Human Resources in Strategic Planning

From a historical perspective in many early manufacturing operations, human labor, while a major cost component, was not a particularly important determinant of production strategy. All of the factors have served to reinforce the view of labor as an easily replaceable commodity, and human resources as a short-term asset. The extent to which human resources specialists deserve to be excluded from the strategic planning process needs to be considered. The chapter highlights the human resource dimensions and issues that effective business strategies must deal with. It explores these at the two commonly recognized levels of strategic planning: the corporate and the business unit levels. Many corporations sense that they are not receiving full returns from their investment of funds, time, and effort in strategic planning. In most cases the shortfall is traceable to ineffective implementation which, in turn, is the result of inadequate planning for and poor utilization of its human resources.