Need for HRP at Macro Level

http://relivingmbadays.wordpress.com/category/human-resource/

Human Resource Planning is a mandatory part of every organization’s 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

Major reasons for the emphasis on HRP at macro level include:

1. 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.

2. 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.

3. 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.

4. Demographic Changes

The changing profile of the work force in terms of age, sex, literacy, technical inputs and social background have implications for HRP.

5. Skill Shortages

Unemployment does not mean that the labour market is a buyer’s 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.

6. 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 labout, etc. have stimulated the organizations to become involved in systematic HRP.

7. 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.

8. 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.

9. 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.

10 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.