Indian Journal of training and development published by Indian Society for

Training and Development Volume 46 No.3 July-September,2016 Editted by Dr.

Kiranmai Dutt Pendyala

I will evaluate in my capacity, Linking Succession Planning to Organizational Strategy: A

Prescriptive Framework by Dr. Arindam Das Associate Professor, CMS, ASCI, Hyderabad. & Dr.
Prabhati Pati Professor, Area Chair, HR and Head, CMS, ASCI, Hyderabad.

It starts with about how N.R. Narayana Murthy, ex-CEO and Chairman of Infosys sets up Infosys
Leadership Institute in 2001 to develop leaders of tomorrow, not just for Infosys but also for the IT
services industry.This paper talks about and criticizes the 3-tier model of leadership adopted at
Infosys by Narayana Murthy. Unfortunately, after years of average business performance and
several highprofile exits, including exit of the director of its leadership institute, in 2013 Infosys
board picked its first non-founder CEO from outside and the activities at the leadership institute was
scaled down.

They raise questions such :

1. How effective are investments in leadership development when it comes to identifying

successors in leadership positions?
2. Do companies investments in leadership development and succession planning programs
pay off?
3. Do they guarantee that the next CEO would come with no loss of critical knowledge?
4. What really contributes to the effective and efficient transition in all key positions in the
organization, including that of the CEO?

Later on they define succession planning and its need.

Succession planning is the process whereby an organization ensures that superior

employees are recruited and / or developed to take up each key role in the company as and when
necessary. Succession planning acknowledges that staff will not be with an organization indefinitely
and it provides a plan and process for addressing the changes that will occur when they leave. The
absence of a succession plan can undermine an organization's effectiveness and its sustainability as
the organization may not have the means of ensuring its sustenance beyond the tenure of the
individual currently responsible for them.

Different surveys are referenced to, to indicate;

1. Survey results with employees of different organizations show that employees perceive a
need for mentoring and managerial support for the purposes of career development and
self-improvement and it is believed succession planning activities can contribute to this
capability development (Kim, 2003).
2. a 2009 survey by the National Association of Corporate Directors in the US revealed that
43% of US public companies had no formal CEO succession plan and 61% had no emergency
CEO replacement plan (Zheng and Rajagopalan, 2004b).

The Review of Extant literature includes,

 1. In a study of more than 300 successions over years, Citrin and Ogden (2010) have found that
when a firm is doing well, insiders are more successful to take up leadership position. This is
primarily because there are competent and motivated people in the leadership ladder and
an outsider would have a lesser chance to come in, blend and surpass the internal
executives. On the contrary, when a firm is in difficult stage, an outsider turns around the
firm more effectively.
2. Carroll (2015) likens succession planning to a sale of a leadership position to an internal
buyer - find a qualified and compatible purchaser (in this case, from among your colleagues
or staff), structure and price the deal terms appropriately, and manage the transition
smoothly as a project with definite objectives and timelines.

The authors then talk about Prevalent Frameworks for Succession Planning:

The most basic framework for scuccession planning in india includes;

a. Identifying critical positions

b. Identifying Competencies
c. Identifying succession management strategies(including developing internal talent
pools, onboarding and recruitment)
d. Document and implement succession plans
e. Evaluate Effectiveness

Drawbacks of this succession planning framework:

a. Focus is limited to leadership-level positions

b. Focus is on identifying immediate and shortterm replacements
c. Plans are linked to individual job requirements
d. Potential candidates are identified based solely on feedback from their immediate
supervisor
e. Succession planning is carried out in isolation from other HR disciplines like L&D and
strategic planning initiatives

The Proposed Prescriptive Framework for Succession Planning includes:

a. Establishing Linkages with Corporate Strategy and Business Strategy

b. Leadership Succession: Choosing Between Internal and External Candidates
c. Succession Planning at Divisions Filling up Key Technical / Managerial Positions
d. Integration of Succession Planning with Other Processes

The key enhancements proposed in this framework are:

a. Focus is on key areas and positions at different hierarchies corporate and divisions
b. Focus is on the identification and development of talent for the longer term perspective of
the organization; explore externally when necessary
c. Use systematic process to assess candidates based on performance against established
competencies; integrate succession planning with other OD/ HR disciplines
Concluding the paper:

Infosys 3-tier leadership development initiative had some of the drawbacks identified in this paper,
most notably, disconnect with companys future direction and lack of strong linkage with desired
capabilities of the future leaders. The boards choice of an outside CEO, overlooking internal
potential candidates worked out in the best interest of the organization(Infosys). Such
ineffectiveness of prevailing leadership development and succession planning in Indian organization
calls for adopting a more comprehensive approach outlined in the framework discussed in this
paper. The key features of the proposed framework are: (a) two-pronged focus in succession
planning both on leadership succession at corporate level as well as divisional level succession that
is more technical in nature; (b) strong linkage with corporate strategy and business strategies at
divisional level; and (c) interfacing with other OD/ HR functions like hiring, performance
management, employee communication and board engagement. The fact that succession planning is
a lot more than identifying replacements of key positions and the effective succession planning
requires interdisciplinary effort of HR team, leadership and line management are the fundamental
propositions behind the framework.

--------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------

Its a brilliantly done paper to analyze the prevailing succession planning process, basically its
drawbacks and the need to link it with organizational strategy. As most firms who practice success
planning, keep it in isolation. The case study of Infosys is very just to point this fact out, where
succession planning was done wrongly.

This paper is descriptive type, and it takes up the case study. The source of data being a case study
and also the secondary sources of data.

The Review of literature is done with study of appropriate past papers such as of Beeson, 1998,
2000; Carroll (2015); Citrin and Ogden (2010); Zheng and Rajagopalan, 2004b; Naveen (2006); and
Kransdorf, 1996.

The deficiencies of the prevailing succession planning framework are pointed out and a new
framework is being pointed out, Hence it is a good paper which is dealing with Analyzing the
problem, and then suggesting the solution. Hence it is a good research(paper), as it could add to the
domain knowledge and it follows scientific process.

Submitted By:

Sunil Kumar Saroha

Ph.D (HR-I)