| Course | HRM-8030 Seminar in Human Resource Leadership |
|---|---|
| Module | Module 4 |
| Paper type | Final project: succession management system plan |
| Length | About 1,107 words, 7 pages |
| Format | APA 7 student paper |
| School | Thomas Edison State University |
| Program | Doctor of Business Administration |
| Updated | October 2026 |
Free sample paper for HRM 8030 Module 4
Ready Before They Retire: A Succession Management System for Monmouth Packaging Group
Student Name
Doctor of Business Administration, Thomas Edison State University
HRM-8030: Seminar in Human Resource Leadership
Mentor Name
Month Day, Year
Ready Before They Retire: A Succession Management System for Monmouth Packaging Group
Purpose and Scope
Monmouth Packaging Group, a composite third-generation family manufacturer with 1,100 employees, faces two successions at once. Most of its critical role holders, eleven of fourteen, can retire inside five years, and the 63-year-old family CEO has no named successor. Rothwell (2015) distinguishes succession planning, preparing replacements for specific positions, from succession management, a continuing system that develops a pool of leaders for many roles. Monmouth needs the broader system, because retirements will create openings faster than any one-for-one replacement plan can fill them.
The system covers the fourteen critical roles identified in Module 3, the leadership pool below them and the chief executive role. It aims to have at least two ready candidates for every critical role within three years and to prepare the company for a chief executive transition, whether the successor comes from the family, the management team or outside.
Critical Roles and the Talent Pool
The talent review from Module 3 identifies employees with the performance and potential to move into critical roles. Candidates for each role are logged as ready today, ready within two years or further out. The initial review found only five ready-now candidates for the fourteen roles, concentrated in operations, and none for quality or sales director, which shows where development and external hiring must focus.
The gaps shape the system's priorities. For quality and sales, where no internal candidate is near ready, the company will consider external hiring for one of the next openings and use the newcomer's arrival to develop internal candidates beneath them. For operations, where several candidates exist, the priority is choosing among them on evidence and preparing those not chosen for other roles, so that strong candidates are not lost when one colleague is appointed.
Assessment and Development
Each candidate has an individual development plan built from the talent review's evidence. Plans combine the methods from Module 2: rotations into areas where the candidate lacks experience, mentoring by the current role holder, formal programs for skills such as financial management and acting assignments that let candidates lead during vacations and leaves. Groves (2007) found that organizations with effective practices integrated leadership development and succession planning, using managers as developers and building networks among high-potential employees, rather than running succession as a separate administrative exercise. Monmouth's plans therefore make current managers responsible for developing their successors and measure them on it.
Knowledge transfer deserves its own plan, because many of the retiring managers carry customer relationships and plant know-how that is written down nowhere. Each retiring manager will work with HR to list the decisions only they currently make, the customers and suppliers who rely on them personally and the problems they have solved repeatedly. Successors will shadow them on those decisions for at least six months, and the most important customer relationships will be introduced to the successor in person before the retirement date.
Governance
A succession committee, made up of the chief executive, the HR vice president, one other family board member and an independent director, will meet quarterly to review readiness, approve development plans for top candidates and decide appointments to critical roles. The independent director is important in a family firm, where decisions about family members' roles can be difficult to discuss openly. The board will review the chief executive succession plan annually.
Governance also protects the system from drifting back to old habits. Without a committee that asks for evidence and tracks readiness, appointments could quietly return to seniority or to personal preference. The committee's quarterly meetings will review the readiness table, the progress of development plans and any critical role whose candidates have stalled, and it will report to the full board once a year.
Emergency and Planned Succession
Every critical role will have an emergency plan naming who will act if the incumbent leaves suddenly, so operations continue while a permanent appointment is made. Planned successions will begin at least eighteen months before a known retirement: the successor is named or a shortlist confirmed, overlap is scheduled and the incumbent's knowledge is transferred through structured handover. For the chief executive, the board will define the criteria for the role, assess family and nonfamily candidates against them and consider external candidates if no internal candidate is ready.
The chief executive succession is the most sensitive part of the plan. Family members interested in leading the company will be assessed against the same criteria as other candidates and, if they are not yet ready, given development plans with clear milestones, including roles outside the family business if needed. The board may also decide that the family's role should shift to ownership and governance, with a professional chief executive, a choice many third-generation family firms make. Setting the criteria before naming candidates keeps the decision about the company's needs rather than about individuals.
Culture and Leadership
The system challenges the culture identified in Module 1, in which loyalty earned promotion. Schein and Schein (2019) emphasize that cultural change requires leaders to model new behavior and explain it consistently. The chief executive and HR vice president will explain that long service remains valued and is rewarded through recognition and development opportunities, while appointments to critical roles depend on readiness. Communicating the system openly, including how candidates are identified and how anyone can express interest, will reduce the perception that succession is decided privately among the family and a few insiders.
