UNIVERSITY OF MUMBAI

M.COM. PART - I (FIRST SEMESTER)

ACADEMIC YEAR 2012 - 2013

A PROJECT ON : HUMAN RESOURCE PLANNING

PROJECT BY MS. PATEL SHREYA VISHNUKUMAR ROLL NO. 37 DIVISION : B

PROJECT GUIDE PROF . HARIKRISHNAN KURUP

MITHIBAI COLLEGE OF ARTS, CHAUHAN INSTITUTE OF SCIENCE & AMRUTHBEN JIVANLAL COLLEGE OF COMMERCE & ECONOMICS. VILE PARLE (WEST) MUMBAI - 400 056

DECLARATION

I, MS. PATEL SHREYA VISHNUKUMAR student of MITHIBAI COLLEGE, studying in M.COM (PART I) Roll No. 37, hereby declare that i have completed my project, titled HUMAN RESOURCE PLANNING for the subject - Human Resource Management in the academic year 2012 - 2013. The information submitted here is true and original as per my research and observation.

DATE OF SUBMISSION 28TH SEPTEMBER 2012. SIGNATURE OF STUDENT (MS. PATEL SHREYA VISHNUKUMAR)

CERTIFICATE THIS IS TO CERTIFY THAT MS. PATEL SHREYA VISHNUKUMAR, STUDENT OF M.COM PART I OF MITHIBAI COLLEGE, HAS COMPLETED THE PROJECT ON HUMAN RESOURCE PLANNING IN THE ACADEMIC YEAR 2012 - 2013. THE INFORMATION SUBMITTED IS TRUE AND ORIGINAL TO THE BEST OF OUR KNOWLEDGE.

SIGNATURE OF PRINCIPAL

SIGNATURE OF PROJECT GUIDE (PROF. HARIKRISHNAN KURUP)

COLLEGE SEAL

SIGNATURE OF EXTERNAL EXAMINER

ACKNOWLEDGEMENT

At this juncture, I would extend my gratitude to a number of people without whom this informative project would have been impossible. Every work that is appreciated is supported by various hands. This project would just not be complete without the valuable contribution from various people whom i have interacted with in the course of its completion. I would like to sincerely acknowledge my guide PROF. HARIKRISHNAN KURUP for providing me with an excellent and splendid opportunity to present this project on Human Resource Planning which definitely has given a further professional approach. I am extremely grateful to the University of Mumbai for having prescribed this project work to me as a part of the academic requirement in the MCOM -1course lastly, I would like to appreciate the management and staff of MITHIBAI College, MCOM-1 for providing the entire state of the art infrastructure and resources to enable the completion and enrichment of my project.

TABLE OF CONTENTS

Sr. No. 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10 11 12 13 14

Title HUMAN RESOURCE PLANNING PROCESS OF HUMAN RESOURCE PLANNING OBJECTIVES OF HRP HRP - THE MAJOR STAGES EFFECTIVENESS OF HUMAN RESOURCE PLANNING HRP AT DIFFERENT LEVELS IMPORTANCE OF HUMAN RESOURCE PLANNING PRACTICAL BENEFITS OF HUMAN RESOURCE PLANNING ACTIONS OF HUMAN RESOURCE PLANNING FACTORS AFFECTING HUMAN RESOURCE PLANNING NEED FOR HUMAN RESOURCE PLANNING LIMITATIONS OF HUMAN RESOURCE PLANNING Conclusion Bibliography

Page no. 6 10 14 16 18 24 25 27 29 31 33 36 40 42

HUMAN RESOURCE PLANNING

Human resource planning is the process of forecasting an organizations future for, and supply of, the right type of people, in the right number. after HRP is done, recruitment and selection can be started. HRP helps in achievement of the objectives of the organization, by providing the right type and the right number of personnel. HRP helps an organization have the right number and kind of people, at the right place and right time to successfully achieve its overall objectives. HRP involves estimating manpower needs and formulating plans to meet these needs. specially, human resource planning is the process by which an organization ensures that it has the right number and kind of people, at the right place, at the right time, capable of effectively and efficiently completing these tasks that will help the organization achieve its overall objectives. Human resource planning translate the organizations plans and objectives into the number of workers needed to meet those objectives. Without clear-cut planning, estimation of an organizations human resource is reduced to more guesswork. HRP includes the estimation of how many qualified people are necessary to carry out the assigned activities, how many people will be available and what, if anything, must be done to ensure that personnel supply equals the personnel demand at the appropriate point in the future. Many business owners prepare a business plan before starting their business. However, small business owners often do not include human resource planning as part of their over-all business plan. They may start out with only a few employees or none at all. Over time, it is important to properly forecast employment needs. Just as failing to address potential threats in the marketplace can jeopardize the viability of your business, failing to anticipate personnel needs can impact on overall business success. The success of a business is directly linked to the performance of those who work for that business. Underachievement can be a result of workplace failures. Because hiring the wrong people or failing to anticipate fluctuations in hiring needs can be costly, it is important that you put effort into human resource planning. Planning for HR needs will help to ensure your employees have the skills and competencies your business needs to succeed. An HR plan works hand in hand with your business plan to determine the resources you need to achieve the businesss goals. It will better prepare you for staff turnover,
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recruitment, and strategic hiring and alleviate stress when you have emergency/last-minute hiring needs. This module provides a detailed outline of how small business owners can develop a human resource plan. There is also a discussion of issues to consider when developing a succession plan, the plan that is needed to consider how to carry on the business, or sell the business, when the current management/ownership leaves. Tips for creating a personnel policy manual are also included.

Definition of 'Human Resource Planning - HRP' The ongoing process of systematic planning to achieve optimum use of an organization's most valuable asset - its human resources. The objective of human resource (HR) planning is to ensure the best fit between employees and jobs, while avoiding manpower shortages or surpluses. The three key elements of the HR planning process are forecasting labor demand, analyzing present labor supply, and balancing projected labor demand and supply.

Investopedia explains 'Human Resource Planning - HRP' The HR plan needs to be flexible enough to meet short-term staffing challenges, while adapting to changing conditions in the business and environment over the longer term. Human resource planning is also a continuous process.

E.W Vetter viewed human resources planning as a process by which an organization should move from its current manpower position to its desired manpower position. Through planning management strives to have the right number and right kind of people at the right places at the right time, doing things which result in both the organization and the individual receiving maximum long-run benefit.

