succession planning

1. Succession Planning And
Management
EHAB HASSAN ALI ELBAZ

2. INTRODUCTION
• Organizations need to plan for talent to
assume key leadership or backup positions on
a temporary or permanent basis.
• Henri Fayol (1841–1925) , recognized that
management has a responsibility to ensure
the ‘‘stability of tenure of personnel.’’ If that
need is ignored, Fayol believed, key positions
would end up being filled by ill-prepared
people.

3. DEFINITION
• a means of identifying critical management
positions, starting at the levels of project
manager and supervisor and extending up to
the highest position in the organization.
• Succession planning should not stand alone. It
should be paired with succession
management, which assumes that a more
dynamic business environment in the capacity
building of talent should occur in real time

4. Distinguishing SP&M from
Replacement Planning
• replacement planning is a form of risk management. In
that respect it resembles other organizational efforts to
manage risk,
• The chief aim of replacement planning is to limit the
chance of catastrophe stemming from the immediate
and unplanned loss of key job incumbents
• SP&M goes beyond simple replacement planning. It is
proactive and attempts to ensure the continuity of
leadership by cultivating talent from within the
organization through planned development activities.

5. Distinguishing SP&M from Talent
Management
• Talent management is the process of
recruiting, on-boarding, and developing, as
well as the strategies associated with those
activities in organizations.
• Some organizational leaders associate talent
management with efforts to devote special
attention to managing the best-in-class talent
of the organization—the upper 1 to 10
percent.

6. Reasons for a Succession Planning
and Management Program
1. Contribute to Implementing the
Organization’s Strategic Business Plans
2. Identify Replacement Needs as a Means of
Targeting Necessary Training, Employee
Education, and Employee Development
3. Increase the Talent Pool of Promotable
Employees
4. Provide Increased Opportunities for High-
Potential Workers

7. 5. Tap the Potential for Intellectual Capital in the
Organization
6. Help Individuals Realize Their Career Plans Within the
Organization
7. Encourage the Advancement of Diverse Groups
8. Improve Employee Morale
9. Improve Employees’ Ability to Respond to Changing
Environmental Demands
10. Cope with the Effects of Downsizing
11. Decide Which Workers Can Be Terminated Without
Damage to the Organization
12. Reduce Head Count to Essential Workers Only

8. What characteristics do succession planning
and management programs have in common?
• Characteristic 1: Top Management Participation
and Support
• Characteristic 2: Needs-Driven with External
Benchmarking
• Characteristic 3: Focused Attention
• Characteristic 4: Dedicated Responsibility
• Characteristic 5: Succession Planning and
Management Extends to All Levels
• Characteristic 6: A Systematic Approach

9. • Characteristic 7: A Comparison of Present Performance
and Future Potential
• Characteristic 8: Clarification of High-Level Replacement
Needs
• Characteristic 9: An Obligation to Identify and Prepare
Successors
• Characteristic 10: Specific Developmental Programs
Established and Conducted
• Characteristic 11: High Potentials Work While Developing
• Characteristic 12: Developmental Programs Establish
Familiarity with Who, What, When, Where, Why, and How

10. • Characteristic 13: Developmental Experiences
Encourage Critical Questioning
• Characteristic 14: Succession Planning
Emphasizes the Qualities Necessary to
Surpass Movement to the Next Higher-Level
Job
• Characteristic 15: Formal Mentoring
Emphasized

11. Seven-Pointed Star Model for Systematic
Succession Planning and Management

12. Step 1: Make the Commitment
• Assess current problems and practices.
• Assess and demonstrate the need for the program.
• Determine the organization’s exact SP&M program requirements.
• Link the SP&M program directly to organizational and human resource strategic plans.
• Benchmark SP&M practices in other organizations.
• Clarify the roles of different groups in the program.
• Formulate a program mission statement.
• Write a policy and procedures to guide the program.
• Identify target groups to be served by the program.
• Establish measurable goals and program priorities.
• Prepare an action plan to guide the program.
• Communicate the action plan.
• Conduct SP&M meetings as necessary to unveil the program and review progress continually.
• Train those involved in the program as necessary.
• Counsel managers about SP&M problems in their areas of responsibility.
• Clarify the accountabilities of each group involved in the program.

