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Key Topics
Requirement
You will write a synopsis (summary) of the current Human Resource Management (HRM) academic research on a contemporary HRM topic .The synopsis must not exceed 3000 words ( excluding executive summary).The assignment should recognise themes and issues and be structured accordingly.
Topics
Managing Generations
Value proposition of HR professional
Social media and technology
Workfroce planning
Downsizing and Rightsizing
Employee Engagement
Knowledge Management
Solution
INTRODUCTION
Workplace panning is regarded as the continuous process that is adopted by the company in order to align need and requirement of the business with those of its workforce to ensure its production, service and other form of requirement. Further, it is a well known fact that in the modern era the market where businesses operates is highly challenging and in turn large number of challenges are present that affects business performance (Davis et al. 2018). Therefore, in this case businesses are required to hire skilled and knowledgeable workforce and they have to plan for near future like how to satisfy the future workforce need for the overall benefit of the business. Workforce planning is mainly done by the human resource department of the firm by analyzing different departments of the business like marketing, production etc. For near future it is properly planned like how many employees for required for conducting business practices and their shortage leads to unfavorable outcomes for the company.
The present report focuses on the area of workforce planning and its importance has been identified from point view of different businesses operating in the market. Further, various tasks have been covered in the report such as significance of workforce planning, issues linked with the topic, benefits associated with workforce planning etc.
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Concept of workforce planning
The concept of workforce planning is considered to be most crucial and significant for the business. Further, it has been identified that through this concept it becomes easier for the company to know whether right persons are employed in the right place to render services to the customers or not. In the era of globalization every firm has to face large amount of difficulties while conducting its operations in the market and due to this reason support of employees is needed by the firm (Vairaktarakis, Szmerekovsky and Xu, 2016). Further, it is a well known fact that skilled workforce is necessarily required for conducting business operations and this is only possible when proper workforce planning tactics are undertaken that can surely bring favorable results for the enterprise. Mainly the challenges for large number of organizations are that they have to face issue of shortage of employees and due to this reason operations within the workplace are not carried out in proper manner. So, the concept of workforce planning allows in developing effective plans for satisfying the human resource need (Taylor, 2018). Further, it is a well known fact that employees are the most valuable asset of the business and it is necessary that business must have this adequate resource for its smooth functioning.
For instance if in case if Woolworths is planning to expand its marketing operations then in such case more employees will be needed in marketing department for future. Therefore, in this case Woolworths has to undertake workforce planning where the company has to determine well in advance like the number of employees required, what skills are needed, their pay scale, knowledge and experience needed etc. So, all these aspects will be undertaken while carrying out the practice of workforce planning (Bratton and Gold, 2017). Mainly this concept relies on the goals of the business for instance if the goal of Woolworths is to expand its operations in the new market then in such case it is indicating that company is required to hire new individuals for accomplishing the key goals that management has developed for enhancing the long term performance (Armstrong and Taylor, 2014). In short, without effective workforce planning it is not at all possible for any business to satisfy its human resource need for its near future and sometime it can have adverse impact on the overall performance.
Significance of workforce planning
Workforce planning is considered to be highly significant for the business where the main importance of this concept lies in satisfying the human resource need. Every business requires talented and skilled workforce for conducting its future activities. Due to this basic reason planning has to be done well in advance like how many employees are needed, their skills, qualifications and other aspects are undertaken (Marchington et al. 2016) Further, at the time of change workforce planning is considered to be most important where it assists business to adopt the new change in positive manner and brings favorable outcomes also. Workforce planning undertakes various aspects where it is needs strong management leadership followed by other elements such as strategic objectives, vision, mission etc.
Moreover, some valid components of workforce planning are present such as retirement projections, succession planning, workforce demographic etc. For instance, if in case with Woolworths the employees working in the operations department are aged and in near future they are going to retire (Reiche et al. 2016). Therefore, in this type of case it is required for business to indulge into the practice of workforce planning so as to identify the alternative solution. Through this firm can hire new employee and can plan for the same well in advance. Further, it is a well known fact planning matters a lot in every organization and with regards to workforce it is most important. When workforce planning is done in proper manner then the outcomes are in the form of skilled workforce that conducts business operations for boosting the efficiency of the company.
