SUCCESSION PLANNING AS A TOOL FOR ORGANIZATIONAL DEVELOPMENT: A CASE STUDY OF UNIVERSITY OF EDUCATION, WINNEBA – KUMASI, GHANA
Authors:
ADWOA SERWAA KARIKARI*, RICHARD KODI & ROSEMARY ADU POKUAbstract:
Recent years have seen the rise of human resource problems and concerns across global business circles. For most sectors and organisations, the lack of a strategy of succession planning is considered one of the main causes of problems that are reflected every day for workers’ lives, affecting the degree of satisfaction they derive. The study specifically investigated the existence of succession planning, metric used in the selection of successors, succession planning policy functionalities and much more. The research employed a descriptive research design survey and a case study was considered for review by the University of Education, Winneba-Kumasi, Ghana. Quota sampling methodology was implemented in the collection of respondents. In the study of the data both qualitative and quantitative approaches have been adopted. The college has four faculties, a number of departments and units with a total membership of the staff population of 403. The simple random sampling technique was used to obtain the sample size for the study. The selection was then done by random picking. In all, the study considered hundred (100) employees out of which twenty (20) represented views of senior management, forty (40) represented the view of senior staff members and forty (40) represent the views of junior staff members. The collected data were analysed using the Statistical Package for Social Science (SPSS) software. The study revealed that a succession plan program is in effect at the University of Education, Winneba – Kumasi, Ghana to fill key positions within the institution. This can be achieved by the University by training and development programs and job rotation. This has established that prospective applicants have been chosen through a screening, interview and performance evaluation process, in addition to considering certain personality characteristics of the applicants. Performance preparation at the university is primarily threatened by a lack of support for the organisation of training programs and the encouragement of staff. It is recommended that employees be adequately motivated to reap the full potential of succession planning.