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Unit - 1 : Introduction to Human Resource Management
Structure of Unit: 1.0 Objectives 1.1 Introduction 1.2 Opening Case 1.3 What is Human Resource Management? 1.4 Nature of HRM 1.5 Scope of HRM 1.6 Objectives of HRM 1.7 Functions of HRM 1.8 Role of HRM 1.9 HRM in the New Millennium 1.10 Summary 1.11 Self Assessment Questions 1.12 Reference Books
1.0 Objectives
After studying this unit, you will be able to: Understand the basic concepts of human resource management (HRM). Explain what human resource management is and how it relates to the management process. Provide an overview of functions of HRM. Describe how the major roles of HR management are being transformed. Explain the role of HRM in the present millennium.
1.1 Introduction
Human beings are social beings and hardly ever live and work in isolation. We always plan, develop and manage our relations both consciously and unconsciously. The relations are the outcome of our actions and depend to a great extent upon our ability to manage our actions. From childhood each and every individual acquire knowledge and experience on understanding others and how to behave in each and every situations in life. Later we carry forward this learning and understanding in carrying and managing relations at our workplace. The whole context of Human Resource Management revolves around this core matter of managing relations at work place. Since mid 1980’s Human Resource Management (HRM) has gained acceptance in both academic and commercial circle. HRM is a multidisciplinary organizational function that draws theories and ideas from various fields such as management, psychology, sociology and economics. There is no best way to manage people and no manager has formulated how people can be managed effectively, because people are complex beings with complex needs. Effective HRM depends very much on the causes and conditions that an organizational setting would provide. Any Organization has three basic components, People, Purpose, and Structure. In 1994, a noted leader in the human resources (HR) field made the following observation: Yesterday, the company with the access most to the capital or the latest technology had the best competitive advantage;
Today, companies that offer products with the highest quality are the ones with a leg up on the competition; But the only thing that will uphold a company’s advantage tomorrow is the caliber of people in the organization. That predicted future is today’s reality. Most managers in public- and private sector firms of all sizes would agree that people truly are the organization’s most important asset. Having competent staff on the payroll does not guarantee that a firm’s human resources will be a source of competitive advantage. However in order to remain competitive, to grow, and diversify an organization must ensure that its employees are qualified, placed in appropriate positions, properly trained, managed effectively, and committed to the firm’s success. The goal of HRM is to maximize employees’ contributions in order to achieve optimal productivity and effectiveness, while simultaneously attaining individual objectives (such as having a challenging job and obtaining recognition), and societal objectives (such as legal compliance and demonstrating social responsibility).
1.2 Opening Case
On October 3, 2003, Anant Dalvi and Akhtar Khan, who worked as contract workers in Tata Electric Company until they were laid off in 1996, doused themselves with kerosene and set themselves ablaze even as their co-workers protested before the company’s offices. While Dalvi died on the spot, Khan died a few days later. The Tata Electric Company said they were no longer on their payroll and were not permanent workers. Employees union had taken up their case and filled petition in the Labour Court before their contracts were terminated. The court directed the company not to terminate their services without following the due process of law. Despite this their services were terminated on June 30, 1996. The company union promised the workers that they would renegotiate. Yet on the night before they killed themselves when Khan and Dalvi spoke to the union leader Shinde, they were told that nothing more could be done for them. It is this that led them to take their lives. Dalvi has been in service as a peon for years and Khan had been employed for 19 years. But their services were not regularized. Such workers draw salary much less than the permanent employees. This is an example of the problem that comes under the purview of Human Resource Management- the main concept elaborated in this chapter.
1.3 What is Human Resource Management?
HRM is the study of activities regarding people working in an organization. It is a managerial function that tries to match an organization’s needs to the skills and abilities of its employees. 1.3.1 Definitions of HRM Human resources management (HRM) i s a management function concerned with hiring, motivating and maintaining people in an organization. It focuses on people in organizations. Human resource management is designing management systems to ensure that human talent is used effectively and efficiently to accomplish organizational goals. HRM is the personnel function which is concerned with procurement, development, compensation, integration and maintenance of the personnel of an organization for the purpose of contributing towards the accomplishments of the organization’s objectives. Therefore, personnel management is the planning, organizing, directing, and controlling of the performance of those operative functions (Edward B. Philippo).