According to Leon C Megginson human resources planning is an integrated approach to performing the planning aspects of the personnel function in order to have a sufficient supply of adequately developed and motivated people to perform the duties and tasks required to meet organizational objectives and satisfy the individual needs and goals of organizational members.
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Human resources planning may be viewed as foreseeing the human resource requirements of an organization and the future supply of human resources and

1. making necessary adjustments between these two and organizational plans ;and

2. foreseeing the possibility of developing the supply of human resources in order to match it with requirements by introducing necessary changes in the functions of human resources management .In this definition, human resource means skill knowledge, values, ability, commitment, motivation etc., in addition to the number of employees.

Planning for human resource is more important than planning for any other resource as demand for the later depends upon the size and structure of the former whether it is in a country or in an industry. Further ,management of human resources hardly begins from human resources planning .In fact it is the basis for most of the other functions.

PRINCIPLES OF HUMAN RESOURCE PLANNING

Sound human resource planning needs to be based on the principles and actions highlighted in the article below. In the practical world, an external human resource consultant or employment agency plays an important role in planning the basic requirements for human resource. 1. Human Resource Planning has to be finally integrated into the other areas of the organizations strategy and planning. 2. 3. Senior management must give a lead in stressing its importance throughout the organization. An larger organizations a central human resource planning unit responsible to senior management needs to be established . The main objectives of this are to co-ordinate and reconcile the demands for human resources from different departments, to standardize and supervise departmental assessments of requirements and to produce a comprehensive organizational plan. In practice, the Human Resource and Development department would normally play a leading role in the task . In smaller organizations these responsibilities would probably be carried out by a senior manager or even the managing director. 4. The time span to be covered by the plan needs to be defined. Because of the abiding problem of making forecasts involving imponderable factors, a compromise is often adopted in which a general human resource plan is produced to cover a period of several years. If the system is operated as a continuous, rolling plan, the five year period of general forecasting is maintained and each first year is used in turn for purpose of review and revision for the future. 5. The scope and details of the plan have to be determined. For large organizations separate human resource plans and forecasts may well be needed for various subsidiary units and functions. In smaller organizations one comprehensive plan will probably suffice for all employees. Where particular skills or occupations may pose future problems in recruitment or training, special provisions will be required in human resource planning. 6. Human resource planning must be based on the most comprehensive and accurate information that is possible. Such personal information is essential in any case for the effective management of the organization. Details of format and contents will naturally vary, but they will normally need to include details of age, sex, qualifications and experience and of trends likely to effect future forecasts, such as labor wastage, charges in jobs, salaries, etc. Apart from the routine collection of data for personnel records, special analyses may sometimes be necessary to provide particular information.
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THE PROCESS OF HUMAN RESOURCE PLANNING

There are many organizations which are now successful because of the proper human resource planning as proper human resource planning paves the path for the future of the organization. Any organization can be considered to be standing on the four pliers and these are finance, Marketing, Operations and Human Resource. Role of any human resource department is to give any such organization a growth in terms of employee's status and value. Today many human resource executives use modern approaches and theories in order to investigate the over all status of human assets any organization may have.

Any human resource planning may include one or more of the following points like hiring best fitted human resource with the minimum possible costs, education of current human resource for the increase outputs, development of the HR strategy for the proper organization functioning. Objective of human resource planning is to provide smooth functioning to organizations in a long run or to optimize current and future human resource for better out puts. Any good HR strategy includes human resource development practices as well. There are many activities any HR executive can approach in order to make a effective HR strategy which normally starts with the investigation level and various types of staff surveys are done to know the exact and accurate information on the current HR status in any organization. Staff surveys are often done in the form of questionnaire containing both open ended and close ended questions. Often the identity of respondents kept undisclosed so that employees can express their opinions without any fear of being highlighted in the organization and the biggest advantage of such staff surveys is that people speak what they feel because of these staff surveys exact and accurate information can be gathered. Various questions like employees views on current work culture and administrative issues can be asked in these surveys. These surveys are also helpful to investigate on the current employees relations as well and based on the information gathered about the current HR status and employees relations an effective HR strategy can be developed as a part of human resource planning. In many labor intensive industries it is quite important to manage good employees relations as any small dispute can be turn into a big issue there.
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Any human resource planning has mainly four basic phase's investigation, analysis, formulation, implementation and monitoring. In the investigation phase several problems and bottle necks get identified with the help of staff surveys and other Human resource tools. In this phase several bench marks and milestones get set and based on the comparison from the current status a report is often prepared. In the analysis phase many types of group discussion and other activities happen in order to analyse the date and to reach on a possible best solution often opinion from different departments is taken in order to make process real effective. After proper analysis different HR strategies and benchmarks gets formulated in order to make the process of whole department flawless and smooth. Then in implementation and monitoring phases all the formulated rules and standards are bring into force and HR team closely monitors about the effectiveness of such rules and parameters. There can be other few steps also and it depends upon the type of organization and the type of HR strategy as well. The human resources planning model is a method companies can use to make sure it has enough employees and the right employees to carry out the various functions of the company. The human resources planning model encompasses three key elements, which include predicting the employees your company needs, analyzing if the supply of potential employees meets your demand and learning to balance the supply and demand of employees. Human resource planning is the responsibility of all managers. It focuses on the demand and supply of labour and involves the acquisition, development and departure of people. This is recognised as a vital HR function as the success of an organization depends on its employees. The purpose of HR planning is to ensure that a predetermined number of persons with the correct skills are available at a specified time in the future. Thus, HR planning systematically identifies what must be done to guarantee the availability of the human resources needed by an organization to meet its strategic business objectives. To achieve this HR planning cannot be undertaken in isolation. It must be linked to the organizations overall business strategy, and concentrate on the organizations long-range human resource requirements.

