Succession planning and career development poses a major challenge to many business organizations in the contemporary world. Business organizations need to align succession planning and career development with organizational values and culture. Career development aims at equipping employees in an organization with skills to facilitate growth and achievement of the long-term goals and the vision of a business organization. Career development includes a well-structured path that takes a significantly longer duration of time.
The process of career development encompasses the translation of a personalized career plan into an action to achieve career goals. Career development is essential when implementing career goals. Many organizations in the modern world spend a significant amount of finances on employee training and education programs (Webb et al., 2017). There are several actions in career development. In career development, employees are required to prove their performance to the expected standards. Employees are given an opportunity to resign when they get better employment opportunities. The other essential action in career development is career guidance and counseling. Career guidance and counseling offer information on the most appropriate time for employees to move from one career to another.
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Career development enables organizations to avail the needed talent in organizations. Career development encompasses a natural extension of employee and strategic training. Organizations achieve efficiency in placing the right employees at the right place through career development. Career development enables business organizations to retain and attract talents. There exists competition for talented employees in many organizations in the contemporary world. Business organizations compete to acquire the most skilled and talented employees. Talented and skilled employees desire to work in organizations that prioritize their career growth and development (Ballaro & Polk, 2017). Career development plays a significant role in the reduction of employee frustration in organizations. Career guidance and counseling programs play a crucial role in reducing employee frustration. The other essential factor in career development is enhancing cultural diversity. In the modern world, business organizations are required to show diversity in race, nationality, age, and religious faith at the workplace. Career development programs facilitate access to access by all levels of employees.
On the other hand, succession planning encompasses strategies deployed in the identification and development of future leaders in a business organization. Succession planning enables business organizations in the contemporary world to prepare for contingencies through developing workers with a high potential to take up organizational duties and responsibilities in the future. Abrupt changes are likely to occur in business organizations. Having a succession plan enables an organization to be equipped with employees who can take up such leadership positions in an organization should such changes happen.
Succession planning is a process. The first step is the identification of the most suitable and qualified employees as future leaders. This activity involves the identification of positions within an organization that is critical to the success of the business organization. The human resource department in organizations identifies internal candidates with skills, values, and desires to take essential roles in the organization (Webb et al., 2017). Human resource management engages the potential candidates in discussions on their career plans and career interests. Succession planning provides an opportunity to search for talented and skilled potential organizational leaders from outside the organization, especially when there is a limitation in skills and values within employees in an organization.
Succession planning plays a significant role in employee motivation. The identified potential candidates appreciate that their values, skills, and handwork are being appreciated. Succession planning in organizations enhances the creation of a structure for training and development. Early identification of potential executive employees gives the organization an opportunity to improve their leadership skills and values through training and development (Ballaro & Polk, 2017). Succession planning enables an organization to evade a crisis in the event a position falls vacant, and there is urgency in the hiring process. The rapid hiring process is likely to incur high organizational costs, and the organization risks compromising the ability to hire quality and skilled employees due to time limitations and the urgency in the process.
In many organizations, succession planning is carried out by the human resource department. The human resource department searches for the right employees with the right values and culture that fits an organization from the internal and external environment (Atwood, 2020). Succession planning is an essential process in talent management. Succession planning plays a significant role in the reduction of hiring costs in organizations.
There are various risks associated with a lack of succession planning in organizations. As mentioned earlier, employees in organizations are constantly moving in search of better job opportunities. Organizations without succession planning are likely to experience a high employee turnover as the employees in the organization do not feel that their efforts are appreciated and recognized (McLean et al., 2016). Such organizations are also likely to experience inefficiency in production as the human resource department takes time to replace vacant positions. The other risk is the high costs of hiring and inefficiency in the hiring process. Urgent replacement of employees in an organization requires organizations to face unexpected budget alterations. The organizations are also at risk of hiring incompetent staff with limited skills and essential organizational values.
Succession planning and career development has a significant impact on modern business organizations. They facilitate identification of employees with talents and develop schedules and training programs to enable the employees to develop their career. Career development and succession helps to increase employee motivation, as a result reducing high employee turnover. Business organizations in the world today save high costs by carrying out succession planning and career development by ensuring that an organization has internal employees with skills and abilities to take up different leadership positions and duties and responsibilities within an organization.
References
Atwood, C. (2020). Succession planning basics . American Society for Training and Development.
Ballaro, J. M., & Polk, L. (2017). Developing an organization for future growth using succession planning. Organization Development Journal , 35 (4), 41-59.
McLean, E., Scale, M. S., & Rouse-Jones, M. D. (2016). Preparing tomorrow's library managers: Exploring leadership and succession planning at the University of the West Indies Libraries. In Leadership and Personnel Management: Concepts, Methodologies, Tools, and Applications (pp. 2239-2266). IGI Global.
Webb, T., Diamond-Wells, T., & Jeffs, D. (2017). Career mapping for professional development and succession planning. Journal for nurses in professional development , 33 (1), 25-32.
