Features of Human Resource Planning

Everything you need to know about the features and Characteristics of human resource planning.

HRP involves appropriate allocation of human resource to various managerial as well as operational activities to accomplish an organization’s objectives.

Consequently, an organization can effectively achieve its objectives if its HRP is accurate and efficient. HRP aims at forecasting the demand and supply of the right kind of people in the right number in an organization. There are various features of HRP, which make it an imperative part of organizational planning.

Some of the features of human resource planning are:-

1. Determines Personnel Needs 2. Consists of Current Manpower Inventory 3. Adjusting Demand and Supply 4. Creating Proper Work Environment 5. Dynamic Activity

6. Well-Defined Objectives 7. Development of Policies 8. Complementary to Organisation Planning 9. Future Oriented 10. Prevention of Overstaffing and Understaffing and a Few Others.

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Human Resource Planning: Features and Characteristics

Features of Human Resource Planning – 6 Important Features: A Process, Determining Manpower Needs, Well-Defined Objectives and a Few Others

The following features of human resource planning are as follows:

1. It is a Process – Human resource planning is a process which includes various aspects through which an organisation tries to ensure that right people, at the right place, and at right time are available.

2. Determining Manpower Needs – Human resource planning involves the determination of future needs of manpower in the light of organisational planning and structure. This thinking has to be made in advance so that the persons are available at the right time and at the right place.

3. Well-defined Objectives – Human resource planning has its well-defined objectives in relation to development of resources, career planning of individuals, updating technical expertise, etc.

4. Adjusting Demand and Supply of Manpower – Human resource planning is concerned with determining the actions, which can be taken to make existing manpower suitable for future managerial positions and the gap between the needed and available manpower can be fulfilled.

5. Formulation of Manpower Inventory – Human resource planning is concerned with the formulation of manpower inventory in the organisation. The manager should know the available manpower resources in the organisation who can undertake the higher responsibilities in the near future.

6. Creation of Proper Work Environment – Manpower planning not only estimates and employs personnel in the organisation but also ensures the creation of proper working conditions in the organisation. Employees should get job satisfaction only then they will like to work in the organisation.

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Features of Human Resource Planning – 10 Features of Effective Human Resource Planning

Human resource planning is done to assess the future requirement of manpower in the organization. It helps identify the size and composition of resources for future purpose. Human resource planning is a continuous process.

Features of effective human resource planning are as follows:

1. It is Future Oriented – Human resource planning is prepared to assess the future requirement of manpower in the organization. It helps identify the size and composition of resources for future purpose.

2. It is a Continuous Process – Human resource planning is a continuous process. The human resource planning prepared today may not be applicable for future due to ever changing external forces of the environment.

3. It results in Optimum Utilization of Human Resources – Human resource planning focuses on optimum utilization of resources in the organization. It checks how the employees are utilized in a productive manner. It also identifies employees’ existing capabilities and future potentialities to perform the work.

4. It helps in providing the Right employees & accurate Numbers – Human resource planning determines the right number and kind of people at the right time and right place who are capable of performing the required jobs. It also assesses the future requirement of manpower for organizational objective.

5. It helps in Determination of Demand and Supply – Human resource planning is a process of determining demand for and supply of human resources in the organization. Then a match between demand and supply estimates the optimum level of manpower.

6. Environmental Influence – Human resource planning is influenced by environmental changes; hence, it is to be updated as per the change occupied in the external environment.

7. It is related to Corporate Plan – Human resource planning is an integral part of overall corporate plan of the organization. It can be formulated at strategic, tactical and operational levels.

8. It is A Part of Human Resource Management System – As a part of total human resource management system, human resource planning is regarded as a component or element of HRM which is concerned with acquisition and assessment of manpower. It serves as a foundation for the management of human resource in an effective and efficient manner.

9. It is dynamic – It is a highly dynamic function and requires the very capable personnel to carry out planning efficiently

10. It requires foresight and past experience – Human Resource Planning has to work on foresight and past experience in order to attain desired results

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Features of Human Resource Planning – 7 Major Features

HRP involves appropriate allocation of human resource to various managerial as well as operational activities to accomplish an organization’s objectives. Consequently, an organization can effectively achieve its objectives if its HRP is accurate and efficient. HRP aims at forecasting the demand and supply of the right kind of people in the right number in an organization. There are various features of HRP, which make it an imperative part of organizational planning.

