The current nationwide shortage of registered nurses is a growing problem impacting patient care and hospital operations. The operating room is the area most affected by the nursing shortage. Reasons cited for this shortage include ineffective nursing orientation programs and a decline in job satisfaction. The purpose of this project was to develop a best practice succession planning educational program to provide novice operating room nurses with an introduction to the operating room. The Dreyfus model of skills acquisition and Benner's novice to expert theory guided this project. A 2-step process was used to assess and validate the content and quality of the educational program. In Phase 1, the educational program was distributed to 10 operating room nurse stakeholders for formative review. There was agreement from these reviewers that the educational program covered key concepts important for novice operating room nurses. Two recommendations were made for additional clarification. In Phase II, the educational program was revised and distributed to a group of 10 perioperative professionals for summative review using the AGREE II instrument. The summative review group found the educational program to be clear and concise. The overall summative approval of 100% and recommendations of both review groups guided the final development of the best practice educational module. This best practice educational module will provide a standardized program for educating novice operating room nurses. This project will contribute to positive social change by empowering these nurses while supporting safe care for all surgical patients. Dissemination will occur first within the organization and then to local and national organizations targeting operating room nurses.

Family businesses have been a majority in the stage of world economy, and whose combination of ownership, management and family make relevant management issues even more complex. The significance and complexity of family businesses have incrementally attracted more scholar attention. Literature indicates that only one-thirds of family businesses can be passed on to second generation. Succession, therefore, becomes an important issue in the continuity of family business. This study, in adoption of qualitative approach, aims at exploring how the attitude of founders in the family business towards succession can influence the succession process and how they adjust roles in the business during the succession process, and the importance of successors¡¦ level of interests, abilities and development and the criteria of successor selection. Four case companies were interviewed. The results are as follows: 1). Founders in the family business usually nominate their desired successors, but do not have further succession plan, and moreover, remain their influences or statues in the business as consultants once they retire or transfer leadership. 2). Preferences in male siblings are demonstrated. 3). In terms of training and development, successors rely on on-the-job trainings and founders to pass their connections and relevant industrial knowledge, by that successors are likely to build up their legitimacy and gain trust from stakeholders. 4). Successors¡¦ personal interests that are accommodated by succeeding the business is positive for succession. 5). The value of family in the Chinese context is positive for succession.

Western enterprises have problems that people in essential position get older and population of baby boom will retire, and enterprises in Taiwan have the gap of talents in next generation. ¡§The War of Talent¡¨ is the most servious war that enterprises will face in next decade, and Asian and Pacific companies particularly focus on successor issue. Systematic succession management originates from the Western, which is different from the Eastern enterprises. Therefore, the main purpose of this study is to explore the relationships among organizational cultures, succession planning cognition, organizational performance. Besides, the moderating effect of developmental human resource configuration on organization culture and succession planning cognition. This study adopted confirmatory factor analysis (CFA) and multiple regression analysis to anylyze data based on 181 returned questionnaires of HR managers in various industries The findings are as follows: 1. There were significant differences based on different organizational characteristics in organizational culture, succession planning cognition, and organizational performance. 2. The different organizational culture significantly affected succession planning cognition, and organizational performance, respectively. However, there is no siganificant correlation between succession planning cognition and organizational performance. 3. There was not mediating effect of succession planning cognition on organizational culture and organizational performance. 4. There was the moderating effect of developmental human resource configuration between organizational culture and succession planning cognition. The results could be the references to the relative enterprises to help them understand how to communicate succession planning program with organizational members and improve organizational performance.

The shift from product-based to knowledge economies has resulted in an excess demand for skilled workers and created a global ‘war’ for talent. In order to retain talents, organizations need to meet their expectations. The new generation to enter the workforce, namely the millennial generation have very explicit demands, for leadership development in particular. These demands create challenges for companies, especially smaller organizations with limited resources. The development of new leadership talents is indeed one of the main impediments to growth today, as current leaders are retiring at accelerating rates. This qualitative study explores how medium-sized organizations (MSOs) in Sweden employ talent management as a succession-planning tool to retain Millennial talents, using an abduc- tive research approach. Through eleven semi-structured interview, the authors have gained an in-depth understanding of how managers in MSOs reason about succession planning and talent management as a mean to retain millennial talents. The authors expand the understanding of academic literature of how medium-sized compa- nies approach succession planning by developing their internal leadership talents. Four nu- ances of succession planning are presented and in addition to existing literature, the authors have identified a dilemma to talent development in MSOs, denoted ‘The Paradox’. This study finally provides starting points for further research as well as practical recommen- dations for medium-sized company managers.

This study explores the reasons why succession planning is imperative in an organisation. The study focuses on Nedbank Homeloans’ KZN Operations at the head office in central Durban and includes the views of the office staff about the salient issues in regards to succession planning. A comprehensive literature review provides a background to the study. A number of reasons for the need for succession planning have been provided by various writers, and these constitute the point of departure for the study. The broad themes that impact on the success of succession planning are identified as being the need to retain talent, to develop skills, and to enhance the benefits that can be derived from implementing succession planning in an organisation. In relation to these themes, the main objectives of the study were the following: to determine what benefits the organisation may achieve from implementing a succession plan; the significant impacts of not having a strategic succession plan; what an organisation can do to retain talented and competent employees; the role an organisation can play in sustaining skilled and talented people; and if the implementation of succession planning can support the career paths of employees not just up a specialised ladder but across a continuum of professional competence. The fieldwork was exploratory in nature, with a questionnaire being administered to seventyseven home-loan staff across the different levels of function. The Statistical Package for Social Sciences (SPSS) was used to analyse the data. Various statistical techniques such as Cronbach’s Alpha were applied to test reliability.An in-depth analysis of the results of the questionnaire was performed. The results of the study were evaluated and various recommendations are made. An implementation plan is provided to aid in the implementation process. / Thesis (MBA)-University of KwaZulu-Natal, Westville, 2010.

