Is the European Model of HRM Better than the American Model? Some Perspectives
What is it that Makes the European Model of HRM so Attractive? Much has been written and said about the European model of HRM or Human Resource Management. From the generous pay and bonuses, to the 36 hour working week wherein even extra time is compensated, to the handsome leave and vacation rules, and what […]
Types of Employee Behaviour
Let us go through following five types of employee behaviour at workplace: Task Performers Such individuals are well aware of their key responsibility areas and what they are supposed to do at the workplace. Every individual needs to have some goals in life. Task performers set targets for themselves and strive hard to accomplish tasks […]
Industry Academia Collaborations Add Value to Corporates and Universities
The Need for Industry Academia Collaborations Industry and Academia cannot exist independently of each other. Just as the education system prepares students for their future careers, it also has to collaborate closely with industry to try to understand the needs of the industry so that they can prepare the students accordingly. If there is no […]
Evaluation of Reward Processes
Need to Evaluate Reward Processes It is one thing for organizations to institute reward processes and it is another thing for them to evaluate whether the reward processes are being effective. In other words, organizations need to constantly evaluate whether their reward processes are serving the purpose for which they were instituted. For instance, despite […]
Corporate Strategies to beat the Downturn: Cutting Slack and Layoffs
The Difference between Top Line Growth and Bottom Line Profitability Corporates need growth to sustain their activities and increase their profits. What is known in financial jargon as Top Line Growth is the increase in revenues that happens because of growth that the corporate actualizes during a given year. In contrast, what is known as […]
In one our write ups we mentioned the problem of succession planning in organizations. The basis was the SHRM survey of 2003 that found out that 60% of organizations have no succession planning at all. We discuss the phenomenon in detail here. What is succession planning and when did it emerge as a problem? What is the way out? Questions like these will be discussed in the coming lines.
Succession planning is a systematic process of identifying and developing talent for leadership positions in the future. According to SHRM survey of 2003 it was found out that 60% of the firms that they interviewed had no succession planning in place and contrastingly about 70% of the major corporations globally had a proper succession planning in place in the late 1970’s. Similarly IPMA HR survey of 2004 found out that 63% of companies have no manpower planning at all which was commonplace in every organization till the late 1950’s. So the question that arises is when did succession planning emerge as a problem? Who is responsible - is it because of some demographic changes or because of the apathy on the part of management?
Marshall Goldsmith one of the world’s leading executive coaches recently wrote that many executives complained about succession planning being such a waste of time. Still many CEO’s complained about lack of bench strength in their organizations - lack of talent principally. Finally the role of demographics cannot be ignored! United States, for example has an aging population. India on the other hand has a population that is young by demographic standards. The combination of all these factors we may say has made a mess of succession planning in the past few decades.
What is the way out ?
‘Tell me and I will listen, show me and I will see and let me do it and I will learn’, how can we forget the age old adage! Plans specially pertaining to succession it seems do not work anymore, it is the development experiences that engage and motivate people at work. Perhaps renaming your succession planning to succession development may go a long way in reviving the succession planning process in your organization. The planning processes have lots of do’s and don’ts that make people think of it as another plan that is an end in itself and no a means to future position. Let them realize the focus is on development and not on the planning process.
The next step would be laying emphasis on outcomes rather than the process. This would underline in the eyes of employees what gets measured and what gets rewarded and elicit necessary behaviors and behavioral changes. Their ownership in the development process can increase as a result. Then there is a need to make the assessment process as simple as possible. Organizations have a tendency to make the assessment process complex unnecessarily. Complex assessment processes make assessment difficult for the average line manager. More complex assessment processes can be developed at the level of people development, while planning for succession, keep it simple.
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