The Application of Force Field Model in Succession Planning

Succession planning is one the most important survival strategies for effective operation in today turbulent world. Apart from the importance of this strategy, in any organization, a diverse set of facilitating and preventing factors emerge in successor planning process which create a challenging force field pro or con to it. In this research, while facilitating and preventing methods in executing succession planning in National Petrochemical Company are analyzed by content analytical methods, the attempt is to document the experiences of top managers. The result of the research is an emphasis on new factors which prevent the development of succession planning procedures in terms of common organizational culture in Iranian organizations via dishonesty in data furnishing, mutual distrust, envy of colleagues as well universal factors such as lack of top managers’ support, non-calculating the costs and benefits and lack of staff’s general motivation. However, one can see remarkable facilitating factors in improving the knowledge level of managers and in developing employees which create a valuable opportunity for succession planning.