Succession Strategy Plan for FFH
Introduction
The succession plan is one of the most critical elements in a competitive business environment. It entails identifying the possible vacancy soon brought about by the retirement of the position holder and then identifying and developing a potential internal successor. A succession strategy plan is essential in ensuring that an organization has an effective managerial transitional process. The succession plan prepares employees to ensure that they are highly qualified to fill the vacated positions in the future (Oluwaseun Oduwusi, 2018). Besides, succession planning can be used as a measure of performance where the management identifies the employees’ weak areas and improve their overall performance through training. Strategic succession planning comprises risk assessment in various key positions, risk minimization through appropriate compensation, and ensuring the readiness of the potential successors. Currently, FFH, a retail store company dealing with farm ware, has 18 managers above the age of 65 and are now nearing retirement. Therefore, the company needs to formulate an effective succession strategy plan to help fill the positions once they are vacated.
Steps for Designing a Career Development Plan for FFH Company
An effective career development plan should provide opportunities and direction for skill improvement and career advancement. It is essential to recognize that, just like the organization, individual employees may feel the need to change their goals to fit their definition of a successful career. The human resource manager should spot new success criteria from the employees’ description. It, therefore, calls upon the organization to train its employees and prepares them for responsibilities in future roles. The career development plan has several steps that enable overall employee skills improvement and allows the organization to meet its goals.
First, the human resource manager needs to establish the organizational chart of the FFH Company. An excellent organizational chart needs to consider the structure of the organization and the description and requirement of job positions. The topmost view in a retail store is the store manager. The store manager’s prime role is recruiting new employees and train employees for their overall development. As a manager, he/she is expected to exhibit a strong character and support his employees during the crisis. With the advancement in technology, the manager should introduce employees to the latest retail software to help trends to improve operations. A store manager is responsible for the profitability of the store, where he/she must identify ways of pushing for sales and improving service delivery (Netemeyer et al., 2010). Besides, the manager must develop ways of maintaining the overall image of the store, such as fostering a positive working environment for the employees, make sure that merchandise is displayed in a sensible way to help catch the attention of the customer and maintain good customer relations. He should ensure that the store meets the customers’ expectations as well as living up to the brand image. The rest of the positions include two assistant store managers, four shift supervisors, twelve departmental supervisors, and assistant department supervisors. In all the positions affected, the human resource department will need to communicate the minimum educational, certification, and experience requirements.
Secondly, the organization should carry an assessment for the competencies of the workers. All employees, regardless of their rank and position, should be assessed to determine their skills level and qualifications and determine their training needs. The assessment process and training program should be objective on the individual employee’s skills and required training to improve their efficiency (Oluwaseun Oduwusi, 2018). It should focus on the specific minimums for the positions occupied by the 18 employees who are likely to retire soon.
Thirdly, the human resource manager should identify and select employees who are ready for career development. After conducting the employees’ assessment, the organization will realize that not all employees will be ready for career development. The organization will turn its entire focus on the few employees who exhibits a high level of performance and great potential for career advancement. The human resource manager should consult with the departmental heads to help them select the right employee for the training. The rest of the employees should be taken through a performance improvement training to ensure continuity of the succession plan in the future.
The fourth step is creating a career development program customized for the need of each employee. The data collected during the assessment process will help the human resource manager identify the training need for every employee selected. The career development program should focus on individual employee’s needs to help them in their career development. FFH should utilize the internal resources to support its training, after which external resources can be contracted to boost the internal team. FFH should seek the external assistance of career development experts from other companies. Periodic evaluation of the training program should be conducted to determine the success of the program and improve its delivery to help meet the organizational goal.
Further, the career development program should be customized for each position. For instance, employees selected to succeed the store manager and the assistant store managers potentially should be trained to help them improve their leadership competencies. On the other hand, the position of the store supervisor requires training fir the supervisory skills for a targeted employee line. The organization should incorporate practical courses in the training program to help improve their competencies for the potential job vacancies.
FFH is bound to specific legal standards while selecting employees for the career development program. First, the Age Discrimination in Employment Act of 1967, which prohibits employers from applying age discrimination while making hiring and promotion decisions. The Act mainly focuses on protecting employees and job applicants above the age of 40 years, and it states that any organization exceeding 20 employees may not consider age while hiring or making job promotions. Second, Affirmative Action is one of the laws and policies affecting the succession process in the Midwest states. For over 50 years, the law has been used to fight discrimination against sex, color, religion, race, and country of origin in employment. It guides organizations in decisions such as hiring, promotions, firing, and compensations. The initial idea behind the Affirmative Action was to reduce discrimination against minorities (Kurtulus, 2015). Third, FFH is bound by the Pregnancy Discrimination Act, which prohibits employees’ discrimination based on pregnancy. Other laws that the organization must consider while recruiting include the Equal Pay Act of 1963, which gives the right for equal pay between men and women, ensuring women’s employment contracts are not less favorable than that of men and Americans Disabilities Act which prohibits against discrimination of peoples living with disabilities. FFH must adhere to all these laws to avoid legal battles and government fines.
