ASSESSMENT CENTRES AND CAREER AND SUCCESSION PLANNING

Transcription

1 UNIT 10 POTENTIAL APPRAISAL, ASSESSMENT CENTRES AND CAREER AND SUCCESSION PLANNING Potentia Appraisa, Assessment Centres and Career and Succession Panning Objectives After going through this unit, you shoud be abe to : expain the concept of potentia appraisa and its importance; understand what assessment centre is and how it functions; differentiate between assessment centres and deveopment centres; discuss the process of career panning and its importance; and define succession panning and differentiate it from career panning. Structure 10.1 Introduction 10.2 Potentia Appraisa 10.3 Assessment Centres 10.4 Career Panning 10.5 Succession Panning 10.6 Summary 10.7 Sef Assessment Questions 10.8 Further Readings 10.1 INTRODUCTION Empoyees aspire to grow and expect this growth to take pace at frequent intervas. Achievement of organisationa goa, increased productivity and fufiment of corporate objectives can be possibe ony if the empoyees are feeing satisfaction and achievement. To achieve this there is a requirement for a we thought out system of career and succession panning in an organisation. In this backdrop, this unit deas with mechanisms of potentia appraisas and ways and means empoyed by organizations such as assessment centres to provide growth opportunities to empoyees POTENTIAL APPRAISAL Many companies, which carry out performance appraisa, aso keep records on the potentia of their empoyees for future promotion opportunities. The task of identifying potentia for promotion cannot be easy for the appraising manager, since competence of a member of staff to perform we in the current job is not an automatic indicator of potentia for promotion. Very often the first cass saesman is promoted to become a mediocre saes manager, the exceent chief engineer is promoted to become a very poor engineering director, and the star footba payer strugges to be a footba manager. Potentia can be defined as a atent but unreaised abiity. There are many peope who have the desire and potentia to advance through the job they are in, wanting the 33

2 Performance Management and Potentia Assessment opportunity to operate at a higher eve of competence in the same type of work. The potentia is the one that the appraiser shoud be abe to identity and deveop because of the knowedge of the job. This requires an in-depth study of the positions which may become vacant, ooking carefuy at the specific skis that the new position may demand and aso taking into consideration the more subjective areas ike quaities required. These may be areas where the empoyee has not had a rea opportunity to demonstrate the potentia abiity and there may be areas with which you, as the appraisers are not famiiar. There are few indicators of potentia (Box 1) which may be considered. Box 1: Indicators of Potentia A sense of reaity: This is the extent to which a person thinks and acts objectivey, resisting purey emotiona pressures but pursuing reaistic projects with enthusiasm. Imagination: The abiity to et the mind range over a wide variety of possibe causes of action, going beyond conventiona approaches to situations and not being confined to This is the way it is aways being done! Power of anaysis: The capacity to break down, reformuate or transform a compicated situation into manageabe terms. Breadth of vision: The abiity to examine a probem in the context of a much broader framework of reference; being abe to detect, within a specific situation, reationships with those aspects which coud be affecting the situation. Persuasiveness: The abiity to se ideas to other peope and gain a continuing commitment, particuary when the individua is using persona infuence rather than management authority. Source: Adopted from Phiip, Tom (1983). Making Performance Appraisa Work, McGraw Hi Ltd., U.K. Like the Performance Appraisa, potentia appraisa is aso done by the empoyees supervisor who has had the opportunity to observe the empoyee for some time. Potentia appraisa may be done either reguary or as and when required. Generay ast part of appraisa deas with potentia appraisa, as this is seen in case of Maruti Udyog Ltd. (Iustration 1). Iustration 1. Potentia Appraisa at Maruti Udyog Ltd. Part III of the Performance Appraisa form of Maruti Udyog Ltd. soicits information to assess the future potentia and abiity of its L 8 and above categories of workers to assume a position of higher responsibiity (L 13 ) in the foowing format. 1) Group effectiveness (Maintaining and improving morae of group and heping its identification with organisationa objectives; optima utiisation of avaiabe manpower resources; directing and co-ordinating efforts and effective foow up action to ensure accompishment of panned objectives). Outstanding Very Good Good Satisfactory Unsatisfactory 2) Abiity to deveop subordinates (Sensitivity to deveop subordinate s menta skis; abiity to provide professiona guidance to produce group resuts) 34 Outstanding Very Good Good Satisfactory Unsatisfactory

