updated in light of
  environmental developments
• Turbulence requires more attention to planning
• There is a greater need for organisations to
  develop their capacity to plan accurately
• (Taylor, 2002 Beardwell and Claydon, 2007)

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Adapting Traditional HR Planning

• Many writers believe there is a need to adapt the
  traditional methods of HR planning to suit the
  needs of organisations operating in an
  unpredictable environment
• Micro Planning
• Contingency Planning
• Succession Planning
• Skills Planning
• Soft HR Planning
• (Taylor, 2002)

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Summary

• The term Manpower Planning (MP) has gradually
  been replaced by Human Resource Planning (HRP)
• Concerned with looking ahead and using systematic
  techniques to assess the extent to which an
  organisation will be able to meet its
  requirements for labour in the future

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References

• Beardwell, J Claydon, T (2007), Human resource
  management a contemporary approach, 5th edition,
  London, Pearson Education
• Boella, M.J (2000) Human Resource Management in
  the Hospitality Industry, 7th edition,
  Cheltenham, Nelson Thornes
• Bramham, J. (1994) Human resource planning, 2nd
  edition, London, Institute of Personnel
  Development, 1994
• Bratton, J Gold, J. (2003) Human resource
  management Theory and practice, 3rd edition,
  Basingstoke, Palgrave Macmillan.
• Foot, M Hook, C. (2005) Introducing human
  resource management, 4th edition, Harlow, Pearson
  Education.
• Taylor, S. (2002) People Resourcing, 3rd edition,
  London, Chartered Institute of Personnel and
  Development.

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Revision Questions

• What are the aims/objectives of HRP?
• Outline the stages of HRP.
• Highlight the case for and against HRP.
• Outline alternative methods to the traditional
  approach to HRP