Abstract
Organizational changes are inevitable since employees and managers are bound to leave the organization through various means. Despite these transitions, the operations of an organization have to continue. The company has to deliver its mandate in achieving its mission (Sullivian, 2012). This paper will, therefore, address these organizational changes. In particular, it will address development interventions for effective organizational succession planning in mid-sized companies in Singapore. The paper will also seek to establish the effects of organizational succession in the company’s ability to deliver its core functions. Means of minimizing the negative impact on the company in the account of transition will also be investigated. In this regard, the focus will be placed on structures that need to be put in place to safeguard the interests of the company when one of its employees, especially those in leadership positions leave and another takes charge.
Therefore, it will be pertinent to look into how companies all over the world have handled succession and managed to succeed. Suggestions for improvement will be given so that companies having to grapple with the succession problems will have a better approach to succession that will not hurt the company’s operations. Several Mid-sized companies in Singapore will be studied to find out how they have handled succession.
Finally, proper intervention measures will be suggested so that a company can continue operating efficiently despite transitions of its employees. These measures will be on how to develop structures and systems that are self-running such that any person can fit in comfortably in the running of the affairs of the company without necessarily having to slow down its operations before one can learn its structures and systems. That will be necessary to enable smooth operations of the company even after the exit of the current leader.
Documentation
This dissertation is the original work of the author and has not been at any time presented for any award. To the best of my knowledge, the dissertation contains no material that has been previously published or written by another person except where due acknowledgment and reference is made in this dissertation.
Signature Date
Literature Review
The primary objective of any organization is survival (Adewale, Abolaji & Kolade, 2011). That is inclusive, but not limited to talent retention, turnover rate, career development, supervisor’s support, organizational conflicts and nepotism (ibid). This survival objective has everything to do with succession planning. Business entities have to go on despite the death or exit of their key leaders. The successors can be family members or outsiders. Whether an organization opts for a family member or an outsider, it needs to work out an effective succession plan. This plan should not be an afterthought but should be part and parcel of the business establishment. Any company that fails to put in place an effective successive plan puts its operations in jeopardy.
There is a notable failure by many organizations in Singapore to address the issue of succession planning. This lack of planning presents a challenge when any position in the organization falls vacant due to organizational size and structure (Sullivan, 2012). It is pertinent for organizations to develop interventions that are geared towards ensuring that its mission, services, and successes are not impeded by key people in the organization at any one time. The failure of many of these organizations to put up effective succession plans can in some way be attributed to the attitudes of the executives of the companies. Their ego does not allow them to think for once that someone can take up their positions. That, therefore, presents a challenge to succession planning since these leaders in many instances fail to include an exit plan as part of their company strategy. For those companies that are family owned, the potential successors may at times not be imparted with the necessary skills and competencies to run the business. Therefore, in many cases, these businesses end up closing at the death of their founders.
The Singaporean situation is common for many states and hence using it as a case study will give a clear picture of the situation all over the world. It is important to note that many companies have failed to set up an elaborate succession plan. Many companies, even in those countries where there is knowledge about the need for succession planning fail to put in place a succession plan. The leaders in these companies may acknowledge the need for a successive plan, but fail to put it into action. Therefore, implementation process becomes a problem in developing a succession strategy for companies from the onset. This has meant that these companies respond to succession as a crisis.
The demand by mid-sized companies for expertise in senior management for continued operations experienced within an economic boom cannot be ignored (Sullivan, 2012). When proper intervention measures are put in place, it is possible for these organizations to accommodate change without necessarily experiencing failure due to leadership changes. Stakeholders in companies should understand that turnover of employees including those in key positions is bound to happen. The company’s operations need not be stalled when key people leave the company for any reason at all. The mission of the company must continue to be achieved despite these transitions. For this to happen, proper succession plans have to be put in place to enable these companies achieve their visions and continue with their missions even in the absence of founding leaders. Every successful leadership should progress the company further and make it better than it was before. The leadership should ensure that the company continues enjoying a competitive advantage over its competitors and adapts to the current market needs.
The role of mid-sized companies as key drivers of the economy should be taken into consideration when considering interventions for succession planning. If operations of such companies stall in any way, there is no doubt that the economy will feel a crunch. It is, therefore, critical that mid-sized companies develop well-structured succession planning to ensure stability and sustainability. This can be attained through established processes and development of talent (Sullivan, 2012). In targeting the role of these companies in the economic development, the strategic plans of these companies should be geared towards growth. This growth should work in tandem with the growth of the country’s economy. However, any slackening in the growth of a country’s economy should not stall the growth of the company. The company’s systems should be such that they can insulate the company from external factors.
Organizations ought to identify available means and ways where developmental interventions are developed with an aim to undertake the organization’s mission. Interventions for succession planning should have in mind growth and career training of employees throughout their existence (Brodbeck & Crawshaw, 2011). The knowledge acquired in designing intervention measures should be used to ensure the stability of the operations of the organization despite its leadership and challenges it faces including turnover of its key people (Brodbeck & Crawshaw, 2011). In this regard, planners need towards ensuring that the company’s existence goes beyond the individuals to being self-sustaining. Anyone joining the ranks of leadership should only make the systems better rather than make them dependent on him or her. The decisions of individual leaders and successors should be determined by the systems put in place by the company instead of the systems depending on individual decisions. That is because the company may have to go through turmoil in every transition stage since a change in leadership would translate into a change of the working systems of the company. The only caution that should be taken here is that the systems should be set in such a way that they are flexible to the dynamics of the market such that the market dynamics do not at all interfere with the operations of the company. A company should be able to adapt to any changes in the market without having to slow down on progress. Its growth should be sustainable at all events.
A succession plan in Singapore needs to take into consideration manpower planning. There is a need for timely forecasting of manpower needs in any company. This manpower planning need to have strategies for acquisition, retention and effective utilization of employees so as to ensure the needs of the company are met (Kingir & Mesci, 2010). The human resource needs of a company form an essential part of planning. With proper strategies, the current and future needs of the company will be looked into and appropriate measures put in place. These needs should take into consideration the growth and development of the company now and in the future. Leadership needs will be taken care of in the succession planning strategy.
The departure of employees can be either through voluntarily through retirement or involuntarily through death or sacking ((Adewale, Abolaji & Kolade, 2011). The result of these departures are vacancies within the organization that has to be filled up. These vacancies may lack personnel with adequate competence and capabilities. This calls for organizations to start planning for filling of these vacancies before they are even created. When vacancies are created, the company will have effective mechanisms to replace those who have exited the company. These mechanisms will ensure that the operations of the company will not at any one time be interfered with. The transition process will be smooth since the company has already set structures that ensure the smooth running of operations of the company despite the departure of any of its leaders.
This prior planning to fill up these positions is what is known as succession planning. Organizational survival requires a plan for succession for older employees or outgoing ones (Hazarika, 2009). There are several succession plans available for organizations to choose. However, some would be more preferred than the others. Other may not be favorable to the business since they would require winding up the business or even selling it out to competitors. The aim of every succession should be for the progress and continuity of the business entity. Business operations should not at any one time come to a halt just because a succession phase is in place. At its establishment, a business should have an elaborate plan to ensure that the business continues its operations competitively and can adapt to the dynamics of the market. Selling out or winding up should only be considered as a last option when all the other strategies have failed to work.
