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The views above suggest that Transnet Pipeline managers find the transition from when an employee retires and hands over responsibilities to the identified successor and its effect on the business as the best method to evaluate the effectiveness to ensure that the succession plan is successful. A smooth transaction would mean that the succession plan is effective.
4.6.3 Skills identification and development
The study found that Transnet Pipeline managers believe that skills identification and skills development are essential tools to evaluate the effectiveness to ensure that the succession plan is successful.
Respondent 15 stated:
“It’s only the talent management. As I said, we only do the talent management, just particular exercise when it comes up. I wanna deal with it outside of that little box, because we don’t believe in it. I’ve told you, we don’t believe in it because it does not work. So anyways even if I develop my guys even if there’s no talent management, because I look at what development they need then make it their IDPs or Development Plans or whatever.
So talent management doesn’t need to direct me on what to do, I… and they also come to me and say listen, he wants to be developed in this area (10:14 not clear). I look at it and if its work related and if it fits in with whatever we’re doing in the company, I send them. I generally always send them in what they wanna get trained on, unless it’s completely outside of what we do. So I’ve specialists’ engineers and I develop them and then they don’t wanna do any management stuff. They wanna do… and whatever new equipment we get in, whatever other development for future equipment, if they put it on the IDP, I approve it. So I let them develop themselves almost as they want, but it doesn’t need to come from talent management. There’s other mechanisms to do that as well. But, let me put it off the record, I believe talent management can work. If there’s a proper system in place, and maybe if it comes back to HR again, if there’s a plan in place and there’s a proper process… because we also don’t hear from HR in terms of talent management, either than
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when it’s in their whatever to do job and they get pushed in the corner to, and everybody asks them what is happening to your talent management at TPL, you must say “hey!” and then they come out, and we must all do the talent management for a week and that’s it. I put it far away and I forget about it. And my staff also don’t want to hear about it either.
So that’s why I’m saying it’s a very much desktop exercise for me, because I’m being honest with you and I would tell anybody in HR, but I fully believe… I can see that it can work. I believe in things like coaching and development, all of that. I can see it can work, but it does not work here for some reason. (Because of culture maybe?) I don’t think we’ve got a full buy-in from the top executive. So I must be careful because I sit close to them as well, but I don’t think it… maybe they’ve got a buy-in but they’re also hands are also tied. So for instance when we need to retain somebody, they can’t make decisions here to retain somebody, maybe we need to look at a different salary for him or whatever. I know it’s not just money that keeps a person here, but its work circumstances and stuff, but there might be circumstances where guys are really unhappy in it because of discrimination and the amount of responsibilities that gets add on to him. But if their hands are tied, I can’t help up my guy’s salary, I must take it to the CEO and the CEO tells me he can’t do it either, I must go to the GCE. And then it all get climbed down by (13:31 not clear), so when it goes that way that’s why the guys are rather not entertain it (13:40 not clear) negative. That’s why the only part I take out of talent management is the part that I try to… if it comes up then I’ve already showed what development I do send them on and we have the same things in those blocks but its written somewhere else. But I can’t promise them any position; I can’t promise them any career path because we’re a very flat structure. If a position does not go open, then you’ve got okes like myself and others that sit for years in a position but there’s no movement. Same is my… okay I’m guilty, but so is my boss guilty as well.”
The above response reveals that Transnet Pipeline managers 7 out of 25 (28%) trust that skills identification and skills development are essential tools to evaluate the effectiveness to ensure that the succession plan is successful.
61 4.6.4 Exit Interview
The study revealed that the effectiveness to ensure that the succession plan is successful is only evaluated during an exit interview. Respondent 18 says that:
“They actually realize when they’re having an exit interview. No, we just have that culture charter thing, which is not really relevant to HR”
This view suggests that some managers believe that they can only evaluate the effectiveness of the succession plan during the exit interview