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Process of Human Resource Planning : 1. Analyzing the Corporate Level Strategies: Human Resource Planning should start with analyzing corporate level strategies which include expansion, diversification, mergers, acquisitions, reduction in operations, technology to be used, method of production etc. Therefore Human Resource Planning should begin with analyzing the corporate plans of the organization before setting out on fulfilling its tasks. 2. Demand forecasting: Forecasting the overall human resource requirement in accordance with the organizational plans is one of the key aspects of demand forecasting. Forecasting of quality of human resources like skills, knowledge, values and capabilities needed in addition to quantity of human resources is done through the following methods: a. Executive or Managerial Judgement: Here the managers decide the number of employees in the future. They adopt one of the three approaches mentioned below: Bottom-Up approach: Here the concerned supervisors send their proposals to the top officials who compare these with the organizational plans, make necessary adjustments and finalizes them. Top-Down approach: Here the management prepares the requirements and sends the information downwards to the supervisory level who finalizes the draft and approves it. Participative Approach: Here the supervisors and the management sit together and projections are made after joint consultations. Drawbacks The chief drawback of these methods is that estimation of manpower is made using guesswork. b. Statistical Techniques: These methods use statistical methods and mathematical techniques to forecast and predict the supply and demand of Human Resources in the future. Ratio-Trend analysis: In this method depending on the past data regarding number of employees in each department, like production department, sales department, marketing department and workload level, etc ratios for manpower are estimated. Past values are plotted and extrapolated to get fairly accurate future projections. c. Work Study method: This technique is suitable to study the correlation between volume of work and labour i.e. demand for human resources is estimated based on the workload. Work study
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method is more appropriate for repetitive and manual jobs when it is possible to measure work and set standards. d. Delphi Technique: Delphi Technique is named after the Greek Oracle at the city of Delphi. In this method, the views of different experts related to the industry are taken into consideration and then a consensus about the Human Resource requirement is arrived at. Delphi technique is used primarily to assess long-term needs of human resource. 3. Analyzing Human Resource Supply: Every organization has two sources of supply of Human Resources: Internal & External. Internally, human resources can be obtained for certain posts through promotions and transfers. In order to judge the internal supply of human resources in future human resource inventory or human resource audit is necessary. Human resource inventory helps in determining and evaluating the quantity of internal human resources available. Once the future internal supply is estimated, supply of external human resources is analyzed. 4. Estimating manpower gaps: Manpower gaps can be identified by comparing demand and supply forecasts. Such comparison will reveal either deficit or surplus of Human Resources in the future. Deficit suggests the number of persons to be recruited from outside, whereas surplus implies redundant employees to be re-deployed or terminated. Employees estimated to be deficient can be trained while employees with higher, better skills may be given more enriched jobs. 5. Action Planning: Once the manpower gaps are identified, plans are prepared to bridge these gaps. Plans to meet the surplus manpower may be redeployment in other departments and retrenchment. People may be persuaded to quit voluntarily through a golden handshake. Deficit can be met through recruitment, selection, transfer and promotion. In view of shortage of certain skilled employees, the organization has to take care not only of recruitment but also retention of existing employees. Hence, the organization has to plan for retaining of existing employees. 6. Modify the Organizational plans: If future supply of human resources form all the external sources is estimated to be inadequate or less than the requirement, the manpower planner has to suggest to the management regarding the alterations or modifications in the organizational plans. 7. Controlling and Review: After the action plans are implemented, human resource structure and the processes should be controlled and reviewed with a view to keep them in accordance with action plans.

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OBJECTIVES OF HUMAN RESOURCE PLANNING

A human resources department plays a significant role in a given company, as this department is responsible for hiring individuals and managing existing employees to get a maximum return on all company operations and investments. Daily operations include improving employee relations, developing administrative manuals, hiring new management and performing evaluations to ensure all employees meet company goals and expectations. Since human resources representatives hire people and develop plans for the future, the main focus of this department is planning.

Hiring Employees When a company hires new employees, it is often human resources managers that are responsible for interviewing new applicants to ensure the companys needs are met. One major objective for human resources managers is to find the appropriate number of people with the best-fitted skills and experiences for the companys needs. Experienced workers will get the work done for the lowest amount of funding with the goal of bringing in the maximum profits. In addition, finding the bestsuited workers is part of planning for the companys future. Union Workers Some workers are controlled by unionized laws and regulations. Companies operating under unionized regulations also have a human resources department. One major objective for unionized companies is to follow the unions regulations and plans in regards to wages and salaries. This means respecting the requirements set out by the union, despite the performances and seniority of the companys workers. Administrative Manuals Human resources workers are responsible for developing manuals and guides for employees and managers to follow, whether they are training manuals or safety guides. One major objective for the human resources department is to create guides and manuals that not only holds true for years to come, but also provide a planned method of completing tasks in the given company. These administrative guides give the company control over how employees perform tasks.

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Equality and Legality Another major objective for a human resources department in terms of planning is to create plans, rules and regulations that meet the local and statewide laws in the given industry. For example, a human resources department of a food-service company must meet local, state and federal laws and regulations for storing food products and service when preparing administrative manuals for employees and managers. The important objectives of manpower planning in an organization are

1. to recruit and retain the human resources of required quantity and quality.

2. to foresee the employee turnover and make the arrangements for minimizing turnover and filling up of consequent vacancies

3. to meet the needs of the program of expansion, diversification etc.,

4. to foresee the impact of technology on work, existing employees and future human resources requirements

5. to improve the standards skill .knowledge,, ability, discipline etc.,

6. to assess the surplus or shortage of human resources and take measures accordingly.,

7. to maintain congenial industrial relations by maintaining optimum level and structure of human resources;

8. to minimize imbalances caused due to non-availability of human resources of right kind ,right number in right time and right place;

9. to make the best use of its human resources; and

10. to estimate the cost of human resources.

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HUMAN RESOURCE PLANNING - THE MAJOR STAGES

Your company likely started out with a business plan. As it grew, the plan might have changed year to year, but it always followed a plan for success and for growth. Human resource planning is the process of understanding the goals of a business and combining them with the future and current human resource needs required to reach those goals. Retiring employees, new hires, employee training, and many other facets all combine to form human resource planning as a whole. It is commonly thought of as a multi-stage process. While individual plans will differ somewhat, here are some of the basic stages involved with most successful strategic human resource planning ventures. Human resource planning must begin with an assessment of what your company's long and short term goals are. Once that you have decided what your business hopes to accomplish, the next step is figuring out just what you will need in the way of human resources in order to accomplish this goal. How many employees in a department, what skills they will need, and other aspects must be considered. Next, you need to form a list of current available human resources, being sure that you consider the futures of older employees who may be retiring before your goal is reached. Once you know what your goals are and what your current resources are, the next step of human resource planning is to figure out what you'll need in order to make your goals a reality. In the realm of human resource planning, this can include any number of things such as hiring new employees, undergoing new training programs, beginning employment performance reviews, and much more. Consider the implementation of all your planned changes and how they will integrate with any human resource management system you are using. This is possibly the most important phase of human resource planning since you are essentially creating your course of action for reaching your goals. With your plan laid out, you'll need to set it into motion. Make new hires based upon your current needs as well as long term ones. Begin training programs that you need your employees to

undertake. Complete those performance reviews. In other words, do exactly what your human resource planning called for. But human resource planning doesn't end when you begin

implementing your strategy. You'll need to monitor its progression as it occurs. Check to see how employee participation in training is going, for example, or ensure that the new employees are being hired at the right time and working out as you'd hoped for.
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Human resource planning is a very complex science. In fact, it's practically an art form all its own. Used properly it can lead your company to meet its goals and prevent any problems you wouldn't have foreseen without implementing human resource planning. These are the fundamentals of

human resource planning at their most basic. While putting them into practice can be complicated and even stressful at times, the implementation of a great plan is an important way to protect the future of your business. Human resource planning can be described as a strategy for the acquisition, utilization, improvement and retention of an organizations human resources. The four main stages are

Auditing : The auditing stage involves the analysis of the strategic environment (trends in population growth, education, pensions etc) in the light of the organizations strategic objectives. The strategy chosen will have implications for the numbers of employees and the mix of skills required.