Workforce planning takes into consideration gap analysis, workforce analysis, competency assessment etc. All these are the most crucial areas when workforce planning is carried out. Moreover, this type of planning is also important for the business as it assists in gaining competitive advantage (Melton and Meier, 2017). For instance if any business has talent staff within the workplace and through proper planning it manages to hire skilled workforce on continuous basis then it directly becomes one of the main strength of the enterprise (Bratton and Gold, 2017). Workforce planning is required in order to sustain in the competitive and challenging market for longer period of time and with the proper support of employees companies are able to accomplish their desired objectives in the most effective manner. So, this helps in knowing about the real significance of workforce planning and allows company to know the actual number of employees required for future operations.
Theory of workforce planning
In order to understand the concept of workforce planning in better manner the OPMs workforce planning model is most effective (Taylor, 2018). This model has various stages and they are crucial in satisfying the workforce need of the company.
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First stage in the model is setting strategic direction where in this stage businesses are required to link workforce planning process with the strategic plan, annual plan and the overall tasks that are required to be carried out.
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Second stage is linked with analyzing the workforce along with determining their skill gaps and conducting in-depth analysis. In this stage the company focuses on determining the present workforce resource and how they will be evolved over time through turnover or any other source (OPM’s Workforce Planning Model, 2015). Further, specifications are mainly developed for the locations and number of employees that are needed for accomplishing the strategic goals and at last gaps are identified that exist between the present and the future workforce need.
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Third stage is linked with developing action plan where strategies are determined to close gaps and the strategies are implemented for knowing the strategic progress of the firm (De Bruecker et al. 2015). The strategies can consider various actions such as restricting the entire firm, recruiting, succession planning, technological enhancement etc.
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Fourth stage is linked with implementing action plan where it is mainly ensured whether the human along with the financial resources are in right place, roles are clear and necessary coordination, communication and marketing is taking place so as to execute the action for accomplishing the key goals.
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Fifth stage is linked with monitoring progress against the milestone and identifying for continuous improvement and make changes in the overall plan so as to deal and tackle the key issues that are faced by the new workforce (Cascio, 2018). So, in this way these are some of the most crucial stages in the workforce planning model developed by OPM. In this way every company satisfies its workforce need in different manner. But on the other hand, it may be possible that some companies does not focuses on this concept and they consider it as unimportant. Therefore, in this case it can hamper the overall progress of the firm if in case right talent is not hired on time for conducting the business operations smoothly. It is the moral responsibility of HR department to coordinate with different departments of the company like marketing, production or any other and determining whether new employees may be needed for several reasons as due to high employee turnover, for expansion purpose or any other aspect. The process of workforce planning never ends in any organization as it is the trend that employee may leave job or may join organization as per their actual need (Goodman, French and Battaglio Jr, 2015). In organizations where workers are highly satisfied with the working environment then in such case workforce planning process is very less adopted and vice versa in case of companies whose employees are dissatisfied with the working environment provided to them. So, in this workforce planning can become key to organizational success.
Issues linked with workforce planning
It can be stated that carrying out workforce planning is not an easy task for companies and there are wide ranges of issues and challenges faced by businesses during the same. For instance, companies are required to predict the external business environment, and this is not considered as an easy task to perform. To carry out effective and appropriate workforce planning, it is required by businesses such as Woolworth to identify the market trend, competition and demand and supply of the workforce in the marketplace. The challenge here is that huge amount of human, financial and technological resources are required for carrying out analysis of the external business environment.
However, it can be critically argued that it is not necessary that accurate and reliable information about future trends can be generated by companies with the help of such analysis (Van Hulst et al. 2017). The pace of change in the external business environment is rapid, and the rapid changes also create issues and challenges in the process of workforce planning. Such kind of plans fails when the demand and supply of labour in the market change drastically. Thus, it becomes very complicated and challenging for businesses such as Woolworth to predict that what kind of employees will be required in the future.
Nowadays, switching from one company to another has become very easy for individual, and the concept of workforce planning becomes very challenging in situations when employees quit their job without providing prior notice (Leung et al. 2015). Companies such as Woolworth emphasise on ensuring the safe working environment, satisfactory pay and even adequate growth opportunities to all its workers so that it can retain skilled and qualified employees in every possible manner. However, it can be critically argued that individuals make the decision of their career on their own and here the planning related to workforce fails.
The movement of employees from one company to another without any prior warning is the most significant issue which has been faced by companies in workforce planning. The increasing competition has resulted in affecting the sales and volume of companies in a negative sense. Companies are not able to develop effective plans linked with human resources when adequate financial resources are not available to them (Armstrong and Taylor, 2014). Financial backup and strong support from management is essential to carry out effective workforce planning.
