Importance of Human Resource Planning - Coursework Example

Student’s Name: Instructor’s Name: Class Name: Date Assignment is due: Human Resource Planning (HRP) Introduction Human resource planning is the administrative function of the HR within an organization to evaluate and identify human resources requirements (Wong 287–293). The process is geared towards meeting the organizational goals by recruiting the right personnel who will work towards increasing production within an organization (Abdul and Derek 343–357). The process also involves activities geared towards assessing the availability of the needed qualified resources and making decisions on where to source from. Human resource planning has always played a key role in organizational management because it is a critical component of in identified strategic business planning for all organizations (Adnane, Shimon and Tania 207–215). In an effort to ensure competitive advantage within a marketplace, organizations work towards implementing innovative strategies designed to assist with the enhancement of their employee retention rate as well as recruiting fresh talent into the organizations (Huang, Tayles and Luther 4–21). However, the availability of human resources is dependent on diverse factors, which in every context influence human resource planning. This paper looks into environmental factors that impact on the availability of human resources for a given organization. Human resource planning has been used by organizations over a long period in ensuring that the right person is recruited for the right job. The planners also have a mandate to recruit these people at the right time. These efforts are ideal because they allow for a continuous flow of production within an identified workplace. Such planning is also recommended because they assign roles and responsibilities to individuals who are sure to deliver because of their competence in respective fields (Adnane, Shimon and Tania 207–215). Under past conditions of environmental stability and certainty, human resource planning had its main focus being on short term orientation. In this case, the organizations looked into recruitment of workers within a workplace just to have the pending work done (Wong 287–293). However, there has been increased environmental instability including changes in technology, demographic shifts, changing work force and heightened international competition, which have affected the availability of human resources (Dunne and Lusch 67–80). Organizations therefore, have been challenged in that they have to strategize appropriately and handle the pressures emanating from the environmental changes in an effort to sustain human resource availability. This has ultimately changed the nature of human resource planning within these organizations. Abdul and Derek noted that planning has become a product of the interaction between planners and line management (343–357). In this context, organizations have realized that for them to adequately address human resource concerns, and do it in an appropriate manner they adjust to long-term strategies while sticking to short-term solutions (Dunne and Lusch 67 – 80). Human resource planners have to involve themselves in diverse programs to ensure that they serve the business needs for human resources, and even influence the business direction positively. The changing nature of the workforce has featured in the modern day. Workforce characteristics have changed, which forces human resource planners to seek for appropriate means of recruiting the right workers. Adnane, Shimon and Tania (207–215) noted that between 1976 and 1980, the global labor force was estimated to experience a growth of 2.8% in average (Dunne and Lusch 67–80). However, between 1991 and 1995, the growth rate experienced a drop to 1.1 % (Wong 287–293). This led to a highly competitive market for labor force and organizations had to seek appropriate strategies to attract employees and retain them. Abdul and Derek (343 – 357) also noted that with 3 million people joining the labor force in early 1978, the situation took a drastic change with less than 2 million people entering the labor force from 1987 to 1995 (Adnane, Shimon and Tania 207–215). It was also noted that the proportions of younger people joining the labor force were much lower in 1995 compared to previous years (Wong 287–293). The decline in numbers meant that the retiring generation would strain the workforce in given organizations and this called for a skilled human resource management plan. The number of mothers with children joining the work force increased from 42% in 1985 to 55% in 1990 (Abdul and Derek 343–357). It was perceived that with such mothers increasing in the labor force, productivity would be affected because they could not devote ample time within the workplace due to other roles (Dunne and Lusch 67–80). On the same note, the ethnic mix of the labor force was viewed as changing. The United States Bureau of Labor Statistics estimated that ethnic minorities within year 2000 accounted for 57% of the growth in the human resources within the market (Abdul and Derek 343–357). The diversity challenged the human resource planners within organizations to seek for appropriate ways of recruiting them in the labor force and making appropriate use of the new talents and skills to increase organizational productivity (Wong 287–293). Globalization is the key issue that has featured as a source of the identified challenges. Demographic shifts are evident in the modern day with significant migration of human resources being experienced across the globe (Dunne and Lusch 67–80). Demographic shifts have affected human resource planning because of the uncertainty it creates within an organization (Huang, Tayles and Luther 4–21). Uncertainty is viewed as a challenge within organizations because it interferes with the operations and therefore, planners have to work hard in an attempt to reduce its impact. Human resource planning has become a formidable tactic used by organizations in the modern day to handle the demographic shifts (Abdul and Derek 343–357). The demographic projections identified in the workforce have significant implications in human resource planning. They are a determinant element on how organizations manage their human resources to ensure that they hold their productivity (Dunne and Lusch 67–80). The changing demographics mean that there is a probability of fewer entry-level employees, and this leads to competition among employers. In addition, the change signal changes in the interests, abilities, skills, and values of the work force, which organizations will have to deal with (Abdul and Derek 343–357). For instance, the United States labor force market is experiencing a shortage of many types of skilled workers including bricklayers, shipbuilders, tool-and-die makers, mechanics, machinists, and engineers (Wong 287–293). Organizations operating in the context of identified industries have therefore, worked ideally to strategize on how to retain the recruited employees, and attracting others to join the workforce (Dunne and Lusch 67–80). The Herculean challenge however, has been the attitude of the respective employees