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Copywrite 1999 PMi www.pmihrm.com

Human Resources Planning

and Development

Chapter 8

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Human Resources Management

Systems: A Practical Approach

By Glenn M. Rampton, Ian J. Turnbull, J.

Allen Doran

ISBN 0-459-56370-X

Carswell

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Internal and External Trends

Increasingly, legislative, sociodemographic

and business trends are exerting pressures for

organizational change (Solomon, 1994). Many

organizations are finding it easier to make

technical changes than to make accompanying

human resources changes. In fact, the ability

to adapt their human resources to new

requirements is proving to be a limitingfactor to success for many organizations

(Coates, 1990; Towers Perrin, 1992).

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Reasons why HRP&D is

becoming more important

Skill shortages in key areas (e.g., systems

analysts, engineers, data base specialist,

information/communications specialists)

caused by a greater demand for information

processing/skills along with a shrinking

labour force (the baby bust) making itincreasingly important to plan for, and to

develop staff effectively.

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Reasons why HRP&D is Becoming

More Important (Contd)

the requirement to foster management teams

capable of "accomplishing more with less", and

with a more diverse workforce.

the challenge of containing human resources

costs in the context of the trend bygovernments to off-load training/development,

health, benefits, and other costs onto

corporations.

the pressures of accelerating social and

legislative changes (e.g., pay equity,employment equity, etc.).

the challenge of making the most of staff,

many of whom are educationally very well

qualified, but under utilized.

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More Important (Contd)Corporate downsizing, restructuring, and the

move to organizational levelling is leading

to fewer, and more widely placed rungs on the

corporate ladder. This, along with more

sophisticated demands in many jobs, will make

the transition between levels more difficult,

rendering the probability of being able to

learn the skills required for successivelevels by osmosis alone, less likely.

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More Important (Contd)The available workforce is becoming more

diversely based; increasingly composed of new

Canadians; women, entering or re-entering the

workforce; and members of ethnic minorities

(Coates, 1990). Although these individuals will

bring many skills and abilities with them, the

ability to assess and keep track of: skills and

qualifications; as well as, progress on skillsrefocusing and upgrading programmes, will be

an increasingly important HRMS function (Liker

& Thomas, 1991).

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More Important (Contd)Many organizations are finding that alarming

numbers of secondary and post-secondary

school graduates do not have the literacy,

numeracy, and technical skills that theyrequire (Coates, 1990). Some of these

problems may stem from the fact that

increasing numbers of employees are working

in their second language, while technologicaland other changes are creating new demands

that the educational system cannot respond to

quickly enough.

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Importance of an HRMS

The need to plan more systematically for the

people required to staff and manage

organizations, now, and into the future iscritical (Cascio & Thacker, 1994; Dyer &

Holder, 1988; Urlich, 1986; Wagel, 1990).

Such planning cannot be done effectively in

organizations any size beyond a few hundred

employees without the support of an HRMS

(Horsfield, 1991).

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Importance of an HRMS (Contd)

With the support of such tools human resources staff

have increasingly been able to demonstrate that they

have an important contribution to make to bottom line

strategic corporate decision-making (Rampton & Doran,

1994; Snell, Pedigo, Krawiec, 1994).

Those human resources executives that have been able

to show that they have something important to

contribute to the bottom-line success of the

organization are increasingly being welcomed to sit

on senior executive committees (Dyer & Holder, 1988;

Wagel, 1990).

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Human Resources

Planning(Contd)

The objective of human

resources planning is to ensure

that there are sufficient

numbers of competent and

motivated employees to meet an

organization's need now, and

for the foreseeable future.

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Human Resources Planning

The use of an HRMS in strategic corporate decision-

making should result in improved:

understanding of the human resources implications ofbusiness/operational strategies;

awareness of the experience, knowledge and ability in

the organization's employees;

productivity;

selection/development of potential replacements for

key/vulnerable positions.

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Demand and Supply

Forecasting

The structure of an organization's

workforce, including the number of employees

that may be required, with specified skills,

in defined positions should be determinedfrom the organization's strategic/business

plans through Demand Forecasting

The availability of human resources to meet

these demands, whether from within the

organization, or from the external labour

market may be determined through Supply

Forecasting

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Human Resources/Succession

PlanningThere is sometimes confusion in the difference betweenhuman resources and succession planning. We have

found the following rule of thumb to be useful in

distinguishing between the two (see also, Walker,

1980):

human resources planning is aimed at resolving gapsthat may exist for human resources of certain skills,whether across the organization, or in specificorganizational units.

Succession planning, is aimed at determining how

specific key, and/or vulnerable positions are to be

filled appropriately.

Thus, in operating specifically at the position, or

individual level succession planning may be regarded

as a subset or special application of human resources

planning.