Forecasting : The forecasting stage analyses the demand for, and supply of, labour in terms of number, type and quality of people that the organization should employ to meet planned requirements and cover expected turnover.

Planning : The planning stage involves policies to recruit, train and develop the labour force indicated in the forecast.

Controlling resources : The controlling stage involves measuring the effective use of the human resources and their contribution towards the achievement of the organizations objectives.

In addition to auditing, forecasting, planning and controlling resources the following aspects of human resource planning can also be important and they are -

recruiting training and development promotion planning retention and succession planning.
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EFFECTIVENESS OF HUMAN RESOURCE PLANNING

People are indeed the greatest assets to an organization; they are the foundation, but also one of the largest expenses. Thus it is critical that an organization ensures that these human assets are properly utilized before going ahead and hiring new staff. However, when you have hundreds of projects and many employees, there is bound to be a resource allocation inefficiency right? Wrong. Resource inefficiency can be greatly reduced if we make the right choice.

In todays organizations, it is increasingly difficult to manually calculate an accurate demand and supply of human resources across the organization. This is because when there are complex organizational structures, matrix management and many projects, the visibility of the work and resources goes down. If you want to enable accurate human resource planning in order to maximize the utilization of your employees, then it is important that you implement a proper centralized system with the right processes.

This means not just any old system, but one that will keep up with the pace of your dynamic organization and continuously track the supply and demand of human resources in order to support you bridge the inefficiency gap. When finding the right system for your human resource planning, the following steps are a must:

1. 2. 3. 4.

Determine current and future SUPPLY of human resources Determine current and future DEMAND of human resources Match DEMAND with SUPPLY and determine the gap Create and implement plan to bridge the gap between DEMAND & SUPPLY

1. Determine the current and future SUPPLY of human resources Since employees are located all over the place within departments, teams, projects, offices, cities and countries it is important to have an organization wide visibility of the quantity and quality of the people you have employed. To ensure this, it is critical that you have a centralized system in place where the following information can be systematically recorded and managed for the whole organization: Individual Capabilities i.e. skills, trainings, certification. Work history on different jobs, projects, functional areas.
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Areas of interest and types of roles an individual can play. Current and future work hours of an individual. Planned and unplanned leave. Public holidays, part time and full time work calendar.

2. Determine the current and future DEMAND of human resources All organizations have a variety of projects that require different people with different skills, yet tracking this at a micro level is difficult and cumbersome, especially in a large organization. Hence, it is necessary to have a system in place where the various resource demand created by planned and unplanned activities can be tracked and managed at macro level. A system that tracks project related work and also non project related unplanned work such as business as usual activities and help desk support in order to calculate the total resources demanded.

3. Match DEMAND with SUPPLY and determine the resourcing gaps It may sound simple, that once the supply and demand of human resources have determined accurately, they need to be matched up. It is important to ensure that the right person for the project is identified based on the required skill, role, training, availability and area of interest. This ensures a win-win situation for both employees and employers and ultimately adds to the profitability of the company. Sounds quite challenging doesnt it? It can be easy. Finding the best person for the job can be easily achieved through the use of a robust resource planning and scheduling software a tool that will find the correct resource with the click of a button. A tool that will measure and track the utilization of individual human resources, so that new work can be allocated and existing work can be reallocated in order to balance the work load across the organization and achieve optimum utilization.

4. Build and implement future plan to bridge the gap between DEMAND & SUPPLY No matter how much we attempt to reallocate our resources, we often end up with resourcing gaps where we have too many employees, or sometimes dont have enough. The important thing is being able to identify this in advance and plan accordingly to ensure that our organizations run smoothly. In such situations organizations should ensure they: Build and implement a proper recruitment plan based on the resourcing gaps i.e. plan to hire people at the appropriate time.

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Retrain current employees to acquire new set of skills to maximize the efficiency of existing staff.

Provide better incentives to retain people with rare skill sets as they can be hard to come by.

Maximizing the utilization of human capital is much easier said than done, and unfortunately, the poor allocation of human resources adversely affects the bottom line as they are often the greatest overhead. Nonetheless as described above, all this can be managed efficiently if we use the right systems, software and processes.

One such software is SAVIOM Resource Planning and Scheduling Software which has been specifically designed to address all the resource challenges faced by all sorts of organizations. The beauty of this product is that it can be configured to suit your organizations needs, whilst being affordable and easy to use.

How can HRP be applied? The report details the sort of approach companies might wish to take. Most organizations are likely to want HRP systems: which are responsive to change where assumptions can easily be modified that recognize21 organizational fluidity around skills that allow flexibility in supply to be included that are simple to understand and use which are not too time demanding.

To operate such systems organizations need: appropriate demand models good monitoring and corrective action processes comprehensive data about current employees and the external labour market an understanding how resourcing works in the organization.

If HRP techniques are ignored, decisions will still be taken, but without the benefit of understanding their implications. Graduate recruitment numbers will be set in ignorance of demand, or
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management succession problems will develop unnoticed. As George Bernard Shaw said: to be in hell is to drift; to be in heaven is to steer. It is surely better if decision makers follow this maxim in the way they make and execute resourcing plans. Why human resource planning? Human Resource Planning: an Introduction was written to draw these issues to the attention of HR or line managers. We address such questions as: what is human resource planning? how do organizations undertake this sort of exercise? what specific uses does it have?

In dealing with the last point we need to be able to say to hard pressed managers: why spend time on this activity rather than the other issues bulging your in tray? The report tries to meet this need by illustrating how human resource planning techniques can be applied to four key problems. It then concludes by considering the circumstances is which human resourcing can be used.

