Human resource planning is done at various levels for their own purposes by various institutions.
There are various levels of human resource planning in an industrial enterprise:
- National Level
- Sectoral Level
- Industry Level
- Unit Level
- Departmental Level
- Job Level
1. National Level:
Generally, central government plans for human resources for the entire nation. It anticipates the demand for and supply of human requirements at the national level.
2. Sectoral Level:
Central and state governments also plan human resource requirements at sectoral level. It tries to satisfy needs of some particular sectors like Agriculture Sector, Industrial Sector and Service Sector.
3. Industry Level:
This level of planning is done to suit manpower needs of a particular industry such as Engineering, Heavy Industries, Paper Industry, Consumer Goods Industries. Public Utility Industries, Textile, Cement/Chemical Industries etc.
4. Departmental Level:
This level of planning is done to suit the manpower needs of a particular department in a company e.g. Marketing Department, Production Department. Finance Department, etc.
5. Job Level:
This level of planning fulfills the human resource needs of a particular job family within department. For example, the requirement of number of sales executes in the marketing department.
Need for HRP at Macro Level
Major reasons for the emphasis on HRP at macro level include:
Employment-Unemployment Situation:
Though in general the number of educated unemployed is on the rise, there is acute shortage for a variety of skills. This emphasizes the need for more effective recruitment and retaining people.
Technological Changes:
The myriad changes in production technologies, marketing methods and management techniques have been extensive and rapid. Their effect has been profound on job contents and job contexts. These changes cause problems relating to redundancies, retraining and redeployment. All these suggest the need to plan manpower needs intensively and systematically.
Organizational Changes:
In the turbulent environment marked by cyclical fluctuations and discontinuities, the nature and pace of changes in organizational environment, activities and structures affect manpower requirements and require strategic considerations.
Demographic Changes:
The changing profile of the work force in terms of age, sex, literacy, technical inputs and social background have implications for HRP.
Skill Shortages:
Unemployment does not mean that the labour market is a buyer’s market. Organizations have generally become more complex and require a wide range of specialist skills that are rare and scarce. Problems arise when such employees leave.
Governmental Influences:
Government control and changes in legislation with regard to affirmative action for disadvantaged groups, working conditions and hours of work, restrictions on women and child employment, casual and contract labour, etc. have stimulated the organizations to become involved in systematic HRP.
Legislative Controls:
The days of executive fiat and ‘hire and fire’ policies are gone. Now legislation makes it difficult to reduce the size of an organization quickly and cheaply. It is easy to increase but difficult to shed the fat in terms of the numbers employed because of recent changes in labour law relating to lay-offs and closures. Those responsible for managing manpower must look far ahead and thus attempt to foresee manpower problems.
Impact of Pressure Groups:
Pressure groups such as unions, politicians and persons displaced from land by location of giant enterprises have been raising contradictory pressures on enterprise management such as internal recruitment and promotions, preference to employees’ children, displace persons, sons of the soil etc.
Systems Concept:
The spread of systems thinking and the advent of the macro computer as part of the on-going revolution in information technology which emphasizes planning and newer ways of handling voluminous personnel records.
Lead Time:
The long lead time is necessary in the selection process and for training and deployment of the employee to handle new knowledge and skills successfully.
