Succession Planning in Ghana’s Nascent Technical Universities: The Case of Cape Coast Technical University

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 This paper investigated on succession planning in Ghana’s Technical Universities with the
Cape Coast Technical University as a case. In this study, the researchers interviewed nine purposively
sampled senior managerial and administrative personnel. The interview transcripts were contentanalysed using the Taguette computer-aided qualitative data analysis software. The study uncovered
that the CCTU has neither a succession policy nor a formal arrangement for training and mentoring
personnel to fill leadership roles. Personnel interviewed demonstrated a positive perception of
succession planning even though it was based on basic knowledge of the concept. Further,
interviewees expressed a desire to see succession planning given a try at the CCTU. However, they
wanted such a program to be transparent, inclusive, and coherent. They also would like to see any
such policy have adequate top-level backing. The challenges to a potential succession planning policy
included the risk of it being abused as a tool for cronyism, the risk of people selected and sponsored
under the policy leaving the organization and the risk of it only existing on paper without full
implementation The authors recommend that the dominant coalition at CCTU should study feasibility
of formal succession planning and formulate a unique solution that is based in local context. They also
recommend that researchers expand on this study across HEIs in Ghana. Finally, the researchers
recommend that it would be insightful to examine the prevalence and nature of succession planning in
various Ghanaian organizations. Such research may uncover practices and leadership development
philosophies that are rooted in Ghanaian culture and which may be further developed.