3 3) Potentia Capabiity (Overa rating for manageria capabiity to head a department based on your assessment reated to the above two points). Potentia Appraisa, Assessment Centres and Career and Succession Panning Outstanding Very Good Good Satisfactory Unsatisfactory Source: Adapted from Tripathi, P.C. (2003). Human Resource Deveopment, Sutan Chand & Sons, New Dehi. Career Path One of the important objectives of appraisa, particuary potentia appraisa is to hep empoyees to move upwards in the organization. Peope do not ike to work on deadend jobs. Hence, a career adder with ceary defined steps becomes an integra component of human resources management. Most HRM practitioners favour restructuring of a job to provide reasonaby ong and ordery career growth. Career path basicay refers to opportunities for growth in the organization. Avaiabiity of such opportunities has tremendous motivationa vaue. It aso heps in designing saary structures, identifying training needs and deveoping second ine in command. Career paths can be of two kinds: a) Those where designations changes to a higher eve position, job remaining more or ess the same. A good exampe of this is found in teaching institutions, where an assistant professor may grow to become associate professor and a professor, but the nature of job (teaching and research) remains the same. Career path in such situtions means a change in status, better saary and benefits and perhaps ess oad and better working conditions. b) Those where changes in position bring about changes in job aong with increased saary, status and better benefits and working conditions. In many engineering organisations, an empoyee may grow in the same ine with increased responsibiities or may move to other projects with different job demands ASSESSMENT CENTRES Empoyees are not contended by just having a job. They want growth and individua deveopment in the organization. An assessment centre is a mutipe assessment of severa individuas performed simutaneousy by a group of trained evauators using a variety of group and individua exercises. Assessment centers are a more eaborate set of performance simuation tests, specificay designed to evauate a candidate s manageria potentia. Line executives, supervisors, and/or trained psychoogists evauate candidates as they go through one to severa days of exercises that simuate rea probems that they woud confront on the job. Based on a ist of descriptive dimensions that the actua job incumbent has to meet, activities might incude interviews, in-basket probem-soving exercises, eaderess group discussions, and business decision games. For instance, a candidate might be required to pay the roe of a manager who must decide how to respond to ten memos in his/her in-basket within a two-hour period. Assessment centers have consistenty demonstrated resuts that predict ater job performance in manageria positions. The American Teephone and Teegraph Company (AT&T) began experiments with Assessment Centre approach in the 1950 s as a part of a wide programme of management deveopment. The AT&T Company designated a particuar buiding where the Assessments were carried out. This buiding became known as Assessment centre and the name has stuck as a way of referring to the method. The method became estabished in the industry in the USA during the 1960 s and 1970 s and was introduced in UK during this period. 35

4 Performance Management and Potentia Assessment 36 This method is now regarded as one of the most accurate and vaid assessment procedures and is widey used for seection and deveopment. According to IPMA (The Internationa Personne Management Association), an assessment center consists of a standardized evauation of behavior based on mutipe inputs. They are used to assess the strengths, weaknesses and potentia of empoyees. The specific objective is to reinforce strengths, overcome weaknesses and expoit potentia of the empoyees through training and deveopmenta efforts. Severa trained observers and techniques are used. Judgments about behavior are made, in major part, from specificay deveoped assessment simuations. These judgments are pooed in a meeting among the assessors or by a statistica integration process. In an integration discussion, comprehensive accounts of behavior, and often ratings of it, are pooed. The discussion resuts in evauations of the performance of the assessees on the dimensions/ competencies or other variabes that the assessment center is designed to measure. There is a difference between an assessment center and assessment center methodoogy. Various features of the assessment center methodoogy are used in procedures that do not meet a of the guideines set forth here, such as when a psychoogist or human resource professiona, acting aone, uses a simuation as a part of the evauation of an individua. Such personne assessment procedures are not covered by these guideines; each shoud be judged on its own merits. Procedures that do not conform to a the guideines here shoud not be represented as assessment centers or impy that they are assessment centers by using the term assessment center as part of the tite. The foowing are the essentia eements for a process to be considered an assessment center: a) Job Anaysis A job anaysis of reevant behaviors must be conducted to determine the dimensions, competencies, attributes, and job performance indices important to job success in order to identify what shoud be evauated by the assessment center. The type and extent of the job anaysis depend on the purpose of assessment, the compexity of the job, the adequacy and appropriateness of prior information about the job, and the simiarity of the new job to jobs that have been studied previousy. If past job anayses and research are used to seect dimensions and exercises for a new job, evidence of the comparabiity or generaizabiity of the jobs must be provided. If job does not currenty exist, anayses can be done of actua or projected tasks or roes that wi comprise the new job, position, job eve, or job famiy. Target dimensions can aso be identified from an anaysis of the vision, vaues, strategies, or key objectives of the organization. Competency-modeing procedures may be used to determine the dimensions/competencies to be assessed by the assessment center, if such procedures are conducted with the same rigor as traditiona job anaysis methods. Rigor in this regard is defined as the invovement of subject matter experts who are knowedgeabe about job requirements, the coection and quantitative evauation of essentia job eements, and the production of evidence of reiabe resuts. Any job anaysis or competency modeing must resut in ceary specified categories of behavior that can be observed in assessment procedures. A competency may or may not be amenabe to behaviora assessment as defined herein. A competency, as used in various contemporary sources, refers to an organizationa strength, an organizationa goa, a vaued objective, a construct, or a grouping of reated behaviors or attributes. A competency may be considered a behaviora dimension for the purposes of assessment in an assessment center if i) it can be defined precisey ii) expressed in terms of behaviors observabe on the job or in a job famiy and in simuation exercises.

