What are the factors affecting Human Resource Planning(HRP)?

(i) Environmental Uncertainties
HR managers rarely have the privilege of operating in a stable and predictable environment. Political, social and economic changes affect all organisations.
Personnel planners deal with environmental uncertainties by carefully formulating recruitment, selection and training and development policies and programmes. Balancing mechanisms are built into the HRM programme through succession planning, promotion channels, layoffs, flexitime, job sharing, retirement, among others

Flexitime is a scheme where an organisation gives its employees the opportunity of a flexible working hours arrangement.

(ii) Time Horizons
There are short-term plans spanning six to one year and long-term plans which spread over three to twenty years.
The exact time span depends on the degree of uncertainty prevailing in the organisation’s environment. Plans for operating in an unstable environment, computers for example, must be for a short period. Plans for where environment is stable, for example university plan, may be long-term.
Thus, the greater the uncertainty, the shorter the plan’s time horizon and vice versa.

(iii) Organisational Growth Cycles and Planning.
The stage of an organisation’s growth can have influence on HRP. Small organisations in the embryonic stage may not have personnel planning.
Need for planning is felt when the organisation enters the growth stage. HR forecasting becomes essential. Internal development of people begins to receive attention in order to keep up the growth.
A mature organisation experiences less flexibility and variability. Growth slows down. The workforce becomes old as few young people are hired. Planning becomes formalised and less flexible and innovative. Issues like retirement and retrenchment dominate planning.

(iv)Type and strategy of Organisation
The type of organisation is an important consideration because it determines the production processes involved, number and type of staff needed and supervisory and managerial personnel required.
The strategic plan of the organisation defines the organisation’s needs. For example, a strategy of organic growth means additional employees must be hired. Acquisitions or mergers mean that the organisation will need to plan for layoffs, since mergers tend to create, duplicate or overlapping positions that can be handled more efficiently with fewer employees. ( organic growth is the process of businesses expansion due to increasing overall customer base, increased output per customer or representative, new sales, or any combination of the above, as opposed to mergers and acquisitions that are examples of inorganic growth.)

In the declining stage, HRP takes a different focus. Planning is done for layoff, retrenchment and retirement. Since decisions are made after serious financial and sales shocks are experienced by the organisation, planning is often reactive in nature.

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maurice.mutuku answered the question on April 15, 2019 at 06:23