Figure 1.1: Scope of HRM The scope of HRM is really vast. All major activities n the working life of a worker – from the time of his or her entry into an organization until he or she leaves it comes under the purview of HRM. American Society for Training and Development (ASTD) conducted fairly an exhaustive study in this field and identified nine broad areas of activities of HRM. These are given below: Human Resource Planning Design of the Organization and Job Selection and Staffing Training and Development Organizational Development Compensation and Benefits Employee Assistance Union/Labour Relations Personnel Research and Information System a) Human Resource Planning: The objective of HR Planning is to ensure that the organization has the right types of persons at the right time at the right place. It prepares human resources inventory with a view to assess present and future needs, availability and possible shortages in human resource. Thereupon, HR Planning forecast demand and supplies and identify sources of selection. HR Planning develops strategies both long-term and short-term, to meet the man-power requirement. b) Design of Organization and Job: This is the task of laying down organization structure, authority, relationship and responsibilities. This will also mean definition of work contents for each position in the organization. This is done by “job description”. Another important step is “Job specification”. Job specification identifies the attributes of persons who will be most suitable for each job which is defined by job description. Personnel Research and Information System Human resource planning Design of the Organization and Job Selection and Staffing (^) Training and Development Organizational Development Employee Assistance Compensation and Benefits Union/Labour Relations Human resource management
c) Selection and Staffing: This is the process of recruitment and selection of staff. This involves matching people and their expectations with which the job specifications and career path available within the organization. d) Training and Development: This involves an organized attempt to find out training needs of the individuals to meet the knowledge and skill which is needed not only to perform current job but also to fulfil the future needs of the organization. e) Organizational Development: This is an important aspect whereby “Synergetic effect” is generated in an organization i.e. healthy interpersonal and inter-group relationship within the organization. f) Compensation and Benefits: This is the area of wages and salaries administration where wages and compensations are fixed scientifically to meet fairness and equity criteria. In addition labour welfare measures are involved which include benefits and services. g) Employee Assistance: Each employee is unique in character, personality, expectation and temperament. By and large each one of them faces problems everyday. Some are personal some are official. In their case he or she remains worried. Such worries must be removed to make him or her more productive and happy. h) Union-Labour Relations: Healthy Industrial and Labour relations are very important for enhancing peace and productivity in an organization. This is one of the areas of HRM. i) Personnel Research and Information System: Knowledge on behavioral science and industrial psychology throws better insight into the workers expectations, aspirations and behaviour. Advancement of technology of product and production methods have created working environment which are much different from the past. Globalization of economy has increased competition many fold. Science of ergonomics gives better ideas of doing a work more conveniently by an employee. Thus, continuous research in HR areas is an unavoidable requirement. It must also take special care for improving exchange of information through effective communication systems on a continuous basis especially on moral and motivation. HRM is a broad concept; personnel management (PM) and Human resource development (HRD) are a part of HRM.
1.6 Objectives of HRM
The primary objective of HRM is to ensure the availability of competent and willing workforce to an organization. The specific objectives include the following:
- Human capital : assisting the organization in obtaining the right number and types of employees to fulfill its strategic and operational goals
- Developing organizational climate: helping to create a climate in which employees are encouraged to develop and utilize their skills to the fullest and to employ the skills and abilities of the workforce efficiently
- Helping to maintain performance standards and increase productivity through effective job design; providing adequate orientation, training and development; providing performance-related feedback; and ensuring effective two-way communication.