As a result of the chronic nursing shortage, the ongoing retirements of an aging generation, and a general lack of interest from nurses to become nurse managers, there is valid concern around the development and sustainability of future nurse managers. The purpose of this qualitative study was to explore nurse managers’ perceptions and experiences of assuming a nurse manager position. In addition, the study highlights the organizational leadership practices that influenced nurses to become nurse managers. Using a modified version of Collings and Mellahi’s (2009) strategic talent management framework, two major themes emerged from the data giving insight into nurses becoming nurse managers. Broadening a nurse’s professional lens was considered by nurse managers to be an important theme relevant to understanding factors that motivated participant’s to become nurse managers. Shaping a nurse’s career path was the second theme that captured the leadership practices of existing leaders that influenced nurse’s becoming a nurse manager. The findings of this research were consistent with the literature related to understanding work motivations, as well as effective leadership practices believed to support career aspirations in nursing leadership. Implications for nursing leadership and practice were shared; recommendations for further research were discussed.

abstract: Human resources have always been the most critical factor in the construction industry, and now, with a historic generation entering the age of retirement, the construction industry needs to place greater effort in preparing for the succession of their most important of human resource, their leaders. A significant body of research has shown that succession planning minimizes the negative effects that come with leadership transition; however, little research has focused specifically on the construction industry. The majority of construction companies are family owned or have small pools of potential successors, which make them more susceptible to the negative impacts that occur with poor planning for succession. The objective of this research focuses on developing a methodology that will assist construction companies plan and prepare for a leadership transition. Data is gathered from case studies of twelve construction companies that have recently experienced leadership succession. The data is analyzed for practices and characteristics that correlate to successful leadership transitions. Through the findings in the literature review and data analysis of the case studies, the research successfully achieves the objective of developing a potential methodology for increasing the effectiveness of succession planning in a construction company. / Dissertation/Thesis / M.S. Construction 2012

Master of Agribusiness / Department of Agricultural Economics / Gregg L. Hadley / XYZ Farms, a family farming operation located in Northeast Iowa, has been in business since 1924. Currently the operation utilizes 1,300 acres of farm ground to produce corn, soybeans and alfalfa and feeds 3,000 head of hogs and 500 head of cattle annually. The family operation has evolved over the years and has passed ownership down within the family from generation to generation. It has come time that the operation’s current owners are looking to retire and peacefully transition the family operation on to the next generation. A non-conventional case study structure will highlight and assess the history of the family operation and introduce them to current practices and ownership. The purpose of this study is to evaluate and create a feasible transition plan for XYZ Farms, while minimizing the social and economic costs associated with farm business succession. Further analysis will allow the operation to identify and utilize a succession planning framework, which is important for farm families to possess when looking to build and begin the planning process. Quantitative, along with qualitative, analysis are utilized to understand the operations need for succession planning and the feasibility of doing so. Findings indicate that it is advantageous to work through a sound succession plan including an open line of communication with both current and future owners of the operation. The ability to have upfront conversations and meetings will allow for the discussion of the operation’s future between both parties involved. By implementing a sound and feasible succession plan, XYZ Farms will be able to continue to be a family owned and operated farm for many years to come.

A unique process of fabricating a strained layer GexSi1-x on insulator is demonstrated. Such strained heterostructures are useful in the fabrication of high-mobility transistors. This technique incorporates well-established silicon processing technology e.g., ion implantation and thermal oxidation. A dilute GeSi layer is initially formed by implanting Ge+ into a silicon-on-insulator (SOI) substrate. Thermal oxidation segregates the Ge at the growing oxide interface to form a distinct GexSi1-x thin-film with a composition that can be tailored by controlling the oxidation parameters (e.g. temperature and oxidation ambient). In addition, the film thickness can be controlled by implantation fluence, which is important since the film forms pseudomorphically below 2×1016 Ge/cm2. Continued oxidation consumes the underlying Si leaving the strained GeSi film encapsulated by the two oxide layers, i.e. the top thermal oxide and the buried oxide. Removal of the thermal oxide by a dilute HF etch completes the process. Strain relaxation can be achieved by either of two methods. One involves vacancy injection by ion implantation to introduce sufficient open-volume within the film to compensate for the compressive strain. The other depends upon the formation of GeO2. If Ge is oxidized in the absence of Si, it evaporates as GeO(g) resulting in spontaneous relaxation within the strained film. Conditions under which this occurs have been discussed along with elaborated results of oxidation kinetics of Ge-ion implanted silicon. Rutherford backscattering spectrometry (RBS), ion channeling, Raman spectroscopy and scanning electron microscopy (SEM) were used as the characterization techniques.

Succession planning is the creation of a pool of high potential employees that receive specific training and developmental opportunities with the intention of promotion. There is a definite need to deepen our understanding of what implications there are from a psychological point of view for employees when a major process like succession planning is implemented. Employee engagement is the experienced commitment, which leads to discretionary effort. The purpose of this research is to explore an underlying factor structure for engagement drivers and understand how a major organizational initiative, succession planning, impacts employee engagement. This research was conducted at a petroleum organization in the Southwest United States (N = 2023) and compares engagement based on group membership in a succession planning process (Informed-High Status, Uninformed-High Status, and Uninformed-Low Status). The underlying factor structure of drivers was found to have one factor of engagement. There was a significant difference in the engagement levels based on membership within the succession plan (high status versus low status). However, communicating to an employee their involvement in the succession plan did not differentiate between engagement levels.