Succession Planning Case Study

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.

Because leadership is a key force in determining an organization’s success or lack thereof, the Gordons should consider putting a succession plan in place as soon as possible and should start grooming the would-be successor(s).

Formal succession planning should be a systematic approach in preparing lower level employees to handle the responsibilities of the senior management in the forthcoming years. It helps to identify the capable employees who have the potential to fulfil these critical roles in the hierarchy.

3. Is succession planning important for medical practices? Give examples of what techniques are available to recruit new physicians.

The superior act of living an effective life lies in the pursuit of excellent vision, to move from where we are to where we ought to be, either as a person or as an organization. A health care leader must motivate the organizational team, find how to work with the associates to effectively dedicate their time and energy to achieve the identified goals and objectives through the established vision. The team members need to buy into the vision, where they are currently doing what the leader envisions, the leader must encourage them, keep them on track and set standards for the team by setting goals and objective, flowing from the vision. This will enable the leader to move the health care organization to the expected performance level within the set time period. The leader must ensure that individual responsibilities of the associates are identified, motivated and resources provided to achieve the identified goals. To pursue the vision, I will lead the development of the health care organization’s strategic alignment of clear goals and objectives, to preserve the core mission and encourage progress toward the envisioned future state. Also, I will encourage and provide the direction for the organization without hindering the development of the goals that we expect to accomplish.

There are many avenues to cross in pursuit of an established healthcare facility. The premise of leadership begins with moral practices, combined with, knowledge of succession planning. With changing healthcare laws such as HIPAA, Healthcare Affordability Act and the process of maintaining OSHA compliance, it is key that those placed in healthcare leadership grasp not only the significance of such laws, but understand how it compliments safety while preventing harm and legal issues. Planning is key and maintaining a succession plan will assist in preventing a lapse in leadership in the event of a staff crisis.

In the changing business environment, leaders of all organisations may face unprecedented uncertainty, especially the technology advancement and changes among the employees. To survive and succeed, leaders should have some necessary attributes. Meanwhile, some changes for leadership skills have to be made to confront the challenges.

Noe (2013) advises to identify which employees are a part of the succession planning system , during this step. Gray (2014) cites this stage as step 4 in his 5 step model of succession planning. During this step he states that a company should identify a pool of potential talent because great people are everywhere. Gray adds that talent scarcity is a myth perpetuated by managers who choose not to invest in their people. He goes on to say that the primary talent pool is internal and the secondary talent pool is external. He says that internal promotions lead to higher levels of retention and engagement at lower cost and external hires typically cost more and drive conflict

Companies should also identify early on the talented individuals who can be developed for advancement.

These health care organizations have two types of planning to follow, and they are tactical and strategic planning. When tactical planning takes place, there is a short term goal in mind (Society for Human Resource Management, 2102). The course of action for a tactical plan is to achieve a goal within a year or less time period (Society for Human Resource Management, 2102). A tactical plan has a smaller scope and shorter time span than a strategic plan (Society for Human Resource Management, 2102). It takes several tactical plans to achieve the strategic plan (Society for Human Resource Management, 2102). Strategic planning differs from tactical planning, because in strategic plan, the course of action is to achieve goals for the long term (Society for Human Resource Management, 2102). Strategic planning goals are usually wanted to be completed with five years (Society for Human Resource Management, 2102). The organization’s mission statement purpose and direction are reflected upon strategic planning (Society for Human Resource Management, 2102). Top management must view reports on operations, external environments and finances when looking to develop a strategic plan (Society for Human Resource Management, 2102). The development of tactical plans are influenced by strategic plans (Society for Human Resource Management, 2102).

Succession planning is the latest area of corporate governance to come under the spotlight from investors and regulators. For too many companies it is an Achilles’ heel – they get caught unprepared when a senior executive leaves which pushes up costs and can impact performance when they make a sub-optimal appointment as a result of flawed processes. Top-level executive pay is driven up when succession plans fail and boards find themselves hunting hastily for candidates.

Succession planning is a key part of filling leadership roles in the workforce. Leaders have been making decisions from the beginning of time. The term leader has many faces in life. Whether on a battlefield in ancient time or in modern society running a multimillion dollar business, leadership styles were used by leaders or managers to get results. A leaders effective succession planning builds the availability of experienced employees in all areas of an organization.

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.

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

A survey of Human Resource executives at more than 100 firms revealed that 44 percent do not have a succession program in place and that 70 percent could improve their succession initiatives (Anon). Another 2006 survey study of 216 Human Resource professionals revealed that only 6 percent of the organizations were “extremely prepared” to fill a leadership position immediately, 53 percent were “prepared”, 37 percent were “unprepared” and 4 percent were “extremely unprepared” (Fegley). These statistics are alarming because, “according to some experts, the cost of replacing a key person can be as much as 24 times the person’s annual salary” (Miller). Unpreparedness is particularly worrisome in a point in time where corporations operate on a global level in an environment often characterized by terrorism, natural disasters and the risk of global pandemics that can complicate human resource management practices. According to U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics recent projections, “the key factor for job seekers is not so much the number of positions that will be added to the economy as the number that will need to be replaced, due to the gradual exit from the labor force by aging baby boomers.” Between 2008 and 2018, the Bureau estimates that more than 20 percent of 151 million jobs in the U.S. economy will have to be replaced because of aging boomers (Epstein).