Internal Policies that Need to Be Reviewed or Implemented to Support Succession Planning
Successful organizations run on policies and procedures that must be strictly followed. Policies and procedures are equally important when it comes to developing an effective succession planning. Policies and procedures provide guidelines that ensure smooth succession transition. Procedures and policies should be based on equality and fairness to give career development opportunities to each employee regardless of their race, ethnicity, nationality, and gender. Also, when developing policies and procedures, the organization must ensure that that various laws governing employment should be considered hence giving equal opportunities for career development.
Several policies need to be reviewed when developing a succession plan. First, communication procedures and channels need to be reviewed to promote a cohesive environment. Communication can have a significant impact on the performance of employees. Lack of proper communication channels can lead to ineffectiveness of skilled employees (Bucăţa & Rizescu, 2017). It is crucial to review communication channels and establish the cause of effectiveness in an organization. Second, it is essential to review the use of the latest retail management software and computer systems. In the ever-changing business environment, technological advancement is a necessary undertaking that helps organizations have a competitive edge in the market. Therefore, FFH should review the use of these systems to identify loopholes that cause ineffectiveness. It will help identify the cause of employees’ poor performance. A thorough internal audit will help FFH identify hindrances to excellent performance on the part of employees, which then becomes the main focus on career development planning.
Moreover, FFH should review its recruiting processes to see if they attract minority applicants such as women, African-Americans, or people living with disabilities. For instance, top leadership in many organizations is male-dominated. Male managers tend to develop employees that similar to them for future succession. As a result, organizations may lack diversity. A review of such policies will help FFH increase diversity and include minorities in succession planning.
Recommendations for Succession Strategy Plan
FFH should develop an effective succession strategy plan to help them recruit the right candidates for all the eighteen potential vacancies. The four managerial roles require the potential candidates to exhibit a particular set of skills and abilities. FFH can have its potential candidates to acquire these skills through intensive career development training. The organization will benefit from these employees in terms of performance even before they rise to managerial positions. For instance, there is one position of a retail store manager, but human resource management may identify several potential candidates. A succession plan should be developed to attract minorities. FFH will use the same strategy to fill the positions of the assistant manager, department supervisors, and shift supervisors. It should also ensure that motivated employees are trained to fit the minimum skill set and abilities as per the job description. The succession strategy plan should include regular training and practical courses to ensure that the potential candidates are well equipped with the necessary skills and confidence to perform in their new managerial roles. The plan’s primary focus should be on the evaluation of the effectiveness and development of core competencies. By putting the right employees in their right managerial positions, FFH will ensure that its main organizational objectives are achieved.
References
Bucăţa, G., & Rizescu, A. (2017). The Role of Communication in Enhancing Work Effectiveness of an Organization. Land Forces Academy Review, 22(1), 49-57. https://doi.org/10.1515/raft-2017-0008
Kurtulus, F. (2015). The Impact of Affirmative Action on the Employment of Minorities and Women Over Three Decades: 1973-2003. SSRN Electronic Journal. https://doi.org/10.2139/ssrn.2573219
Najam ul Hassan, S., & Siddiqui, D. A. (2020). Impact of Effective Succession Planning Practices on Employee Retention: Exploring the Mediating Roles. https://dx.doi.org/10.2139/ssrn.3556924
Netemeyer, R., Maxham, J., & Lichtenstein, D. (2010). Store manager performance and satisfaction: Effects on store employee performance and satisfaction, store customer satisfaction, and store customer spending growth. Journal Of Applied Psychology, 95(3), 530-545. https://doi.org/10.1037/a0017630
Oluwaseun Oduwusi, O. (2018). Succession Planning as a Key to Effective Managerial Transition Process in Corporate Organizations. American Journal Of Management Science And Engineering, 3(1), 1-6. https://doi.org/10.11648/j.ajmse.20180301.11
Sahraee, R. (2014). Determining Essential Steps in Designing a Successful System of Organizational Career Development. European Online Journal of Natural and Social Sciences, 3(3), pp-691.