1. Determining the numbers to be employed at a new location If organizations overdo the size of their workforce it will carry surplus or underutilized staff. Alternatively, if the opposite misjudgment is made, staff may be overstretched, making it hard or impossible to meet production or service deadlines at the quality level expected. So the questions we ask are: How can output be improved your through understanding the interrelation between productivity, work organization and technological development? What does this mean for staff numbers? What techniques can be used to establish workforce requirements? Have more flexible work arrangements been considered? How are the staff you need to be acquired?

The principles can be applied to any exercise to define workforce requirements, whether it be a business start-up, a relocation, or the opening of new factory or office.

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2. Retaining your highly skilled staff Issues about retention may not have been to the fore in recent years, but all it needs is for organizations to lose key staff to realize that an understanding of the pattern of resignation is needed. Thus organizations should: monitor the extent of resignation discover the reasons for it establish what it is costing the organization compare loss rates with other similar organizations.

Without this understanding, management may be unaware of how many good quality staff are being lost. This will cost the organization directly through the bill for separation, recruitment and induction, but also through a loss of long-term capability. Having understood the nature and extent of resignation steps can be taken to rectify the situation. These may be relatively cheap and simple solutions once the reasons for the departure of employees have been identified. But it will depend on whether the problem is peculiar to your own organization, and whether it is concentrated in particular groups (e.g. by age, gender, grade or skill).

3. Managing an effective downsizing programme This is an all too common issue for managers. How is the workforce to be cut painlessly, while at the same time protecting the long-term interests of the organization? A question made all the harder by the time pressures management is under, both because of business necessities and employee anxieties. HRP helps by considering: the sort of workforce envisaged at the end of the exercise the pros and cons of the different routes to get there how the nature and extent of wastage will change during the run-down the utility of retraining, redeployment and transfers what the appropriate recruitment levels might be.

Such an analysis can be presented to senior managers so that the cost benefit of various methods of reduction can be assessed, and the time taken to meet targets established.

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If instead the CEO announces on day one that there will be no compulsory redundancies and voluntary severance is open to all staff, the danger is that an unbalanced workforce will result, reflecting the take-up of the severance offer. It is often difficult and expensive to replace lost quality and experience.

4. Where will the next generation of managers come from? Many senior managers are troubled by this issue. They have seen traditional career paths disappear. They have had to bring in senior staff from elsewhere. But they recognize that while this may have dealt with a short-term skills shortage, it has not solved the longer term question of managerial supply: what sort, how many, and where will they come from? To address these questions you need to understand: the present career system (including patterns of promotion and movement, of recruitment and wastage) the characteristics of those who currently occupy senior positions the organizations future supply of talent.

This then can be compared with future requirements, in number and type. These will of course be affected by internal structural changes and external business or political changes. Comparing your current supply to this revised demand will show surpluses and shortages which will allow you to take corrective action such as: recruiting to meet a shortage of those with senior management potential allowing faster promotion to fill immediate gaps developing cross functional transfers for high fliers hiring on fixed-term contracts to meet short-term skills/experience deficits reducing staff numbers to remove blockages or forthcoming surpluses.

Thus appropriate recruitment, deployment and severance policies can be pursued to meet business needs. Otherwise processes are likely to be haphazard and inconsistent. The wrong sort of staff are engaged at the wrong time on the wrong contract. It is expensive and embarrassing to put such matters right.

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HUMAN RESOURCE PLANNING AT DIFFERENT LEVELS

Human resource planning is done at various levels for their own purposes by various institutions. There are various levels of human resource planning in an industrial enterprise: 1. 2. 3. 4. 5. 6. National Level Sectoral Level Industry Level Unit Level Departmental Level Job Level

1. National Level: Generally, central government plans for human resources for the entire nation. It anticipates the demand for and supply of human requirements at the national level.

2. Sectoral Level: Central and state governments also plan human resource requirements at sectoral level. It tries to satisfy needs of some particular sectors like Agriculture Sector, Industrial Sector and Service Sector.

3. Industry Level: This level of planning is done to suit manpower needs of a particular industry such as Engineering, Heavy Industries, Paper Industry, Consumer Goods Industries. Public Utility Industries, Textile, Cement/Chemical Industries etc.

4. Departmental Level: This level of planning is done to suit the manpower needs of a particular department in a company e.g. Marketing Department, Production Department. Finance Department, etc.

5. Job Level: This level of planning fulfills the human resource needs of a particular job family within department. For example, the requirement of number of sales executes in the marketing department.

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IMPORTANCE OF HUMAN RESOURCE PLANNING

Planning is not as easy as one might think because it requires a concerted effort to come out with a programme that would easy your work. Commencing is complicated, but once you start and finish it you have a smile because everything moves smoothly.

Planning is a process that have to be commenced form somewhere and completed for a purpose. It involves gathering information that would enable managers and supervisors make sound decisions. The information obtained is also utilized to make better actions for achieving the objectives of the Organization. There are many factors that you have to look into when deciding for an HR Planning programme.

HR Planning involves gathering of information, making objectives, and making decisions to enable the organization achieve its objectives. Surprisingly, this aspect of HR is one of the most neglected in the HR field. When HR Planning is applied properly in the field of HR Management, it would assist to address the following questions:

1. 2. 3. 4.

How many staff does the Organization have? What type of employees as far as skills and abilities does the Company have? How should the Organization best utilize the available resources? How can the Company keep its employees?

HR planning makes the organization move and succeed in the 21st Century that we are in. Human Resources Practitioners who prepare the HR Planning programme would assist the Organization to manage its staff strategically. The programme assist to direct the actions of HR department.

The programme does not assist the Organization only, but it will also facilitate the career planning of the employees and assist them to achieve the objectives as well. This augment motivation and the Organization would become a good place to work. Management information system. HR Planning forms an important part of

HR have an enormous task keeping pace with the all the changes and ensuring that the right people are available to the Organization at the right time. It is changes to the composition of the workforce
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that force managers to pay attention to HR planning. The changes in composition of workforce not only influence the appointment of staff, but also the methods of selection, training, compensation and motivation. It becomes very critical when Organizations merge, plants are relocated, and activities are scaled down due to financial problems.

Inadequacy of HR Planning : Poor HR Planning and lack of it in the Organization may result in huge costs and financial looses. It may result in staff posts taking long to be filled. This augment costs and hampers effective work performance because employees are requested to work unnecessary overtime and may not put more effort due to fatigue. If given more work this may stretch them beyond their limit and may cause

unnecessary disruptions to the production of the Organization. Employees are put on a disadvantage because their live programmes are disrupted and they are not given the chance to plan for their career development.

