Updated and expanded to reflect the latest trends and best practices, a guide to succession management contains 20 percent new material, including chapters on recruitment and retention, as well as updated references and research, in a book that includes a CD-ROM filled with worksheets and assessment tools.
William J. Rothwell is professor of Workplace Learning and Performance at Pennsylvania State University and President of Rothwell & Associates, a business consultancy.
It worthwhile read for the non HR manager looking to understand the practices and concern of success and management in a larger organization. It provided history, practice, and context on how investments in succession management can reduce risk and disruption To an organization.
Rothwell�s assertion, The continued survival of the organization depends on having the right employees in the right positions at the right time, is very much a truism. But the question is how do you respond to this truth? Rothwell�s succession planning assumes that God is not going to support your customers as your company�s ability to meet their needs are threatened by the loss of an employee. Perhaps that�s why it�s necessary. Companies no longer have God�s support as they serve customer�s urges rather than their needs. [return][return]Since God cannot be expected to rise up someone to ensure that your business�s frivolous outputs can continue uninterrupted, businesses are forced into an overly bureaucratic approach to ensuring continuity through retirements and unplanned departures.[return] [return]It�s like a family not only having life insurance policies but also having potential spouses picked out in case tragedy strikes a parent (or they decide to divorce). This never occurs in healthy families because of two factors which are not present in today�s businesses:[return]1. There is an assumed life-long dedication to the family unit where commitment rules regardless of how well the family unit is serving the person�s need. The family unit�s need trump personal fulfillment.[return]2. It is assumed that if the unexpected happens, God will provide. It�s not that families do (or shouldn�t) do anything to prepare for the worst, but undo expenditures of time are not only unjustified, they are inherently faithless�revealing that you don�t believe God would provide and sustain through tragedy.
Good advice and content but long. After about 200 pages I started to jump ahead due to what seemed to me to be redundancy. Good checklists and audit procedures included to determine if you need a SP program or if your SP program is working.
A must read for practitioners who are serious about continuously improving their individual skills for building succession management capability in organizations.