Human Resource Planning and Organizational Strategy (Essay Sample)

Human Resource Planning and Organizational Strategy
Name
Name of Institution
May 29, 2014
Human Resource Planning and Organizational Strategy
Considering the immense changes flooding the present business environments, there constantly has risen the need for organizations to view at their human resources in a different perspective: a perspective that will see human resources as a unique asset that by all means, and can provide sustainable competitive advantage. That being said, therefore, the human resource department becomes a very important tool in the firms, and its strategic planning similarly becomes a very important tool in the organization that is central in employing capable workforce and integrating viable competencies within the firm to match with the organizations’ strategic plan. Therefore, for the organization’s strategic planning to succeed, and simultaneously maintain a competitive advantage within the organization itself and across the global market, it must take proper interests in the human resource management, and make sure its strategic plans are in a perfect fit with the organization’s strategic plan.
As such, this paper has laid its primary purpose to review the basic relationship between human resources planning activities and the organization’s strategic plan. Similarly, the paper will further review the literature, investigated, and explained on the eight elements of the staffing process and affirmed how these elements are related to the human resources planning activities. Finally, the paper covers how the four activities of the human resources planning are primal and how their success goes hand in hand with the success of the overall organizational strategic planning. Take, for example, workforce staffing. The human resources department is very effectual in this role as shall be projected below.
The Eight Element of a Staffing Process
Staffing, or personnel planning as a term might seem like just a simple task or a phenomenon with no strongly attached magnitude to a firm’s success. However, it is, in fact, the strongest factor that any organization striving for success in the current markets must pay close respect to and effectively manipulate its success. According to Baker (2005), staffing will determine the commitment and professionalism of the workforce, and the motivational criteria that are employed by the firm to its workforce. Apparently, this crucial task is the primary task of the Human Resources Department and must be conducted strategically as a successive process with the following primary elements governing it.
The very first element is manpower/workforce requirements. This task sees to it that the organization is well aware of the present and future manpower requirements, and the concerns regarding the element that need to be addressed with immediacy. Later on, comes recruitment. Once the HR department has necessitated the nature of the workforce that best fit its strategic plans, the department carries and projects the desirable candidates it requires. Invites and applications are solicited according to its desires. Selection is the step that follows. It is a step of staffing where applications are screened and the most suitable candidates appointed for recruitment. Placement and orientation follow selection. Here, the appointed candidates are taken through their new work environment and necessary familiarizations made.
The next half of the staffing process is of equal importance just as to the preceding half. It is at this stage that the actual work starts and each workforce is assigned to its specific tasks. Training and development come first as an incentive awarded to the employees in order to grow them and their capability to connect their qualifications to the task at hand. A similar incentive awarded to the employees is remuneration, and just as training is an important element of staffing, remuneration also is. Workers are incentivized according work performance that is relatively parallel to their qualification. It is at this stage that a performance evaluation becomes a similarly important aspect of staffing. The HR department conducts this assessment in order to take on the opinions and attitudes of its staff as well as to keep a proper track record of their behaviors. After taking the staff through such a long journey, it is now finally a chance for the organization to appreciate its workforce. Here, rewards can be made in terms of recognition, promotion and even transfer to other departments depending on the employee’s work output (Baker, 2005). Generally, "the staffing process helps the organization to maintain a good, strong, fit, productive, and overly motivated workforce" (Plunkett et al., 2013. p. 396).
The Prime Activities Related to Human Resources Planning
The above overview has provided one of the primary roles effected by human resources planning: staffing. Yes, it is in the correct order. However, the HR department’s planning seems to be the driving wheel of organizations’ strategic plans. Three more effectual roles are related to human resources planning. These are; enabling strategic partnership, offering administrative expertise, and as well, forecast and foster the firm through all the change milestones. The existing market environments are such that, no firm or organization is likely to survive the international business arena if at all it is planning to stride all alone in its business. Therefore, partnerships emerge to be of utmost importance to all organizations and that how the HR department becomes of extreme importance to the firms strategic plan.
The human resource planning will use its ability to provide administrative expertise, and its interaction with a diverse workforce, and markets to recommend to the organization’s management, which other firm best suit to be an effective partner. At that, the human resource expertise will be able to foster proper recruitment, selection, development, training, and salary negotiations not only for the organization’s workforce, but also to the organization’s selected partners, and maintain its role all through the constantly changing market conditions (Brandenberg, 2014).
Finally, how does these Human Resources Planning Activities Best Fit to The Organization’s Strategic Planning?
Strategic planning is a ve...