5 iii) a competency aso must be shown to be reated to success in the target job or position or job famiy. b) Behavioura Cassification Assessment centre requires that Behaviors dispayed by participants must be cassified into meaningfu and reevant categories such as dimensions, attributes, characteristics, aptitudes, quaities, skis, abiities, competencies, and knowedge. Potentia Appraisa, Assessment Centres and Career and Succession Panning c) Assessment Techniques The techniques used in the assessment center must be designed to provide information for evauating the dimensions previousy determined by the job anaysis. Assessment center deveopers shoud estabish a ink from behaviors to competencies to exercises/ assessment techniques. This inkage shoud be documented in a competency-by exercise/ assessment technique matrix. d) Mutipe Assessments Mutipe assessment techniques must be used. These can incude tests, interviews, questionnaires, sociometric devices, and simuations. The assessment techniques are deveoped or chosen to eicit a variety of behaviors and information reevant to the seected competencies/ dimensions. Sef-assessment and 360 degree assessment data may be gathered as assessment information. The assessment techniques wi be pretested to ensure that the techniques provide reiabe, objective and reevant behaviora information. Pre-testing might entai tria administration with participants simiar to assessment center candidates, thorough review by subject matter experts as to the accuracy and representativeness of behaviora samping and/or evidence from the use of these techniques for simiar jobs in simiar organizations. e) Simuations The assessment techniques must incude a sufficient number of job reated simuations to aow opportunities to observe the candidate s behavior reated to each competency/ dimension being assessed. At east one and usuay severa job reated simuations must be incuded in each assessment center. A simuation is an exercise or technique designed to eicit behaviors reated to dimensions of performance on the job requiring the participants to respond behavioray to situationa stimui. Exampes of simuations incude, but are not imited to, group exercises, in-basket exercises, interaction (interview) simuations, presentations, and fact-finding exercises. Stimui may aso be presented through video based or virtua simuations deivered via computer, video, the Internet, or an intranet. Assessment center designers aso shoud be carefu to design exercises that reiaby eicit a arge number of competency-reated behaviors. In turn, this shoud provide assessors with sufficient opportunities to observe competency-reated behavior. f) Assessors Mutipe assessors must be used to observe and evauate each assessee. When seecting a group of assessors, consider characteristics such as diversity of age, sex, organizationa eve, and functiona work area. Computer technoogy may be used to assess in those situations in which it can be shown that a computer program evauates behaviors at east as we as a human assessor. The ratio of assessees to assessors is a function of severa variabes, incuding the type of exercises used, the dimensions to be evauated, the roes of the assessors, the type of integration carried out, the amount of assessor training, the experience of the assessors, and the purpose of the assessment center. A typica ratio of assessees to assessors is two to one. A participant s current supervisor shoud not be invoved in the assessment of a direct subordinate when the resuting data wi be used for seection or promotiona purposes. 37

