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The article aims to shift the basis of organisational human resource planning away from the traditional prescriptive approach to a systems based model that incorporates an emphasis on learning. A brief history of human resource planning is presented showing how it has evolved towards current needs and the specification for the new model. The new model is conceived in the context of increased environmental pressures on organisations and resultant management approaches. At the heart of the new approach is the process of transformation by which inputs to the model are processed in a way that involves all stakeholders in planning to produce viable outputs for managerial decision making.

Suggests that many managers are unaware of what is involved in human resource planning. Presents a working framework for human resource strategy that can easily be followed: analysing the environment, developing company objectives, analysing human resources, forecasting human resource needs, developing human resource objectives, developing human resource strategies, and analysing the effect of human resource strategies. Concludes that companies cannot be successful if planning neglects the people that work for them.

Recognising that strategic planning decisions hold important implications for the personnel function, practitioners, consultants and academics have begun to look for a way to relate the personnel function more closely to the strategic management of the business. One solution which has attracted a great deal of attention is the concept of strategic human resources planning.

The dynamic environment in which the academic library operates requires explicit links between business strategy and a new management priority including the development of people; this is the focus of human resource development (HRD). It serves the needs of an organization by ensuring that employees’ expertise is state-of-the-art, something that is critical in a period of rapid technological development coinciding with ever-expanding societal needs. HRD can be relied upon to support and shape a wide range of academic library initiatives requiring a competent and engaged workforce by recognizing people as the organization’s most critical asset, one that drives competitive advantage and helps it out-perform the market. Emphasis is placed on developing an organizational context that will attract and develop talented individuals and leaders and keep them engaged. Furthermore, HRD activities must respond to job changes and integrate staff skills sets with the long-term plans and strategies of the organization thus ensuring the efficient and effective use of resources. This chapter explores HRD as a strategic concern of the organization and how it can best serve the organization in the long term. In so doing, it considers how HRD can help the academic library focus resources in those areas where there are strong likelihoods that they can produce substantial improvements in future capacity and performance. This kind of strategic planning helps the organization configure resources within a dynamic competitive environment, thus serving market needs and satisfying stakeholder expectations, helping meet its business purpose and maintain its strategic direction. The case study developed here highlights the need for the effective linkage of HRD and strategic planning for the advancement of the academic library. It suggests the need for developing and implementing both a strategic plan and an HRD plan and developing a culture of strategic human resource development (SHRD) in academic libraries.

The study is an attempt to provide empirical evidence, in the context of acute hospital care, of the current human resource practices in the health sector of the Slovak Republic. Using a sample of 72 acute care hospitals the research explored the perceived functions, typical customers and priorities of hospital human resource departments, ownership of a workforce plan, and the relationships between ownership of a workforce plan and type of hospital, as well as the degree to which different human resource activities are given priority. Cross‐tabulation procedure revealed statistically significant relationships between ownership of a workforce plan and the degree of priority given to having a quick, efficient and cost‐effective recruitment and selection system and, not surprisingly, the degree of priority given to ensuring that the human resource department has a workforce plan. The study evidence also indicates that, although the human resource staff in hospitals seem to be aware of their role in assisting hospital management in decision making, the human resource function in the Slovak hospitals still rather resembles that of a personnel administration than that of an important strategic human resource activity.

In the last four years, since Volume I of this Bibliography first appeared, there has been an explosion of literature in all the main functional areas of business. This wealth of material poses problems for the researcher in management studies — and, of course, for the librarian: uncovering what has been written in any one area is not an easy task. This volume aims to help the librarian and the researcher overcome some of the immediate problems of identification of material. It is an annotated bibliography of management, drawing on the wide variety of literature produced by MCB University Press. Over the last four years, MCB University Press has produced an extensive range of books and serial publications covering most of the established and many of the developing areas of management. This volume, in conjunction with Volume I, provides a guide to all the material published so far.

This research highlights the scenarios that might serve as a strategic vision to describe a future beyond the current library, one which both guides provosts and creates a map for the transformation of human resources and technology in the university research libraries. The scenarios offer managerial leaders an opportunity to envision new roles for librarians and staff which brings a much needed focus on the development of human resources as well as a thought-stream to understand decisions which effectively and systematically move the organization toward a strategic vision.

These scenarios also outline possible future directions research libraries could take by focusing on perspectives from library directors, provosts, and administrators for human resources. The four case study scenarios introduce potential future roles for librarians and highlight the unsustainability of the current scholarly communications model as well as uncertain factors related to the political, social, technical, and demographic issues facing campuses. Given the changes institutions face, scenarios allow directors to include more uncertainty when developing and articulating a vision. These scenarios may start a discussion, before a strategic planning process, to sharpen the evaluations and measures necessary to monitor achievements that define the value of the library.

Today, human resource managers do not have the luxury of operating and performing in a stable, predictable environment as political, social and economic changes are affecting all organizations and their human resource management activities. In particular, the dominant environmental uncertainties combined with recent trends/changes in the socio‐economic climate are having considerable effects on the place and role of human resource planning (HRP). Outlines some of the major issues surrounding the HRP function in the face of the above uncertainties and changes. An operational HRP model designed to incorporate these is proposed and outlined. Suggestions for implementing the model by means of simple spreadsheets or a basic (object oriented) computerized decision support system are also made. A preliminary computerized decision support system, based on the proposed model, can easily be developed. This would prove of great assistance to human resource managers, planners and professionals in the challenging task of personnel planning in the 1990s. Also outlines the various scenarios and procedures required in building the operational model.

Aims to shed some light on the modalities and the need for human resources planning in Swaziland libraries. Systematic forecasts of the libraries′ future demand for, and supply of labour should be meticulously undertaken so that Swaziland libraries can put themselves in a better position to plan for the recruitment, selection, training, and career paths of staff. Swaziland′s lack of trained personnel with sufficient knowledge to handle the intricacies of automation has necessitated the external recruitment of expatriate staff, with serious implications for the budget. Swaziland assumed the chairmanship of the SADC Regional Training Council (RTC) which now controls the affairs of the Human Resources Development Sector. One of the projects of this sector has been to create a Regional Human Resource Information System (RHRIS). This project has provided guiding principles to those in the region whose responsibility is human resources planning and development. It is essential that SWALA should develop a human resources database for the library profession through its Sub‐Committee for Human Resources. The development of a human resources audit in Swaziland libraries will help to determine what skills, knowledge, and abilities are required for particular vacancies or jobs. The idea is to collect enough information which will enable library managers to match their employees to the available jobs.

Introduction There is little doubt that organisations wishing to survive in the increasingly competitive environment of the 1990s must have a clear plan for their acquisition and utilisation of human resources. The various activities carried out by the personnel function, such as selection, recruitment, development and assessment have a far greater impact on organisational excellence if they are part of a thought‐out human resources plan, rather than piecemeal, and perhaps disconnected outputs of the personnel department. Because of the realisation of the need for integrated planning, human resources planning (HRP) has become increasingly well accepted, but there is still a large gap between theory and practice in HRP. There is considerable lip‐service to the need for sophisticated HRP, but many practitioners continue to use simple HRP techniques and less frequently use the more powerful techniques that are available. This may be a function of the gap between theory and practice as practitioners are likely to prefer to work with the techniques that they understand and which they control, rather than having to make use of what they see as “sophisticated” planning models which typically require the help of a head office planning or computer department.