Strategic Human Resource Management

Section Three

use a combination of techniques in order to offset their
different disadvantages.^40 The basis of this recommendation is
revealed in the following account:

The research on combining forecasts to achieve

improvements (particularly in accuracy) is

extensive, persuasive, and consistent. The results

of combined forecasts greatly surpass most

individual projections, techniques, and analyses

by experts... combining forecasts—particularly

with techniques that are dissimilar—offers the

manager an assured way of improving quality.^41

David Georgoff and Robert Murdick have prepared a
general guide to the selection of fore-casting techniques. Their
guide covers 20 different techniques and includes a set of
questions to which the forecaster provides answers for
guidance in selecting the most appropriate technique.^42 The
following sections provide greater detail on several techniques
that have potential applicability in human resource planning
and forecasting. Because demand and supply forecasting are
inter-changeable in the planning sequence, and supply
forecasting may be easier to understand, the discussion will
begin on the supply side.