Approaches to human resource planning To forecast the organisations future HR requirements and determine from where they will

be obtained.Three sets of forecasts are required: a forecast of the demand for human resources a forecast of the supply of external human resources a forecast of the supply of human resources available within the organisation Two approaches used in forecasting the demand for human resources are quantitative and qualitative. The quantitative approach : The quantitative approach to HR planning uses statistical and mathematicaltechniques. The focus of this approach is on forecasting HR shortages, surpluses and career blockages; its a i m i s t o r e c o n c i l e t h e s u p p l y a n d d e m a n d f o r human resources given the organisations objectives.Quantitative forecasting includes trend projection, econometric modelling and multiple p r e d i c t i v e techniques. The qualitative approach: The qualitative approach to HR planning uses expert opinion (usually a linemanager) to predict the future (for example, the marketing manager will be asked to estimate the future personnel requirements for the marketing department). The focus is on evaluations of employee performanceand promotability as well as management and career development. Qualitative forecasting includes DelphiTechnique and Nominal Group technique. human resource availability The next step in human resource planning involves forecasting human resource availability . This involves anexamination of the internal and external labour supply. Present employees who can be promoted, transferred,demoted or developed make up the internal supply. The external supply consists of people who do not currently work for the organisation. Forecasting the supply of internal human resources: Techniques for forecasting the internal supply of personnel include turnover analysis, skill inventories, replacement charts, Markov analysis and succession planning. Factors affecting the external supply of human resources: Not all vacancies can be filled from within theorganisation. Consequently, the organisation must tap into the external labour market (local, regional, i n t e r s t a t e o r international). Thus, the HR manager needs to be alert to demographic c h a n g e s . C h a n g e s occurring in the external labour market are the aging of the workforce, the increases in female participationrates, increases in school retention rates, changes in the rate of immigration, casualisation of the work force,outsourcing, and international employees. Requirements for effective HR planning Given that the success of an organisation ultimately depends on how well its human resources are managed