By Andrea Soberg, CHRP

Human resource planning (HRP) as defined by Vetter is “the process by which management determines how the organization should move from its current manpower position to its desired manpower position. Through planning, management strives to have the right number and the right kinds of people, at the right places, at the right time, doing things which result in both the organization and the individual receiving maximum long-run benefit.”1

In human resource planning we refer to an organization’s people – their abilities, their interests, and their knowledge. If the human resource plan is to be of any use to an organization in the achievement of its mission and strategic plans, it must be a living document – one that is regularly assessed and revised. The ongoing process of planning, not the development of a document, is critical to an organization’s competitiveness and success. Teamwork between managers and human resource professionals plays a critical part in developing an effective plan.

The human resource planning process involves “analyzing an organization’s human resource needs under changing conditions and developing activities necessary to satisfy these needs”2. In order to analyze the organization’s needs and develop a good plan a seven-step approach can be applied:

• Identify the objectives of human resource planning.
• Gather data on the current HR management practices and activities.
• Determine the supply of labour.
• Determine the demand for labour.
• Identify the imbalance.
• Develop and implement HR action plans.
• Monitor the results.

Throughout the planning process, the managers and the HR professionals need to remember that the process concerns what-if scenarios. No one can know the future with 100% certainty; those involved in the process must do their best to project what might occur within, or to, their department or the organization, based on the data and information they have collected. They need to consider what situations might promote or hinder the success of the organization. When managers and HR professionals work as a team, they are more likely to identify the possible scenarios that could occur.

Individual managers know the implications of the organization’s mission and strategic direction on their own functional area or department. They know the skills and abilities required to achieve the goals. They know the changes in the organization that may be occurring in the future. For example they would know about the plans for new products, services, and ways of doing business. Managers involved in professional associations and those who actively pursue professional development opportunities also understand their industry and marketplace. They are aware of the need to address the impact new market trends, production techniques, and changing technologies have on their organization and current workforce.

Organizations that want to remain competitive have managers who take responsibility for planning. Dave Ulrich, states, “when human resource planning is conceived and understood as a means of building a competitive edge, responsibility for the process resides with line managers. When line managers perceive human resource practices helping their business reach its goals, they initiate and support human resource planning efforts.”3

In a recent publication on Workforce Crisis, the authors reiterate this notion by stating, “Responsibility for ensuring the enterprise’s talent supply rests on the CEO and the HR executive but is shared broadly. The CEO shares responsibility locally with every general manager and any manager responsible for the complete mix of business resources – money, facilities, people, technology. Each general manager must understand the changing composition not only of the customer base but also of the local workforce, how those changes influence performance, and how the local organization can best participate in and contribute to the flow of people, experience, and skills across the enterprise. Meanwhile, the HR executive shares responsibility across the HR function at large, and especially with HR managers affiliated with particular business units, major business functions, and general managers throughout the corporation.”4

When managers understand this management responsibility, they regularly monitor the internal and external environments. They observe how employees are working within their organization and what factors within the internal and external environment may impact their organization’s success. Since most managers are not experts in human resource planning, and also they don’t typically have the extra time that is required to conduct the planning, they initiate the HR planning process by contacting an HR professional and bringing him/her into the strategic planning discussion.

When an HR professional conducts HR planning, he/she assists an organization to achieve its mission by more clearly defining the objective of human resource planning and providing information on the current HR management practices and activities (step 1 and 2 in the HR planning process). “Human resource planners assume new roles as process managers of competitive human resources plans. Rather than being a part of the strategic planning processes, they become strategic partners. As strategic partners, they spend time learning and understanding technical, organizational, and strategic plans. As they come to understand these plans, they begin to behave as strategic partners by spending more time with line and other staff executives, by assessing critical human resource issues as they relate to strategy and by collecting and disseminating human resource information which may affect organizational competitiveness.” 5

This article began by identifying a 7-step process to human resource planning. This process is an iterative one and takes a significant amount of teamwork and time to result in effective action plans that address the challenges an organization experiences as it attempts to successfully achieve its mission. For an HR plan to be fully effective the planners must clearly understand what needs to be done in each stage of the process.

Future articles will cover all the aspects of determining the demand and supply, identifying the correct imbalance, creating appropriate action plans, and will continue the discussion on the collaborative role of management and the HR professional in HR planning.

Andrea Soberg completed a Masters in Industrial Relations from the University of Toronto in 1984 and has been a Certified Human Resource Professional (CHRP) since 1999. Currently Dean of the School of Business at Trinity Western University, she also leads the HR specialization for the School and for 25 years has operated a consulting business that specializes in strategic human resource planning.(PeopleTalk: Spring 2011)