Human resource planning (HRP) needs to respond to a greater demand for new talent
due to increased competition in the knowledge economy. In much earlier studies Walker
(1974) had suggested that through HRP, management is able to develop and deploy the
right people at the right places at the right times to fulfill both organizational and
individual objectives. Firms are constantly looking out for strategies that will help them
to cope with competition and diversification through building a linkage between HRP
and the corporation’s long-term business objectives. Most organizations feel the need to
predict future human resource levels in order to forecast recruitment and training needs
to ensure that sufficient experienced people are rising through the rank to fill vacancies
at higher levels (Brian and Cain, 1996)