The full-sentence outline and the presentation that accompany this paper give the HR vice president two chances to test the message with others before the system launches. A peer's review of the outline, and questions after the presentation, show which parts of the case are persuasive and which raise concerns, and the final plan can be adjusted before it is introduced to employees.
Measures
| Measure | Baseline | Target in three years |
|---|---|---|
| Critical roles with at least two ready candidates | 2 of 14 | 14 of 14 |
| Critical role openings filled internally | Not tracked | At least 70% |
| Retention of high-potential employees | Not tracked | 90% a year |
| Development plans completed on schedule | None in place | 80% |
| Chief executive succession plan approved by the board | No | Yes, reviewed annually |
Conclusion
Monmouth's succession management system turns a looming wave of retirements into a planned transition. It identifies the roles that matter, builds a pool of ready candidates through development integrated with daily work, governs decisions through a committee with independent oversight and prepares for the family's own leadership change. Its success depends on leaders who explain and model the shift from seniority to readiness while continuing to honor the loyalty that built the company.
References
Groves, K. S. (2007). Integrating leadership development and succession planning best practices. Journal of Management Development, 26(3), 239-260. https://doi.org/10.1108/02621710710732146
Rothwell, W. J. (2015). Effective succession planning: Ensuring leadership continuity and building talent from within (5th ed.). AMACOM.
Schein, E. H., & Schein, P. A. (2019). The corporate culture survival guide (3rd ed.). John Wiley & Sons.
What the HRM 8030 Module 4 instructions ask for
The HRM-8030 final project, worth 30 percent of the grade, requires a fully developed plan for a succession management system for a specific organization, in three parts: a full-sentence outline reviewed by a classmate, a presentation worth 14 percent and a final paper worth 16 percent. Expect to define the system's purpose and scope, identify critical roles, explain how candidates are assessed and developed, set governance and emergency procedures, and measure results. Build on the culture, development and talent management analyses from the written assignments and use scholarly sources appropriate to doctoral work. The outline is reviewed by a classmate before the paper and presentation are finished. Draw on all three written assignments.
How this HRM 8030 Module 4 example is built
The paper distinguishes succession planning from succession management and sets the system's scope, including the chief executive role. Sections cover the talent pool and readiness, development plans integrated with daily work and supported by research, governance with an independent director, emergency and planned succession, and the cultural leadership needed to make the system accepted. A measures table sets baselines and targets. Each section draws on the earlier assignments, so the final paper reads as the culmination of the course's analysis. Added sections address knowledge transfer from retiring managers, the governance that keeps the system honest, the family's own leadership choice and how the outline and presentation refine the plan. A measures table closes the plan.
Reading the HRM 8030 Module 4 grading rubric
The final paper is graded on the completeness and coherence of the succession system, the use of research, the fit with the organization's culture and governance, and professional writing. Mentors look for a system rather than a replacement chart: development integrated with succession, clear governance, emergency procedures and measures. Addressing the cultural and leadership challenges of implementation shows the HR leadership the course is about. The presentation is graded separately, so the paper should stand on its own. Mentors also value attention to knowledge transfer and to the chief executive succession in a family firm. Measures with baselines show the system can be evaluated. Clear governance roles earn credit too.
Common HRM 8030 Module 4 mistakes, and how to avoid them
Succession papers lose marks when they produce a list of names for each role, when development and governance are missing or when the culture is ignored. Others forget emergency succession. Define the system's scope. Assess readiness with evidence. Integrate development and hold managers accountable. Set governance with independent oversight where it matters. Track bench strength and how many openings go to insiders. A free first sample of your own HRM-8030 outline or final paper is available on request. Set criteria before naming candidates, and plan knowledge transfer for every retiring manager. Include emergency plans for every critical role. Show how the system will be explained to employees.
Write yours, or have the desk draft it
This paper is an original model document written by our desk, not a submitted student paper and not an official Thomas Edison State University document. Read it for the moves, then write your own to the instructions in your classroom. If you want one built to your exact prompt and rubric, the first custom sample is free and arrives in 24 to 48 hours.
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HRM 8030 Module 4 questions, answered
Where can I find a free HRM 8030 Module 4 sample paper?
Monmouth's succession management system, from scope to governance, is the final paper above.
What is the difference between succession planning and succession management?
Succession planning prepares replacements for specific positions; succession management is a continuing system that develops a pool of leaders for many roles.
What is the HRM-8030 final project?
A fully developed succession management system plan for a specific organization, delivered as an outline, a presentation and a final paper.
Why include an independent director in succession governance?
In family firms especially, an outside voice helps the board discuss and decide leadership questions objectively.
What is emergency succession?
A plan naming who will act in a critical role if the incumbent leaves suddenly, so the organization keeps running while a permanent choice is made.