unit 10

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Potential Appraisal,Assessment Centres

and Career andSuccession Planning

UNIT 10 POTENTIAL APPRAISAL,ASSESSMENT CENTRES ANDCAREER AND SUCCESSIONPLANNING

Objectives

After going through this unit, you should be able to :

l explain the concept of potential appraisal and its importance;

l understand what ‘assessment centre’ is and how it functions;

l differentiate between assessment centres and development centres;

l discuss the process of career planning and its importance; and

l define ‘succession planning’ and differentiate it from career planning.

Structure

10.1 Introduction

10.2 Potential Appraisal

10.3 Assessment Centres

10.4 Career Planning

10.5 Succession Planning

10.6 Summary

10.7 Self Assessment Questions

10.8 Further Readings

10.1 INTRODUCTION

Employees aspire to grow and expect this growth to take place at frequent intervals.Achievement of organisational goal, increased productivity and fulfilment of corporateobjectives can be possible only if the employees are feeling satisfaction andachievement. To achieve this there is a requirement for a well thought out system ofcareer and succession planning in an organisation. In this backdrop, this unit dealswith mechanisms of potential appraisals and ways and means employed byorganizations such as assessment centres to provide growth opportunities to employees.

10.2 POTENTIAL APPRAISAL

Many companies, which carry out performance appraisal, also keep records on thepotential of their employees for future promotion opportunities. The task of identifyingpotential for promotion cannot be easy for the appraising manager, since competenceof a member of staff to perform well in the current job is not an automatic indicator ofpotential for promotion. Very often the first class salesman is promoted to become amediocre sales manager, the excellent chief engineer is promoted to become a verypoor engineering director, and the star football player struggles to be a footballmanager.

Potential can be defined as ‘a latent but unrealised ability’. There are many peoplewho have the desire and potential to advance through the job they are in, wanting the

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Performance Managementand Potential Assessment

opportunity to operate at a higher level of competence in the same type of work. Thepotential is the one that the appraiser should be able to identity and develop because ofthe knowledge of the job. This requires an in-depth study of the positions which maybecome vacant, looking carefully at the specific skills that the new position maydemand and also taking into consideration the more subjective areas like ‘qualities’required. These may be areas where the employee has not had a real opportunity todemonstrate the potential ability and there may be areas with which you, as theappraisers are not familiar. There are few indicators of potential (Box 1) which maybe considered.

Box 1: Indicators of Potential

l A sense of reality: This is the extent to which a person thinks and actsobjectively, resisting purely emotional pressures but pursuing realistic projectswith enthusiasm.

l Imagination: The ability to let the mind range over a wide variety of possiblecauses of action, going beyond conventional approaches to situations and notbeing confined to ‘This is the way it is always being done!’

l Power of analysis: The capacity to break down, reformulate or transform acomplicated situation into manageable terms.

l Breadth of vision: The ability to examine a problem in the context of a muchbroader framework of reference; being able to detect, within a specificsituation, relationships with those aspects which could be affecting thesituation.

l Persuasiveness: The ability to sell ideas to other people and gain a continuingcommitment, particularly when the individual is using personal influence ratherthan ‘management authority’.

Source: Adopted from Philip, Tom (1983). Making Performance Appraisal Work, McGraw Hill Ltd., U.K.

Like the Performance Appraisal, potential appraisal is also done by the employees’supervisor who has had the opportunity to observe the employee for some time.Potential appraisal may be done either regularly or as and when required. Generallylast part of appraisal deals with potential appraisal, as this is seen in case of MarutiUdyog Ltd. (Illustration 1).

Illustration 1. Potential Appraisal at Maruti Udyog Ltd.

Part III of the Performance Appraisal form of Maruti Udyog Ltd. solicits informationto assess the future potential and ability of its L

8 and above categories of workers to

assume a position of higher responsibility (L13

) in the following format.

1) Group effectiveness (Maintaining and improving morale of group and helpingits identification with organisational objectives; optimal utilisation of availablemanpower resources; directing and co-ordinating efforts and effective follow upaction to ensure accomplishment of planned objectives).