Benefits associated with workforce planning
In the present scenario, the competition among business operating in the retail industry of Australia has become highly intense. Further, it is not easy for companies to sustain in the marketplace and attain the desired volume of sales and profitability (Willis, Cave and Kunc, 2017). To gain competitive advantage over other players in the market, companies such as Woolworth is required to emphasise on operating with a team of highly qualified and effective personnel’s. Here, the concept of workforce planning is critical as it helps the organisation to ensure availability of skilled and talented employees.
The key and most important benefit associated with the concept of workforce planning is that it helps businesses in their process of budgeting. However, it can be argued that the critical benefit of workforce planning it that it assists companies in identify the shortage of skilled and qualified talent within the workplace (Leung et al. 2015). The use of workforce planning is carried out Woolworth to identify the skill and knowledge gap in the organisation. Based on the information collected, effective strategies for future recruitment and selection can be developed to fill those gaps in every possible manner. It can be expressed that workforce planning is also beneficial in retaining the best and most qualified staff members within the organisation. In the modern era, high rate of employee turnover is considered as a threat to growth and sustainability of the business enterprise.
However, effective workforce planning encourages companies to focus on areas such as training and development of employees. It helps in developing strong sense of satisfaction among the workers and also encourages them to stay within the organisation for longer period. The role of workforce planning is also considered as critical in reducing and maintaining the overall rate of turnover within an organisation (Baumann et al. 2016). The causes and key factors which increase the rate of turnover in a company can be identified with the help of effective workforce planning. Based on the information collected, effective plans and strategies can be developed to eliminate those factors or reasons because of which the rate of employee turnover is increasing within a business enterprise.
The delay and distractions in business profits can be easily avoided with the help of effective workforce planning (Van Hulst, Den Hertog and Nuijten, 2017). Brand such as Woolworth uses workforce planning with an objective to hire the most suitable and skilled candidate for the vacant position in the organisations. The concept helps in providing a clear view about the supply and demand of human resources within the industry.
The HR manager working in Woolworth is able to prioritise the decisions linked with staffing and hiring with the help of workforce planning. The staff members hired is also able to give best of their efforts towards accomplishment of the company’s aim and objectives. This further supports in avoiding the delay and any kind distractions in profits and revenues. Improvement in overall efficiency and effectiveness of the process is also a key benefit associated with the concept of workforce planning (De Bruecker et al. 2015).
The concept provides the HR managers with an opportunity to hire the best suitable and talented employee for the vacant position and they further contribute in enhancing the overall effectiveness of the processes. The known and unknown attrition can be easily identified with the help of workforce planning (Hewitt et al. 2015). Thus, companies are able to determine the major factors or reasons because of which the rate of attrition is increasing or decreasing. Anticipation of cost before the starting the process of recruitment and selection is also a major benefit associated with workforce planning. Woolworth is able to attract better talent by defining the roles and positions clearly with the help of workforce planning.
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Place Your OrderContribution of workforce planning in business success
The concept of workforce planning has direct impact on the success of the company operating in the market. In short, if effective plans are being prepared for satisfying the workforce need of the business then in such case it allows company to gain competitive advantage and benefits each and every area of the firm. For instance, if Woolworths has developed workforce planning for its business expansion purpose and through this company has hired skilled and knowledgeable workforce within the workplace (Bratton and Gold, 2017). Then in this case it will positive influence business operations like all the operations will be carried out efficiently, internal practices of the firm will be effective, customers will be satisfied etc.
On the other hand adverse can be the situation when proper workforce planning is not carried out for instance if in any organization level of employee turnover is increasing and through proper planning company is not able to satisfy its workforce need. So, in this case the situation linked with inadequacy of human resource will arise within the workplace (Plebankiewic and Karci?ska, 2015).
The company will not at all able to carry out all its practices and its financial performance can also decline due to this. Effective workforce planning directly indicates that company is able to operate efficiently and it has effective plans for satisfying its human resource need in case of urgency (Lopes, Almeida and Almada-Lobo, 2015). Apart from this, workforce planning highlights the need for skilled workforce within the workplace and what are the key tactics that can be adopted by the firm for hiring talented employees. The concept not only focuses on satisfying the future workforce need but different actions are undertaken in order to manage the present employees so that they can work efficiently and in turn business performance can be well managed with the help of this.