- Helping to establish and maintain a harmonious employer/employee relationship
- Helping to create and maintain a safe and healthy work environment
1.7 Functions of HRM
Human Resources management has an important role to play in equipping organizations to meet the challenges of an expanding and increasingly competitive sector. Increase in staff numbers, contractual diversification and changes in demographic profile which compel the HR managers to reconfigure the role and significance of human resources management. The functions are responsive to current staffing needs, but can be proactive in reshaping organizational objectives. All the functions of HRM are correlated with the core objectives of HRM (Table 1.1). For example personal objectives is sought to be realized through functions like remuneration, assessment etc. Figure 1.3 : Functions of HRM Table 1.1 HRM Objectives and Functions HRM Objectives Supporting Functions
- Societal Objectives Legal compliance Benefits Union- management relations
- Organizational Objectives Human Resource Planning Employee relations Selection Training and development Appraisal Placement Assessment
- Functional Objectives Appraisal Placement Assessment
- Personal Objectives Training and development Appraisal Placement Compensation Assessment
HR management can be thought of as seven interlinked functions taking place within organizations, as depicted in Figure 1.3 Additionally, external forces—legal, economic, technological, global, environmental, cultural/geographic, political, and social—significantly affect how HR functions are designed, managed, and changed. The functions can be grouped as follows: Strategic HR Management: As a part of maintaining organizational competitiveness, strategic planning for HR effectiveness can be increased through the use of HR metrics and HR technology. Human resource planning (HRP) function determine the number and type of employees needed to accomplish organizational goals. HRP includes creating venture teams with a balanced skill-mix, recruiting the right people, and voluntary team assignment. This function analyzes and determines personnel needs in order to create effective innovation teams. The basic HRP strategy is staffing and employee development. Equal Employment Opportunity: Compliance with equal employment opportunity (EEO) laws and regulations affects all other HR activities. Staffing: The aim of staffing is to provide a sufficient supply of qualified individuals to fill jobs in an organization. Job analysis, recruitment and selection are the main functions under staffing. Workers job design and job analysis laid the foundation for staffing by identifying what diverse people do in their jobs and how they are affected by them. Job analysis is the process of describing the nature of a job and specifying the human requirements such as knowledge, skills, and experience needed to perform the job. The end result of job analysis is job description. Job description spells out work duties and activities of employees. Through HR planning, managers anticipate the future supply of and demand for employees and the nature of workforce issues, including the retention of employees. So HRP precedes the actual selection of people for organization. These factors are used when recruiting applicants for job openings. The selection process is concerned with choosing qualified individuals to fill those jobs. In the selection function, the most qualified applicants are selected for hiring from among the applicants based on the extent to which their abilities and skills are matching with the job. Talent Management and Development: Beginning with the orientation of new employees, talent management and development includes different types of training. Orientation is the first step towards helping a new employee to adjust himself to the new job and the employer. It is a method to acquaint new employees with particular aspects of their new job, including pay and benefit programmes, working hours and company rules and expectations. Training and Development programs provide useful means of assuring that the employees are capable of performing their jobs at acceptable levels and also more than that. All the organizations provide training for new and in experienced employee. In addition, organization often provide both on the job and off the job training programmes for those employees whose jobs are undergoing change. Likewise, HR development and succession planning of employees and managers is necessary to prepare for future challenges. Career planning has developed as result of the desire of many employees to grow in their jobs and to advance in their career. Career planning activities include assessing an individual employee’s potential for growth and advancement in the organization. Performance appraisal includes encouraging risk taking, demanding innovation, generating or adopting new tasks, peer evaluation, frequent evaluations, and auditing innovation processes.
The first and foremost role of HR personnel is to impart continuous education to the employees about the changes and challenges facing the country in general and their organization in particular. The employees should know about the balance sheet of the company, sales progress, and diversification of plans, share price movements, turnover and other details about the company. The HR professionals should impart such knowledge to all employees through small booklets, video films and lectures. The primary responsibilities of Human Resource managers are: To develop a thorough knowledge of corporate culture, plans and policies. To act as an internal change agent and consultant To initiate change and act as an expert and facilitator To actively involve in company’s strategy formulation To keep communication line open between the HRD function and individuals and groups both within and outside the organization
To identify and evolve HRD strategies in consonance with overall business strategy. To facilitate the development of various organizational teams and their working relationship with other teams and individuals. To try and relate people and work so that the organization objectives are achieved efficiently and effectively. To diagnose problems and determine appropriate solution particularly in the human resource areas. To provide co-ordination and support services for the delivery of HRD programmes and services To evaluate the impact of an HRD intervention or to conduct research so as to identify, develop or test how HRD In general has improved individual and organizational performance. Different management gurus have deliberated different roles for the HR manager based on the major responsibilities that they full fill in the organization. Few of the commonly accepted models are enumerated below. Pat Mc Lagan has suggested nine roles that are played by HR practitioners
- To bring the issues and trends concerning an organization’s external and internal people to the attention of strategic decision makers and to recommend long term strategies to support organizational excellence and endurance.
