Assignment Task

The success of organisations often relies on good leadership. Therefore, the HR department and its succession planning processes play a key role in how successful leaders are chosen. Major organisations such as McKinsey & Company take great care in their succession planning and have taken a great deal of time in delving into the reasons why these are important. Read the following case study on McKinsey & Company’s succession planning processes and answer the questions that follow. At McKinsey & Company, over 600 senior partners elect its global managing partner every three years. Incumbents resubmit themselves for re-election at the end of three years. “You’ve got to make sure there is a group of candidates from which to select every three years. That is done by giving partners leadership opportunities where they can be tested,” says McKinsey’s Dominic Barton, Managing Partner Emeritus. Barton, himself, was first elected global managing partner in 2009 and went on to be re-elected two more times. He was running the Korean office of McKinsey when his name first appeared on the list of candidates in 2003. Ian Davis, the then successful candidate, arranged for Barton to take on the role of chairing Asia from 2004, standing him in prime position five years later. “The successful global managing partner uses the ballot to identify potential future candidates and gives them leadership opportunities.” Planning by the global managing director for this succession is crucial. “If a bunch of people leave after the vote, it is not a good sign,” concludes Barton. Key advice: “If you go around saying you want to be a leader, it puts people off. Spend time talking to people who have been leaders in the past. Find out how they have developed at inflexion points such as in a crisis or building business from scratch.

Introductions

Provide the following:

• Background on McKinsey & Company;
• A brief discussion on the industry in which McKinsey & Company operates; and
• A brief discussion on the strategic importance of human resource management in the succession planning process within an organization.

Succession Planning

• Define succession planning;
• Discuss how succession planning is done at McKinsey & Company; and critically evaluate the HR policy regarding the election of a global managing partner;
• Comment on whether their approach to these policies will lead to success in the post-covid era; and 
• Recommend key stakeholders that may be consulted in the succession planning process.

Career Development Path 

• Critically analyse the ways in which HR managers at McKinsey & Company guide individual employees’ career development paths to leadership positions; and
• Consider how these can be applied to McKinsey & Partners’ branches in South Africa taking into consideration the Labour Relations Act, 66 of 1995.

Human Resource Models

• Discuss various HR models; and
• Discuss the relevant HR models McKinsey & Company can use.

Performance Management 

• Discuss how performance management, effective performance appraisals and reward systems can aid In the alignment between long-term and annual objectives of a leader’s role at McKinsey & Company.