6 Performance Management and Potentia Assessment g) Assessor Training Assessors must receive thorough training and demonstrate performance that meets requirements prior to participating in an assessment center. The training shoud focus on processing of information, drawing concusions, interview techniques and understanding behaviour. h) Recording Behaviour A systematic procedure must be used by assessors to record specific behaviora observations accuratey at the time of observation. This procedure might incude techniques such as handwritten notes, behaviora observation scaes, or behaviora checkists. Audio and video recordings of behavior may be made and anayzed at a ater date. i) Reports Assessors must prepare a report of the observations made during each exercise before the integration discussion. It is suggested that assessors must prepare the report immediatey after the assessment is over otherwise they are ikey to forget the detais. Not ony this, these reports must be independenty made. j) Data Integration The integration of behaviors must be based on a pooing of information from assessors or through a statistica integration process vaidated in accordance with professionay accepted standards. During the integration discussion of each dimension, assessors shoud report information derived from the assessment techniques but shoud not report information irreevant to the purpose of the assessment process. The integration of information may be accompished by consensus or by some other method of arriving at a joint decision. Methods of combining assessors evauations of information must be supported by the reiabiity of the assessors discussions. Computer technoogy may aso be used to support the data integration process provided the conditions of this section are met. Uses of Assessment Centres Data generated during the process of Assessment can become extremey usefu in identifying empoyee potentia for growth. This data can be used for: a) Recruitment and Promotion: Where particuar positions which need to be fied exist, both interna and externa can be assessed for suitabiity to those specific posts. b) Eary Identification of Personne: The underying rationae here is the need for the organization to optimise taent as soon as possibe. High potentia peope aso need to be motivated so that they remain with the organization. c) Diagnosis of Training and Deveopment Needs: It offers a chance to estabish individua training and deveopment needs whie providing candidates with a greater appreciation of their needs. d) Organizationa Panning: Assessment centers can be used to identify area where widespread ski deficiencies exist within organizations, so that training can be deveoped in these areas. Resuts can aso be integrated with human resource panning data to provide additiona information concerning number of peope with particuar skis needed to meet future needs. 38

7 Assessment Centres and Deveopment Centres Traditionay an assessment centre consisted of a suite of exercises designed to assess a set of persona characteristics. It was seen as a rather forma process where the individuas being assessed had the resuts fed back to them in the context of a simpe yes/no seection decision. However, recenty we have seen a definite shift in thinking away from this traditiona view of an assessment centre to one which stresses the deveopmenta aspect of assessment. A consequence of this is that today it is very rare to come across an assessment centre which does not have at east some deveopmenta aspect to it. Increasingy assessment centres are stressing a coaborative approach which invoves the individua activey participating in the process rather than being a passive recipient of it. In some cases we can even find assessment centres that are so deveopmenta in their approach that most of the assessment work done is carried out by the participants themseves and the major function of the centre is to provide the participants with feedback that is as much deveopmenta as judgmenta in nature. Assessment centres typicay invove the participants competing a range of exercises which simuate the activities carried out in the target job. Various combinations of these exercises and sometimes other assessment methods ike psychometric testing and interviews are used to assess particuar competencies in individuas. The theory behind this is that if one wishes to predict future job performance then the best way of doing this is to get the individua to carry out a set of tasks which accuratey sampe those required in the job. The particuar competencies used wi depend upon the target job but one shoud aso earn such competencies such as reating to peope; resistance to stress; panning and organising; motivation; adaptabiity and fexibiity; probem soving; eadership; communication; decision making and initiative. The fact that a set of exercises is used demonstrates one crucia characteristic of an assessment centre, namey; that it is behaviour that is being observed and measured. This represents a significant departure from many traditiona seection approaches which rey on the observer or seector attempting to infer persona characteristics from behaviour based upon subjective judgment and usuay precious itte evidence. This approach is rendered unfair and inaccurate by the subjective whims and biases of the seector and in many cases produces a seection decision based on a freewheeing socia interaction after which a decision was made as whether the individua s face fit with the organisation. Differences between Assessment and Deveopment Centres The type of centre can vary between the traditiona assessment centre used purey for seection to the more modern deveopment centre which invoves sef-assessment and whose primary purpose is deveopment. One might ask the question Why group assessment and deveopment centres together if they have different purposes? The answer to that question is threefod. a) they both invove assessment and it is ony the end use of the information obtained which is different i.e. one for seection and one for deveopment. b) it is impossibe to draw a ine between assessment and deveopment centres because a centres, be they for assessment or deveopment naturay ie somewhere on a continuum somewhere between the two extremes. c) Most assessment centres invove at east some deveopment and most deveopment centres invove at east some assessment. This means that it is very rare to find a centre devoted to pure assessment or pure deveopment. It is easier to think about assessment centres as being equay to do with seection and deveopment because a degree of assessment goes on in both. d) Deveopment Centres grew out of a iberaization of thinking about assessment centres. Whie assessment centres were once used purey for seection and have Potentia Appraisa, Assessment Centres and Career and Succession Panning 39

