Describe the two extremes of succession planning with respect to transparency to members of an organization.

Question

What will be an ideal response?

Answer 1

Transparency is the degree of information about the succession plan that members of the organization have prior to their need to know about it. One extreme is an approach in which all employees who participate in the SP and many who don't are aware of the process, know how they fit into it, and have a set of preconceived notions about how succession works in the organization. At the opposite extreme is an approach in which the SP process is kept from members' awareness until they need to know about the details.

Operationally Integrated Succession Planning is a more visible approach. The SP process is one or more of the following: it is fully developed as a supervisory process in the organization; fully integrated into the routine management processes of the organization; well known to the current incumbents of key positions; and well known to potential successors to those key positions.

Crisis-Activated Succession Planning is at the other end of the spectrum. Some organizations may choose not to reveal their SP processes for a variety of valid reasons, including a desire to avoid alarming the members of the organization or revealing critical information to competitive intelligence gatherers. If a concealed SP process is used, the mechanisms for backfilling vacant key positions must become part of the CM operational plan, and the complexities this creates must be built into the plan.