The most important reason why HR Planning should be managed and implemented is the costs involved. Because costs forms an important part of the Organizations budget, workforce Planning enable the Organization to provide HR provision costs. When there is staff shortage, the organization should not just appoint discriminately, because of the costs implications of the other options, such as training and transferring of staff, have to be considered.

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PRACTICAL BENEFITS OF HUMAN RESOURCE PLANNING

When it concerns human resources, there are the more specific criticisms that it is over-quantitative and neglects the qualitative aspects of contribution. The issue has become not how many people should be employed, but ensuring that all members of staff are making an effective contribution. And for the future, the questions are what are the skills that will be required, and how will they be acquired. There are others, though, that still regard the quantitative planning of resources as important. They do not see its value in trying to predict events, be they wars or takeovers. Rather, they believe there is a benefit from using planning to challenge assumptions about the future, to stimulate thinking. For some there is, moreover, an implicit or explicit wish to get better integration of decision making and resourcing across the whole organization, or greater influence by the centre over devolved operating units. Cynics would say this is all very well, but the assertion of corporate control has been tried and rejected. And is it not the talk of the process benefits to be derived self indulgent nonsense? Can we really afford this kind of intellectual dilettantism? Whether these criticisms are fair or not, supporters of human resource planning point to its practical benefits in optimizing the use of resources and identifying ways of making them more flexible. For some organizations, the need to acquire and grow skills which take time to develop is paramount. If they fail to identify the business demand, both numerically and in the skills required, and secure the appropriate supply, then the capacity of the organization to fulfill its function will be endangered.

ADVANTAGES FOR HR PLANNING There are a number of more specific reasons for resorting to HR planning exercises at the level of the undertaking, reasons that can make the exercise essential. These are: 1. 2. 3. To establish the best cost balance between plant and manpower utilization. To determine recruitment, level wise and occupation wise Ensure that we do not inherit surplus manpower hired on account of an incompetent CEO.

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4. 5. 6. 7. 8.

To ensure that people do not substitute systems and process To anticipate redundancies and avoid unnecessary dismissals or aspirations To decide optimum training levels. To decide on worker training courses To provide a basis for management development programs

MICRO/MACRO LEVEL ADVANTAGES At the micro-level, corporate need to realize that manpower is a expensive and a highly valuable resource to be used as effectively as possible. Scientific level HR planning at the corporate level will make national planning more realistic and effective. The need for HR planning at all levels needs no mean emphasis. Manpower planning at the national level will ensure that the human resources are made available both in quality and quantity for the planned development of the economic growth of the country. In our country, there has been considerable progress in this direction.

KEY POINTS FOR SUCCESSFUL HR PLANNING HR planning must be recognized as an integral part of overall business planning. Hr planning should be lead by the CEO as his core responsibility. The manpower planner needs to know the companys objectives in terms of sales, marketing and growth. Top management backing and involvement for manpower planning is essential and should receive its rightful place hierarchically.. The HR planning responsibility should be developed in consultation with line managers and their representatives. The forecast period should be prepared by skill levels rather than by aggregates of workers. Both the forecasting techniques, and the forecasts themselves, need to be constantly revised and improved in the light of experience.

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ACTIONS IN HUMAN RESOURCE PLANNING

Forecasting HR Planning requires that we gather data on the Organizational goals objectives. One should understand where the Organization wants to go and how it wants to get to that point. The needs of the employees are derived from the corporate objectives of the Organization. They stern from shorter and medium term objectives and their conversion into action budgets (e.g.) establishing a new branch in New Delhi by January 2006 and staff it with a Branch Manager (6,000 USD, Secretary 1,550 USD, and two clerical staff 800 USD per month. Therefore, the HR Plan should have a mechanism to express planned Company strategies into planned results and budgets so that these can be converted in terms of numbers and skills required.

Inventory After knowing what human resources are required in the Organization, the next step is to take stock of the current employees in the Organization. The HR inventory should not only relate to data concerning numbers, ages, and locations, but also an analysis of individuals and skills. Skills inventory provides valid information on professional and technical skills and other qualifications provided in the firm. It reveals what skills are immediately available when compared to the forecasted HR requirements.

Audit We do not live in a static World and our HR resources can transform dramatically. HR inventory calls for collection of data, the HR audit requires systematic examination and analysis of this data. The Audit looks at what had occurred in the past and at present in terms of labor turn over, age and sex groupings, training costs and absence. Based on this information, one can then be able to predict what will happen to HR in the future in the Organization.

HR Resource Plan Here we look at career Planning and HR plans. People are the greatest asserts in any Organization. The Organization is at liberty to develop its staff at full pace in the way ideally suited to their individual capacities. The main reason is that the Organizations objectives should be aligned as near as possible, or matched, in order to give optimum scope for the developing potential of its
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employees. Therefore, career planning may also be referred to as HR Planning or succession planning.

Monitoring and Control. This is the last stage of HR planning in the Organization. Once the programme has been accepted and implementation launched, it has to be controlled. HR department has to make a follow up to see what is happening in terms of the available resources. The idea is to make sure that we make use of all the available talents that are at our disposal failure of which we continue to struggle to get to the top.

The questions that should concern us are:

a)

Are we making use of the available talent we have in the Organization, and have we an enough provision for the future?

b)

Are employees satisfied with our care of their growth in terms of advancing their career?

Assignment of individuals to planned future posts enable the administration to ensure that these individuals may be suitably prepared in advance.

Actioning of Plan

There are three fundamentals necessary for this first step.

1) Know where you are going.

2) There must be acceptance and backing from top management for the planning.

3) There must be knowledge of the available resources (i.e) financial, physical and human (Management and technical).

Once in action, the HR Plans become Corporate plans. Having been made and concurred with top management, the plans become a part of the companys long-range plan. Failure to achieve the HR Plans due to cost, or lack of knowledge, may be a serious constraints on the long-range plan.
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FACTORS AFFECTING HUMAN RESOURCE MANAGEMENT

Human resource planning can be defined as the process of identifying the number of people required by an organization in terms of quantity and quality. All human resource management activities start with human resource planning. So we can say that human resource planning is the principle/primary activity of human resource management.

1. Employment :HRP is affected by the employment situation in the country i.e. in countries where there is greater unemployment; there may be more pressure on the company, from government to appoint more people. Similarly some company may force shortage of skilled labour and they may have to appoint people from other countries.