These features are mentioned in the following points:

1. Future-Oriented – Specifies that HRP is future-oriented, as it anticipates human resource requirements both in terms of quantity and quality.

2. Prevention of Overstaffing and Understaffing – Helps in maintaining the right quantity of human resource by forecasting the demand for human resource required to meet the organizational objectives.

3. Precise Human Resource Planning – Ensures that the organizations have the right number of employees with the right skills in the right place at the right time, as organizations cannot assume that skilled human resource would be available on its own as and when needed.

4. Facilitation of Change Management – Helps an organization to respond to changes timely, such as government regulations, technology obsolescence, and environmental changes. The changes anticipated in the external environment form an important input for HRP.

5. Facilitation of an Integrated System – Ensures that all human resource activities, such as selection, training, and performance appraisal, work as an integrated system of Human Resource Management (HRM).

6. Continuous Process – Represents an ongoing and continuous process; because the demand and supply of human resource undergo a frequent change in accordance with the needs of the organization and the changing circumstances.

7. Part of Organizational Planning – Represents an integral part of the overall organizational planning, which forms the basis of all other activities, such as job analysis, selection, and training.

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Features of Human Resource Planning – 8 Main Features: Determines Personnel Needs, Consists of Current Manpower Inventory and a Few Others

The main features of human resource planning are explained below:

Feature # 1. Determines Personnel Needs:

Human Resource Planning is related to the determination of personnel needs in the organisation. The determination will have to be done in advance, so that the persons are available at the time of need. The organisation may also have to undertake recruiting, selecting and training process also.

Feature # 2. Consists of Current Manpower Inventory:

It comprises of the inventory of present manpower in the organisation. The manager should know the persons, who will be available to him for undertaking higher responsibilities in the near future.

Feature # 3. Adjusting Demand and Supply:

Manpower requirements have to be planned well in advance as suitable persons are not immediately available. In case it is felt that sufficient persons will not be existed in future, then efforts should be made to start recruitment process well in advance. The demand and supply of personnel should be seen in advance.

Feature # 4. Creating Proper Work Environment:

Other than estimating and employing personnel, manpower planning has to make sure that proper working condition are created. Proper work environment implies the workers to work in the organisation and get proper job satisfaction.

Feature # 5. Dynamic Activity:

HR planning is not static but continuous or never ending process the reason is the demand and supply of manpower go on frequently changing.

Feature # 6. Well-Defined Objectives:

The objectives of the Human Resource Planning includes the objectives of the organisation in strategic planning and operating planning. Human resource needs are planned on the basis of the company’s goals.

Other them, human resource planning has its own well defined objectives there are like developing human resource, updating technical expertise, career planning of individual executives and people, ensuring better commitment of people and so on.

Feature # 7. Development of Policies:

HRP results in the development of policies, programmes and procedures for the acquisition, development, preservation and utilisation of the organisation’s human assets.

Feature # 8. Complementary to Organisation Planning:

Planning for human resources is the main responsibility of management to ensure effective utilisation of present and future manpower. Manpower planning is complementary to organisation planning.

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Features of Human Resource Planning – 5 Key Features

The key features of HRP can be summarised as follows:

1. Forecasting future manpower requirements, where we use mathematical projections you might have studied in ‘business economics’ and ‘quantitative techniques’ paper, to project trends in the economic environment and development of the industry.

2. Making an inventory of present manpower resources and assessing the extent to which these resources are employed optimally. Procuring competent personnel requires positive recruitment efforts and the development of a variety of recruitment sources. These sources must consider not only the nature and conditions of the external labour market, but also the presence of qualified personnel who are available to fill vacancies through internal promotions or transfers.

3. Keep in mind the recruitment activities is integrated with diversity and equal employment opportunity initiatives. Staffing needs must be anticipated sufficiently in advance to permit the recruitment and development of fully qualified personnel.

