Abstract:
Background: Healthcare organizations must ensure that succession planning is in place to ensure
that people are prepared to take on leadership roles as soon as a vacancy occurs in the
organization. In Saudi Arabia's healthcare system, one of the main issues that needs to be
addressed is the absence of succession planning for healthcare leadership.
Objective: To explore healthcare leaders' perspectives on succession planning in Hail Health
Cluster, examine how succession planning practices are effective, and determine the level of
satisfaction of healthcare leaders gained with succession planning
Methods: A descriptive study was conducted using a translated Arabic version of research tool
(Garman AN, Tyler JL, 2004) in which succession plans was assessed. A total of 30 responses
were collected from healthcare leaders.
Results: The results found that the only 25% of the respondents reported that a specific successor
been identified for their position. The most frequently cited barrier for not identifying the
successor was that it was not a high enough priority (33.34%). In most cases (85.71%), successors
were not formally prepared before taking over. More than fifty percent (53.57%) of respondents
indicated the transition will take place in 6 months to 1 year and 21.43% reported that the process
will take 1 to 2 years. Organization is effective in identifying appropriate successors (p=0.873)
and organization is effective in preparing candidates for the role (p=0.118) were not significant.
Length of the transition process has an effect on succession planning practices (p<0.001) and
developmental activities employed has an effect on effectiveness in preparing successors
(p<0.001). Majority of the respondents were not satisfied (89.29%) with succession planning.
Conclusions: Based on the study, it was concluded that the Hail Health Cluster was not effective
in identifying the successor. Hence, Hail Health Cluster needs to prioritize succession planning
and make sure that the right successor is identified in advance to avoid any adverse consequences.
In addition, the study recommends the Hail Health Cluster develop a succession planning manual
containing rules and regulations for healthcare leaders.
Keywords: Hail health cluster, Healthcare leaders, Succession planning
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