2. Technical changes in the society :Technology changes at a very fast speed and new people having the required knowledge are required for the company. In some cases, company may retain existing employees and teach them the new technology and in some cases, the company have to remove existing people and appoint new.

3. Organizational changes :Changes take place within the organization from time to time i.e. the company diversify into new products or close down business in some areas etc. in such cases the HRP process i.e. appointing or removing people will change according to situation.

4. Demographic changes :Demographic changes refer to things referring to age, population, composition of work force etc. A number of people retire every year. A new batch of graduates with specialization turns out every year. This can change the appointment or the removal in the company.

5. Shortage of skill due to labour turnover :Industries having high labour turnover rate, the HRP will change constantly i.e. many new appointments will take place. This also affects the way HRP is implemented.
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6. Multicultural workforce :Workers from different countries travel to other countries in search of job. When a company plans its HRP it needs to take into account this factor also.

7. Pressure groups :Company has to keep in mind certain pleasure. Groups like human rights activist, woman activist, media etc. as they are very capable for creating problems for the company, when issues concerning these groups arise, appointment or retrenchment becomes difficult.

Human resource planning is also influenced by many other factors both within and outside the organization. These include : Internal factors Organizational plans which determine the overall level of operations or activities of the organization. Organizational strategy and structure. Current manpower availability in the organization. Human resource policies and practices of the organization. Among others this includes the policies and practices relating to remuneration and other conditions of employment. Organizational culture.

External factors General availability of kind of manpower required by the organization. General employment policies and practice and policies followed in the industry and in economy. Government regulation governing conditions of employment. Rate of changes in different factors in the environment including in marketplace that determine the nature of challenges faced by the company. General culture of the society within which the organization operates including any subculture that may exist for different groups of prospective employees.

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NEED FOR HUMAN RESOURCE PLANNING

Human resource planning can be defined as the process of identifying the number of people required by an organization in terms of quantity and quality. All human resource management activities start with human resource planning. So we can say that human resource planning is the principle/primary activity of human resource management. The process of HRP plays a very important role in the organization.

Human Resource Planning is a mandatory part of every organizations annual planning process. Every organization that plans for its business goals for the year also plans for how it will go about achieving them, and therein the planning for the human resource. Now-a-days organizations are fully dependent on human resources. Thus, they are giving great importance to Human Resource (Manpower) Planning.

Following points bring out the need of HRP :1. To make optimum utilization of human resources : HRP helps to make optimum utilization of the human resources in the organization. It helps to avoid wastage of human resources. 2. To forecast manpower requirements : HRP helps to forecast the future manpower requirements of all organizations. It helps to forecast the number and type of employees who will be required by the organization in a near future. 3. To provide manpower : Every organization requires manpower to conduct its business activities. HRP provides different types of manpower as per the needs of the organizations. 4. To face manpower problems : HRP helps to face the manpower problems, which are caused by labour turnover, introduction of new technologies, etc. 5. To integrate different plans : HRP helps to integrate the personnel plans with the other important plans of the organization. 6. To make employee development programmes more effective : HRP selects the right man for the right post. The right man will get maximum benefits from the employee development programmes. Therefore, HRP helps to make the employee development programmes more effective. 7. To reduce labour cost : Today the cost of labour is about 25% to 45% of the cost of production. So the labour cost is increasing very quickly. Labour cost has to be reduced in order to face competition. HRP helps to avoid both shortage and surplus of labour. It helps
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to make optimum utilization of labour. It also helps to reduce labour turnover. All this helps to reduce labour cost. 8. To enable organization to grow : When an organization grows, the number of jobs also increases. More employees are required to perform these jobs. HRP helps to supply these employees to the organization. So HRP enables the organization to grow. 9. To identify potential replacements : Each year many employees either retire or leave or are taken out of the organization. HRP helps to find replacements for these employees. These replacements may be either from inside or from outside the organization. 10. To avoid disturbance in the production process : In HRP, the manpower requirements of the organization are determined well in advance. So the manpower is supplied continuously to the organization. This helps the production process to run smoothly. Thus, HRP helps to avoid disturbances in the production process. 11. Basis for effective recruitment and selection : HRP is the basis for effective recruitment and selection in the organization. It helps the organization to select the right man for the right post. 12. Basis for employee development programmes : HRP is the basis for employee development programmes.

NEED FOR HRP AT MACRO LEVEL Major reasons for the emphasis on HRP at macro level include: Employment : Unemployment Situation: Though in general the number of educated unemployed is on the rise, there is acute shortage for a variety of skills. This emphasizes the need for more effective recruitment and retaining people. Technological Changes : The myriad changes in production technologies, marketing methods and management techniques have been extensive and rapid. Their effect has been profound on job contents and job contexts. These changes cause problems relating to redundancies, retraining and redeployment. All these suggest the need to plan manpower needs intensively and systematically. Organizational Changes : In the turbulent environment marked by cyclical fluctuations and discontinuities, the nature and pace of changes in organizational environment, activities and structures affect manpower requirements and require strategic considerations.
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Demographic Changes : The changing profile of the work force in terms of age, sex, literacy, technical inputs and social background have implications for HRP. Skill Shortages : Unemployment does not mean that the labour market is a buyers market. Organizations have generally become more complex and require a wide range of specialist skills that are rare and scarce. Problems arise when such employees leave. Governmental Influences : Government control and changes in legislation with regard to affirmative action for disadvantaged groups, working conditions and hours of work, restrictions on women and child employment, casual and contract layout, etc. have stimulated the organizations to become involved in systematic HRP. Legislative Controls : The days of executive fiat and hire and fire policies are gone. Now 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. Impact of Pressure Groups : Pressure groups such as unions, politicians and persons displaced from land by location of giant enterprises have been raising contradictory pressures on enterprise management such as internal recruitment and promotions, preference to employees children, displace persons, sons of the soil etc. Systems Concept : The spread of systems thinking and the advent of the macro computer as part of the on-going revolution in information technology which emphasizes planning and newer ways of handling voluminous personnel records. Lead Time : The long lead time is necessary in the selection process and for training and deployment of the employee to handle new knowledge and skills successfully.

