Is Human Resource Planning a Worthless Activity - Essay Example

Introduction to Human Resource Management Name: Tutor: Course: Date: Human Resource Planning: A waste of time and money Introduction Human resources planning is a practice that recognizes present and future human resources needs if an organization is to achieve its objectives. Human resources planning has been considered as a link between the overall strategic plan and the human resources management of an organization. Most western countries experience aging worker populations hence the rising demand in developing economies for qualified workers emphasizes the usefulness of effective Human Resources Planning (Johnston &Packer 2007). The processes of planning are a best practice for firms as it defines what to be achieved in a given time-frame. However, types of human resources and the numbers needed to attain the defined business objectives are influenced by the required competencies, number of human resources and the time these resources will be required. Human Resource Planning is a worthless activity Although human resources planning is supported by competency-based management integration, there is little to show that business planning allows organizations to evaluate the capacity of present human resource depending on their competencies. Targeted human resource strategies have lacked the capacity required to attain the business goals, vision and mission of the organization (Hennecke 2004). Business organizations are interested in profits and least adopt programs and plans to address missing links of succession management, staffing/ hiring, career development and learning which are modeled, developed and executed to close the gaps. These programs and strategies are not prioritized by the organization and least evaluated and monitored on a constant basis. It is difficult to ensure that the organization is moving the in the right direction such as corrections and minimizing employee competency gaps as required. In essence, many organizations have good, actionable data on high employee turnover. Closure for employees and risk mitigation are reasons for goodwill and future employee referrals. Human resource planning has been knighted to be a best practice for those in the know. Human resource planning just like performance management has noble intentions. The stated objectives are valid but still, no evidence is given for attainment of the goals through the preferred processes. Apparently, most employees hate these as they revile the probability of good, actionable data. Closure and goodwill of employees are obliterated. The episode may be said both to support and not to support the view that discontinuities will occur rendering HR planning useless (Hollander & Offerman 2000). This argument supports the view of Mintzberg that planned ‘tree’ recruitment could cause damage since many talented people are interested in cutting losses and exit. If fails to support an organization with up to 6,500 staff on diverse types of contract. However, it encourages the establishment of brand image and training programs. Human resource planning is pro-downsizing. Current problems may be eliminated by having a more effective human resource plan. Through retrenchment or downsizing budgetary challenges are addressed with large-scale redundancies. For instance, the number of employed staff in the organization can go from 200 down to a mere 50. To expand the same organization requires recruitment of about 150 new staff. Therefore, retention and retraining of some old employees would make them more loyal and committed to the company. The organisation could have minimized the negative publicity linked to mass redundancy. A good company reputation brings about positive effect on the employer brand. The development of organizations future HR business environment is least put into consideration when undertaking workforce planning for the coming few years. In many occasions, organizations are not ready to manage outsourcing arrangements and diverse types of workers. The skills required for the future, when the organization used to certain techniques and methods learn new tricks. This leads to loss of key workers to other competitive organizations prompting re-hiring of ex-employees. Workforce planning as has been found out is not a common practice. The incidences of workforce planning realistically are much lower that believed. In fact, so little has been done regarding succession planning in US government organizations. The feedback from workforce planning strategies shows that benefits are less than actually believed (Howard & Bray 2008). These owe to low response rate, and those against planning may not be having formal plans. Human resource planning in many organisations remains a new concept hence activities may not be embedded. Lack of senior manager support is the major reason behind failed US governmental HR planning. It is also frustrated by deficient resources such as time, money and staff. To many organizations, HR planning is regarded as a non issue since companies have traditionally acquainted with their customized ad hoc approaches (Gurardi 2009). There is also the lack of confidence in planning methods since recruitment is not a specific hardship for organizations. In spite of being seen as a waste of time, there are few merits to go with human resource planning especially in the public sector like increased demand for public services owing to ageing population. Additional workers are required in this sector. Besides, many sector workers become eligible for retirement, and require replacement. Organisations