Succession planning success factors in a hospital: A case study

• Main Authors: Masoud Etemadian, Ali Mohammad Mosadeghrad, Mohammad Javad Soleimani, Seyed Pouria Hedayati
• Format: Article
• Language: fas
• Published: Iranian Institute for Health Sciences Research 2020-02-01
• Series: Payesh
• Subjects: management; succession planning; hospital; case study
• Online Access: http://payeshjournal.ir/article-1-1280-en.html

Objective (s): Managers play a vital rol in hospital productivity. Succession planning is the process of identifying, developing, evaluating and training talented employees, which can, in turn, ensure organizational management and leadership continuity. Hospitals lag behind other business industries in using succession planning. This study aimed to identify key success factors of succession planning in a hospital. Methods: This case study was conducted in a public hospital that implemented succession planning in Tehran, Iran in 2018. Research participants were drawn from a purposive sample of hospital managers and employees (45 persons). Indepth semi-structured interviews were conducted using open-ended questions. Thematic analysis was used for data analysis using MAXQDA 11 software. Results: Thirty-three factors affecting hospital succession planning were identified and grouped into two categories (i.e., internal and external factors). Internal factors including management and leadership (i.e., managers’ support, stability and maturity and rules and regulations), strategic planning (i.e., organizational vision and goals, succession planning, and succession planning evaluation), organizational culture (i.e., mutual trust, effective communication, and organizational transparency), organizational learning (i.e., developing, executing and evluating succession education plans), employees’ management (i.e., clear job career, talent management, employees’ involvement and employees’ performamnce evaluation), patients’ management (i.e., patient satisfaction survey and paying attention to patients’ needs and expectations in succession planning), resources management (committing resources, flexible organizational structure, succession planning committee and knowledge management) and process management (formulation, implementing and evaluation robust succession planning processes) affect management succession planning. Besides, a hospital’s succession planning can be influenced by political, economic, social and technological factors. Conclusion: Succession planning in hospitals could be affected by internal and external factors. Hospital managers should consider these factors in their management succession planning.