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LIMITATIONS OF HUMAN RESOURCE PLANNING

Human resource planning can be defined as the process of identifying the number of people required by an organization in terms of quantity and quality. All human resource management activities start with human resource planning. So we can say that human resource planning is the principle/primary activity of human resource management. Although HRP is a very advantageous method it has some limitations which can be explained as follows

1. The future is uncertain :The future in any country is uncertain i.e. there are political, cultural, technological changes taking place every day. This effects the employment situation. Accordingly the company may have to appoint or remove people. Therefore HRP can only be a guiding factor. We cannot rely too much on it and do every action according to it.

2. Conservative attitude of top management :Much top management adopts a conservative attitude and is not ready to make changes. The process of HRP involves either appointing. Therefore it becomes very difficult to implement HRP in organization because top management does not support the decisions of other department.

3. Problem of surplus staff :HRP gives a clear out solution for excess staff i.e. Termination, layoff, VRS,. However when certain employees are removed from company it mostly affects the psyche of the existing employee, and they start feeling insecure, stressed out and do not believe in the company. This is a limitation of HRP i.e. it does not provide alternative solution like re-training so that employee need not be removed from the company.

4. Time consuming activity :HRP collects information from all departments, regarding demand and supply of personnel. This information is collected in detail and each and every job is considered. Therefore the activity takes up a lot of time.

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5. Expensive process :The solution provided by process of HRP incurs expense. E.g. VRS, overtime, etc. company has to spend a lot of money in carrying out the activity. Hence we can say the process is expensive.

There are several limitations of planning. Some of them are inherit in the process of planning and other arise due to shortcoming of the techniques of planning and in the planners themselves. Internal Limitations 1. Rigidity a. Planning has tendency to make administration inflexible.

b.

Planning implies prior determination of policies, procedures and programmes and a strict adherence to them in all circumstances.

c.

There is no scope for individual freedom.

d.

The development of employees is highly doubted because of which management might have faced lot of difficulties in future.

e.

Planning therefore introduces inelasticity and discourages individual initiative and experimentation.

2.

Misdirected Planning a. Planning may be used to serve individual interests rather than the interest of the enterprise.

b.

Attempts can be made to influence setting of objectives, formulation of plans and programmes to suit ones own requirement rather than that of whole organization.

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c.

Machinery of planning can never be freed of bias. Every planner has his own likes, dislikes, preferences, attitudes and interests which is reflected in planning.

3.

Time consuming a. Planning is a time consuming process because it involves collection of information, its analysis and interpretation thereof. This entire process takes a lot of time specially where there are a number of alternatives available.

b.

Therefore planning is not suitable during emergency or crisis when quick decisions are required.

4.

Probability in planning a. Planning is based on forecasts which are mere estimates about future.

b.

These estimates may prove to be inexact due to the uncertainty of future.

c.

Any change in the anticipated situation may render plans ineffective.

d.

Plans do not always reflect real situations in spite of the sophisticated techniques of forecasting because future is unpredictable.

e.

Thus, excessive reliance on plans may prove to be fatal.

5.

False sense of security a. Elaborate planning may create a false sense of security to the effect that everything is taken for granted.

b.

Managers assume that as long as they work as per plans, it is satisfactory.

c.

Therefore they fail to take up timely actions and an opportunity is lost.

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d.

Employees are more concerned about fulfillment of plan performance rather than any kind of change.

6.

Expensive a. Collection, analysis and evaluation of different information, facts and alternatives involves a lot of expense in terms of time, effort and money

b.

According to Koontz and ODonell, Expenses on planning should never exceed the estimated benefits from planning.

External Limitations of Planning 1. Political Climate- Change of government from Congress to some other political party, etc.

2.

Labour Union- Strikes, lockouts, agitations.

3.

Technological changes- Modern techniques and equipments, computerization.

4.

Policies of competitors- Eg. Policies of Coca Cola and Pepsi.

5.

Natural Calamities- Earthquakes and floods.

6.

Changes in demand and prices- Change in fashion, change in tastes, change in income level, demand falls, price falls, etc.

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CONCLUSION
Human resource is a key economic resource, and a scare one. It therefore demands the same attention a company gives to planning sales, investment or profits. It is this fact that has led to the development of manpower planning among an increasing number of business organizations. For the company, the returns from manpower planning can be measured in term of higher efficiency and productivity as a result of better utilization of its manpower resources and the elimination of waste in recruitment, training and other personnel schemes. The benefits to the individual employee and the country are not less important. It is clear that a company cannot hope to forecast accurately its future manpower requirements unless these are related to future production and sales levels. The best results, therefore are achieved when a company has integrated HR planning with overall planning team is basically two fold: to interpret the forecasts for production and sales interns and manpower constraints on account of company policy for the future. Four points need to be emphasized above the forecasting methods discussed in this note. 1. No Corporate can realistically accept evidence resulting from mechanical forecasting methods without a superimposing view on the macro economic environment. 2. The possibility of judgement done by individuals or groups performing the research is high and there is always room for the subjective/objective or intuitive assessment that the experienced manager can provide, only if needed. 3. In HR forecasting as in any other form of forecasting it is essential to recognize the wide margin of possible error, and therefore, preferable to think more in terms of a range of possible levels of demand for manpower, than of a single correct estimate. The estimates need to be correlated to assumptions that are valid and proven. Futuristic assumptions need careful thought and research/ analysis. 4. Though the different analytical methods are presented as though they were alternatives, in practice a single company may wish to use two or more of them in different circumstances, as a check on one another. Finally it is abundantly evident that everything depends on the accuracy of the sales and output forecasts and the soundness of the calculations of turnover

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and wastage. The first task of a company must, therefore, be to ensure that the estimate are as reliable as possible. Finally HR planning is continuous, ongoing process; and companies that treat it as a five-year burdensome task will be deeply disappointed. In fact it is preferable that they do start this task as it may turn into a ritual. Even the most carefully calculated forecasts are liable to be overtaken by unforeseeable changes. A system of assorting plans to these changes with as little delay as possible, is an essential part of manpower planning. Indeed one might say that it is the essential characteristic of a well-managed enterprise. HR planning is a recruitment start up. HR planning is not the job of Human Resources Management (Personnel) people. It is the job of the CEO. Wherever the CEO has relinquished his responsibility and delegated HR hiring and structuring the organizations have lived to tell a tale. Corporate who seek the best minds to remain competitive need to plan for their hiring and thereafter their retention need to get their act together now. Absence of HR planning would mean an absence of a leader at a point in time now known now, definitely in the near future.

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BIBLIOGRAPHY
WEBSITES www.sooperarticles.com www.citehr.com BOOKS HUMAN RESOURCE MANAGEMENT - Sunny fernandes.

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