An Analysis of Succession Planning as a Strategy for Organizational Continuity

Previously, the unexpected loss of an experienced leader without a timely replacement was extremely effecting the department. And just as Fibuch & Way (2012) suggested, the best solution to reduce those challenges is to cross-trained qualified employees within the organization for leadership roles. It is important also for organization to recognize and view their existing skill sets in terms of their future operations. Consequently, succession planning should be an essential element of organization's strategic

Human resource departments today have a more distinct, calculated position within organizations, and human resource strategy influences the bottom line. “One of the challenges for HR leaders is convincing executive leadership teams that human capital is one of the most important resources in which the company can invest” (Mayhew, 2014, p.). Subsequently, “this return on investment is an essential part of the argument for including HR as part of an overall business strategy” (Mayhew, 2014, p.). Human resource departments utilize the information given to them from company executives and leaders, coupled with their respective expertise on all things personnel, and they plan and implement staffing concerns for the betterment of the organization. From preparing job analysis, to comparing inventory and forecasting, it is the responsibility of human resources to consider the objectives of an organization and fulfill those goals while operating the specific planning relative to HR.

The problem is Quilcene Fire Rescue does not have any type of succession plan in effect and is ill prepared to deal with the career chief exiting the organization on short notice. There is not a familiar rank structure with qualified individuals holding positions throughout the organization that are available to move up in the organization and occupy the fire chief position. The purpose of this applied research is to identify the mechanisms that would need to be put into place to institute an informal or formal succession plan for Quilcene Fire Rescue.

Contemporary globalization of businesses and growing global market competition has made effective human resource planning as one of the major strategies to forge ahead and remain proactive. It can be said that an organization 's success lies to a great extent to the knowledge, skills, creativity, and dedication of its workforce. Every aspect of an organization needs human capital to drive its activities or operations to achieve individual strategic goals and objectives towards its purpose of existence, growth, and competitive status. Companies can compete at all levels of the marketplace through improved commitment not only through creativity, innovation, and research, but also human resource development (Truong, Heijden, & Rowley, 2010). In this regard, the human resource planning is needed to ensure a systematic analysis of human resource needs so that the right quantity and quality of employees are always available when required. Fundamentally, organizations are looking for the best people that would help drive them to their desired destination of achieving their missions. Therefore, it is important to develop human resource strategies to support organizational strategies, through measures such as forecasting human resource requirements, and effective strategic staffing. Technically, an organization 's mission, goals, and objectives drive its strategy and human resource (HR) and staffing strategy in an interactive manner. The purpose of this

Today 's fast-paced, competitive business environment has resulted in "rediscovery" of the human resource management function as a group that may be able to enhance firm competitiveness and performance by being "strategic" (Dyer & Kochan, 1995; Ulrich, 1997). Strategic Human Resource Management is a term describing an integrated approach to the development of Human Resource Strategy that will enable the organization to achieve its goals (Armstrong, 2005). Whiles strategy is an action that managers take to attain one or more of the organization’s goals. Strategy presents a general direction set for the company and its various components to achieve a desired state in the future. This results from the detailed

Due to these potential estate and management succession problems, the current president can either continue operating as a family-owned business or sell the out. In order to keep this business as family-owned, Mr. Gorman will have to think of a succession plan after his retirement.

Organisations need to consider succession planning alongside workforce planning, to ensure that their longer term objectives can be delivered in the future by the right people with the right skills.

Succession planning is critical for any business; therefore, I ensure we have processes in place, I always developed a share data base to ensure knowledge and best practices are transferred and as stated above, a detail development and training plan is provided to high potentials to prepare them to move

He begins the chapter by disproving the belief that family businesses don’t last past the third generation (giving three examples of leaders in the 50th, 15th, and 14th generation), and goes on to explain how this can be done. The process begins by looking for members of the family who are ready to work, paying attention to how they perform in non-family business related positions. Once they are into the family business, Porza suggests that they be given challenging assignments that can be measured by profit/loss and (later) assignments that replicate demands of a chief executive. He goes on to explain the importance of coaches and mentors in this process. The process ends with a final review from the board, which shouldn’t be hard to pass if the candidate has shown proof of readiness at every level of the process and has earned the respect of the people in the

Succession, in simple terms, refers to the concept of recruiting competent staff members to carry on the work of an organization (Titzer, Phillips, Tooley, Hall, & Shirey, 2013). With retirement of long-term staff members comes the need for new workers who can carry the torch. Part of succession planning is developing the leadership potential of prospective candidates. As important as succession planning is to the long-term wellbeing of an organization, many obstacles stand in the way of this being completed. These can include egotism, insecurity, failure to plan for the future, inadequate resources, lack of clear positions, and constant change (Titzer et al., 2013).

Brimley and Garfield (2012) proclaim, the expanded role of human resources is the administration of personnel: the skill of leading and managing people. They also assert, human resource administrators typically focus on the following areas: recruitment, salaries, benefits, certification, and retirement. As a result, the human resource team are people experts (Brimley and Garfield, 2012). “Notwithstanding the importance of personnel duties, the role is broadened to include improving the ambiance of the profession,” claim Brimley and Garfield (2012, para. 1, p. 367). Brimley and Garfield also claim, a human

580) is the “attempt to plan for the right number and quality of managers and key-skilled employees to cover retirements, death, serious illness or promotion, and any new positions which may be created in future organization plans’’. The authors in their study concluded that “It is important to highlight the link between knowledge management and succession planning because it can cause immense direct and indirect costs” (Durst and Wilhelm, 2012). As such, this forces organizations to ensure that the organizational knowledge is accessible, and flows to the individuals needing the information to accomplish tasks. Knowledge management, therefore, becomes the mechanism by which succession planning can be facilitated to ensure that knowledge flows, becomes accessible and at the same time,

According to Baridam (2001), it is not enough to review literature without presenting the studies by topic and determining how each of these topics relates to the researcher’s own study. A systematic presentation of the literature forms the foundation of the study.

In an era of increasing competitiveness, globalization, economic rationalization, deregulation, technological revolution and changing workforce there is an ever-increasing need for human resource management to be able to capitalize on the special challenges that this changing environment brings. For a company to be able to successfully keep ahead of the competition, human resource management is seen to be a significant contributor.

Succession planning is an area within the City where HR is acting as a strategic partner. Currently, HR is looking at the overall needs of the City and how it will change in the next 5 to 10 due to retirement. HR identifies positions and staff and has made suggestions for training and development. Other positions are being re-evaluated to determine need and future requirements. Decisions such as consolidating roles into one position or splitting one position into two are determined by the suitability of existing candidates. HR evaluates the existing talent and provides strategies to develop it, such as mentoring. HR also has to convince the City to support the expense of cultivating staff rather than hiring staff with those skills already in place. The high costs of recruiting versus the costs of educating and training proven staff with leadership qualities have helped to build and communicate a strong