For workforce planning no doubt effective planning skills are mainly required where HR manager and the other executives of the business have to plan properly like in near future how many employees they will need to accomplish the goal associated with expansion or any other area that is crucial for the company (Goodman French and Battaglio Jr, 2015). The success of workforce planning totally depends on the planning skill and if planning is done accurately then in such case it will have positive impact on the growth of the firm. So, this highlights the real influence of workforce planning on the success of the organization.
CONCLUSION
From the entire study carried out it has become easy to understand the real relevance of the workforce planning. This concept contributes a lot in enhancing the business performance and in turn the favorable outcomes are in the form of rise in profitability level, enhanced brand image etc. Further, the OPM model of workforce planning undertaken has highlighted the key stages in this concept and they are most crucial. Moreover, some crucial issues are linked with workforce planning such as changing market trend, demand and supply gap etc that affects every organization and somehow affects its key operations.
REFERENCES
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Armstrong, M. and Taylor, S., 2014. Armstrong's handbook of human resource management practice. Kogan Page Publishers.
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Baumann, A., Crea-Arsenio, M., Akhtar-Danesh, N., Fleming-Carroll, B., Hunsberger, M., Keatings, M., Elfassy, M.D. and Kratina, S., 2016. Strategic workforce planning for health human resources: a nursing case analysis. Canadian Journal of Nursing Research, 48(3-4), pp.93-99.
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Bratton, J. and Gold, J., 2017. Human resource management: theory and practice. Palgrave.
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Cascio, W., 2018. Managing human resources. McGraw-Hill Education.
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Davis, M.J., Lu, Y., Sharma, M., Squillante, M.S. and Zhang, B., 2018. Stochastic Optimization Models for Workforce Planning, Operations, and Risk Management. Service Science, 10(1), pp.40-57.
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De Bruecker, P., Van den Bergh, J., Beliën, J. and Demeulemeester, E., 2015. Workforce planning incorporating skills: State of the art. European Journal of Operational Research, 243(1), pp.1-16.
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Goodman, D., French, P.E. and Battaglio Jr, R.P., 2015. Determinants of local government workforce planning. The American Review of Public Administration, 45(2), pp.135-152.
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Hewitt, M., Chacosky, A., Grasman, S.E. and Thomas, B.W., 2015. Integer programming techniques for solving non-linear workforce planning models with learning. European Journal of Operational Research, 242(3), pp.942-950.
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Leung, P.P.L., Wu, C.H., Ho, G.T., Ip, W.H. and Mou, W.L., 2015, December. Workforce modelling, analysis and planning: A feasibility study in a local nursing home. In Industrial Engineering and Engineering Management (IEEM), 2015 IEEE International Conference on (pp. 1337-1341). IEEE.
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Lopes, M.A., Almeida, Á.S. and Almada-Lobo, B., 2015. Handling healthcare workforce planning with care: where do we stand?. Human resources for health, 13(1), p.38.
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Marchington, M., Wilkinson, A., Donnelly, R. and Kynighou, A., 2016. Human resource management at work. Kogan Page Publishers.
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Melton, E.K. and Meier, K.J., 2017. For the want of a nail: The interaction of managerial capacity and human resource management on organizational performance. Public Administration Review, 77(1), pp.118-130.
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OPM’s Workforce Planning Model, 2015. [Online]. Accessed through < https://www.opm.gov/policy-data-oversight/human-capital-management/reference-materials/strategic-alignment/workforceplanning.pdf >. [Accessed on 10th April 2018].
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Plebankiewicz, E. and Karci?ska, P., 2015. Studies of factors affecting workforce planning in construction works. Czasopismo Techniczne.
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Reiche, B.S., Stahl, G.K., Mendenhall, M.E. and Oddou, G.R. eds., 2016. Readings and cases in international human resource management. Taylor & Francis.
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Taylor, N., 2018. Workforce planning: Meeting future needs. British dental journal, 224(6), p.393.
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Vairaktarakis, G., Szmerekovsky, J.G. and Xu, J., 2016. Level workforce planning for multistage transfer lines. Naval Research Logistics (NRL), 63(7), pp.577-590.
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Van Hulst, D., Den Hertog, D. and Nuijten, W., 2017. Robust shift generation in workforce planning. Computational Management Science, 14(1), pp.115-134.
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Willis, G., Cave, S. and Kunc, M., 2017. Strategic workforce planning in healthcare: A multi-methodology approach. European Journal of Operational Research.
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