HUMAN RESOURCES PLANNING (HRP) - the activity undertaken to make sure that the right quantity and quality

of manpower are available at the exact time and place that they needed - refers to the performance of tasks that will enable the organization to function effectively and efficiently by providing its various departments with qualified personnel
Human resource planning is the term used to describe how companies ensure that their staff are the right staff to do the jobs. What Does Human Resource Planning - HRP Mean? The ongoing process of systematic planning to achieve optimum use of an organization's most valuable asset - its human resources. The objective of human resource (HR) planning is to ensure the best fit between employees and jobs, while avoiding manpower shortages or surpluses. The three key elements of the HR planning process are forecasting labor demand, analyzing present labor supply, and balancing projected labor demand and supply.

Human Resource planning can be defined as a process by which an organization ensures that it has the right number and kinds of people, at the right place, at the right time, capable of effectively and efficiently completing those tasks that will help the organization achieve its overall objectives or in other words HRP can be defined as planning for the future personnel needs of an organization, taking into account both internal activities and factors in the external environment. Need and Importance of HRP Human resource Planning translates the organization objectives and plans into the number of workers needed to meet these objectives. The need and importance of HRP is as follows: HRP helps in determining the future manpower requirements and avoids problems like over staffing or understaffing in the organization. HRP helps in tackling with the factors like competition, technology, government policies etc. that generates changes in the job content, skill requirements and number and types of personnel required. Now a days there is a demand of exceptional intellectual skills while the existing staff becomes redundant, the HR manager has to attract and retain qualified and skilled personnel and also required to deal with issues like career development, succession planning for which he takes the help of HRP. A proper and realistic human resource plan is needed to ensure equal employment and promotional appointments to the candidates fro weaker sections, physically handicapped and socially and politically oppressed citizens. HRP provides valuable and timely information for various designing and execution of personnel functions like recruitment, selection, transfers, promotions, layoffs, training and development and performance appraisal. It helps the organization to anticipate imbalance in human resources, which in turn will facilitate reduction in personal costs. HRP facilitates planning for future needs which will help in better planning of assignments to develop managers and to ensure the organization has a steady supply of experienced and skilled employees. Factors affecting Human Resource Planning HRP is a dynamic and on going process. The process of updating is not very simple, since HRP is influenced by many factors, which are as follows: The type of organization determines the production process and number and type of staff needed. The human resource needs of an

organization depend on the strategic plan adopted by it. For e.g. the growth of a business calls for hiring of additional labor, while mergers will need a plan for layoffs. Organization operates under different political, social environment and has to carefully formulate the HR policies and so the HR manager has to evolve suitable mechanism to deal with uncertainties through career developments, succession planning, retirement schemes etc. HRP also depends on the time periods and accordingly the short and long-term plans are adopted. And this time span is based on the degree of environmental uncertainties. The type and quality of information used in making forecasting is an important factor influencing HRP. Accurate and timely human resource information system helps in getting better quality personnel. HRP is required to ensure that suitable candidates should be appointed at the right kind of job. So these are some of the factors that affect the human resource planning. Limitations of Human Resource Planning It is very difficult to ascertain future manpower requirements of an organization, as future is always uncertain. It is more relevant to the countries that face the problem of scarcity of human resources. It is a time consuming and costlier process. It is beneficial in the organizations that adopt a professional approach and at the same time are conscious about the changing environment. HRP is beneficial where adequate skilled manpower is available. . HRP is also made difficult in the organizations that have a very high labor turnover. The role of the human resource function is two-fold: 1. To participate in the decision process by providing information and opinion on each option, including: * redundancy or recruitment costs * consequences on morale * redeployment/outplacement opportunities * availability of skilled staff within the organization * availability of suitable people in the job market * time constraints * development/training needs/schedules * management requirements. This forms part of the information collated from the organization as a whole 2. To support line managers dealing with the people consequences of implementing the decision. Information already gathered provides the basis for a human resource plan. The recruitment and selection is the major function of the human resource department and recruitment process is the first step towards creating the competitive strength and the strategic advantage for the organisations. Recruitment process involves a systematic procedure from sourcing the candidates to arranging and conducting the interviews and requires many resources and time. A general recruitment process is as follows: Identifying the vacancy: The recruitment process begins with the human resource department

receiving requisitions for recruitment from any department of the company. These contain: Posts to be filled Number of persons Duties to be performed Qualifications required Preparing the job description and person specification.

Locating and developing the sources of required number and type of employees (Advertising etc).

Short-listing and identifying the prospective employee with required characteristics.

Arranging the interviews with the selected candidates.

Conducting the interview and decision making

1. Identify vacancy

2. Prepare job description and person specification

3. Advertising the vacancy

4. Managing the response

5. Short-listing

6. Arrange interviews

7. Conducting interview and decision making The recruitment process is immediately followed by the selection process i.e. the final interviews and the decision making, conveying the decision and the appointment formalities.

