Ethical and Legal Issues in Succession Planning

 
Last week you examined strategies and considerations related to internal succession and the development of high-potential employees. Though internal candidates have more intimate knowledge of an organization and could be better prepared to “hit the ground running” when the time comes, not every company uses this method to address all of its succession needs. For organizations with a limited talent pool or few qualified internal candidates, human resources (HR) professionals and executive leaders may turn to external succession planning options. In fact, many organizations have acquired outside candidates to strategically inspire innovation after experiencing stagnant revenues and profit margins.
When pursuing external options, organizations can use a variety of methods to identify and recruit candidates. For example, organizations can contact professional business associations to invite their members to apply for specific succession positions. In addition, many organizations encourage their executives, boards of directors, and leaders to refer individuals they know from outside the organization who may be good candidates to fill vacant positions.
In this week’s Learning Resources, evaluate external recruitment methods. First, examine Chapter 12, “Integrating Recruitment with Succession Planning,” of the course text Effective Succession Planning to identify the common external recruitment methods used in today’s organizations. Then, conduct additional research via the Walden Library and other scholarly sources to analyze the legal and ethical issues that surround external methods.
Post by Day 3 a cohesive and scholarly response based on your readings and research this week that addresses the following:

Evaluate external recruitment methods used in succession planning.

Consider you are an HR professional in an organization, and select one of the following external recruitment methods you would implement: mergers and acquisitions, professional or trade associations, online and newspaper job postings, job fairs, walk-ins, employment exchanges, employee referrals, contractors, consultants, headhunters, competitors, and radio/television/Internet.

Briefly identify and describe the external method you have chosen.
Support your response by describing how your chosen method could or could not positively impact the succession planning process.
How might this external recruitment method help and/or hinder an organization’s succession planning process?

Analyze legal and ethical issues associated with succession planning recruitment methods.

Describe two or three legal and/or ethical considerations that are associated with your selected external recruitment method.

Explain how each of these legal and/or ethical issues you have described could negatively affect both the succession planning process and the sustainable, competitive advantage of the organization.