MBAX 6441 Week 8 Critical Role Succession Plan Example

Which Seats Meridian Cannot Afford to Lose: A Succession Plan That Selects Critical Roles by Consequence, Reads Candidates Against the Target Role and Assigns Development With Dates

Student Name

Walden University

MBAX 6441: Human Resources Management and Strategic Planning

Instructor Name

Month Day, Year

Which Seats Meridian Cannot Afford to Lose: A Succession Plan That Selects Critical Roles by Consequence, Reads Candidates Against the Target Role and Assigns Development With Dates

Critical by Consequence

Succession planning is where a firm admits which roles it cannot afford to lose. For Meridian, the composite hospital-equipment servicer studied all term, the test applied to every role is what breaks if the seat empties tomorrow. Three criteria define a critical role: losing its holder would interrupt uptime guarantees or revenue within a month; the role requires knowledge few others in the company hold; and a replacement from outside would take more than six months to become effective. Rothwell (2015) recommends selecting critical positions by such criteria rather than by seniority, because the roles that matter most to operations often sit below the executive team. Applied to Meridian, the criteria identify four roles, only one of which reports to the chief executive.

Table 1

Critical Roles at Meridian

Composite organization.

Candidates Read Against the Target Role

Excellence in a current job predicts less about readiness for the next one than most plans assume. Each candidate is therefore assessed against the requirements of the role being filled, and the plan records which requirements each has already shown and where the evidence comes from (Groves, 2007).

For the MRI lead engineer, the strongest internal candidate is a level 4 CT engineer in Atlanta with eight years at Meridian. This engineer has completed MRI training on one platform and has shadowed the lead on 14 MRI repairs, logged in the service system. The engineer has not yet led a repair on the second manufacturer's platform or trained other engineers. A second candidate, a level 3 specialist in Raleigh, has strong electronics skills but no imaging experience.

For the Charlotte regional manager, the leading candidate is the Greenville service supervisor, who has managed a team of nine and handled two hospital escalations to resolution, but has not managed a budget or negotiated a contract renewal.

For the quality and documentation manager, the candidate is a senior depot technician who led the last internal audit and wrote two of the current procedures, though has not yet represented Meridian in a hospital accreditation survey.

Readiness With a Horizon

A candidate is marked ready now only if Meridian would appoint them this month. Only one placement meets that test, which is itself a finding: three of four critical roles have no ready successor. That gap is common in firms that promote technical stars without planning their replacements, and naming it is the plan's first contribution.

Table 2

Readiness of Candidates

Composite organization. A candidate marked ready now is one Meridian would appoint this month.

Development That Is Assignable

Development is written as assignments with owners and dates, not as general aims. The Atlanta CT engineer will complete the second manufacturer's MRI course by March, lead six MRI repairs under the current lead's supervision by June and deliver two internal training sessions by September; the MRI lead owns this plan. The Greenville supervisor will join the Charlotte manager in preparing next year's regional budget and in two contract renewal meetings; the vice president owns this. The depot technician will accompany the current quality manager to the next two hospital surveys. McCall (1998) argues that challenging assignments, more than courses, develop leaders, and the plan relies mostly on assignments.

Risk

The largest risk is the MRI lead role. If the current holder left before the Atlanta engineer is ready, Meridian would depend on manufacturer engineers for 38 MRI systems for up to a year. The plan therefore adds a retention agreement for the current MRI lead, tied to completing the successor's training, and a short-term arrangement with a manufacturer for backup coverage. Twice a year the plan comes back for review, since readiness changes as people develop or leave. Each review will update the readiness table and report which development assignments were completed on time.

References

Groves, K. S. (2007). Integrating leadership development and succession planning best practices. Journal of Management Development, 26(3), 239-260. https://doi.org/10.1108/02621710710732146

McCall, M. W., Jr. (1998). High flyers: Developing the next generation of leaders. Harvard Business School Press.

Rothwell, W. J. (2015). Effective succession planning: Ensuring leadership continuity and building talent from within (5th ed.). AMACOM.