Outstanding Very Good Good Satisfactory Unsatisfactory

2) Ability to develop subordinates (Sensitivity to develop subordinate’s mentalskills; ability to provide professional guidance to produce group results)


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3) Potential Capability (Overall rating for managerial capability to head adepartment based on your assessment related to the above two points).


Source: Adapted from Tripathi, P.C. (2003). Human Resource Development, SultanChand & Sons, New Delhi.

Career Path

One of the important objectives of appraisal, particularly potential appraisal is to helpemployees to move upwards in the organization. People do not like to work on dead-end jobs. Hence, a career ladder with clearly defined steps becomes an integralcomponent of human resources management. Most HRM practitioners favourrestructuring of a job to provide reasonably long and orderly career growth. Careerpath basically refers to opportunities for growth in the organization. Availability ofsuch opportunities has tremendous motivational value. It also helps in designing salarystructures, identifying training needs and developing second line in command. Careerpaths can be of two kinds:

a) Those where designations changes to a higher level position, job remaining moreor less the same. A good example of this is found in teaching institutions, wherean assistant professor may grow to become associate professor and a professor,but the nature of job (teaching and research) remains the same. Career path insuch situtions means a change in status, better salary and benefits and perhapsless load and better working conditions.

b) Those where changes in position bring about changes in job along with increasedsalary, status and better benefits and working conditions. In many engineeringorganisations, an employee may grow in the same line with increasedresponsibilities or may move to other projects with different job demands.

10.3 ASSESSMENT CENTRES

Employees are not contended by just having a job. They want growth and individualdevelopment in the organization. An “assessment centre” is a multiple assessment ofseveral individuals performed simultaneously by a group of trained evaluators using avariety of group and individual exercises.

Assessment centers are a more elaborate set of performance simulation tests,specifically designed to evaluate a candidate’s managerial potential. Line executives,supervisors, and/or trained psychologists evaluate candidates as they go through oneto several days of exercises that simulate real problems that they would confront onthe job. Based on a list of descriptive dimensions that the actual job incumbent has tomeet, activities might include interviews, in-basket problem-solving exercises,leaderless group discussions, and business decision games. For instance, a candidatemight be required to play the role of a manager who must decide how to respond to tenmemos in his/her in-basket within a two-hour period. Assessment centers haveconsistently demonstrated results that predict later job performance in managerialpositions.

The American Telephone and Telegraph Company (AT&T) began experiments withAssessment Centre approach in the 1950’s as a part of a wide programme ofmanagement development. The AT&T Company designated a particular buildingwhere the Assessments were carried out. This building became known as Assessmentcentre and the name has stuck as a way of referring to the method. The methodbecame established in the industry in the USA during the 1960’s and 1970’s and wasintroduced in UK during this period.

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This method is now regarded as one of the most accurate and valid assessmentprocedures and is widely used for selection and development.

According to IPMA (The International Personnel Management Association), anassessment center consists of a standardized evaluation of behavior based on multipleinputs. They are used to assess the strengths, weaknesses and potential of employees.The specific objective is to reinforce strengths, overcome weaknesses and exploitpotential of the employees through training and developmental efforts. Several trainedobservers and techniques are used. Judgments about behavior are made, in major part,from specifically developed assessment simulations. These judgments are pooled in ameeting among the assessors or by a statistical integration process. In an integrationdiscussion, comprehensive accounts of behavior, and often ratings of it, are pooled.The discussion results in evaluations of the performance of the assessees on thedimensions/ competencies or other variables that the assessment center is designed tomeasure. There is a difference between an assessment center and assessment centermethodology. Various features of the assessment center methodology are used inprocedures that do not meet all of the guidelines set forth here, such as when apsychologist or human resource professional, acting alone, uses a simulation as a partof the evaluation of an individual. Such personnel assessment procedures are notcovered by these guidelines; each should be judged on its own merits. Procedures thatdo not conform to all the guidelines here should not be represented as assessmentcenters or imply that they are assessment centers by using the term “assessmentcenter” as part of the title. The following are the essential elements for a process to beconsidered an assessment center:

