Human Resource Management - Essay Example

The objective behind doing this is to keep the organization flexible so that it can adapt to the changes if the future takes any different route than the expected one. Strategic human resource planning analyses the current human resource trends of the organization, future environment of human resource in which the company will be operating and the external labour market and then forecasts the future human resource management that the organization needs (Scholes and Johnson, 2001). The main factor that differentiates between the operational and strategic planning are that strategic planning deals with analysis of the external human resource issue of the organization and then goes for developing the future scenario.

The strategic Human resource planning looks for finding the answer to the question like where the organization wants to be in future, under any given circumstances how the organization can reach its pre determined goal and lastly what set of skills are required to do this (Hernandez and O'Connor, 2009). Assessment of the current human resource capacity of the future is the first step in strategic human resource development based on the strategic plan of the organization. The skill, knowledge and ability of the present employees and staff of the organization must be identified properly.

This identification can be done by developing the skill inventory of each of the employees working in the organization. The skills inventory should be such that it is much more than the skill required for a particular position. The skills demonstrated by the employees should be listed; for instance ‘special skills’ may include volunteer and recreational activities demonstrated by the employees that are relevant to the organization. Apart from these the certificates, educational level and any additional training should also be included in the skill inventory.

Assessment of the employee’s performance can be reviewed to find whether the employee is ready and enthusiastic to take additional responsibilities and the current developmental plans of the employee (Dhar, 2008). Apart from looking at the current human resource capacity of the organization it is also important to look at the forecasted needs in human resource that are based on the strategic goals of the organization. Estimation of both supply and demand is an important part of the realistic human resource forecasting.

The questions that need to be answered while doing the forecasting are about the number of staff required in the organization, required skill sets in the employees and jobs that need to be full. While predicting the demand of human resource the challenges that might erupt while meeting the staffing needs based on the external environment must be assessed (Scholes and Johnson, 2001). Moreover in order to measure the external impact the factors that needs to be measured includes the current economic trends that may affect the work and the ability to attract new employees, the cultural and technological shifts that may affect the way the employees work and requirement of skilled labour, the changes that are occurring in the community or can change in future (London and Mone, 1988).

Identifying the current human resource capacity of the organization and forecasting the future, helps to recognise the gap that may be existing in the organization. This gap analysis helps in determining the future objective and goals of the organization and where the organization is placed. This analysis includes