CHAPTER

PART 2

2

Forecasting Demand and Supply FORECASTING DEMAND AND SUPPLY

LEARNING OBJECTIVES
• • • • • • Understand and select information required to forecast HRP Identify members of the HR planning team Understand the four steps in the HRP process Apply techniques to forecast HR demand and supply Describe various methods for assessing labour planning (quantitative and qualitative) Discuss key challenges in forecasting HR demand and supply

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Part 2 | Forecasting Demand and Supply

■ PROFILE
The Great Pyramid of Giza
The Great Pyramid of Giza has fascinated the world for centuries and is revered as one of the greatest mysteries of time. When it was first built it was 145 metres tall, making it the tallest structure on the earth for over 4,300 years. Egyptologists argue that even with all of the human and computer advancements achieved to date, it would be near impossible to replicate the production of these pyramids. The HR planning scale of the project would be among the biggest challenges to face. Archaeologists have their own methods for determining how many workers (mostly slaves) were employed at Giza, but a majority agree that the Great Pyramid was built by approximately 4,000 primary labourers—quarry workers, haulers, and masons. These primary labourers would have been supported by 16,000 to 20,000 secondary workers—ramp builders, tool-makers, mortar mixers, and those providing back-up services such as supplying food, clothing, and fuel. These estimates suggest a total of 20,000 to 25,000 employees who laboured for 22 years to build the pyramids. Although the concept of HRP as it is currently known did not exist at this time, determining how many employees, at what time, in which location, and with which specific skill sets was in fact a function of HRP. Multiple factors affected the HR planning forecasts, including the number of blocks delivered