ch 5: human resources planning Flashcards
what is human resources planning (HRP)?
- the process of forecasting future human resources requirements to ensure that the organization will have the required number of employees with the necessary skills to meet its strategic objectives
what are the key steps of human resources planning?
- analyze forecasted labor supply
- forecast labor demands
- plan and implement HR programs to balance supply and demand
what is the strategic importance of HRP?
- meet strategic goals and objectives
- achieve economics in hiring new workers
- meet major labour market demands successfully
- anticipate and avoid shortages and surpluses of human resources
- control and reduce labour costs
give a sample workforce planning approach
- review business plans and workforce data
- identify positions that need to be filled and other workforce gaps (supply/demand projections)
- develop workforce strategic plan
- prioritize key gaps
- identify training and other plans to fill gaps
- implement changes
- monitor process through metrics
what are external environmental factors to monitor?
- economic conditions
- market and competitive trends
- new or revised laws relating to HR
- social concerns (health care, childcare, educational priorities)
- technological changes
- demographic trends
what are the steps in human resources planning?
- forecasting the availability of candidates (supply)
- forecasting future HR needs (demand)
- planning and implementing HR programs to balance supply and demand
describe step 1 of human resource planning
forecasting supply of internal candidates
- current employees who can be trained, transferred or promoted to meet anticipates needs
- skills inventories:
- summary of current employees’ education, experiences, interests, and skills
- used to identify eligibility for transfer/promotion
what are the uses of replacement charts?
- track potential candidates for critical positions
- internal candidates’ age, present performance rating, and profitability status
what are replacement summaries?
- lists of likely replacements for each position
- indicates relative strengths/weaknesses, current position, performance, profitability, age, and experience
what is the purpose of succession planning and what does it include?
- ensure supply of successors for key jobs so that careers can be effectively planned and managed
- includes:
- analysis of demand for managers and professionals
- audit and projection of likely future supply
- planning individual career paths, career counselling
- accelerated promotions
- planned strategic recruitment
describe a markov analysis
- method of forecasting internal labour supply
- involves tracking the pattern of employee movement through various jobs and developing a transitional probability matrix
- shows actual number of employees in each job, promotions, demotions, transfers, separations
explain step 2 in human resources planning
forecasting future HR needs (demand)
- projected turnover due to resignations or terminations
- quality and nature of current employees in relation to changing needs of the firm
- changes in products/services or new markets which require new employee skill mix
- technological or administrative changes
- availability of financial resources
what are quantitative approaches to forecasting HR needs
- trend analysis
- ratio analysis
- scatter plot
- regression analysis
what is the purpose of trend analysis?
predict future needs based on past employment levels
what is the purpose of a ratio analysis?
ratio of business activity and number of employees needed
what is the purpose of a scatter plot?
used to identify the relationship between causal factors and staffing levels
what is the purpose of regression analysis?
examines the statistical relationship between business activity and employees
what are some qualitative approaches to forecasting HR needs?
- nominal group technique
- Delphi technique
what are nominal group techniques and the pros/cons?
- group of experts meets face to face to generate ideas which are clarified in both open discussion and private assessment
- pros: involves key decision-makers; future focus; greater acceptance of results
- cons: subjectively and potential group pressure
what is the Delphi technique and the pros/cons?
- judgmental forecasting method for group decisions
- ideas are exchanged without face-to-face interaction
- feedback is used to fine-tune until consensus is reached
- pros: involves key decision markers; future focus
- cons: may not be objective; time-consuming; costly; difficulty in integrating diverse opinions
what is staffing table?
- estimate of short-term and long-range HR requirements
- pictorial representation of all jobs within the organization
- shows number of current incumbents and future employment requirements (monthly or yearly)
what is labour equilibrium?
expected supply matches the actual demand; no change to change HR plans
what is labour surplus?
internal supply of employees exceeds the organization’s forecasted demand
what is labour shortage?
internal supply of human resources cannot meet the organization’s needs