- To design and prepare HR systems and actions for implementation so that they can produce maximum impact on organizational performance and development.
- To facilitate the development and implementation of strategies for transforming one’s own organization by pursuing values and visions.
- To create a positive relationship with the customer’s by providing them with the best services; to utilize the resources to the maximum and to create commitment among the people who help the organization to meet the customers needs whether directly connected or indirectly connected to the organization.
- To identify the learning needs hence to design and develop structured learning programmes and materials to help accelerate learning for individuals and groups.
- To enable the individuals and groups to work in new situations and to expend \and change their views so that people in power move from authoritarian to participative models of leadership.
- To help employees to assess their competencies, values and goals so that they can identify, plan and implement development plans.
- He also assists the individual employee to add values in the workplace and to focus on the interventions and interpersonal skills for helping people change and sustain change.
- He assesses the HRD practices and programmes and their impact and to communicate results so that the organization and its people accelerate their change and development. According to Dave Ulrich HR play’s four key roles. 1. Strategic Partner Role -turning strategy into results by building organizations that create value; 2. Change Agent Role - making change happen, and in particular, help it happen fast 3. Employees Champion Role —managing the talent or the intellectual capital within a firm 4. Administrative Role —trying to get things to happen better, faster and cheaper. The role HR in organizations has undergone an extensive change and many organizations have gradually oriented themselves from the traditional personnel management to a human resources management approach. The basic approach of HRM is to perceive the organization as a whole. Its emphasis is not only on production and productivity but also on the quality of life. It seeks to achieve the paramount development of human resources and the utmost possible socio-economic development. Current Classification of HR roles According to R.L Mathis and J. H. Jackson (2010) several roles can be fulfilled by HR management. The nature and extent of these roles depend on both what upper management wants HR management to do and what competencies the HR staff have demonstrated. Three roles are typically identified for HR. The focus of each of them, as shown in Figure 1.is elaborated below: 1. Administrative Role of HR The administrative role of HR management has been heavily oriented to administration and recordkeeping including essential legal paperwork and policy implementation. Major changes have happened in the administrative role of HR during the recent years. Two major shifts driving the transformation of the administrative role are: Greater use of technology and Outsourcing. Technology has been widely used to improve the administrative efficiency of HR and the responsiveness of HR to employees and managers, more HR functions are becoming available electronically or are being done on the Internet using Web-based technology. Technology is being used in most HR activities, from employment applications and employee benefits enrollments to e-learning using Internet-based resources. Fig 1.4 Current Classification of HR Roles Administrative Personnel practices Legal compliance forms and paperwork Operational Actions Managing employee relationship issues Employee advocate Strategic HR Organizational/business strategies HR strategic or planning Evaluation of HR effectiveness. Figure 1.4 : Current Classification of HR roles
However, even though this strategic role of HR is recognized, many organizations still need to make significant progress toward fulfilling it. Some examples of areas where strategic contributions can be made by HR are: Evaluating mergers and acquisitions for organizational “compatibility,” structural changes, and staffing needs Conducting workforce planning to anticipate the retirement of employees at all levels and identify workforce expansion in organizational strategic plans Leading site selection efforts for new facilities or transferring operations to international outsourcing locations based on workforce needs Instituting HR management systems to reduce administrative time, equipment, and staff by using HR technology Working with executives to develop a revised sales compensation and incentives plan as new products It is the era when for the competitive triumph of the organization there is a need to involve HRM significantly in an integrated manner, which demands such capabilities from the HR specialists. The role of HR shifted from a facilitator to a functional peer with competencies in other functions, and is acknowledged as an equal partner by others. The HR is motivated to contribute to organizational objectives of profitability and customer satisfaction, and is seen as a vehicle for realization of quality development. The department has a responsibility for monitoring employee satisfaction, since it is seen as substitute to customer satisfaction. According to McKinsey’s 7-S framework model HR plays the role of a catalyst for the organization. According to this framework, effective organizational change is a complex relationship between seven S’s. HRM is a total matching process between the three Hard S’s (Strategy, Structure and Systems) and the four Soft S’s (Style, Staff, Skills and Super-ordinate Goals). Clearly, all the S’s have to complement each other and have to be aligned towards a single corporate vision for the organization to be effective. It has to be realized that most of the S’s are determined directly or indirectly by the way Human Resources are managed, and therefore, HRM must be a part of the total business strategy.