13. Step 2: Assess Present Work and
People Requirements
• decision makers should assess the present work
requirements in key positions. Only in that way
can individuals be prepared for advancement in a
way that is solidly grounded on work
requirements. In this step, decision makers
should clarify where key leadership positions
exist in the organization and apply one or more
approaches to determining work or competency
requirements. They may also clarify key
individuals who would be exceptionally tough to
replace due to their unique talents, special
knowledge, or other reasons.

14. Step 3: Appraise Individual
Performance
• How well are individuals presently performing
their jobs? The answer to this question is
critical because most SP&M programs assume
that individuals must be performing well in
their present jobs in order to qualify for
advancement. As part of this step, the
organization should also begin establishing an
inventory of talent so that it is clear what
human assets are already available.

15. Step 4: Assess Future Work and
People Requirements
• What will be the work or competency
requirements in key leadership positions in
the future? To answer this question, decision
makers should make an effort to assess future
work requirements and competencies to align
with the organization’s strategic direction. In
that way, future leaders may be prepared to
cope with changing requirements and
organizational strategic objectives.

16. Step 5: Assess Future Individual
Potential
• How well are individuals prepared for
advancement? What talents do they possess,
and how well do their talents match future
work requirements? To answer these
questions, the organization should establish
an objective process, or a series of processes,
to assess future individual potential. That
future-oriented process should not be
confused with past- or present-oriented
employee performance appraisal.

17. Step 6: Close the Developmental Gap
• How can the organization meet SP&M needs
by developing people internally or by using
other means to meet succession needs? To
answer this question, the organization should
establish a continuing program for leadership
development to cultivate future leaders
internally. Decision makers should also explore
alternatives to traditional promotion-from-
within methods of meeting succession needs.

18. Step 7: Evaluate the Succession
Planning Program
• To improve, the SP&M program must be
subjected to continual evaluation to assess
how well it is working. That is the seventh and
final step of the model. The results of
evaluation should, in turn, be used to make
continuous program improvements and to
maintain a commitment to systematic SP&M.

19. CASE STUDY OF MOTOROLA INC

20. The Company
Motorola, Inc is an electronic and wireless communications
company based in Illinois, United States of America. In 1998 it had
142,000 employees and an annual turnover of $27 billion.
The Results
Through the use of various initiatives including succession planning
Motorola has significantly improved the outcomes for women in its
organisation.
One measure that illustrates this is the number of female vice
presidents. In 1989 Motorola had two female vice presidents. In
1997, six years after the modification of Motorola's succession
planning so that it incorporated the company's diversity objectives
and sought to accelerate the advancement of women and
minorities within the organisation, Motorola had forty female vice
presidents, including seven women of colour.

21. How was this achieved?
Reason for change
In the late 1980s due to changing demographics in its workforce,
Motorola began to redesign its established succession planning
process to make the development of women and minorities a
priority. This process culminated in 1991 with Motorola's succession
planning process, known as the Organisation and Management
Development Review (OMDR) being amended to include diversity
objectives.
Setting of goals and commitment
As part of the amendment to the OMDR Motorola set a clear goal:
within ten years the number of women and minorities at all levels
of management should be representative of the number of women
and minorities in the available talent pool. They also made a
commitment that every year at least three women and minorities
would be among the twenty to forty people appointed vice-
president.

