There is no single definition of human resources planning (HRP) with which
everyone agrees. Many definitions and models of HRP exist. Many HRP practitioners*
prefer to focus on the technical side—that is, the mathematical and
behavioral methods of forecasting HR needs. Others prefer the managerial side—
that is, the way decision-makers tackle human resource issues affecting an organization.
Still others distinguish between strategic HRP, undertaken to formulate
and/or implement an organization’s long-range plans, and operational HRP,
undertaken to guide daily HR decisions. To complicate matters even more, some
HR practitioners distinguish between HRP for an organization, which focuses
on planning solely to meet organizational demands, and HRP for individuals,
which focuses on the implications of such plans for individual career planning.
Despite these differences, most HR practitioners would probably agree that
Human Resources Planning focuses on analyzing an organization’s HR needs
as the organization’s conditions change, and then supplying strategies to help
respond proactively to those changes over time. HRP helps ensure that the right
numbers of the right kinds of people are available at the right times and in the
right places to translate organizational plans into reality. This process becomes
strategic when some attempt is made to anticipate long-term HR “supplies and
demands” relative to changing conditions facing the organization, and then to
use HR department programs in an effort to meet these identified HR needs.
There is good reason to pay attention to this issue: organizations that manage
HR strategically tend to outperform competitors who do not do so (Lam and
White, 1998).