Individual Assignment 1

40 Marks (20% of the overall grade for the course)

Succession Management

Note:Students should read the Case Study prior to starting this assignment.

This year, both Dan and Real Seguin are thinking about retiring after approximately50 years of service with the company. They have absolutely no idea who should replace them as President and CEO but they are convinced it should be one individual holding both titles. All of the current VPs have various strengths and weaknesses and no one on the team seems to be viewed as the heir apparent. The internal candidates for the position would be Exec VP Marketing, Hossain; VP Operations, Labelle; VP Engineering, Pelky; VP, Finance, Ellerton and the two Sales VP's Robillard and Ouellette. All the candidates are viewed as 'competent' in their current roles. Labelle and Ellerton are viewed as 'exceptional'. Neither executive, however, has the experience necessary to run the business in such a 'sales and marketing driven' organization such as NorOnt. Hossain has the experience, but he is close to retirement himself, while Robillard and Ouellette were just promoted to their current positions in the last couple of years. One of the key problems that the organization faces is that there is no formal performance management system in place, let alone a succession management process.

As the Director of Human Resources, you have been asked by Dan and Real Seguin to:

1. determine if there is a viable internal candidate for the President and CEO position within the NorOnt organization, and
2. develop and implement a succession management process so that NorOnt will not find itself in this position again.

Questions

1. Outline the major benefits of implementing a succession management process. (10 marks)
2. Explain the limitations inherent in a succession management process. (10 marks)
3. From what you have learned about succession management and performance management processes, how would you decide if an internal candidate was appropriate? (10 marks)
4. Describe an effective succession management process that could be implemented in NorOnt. (10 marks)