a) Job Analysis

A job analysis of relevant behaviors must be conducted to determine the dimensions,competencies, attributes, and job performance indices important to job success inorder to identify what should be evaluated by the assessment center. The type andextent of the job analysis depend on the purpose of assessment, the complexity of thejob, the adequacy and appropriateness of prior information about the job, and thesimilarity of the new job to jobs that have been studied previously. If past job analysesand research are used to select dimensions and exercises for a new job, evidence of thecomparability or generalizability of the jobs must be provided. If job does notcurrently exist, analyses can be done of actual or projected tasks or roles that willcomprise the new job, position, job level, or job family. Target dimensions can also beidentified from an analysis of the vision, values, strategies, or key objectives of theorganization. Competency-modeling procedures may be used to determine thedimensions/competencies to be assessed by the assessment center, if such proceduresare conducted with the same rigor as traditional job analysis methods. Rigor in thisregard is defined as the involvement of subject matter experts who are knowledgeableabout job requirements, the collection and quantitative evaluation of essential jobelements, and the production of evidence of reliable results. Any job analysis orcompetency modeling must result in clearly specified categories of behavior that canbe observed in assessment procedures.

A “competency” may or may not be amenable to behavioral assessment as definedherein. A competency, as used in various contemporary sources, refers to anorganizational strength, an organizational goal, a valued objective, a construct, or agrouping of related behaviors or attributes. A competency may beconsidered a behavioral dimension for the purposes of assessment in an assessmentcenter if

i) it can be defined precisely

ii) expressed in terms of behaviors observable on the job or in a job family and insimulation exercises.

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iii) a competency also must be shown to be related to success in the target job orposition or job family.

b) Behavioural Classification

Assessment centre requires that Behaviors displayed by participants must be classifiedinto meaningful and relevant categories such as dimensions, attributes, characteristics,aptitudes, qualities, skills, abilities, competencies, and knowledge.

c) Assessment Techniques

The techniques used in the assessment center must be designed to provide informationfor evaluating the dimensions previously determined by the job analysis. Assessmentcenter developers should establish a link from behaviors to competencies to exercises/assessment techniques. This linkage should be documented in a competency-byexercise/ assessment technique matrix.

d) Multiple Assessments

Multiple assessment techniques must be used. These can include tests, interviews,questionnaires, sociometric devices, and simulations. The assessment techniques aredeveloped or chosen to elicit a variety of behaviors and information relevant to theselected competencies/ dimensions. Self-assessment and 360 degree assessment datamay be gathered as assessment information. The assessment techniques will be pre-tested to ensure that the techniques provide reliable, objective and relevant behavioralinformation. Pre-testing might entail trial administration with participants similar toassessment center candidates, thorough review by subject matter experts as to theaccuracy and representativeness of behavioral sampling and/or evidence from the useof these techniques for similar jobs in similar organizations.

e) Simulations

The assessment techniques must include a sufficient number of job related simulationsto allow opportunities to observe the candidate’s behavior related to each competency/dimension being assessed. At least one—and usually several—job related simulationsmust be included in each assessment center. A simulation is an exercise or techniquedesigned to elicit behaviors related to dimensions of performance on the job requiringthe participants to respond behaviorally to situational stimuli. Examples ofsimulations include, but are not limited to, group exercises, in-basket exercises,interaction (interview) simulations, presentations, and fact-finding exercises. Stimulimay also be presented through video based or virtual simulations delivered viacomputer, video, the Internet, or an intranet. Assessment center designers also shouldbe careful to design exercises that reliably elicit a large number of competency-relatedbehaviors. In turn, this should provide assessors with sufficient opportunities toobserve competency-related behavior.

f) Assessors

Multiple assessors must be used to observe and evaluate each assessee. Whenselecting a group of assessors, consider characteristics such as diversity of age, sex,organizational level, and functional work area. Computer technology may be used toassess in those situations in which it can be shown that a computer program evaluatesbehaviors at least as well as a human assessor. The ratio of assessees to assessors is afunction of several variables, including the type of exercises used, the dimensions tobe evaluated, the roles of the assessors, the type of integration carried out, the amountof assessor training, the experience of the assessors, and the purpose of the assessmentcenter. A typical ratio of assessees to assessors is two to one. A participant’s currentsupervisor should not be involved in the assessment of a direct subordinate when theresulting data will be used for selection or promotional purposes.

