Human Resource Planning

Words of Wisdom
Most chief executives acknowledge that there is a link
between HR practices and business performance. Retaining and motivating knowledge workers has become the primary aim . . . When they leave, the business loses an essential element of intellectual capital. Sainsburys has warned 100 store managers that their performance is unacceptable. It is understood to have employed headhunters to recruit replacements.
Web support material to accompany Human Resource Management: Theory and Practice, Third Edition John Bratton and Jeffrey Gold 2003, published by Palgrave Macmillan

Human Resource Planning

Web support material to accompany Human Resource Management: Theory and Practice, Third Edition John Bratton and Jeffrey Gold 2003, published by Palgrave Macmillan

Human Resource Planning

Human resource planning is the process of systematically forecasting the future demand and supply for employees and the deployment of their skills within the strategic objectives of the organization.

Web support material to accompany Human Resource Management: Theory and Practice, Third Edition John Bratton and Jeffrey Gold 2003, published by Palgrave Macmillan

Human Resource Planning

Is there a link between good HRM and business performance?
In the 2000s, there is growing evidence that progressive HR practices can enhance a companys sustainability and profitability if there is integration with business purpose. There is however also evidence of a failure by many senior managers to recognize this.

Web support material to accompany Human Resource Management: Theory and Practice, Third Edition John Bratton and Jeffrey Gold 2003, published by Palgrave Macmillan

The genesis of HR Planning

Manpower Planning
Manpower plans were designed to to fit in with the overall business strategy and plan. It represents a response by the personnel function to ensure that the necessary supply of people is forthcoming to allow measurable financial, marketing and production targets to be met. Manpower planning was defined by the Department of Employment in 1974 as strategy for the acquisition, utilisation, improvement and preservation of an organisations human resources.
Web support material to accompany Human Resource Management: Theory and Practice, Third Edition John Bratton and Jeffrey Gold 2003, published by Palgrave Macmillan

Manpower Planning

Web support material to accompany Human Resource Management: Theory and Practice, Third Edition John Bratton and Jeffrey Gold 2003, published by Palgrave Macmillan

Manpower Planning

Manpower planning was particularly suitable for the application of statistical techniques. Emphasizing statistical models of the supply and demand of manpower at the expense of the reality of managing and interacting with people (the rationalized approach) was greeted with suspicion. Manpower planning, which focused on the plan as solution, soon gained a poor reputation. The diagnostic approach to manpower planning recognised planning as a process of learning about HR problems, and focused on the behaviour of people and the imperfections of manpower plans.

Web support material to accompany Human Resource Management: Theory and Practice, Third Edition John Bratton and Jeffrey Gold 2003, published by Palgrave Macmillan

The Diagnostic Approach

Web support material to accompany Human Resource Management: Theory and Practice, Third Edition John Bratton and Jeffrey Gold 2003, published by Palgrave Macmillan

Diagnostic versus Rationalized

The rationalized approach focuses on problems that can be easily defined or that match ready-prepared solutions. The diagnostic approach uses quantitative planning techniques in combination with qualitative techniques to identify and understand the causes of manpower problems. By recognising the more complex factors, manpower planning becomes integrated into the whole process of management of the employment relationship. In the 2000s, losing staff is seen as also a loss of intellectual capital. The replacement of knowledge workers can be expensive and time-consuming. In response, an organization could attempt to engender high performance through good HR activities human resource planning.
Web support material to accompany Human Resource Management: Theory and Practice, Third Edition John Bratton and Jeffrey Gold 2003, published by Palgrave Macmillan

Human Resource Planning

The diagnostic approach has the potential to affect organizational structure, job design and work practices. Human resource planning seeks to make the links between strategy, structure and people more explicit. HRP builds on and develops the rationalized and diagnostic approaches to manpower planning.

Web support material to accompany Human Resource Management: Theory and Practice, Third Edition John Bratton and Jeffrey Gold 2003, published by Palgrave Macmillan

High Road HRM Strategy

Studies show that it is beneficial to adopt a high road HRM strategy.

This is characterized by high training, high involvement, high rewards and quality commitment.

It requires a belief by senior management that people represent the key source of competitive advantage.

The continuing development of people should be seen as a vital feature of strategy in both its formation and implementation.

But many firms do not view people in this way, preferring to see HRM issues as a third-order issue.