8 Performance Management and Potentia Assessment 40 evoved to have a more deveopmenta favour, the anguage used to describe them has not. Another probem with using the assessment - deveopment dichotomy is that at the very east it causes us to infer that itte or no assessment goes in deveopment centres. Whie one hears centres being caed assessment or deveopment centres assessment goes on in both and to that extent they are both assessment centres. The end resut of this is that it is not possibe to tak about assessment or deveopment centres in any but the most genera terms. A number of differences between assessment and deveopment centres exist are presented beow: a) Assessment centres have a pass/fai criteria whie Deveopment centres do not have a pass/fai criteria b) Assessment centres are geared towards fiing a job vacancy whie Deveopment centres are geared towards deveoping the individua c) Assessment Centres address an immediate organisationa need whie Deveopment Centres address a onger term need d) Assessment Centres have fewer assessors and more participants whie Deveopment Centres have a 1:1 ratio of assessor to participant e) Assessment Centres invove ine managers as assessors whie Deveopment Centres do not have ine managers as assessors f) Assessment Centres have ess emphasis paced on sef-assessment whie Deveopment Centres have a greater emphasis paced on sef-assessment g) Assessment Centres focus on what the candidate can do now whie Deveopment Centres focus on potentia h) Assessment Centres are geared to meet the needs of the organisation whie Deveopment Centres are geared to meet needs of the individua as we as the organization. i) Assessment Centres assign the roe of judge to assessors whie Deveopment Centres assign the roe of faciitator to assessors. j) Assessment Centres pace emphasis on seection with itte or no deveopmenta whie Deveopment Centres pace emphasis on deveopmenta feedback and foow up with itte or no seection function. k) Assessment Centres feedback and foow up whie Deveopment Centres give feedback immediatey. ) Assessment Centres give feedback at a ater date whie Deveopment Centres invove the individua having contro over the information obtained. m) Assessment Centres have very itte pre-centre briefing whie Deveopment Centres have a substantia pre-centre briefing. n) Assessment Centres tend to be used with externa candidates whie Deveopment Centres tend to be used with interna candidates CAREER PLANNING Career is viewed as a sequence of position occupied by a person during the course of his ifetime. Career may aso be viewed as amagam of changes in vaue, attitude and motivation that occur, as a person grows oder. The impicit assumption is that an invididua can make a different in his destiny over time and can adjust in ways that woud hep him to enhance and optimize the potentia for his own career deveopment. Career panning is important because it woud hep the individua to expore, choose and strive to derive satisfaction with one s career object.

