Portal de Periódicos da CAPES

Succession Management Capabilities: Planning for the Inevitable Transition of Executive Talent

2018; Academy of Management; Volume: 2018; Issue: 1 Linguagem: Inglês

10.5465/ambpp.2018.15773abstract

2376-7197

Kevin S. Groves,

Family Business Performance and Succession

Although recent research and industry trends demonstrate the growing impact of executive talent on a firm’s strategic direction and performance, most organizations across industries have failed to develop internal capabilities for the inevitable succession of executive talent. In 2017 alone, Uber, Equifax, Samsung, The Weinstein Company, Infosys, and Wells Fargo endured unexpected and highly public CEO transitions that exposed the companies’ absence of robust succession planning and executive development practices. Indeed, recent reviews of the state of succession planning paint a sobering picture of the sharp divergence between the criticality of executive talent for organizational performance and a firm’s willingness to develop succession management capabilities. The purpose of this article is to illustrate how organizations competing in a highly complex and volatile business environment counter the industry trend of neglecting succession planning by cultivating strong succession management capabilities. The Succession Management Capabilities (SMC) framework, a comprehensive set of execution succession practices supported by research findings, is presented and illustrated via three case studies across diverse organizational settings: Kaiser Permanente, Cleveland Clinic Health System, and Sutter Health. The SMC framework and lessons from the healthcare industry offer business leaders, board members, and scholars a practical template and a series of best practices, policy recommendations, and future research directions for enhancing executive succession outcomes.