Gestion des ressources humaines : Proposition d'un système de

sauvegarde

Human Resources Management: Proposal for a backup system

Chapter 02: Succession Management

Introduction :

Succession management is an essential part of human resources

planning. It is a perspective underlying the coordinated implementation

of a set of means in terms of human resources management and

knowledge management which seeks to ensure the sustainability of the

organization and the achievement of these strategic objectives, in

planning for present and future needs, and also identifying, retaining and

developing the talents of suitable and qualified employees.

In this chapter, we will see the historical evolution of succession

management as well as its definition, its challenges and its importance

for the management of human resources.

Section 01: Succession management; history and definition.

 Succession management is a process that aspires to create a

pathway for talent to secure, key leadership positions and key roles

managed by qualified individuals now and in the future. Before defining

succession management, we considered it essential to present its

historical development.

1.History succession management:

Since the beginning of the 20th century, human resources

management is more precisely human resources planning has evolved a

lot over the years; If we go back to the 1960s, we find that largely due to

the development of technologies as well as the expansion and

diversification of businesses, efforts were devoted to trying to strike a

balance between the labor supply and demand. Indeed during this decade

there were labor shortages. It was at this time that the idea was

developed that personnel planning is in some way a system that binds the

organization to its environment. 1

Over the years, the content of human resources planning has

indeed changed somewhat, certain processes have appeared, or at least

have been refined, so as to be better adapted to the new realities of

internal environments and external to the organization. Such is the case

with succession management. Succession planning is one of the first

forms of succession management. Even before talking about succession

planning, he was all about replacement planning, which comes from the

English

“Replacement planning” (Rothwell, 2001). The process was no

more complex than a simple replacement table for people leaving the

company.2

Subsequently, the process was slightly modified to become

"planning the

succession”.

Succession planning aims at a longer horizon than replacement

planning (Heuer, 2003). The literature teaches us that succession

planning as it was in its infancy quickly found itself unsuited to the

context in which the companies were. Traditional succession planning

was no longer effective given that the environment in which companies

evolved (and still evolve today) was subject to frequent and multiple
changes (competition, globalization, changing customer needs as well as

technology) (Foucher and Gosselin 2004).3

Finally and more recently, succession management has again

been developed in such a way as to be perceived "as the prospective

underlying the coordinated implementation of a set of means in terms of

human resources management and knowledge, which seek to ensure the

sustainability of the organization, i.e. the numbers of management,

executives at various hierarchical levels as well as critical positions,

which are specific to each organization.4

It seems important to mention that there is some confusion in the

literature regarding the use of terms relating to succession. The evolution

of the process is the same according to all the authors consulted, but the

terms used are not always the same. Thus some deal with "succession

planning" (CARTER, 1986), others deal with "succession preparation"

(TREMBLAY and ROGER, 1992), “succession planning”

(ROTHWELL, 2001), “succession plan (Saba, 2003) and “succession

management program” (FOUCHER and GOSSELIN, 2004).5

1.2 Definition of succession management:

Several authors have defined succession management and used

several terms.

We illustrate in this section these different definitions

Ultimately, a company must ensure that it has the right resources

at all times in the most strategic positions and sectors for its development

and growth.6

We can refer to the definition of LEMIRE and AL (2001) and say

that succession is a systematic process which, on the basis of various

sources of information, aims to

Prepare an orderly succession of people likely to occupy key

positions within an organization.7

For their part, FAUCHER and GOSSELIN (2004), define

succession management as “a component of human capital management,

taking root in the present while being oriented towards the future”.

Succession management consists of a coordinated set of actions with two

targets: the balancing of the internal labor market and the transfer of
 knowledge between generations. The first actions, which relate in

particular to the recruitment, retention and development of human

capital, aim to ensure that the organization has in the future people who,

while being in sufficient number, will be motivated and able to carry out

its key tasks, contribute to the achievement of its strategic objectives and

build its sustainability.8

As well as the succession is a dynamic process in which the roles

and functions of the two main groups of actors namely the predecessor

and the successor evolve from dependent and interlocking manner that

with the ultimate goal of transferring the direction and ownership of the

business. (Cadieux and Lorraine, 2004)9

So we can say that succession management is a process that aims

to anticipate and predict the future of the company in terms of human

resources, in order to avoid any risk of labor shortage. .

It is an exercise by which the organization seeks to identify jobs

and important positions that will become available in the coming years

and tries to build up a bank of potential candidates to replace them.