1.9 HRM in the New Millennium
Human Resources have never been more indispensable than today. The competitive forces that we face today will continue to face in the future demanding organizational excellence. In order to achieve this extended quality, organization’s need to focus on learning, quality development, teamwork, and reengineering. These factors are driven by the way organizations implement things and how employees are treated.
1. HR Can Help in Dispensing Organizational Excellence: To achieve this paradigm shift in the organization excellence there is a need for organizations to reform the way in which work is carried out by the Human Resource department. By designing an entirely new role and agenda that results in enriching the organization’s value to customers, investors and employees, HR can help in delivering organizational excellence. This can be carried out by helping line managers and senior mangers in moving planning from the conference room to the market place and by becoming an expert in the way work is organized and executed. HR should be a representative of the employees and should help the organization in improving its capacity
for change. HR will help the organizations in facing the competitive challenges such as globalization, profitability through growth, technology, intellectual capital, and other competitive challenges that the companies are facing while adjusting to uncontrollably challenging changes in business environment. The novel role of HR is to rapidly turn strategy into action; to manage processes intelligently and efficiently; to maximize employee contribution and commitment and to construct favorable conditions for flawless change.
2. Human Resource Should be a Strategy Partner: HR should also become a partner in strategy executions by propelling and directing serious discussions of how the company should be organized to carry out its strategy. Creating the conditions for this discussion involves four steps. First HR need to define an organizational architecture by identifying the company’s way of doing business. Second, HR must be held responsible for conducting an organizational audit. Third, HR as a strategic partner needs to identify methods for restoring the parts of the organizational architecture that need it. Fourth and finally, HR must take stock of its own work and set clear priorities. In their new role as administrative experts they will need to shed their traditional image and still make sure all routine work for the company is done well. 3. HR Accountability Should be Fixed to Ensure Employee Commitment: HR must be held accountable for ensuring that employees feel committed to the organization and contribute fully. They must take responsibility for orienting and training line management about the importance of high employee morale and how to achieve it. The new HR should be the voice of employees in management discussions. The new role for HR might also involve suggesting that more teams be used on some projects or that employees be given more control over their own work schedules. 4. The New HR Must Become a Change Agent: The new HR must become a change agent, which is building the organization’s capacity to embrace and capitalize on change. Even though they are not primarily responsible for executing change it is the duty of the HR manager to make sure that the organization carries out the changes framed for implementation. 5. Improving the Quality of HR: The most important thing that managers can do to drive the new mandate for HR is to improve the quality of the HR staff itself. Senior executives must get beyond the stereotypes of HR professionals as incompetent support staff and unleash HR’s full potential 6. Change in Employment Practices: The balance sheet of an organization shows human resource as an expense and not as a Capital. In the information age, it is perceived that the machines can do the work more efficiently than most people however; technology to work is dependent on people. The challenges for Employment Practice in the New Millennium will require that there should be strategic involvement of the people and labour-management partnerships as they both have to take organization ahead. 7. Benchmarking Tool Must be Mastered by HR Professionals: HR professionals must master benchmarking, which is a tool for continuous improvement- directing the human side associated with the strategic path adopted by the organization. Through this, HR department will start appreciating the changes happening within and outside the environment while expanding the knowledge about how to add value to decision making at the highest level of the organization. 8. Aligning Human Resources to Better Meet Strategic Objectives: Too often organizations craft their strategy in a vacuum. Some organizations don’t even include key people during strategy formulation resulting in lacunae between the actual problems and the solutions implemented- as critical inputs are not sought from those individuals who are supposed to implement the new strategies.
