Human Resource Planning - Features & Limitations

A lot of project managers are unaware about human resource planning, but that's dangerous. If you want to run your project successfully, you need manpower. You've got to know the roles and responsibilities of each team member. And only human resource planning can help you with that.

The basic concepts of human resource planning

• Deciding the fate of the project by determining the number of people and skills the organization will need
• Planning for future balance by comparing the number of employees needed to the number of present employees who can be expected to stay with the organization. A project manager should give human resource experts the time to work on that.
• Planning for recruitment if there is a discrepancy between the number of present employees and the number needed
• Ensuring the development of the employees by training new or existing team members when needed

As you start working on the project, you will notice a few changes, which means it's time to revisit the planning process and make use of your Project Management capabilities. For instance, you may need to provide some extra training due to increased scope, or hire more people than you thought you needed.

Why do we need human resource planning?

• To determine future manpower requirements: It solves the problem of excess manpower or understaffing
• To execute important functions: Human resource planning provides valuable and timely information to design and execute functions such as recruitment, selection, transfers, promotions, layoffs, training and development, and performance appraisals
• To reduce costs: Human resource planning helps the organization anticipate imbalances in human resource and facilitates reduction in resource costs.
• To aid international strategies: Global operations are becoming very common. International expansion strategies are not possible without human resource planning. It facilitates the process of meeting staffing needs.

The limitations of human resource planning
• It is very difficult to ascertain the future manpower requirements of an organization
• Human resource planning is irrelevant in countries that do not face scarcity of skilled human resources
• It is a time-consuming and expensive process

Conclusion: Human resource planning is, undoubtedly, important.

According to the PMI® (Project Management Institute), it is imperative for a project manager to know all about the process of human resource planning, its development and application. If you can get the right people to work well enough to complete the project well within the deadline and budget, you've nailed the art of human resource planning.

Have more points you'd like to add? Feel free to comment below.