“The term planning is imbecilic; everything can change tomorrow.“
That was a quote made by a French manager, straight after the 1973 oil crisis.
He’s right, of course. Everything can change tomorrow. We’re living in a world where we see changes every day. Ground-breaking technology, product innovations, and medical breakthroughs.
But does that mean “planning is imbecilic” though?
The truth is that planning can be ineffective and damaging if it’s done badly.
Good planning, on the other hand, can minimize the uncertainty brought on by change.
Don’t believe me?
Take the 1911 race to the South Pole, for example. The race was between two explorers: Roald Amundsen and Robert Falcon Scott. They each had a similar amount of experience and were the same age. Both faced 1,400 miles of gale-force winds, blizzards, and minus temperatures on their expeditions.
Amundsen meticulously planned his trip for several years. Scott didn’t.
Guess which expedition tragically failed?
Amundsen was already sailing back to Norway when Scott’s team finally gave up hope.
So, now we’ve established that planning is sensible, and not ‘imbecilic’, let’s find out why human resource planning is one of the most valuable processes a company can follow.
To do this, I’ll cover:
- What is human resource planning?
- Why is human resource planning important?
- The 7 steps of human resource planning
- How human resource planning is done
- Human resource planning in HRM
Let’s get on with helping you to plan for success!
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