Exam revision Flashcards
What is human resources planning?
Process of systematically reviewing HR requirements to ensure that the required number of people with the required knowledge, skills and abilities are available when needed.
What is human resources planning also known as?
Employment planning
What is the relationship between human resources planning and the organisations overall strategic plan?
HRP must be integrated part of overall organisational strategic plan
What precedes human resource planning?
Strategic HRM planning
What is strategic HRM planning?
Defining of the philosophy, objects and strategy
Why is HR planning important?
- Critical because it matches organisations and HR objectives with its people requirements
- Focus of it is on labour demand (number of people needed) and labour supply (number of qualified people available)
- Ensures available talent is correctly allocated, labour costs are controlled, employee head count is appropriate, productivity is improved and talented employees are retained
What does HR planning involve?
Involve entry of people (acquisition), development of peoples skills (development) and exit of people (departure) from the organisation
What could an organisation do if it had surplus employees?
- Review HR policies regarding permanent employment
- Outsourcing
- Retrenchment
What problems could an organisation face if it has too many low skilled/poorly qualified employees ?
- May face obstacles when introducing new technology or other change initiatives
What questions must be asked when doing HR planning?
o What mix of knowledge, skills and abilities do we require?
o What mix is required in the future?
o Do we have the right number of qualified employees today?
o How will numbers change in the future?
o How do our labour costs and productivity compare with those of our competitors?
o Where will we find the people we need?
What are the requirements for successful HR planning?
- HR personnel to understand HR planning process
- Top management is supportive
- Communication between HR and line management is healthy
- HR plan integrated with business strategic business plan
- Balance between quantitative and qualitative approaches to HR plan
What effect will a labour shortage have on employees?
o Burnout o Working longer hours o Increased pressure o Reduced performance/productivity o Decrease morale o Increase labour turnover
What effect will a labour shortage have on the organisation?
o Inadequate supply of talent o Increased overtime costs o Production delays o Reduced profit o Lost business opportunities o Industrial relations problems
What does HR need to do if there is a labour shortage?
o Increase overtime o Increase casuals/part timers o Postpone retirements o Start recruiting o Accelerate training and development o Use outsourcing
What effect will a labour surplus have on employees?
o Rust out o Job insecurity o Decreased moral o Reduced job performance o Talents not fully utilised o Loss of motivation o Restricted career opportunities
What effect will labour surplus have on organisation?
o Excessive payroll costs o Employees underutilised o Low productivity o Loss of competitiveness o Retrenchment and downsizing costs o Industrial relations problems o Danger of losing top talent
What does HR need to do if there is a labour surplus?
o Stop recruiting o Reduce casual and part timers o Start early retirements o Start retrenching o Reduce work hours/overtime
What is a common mistake when in comes to HR planning?
Only focus on short term plans/goals
What factors should be considers when it comes to HR planning?
Must consider both internal and external factors such as economy, social, demographic, technological, legal and political.
Also need to take into consideration, age groups, sex and academic standards required
What forecasts are required by the HR manager?
- Forecast of demand for HR within organisation
- Forecast supply of human resource available within organisation
- Forecast of the supply of external HR
Why are forecasts used in HR planning?
Forecasts are used to attempt to predict changes in organisations need for human resources
What are forecasts influenced by?
Influenced by strategic business objectives, demand for product and services, projected labour turnover, quality and type of state of economy
What are the two types of forecasts?
Quantitative approach and qualitative approach
What is the quantitative approach?
o Uses stats and maths to forecast demand for and supply of labour
o Uses employees as number and groups them via age, sex, experience, skills, qualifications, job level, pay level, performance rating etc
What is the qualitative approach?
o Use of opinions of experts (usually line manager) to predict future HR requirements
o Focus is on evaluations of employee performance and promotability as well as management and career development
o Not as sophisticated as quantitative method but more popular because they are simple, cheap and fast
What is succession planning?
Systematic, long term career development activity that focuses on preparing high-potential employees to fill key professional and management positions so that the organisation can achieve its strategic objectives
What is job analysis?
A systemic investigation of the tasks, duties and responsibilities of a job and the necessary knowledge, skills and abilities a person needs to perform the job adequately.
Put simply, it identifies what employees are expected to do
What does job analysis focus attention on?
Focuses attention on job content, job requirements and job context
What is job content?
Duties and responsibilities of job in manner that can range from global statements to detailed descriptions of tasks and procedural steps
What is job requirements?
Identifies formal qualifications, knowledge, skills, abilities and personal characteristics that employees need to perform the job
What is job context?
Refers to situational and supporting info regarding the particular job, its purpose (where it fits within organisation), scope data (magnitude of financial, human or material resources managed), availability of guidelines, potential consequence of error, amount and closeness of supervision, work setting, physical demands and working conditions
What are the different approaches to job analysis?
Job orientated (task) approach Employee orientated (behaviour) approach
When should you do a job analysis?
- When organisations commences
- When new job is created
- When job is changes significantly
What is the steps in the job analysis process?
- Job analysis objective
- Type of info to be collected
- Sources of data
- Methods of data collection
- Form of data analysis
What is a job description?
- What a job is by identifying its content, requirements and context
- Written statement explaining the purpose of a job, what activities are performed, the conditions under which they are accomplished and the performance standards required
What info does a job description contain?
o Job ID o Job objective o Duties and responsibilities o Relationships o Knowledge o Problem solving o Authority o Accountability o Special circumstances o Performance standards o Trade union memberships
What is job specifications?
o Focus on knowledge, skills, abilities, personal characteristics and formal qualifications that employee must possess to perform the job successfully
o Written statement of formal qualifications, knowledge, skills, abilities and personal characteristics and experience a person need to perform a job successfully
What is job design?
o Identifies what work must be performed, how it will be performed, where it is to be performed and who will perform it
Why is job analysis essential to HR?
- Job analysis info is essential to HR planning because it helps to accurately determine the number and types of employees to be recruited or exited from the organisation
