Authors: Dr. MUKESH MIHIR and Dr. SATULURI PADMA

Abstract
Motivation: HR in an organization faces various challenges in business environment, such as Building Capabilities, Improving Productivity, Building Performance Culture, Talent Management, Succession Planning for Key Leadership and Critical Roles, Developing Accountability and Ownership, Human Capital Management and transforming HR function into developmental Role from the legacy driven HR, etc. Succession Planning is the process of identifying and developing individuals, who have potential to hold the key leadership position in an Organization, whereas Performance Management includes assessing and improving upon the performance of an employee to meet the organizational goals. There are several Management Practices, which are adopted widely in Industry to make a successful Succession Planning. Workforce and Talent Management is one of them. The health of an organization majorly depends on the proper placement of people, which is a combined outcome of Talent Identification, Talent Development and Talent Retention. Performance Management plays a vital role in Talent Identification. It also has an impact on Talent Development and Talent Retention. The key idea of succession planning suggests that the right person to be placed at the right position at the right time. Succession planning is becoming a challenge these days in the corporate world. Organizations are often not found prepared with their successors to occupy the key positions as and when required. The positions are either kept vacant for a substantial period or more than one role is assigned to a single person. Identifying the right talent for the key positions from outside the organization and recruiting them is a much more difficult task at the eleventh hour. This has a significant impact on organizational health and in turn to organizational sustainability. Organizations must last longer than people. Role of organization continues even when the people move out. Employees must superannuate after attaining a certain age. Also, organizations must have a contingency plan for sudden vacancy arises out of attrition, health hazards and death of employee. Succession planning is the strategy to ensure that a suitable person is made available during exigencies. Employees are developed for taking on higher responsibilities and for the new roles that may emerge in future. The placement of Key Leadership positions can be executed either by inviting the talent from outside or developing the talent in-house. The latter is always in demand keeping in view the core values of the organization and the impact on loyalty and organizational culture in a long run. It is preferable to develop the in-house talent pool to reduce dependency on recruitment of experienced people from outside for the critical roles. It brings the talent acquisition cost low and contributes as a motivating factor for the team as well. The acceptability of a person placed at Top / Key Leadership Positions is high when these are occupied by in-house talent. Performance Management is the backbone of organization, as it is the performance that helps it to grow, develop and strive for excellence. It is a system that ensures that Human Capital is properly and optimally utilized. It encourages achieving desired business results. It is also a tool to ensure that individual and organizational goals are aligned. Organizations are making efforts to make it scientific, objective and more realistic. Many organizations are practicing a participative appraisal process. The idea is to identify potential, evaluate performance, map & develop competencies and align values of an employee with organization. Problem Statement: To develop an effective Performance Management System and to integrate it with Succession Planning is a big challenge these days. There are many challenges in finding solutions to the following basic questions: 1. How does performance management affect the success of succession planning? 2. What are the best practices in performance management that support effective succession planning? 3. What are the potential benefits of integrating performance management and succession planning, and how does it contribute to organizational success? Methods/Study Design: A mixed-methods approach of consisting both qualitative and quantitative data analysis is preferred. The study involves a sample of Indian PSUs from different industries. Inputs on perceptions and interpretations collected through discussions, interviews, and document analysis. The interviews of Key Stakeholders, including HR Managers, Executives, and Functional Managers are conducted to gather information on the perception of employees about current Performance Management Practices and Succession Planning in the participating organizations. The document analysis involves review of HR Policies, Procedures, and Reports related to PMS and Promotion Policies. Feedback collected through interactions are analyzed using thematic analysis to identify patterns and themes related to the linkage between PMS and Succession Planning. Predictions and Results: The findings of this study would provide insights into the significance of Performance Management in Succession Planning. The study identifies and suggests the best practices in PMS that support effective Succession Planning. The study also helps in linking PMS and Succession Planning to recognize the impact of integrating these two. Thus, the study recommends how to identify and develop individuals in-house, to take critical and key leadership roles as and when required by the organization. Summary/Conclusion: To identify and develop the people for effective Succession Planning is the need of hour. PMS plays a big role in identifying, developing, and retaining the in-house talent thus preparing and positioning for the critical and key leadership roles. Performance Management is an ongoing process starting from beginning till end and even after the employee superannuates/leaves the organization. Management Practices cannot be dealt with separately for Talent Management and Succession Planning. Performance Management has a significant impact on Talent Management and thus on Succession Planning for key leadership positions in an organization to meet present and future needs.
Keywords: Performance Management, Talent Management, Succession Planning.

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