Human Resource Planning at Cadbury - Case Study Example

Introduction Human resource planning is the process through which future and present human resource needs are secured for the achievement of the goals of an organization. HR planning is meant to be a link between the organization’s overall strategic plan and the human resources management Collings & (Wood 2009 pp. 300). HR planning is also seen to be the continuous process of systematic planning to attain optimum use of the most valuable asset of an organization which is the human resource. Human resource planning has the objective of ensuring that there is a match between the jobs and employees. It also works at ensuring that there are no surpluses or shortages in manpower. In this essay I will analyze the part Human Resource Planning plays in contributing to the success and sustainability of Cadbury which is a company headquartered in London in the U.K. Human resource planning at Cadbury Cadbury being a confectionary company is owned by Kraft foods and it operates in various countries around the world. It is based in the United Kingdom since it has its head quarters in London. There are several forces that put Cadbury together and help it attain its objectives. If there was all the capital needed and all infrastructure required without good manpower needed to make good use of these resources then the company could not be as successful as it is. For Cadbury to succeed, it created a good balance of manpower, capital and materials. Manpower that has been trained and equipped well is at all times beneficial in utilizing the resources available in the best way possible which eventually makes the organization successful. The human resource department has the responsibility of meeting the need of the organization for employees that are well qualified (Ulrich 1996, pp. 65) The organization couldn’t do without human resource planning. The manager for human resources has the responsibility of taking care of various important functions within the organization where recruitment and training of employees that meet the criteria of the organization is concerned (Conaty and Ram 2011, pp. 69).  Human resource planning has been viewed as being very critical within Cadbury. It is given priority over other planning activities. At Cadbury, Human Resource planning because it deals with people is placed at the top position. The needs of the workforce are given priority over other needs because people are seen to be more significant than anything else in the company. People are the most important resource that the company has. This makes it possible for the right number of candidates with the right potential, experience and qualification can be recruited. The logic here is that the Human Resource department should be equipped well so that it can identify potential candidates and make profitable use of their potential in the organization through exposure and training (Mathis and Jackson, 2010 pp. 512). At Cadbury Human Resource planning is therefore carried out before organizational planning because of its importance. Organizational planning has to do with plans for the other departments of the organization. First of all these departments should be given a workforce before their plans are formulated. At Cadbury the Human Resource planning process involves first the human resource department members. Personnel in this department are in the fore-front in executing the process. The bigger part of the planning process is accomplished in this department. This goes as far as human resources in other departments are concerned. The HR planning process may also involve other leaders in the other departments as well as the overall leadership. The department of human resource department contributes most of the people who are involved in the planning of human resources at Cadbury. The planning process is so involving and therefore it requires the input of other expert personnel within the company (Ivancevich 2006 pp. 45). The human resource planning process combines together all the other planning activities at Cadbury. These include the marketing plan, financial plan and business plan. All these planning activities incorporate human resource planning in them because it is at the center of all of them. The reason is that marketing plans or financial plans or any other plan needs human resources to succeed. People or human resources are the ones needed to execute the plans of all the other planning processes. The human resource department at Cadbury recognizes this and coordinates its activities well with the other departments. The personnel within the marketing finance and business planning processes all fall under the human resource department. Their needs are taken care of in the process of human resource planning. The human resource planning at Cadbury acts as the link between the overall strategic plan of the organization and human resource management. This link ensures proper coordination between these two. Business planning is effectively integrated with human resource planning to ensure utilization of the company resources by the workforce. Linking the strategic business plan of the organization and the human resource management is a very critical aspect. Without this linkage then the overall business plan may not succeed. Other plans such as the finance and marketing plan also rely on this linkage. The position of human resource planning is therefore very strategic (Collings & Wood 2009 pp. 300). The Human resource department complies with the regulations of EEO for ensuring that hiring and firing as well as transfers doesn’t go against the laws of anti-discrimination. The implication here is that planning is done to ensure compliance of such laws. Human resource departments gather and maintain statistics on employees. Planning should be done to ensure that there is a credible system that can keep statistics on these employees. Human resource planning carters for different administrative actions such as workers’ compensation claims on employment and unemployment. Plans are made on whether the counsel from outside can be retained or whether the HR department should handle it in-house (Dessler 2007 pp. 651). Advantages of Human Resource Planning at Cadbury Human resource (HR) planning has been very crucial to