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g) Assessor Training

Assessors must receive thorough training and demonstrate performance that meetsrequirements prior to participating in an assessment center. The training should focuson processing of information, drawing conclusions, interview techniques andunderstanding behaviour.

h) Recording Behaviour

A systematic procedure must be used by assessors to record specific behavioralobservations accurately at the time of observation. This procedure might includetechniques such as handwritten notes, behavioral observation scales, or behavioralchecklists. Audio and video recordings of behavior may be made and analyzed at alater date.

i) Reports

Assessors must prepare a report of the observations made during each exercise beforethe integration discussion. It is suggested that assessors must prepare the reportimmediately after the assessment is over otherwise they are likely to forget the details.Not only this, these reports must be independently made.

j) Data Integration

The integration of behaviors must be based on a pooling of information fromassessors or through a statistical integration process validated in accordance withprofessionally accepted standards. During the integration discussion of eachdimension, assessors should report information derived from the assessmenttechniques but should not report information irrelevant to the purpose of theassessment process. The integration of information may be accomplished byconsensus or by some other method of arriving at a joint decision. Methods ofcombining assessors’ evaluations of information must be supported by the reliabilityof the assessors’ discussions. Computer technology may also be used to support thedata integration process provided the conditions of this section are met.

Uses of Assessment Centres

Data generated during the process of Assessment can become extremely useful inidentifying employee potential for growth. This data can be used for:

a) Recruitment and Promotion: Where particular positions which need to befilled exist, both internal and external can be assessed for suitability to thosespecific posts.

b) Early Identification of Personnel: The underlying rationale here is the need forthe organization to optimise talent as soon as possible. High potential people also needto be motivated so that they remain with the organization.

c) Diagnosis of Training and Development Needs: It offers a chance to establishindividual training and development needs while providing candidates with a greaterappreciation of their needs.

d) Organizational Planning: Assessment centers can be used to identify area wherewidespread skill deficiencies exist within organizations, so that training can bedeveloped in these areas. Results can also be integrated with human resource planningdata to provide additional information concerning number of people with particularskills needed to meet future needs.

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Assessment Centres and Development Centres

Traditionally an assessment centre consisted of a suite of exercises designed to assessa set of personal characteristics. It was seen as a rather formal process where theindividuals being assessed had the results fed back to them in the context of a simpleyes/no selection decision. However, recently we have seen a definite shift in thinkingaway from this traditional view of an assessment centre to one which stresses thedevelopmental aspect of assessment. A consequence of this is that today it is very rareto come across an assessment centre which does not have at least some developmentalaspect to it. Increasingly assessment centres are stressing a collaborative approachwhich involves the individual actively participating in the process rather than being apassive recipient of it. In some cases we can even find assessment centres that are sodevelopmental in their approach that most of the assessment work done is carried outby the participants themselves and the major function of the centre is to provide theparticipants with feedback that is as much developmental as judgmental in nature.

Assessment centres typically involve the participants completing a range of exerciseswhich simulate the activities carried out in the target job. Various combinations ofthese exercises and sometimes other assessment methods like psychometric testing andinterviews are used to assess particular competencies in individuals. The theory behindthis is that if one wishes to predict future job performance then the best way of doingthis is to get the individual to carry out a set of tasks which accurately sample thoserequired in the job. The particular competencies used will depend upon the target jobbut one should also learn such competencies such as relating to people; resistance tostress; planning and organising; motivation; adaptability and flexibility; problemsolving; leadership; communication; decision making and initiative. The fact that a setof exercises is used demonstrates one crucial characteristic of an assessment centre,namely; that it is behaviour that is being observed and measured. This represents asignificant departure from many traditional selection approaches which rely on theobserver or selector attempting to infer personal characteristics from behaviour basedupon subjective judgment and usually precious little evidence. This approach isrendered unfair and inaccurate by the subjective whims and biases of the selector andin many cases produces a selection decision based on a freewheeling social interactionafter which a decision was made as whether the individual’s ‘face fit’ with theorganisation.