Web support material to accompany Human Resource Management: Theory and Practice, Third Edition John Bratton and Jeffrey Gold 2003, published by Palgrave Macmillan

Low Road HRM Strategy

This is characterized by low pay, low job security and work intensification. When faced with difficulties, many organizations move to the hard version of HRM in which HR activities are designed to respond to strategy people being viewed as a resource whose cost must be controlled. HRP in this version is more concerned with the right number of people in the right place at the right time who can be utilized in the most cost-effective manner. With pressure to sustain or increase profits, employees are more likely to be treated as a number in the quest to reduce costs. This continues despite the realization that losing staff could have negative consequences for the organization in loss of skill, knowledge, wisdom and productivity.

Web support material to accompany Human Resource Management: Theory and Practice, Third Edition John Bratton and Jeffrey Gold 2003, published by Palgrave Macmillan

Human Resource Accounting

The various attempts to state the value of people in the language of accounting and to represent this value in an organizations financial statement is referred to as human resource accounting.

This can be defined as the process of identifying, quantifying, accounting and forecasting the value of human resources in order to facilitate effective HRM.

Web support material to accompany Human Resource Management: Theory and Practice, Third Edition John Bratton and Jeffrey Gold 2003, published by Palgrave Macmillan

Human Resource Accounting

HRA has contributed to the view of people as being an expense to be minimized and cut when necessary. This view underrates the value of people in terms of intellectual capital. People therefore have a cost which is greater than the cost of their employment

Web support material to accompany Human Resource Management: Theory and Practice, Third Edition John Bratton and Jeffrey Gold 2003, published by Palgrave Macmillan

Towards e-HR
Capturing and disseminating organizational knowledge in all its manifestations have become a key feature of knowledge management. In the 2000s, many HR departments use the Internet and related technologies to support their activities a process referred to as e-HR.

Web support material to accompany Human Resource Management: Theory and Practice, Third Edition John Bratton and Jeffrey Gold 2003, published by Palgrave Macmillan

Flexibility
How many meanings for the idea of flexibility are there? What are the implications for skills, hours and location of work, type of contract and the overall motivation and satisfaction of people at work?

Web support material to accompany Human Resource Management: Theory and Practice, Third Edition John Bratton and Jeffrey Gold 2003, published by Palgrave Macmillan

Labour market segmentation

Web support material to accompany Human Resource Management: Theory and Practice, Third Edition John Bratton and Jeffrey Gold 2003, published by Palgrave Macmillan

The Flexible Firm

The model of the flexible firm identifies four types of flexibility:
Functional Numerical Distancing Strategies Financial
The flexible firm will achieve these flexibilities through a division of its employees into core and peripheral workforces.
Web support material to accompany Human Resource Management: Theory and Practice, Third Edition John Bratton and Jeffrey Gold 2003, published by Palgrave Macmillan

Teleworking
The growth of teleworking and/or homeworking has resulted in an important variation in the working pattern. There are five types: Multi-site Tele-homeworking Freelancing Mobile Relocated back-functions (call centres)

Web support material to accompany Human Resource Management: Theory and Practice, Third Edition John Bratton and Jeffrey Gold 2003, published by Palgrave Macmillan

Flexibility

In planning to become more flexible, organizations are faced with a choice:

An approach driven by cost reduction associated with low road HRM provides improved short-term financial results but has a negative impact on motivation, innovation and commitment.
High road HR practices lead to a positive psychological contract and organizational outcomes. Organizations my be tempted by the sort of flexibility which does not improve productivity or competitiveness.

Web support material to accompany Human Resource Management: Theory and Practice, Third Edition John Bratton and Jeffrey Gold 2003, published by Palgrave Macmillan

Career Management
Whose responsibility is career management? Is it the responsibility of the individual or the employer? The idea of the portfolio career is one in which a person needs a range of skills, learning new ones as required. There has been a growing emphasis on the individual accepting responsibility for their own career development through the skills of employability and lifelong learning.

Web support material to accompany Human Resource Management: Theory and Practice, Third Edition John Bratton and Jeffrey Gold 2003, published by Palgrave Macmillan

Career Management

Web support material to accompany Human Resource Management: Theory and Practice, Third Edition John Bratton and Jeffrey Gold 2003, published by Palgrave Macmillan

Web support material to accompany Human Resource Management: Theory and Practice, Third Edition John Bratton and Jeffrey Gold 2003, published by Palgrave Macmillan

Web support material to accompany Human Resource Management: Theory and Practice, Third Edition John Bratton and Jeffrey Gold 2003, published by Palgrave Macmillan