4. Anticipating manpower problems by projecting present resources into the future and comparing them with the forecast of requirements to determine their adequacy, both quantitatively and qualitatively; and

5. Planning the necessary programmes of require­ment, selection, training, development, utilisation, transfer, promotion, motivation and compensation to ensure that future manpower requirements are properly met.

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Features of Human Resource Planning: 12 Features

The following features of human resource planning are:

1. Like any other planning, human resource planning is looking ahead and deciding in advance as to what to do, how to do, where to do and who is to it. It involves forecasts of manpower requirements in a future time period so that adequate and timely provision may be made to meet these requirements.

2. Human resource planning is an ongoing or a continuous process because the demand for and supply of human resources undergo frequent changes.

3. Human resource planning includes both planning and development of human resources.

4. The primary aim of human resource planning is to make optimum utilisation of the current and future human resources of the enterprise. With a view to maximise the return on investment in human resources, it becomes necessary to link future human resource to future needs of the enterprise.

5. Human resource planning has both quantitative and qualitative aspects. While the former implies the right number of employees required, the latter implies the right talent required in the enterprise.

6. Human resource planning is an integral part of the corporate planning. Therefore there cannot be human resource planning without corporate planning. Whether or not human resource planning meets the requirements of the enterprise depends on how clearly the goals to be achieved are defined.

7. Human resource planning is a systems approach to human resource. It furnishes information about the demand for and supply of human resource in order to ensure effective and full utilisation of the human resources of the organisation.

8. Human resource plans may be long-term plans or short-term plans. Long-term plans are prepared for a period of five years or more on the basis of trends in the economy, labour-market and production. Such plans reflect the management-thinking on the personnel policies, business environment and the organisation structure.

Short-term plans are the plans for a period of one year to less than five years. They are mainly concerned with the filling up of the existing vacancies. It should be noted that both long-term and short-term plans are complementary to each other.

9. Human resource planning is a two-phased process. It involves estimation of the demand for and supply of human resource in order to secure an equilibrium between the two.

10. Manpower planning involves the study of the manpower environment that influences the demand for and supply of manpower. It also involves the fuller and effective utilisation of manpower.

11. Human resource planning ensures that the organisation has the right number and the right kind of people at the right place and at the right time.

12. Finally, human resource planning is the primary responsibility of the management with a view to ensure effective utilisation of organisation’s human resources.

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Features of Human Resource Planning – Features along with Difficulties and Pre-Requisites

The features of HRP are listed below:

1. Future oriented- HRP is prepared to assess the future requirement of manpower in the organization. It helps to identify the size and composition of resources for future purpose.

2. Continuous process – HRP is a continuous process. Business environment is ever changing. The human resource planning process prepared today for a time period may not be applicable for further periods due to the ever-changing external forces of the environment. Hence, to address such changing factors, HRP needs to be revised and updated continuously.

3. Optimum utilization of human resources – HRP focuses on optimum utilization of resources in the organization. It checks how the employees are utilized in a productive manner. It also identifies employees’ existing capabilities and their potential to work.

4. Right kinds and numbers – HRP determines the right number and kind of people at the right time and place that are capable of performing the required jobs. HRP further assesses the future requirement of manpower for organizational objective.

5. Determination of demand and supply – HRP is a process of determining demand for and supply of human resources in the organization. A match between demand and supply estimates the optimum level of manpower. Ideally, human resources should neither be surplus nor deficit.

6. Related to corporate plan – HRP is an integral and essential part of the overall corporate plan of the organization. It can be formulated at strategic, tactical, and operational levels.

7. A part of HRM system – HRM is a persuasive function in any organization. HRP is a sub-system of human resource management. As a part of total human resource management system, HRP is regarded as a component or element of HRM which is concerned with acquisition and assessment of manpower. It serves as a foundation for management of human resource in an effective and efficient manner.

Difficulties in HRP:

HRP aims at the accurate estimation and optimal utilization of human resource in an organization. However, sometimes HRP fails to be effective; therefore, faces many problems.

These problems are mentioned in the following points:

i. Lack of Purpose:

Implies that many organizations fail to understand the rationale of HRP. Such organizations presume that human resource is a department whose main aim is merely providing salaries on time. Ideally, the purpose of human resource department should be to attract talented candidates to the organization and train existing employees to increase their productivity.

