Factors Affecting HRP

HRP is influenced by several considerations. The more important of

them are : (1) type and strategy of organisations , (2) organisational
growth and planning , (3) environmental uncertainties , (4) time
horizons , (5) type and quality of forecasting information , (6) nature of
jobs filled , and (7) off-loading the work (see Fig 4.1)

Type and Strategy of organization

The type of organization is an important consideration because it

determines the production processes involved , number and type of staff
needed , and the supervisory and managerial personnel required.
Manufacturing organizations are more complex in this respect than
those that render services.
The strategic plan of the organization defines the organisation’s
HR needs. For example, a strategy of organic growth means that
additional employees must be hired. Acquisitions or mergers, on the
other hand, probably 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.
Primarily, the organization decides either to be proactive or
reactive in HRP. It can either decide to carefully anticipate the needs
and systematically plan them to fill them far in advance, or it can simply
react to needs as they arise. Of course, careful planning to fill HR needs
 better helps ensure that the organisation obtains the right number of
HR people with proper skills and competencies when they are needed.
Similarly, the organisation must determine the breadth of the
plan. Essentially, the organisation can choose a narrow focus by
planning in only one or two Hr areas, such as recruitment or selection,
or it can choose a broad focus by planning in all areas including
training, remuneration and so n.
The organisation must also decide upon the formality of the plan.
It can decide to have an informal plan that lies mostly in the minds of
the managers and personnel staff. Alternatively, the organisation can
have a tormalised plan which is clearly spelt out in writing, backed by
documentation and data.
Finally, the organisation must make a decision on flexibility-the
ability of the HR plan to anticipate and deal with contingencies. No
organisation likes high levels of uncertainty. Organisations seek to
reduce uncertainty by planning, which includes forecasting and
predicting possible future conditions and events. HRP can obtain many
contingencies, which reflect different scenarios thereby assuring that the
plan is flexible and adaptable.
Figure 4.2 summarises these five major choices faced by the
organizations in strategic HRP. An organisation will often tend to be to
the left or to the right on all continua rather than to the left on some and
to the right on other, although there could be exceptions. A company
could be at one end of the extreme on some plan characteristics and at
the other end on other.
Organisational Growth Cycles and Planning
The stage of an organization‘s growth can have considerable 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 also begins to receive attention in order to keep up with the
growth.
A mature organization experiences less flexibility and variability.
Growth slows down. The workforce becomes old as few younger people
are hired. Planning becomes more formalized and less flexible and
innovative. Issues like retirement and possible retrenchment dominate
planning.
Finally, in the declining stage HRP takes a different focus.
Planning is done for layoff, retrenchment and retirement. Since
decisions are often made serious financial and sales shocks are
experienced by the organisation, planning is often in nature.
Environmental Uncertainties
HR managers rarely have the privilege of operating in a stable and
predictable environment. Political, social and economic changes affect
all organizations. Personnel planners deal with environmental
uncertainties by carefully formulating recruitment, selection, and
training and development policies and programmes. Balancing
mechanisms are built int thr HRM programme through succession
planning, promotion channels, layoffs, flexitime, job sharing,
retirement, VRS, and other personnel related arrangements.

Time Horizons
Yet another major factor affecting personnel planning is the time
horizon. On one hand, there are short-term plans spanning six months
to one year. On the other hand, there are long-term plans which pread
over three to twenty years. The exact time span, however, depends on
the degree of uncertainty prevailing in an organisation’s environment.
Plans for companies operating in an unstable environment, computers
for example, must be for a short period. Plans for others where
environment is fairly stable, for example a university plan, may be long-
term. In general, the greater the uncertainty, the shorter the plan’s time
horizon and vice versa.
Type and Quality of Information

The information used to forecast personnel needs originates from a

multitude of sources. A major issue in personnel planning is the type of
information which should be used in making forecasts.
Closely related to the type of information is the quality of data
used. The quality and accuracy of information depend upon the clarity
with which the organisational decision makers have defined their
strategy, organisational structure, budgets, production schedules and so
forth. In addition, the HR department must maintain well-developed
job-analysis information and HR information systems(HRIS) that
provide accurate and timely data. Generally speaking, organisations
operating in stable environments are in a better position to obtain
comprehensive, timely and accurate information because of longer
planning horizons, clearer definition of strategy and objectives, and
fewer disruptions.

Nature of Jobs being Filled

Personnel planners must consider the nature of jobs being filled in the
organisation. Job vacancies arise because of separations, promotions
and expansion strategies.
It is easy to employ shop-floor workers, but a lot of sourcing is
necessary for hiring managerial personnel. It is, therefore, necessary for
the personnel department to anticipate vacancies, as far in advance as
possible, to provide sufficient lead time to ensure that suitable
candidates are recruited.
HUMAN RESOURCE INFORMATION SYSTEM
(HRIS) TECHNIQUE

HRIS is a systematic procedure of collecting, storing, maintaining,

retrieving and and validating data needed by an organisation about its
HR. The HRIS is usually a part of the organisation’s larger
management information system(MIS). The HRIS need not be complex
as even computerized but computerization has its own advantage of
providing more accurate and timely data for decision making.

HR information system is much more than computerizing the payroll

or skill inventory in organisation. It is an integrated approach aimed at
accelerating the decision-making process concerning HR and
improvement of two-way communication. Software packages such as
HRMS ORACLE, People soft-HR and SAP-HR are available which are
relevant for creating HRIS. The system is used in following areas:
• Recruitments, particularly pre-employment application process
• Training need analysis
• HR planning, particularly in forecast techniques
• Payroll
• Skill inventory
• Career and succession planning
• Employee benefit administration and services
• Two-way communication in organistion
• HR personal data
• Job evaluation
• Compensation management
• Employee surveys

Areas of utilization of this technique are on the rise duringthe

current decade. Many organization have reported huge savings
and improved decision-making in terms of quality and speed. For
example, Cheyron estimated that it saved to the tune of $2000 per
employee consequent upon integration of employee information
through HRIS. Philips Petroleum reported saving of over $100
million by ensuring availability of information needed directly to
managers.
 HRIS is particularly useful to organisations whose
geographical spread is vast or employing large manpower. HRIS,
apart from using computers is meant to integrate the employee
related information in a meaningful fashion. HRIS also can be
used for generating various reports and analyzing HR
information with different permutations and combinations to
draw inferences not possible by manual operations. Organisations
generally allow three types of accessibility of HR information,
which include: (1) information meant to all employees, (2)
Information accessibility restricted to managers and (3)
information accessibility to only top managers. Employee
interaction online is also possible to receive services, communicate
with management and receive bulletins. One time investment on
HRIS will dramatically increase effectiveness of HR management
and saves the more money than invested on it.

Managerial Implication

A number of organisations end up making a wrong or not very

rational decision because of limited information available with
them regarding HR. It is difficult for some organisations to
establish exact strength of manpower on roll in a given day.
Further, the rise of variables in HR data makes it impossible for
organisations to leave the data uncomputerized and unprocessed.
However, computerization of HR data is just a beginning in the
direction of HRIS creation. HRIS is a combination of factors that
provide timely, accurately, meaningfully, completely and in a
concise manner.
 SEPARATIONS

Separation occurs when an employee leaves the organisation.

Why do separations occur? Reasons for employee separations
may be voluntary or involuntary. In the former, initation for
separation is taken by the employee himself or herself. Where the
employer initates to separate an employee, it becomes involuntary
separation. In the latter the employee enterains the feeling of
injustice and seeks legal protection to undo it. Fig 2.1 shows both
voluntary and involuntary separations.