Need for and Importance
of HRP:
The need for human resource planning in organisation
is realised for the following reasons:1. Despite growing unemployment, there has been shortage of human resources with required skills, qualification and capabilities to carry on works. Hence the need for human resource planning.
2 Large numbers of employees, who retire, die, leave organisations, or become incapacitated because of physical or mental ailments, need to be replaced by the new employees. Human resource planning ensures smooth supply of workers without interruption.
3. Human resource planning is also essential in the face of marked rise in workforce turnover which is unavoidable and even beneficial. Voluntary quits, discharges, marriages, promotions and seasonal fluctuations in business are the examples of factors leading to workforce turnover in organisations. These cause constant ebb and flow in the work force in many organisations.
4. Technological changes and globalisation usher in change in the method of products and distribution of production and services and in management techniques. These changes may also require a change in the skills of employees, as well as change in the number of employees required. It is human resource planning that enables organisations to cope with such changes.
5. Human resource planning is also needed in order to meet the needs of expansion and diversification programmes of an organisation.
6. The need for human resource planning is also felt in order to identify areas of surplus personnel or areas in which there is shortage of personnel. Then, in case of surplus personnel, it can be redeployed in other areas of organisation. Conversely, in case of shortage of personnel, it can be made good by downsizing the work force.
Human resource planning is important to organisation because it benefits the organisation in several ways.
Various approaches to
HRP
1. Quantitative
Approach
It is also known as top
down approach of HR planning under which top level make and efforts
to prepare the draft of HR planning. It is a management-driven
approach under which the HR planning is regarded as a number's game.
It is based on the analysis of Human Resource Management Information
System and HR Inventory Level. On the basis of information provided
by HRIS, the demand of manpower is forecasted using different
different quantitative tools and techniques such as trend analysis,
mathematical models, economic models, market analysis, and so on. The
focus of this approach is to forecast human resource surplus and
shortages in an organisation. In this approach major role is played
by top management.
2. Qualitative Approach
This approach is also
known as bottom up approach of HR planning under which the
subordinates make an effort to prepare the draft of HR
planning.Hence, it is also called sub-ordinate-driven approach of HR
planning. It focuses on individual employee concerns. It is concerned
with matching organisational needs with employee needs. Moreover, it
focuses on employee's training, development and creativity.
Similarly, compensation, incentives, employee safety, welfare,
motivation and promotion etc. are the primary concerns of this
approach. In this approach, major role is played by lower level
employees.
3. Mixed Approach
This is called mixed
approach because it combines both top-down and bottom-up approaches
of HR planning. In fact, the effort is made to balance the antagonism
between employees and the management. Hence, it tends to produce the
best result that ever produced by either of the methods. Moreover, it
is also regarded as an Management By Objective(MBO) approach of HR
planning. There is a equal participation of each level of employees
of the organisation.
