Workforce planning focuses on proper utilization and development of human resources (Adewale, Abolaji & Kolade, 2011). Everything about the human resource needs of a company needs to be put in place. Those include motivation needs, succession needs, and training needs. Taking into consideration these needs will form an effective planning needs of a company’s total human resource needs.
Manpower planning become an essential part of succession planning. The company should be able to make a projection of the human resource needs while formulating its strategic goals. Identification of current and future human resource requirements should take center stage in formulating an effective succession plan (Ballinger, Lehman, & Schoorman, 2010). Human resource should match with the organizational needs of the company. These manpower development processes should be geared towards meeting and improving the effectiveness and efficiency of the company.
Organization after succession
Every plan within an organization should be geared towards its survival. That requires investment in time and energy by all those involved. Gross (1968) argues that the concept of survival is an unwritten law of every organization. Every organization should envisage its future not a few years from the present but many years ahead.
Organizational survival lies in the succession strategic plans of such an organization. With proper succession plans, an organization can outlive its current leadership and move on for many generations ahead. This succession plan should envisage changes that are likely to take place shortly as well as in the unknown future of the organization. The market trends and technological changes should be placed in focus while developing a training strategy for potential successors.
Lack of a succession plan has meant that most companies respond to a crisis when they are in succession phase. Boyle (2009) suggests that more boards and managers should nurture a stable of successors instead of waiting for a crisis to force their hands. A survey carried out in 2010 by Korn/Ferry reported that about 98 percent of companies in America regard succession planning as an important piece of the overall process of corporate governance. However, despite these beliefs, only 35 percent of these companies have a succession plan in place. That means that these companies are unprepared for the unexpected departure of their CEOS (Korn/Ferry Survey, 2010).
Research gap
The changing trends in the global market dictate that companies change the way they do business. There is a need for formalized plans in succession planning by companies in Singapore. Companies are now warming up to formalized succession plans, and therefore, research is needed in equipping these companies with the right strategies to do strategic succession plans.
The researcher observes the need to do thorough research in the place of technology in succession planning. It should be noted that the future of many companies lie in the way these companies use technology. Therefore, succession plans should shift their focus from just changing the administration to the more comprehensive needs of the company. This area needs to be properly looked into to enhance smooth transitions for companies. The companies need to work towards keeping themselves up to date with the changing market trends. Succession planning in the future seems to be more concerned with how the companies are prepared to do research on the current market needs.
Skills training and career development will now focus on the use of technology to automate the operations of the company. The companies will have to ensure that they are on par with the innovations and that they can easily take up new technologies immediately they come up. Planners will have to focus on more than changing the chief executive officers of companies to looking into how systems can be well changed to suit the needs of the current market dynamics.
Succession planning needs to be a priority immediately a business starts its operations. Succession planners need to foresee changes that are likely to occur in the market shortly and focus training in these areas. Successors will need to be equipped with the right skills that will enable them to remain competitive in a changing business environment.
The opening up of the global market present new challenges and thus a point of focus for succession planners. Businesses are finding themselves face to face with stiff competitions from international companies that were before not a threat. Succession planning has, therefore, to focus on how to face this competition without winding up the business. This planning need to focus on how to remain competitive not only locally but also globally.
Therefore, more research needs to be done in succession planning. Researchers have to look into specific areas that will make succession planning adequate for business operations and create a successful business that will last for generations. These businesses will also have to contend with changing market trends and face stiff competition arising from the globalization of market.