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Human Resources ReportsUsing information contained in the position, person, and

organization modules,of an HRMS reports can be done on:

the structure of the organization, as well as units

within it relative to defined organizational

requirements;

the numbers of unfilled positions;

the qualifications and assessed performance of the

workforce relative to present and future definedrequirements;

the age distribution of the workforce, across the

organization, within organizational units, and within

specific functions;

employment equity reports, including the distributionof women, individuals with disabilities, native people,

and visible minorities in the workforce relative to the

distribution of such individuals in the population;

turnover statistics by unit, function, qualifications,

employment equity category, etc.

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Human Resources Reports (Contd)May be used to help line management answer such

questions as: are there any special business/economic

factors that are likely to have major

effects on the organization over the next

one to five years?

what will the organizational unit look

like one year from now? Two years from

now? Three years from now?

what organizational problems are beingexperienced?

what human resources problems are being

experienced?

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Human Resources/Succession Planning

Significant parts of the data required

for human resources planning (e.g.,

performance appraisal results, academic

qualifications, skills inventories,

applicant data, turnover data, job

description and job requirements data)

should be resident in the HRMS, as

should an analysis capability so that

relationships may be drawn in the data,and the results of these analysis

reported in clear, "user-friendly" form.

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Planning (Contd)

Knowing what is on the system, as

well as how to conduct the

requisite analyses, and report the

results provides human resourcespersonnel with a golden opportunity

for gaining credibility with line

management in an area that is

becoming increasingly important to

the long-term health of an

organization.

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(Contd)The human resources practitioner should be able to use

the HRMS to provide statistical overviews for thewhole organization, as well as each unit involved in

human resources/succession planning. The overview

should summarize flow data, such as recruitment,

separations, promotions, transfers and turnover, and

personal data such as sex, designated group foremployment equity purposes, language(s), group and

level, age, and years of service. A preliminary

estimate of potential vacancies based on retirement

projections should also be provided. More detailed

assessments of these data may be conducted with linemanagement wherein information can be added that is

not formally contained on the HRMS, but may be known

in the work environment, such as possible transfers,

promotions, resignations, retirements, and so on

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Planning (Contd)

The HRMS should contain, or at least

have access to job description

information that can be related to itsmodule(s) containing detailed

information on the positions and

organizational structure. It should

have the capability of presenting thisinformation quickly and flexibly, in

"user-friendly" form.

H R /S i Pl i

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(Contd)The human resources practitioner should then

do summary analyses which can be provided to

line management in advance of any HRP

meetings, and should be prepared to do

further "what if" modelling as part of the

planning process. Line management should use

this information to review jobdescriptions/positions that will probably

become vacant in the next few years, and

or/those that have significant operational

impact. The job description informationshould be examined to help identify the major

qualities of experience, knowledge and

ability that will be required in successors

to the present incumbent

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Planning (Contd)

The HRMS can then be used to provide

information on current employees, including

latest performance review and career

development reports that have been completedand entered on the system. Summary reports

of this information prepared by human

resources practitioners and supplied to line

management beforehand can be used to refreshmemories regarding individual strengths,

areas that need improvement, career

interests, and development plans.

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Planning (Contd)

A human resources practitioner can help line

management identify potential successors for all

positions that have been identified as "key and or

vulnerable. (S)he can also play a special role in

using the HRMS in identifying appropriate

individuals in organizational units other than the

one in question. The human resources/succession

planning module of the HRMS should have

preestablished screens that allow those responsible

for human resources/succession planning to documentthe additional knowledge experience, or formal

training that is determined to be necessary for the

identified individuals to qualify as a candidates

when each position becomes vacant.

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Planning (Contd)

The organizational charting functionof an HRMS should be able to show the

relation of such "key or vulnerable"

positions to each other, and to other

positions in the organizational, thus

providing a graphic overview of the

health of management "depth" of the

organization, as well as where theremight be weaknesses

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Planning (Contd)

Human resources/succession planning is often

done by committees formed from the senior

management team of the organizational unit

concerned, with the head of the unit as chair,

and a human resources practitioner as a resource

person. Such a committee attempts to reconcile

the demand of personnel with the required skill

mix and the available supply reflected in the

career planning and development information, and

summary reports available through the HRMS. Thecommittee examines this information in the

context of what the unit requires now and for the

future, both generally and for specific positions

(including employment equity considerations).

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Planning (Contd)

The main basis for human resources/succession

plans are organizational requirements (as

determined by the demand/supply forecasts as

outlined earlier), along with the resources to

make them happen. It is generally more effectiveand economical to develop human resources

internally. When, however, it is evident that

certain requirements will not, or may not be met

through such efforts, then the human resources

plan will have contingencies to ensure that

appropriate individuals are recruited externally.

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