Challenges in Implementing Succession Planning in Higher Education Institutions

Abstract

Succession planning is a new concept in HEIs. The aim of this study is to capture the experiences of public universities on challenges in implementing succession planning. A qualitative descriptive methodology was used to obtain descriptions of succession planning challenges  from participants who had personal experience with succession planning at university level. Themes discovered in the data included budget constraints, lack of organizational culture, lack of awareness of succession planning, external vs. internal hiring, and lack of competency models. Although succession planning in academia is nothing new, there is still no formal succession planning in the education sector. The study findings explored that the implementation of succession planning in public universities in Malaysia is still new due to several changes (example: technology and environment). This study explored that the lack of sufficient financial resources is the biggest challenge for implementing succession planning at universities. This study recommended the competency model in HEIs. In addition, the results of this study can help universities consider key challenges before the implementation phase.