Human Resources Planning

The main purpose with human resources planning is to match the demands of an organisation’s vision with the human resources it has to its disposal.

Organisational activities are the building-blocks of strategy implementation. In order to perform these activities, resources are required. Human resources is one of the mix of production factors required to perform activities, which will then produce goods and services and able the organisational to achieve its objectives.

In order to create logic, synergy and coordination, organisations “cluster” its resources together into vertical hierarchies (positions on different levels of the organisation) and horizontal division, sections and functions. In the process, specialisation is created, and its became easier (and even simply possible) for the organisation to focus and determine exactly what human resources it will need to perform activities and implement its strategies.

Well-managed organisations will be pro-active and determine its current and future resource needs in order to optimise its ability to achieve its goals; now and in future. That is, in practical terms, the organisation will determine the requirements of the tasks that must be performed to conduct activities required to achieve objectives. These requirements will then be assessed against the human resources available.

In this sense, the term “requirements” refer to the intrinsic skills, competencies, experience and other technical – and generic abilities required to perform the tasks associated with a specific activity. This also include intangible attributes, such as emotional intelligence.

The following process can be applied when human resources planning is done:

1. The human resources requirements to achieve the long-term vision of the organisation must be determined.

2. The current human resources pool must be assessed to determine the availability of required human resources, compare it with the requirements and identify the gaps. This process must not only focus on the current situation, but must also consider the organisation’s future requirements – based on its long-term vision and strategies.

3. Current and future human resources gaps must be identified, based on the results of the above-mentioned analysis.

4. Recruitment and selection strategies (and policies) must be identified to secure the required human resources to give practical effect to its current – and long-term vision.

5. The organisation’s HR planning strategies and policies must be aligned with its business strategies.

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