22. The program
Motorola’s OMDR guarantees that women and minorities, as well as white men are not only
identified as high potential managers but also that they move along through the organisation.
The process of identification of high potentials requires each division to submit lists of candidates
in four categories: white men, women, minorities and technical staff. Career development
plans are prepared for each high potential and their progress through the company is then
tracked. If they leave or fall off the list in the future, the individuals manager must explain
why this happened.
To counter the perception that most women and minorities are still in the feeder pool, a
replacement chart that identifies key positions and three people who could fill each one was
developed.
Line one is the immediate successor.
Line two is the person who should success the incumbent if the company had three to five years
to prepare.
Line three is the most qualified woman or minority candidate at that time, in addition to any
women or minority person already on line one or two. Women and minorities must be
included even if it means hiring externally.
Other key elements of the Motorola program include:
Career Planning: Individuals receive guidance to set career goals and develop strategies through
which to achieve them. Guidance is given by:
Managers helping employees they are responsible for who are involved in succession planning, to
plot a career course.

23. Informal mentoring: Senior management are encouraged to seek out opportunities to mentor
women and minorities.
The company's women's leadership conference.
Business Rationale: Motorola promoted the link between the succession planning initiative and
the company's business goals of pursuing quality, productivity, new markets and profits.
Emphasis was placed on the business success that can flow from having a socially diverse
workforce.
Leadership Role: The Chief Executive championed the initiative. Presidents of major operational
areas develop plans for meeting diversity goals. They report quarterly on the progress of
these plans to the Chief Executive. The managers and Chief Executive then meet once a year
to discuss the progress of the initiative.
Accountability:
Motorola sees diversity as a business initiative and as such line managers not the HR
department should be responsible for its implementation. Senior managers are required to
keep track of and report on the representation of women and minorities in their units.

24. Key messages:
Clearly define targets and goals. Setting a time frame and numbers creates impetus for action.
Have a broad definition of succession planning to include the widest talent pool.
Ensure that women and minorities are not only identified, but that once identified that they are among
those being groomed for senior positions. It is never too early to begin: As one Motorola's vice
president stated, it is important to get the feeder people on the radar. Once they are on the radar
more questions are asked about their development and it is harder for them to be lost within the
organisation. Organisations cannot wait for women to appear in management.
Implement careful and strategic planning for targeted individuals career development. Being identified
is not enough. Consider potential benefits of encouraging informal mentoring.
Ensure there is strong leadership and commitment from senior management. Initial and on-going
personal involvement of the Chief Executive is crucial to success.
Integrate succession planning into business and diversity objectives. A clear link between business goals
and the desired results of the succession planning will assist in gaining commitment from the
organisation and staff. To be successful it must be portrayed as a core issue.
Make managers accountable for the success of the initiative. As it is a business initiative, business
people should be responsible and accountable for its delivery.

25. Conclusion
• Succession planning is an effective means to preserving institutional
memory and improving institutional knowledge. Succession plans
are designed to identify and select Best fit candidates for leadership
positions, assure effective leadership development, and preserve
organizational knowledge and intellectual capital. It is the method
that an organization must employ to ensure “the right people in the
right places at the right times.” By doing so, succession planning
also lessens the effect of downsizing, given the change in the global
economy succession plans will ensure that key positions which have
been eliminated can be filled or absorbed by other employees.
• Succession planning and management becomes attractive in the
face of problems such as delays in filling critical positions, a lack of
qualified internal candidates, departure of talented employees to
further career goals, or failure of internal replacements in new
leadership roles within the organization.

26. REFERENCES:
• Ershad Estedadi , Reza shahhoseini , Kambiz Hamidi (2015): The
importance of succession planning in organizations. Advanced
Social Humanities and Management 2(3) 2015:41-47
• Government of Alberta (2012): Succession planning, retaining skills
and knowledge in your workforce. Alberta Human Services
• Government of Newfoundland and Labrador (2008): SUCCESSION
PLANNING AND MANAGEMENT GUIDE. HR POLICY AND PLANNING
DIVISION HUMAN RESOURCE BRANCH, Public Service Secretariat
• William J. Rothwell (2010): Effective succession planning: ensuring
leadership continuity and building talent from within. AMACOM, a
division of American Management Association ,New York
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