1.10 Summary
It is critical that today’s organizations align their human resources to better meet strategic objectives. A failure to do so results in wasted time, energy, and resources. Organizations are more likely to achieve this alignment with their corporate objectives when they review their recruitment and selection processes for fit, communicate the mission and vision statements, use joint goal setting, design an appropriate reward system, empower the workforce, promote and develop from within, and use teams to achieve synergy. Human Resource Management is the management function that helps the managers to plan, recruit, select, train, develop, remunerate and maintain members for an organization. HRM has four objectives of societal, organizational, functional and personal development. An organization must have set policies; definite procedures and well defined principles relating to its personnel and these contribute to the effectiveness, continuity and stability of the organization.
1.11 Self Assessment Questions
- Define HRM? What are its functions and objectives?
- Elaborate about the nature of HRM and its relevance in present scenario.
- Explain the role of HR manager in HRM.
1.12 Reference books
- Aswathappa. K. (2008), Human Resource and Personnel Management (5th^ edition), Tata McGraw-Hill Publishing Company Ltd., New Delhi.
- Biswajeet Pattanayak (2001), Human Resource Management , Prentice Hall of India Pvt. Ltd., New Delhi.
- Lloyed L. Byers and Leslie W. Rue (1997), Human Resource Management (5th edition), The McGraw-Hill Companies, USA.
- Michael Armstrong (1999), A Handbook of Human Resource Management Practice (7th edition), Kogan Page Limited, 120 Pentonvelle Road, London.
Unit - 2 : Human Resource Planning
Structure of Unit: 2.1 Objectives 2.2 Introduction 2.3 Human Resource Planning (HRP) 2.4 Definition of Human Resource Planning 2.5 Nature of HRP 2.6 Objectives of Human Resource Planning 2.7 Need for HRP in Organizations 2.8 Importance of HRP 2.9 Factors Affecting HRP 2.10 HRP Process 2.11 Requisites for Successful HRP 2.12 Barriers to Human HRP 2.13 Summary 2.14 Self Assessment Questions 2.15 Reference Books
2.1 Objectives
After studying this unit, you will be able to: Understand the nature and need of HRP Able to gain information about different factors that affect HRP Realize the importance of human resource planning in current organizational scenario Understand the HRP process and the pre requisites for successful HRP process
2.2 Introduction
As told in the last chapter Human resource management has started to play a significant role in the overall strategic development of the organization. At present HR strategies are designed in tune with the overall business strategy of the organization. HR strategy should sub serve the interest of the organization, translating firm’s goals and objectives into a consistent, integrated and complimentary set of programmes and policies for managing people. First part of Human resource strategy is HRP – Human Resource Planning. All other HR activities like employee hiring, training and development, remuneration, appraisal and labour relations are derived from HRP.HR planning is important in a wide variety of industries and firms. HR planning affects what employers do when recruiting, selecting, and retaining people, and of course these actions affect organizational results and success. The challenges caused by changing economic conditions during recent year’s show why HR workforce planning should occur. Staffing an organization is an HR activity that is both strategic and operational in nature. As the HR Headline indicates, HR planning is important in a wide variety of industries and firms. HR planning affects what employers do when recruiting, selecting, and retaining people, and, of course these actions affect organizational results and success. Human Resources planning mean different means to different organizations. To some companies, human resources planning mean management development. It involve helping executives to make better decisions, communicate more effectively, and know more about the firm. The purpose of HRP is to make the manager a better equipped for facing the present and future.
present employees, and/or increasing the number of employees in certain areas. Factors to consider include the current employees’ knowledge, skills, and abilities and the expected vacancies resulting from retirements, promotions, transfers, and discharges. To do this, HR planning requires efforts by HR professionals working with executives and managers.
