Transferring corporate knowledge via succession planning: analysis and solutions – Part 1
Authors: Appelbaum Steven H. , Gunkel Heidi , Benyo Christina , Ramadan Said , Sakkal Fadi , Wolff Damian 
Published: July 2012

Purpose

The purpose of this paper is to study and provide a large national publicly traded company with realistic solutions for succession planning. The name of the actual company where all data were collected has remained anonymous and been replaced with Millennium Dynamics, Inc. As a large number of their workforce consists of “Baby Boomers”, 50 percent of their employees will be of retirement age within the next five years. Having acknowledged the company's concerns about efficiency of new employees and the loss of morale in senior employees, this two‐part article sets out to provide motivational tools for management and suggest solutions to restructure and reorganize in a way to prevent the inevitable – loss of corporate knowledge via succession planning.

Design/methodology/approach

A survey and individual interviews were conducted within the company to measure current job satisfaction and company culture as well as how the different generations of employees view each other and themselves. Employees were also questioned about their legacy in the organization and their thoughts about transferring corporate knowledge from one generation to another. This is a two‐part article. Part 1 covers the background to the case under investigation, a review of relevant literature and the hypotheses to test the problem to be studied and solved. Part 2 will describe the methodology and data related to demographics, the testing of the hypotheses and conclusions and recommendations.

Findings

The study found a correlation between job satisfaction and effective communication and a negative correlation between pre‐retirees and their lack of motivation as they approach retirement. Also, it was found that senior employees possess a willingness to share and transfer knowledge to younger generations.

Research limitations/implications

The article relies on limited survey and interview data of one particular regional department within a large organization. Certain demographic questions were omitted to preserve confidentiality. The selected department and interview subjects were chosen by the organization and therefore the occurrence of a sampling error is possible.

Practical implications

This study monitored the impact that recent retirees will have on the remaining staff of a company. The act of effective succession planning is of paramount importance since the “Baby Boomer” generation is comprised of 76 million North Americans and the threat of the loss of corporate knowledge will inevitably increase as the population ages. This article offers recommendations as to how an organization can better manage the impact of a large number of retirees on the remaining workforce and what it can do to maximize efficiency.

Originality/value

The article offers practical solutions for dealing with the impact of retiring Baby Boomers and identifies models for a proactive approach in dealing with an issue that will affect the North American economy within the next five years.