Critical Success Factors for Succession Planning Implementation

Abstract

The majority of the literature on the effectiveness of organizations in the public and commercial sectors highlights the necessity of having access to talented workers for achieving high organizational performance. However, processes like succession planning, which form the foundation of any workforce, have received little attention. All agencies and organizations should engage in succession planning as a dynamic activity to ensure the smooth operation of crucial programs in the case of planned or unanticipated vacancies. This helps organizations to make a conscious and methodical effort to maintain leadership in crucial positions. Adopting an interpretivist stance, implemented through an exploratory design, the purpose of this chapter is to investigate the critical success factors for the effective implementation of succession planning in public organizations. The chapter also proposes a succession planning framework, if adopted, would lead to effective implementation of succession planning.