9 The process by which individuas pan their ife s work is referred to as career panning. Through career panning, a person evauates his or her own abiities and interests, considers aternative career opportunities, estabishes career goas, and pans practica deveopmenta activities. Career panning seeks to achieve the foowing objectives: a) It attracts and retains the right persons in the organisation b) It maps out careers of empoyees suitabe to their abiity, and their wiingness to be trained and deveoped for higher positions c) It ensures better use of human resources through more satisfied and productive empoyees d) It ensures more stabe workforce by reducing abour turnover and absenteeism e) It utiizes the manageria taent avaiabe at a eves within the organisation f) It improves empoyee morae and motivation by matching skis to job requirements and by providing job opportunities for promotion g) It ensures that promising persons get experience that wi equip them to reach responsibiity for which they are capabe h) It provides guidance and encouragement to empoyees to fufi their potentia i) It heps in achieving higher productivity and organizationa deveopment The essence of a progressive career deveopment programme is buit on providing support for empoyees to continuay add to their skis, abiities and knowedge. This support from organisation incudes: a) Ceary communicating the organisation s goas and future strategies. b) Creating growth opportunities c) Offering financia assistance d) Providing the time for empoyees to earn. On the part of empoyees, they shoud manage their own careers ike entrepreneurs managing a sma business. They shoud think of themseves as sef-empoyed. They shoud freey participate in career panning activities and must try to get as much as possibe out of the opportunities provided. The successfu career wi be buit on maintaining fexibiity and keeping skis and knowedge up to date. Career anchors Some recent evidence suggests that six different factors account for the way peope seect and prepare for a career. They are caed career anchors because they become the basis for making career choices. They are particuary found to pay a significant roe amongst younger generation choosing professions. They are briefy presented beow: a) Manageria Competence: The career goa of managers is to deveop quaities of interpersona, anaytica, and emotiona competence. Peope using this anchor want to manage peope. b) Functiona Competence: The anchor for technicians is the continuous deveopment of technica taent. These individuas do not seek manageria positions. c) Security: The anchor for security-conscious individuas is to stabiize their career situations. They often see themseves tied to a particuar organization or geographica ocation. d) Creativity: Creative individuas are somewhat entrepreneuria in their attitude. They want to create or buid something that is entirey their own. Potentia Appraisa, Assessment Centres and Career and Succession Panning 41

10 Performance Management and Potentia Assessment 42 e) Autonomy and independence: The career anchor for independent peope is a desire to be free from organizationa constraints. They vaue autonomy and want to be their own boss and work at their own pace. This aso incudes an entrepreneuria spirit. f) Technoogica competence: There is a natura affinity for technoogy and a desire to work with technoogy whenever possibe. These individuas often readiy accept change and therefore are very adaptabe. Career Panning Process It is obvious from the foregoing anaysis that individuas differ a great dea in term of their career orientation.the career orientation is infuenced by the preference for a particuar career anchor, the ife cyce stage, individua difference in vaues, goas, priorities, and aspiration. Organization aso on the other hand differ in term of career path and opportunities that they can provide given the reaity of their interna and externa environments.the career system avaiabe in organizationa depend on their growth potentia, goas and priorities. The difference between what the empoyees ook for in their career progression and what career growth opportunities the organization is abe to provide, gives rise to situation of potentia confict. If the confict is aowed to persist, the empoyee wi experience dissatisfaction and withdraw from being activey engaged in the productive pursuit.they might even choose the option of eaving the organization. In either case, the organization is not abe to optimay utiize the potentia contribution of its empoyee towards the achievement of its goa. The possibiity of confict between the individua-organization objective cas for career panning efforts which can hep identify areas of confict and initiate such action as necessary to resove the confict. Career panning thus invoves matching of rewards and incentives offered by the career path and career structure with hope and aspiration of empoyees regarding their own concept of progression. A genera approach to career panning woud invove the foowing steps: a) Anaysis of the characteristic of the reward and incentives offered by the prevaiing career system needs to be done and made know to empoyee.many individuas may not be aware of their own career progression path as such information may be confined to ony seect group of managers. b) Anayse the characteristic of the hopes and aspirations of different categories of empoyee incuding the identification of their career anchor must be done through the objective assignment. Most organization assume the career aspiration of individua empoyee which need not be in tune with the reaity.the individua may not have a cear idea of their short and ong term career and ife goas, and may not be aware of the aspiration and career anchor. c) Mechanism for identifying congruence between individua career aspiration and organizationa career system must deveop so as to enabe the organization to discuss cases of mismatch or incongruence. On the basis of anaysis, it wi be necessary to compare and identify specific area of match and mismatch for different categories of empoyee. d) Aternative strategies for deaing with mismatch wi have to be formuated. Some of the strategies adopted by severa organization incude the foowing : change in the career system by creating new career path, new incentives, new rewards, by providing chaenge through job redesign opportunities for atera movement and the ike. change in the empoyees hopes and aspirations by creating new needs, new goas, new aspiration or by heping the empoyees to scae down goa and aspiration that are unreaistic or unattainabe for one reason or the other.

