This paper provides a structured overview of three interconnected human resource management functions: planning, classification, and selection. It explains why human resource planning is essential to organizational strategy and outlines its five main components — goals and plans, skills inventory, forecasting, implementation programs, and evaluation. The paper then examines the classification method of job evaluation, comparing it to analytical methods and noting its advantages and limitations in public-sector and manufacturing contexts. Finally, it describes a typical employee selection procedure, covering application blanks, selection tests, interviewing, and process auditing. The discussion draws primarily on foundational HR management texts by Beach and Livy.
Human resource planning (HRP) is a process implemented by an organization to ensure that an adequate number of qualified personnel will remain available at the required time to meet its needs. A comprehensive human resource plan ensures that the needs of employees are met concurrently. Human resource planning also provides the basis and the required information for important personnel activities such as classification and selection — the other two topics of discussion in this paper.
Human resource planning now forms an essential part of the overall long-term strategic plans of most organizations. The importance of such planning can be summarized as follows:
Planning is essential to ascertain the future personnel requirements of an organization. It helps the organization cope with changes in markets, competitive forces, technology, and regulations, all of which can require significant changes in the skills and number of employees. Because the lead time required to hire and develop personnel with high-skill levels is usually long, HRP helps organizations anticipate future personnel requirements in advance. It also helps organizations comply with legislation such as equal employment opportunity and affirmative action regulations.
The five main components of a human resource plan are as follows:
Goals and Plans: The human resource plan must be integrated with the overall strategic plan of the organization. The goals and strategic direction of the organization provide the data on which the HRP is based. The planning period — that is, the number of years for which human resource needs are projected — is also an important consideration and will depend on the nature of the organization's business.
Current Skills Inventory: The second phase of the planning process involves preparing an inventory of the organization's current employees. Employees are typically grouped by the nature of their jobs, age, education, training, and performance.
Human Resource Forecast: This component includes forecasts about the present workforce (covering retirements, layoffs, and promotions), the demand for future employees and their categories, and a comparison of projected demand with available supply.
Implementation Programs: This component encompasses activities such as recruitment, selection and placement, career planning, transfers, promotion, training, motivation, and compensation. Two of these activities — classification and selection — are discussed in greater detail later in this paper.
Evaluation and Adjustment: A system for measuring progress and comparing results with planned objectives is also an essential part of the HRP process. This facilitates corrective action when goals are not being met or when strategic plans have been altered. Periodic updating of the skills inventory, forecasts, and implementation programs is also required.
Classification in human resource management refers to one of several job evaluation methods, the others being the ranking method, the points rating method, and the factor comparison method. A combination of these methods, or a hybrid system, is also used in some organizations. The classification method falls under the "non-analytical" category of job evaluation. In this method, the job infrastructure is first divided into grades by determining the structure and pattern of those grades and the relationships between them. Jobs are then evaluated and assigned to a particular grade, with each successive grade requiring a higher level of skill and responsibility and less supervision. It is a broad, generalized approach to job evaluation that reflects the organizational chart and the formal relationships between hierarchical levels.
Because the classification system has a predetermined number of grades, it provides for tight budgetary control — especially when the ratio between the number of personnel in different grades is also specified, as is the practice in the military. This method of job evaluation is mainly applied in white-collar employment in public-sector organizations, although the manufacturing industry also makes use of it.
The classification method of job evaluation is relatively simple, inexpensive, and easy to apply, but it carries the disadvantage of being rigid. When applying the method, jobs are sometimes manipulated to fit a predetermined structure, which can lead to an inequitable pay structure. The classification method is therefore most useful when speed and administrative simplicity are the primary considerations. For more complex jobs that justify greater precision, the analytical methods — namely, the points rating and factor comparison approaches — are preferable.
"Steps in a sound employee selection process"
Human resource planning, classification, and selection are three closely related functions that together support effective personnel management in any organization. HRP establishes the strategic foundation by forecasting personnel needs and guiding implementation activities. The classification method of job evaluation helps structure roles and control personnel costs within that framework. Selection procedures then ensure that the right candidates are identified and placed into those roles. Together, these functions form a coherent and integrated approach to human resource management that enables organizations to meet both their immediate staffing needs and their longer-term strategic objectives.
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