RECRUITMENT The word recruitment has many meaning and plays an important role. Employees leave the organization in search of greener pastures- some retire some die in saddle. The most important thing is that enterprise grows, diversifies, and takes over other units-all necessitating hiring of new men and women. In fact recruitment functions stop only when the organization ceases to exist. To understand recruitment in simple terms it is understood as process of searching for obtaining applications of job from among from whom the right people can be selected. To define recruitment we can define it formally as it is a process of finding and attracting capable applicants for employment. The process begins when new recruit are sought and ends when their application are submitted. The result is a pool of applicants from which new employees are selected. Theoretically, recruitment process is said to end with receipt of application in practice the activity extends to the screening applicants as to eliminate those who are not qualified for job. 2 1.2 PURPOSE AND IMPORTANCE The general purpose of recruitment is to provide a pool of potentially qualified job candidates. Specifically, the purposes are to: 1. Determine the present and future requirement of the organization in conjunction with its personnel planning and job analysis activities; 2. Increase the job pool of job candidates at minimum cost; 3. Help increase

the success rate of the selection process by reducing the number visibly under qualified or job application; 4. Help reduce the probability that job applicants, once recruited selected, will leave the organization only after a short period of time; 5. Meet the organizations legal and social obligation regarding the composition of its workforce; 6. Being identifying and preparing potential job applicants who will be appropriate candidates; 7. Increase organization individual effectiveness in the short term and long term; 8. Evaluate the effectiveness of various recruiting technique and sources for all types of job applicants. 3 1.3 FACTORS AFFECTING RECRUITMENT There are a number of factors that affect recruitment. These are broadly classified into two categories: 1. Internal factors 2. External factors INTERNAL FACTORS The internal factors also called as endogenous factors are the factors within the organization that affect recruiting personnel in the organization. Some of these are:- Size of the organization The size of the organization affects the recruitment process. Larger organization finds recruitment less problematic than organization with smaller in size. Recruiting policy The recruitment policy of the organization i.e. recruiting from internal sources and external sources also affect the recruitment process. Generally, recruitment through internal sources is preferred, because own employees know the organization and they can well fit in to the organization culture. 4 Image of the organization Image of the organization is another factor having its influence on the recruitment process of the organization. Good image of the organization earned by the number of overt and covert action by management helps attract potential and complete candidates. Managerial actions like good public relations, rendering public service like building roads, public parks, hospitals and schools help earn image or goodwill for organization. That is why chip companies attract the larger numbers of application. Image of the job Better remuneration and working conditions are considered the characteristics of good image of a job. Besides, promotion and carrier development policies of organization also attract potential candidates. 5 EXTERNAL FACTORS Like internal factors, there are some factors external to organization, which have their influence on recruitment process. Some of these are given below:- Demographic factors As demographics factors are intimately related to human beings, i.e. employees, these have profound influence on recruitment process. Demographic factors include age, sex, Literacy, economics status etc . Labor market Labor market condition I.e. supply and demand of labor is of particular importance in affecting recruitment process. E.g. if the demand for specific skill is high relative to its supply is more than for particular skill, recruitment will be relatively easier. Unemployment situation The rate of unemployment is yet another external factor its influence on the recruitment process. When the employment rate in an area is high, the recruitment process tends to simpler. The reason is not difficult to seek. The number of application is expectedly very high which makes easier to attract the best-qualified applications. The reserve is also true. With low rate of unemployment, recruiting process tend to become difficult . Labor laws There are several labor laws and regulations passed by the central and state governments that govern different type of employment. These cover working condition, compensation, retirement benefits, safety and health of employee in industrial undertakings. 6 SELECTION 2.1 MEANING AND DEFINATION Selection is the process of picking individuals (out of the pool of job applicants) with requisite qualifications and competence to fill jobs in the organization. A formal definition of Selection is:- It is the process of differentiating

between applicants in order to identify (and here) those with a greater likelihood of success in a job. Recruitment and selection are the two crucial in the HR process and are often used interchangeably. There I, however, a fine distinction between the two steps. While recruitment refers to the process of identifying and encouraging prospective employees to apply for jobs, selection is concerned with picking the right candidates from the pool of applicants. Recruitment is said to be positive in its approach as it seeks to attract as many candidates as possible. Selection, on the other hand, is negative in its application in as it seeks to eliminate as many unqualified applicants as possible in order to identify the right candidates. 27 2.2 ROLE OF SELECTION The role of selection in an organizations effectiveness is crucial for at least, two reasons; first, work performance depends on individuals. The best way to improve performance is to hire people who have the competence and the willingness to work. Arguing from the employees viewpoint, poor or inappropriate choice can be demoralizing to the individual concerned (who finds himself or herself in the wrong job) and de-motivating to the rest of the workforce. Effective selection, therefore, assumes greater relevance. Second, cost incurred in recruiting and hiring personnel speaks about volumes of the selection. Costs of wrong selection are greater. 2.3 STEPS IN SELECTION PROCESS 28 2.4 ORGANISATION FOR SELECTION Until recently, the basic hiring process was performed in a rather unplanned manner in many organizations. In some companies, each department screened and hired its own employees. Many managers insisted upon selecting their own people because they were sure no one else could choose employee for them as efficiently as they themselves could. Not any more. Selection is now centralized and is handled by the human resources department. Ideally, a selection process involves mutual decision-making. The organization decides whether or not to make a job offer and how attractive the offer should be. The candidate decides whether or not organization and the fob offer fit his or her needs and goal. In reality, the selection process is highly oneside. When the job market is extremely right, several candidates will be applying for a position, and the organization will use a series of screening devices to hire the candidates it feels is most suitable. When there is a shortage of qualified workers, or when the candidate is a highly qualified executive or professional who is being sought after by several organizations, the organizations will have to sweeten its offer and come to a quicker decision. 29