11 Seek new basis of integration, compromise or other form of mutua change on the part of empoyee and organizationa through probem soving, negotiation or other devices. A framework of career panning process aimed at integrating individua and organizationa needs is presented. e) Reviewing Career Pans a periodic review of career pans is necessary to know whether the pans are contributing to the effective utiization of human resources by matching empoyee objectives to job needs. Review wi aso indicate to empoyee in which direction the organizations is moving, what changes are ikey to take pace and what skis are needed to adapt to the changing needs of the organization. Potentia Appraisa, Assessment Centres and Career and Succession Panning 10.5 SUCCESSION PLANNING Succession panning is an ongoing process that identifies necessary competencies, then works to assess, deveop, and retain a taent poo of empoyees, in order to ensure a continuity of eadership for a critica positions. Succession panning is a specific strategy, which spes out the particuar steps to be foowed to achieve the mission, goas, and initiatives identified in workforce panning. It is a pan that managers can foow, impement, and customize to meet the needs of their organisation, division, and/or department. The continued existence of an organization over time require a succession of persons to fi key position.the purpose of succession panning is to identify and deveop peope to repace current incumbents in key position for a variety of reasons. Some of these reasons are given beow: Superannuation: Empoyees retiring because they reach a certain age. Resignation: Empoyees eaving their current job to join a new job Promotion: Empoyees moving upward in the hierarchy of the organization. Diversification: Empoyees being redepoyed to new activities. Creation of New Position: Empoyees getting paced in new positions at the same eve. Succession can be from within or from outside the organization. Succession by peope from within gives a shared feeing among empoyee that they can grow as the organization grows. Therefore organization needs to encourage the growth and deveopment with its empoyee. They shoud ook inward to identify potentia and make effort to groom peope to higher and varied responsibiities. In some professionay run arge organizations, managers and supervisor in every department are usuay asked to identify three or four best candidate to repace them in their jobs shoud the need arise. However, the organization may find it necessary to search for taent from outside in certain circumstance. For exampe, when quaified and competent peope are not avaiabe internay, when it is panning to aunch a major expansion or diversification programmes requiring new ideas etc.. Compete dependence on interna source may cause stagnation for the organization. Simiary compete dependence on outside taent may cause stagnation in the career prospects of the individua within the organization which may in turn generate a sense of frustration. Succession panning provides managers and supervisors a step-by-step methodoogy to utiize after workforce panning initiatives have identified the critica required job needs in their organization. Succession panning is pro-active and future focused, and enabes managers and supervisors to assess, evauate, and deveop a taent poo of 43

12 Performance Management and Potentia Assessment individuas who are wiing and abe to fi positions when needed. It is a too to meet the necessary staffing needs of an organization/department, taking not ony quantity of avaiabe candidates into consideration, but aso focusing on the quaity of the candidates, through addressing competencies and ski gaps SUMMARY Continuous sef and staff deveopment are essentia to continuous performance improvement. One s own sef-deveopment needs to be reated to your persona strengths and weaknesses and to the career aspirations. This requires panning of career progression and setting career goas. This can be achieved by identifying potentiaities of empoyees with the hep of potentia appraisa and various methods invoved in it viz. assessment centre SELF ASSESSMENT QUESTIONS 1) Expain the concept of potentia appraisa with iustrations. 2) What is career panning? Discuss its needs, purpose and objectives. 3) Is assessment centre same with deveopment centre? If not, what are the differences? 4) Write a comprehensive note on succession panning citing suitabe exampes FURTHER READINGS Aswathappa, K.: Human Resource and Personne Management, (1999) Himaaya Pubishing House, New Dehi. Davar, Rustom: The Human Side of Management, (1994) Progressive Corporation. Ghosh, P.: Personne Administration in India, (1990). Gupta, C.B., Human Resource Management (1997), Sutan Chand & Sons, New Dehi. Jucius Michea, J.: Personne Management,(1995) Richard Irwin. Michea, V.P.: Human Resource Management and Human Reations (1998), Himaaya Pubishing house, New Dehi. Monappa, Arun and Saiyadain, Mirza S.: Personne Management (1996), Tata McGraw-Hi, New Dehi. Saiyadain, Mirza S.: Human Resource Management (3 rd Ed.),2003, Tata McGraw- Hi, New Dehi. Tripathi, P.C.: Human Resource Deveopment, 2003, Sutan Chand, New Dehi. Phiip, Tom: Making Performance Appraisa Work, 1983, McGraw Hi, U.K. 44