Name and describe what occurs at each of the three stages of human resource planning?

The three stages cover strategy formulation,
implementation and
impact.

In a nutshell, The
formulation stage provides the ground for an effective Strategic HR Planning process.
The organization recognizes the HR department as a business partner and provides it with
avenues for being a proactive partner. In the first stage, the composition of the team
formulating the business strategy is very important. The presence of head of the HR
department in the steering team formulating the organisational strategy will strengthen
the pro-active strategic linkage of theHRM
systems.

The
second stage is that of implementing various HRM systems based on the HR strategy.
Various HR systems like recruitment and selection, performance management, compensation,
training and development, career management, etc. need to bealigned with the HR
strategy. This is the vertical linkage. Policies and practices of various HR systems are
set or modified according to the strategy implementation needs.  Based on theconcept of
horizontal linkages, HR systems also need to be aligned to each other.  The
implementation stage also includes initiating interventions required for effectively
managing change during processes like restructuring or mergers. The latter is an example
of temporal linkages. Temporal linkages deal with the suddenchanges that are brought in
due to strategic
decisions.

The
impact stage includes various surveys and evaluation processes.  The impact metrics need
to be carefully constructed.  Evaluation of impact is difficult because most of the
organizations are not very clear as to what they want to evaluate – the efficiency of
the HR processes as well a the department, the services provided by HR, financial
returns in terms of employee productivity, turnover, etc. or improved performance of
employees of the organization.  It is difficult to devise an appropriate impact
evaluation methods unless expected outcomes are unambiguous. Defining and measuring goal
achievements oroutcomes of various HR practices and activities is the first step. This
may also include organizational outcomes like employee turnover, behavioral perspective
of measuring the desired behavior of the employees or resource-based theory perspective
of measuring the achievement of desired competencies for the organization.  Performance
reviews and associated actions are part of this stage. In order to determine the level
of strategic integration, various HR systems are reviewed and analyzed for their
alignment to the strategic objectives.  The gaps in their vertical and horizontal
linkages are identified. The evaluation metrics also include constraints in the
implementation of HR systems, efficiency of HR processes and level of competency of the
personnel (both HR and non-HR) involved in the implementation process. The information
collected and analysed on the evaluation metrics provide feedback formaking necessary
changes in the implementation process. This information is also important inthe
organizational context of business strategy formulation.