HRP is the subsystem in the total organizational planning. Organizational planning includes managerial activities that set the company’s objective for the future and determines the appropriate means for achieving those objectives. The importance of HRP is elaborated on the basis of the key roles that it is playing in the organization.
1.Future Personnel Needs:
Human resource planning is significant because it helps to determine the future personnel needs of the organization. If an organization is facing the problem of either surplus or deficiency in staff strength, then it is the result of the absence of effecting HR planning. All public sector enterprises find themselves overstaffed now as they never had any planning for personnel requirement and went of recruitment spree till late 1980’s. The problem of excess staff has become such a prominent problem that many private sector units are resorting to VRS ‘voluntary retirement scheme’. The excess of labour problem would have been there if the organization had good HRP system. Effective HRP system will also enable the organization to have good succession planning.
2.Part of Strategic Planning:
HRP has become an integral part of strategic planning of strategic planning. HRP provides inputs in strategy formulation process in terms of deciding whether the organization has got the right kind of human resources to carry out the given strategy. HRP is also necessary during the implementation stage in the form of deciding to make resource allocation decisions related to organization structure, process and human resources. In some organizations HRP play as significant role as strategic planning and HR issues are perceived as inherent in business management.
3.Creating Highly Talented Personnel:
Even though India has a great pool of educated unemployed, it is the discretion of HR manager that will enable the company to recruit the right person with right skills to the organization. Even the existing staff hope the job so frequently that organization face frequent shortage of manpower. Manpower planning in the form of skill development is required to help the organization in dealing with this problem of skilled manpower shortage.
4.International Strategies:
An international expansion strategy of an organization is facilitated to a great extent by HR planning. The HR department’s ability to fill key jobs with foreign nationals and reassignment of employees from within or across national borders is a major challenge that is being faced by international business.
With the growing trend towards global operation, the need for HRP will as well will be the need to integrate HRP more closely with the organization’s strategic plans. Without effective HRP and subsequent attention to employee recruitment, selection, placement, development, and career planning, the growing competition for foreign executives may lead to expensive and strategically descriptive turnover among key decision makers.
5.Foundation for Personnel Functions:
HRP provides essential information for designing and implementing personnel functions, such as recruitment, selection, training and development, personnel movement like transfers, promotions and layoffs.
6.Increasing Investments in Human Resources:
Organizations are making increasing investments in human resource development compelling the increased need for HRP. Organizations are realizing that human assets can increase in value more than the physical assets. An employee who gradually develops his/ her skills and abilities become a valuable asset for the organization. Organizations can make investments in its personnel either through direct training or job assignment and the rupee value of such a trained, flexible, motivated productive workforce is difficult to determine. Top officials have started acknowledging that quality of work force is responsible for both short term and long-term performance of the organization.
7.Resistance to Change:
Employees are always reluctant whenever they hear about change and even about job rotation. Organizations cannot shift one employee from one department to another without any specific planning. Even for carrying out job rotation (shifting one employee from one department to another) there is a need to plan well ahead and match the skills required and existing skills of the employees.
8.Succession Planning:
Human Resource Planning prepares people for future challenges. The ‘stars’ are picked up, trained, assessed and assisted continuously so that when the time comes such trained employees can quickly take the responsibilities and position of their boss or seniors as and when situation arrives.
9.Other Benefits:
(a) HRP helps in judging the effectiveness of manpower policies and programmes of management.
(b) It develops awareness on effective utilization of human resources for the overall development of organization.
(c) It facilitates selection and training of employees with adequate knowledge, experience and aptitudes so as to carry on and achieve the organizational objectives
(d) HRP encourages the company to review and modify its human resource policies and practices and to examine the way of utilizing the human resources for better utilization.
