Human Resource Planning Practices in Private Primary Schools in Kahuro District, Murang’a County

Abstract

In today‟s business environment, organizations need to be constantly evaluating their internal and external environment for challenges and opportunities to remain competitive and to sustain growth. Political, economic, social, and even psychological changes within our societies create significant impact on organizations. The integration of human resource function into the organizational strategy provides the basis to enable the human resource function to support and implement the strategic plan to achieve a competitive advantage. The purpose of the study was to determine the human resource planning practices in private primary schools in Kahuro district, Murang‟a County. The research design was a descriptive census survey. The population of the study consisted of all twenty one (21) private primary schools operating in Kahuro district, Murang‟a County. The study used primary data; this was collected through semi-structured questionnaires. The data was analyzed by the use of descriptive statistics. From the findings the study concludes that all the schools had objectives that they wish to achieve and that most of them had a documented strategic plan that covered five years. It was clear that there was a documented human resource plan in most schools that was reviewed quarterly. The study also concludes that in linking human resource goals to the school objectives, the schools adopt discussion with various departments about manpower requirements. The study further deduced that most schools did not have a career development plan for its staff and that they did not prepare a staff movement plan. The schools specify experience, level of education, number of employees, past performance, skill mix and age of its future staffs. It was revealed that the schools did not conduct gap analysis between supply and demand for human resources. The study recommends that in order to enhance employees‟ motivation and retention the schools should have a career development plan for its staff and that they should prepare a staff movement plan. The schools should also conduct gap analysis between supply and demand for human in order to establish the projected workforce gap. The study also recommends that the schools should continuously monitor and evaluate their human resource planning process in response to changes in the labor market. This will help them come up with practices that are workable and relevant in running of private primary schools.