Differences between Assessment and Development Centres

The type of centre can vary between the traditional assessment centre used purely forselection to the more modern development centre which involves self-assessment andwhose primary purpose is development. One might ask the question ‘Why groupassessment and development centres together if they have different purposes?’ Theanswer to that question is threefold.

a) they both involve assessment and it is only the end use of the informationobtained which is different i.e. one for selection and one for development.

b) it is impossible to draw a line between assessment and development centresbecause all centres, be they for assessment or development naturally liesomewhere on a continuum somewhere between the two extremes.

c) Most assessment centres involve at least some development and mostdevelopment centres involve at least some assessment. This means that it is veryrare to find a centre devoted to pure assessment or pure development. It is easierto think about assessment centres as being equally to do with selection anddevelopment because a degree of assessment goes on in both.

d) Development Centres grew out of a liberalization of thinking about assessmentcentres. While assessment centres were once used purely for selection and have

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evolved to have a more developmental flavour, the language used to describethem has not. Another problem with using the assessment - developmentdichotomy is that at the very least it causes us to infer that little or no assessmentgoes in development centres. While one hears centres being called assessment ordevelopment centres assessment goes on in both and to that extent they are bothassessment centres. The end result of this is that it is not possible to talk aboutassessment or development centres in any but the most general terms. A numberof differences between assessment and development centres exist are presentedbelow:

a) Assessment centres have a pass/fail criteria while Development centres donot have a pass/fail criteria

b) Assessment centres are geared towards filing a job vacancy whileDevelopment centres are geared towards developing the individual

c) Assessment Centres address an immediate organisational need whileDevelopment Centres address a longer term need

d) Assessment Centres have fewer assessors and more participants whileDevelopment Centres have a 1:1 ratio of assessor to participant

e) Assessment Centres involve line managers as assessors while DevelopmentCentres do not have line managers as assessors

f) Assessment Centres have less emphasis placed on self-assessment whileDevelopment Centres have a greater emphasis placed on self-assessment

g) Assessment Centres focus on what the candidate can do now whileDevelopment Centres focus on potential

h) Assessment Centres are geared to meet the needs of the organisation whileDevelopment Centres are geared to meet needs of the individual as well asthe organization.

i) Assessment Centres assign the role of judge to assessors whileDevelopment Centres assign the role of facilitator to assessors.

j) Assessment Centres place emphasis on selection with little or nodevelopmental while Development Centres place emphasis ondevelopmental feedback and follow up with little or no selection function.

k) Assessment Centres feedback and follow up while Development Centresgive feedback immediately.

l) Assessment Centres give feedback at a later date while DevelopmentCentres involve the individual having control over the informationobtained.

m) Assessment Centres have very little pre-centre briefing while DevelopmentCentres have a substantial pre-centre briefing.

n) Assessment Centres tend to be used with external candidates whileDevelopment Centres tend to be used with internal candidates.

10.4 CAREER PLANNINGCareer is viewed as a sequence of position occupied by a person during the course ofhis lifetime. Career may also be viewed as amalgam of changes in value, attitude andmotivation that occur, as a person grows older. The implicit assumption is that aninvididual can make a different in his destiny over time and can adjust in ways thatwould help him to enhance and optimize the potential for his own career development.Career planning is important because it would help the individual to explore, chooseand strive to derive satisfaction with one’s career object.

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The process by which individuals plan their life’s work is referred to as careerplanning. Through career planning, a person evaluates his or her own abilities andinterests, considers alternative career opportunities, establishes career goals, and planspractical developmental activities.

Career planning seeks to achieve the following objectives:

a) It attracts and retains the right persons in the organisation

b) It maps out careers of employees suitable to their ability, and their willingness tobe trained and developed for higher positions

c) It ensures better use of human resources through more satisfied and productiveemployees

d) It ensures more stable workforce by reducing labour turnover and absenteeism

e) It utilizes the managerial talent available at all levels within the organisation

f) It improves employee morale and motivation by matching skills to jobrequirements and by providing job opportunities for promotion

g) It ensures that promising persons get experience that will equip them to reachresponsibility for which they are capable

h) It provides guidance and encouragement to employees to fulfill their potential

i) It helps in achieving higher productivity and organizational development

The essence of a progressive career development programme is built on providingsupport for employees to continually add to their skills, abilities and knowledge. Thissupport from organisation includes:

a) Clearly communicating the organisation’s goals and future strategies.

b) Creating growth opportunities

c) Offering financial assistance

d) Providing the time for employees to learn.