within the workplace. However, the organization’s management mandate is to ensure that they indulge the employees and work towards developing their loyalty to the organization. Technology is a strong environmental factor in the context of human resource planning. Advancement in technology has been experienced strong in the global market demanding that organizations plan for the implementation of the respective technologies in the production process (McCole, Trevor and Sharon 90–97). Abdul and Derek (343–357) noted that there have been hefty changes since history in the organizations because of advanced technology. It is noted that the emergence of human resource management enhanced the introduction of new technologies including the telephone, the time clock and the typewriter among other sophisticated technologies (Tsung-Hsien, Li-An and Ya-Jung 1054–1072). The human resources at that point did not have the appropriate skills to use the new technologies which called for ample training and new recruitments (Wong 287–293). It is therefore, quite apparent that the human resources within organizations will need to develop compatibility with the changes. This is what affects planning because the management of a given organization will need to invest in training the existent employees on using the new technologies while making sure that productivity is sustained at higher levels (McCole, Trevor and Sharon 90–97). In this context, organizations have been challenged because technologies such as computers, the internet and other new forms have engulfed production and maintenance in organizations yet employees from the older generations do not have the ability to use them (Tsung-Hsien, Li-An and Ya-Jung 1054–1072). Human resource planners within the organizations are challenged to ensure that the employees are capacitated to use the new technologies for them to feel comfortable and confident within the workplace (Abdul and Derek 343–357). This is an ideal way to motivate employees and lower rates of turnover. An outstanding example is the health care industries which have long being using paper work in recording. Paper work has grown to be obsolete and electronic recording has been the new thing introduced in the system (Tsung-Hsien, Li-An and Ya-Jung 1054–1072). An enormous challenge lies to the managements of the respective organizations to ensure that they plan ahead and train the employees before adopting these technologies into the system (McCole, Trevor and Sharon 90–97). Nevertheless, technology has impacted on the availability of human resources in organizations by making the selection process easier (Adnane, Shimon and Tania 207–215). The human resource planners have used new technologies including e-mail and the company websites for easy recruitment. Finding the right candidate is the role of the human resource planners. The planners invest to get the right person for a particular job. In helping to deal with this challenge, technology has made the recruitment process easier (Huang, Tayles and Luther 4–21). The human resource planners in the modern day have immediate access to the resumes that job seekers post in the company websites across the globe. This has been an excellent way of accessing diverse human resources (Dunne and Lusch 67–80). The planners can search and identify the kind of human resources they need for particular tasks and recruit appropriate kills and experience sought for the distinct tasks. This factor has made it possible for easy recruitment and has ascertained among organizations the availability of the human resources they require in necessitating production (Abdul and Derek 343–357). International competition also known as global competition has also been identified as a dominant factor influencing the availability of human resources (Adnane, Shimon and Tania 207–215). Across the globe, there are diverse organizations operating in the same line of production, and they seek for human resources within the same labor market (Wong 287–293). In this context, organizations have had a significant challenge of competition and winning the loyalty of the respective human resources. A case example of effects of globalization on availability of human resources is the nursing shortage (Abdul and Derek 343–357). The United States has experienced a massive nursing shortage over the years, many of the healthcare institutions are finding it hard to retain nurses or recruit new nurses within these institutions. Global competitiveness has challenged the workforce in the nursing profession, and this call for appropriate planning to ensure that the shortage has been solved (Huang, Tayles and Luther 4–21). Global markets have also adopted strategies of outsourcing human resources that are inadequate within the respective regions. In this context, they provide appealing remittances and other incentives to attract human resources. Conclusion The human resource planning process is geared towards meeting the organizational goals by recruiting the right personnel who will work towards increasing production within an organization. The process also involves activities geared towards assessing the availability of the needed qualified resources and making decisions on where to source from. . These efforts made by the human resource personnel are ideal because they allow for a continuous flow of production within an identified workplace. The human resource planners strategize within diverse environments to recruit the right personnel. However, several factors have been identified as influencing the availability of human resources. Three factors have been identified in this paper as with great impact on the availability of human resources including global competition, technological advancements and demographic shifts in the nature of the available workforce. The human resource planners in diverse organizations are mandated to strategize appropriate and overcome all the challenges in an effort to recruit the required human resources. Works Cited Abdul, Rahman and Derek Eldridge. Re-conceptualizing human resource planning in response to institutional change. International Journal of Manpower, 19.5 (1998): 343–357. Adnane, Belout, Shimon, Dolan and Tania Saba. Trends and emerging practices in human resource management - The Canadian scene. International Journal of Manpower, 22.3 (2001): 207–215. Dunne, Patrick and Lusch Robert. Retailing: Demographic Shifts. 5th Edition. Mason: South- Western, 2005. Huang, Ching, Tayles, Michael and Luther Robert. Contingency factors influencing the availability of internal intellectual capital information. Journal of Financial Reporting and Accounting, 8.1 (2010): 4–21. McCole, Patrick, Trevor, Morrow and Sharon Ponsonby. The potential training impact of technology on SMEs in Northern Ireland. Journal of European Industrial Training, 25.2: 90 – 97 Tsung-Hsien, Kuo, Li-An Ho and Ya-Jung Wu. The factors influencing employees' attitudes in high-tech environment. Industrial Management & Data Systems, 1107 (2010): 1054– 1072. Wong, Kevin. Industry-specific and general environmental factors impacting on hotel employment. International Journal of Contemporary Hospitality Management,16.5 (2004): 287–293. Read More