For instance, many organizations may see human resource initiatives, such as career planning, succession planning, and employees’ satisfaction survey, as redundant activities. Thus, these organizations do not provide sufficient funding to implement these human resource initiatives. Therefore, there is a lack of purpose for HRP in such organizations.

ii. Lack of Top Management’s Support:

Creates hindrances for human resource planners during their planning programs in various organizations. Sometimes, the top management fails to communicate their human resource requirements to the human resource planners, which leads to ineffective implementation of plans. Therefore, it is essential that the top management provides the necessary resources, co-operation, and support to ensure the success of HRP.

iii. Lack of Initial Efforts:

Results in inaccurate forecasting of human resource requirements of the organization by the human resource planner. It also leads to delay in recruitment and selection processes. Sometimes, human resource planners fail to understand the importance of job description and specification that leads to the selection of wrong candidates for the job. The idea should be to start slowly by forecasting and analyzing the need of human resource and then moving gradually towards the recruitment process.

iv. Lack of Co-Ordination with Other Functions:

Arises as HRP is treated as a function that is isolated from all the other departments in an organization. The lack of co-ordination acts as a roadblock to human resource plans because it becomes difficult to know the human resource expectations of the organization.

v. Lack of Integration with Strategic Planning:

Results in the failure of HRP in many organizations. The rationale for the failure of HRP is the preparation of human resource plans in isolation with the organizational goals. It is essential to integrate HRM with the strategic planning because the knowledge, skills, attitudes, and appropriate behavior of human resource are important to accomplish the strategic plans. This implies that there is a requirement of strong communication channels between organizational and human resource planners.

Pre-Requisites for Successful HRP:

The efficiency of the HRM system in any organization can be judged from the competency of the HRP process. It is necessary to ensure that HRP is based on accurate and updated data. A human resource manager should give due consideration to specific pre­requisites while formulating human resource plans to make HRP efficient and successful.

Some of the pre-requisites for successful HRP are as follows:

i. Involving line managers while performing HRP because the coordination between line managers and human resource functions ensures success of the laid down plans.

ii. Ascertaining the wholehearted support of top management, which is necessary for HRP to be effective in the long run. This is also necessary to ensure the availability of required resources, co-operation, and support for the success of HRP.

iii. Reviewing and revising the data collection, analysis, and forecasting techniques of planning periodically; as business environment is dynamic and changes take place at a very fast pace.

iv. Aligning HRP with the overall business or strategic planning process to realize organizational objectives. This requires good communication channels between the organization and human resource planners.

v. Systematizing HRP so that it provides support to the planning efforts at various levels of HRP.

vi. Ensuring harmony between the human resource and operations departments while developing human resource plans; as HRP is not the function of human resource planners alone, but affects the other departments of the organization as well.

vii. Coordinating HRP with other management functions to successfully realize human resource as well as other managerial objectives.

viii. Maintaining the reliability and validity of the data required for the formulation of effective human resource plans by developing the human resource information system properly and accurately.

It is difficult to determine at early stages whether the HRP process would be successful or not. Even the stated pre-requisites cannot make a particular HRP process fully free from faults and failure. Every organization faces certain difficulties while developing and implementing a human resource plan.

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Features of Human Resource Planning: 5 Features by Some Authors

The features of Human Resource Planning are as follows:

A well-structured human resource plan exhibits certain characteristics. The elements included in these characteristics show the true substance of human resource plan.

Let us look at what some of the authors say about the features of these plans:

1. The focus of these plans is on accomplishing corporate goals through effective utilization of human resources—whether in providing direction or assessing the impact these goals come handy.

2. Human resource plan is a process which involves a series of activities which are inter­connected and related. From forecasting human resource needs, a series of activities are involved in figuring out the requirements.

3. The short-range needs and the long-range strategies and future directions are taken into consideration. The short-range requirements fulfil the immediate needs and the long-range are more strategic in nature.

4. A series of decisions are involved in this process. In setting the number and kind of human resources required, the timing, the cost, and many other aspects have to be decided. Some of these can be tough decisions.

5. The quantitative and the qualitative aspects of human resource strategy at every stage are emphasized. The quantitative aspects do not mean the mathematical formulas.

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