Human Resource Planning is the process by which an organization ensures that it has the right

number of people, right kind of people, at the right places and at the right time to fulfill
organizational goals. In its simplest form it is about answering 3 questions: What are my
business needs, how/what do I need to do to meet those needs and what strategies will I take
to ensure that my needs are met?

HRP involves various interrelated activities:

 Forecasting future manpower requirements either in terms of mathematical projections of

trend in the economy and development in the industry or of judgmental estimates based upon
specific future plans of the company.

 Inventorying present manpower resources and analyzing the degree to which these resources
are employed optimally.

 Anticipating manpower problem by projecting present resources into the future and comparing
them with the forecast of the requirement to determine their adequacy both quantitatively and
qualitatively.

 Planning the necessary programmes of recruitment, selection, training deployment, utilization,

transfer, promotion and development.

The slowdown in the economy has forced organizations to give HR a new look. Lean structures,
with just the right number of employees and right kind of training is crucial for the operational
efficiency of an organisation. Human Resource Management (HRM) performs the key process of
recruitment, training and performance management in BHEL. These processes are linked to the
business plan and the overall business process of BHEL.

Human Resource Development was introduced in BHEL with the objective of making people
effective by enabling them to acquire skill and capabilities. It has been identified as a key area
providing the cutting edge to BHEL in its endeavor towards competitive excellence. There are
Human Resource Committee set up in the corporate offices for reviewing and approving various
areas of personnel policies in order to bring about an integrated management perspective.
Human Resource Development (HRD) is especially vital in BHEL, which is wrought with
overstaffing and a large degree of inefficiency.

Challenges:

1) The need to see the results makes planning appear a waste of time .It might divert one’s
attention from actually doing it. But careful assessment of HR may turn of more human
resource development needs than it was initially perceived.
2) There is also a struggle between need to be systematic and the need to be flexible to
meet the changing circumstances. BHEL is an organisation which has been around for
quite some time now. The HR team has to cope up with the emerging trends in the
markets with respect to the new practices, increasing globalisation, and increasing
workforce diversity.

3) Also there will be already existing that are involved in training, employment services
and other hum an resource functions. The challenge here is to construct partner ships
and avoid turf wars. Similarly in BHEL the HR has to develop synergies between in
training employment services and other human resource functions.

Some practical steps for planning:

1) Understanding that the planning process is indeed an essential part of organized skill
building; the necessary resources to carry out an effective planning process; support,
commitment, and participation from relevant sectors of the community.

2) It is necessary to get the process started, hire a consultant who will help the
responsible committee to organize its work.

3) An assessment and analysis phase should be undertaken to identify the gaps

between the current and desired skill/knowledge base, as well as the current and
future job opportunities.

4) From the data of the preceding phase, goals should be set describing and prioritizing
the steps to be taken that will ensure that training addresses the needs that are
fundamental in nature first and that the training sequences occurs in a logical order.

5) Evaluation should be built into the plan, using both measurable data (quantitative)
and peoples’ perceptions or judgements (qualitative information). Aside from all the
other benefits of being able to know what progress has or has not occurred, the
evaluation gives community members the chance to give voice to their reactions.