Section 02: Issues and principles of succession management

 Challenges :

· Succession management as a tool to reduce

uncertainty:

According to Williamson (1994), the advantage of recruiting

internally (internal mobility) in the context of succession management is

measured in terms of “cost savings”. Indeed, when an organization

promotes internal mobility to fill a position, it is lucky to know the

employee in terms of his interpersonal skills, his skills, his way of

working... This has a considerable advantage since it allows combat the

risk of

“adverse selection”. This risk is based on the asymmetry of information

in favor of the employee during an external recruitment. Indeed, he alone

has the information concerning his work capacity or his skills, so for

internal recruitment, this asymmetry of information is limited since the

organization already has the information.10

· Reduced environment instability and increased

flexibility:
 To cope with a changing environment, organizations need to

make all their resources flexible, including their human resources, in

order to be able to respond more quickly to market variations. They are

therefore looking for a workforce capable of adapting to fluctuations in

the environment since needs can change very quickly, especially in an

environment that is becoming structurally unstable. The preparing the

succession therefore allows this adaptation and develops the ability to

change and allows the preparation of solutions to the unforeseen events

of the future11.

· Succession management as a source of motivation:

A succession management policy is also a source of motivation

since it offers opportunities for development and encourages employees

to improve their performance and their employability with a view to

obtaining a position of higher responsibility and moving to a higher

hierarchical level.

From this, it can be said that succession management seeks to

motivate and develop the skills of individuals and qualify them to fill

vacant places in the company and this leads to lower costs, which makes

it possible to protect the company from failure and thus allow it to

continue working.

The principles :
 The succession management approach is based on a set of

principles that form the basis of its success, according to LEMIRE and

AL (2011), these principles can be as follows:

· Succession management must be aligned with the

business plan and with the HR planning process, and is linked to

performance management, training, learning and professional

development, staffing and recruitment, diversity and employment equity

and official languages;

· Succession management should consider all sectors

and key positions within an organization, and should not be limited to

senior management positions;

· Succession management involves creating a pool of

talent. In order to meet current and future needs, it consists of helping

employees develop their skills, which allows the organization to have

talent pools in key sectors. This is not about identifying candidates for

particular positions;

· Succession management should be based on values

​well known to staff. Key players collaborate; the process is fair,

accessible and transparent and all employees are aware of it;

 · Finally, the work of succession management needs to

be tracked, and it needs to be measured and evaluated. Processes should

be established to track performance and progress toward achieving the

goals set out in each employee's succession plan and learning plan.

· Respecting these principles is not enough to build an

effective approach to succession management, for this it is essential to

know what its main approaches are, in order to properly prepare the

succession before managing it.12

From this we can say that succession management is an

important function of the company which works according to the

strategic management plans of the company in order to determine the

need for human resources and to work to develop the collaborators and

improve business performance.

Section 03: Importance of succession management and its link

with other HRM activities

Importance:

Succession management is a very important approach for the

management of human resources where it ensures the preservation and

development of intellectual capital and the protection of the company

against performance failure because it allows to retain promising talents

and to ensure their protection and preservation.

Preparing for succession allows first of all to be able to have

reserves of candidates ready to occupy the positions crucial for the

viability of the company, but it also allows companies to protect

themselves against the loss of knowledge linked to departures not

prepared for be able to adapt quickly to changes that require a

reorganization of available skills, and thus maintain and increase its

performance by becoming a learning organization.13

We therefore find that succession management has several

advantages that help improve human resource management. The

succession management approach serves as an information support for

various other resource management activities

human. Anticipating employee departures serves as a means of preparing

recruitment, career and mobility plans. Thus, the identification of key

positions for the best performance of the company makes it possible to

identify the skills and knowledge that must be taken into consideration in

the knowledge management process, but also the existing gaps that

require training actions.

First, succession management identifies key positions in the

company; that is to say, the positions which, if they were vacant, would

make the operations of the company difficult or those which are difficult

to fill. In other words, it is the jobs of an organization that cannot be

eliminated without having a significant impact on its operations.14

Secondly, it plans the needs in terms of human resources, i.e.

planning the needs of the company in the future in order to avoid any

shortage of manpower and improve organizational efficiency by

developing knowledge transfer strategies, identifying training needs,

promoting staff retention by providing opportunities for advancement

and professional development opportunities.15

The implementation of a succession planning program requires

the adaptation as well as the integration of a multitude of HR practices.

These activities include the need to develop a diagnosis, align staffing,

career management, performance management, identification and

development of skills, use an information system and evaluate the

various activities and the succession planning program itself16.