1.3 Bringing It All Together

The major responsibility for projecting human resource needs belongs to each operating officer. Supervisors and managers should anticipate the numbers of employees and the kinds of skills and training needed to achieve the business objectives. If more employees will be needed, staffing authorizations should be prepared to mobilize recruiters. On the other hand, if a surplus of employees is forecast, administrators must decide how the workforce should be reduced.

Short-range plans typically have a great influence on the day-to-day activities of an organization. Although long-range plans provide guidance by pointing the organization in the direction it will move, they generally do not have much impact until they are translated into specific short-range plans. Some organizations maintain five- to ten-year forecasts. In those cases, plans and forecasts are revised and updated annually so that an organization always has a five-year plan and separate yearly plans leading toward its long-range objectives.