in the establishment of Cadbury since determines an action plan for every personnel management function besides anticipating the right number and kind of employees. HR planning is important because it has been used in expansion, technological change and diversification of the company. HR planning deals with change and uncertainty when it brings manpower where there are resources that have nobody to put them to work. It also brings to the organization, the scope for development and advancement of the workforce through training. The individual needs of employees in terms of salary enhancement, transfers, promotions and better benefits are satisfied through HR planning. HR planning also helps in the anticipation of salary costs and other human resource costs besides helping in the change of management strategies (Bratton, Gold 2001 pp. 210). Human resources planning tries hard to use to make effective use of the human resources so that they can be transformed for the realization of the organization’s objectives. It therefore relates the working people with the right activities required for the achievement of the goals of the organization. It also helps at selecting, recruiting, training, motivating and developing the employees to effectively perform their tasks besides planning, designing and as well as evaluating the jobs of employees (Torrington, Hall and Taylor 2008 pp. 340). The three major elements of the process of Human Resource planning are analyzing current labor supply, balancing projected labor supply and demand and forecasting labor demand. For any commercial or industrial organization to succeed it has to rely on the contribution that the employees make in their various assignments they accomplish. Organizations succeed when its employees are satisfied and productive in their various tasks. Human resources planning tries hard to use to make effective use of the human resources so that they can be transformed for the realization of an organization’s objectives. It therefore relates the working people with the right activities required for the achievement of the goals of the particular organization. It also aims at aiming selecting, recruiting, training, motivating and developing the employees to effectively perform their tasks besides planning, designing and as well as evaluating the jobs of employees (Torrington, Hall and Taylor 2008 pp. 340). Human resource planning provides relationships between the people and Cadbury through labor relations and the fringe benefits. It also contributes to the personnel policies of the organization and the agreements to ensure that they are effectively implemented (Sims 2007 pp. 76). Human resource planning in this organization has the important role of helping the organization to achieve its goals. It also targets at achieving the psychological and material satisfaction of all Cadbury employees. HR planning is also mandated to take care of the community’s welfare. The company carries some responsibility to the entire society. It provides better opportunities for employment and the production of better quality goods at rates that are reasonable. The Human Resource plan must be flexible so that it can take care of the short term challenges in staffing and at the same time adapt to the dynamic conditions within the environment and business in the long term (Armstrong 2006, pp. 630). The employee trainings carried out by the human resource department involve a lot of planning. Planning can touch on whether training will be carried out in-house or if it is necessary for an outside service to come in to conduct the exercise or if the two should be combined. Human resource planning considers training needs for the future. Planning must be done for cross training, new job training and soft skills training. Human resource departments have the responsibility for layoffs and firing. This has to be done with good planning. Terminating people should follow a process that is consistent because law suits can easily be triggered by inconsistence (Sims 2007 pp. 76). This is an indication that human resource planning at Cadbury holds a very key position in the organization. Conclusion In this essay the role played by human resource planning in ensuring that there is sustainability and success in the Cadbury Company has been examined. The human resource department is responsible for planning so many things that have to do with people in the organization. Human Resource planning is therefore very necessary for the success and sustainability of this organization. Human resource planning deals with the most important resource within the organization which happens to be people. Cadbury puts its human resources at the fore front of any other resource. Planning for human resources is treated with a lot of significance since it is places at the top. It is incorporated in all other planning processes such as finance and marketing because of it serves as the link between human resources and the organization’s strategic plan. It precedes the business planning process in the company since business planning is done after the workforce has been put in place. The needs of employees come first before all the other plans. The importance of human resource planning in Cadbury cannot be over-emphasized since it has contributed a lot to the success of the company. Bibliography Conaty, B. and Ram C. 2011. The Talent Masters: Why Smart Leaders Put People Before Numbers. Crown Publishing Group. Ulrich, D. 1996. Human Resource Champions. The next agenda for adding value and delivering results. Boston, Mass.: Harvard Business School Press. Mathis R. L, and Jackson J. H, 2010, Human Resource Management; Joseph Sabatino Torrington D. Hall L and Taylor S. 2008 Human Resource Management Financial Times Prentice Hall Armstrong M, 2006, A handbook of Human Resource Management, London Kogan page Bratton J, Gold J.2001 Human Resource Management: Theory and practice, New Jersey, Lawrence Erlbaum Associates Inc. Dessler G. 2007 Human Resource Management, Prentice Hall Ivancevich J. M 2006 Human Resource Management, Mc Graw Hill Irwin Sims R. 2007, Human Resource Management: Contemporary issues, challenges and Opportunities; IAP Information age. Collings D. & Wood G. 2009 Human Resource Management: A critical approach, Taylor & Francis Read More