Chapter 7
Succession
Management
Succession planning
Succession planning enables organization to identity talented employees and
provides education to develop them for future higher level and broader
responsibility.
Succession planning is a process whereby an organization ensures that
employees are recruited and developed to fill the key positions within the
organization.
Succession planning may be defined as a process for identifying and developing
potential future leaders or senior managers, as well as individuals to fill the
critical positions, either in the short or the long term (Bhattacharjjo, 2008).
Cont..
• In simple words, succession planning is a process for identifying and developing new
leaders, who can replace old leaders when leave, retire or die.
• In the long term, succession planning strengthens the overall capability of the
organization by:
➢Identifying critical positions and highlighting potential vacancies
➢Selecting key competencies and skills necessary for business continuity;
➢Focusing development of individuals to meet future business needs
Three key questions
➢First, are there enough potential successors available- a supply
of people coming through who can take key roles in the longer
term?
➢Second, are they good enough?
➢Third, do they have the right skills and competencies for the
future?
Elements
Identify the key position
Identify the successor or successors
Identify job requirement
Building competencies
Assessing progress
SUCCESSION MANAGEMENT PROCESS
1. ALIGN SUCCESSION MANAGEMENT
PLANS WITH STRATEGY
Management development must be
linked to business plans and
strategies. If the business plan focuses
on global markets, then managers
have to be trained to manage global
businesses
Cont..
2. IDENTIFY THE SKILLS AND COMPETENCIES NEEDED TO MEET STRATEGIC
OBJECTIVES
From the strategic plan, managers can then develop a list of the employee skills and
competencies needed. There are at least two approaches to identifying the characteristics of
successful managers: the job-based approach and the competency-based approach.
JOB-BASED APPROACH- The job-based approach suggests that employees who have significant
experience as managers, and who have acquired job skills such as motivating, delegating,
marketing, or managing finances, will make successful manager
COMPETENCY-BASED APPROACH- A competency can comprise skills, abilities, knowledge, and
personal characteristics (ability to motivate others)
Cont..
3. IDENTIFY HIGH-POTENTIAL EMPLOYEES
After we know what competencies are needed, we can turn to the identification
of employees who might ultimately acquire these sets.
▪ Temporary replacements: At the most primitive level, most individual
managers will have identified a designated backup and potential successor.
This is done in case the manager is away from the office for extended periods
(e.g., vacations, training).
▪ Replacement charts: At the next level, some organizations prepare
replacement charts with predicted departure dates of the incumbents, along
with a shortlist of possible successors
Cont..
4. PROVIDE DEVELOPMENTAL OPPORTUNITIES AND EXPERIENCES
MANAGEMENT DEVELOPMENT METHODS- In the succession management
process, the focus in management development is on the development of
competencies, not just on job preparation. Because the goal is to develop many
skills that may be needed in an uncertain future (in contrast to simply replicating
the skills of the present incumbents), management is much more open to
various approaches to develop the talent pool
• Promotion-An employee's upward advancement in the hierarchy of an
organization
• Job rotations- A process whereby an employee's upward advancement in the
hierarchy of an organization is achieved by lateral as well as vertical moves
Cont..
• SPECIAL ASSIGNMENTS AND ACTION LEARNING- On-the-job learning is still a favoured
path to the development of managerial skills. Most organizations test high-potential
employees by giving them an assignment in addition to their regular duties.
• FORMAL TRAINING AND DEVELOPMENT- Management training and education is big
business. Hundreds of thousands of dollars may be spent preparing one executive to
become the CEO of the organization
• MENTORING AND COACHING- Many very successful managers explain that their
successes resulted directly from having been mentored: A senior executive took an
interest in them and their careers at a critical time in their lives. Mentors are
executives who coach, advise, and encourage junior employees
Cont..
5. MONITOR SUCCESSION MANAGEMENT
• Increased engagement scores
• Increased positive perceptions of development opportunities
• High-potential employees' perceptions of the succession management process
• Higher participation in developmental activities
• Greater numbers involved in the mentoring process
Cont..
Nevertheless, there are internal ways to judge whether a succession management
program is successful, including HR metrics, such as the following:
• Increased average number of candidates for key positions • Reduced average
number of positions having no identified successors • Increased percentage of
managers with replacement plans • Increased percentage of key positions filled
according to plans • Increased ratio of internal hires to external hires in key
positions • Increased retention rates of key talent • Increased percentage of
positive job evaluations after promotion
WHY ORGANIZATIONS HAVE SUCCESSION
MANAGEMENT PROGRAMS
Improve internal candidates
Assure business continuity
Reduce skill gaps
Retain employees
Help individuals realize their career plans within the organization
Develop leaders more quickly
Encourage the advancement of the diverse group
Improve ability to respond to changing environment
REPLACEMENT PLANNING: EMPLOYEE
READINESS PLANNING FOR PROMOTION
The process of identifying short term and long term emergency
backups to fill critical positions
Replacement planning is the process of identifying short-term
and long-term emergency backups to fill critical positions or to
take the place of critical people (Rothwell 2011)
Rothwell 2011. Replacement planning: a starting point for succession planning and talent management. International Journal of
Training and Development. 15 (1).
REPLACEMENT CHART
SOME KEY QUESTIONS TO REFLECT ON
Should we inform the employees that they being groomed for the
future top managerial positions or not?
How should we deal with multiple successors?
Why does organization need to focus on developing multiple
successors instead of one?
INTERNAL VS EXTERNAL CANDIDATES
Internal Candidates External Candidates
1. More and better information about the 1. May have better skills
candidates 2. Brings new knowledge
2. Enhanced employee commitment and
retention
3. Preservation of corporate culture
4. Candidates have better knowledge
about the organization
5. Recruitment and selection, training costs
are lower