2.6 Objectives of Human Resource Planning
- To ensure optimum utilization of human resources currently available in the organization.
- To assess or forecast the future skill requirement of the organization.
- To provide control measures to ensure that necessary resources are available as and when required.
- A series of specified reasons are there that attaches importance to manpower planning and forecasting exercises. They are elaborated below: To link manpower planning with the organizational planning To determine recruitment levels. To anticipate redundancies. To determine optimum training levels. To provide a basis for management development programs. To cost the manpower. To assist productivity bargaining. To assess future accommodation requirement. To study the cost of overheads and value of service functions. To decide whether certain activity needs to be subcontracted, etc. HRP exists as a part of planning process of business. This is the activity that aims to coordinate the requirements for the availability of the different types of employers. The major activities are the forecasting, (future requirements), inventorying (present strength), anticipating (comparison of present and future requirements) and planning (necessary program to meet the requirements). The HR forecasts are responsible for estimating the number of people and the jobs needed by an organization to achieve its objectives and realize its plans in the most efficient and effective manner. HR needs are computed by subtracting HR supplies or number of the employees available from expected HR demands or number of people required to produce a desired level of outcome. The objective of HR is to provide right personnel for the right work and optimum utilization of the existing human resources. The objectives of human resource planning may be summarized as below: Forecasting Human Resources Requirements: HRP is essential to determine the future needs of HR in an organization. In the absence of this plan it is very difficult to provide the right kind of people at the right time. Effective Management of Change: Proper planning is required to cope with changes in the different aspects which affect the organization. These changes need continuation of allocation/ reallocation and effective utilization of HR in organization.
Realizing the Organizational Goals: In order to meet the expansion and other organizational activities the organizational HR planning is essential. Promoting Employees: HRP gives the feedback in the form of employee data which can be used in decision-making in promotional opportunities to be made available for the organization. Effective Utilization of HR: The data base will provide the useful information in identifying surplus and deficiency in human resources. The objective of HRP is to maintain and improve the organizational capacity to reach its goals by developing appropriate strategies that will result in the maximum contribution of HR.
2.7 Need for HRP in Organizations
Major reasons for the emphasis on HRP at the Macro level: 1) Employment-Unemployment Situation: Though in general the number of educated unemployment is on the rise, there is acute shortage for a variety of skills. This emphasizes on the need for more effective recruitment and employee retention. 2) Technological Change: The changes in production technologies, marketing methods and management techniques have been extensive and rapid. Their effect has been profound on the job contents and job contexts. These changes have caused problems relating to redundancies, retention and redeployment. All these suggest the need to plan manpower needs intensively and systematically. 3) Demographic Change: The changing profile of the work force in terms of age, sex, literacy, technical inputs and social background has implications for HRP. 4) Skill Shortage: Unemployment does not mean that the labour market is a buyer’s market. Organizations generally become more complex and require a wide range of specialist skills that are rare and scare. A problem arises in an organization when employees with such specialized skills leave. 5) Governmental Influences: Government control and changes in legislation with regard to affirmative action for disadvantages groups, working conditions and hours of work, restrictions on women and child employment, causal and contract labour, etc. have stimulated the organizations to be become involved in systematic HRP. 6) Legislative Control: The policies of “hire and fire” have gone. Now the legislation makes it difficult to reduce the size of an organization quickly and cheaply. It is easy to increase but difficult to shed the fat in terms of the numbers employed because of recent changes in labour law relating to lay-offs and closures. Those responsible for managing manpower must look far ahead and thus attempt to foresee manpower problems. 7) Impact of the Pressure Group: Pressure groups such as unions, politicians and persons displaced from land by location of giant enterprises have been raising contradictory pressure on enterprise management such as internal recruitment and promotion, preference to employees’ children, displace person, sons of soil etc. 8) Systems Approach: The spread of system thinking and advent of the macro computer as the part of the on-going revolution in information technology which emphasis planning and newer ways of handling voluminous personnel records.