deem it hard to fill some critical vacancies. Redeployment and restructuring increases firm’s efficiency while showing interest in employee career advancement and development (Bowen & Schneider 2008). Activities of planning are critical in increasing employee motivation, retention and productivity. Some of the long-term business scenarios identified with HR planning show a higher failure to materialise due to extremity of versions (Gupta & Govindarajan 2004). In reality, it is highly unlikely that the business environment will radically change in the coming years. If it does, then the outcomes are more likely to comprise components of different scenarios. In a scenario planning exercises, the likely advantages are the capacity of middle managers to prioritize in ‘safe’ decision-making, hence assisting in preparation of employees to assume leadership roles (Boudreau & Berger 2005). The HR will have an opportunity to get involved in strategy development. Communication will be enhanced among the different organisational stakeholders. Besides, every organisation becomes aware of growth planning and its merits to the firm. The decentralisation of the HR function caused mass redundancy of planning specialists in 1990s due to a decline of traditional human resource planning. Consequently, HR planning has not been the main agenda in individual business units with a short-term focus (Bolick & Nestleroth 1998). Nurturing senior managers has been a challenge since it can also be cheaper to source them from outside. This has made succession planning unfashionable in the past twenty years. It is undergoing renaissance in a number of companies. Planning by succession became unfashionable since it was viewed as outmoded in a time of competition, rapid change, individual responsibility for career planning, and leaner structures. Therefore, it was generally viewed as a waste of time for scarce success. Many organizations are beginning to appreciate the functions of HR planning since it is feasible owing to increased dialogue in modern business (Bentz 2008). It is proven that above-average financial performance is linked to strong succession management systems. Organizations have increased attention on career management. Promoting senior managers from within the organisation has been widely accepted since they are insiders who understand the organisation’s culture and values. They have a tendency of remaining in the company for many years because they are motivated by personal aspirations and loyalty. The organization knows the growth history of every individual thus ensuring that posses the requisite skills (Beer & Walton 2007). These activities motivate other employees to work hard and hold to excellent performance. However, outsiders are touted to bring along objectivity, innovation, and new skills. With HR planning, staff anticipating internal promotion gets shocked as they become de-motivated, lose patience and exit the organization while waiting for a senior post to appear. Conclusion HR planning influences succession in small and large firms since small firms are susceptible to external market changes, making it difficult to sustain a workable internal labour market. Employees will have to be promise viable career paths if they are to be attracted and retained for the required talent and growth. Many owner-managers of these organizations possess lots of specific tacit knowledge (Bechet & Maki 2007). Many firms are required to have a contingency plan on how to deal with the anticipated or unanticipated exit for any individual. The planning function may fail to work in small firms because of insufficient money and time for training and development activities and also for planning. Many owner-managers have limited skills to train others. In most cases, dedicated HR professionals are missing (Mobley et al 2006). A small talent pool exists for selection of successors. There have not been any concrete steps critical for HR planning in small and medium sized firms because selection and recruitment activities are not as robust as possible for it to attract the best employees. Single level of recruitment activity exists of which the lower levels who have comprised of individuals recruited externally from the company into scarce skilled jobs (Banas 2008). The higher level individuals hired internally or externally into specialist responsibilities demands added responsibility. Managers may not be willing to grow staff and make them ‘feel the burden’ as they get prepared for promotion. Of course, a mechanism should exist for the transfer of all explicit, tacit and organisation-specific types of knowledge. HR planning is therefore limited in the need for consideration of diverse knowledge types when preparing individuals for bigger roles that are tacit, explicit, and organisation-specific (Hay Group 2008). It is also limited to use of a period of ‘parallel running’ and the concept of two-tier succession planning. References list Banas, P A 2008, Employee involvement: A sustained labor/management initiative at the Ford Motor Company. In J. P. Campbell, R. J. Campbell, & Associates (Eds.), Productivity in organizations (pp. 388-416). San Francisco: Jossey-Bass. Bechet, T P & Maki, W R 2007, Modeling and forecasting: Focusing on people as a strategic resource. Human Resource Planning Journal, 10, 209-219. Beer, M & Walton, A E 2007, Organizational change and development. Annual Review of Psychology, 38, 339-367. Bentz, V J 2008, The Sears experience in the investigation, description, and prediction of executive behavior. In J. A. 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