Final answer:
The primary goal of human resource planning is to align the workforce with the goals of the organization, ensuring the optimal employment of human resources. It includes forecasting manpower needs, planning job requirements, and improving hiring practices to reduce bias and retain employees effectively.
Step-by-step explanation:
The overriding purpose of human resource planning is c) Aligning workforce with organizational goals. Human resource planning is all about ensuring that an organization has the right number of employees, with the right skills, at the right time. This process includes various activities like forecasting future manpower needs, planning job requirements and job descriptions, recruitment, and training. Such planning is important to optimize the use of human resources and to predict the workforce needs based on the organizational strategy. This helps in the retention of employees and improving hiring practices.
Moreover, professionalizing human resource functions can lead to a more unbiased and fair hiring process. Research indicates that larger organizations with professional HR strategies may experience less discrimination, which is crucial since a diverse workforce can contribute to creativity and a wider range of perspectives within an organization. The effort to reduce bias in the hiring process ensures that the best candidates are chosen based on merit, aligning with the organization's commitment to diversity and inclusion.