This research proposal explores succession planning processes at small and micro Palestinian businesses in Ramallah. Succession planning ensures key roles are filled as employees are developed, but is often informal at small businesses. The study aims to identify strategic planning deficiencies in leadership by examining how succession planning and management are implemented, either formally or informally. Mixed qualitative and quantitative methods will be used, collecting primary data through employee surveys and interviews at specific companies, and secondary data from articles and research.

1. Faculty of Business and Economics
Department of Business Administration and Marketing
Second Semester 2018/2019
Course title: Seminar in Human Resource Management
Course code: BUSA 4381
8/10
Research Proposal
Exploring the Dark Side of an informal HRM practice: Highlights on the
Succession planning process at Small and Micro Palestinian Businesses
Submitted to: Lecturer Niveen Eid
Raed Istetieh
1110396
6th
march 2019

2. 1.
2. Definition of key terms:
 Succession planning: is the process where an organization ensures that employees are
recruited and developed to fill each key role within the company.
 Training: is the act of increasing the knowledge and skill of an employee for doing a
particular job.
 Small company: The definition of a small business is an independently owned and operated
company that is limited in size and in revenue depending on the industry.
3. Need for the study:
All of the companies reach at a point where they have to change their managers, either for
growing old or for not meeting the required goals, and small companies do that too. But not
all companies examine the negative effects of not planning for leadership succession. In most
large-scale organizations (use citation from a research paper) it was evident that most of the
large corporations do practice formal and proactive HRM practices including succession
management as part of the strategic HR planning process. However, at small -scale
businesses most HRM processes seemed to be practices in a less formal mode where even
planning for leadership vacancies was rarely denoted on their agendas. So, I’m doing this
study in Palestine specially in Ramallah to see how does training upper managers affect the
company and how does it happen.
4. Research objective:

3. This study aims to explore how both of succession planning and succession management
processes are taking place in the small and micro businesses in Ramallah district in an effort to
identify strategic planning deficiencies in leading those businesses as benchmarked to the
literature with a focus on integrating succession management to other HRM functions and the
strategic change of an organization.
5. Research Questions:
1. In what fashion does the HRM practice taking place in small and micro enterprises in
Ramallah district? (Formal and proactive versus informal and reactive modes).
2. Do the studied small and micro enterprises apply succession planning?
3. How succession planning and succession management are implemented at the studied
organizations using either a formal, procative or an informal reactive nature?
4. What is the rationale behind the use of succession planning in this fashion by the studied
organziations?
5. How deficiencies in the studied areas can be tackled?
6.
6. Methodology:
The research will be mixed approach where I will be using qualitative and quantitative
approaches as I will be collecting my primary data through questionnaires or surveys that I
will give to employees in some specific companies and through some interviews which I will
be making. The secondary data will be collected from the articles and researches that have
been collected about this topic.

4. 7. Bibliography
 https://www.yourdictionary.com/small-business
 https://www.thebalancecareers.com/succession-planning-1918267
 Executive development and succession planning: qualitative evidence Steven A.
Murphy Sprott School of Business, Carleton University, 1125 Colonel By Drive,
Ottawa, ON, Canada, K1S 5B6. Tel: (613) 520 2600 (ext. 1290); Fax: (613) 520
4427; email: murphy@sprott.carleton.ca Received 29 August 2005; revised and
accepted 5 December 2005.
 Executive Succession in Small Companies Author(s): Donald B. Trow Source:
Administrative Science Quarterly, Vol. 6, No. 2 (Sep., 1961), pp. 228-239 Published
by: Sage Publications, Inc. on behalf of the Johnson Graduate School of
Management, Cornell University
 Succession Planning vs. Agency Theory: A Test of Harris and Helfat's Interpretation
of Plurality Announcement Market Returns Author(s): Wallace N. Davidson III,
Carol Nemec and Dan L. Worrell Source: Strategic Management Journal, Vol. 22,
No. 2 (Feb., 2001), pp. 179-184