On the part of employees, they should manage their own careers like entrepreneursmanaging a small business. They should think of themselves as self-employed. Theyshould freely participate in career planning activities and must try to get as much aspossible out of the opportunities provided. The successful career will be built onmaintaining flexibility and keeping skills and knowledge up to date.

Career anchors

Some recent evidence suggests that six different factors account for the way peopleselect and prepare for a career. They are called career anchors because they becomethe basis for making career choices. They are particularly found to play a significantrole amongst younger generation choosing professions. They are briefly presentedbelow:

a) Managerial Competence: The career goal of managers is to develop qualities ofinterpersonal, analytical, and emotional competence. People using this anchorwant to manage people.

b) Functional Competence: The anchor for technicians is the continuousdevelopment of technical talent. These individuals do not seek managerialpositions.

c) Security: The anchor for security-conscious individuals is to stabilize theircareer situations. They often see themselves tied to a particular organization orgeographical location.

d) Creativity: Creative individuals are somewhat entrepreneurial in their attitude.They want to create or build something that is entirely their own.

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e) Autonomy and independence: The career anchor for independent people is adesire to be free from organizational constraints. They value autonomy and wantto be their own boss and work at their own pace. This also includes anentrepreneurial spirit.

f) Technological competence: There is a natural affinity for technology and adesire to work with technology whenever possible. These individuals oftenreadily accept change and therefore are very adaptable.

Career Planning Process

It is obvious from the foregoing analysis that individuals differ a great deal in term oftheir career orientation .The career orientation is influenced by the preference for aparticular career anchor, the life cycle stage, individual difference in values, goals,priorities, and aspiration. Organization also on the other hand differ in term of careerpath and opportunities that they can provide given the reality of their internal andexternal environments .The career system available in organizational depend on theirgrowth potential, goals and priorities. The difference between what the employees lookfor in their career progression and what career growth opportunities the organizationis able to provide, gives rise to situation of potential conflict. If the conflict is allowedto persist, the employee will experience dissatisfaction and withdraw from beingactively engaged in the productive pursuit .They might even choose the option ofleaving the organization. In either case, the organization is not able to optimally utilizethe potential contribution of its employee towards the achievement of its goal.

The possibility of conflict between the individual-organization objective calls forcareer planning efforts which can help identify areas of conflict and initiate suchaction as necessary to resolve the conflict . Career planning thus involves matching ofrewards and incentives offered by the career path and career structure with hope andaspiration of employees regarding their own concept of progression. A generalapproach to career planning would involve the following steps:

a) Analysis of the characteristic of the reward and incentives offered by theprevailing career system needs to be done and made know to employee .Manyindividuals may not be aware of their own career progression path as suchinformation may be confined to only select group of managers.

b) Analyse the characteristic of the hopes and aspirations of different categoriesof employee including the identification of their career anchor must be donethrough the objective assignment. Most organization assume the career aspirationof individual employee which need not be in tune with the reality .The individualmay not have a clear idea of their short and long term career and life goals , andmay not be aware of the aspiration and career anchor .

c) Mechanism for identifying congruence between individual career aspirationand organizational career system must develop so as to enable the organization todiscuss cases of mismatch or incongruence. On the basis of analysis, it will benecessary to compare and identify specific area of match and mismatch fordifferent categories of employee.

d) Alternative strategies for dealing with mismatch will have to be formulated.Some of the strategies adopted by several organization include the following :

l change in the career system by creating new career path , new incentives,new rewards, by providing challenge through job redesign opportunities forlateral movement and the like.

l change in the employees hopes and aspirations by creating new needs, newgoals, new aspiration or by helping the employees to scale down goal andaspiration that are unrealistic or unattainable for one reason or the other.

