SBM, NMIMS University

CONTRIBUTION OF HUMAN RESOURCE TOWARDS

ORGANIZATIONAL SUCCESS

Strategic Human Resourse Resource Management

(February 1, 2011)

Submitted to:-
Prof. Ashoke K Maitra

Submitted by:-
Rishikesh Jathar
Roll No 451

Contribution of HR to Organization Success

Unlike many years ago, today the business organizations are under immense pressure because
of the unpredictable, turbulent and competitive environment. If the businesses are to keep up
with the ever increasing competition, then they obviously have to manage their resources
effectively. Managing the resources have to be done with careful consideration. Managing the
human aspect of the organization is very vital as the the success of the entire organization
depends on it's workforce. In other words, managing the workforce in an organization is
indeed not an easy task as people basically have different feelings, aspirations thoughts and
needs. However, when it comes to managing the human resources effectively, it is rather
important to plan how to utilize the human resources better, in order to get the most out of the
workforce, while fulfilling their needs. This is where the human resource planning comes into
action thus taking into consideration both the organization and the employees.
Human resources planning is the process by which the management ensures that the right
number of people with the right skills are available at the right time, in the right job, in order
to help the organization achieve its objectives. In other words, human resource planning is all
about finding out in advance how many workers are needed to perform the tasks, how many
employees with the required skills are available within and outside the organization and how
is it possible to fulfil the staffing needs of the organization when needed. Human resource
planning is not new. It has been practised by many organizations in the past as well, in order
to ensure that the right person does the right job at the right time. However, in the past the
nature of human resource planning practised by many organizations was slightly different to
what it is today. This was because, the environmental conditions in the olden days were
stable and certain, and as a result, the human resource planning was mainly focussed towards
the short term demand for labour.
But today, with the increasing nature of environmental stability, changes in technology and
the ever increasing competition, the nature of  human resource planning  has changed thus
focusing on both the short term and the long term labour needs of the organizations. In other
words, they not only plan the workforce for the current situation, but also for the many years
ahead. If not, then the organizations that do not plan for the future have not much of
opportunities to survive the increasing competition.
Having said that, in order to utilize the human resources effectively, the human resources
planners basically have to forecast the organizations workforce needs first, and then come out
with a plan which will direct them  how to fulfil those needs. In other means, if the human
resource planners are to provide the right number of people with the right skills in order to
perform the tasks at the right time, then they obviously have to gather information, came up
with objectives and make decisions.
When it comes to human resource planning, there are  three main key areas that have to be
addressed by the human resource planners. These includes finding out the demand for labour,
performing a supply analysis and balancing both the demand and the supply of labour in the
organization. If we go into see each of the key areas in more detail,  first of all the human
resource planning begins with understanding the corporate strategy and objectives of the
organization. In other means, if they are to decide on how many employees are needed with
the right skills, then they have to know where the organization is heading. With knowing
nothing about where the organization wants to go, and how they want to achieve its corporate
strategy, it is no point coming up with plans regarding the workforce. This is because the
number and types of employees needed basically depends on what the organization wants to
achieve.  Only once they have an insight to the strategies and objectives of the organization,
then they are able to forecast the demand for labour needed by the organization  both in the
short term as well as the long term.
Once the human resource planners have an through knowledge of how many employees are
needed in the organization with the required skills,  then next what they do is to take a count
of the current workforce in the organization. In other words an inventory of course, to find
out how many employees are currently available in the organization and the skills and
knowledge of the employees, in addition to their profile facts such as age , sex , and where
they come from etc. This basically provides the human resource planners with an insight to
what types of skills are available immediately, which will in turn help them to decide what
needs to be done next.
Taking into consideration the inventory of the current workforce available immediately, then
they go into analyze the internal supply of labour available against the estimated demand for
labour both in the short term as well as the long term that is necessary to achieve the
strategies and objectives of the organization. By doing so, they compare both the figures in
order to find out whether the demand for labour could be fulfilled by the immediately
available workforce. In other words, to see whether there is a gap between the supply and
demand for labour. Then of course, if there happens to be a gap between the supply and
demand for labour that means there is either a shortage or a surplus of labour.
However, if there happens to be a surplus or shortage of labour supply then the human
resource planners will develop strategies in order to remove this gap. If there is a surplus
meaning to say that the internal supply of labour available is more than the forecasted
demand, then they will probably take action to reduce the available workforce using
strategies such as retirement, reduce hours and remove flexi hours etc. But if there happens to
be a shortage in the labour supply, then they will develop strategies such as recruitment,
increase over time increase temporary workers, increase flexi hours etc in the short term. But
when it comes to long term planning,  they mainly concentrate on strategies such as training
and development, promotion and career development programs etc, in order to prepare the
existing workforce for the future demand of the organization. At the end, human resource
planning also involves in keeping a track of the strategies they have implemented in order to
find out whether the required labour demands have been met.
To conclude, it should be said that human resource planning is vital for any organization
whether big or small. This is because, it does affect the entire organization by way of
preparing the workforce to achieve its objectives. If the organizations are to face the
challenges in the future, it is of course the human resource planning that paves the way for
the organization to utilize the workforce effectively and efficiently. If not for human resource
planning, the organizations will be un prepared to face the on going competition. Hence so, it
should be said that organizations survival among the competitors mainly depends on how
well the organizations human resource planning is.