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l Seek new basis of integration, compromise or other form of mutual changeon the part of employee and organizational through problem solving,negotiation or other devices.

l A framework of career planning process aimed at integrating individual andorganizational needs is presented.

e) Reviewing Career Plans a periodic review of career plans is necessary to knowwhether the plans are contributing to the effective utilization of human resourcesby matching employee objectives to job needs. Review will also indicate toemployee in which direction the organizations is moving, what changes are likelyto take place and what skills are needed to adapt to the changing needs of theorganization.

10.5 SUCCESSION PLANNING

Succession planning is an ongoing process that identifies necessary competencies, thenworks to assess, develop, and retain a talent pool of employees, in order to ensure acontinuity of leadership for all critical positions. Succession planning is a specificstrategy, which spells out the particular steps to be followed to achieve the mission,goals, and initiatives identified in workforce planning. It is a plan that managers canfollow, implement, 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 personsto fill key position .The purpose of succession planning is to identify and developpeople to replace current incumbents in key position for a variety of reasons.Some of these reasons are given below:

l Superannuation: Employees retiring because they reach a certain age.

l Resignation: Employees leaving their current job to join a new job

l Promotion: Employees moving upward in the hierarchy of the organization.

l Diversification: Employees being redeployed to new activities.

l Creation of New Position: Employees getting placed in new positions at thesame level.

Succession can be from within or from outside the organization. Succession by peoplefrom within gives a shared feeling among employee that they can grow as theorganization grows. Therefore organization needs to encourage the growth anddevelopment with its employee. They should look inward to identify potential andmake effort to groom people to higher and varied responsibilities. In someprofessionally run large organizations, managers and supervisor in every departmentare usually asked to identify three or four best candidate to replace them in their jobsshould the need arise. However, the organization may find it necessary to search fortalent from outside in certain circumstance. For example, when qualified andcompetent people are not available internally, when it is planning to launch a majorexpansion or diversification programmes requiring new ideas etc.. Completedependence on internal source may cause stagnation for the organization. Similarlycomplete dependence on outside talent may cause stagnation in the career prospects ofthe individual within the organization which may in turn generate a sense offrustration.

Succession planning provides managers and supervisors a step-by-step methodologyto utilize after workforce planning initiatives have identified the critical required jobneeds in their organization. Succession planning is pro-active and future focused, andenables managers and supervisors to assess, evaluate, and develop a talent pool of

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individuals who are willing and able to fill positions when needed. It is a tool to meetthe necessary staffing needs of an organization/department, taking not only quantity ofavailable candidates into consideration, but also focusing on the quality of thecandidates, through addressing competencies and skill gaps.

10.6 SUMMARY

Continuous self and staff development are essential to continuous performanceimprovement. One’s own self-development needs to be related to your personalstrengths and weaknesses and to the career aspirations. This requires planning ofcareer progression and setting career goals. This can be achieved by identifyingpotentialities of employees with the help of potential appraisal and various methodsinvolved in it viz. assessment centre.

10.7 SELF ASSESSMENT QUESTIONS

1) Explain the concept of ‘potential appraisal’ with illustrations.

2) What is career planning? Discuss its needs, purpose and objectives.

3) Is assessment centre same with development centre? If not, what are thedifferences?

4) Write a comprehensive note on succession planning citing suitable examples.

10.8 FURTHER READINGS

Aswathappa, K.: “Human Resource and Personnel Management”, (1999) HimalayaPublishing House, New Delhi.

Davar, Rustom: “The Human Side of Management”, (1994) Progressive Corporation.

Ghosh, P.: Personnel Administration in India, (1990).

Gupta, C.B., “Human Resource Management” (1997), Sultan Chand & Sons, NewDelhi.

Jucius Micheal, J.: “Personnel Management”,(1995) Richard Irwin.

Micheal, V.P.: “Human Resource Management and Human Relations” (1998),Himalaya Publishing house, New Delhi.

Monappa, Arun and Saiyadain, Mirza S.: “Personnel Management” (1996), TataMcGraw-Hill, New Delhi.

Saiyadain, Mirza S.: “Human Resource Management”(3rd Ed.),2003, Tata McGraw-Hill, New Delhi.

Tripathi, P.C.: “Human Resource Development”, 2003, Sultan Chand, New Delhi.

Philip, Tom: “Making Performance Appraisal Work”, 1983, McGraw Hill, U.K.

unit 10

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