Date of Conferral

2022

Degree

Ph.D.

School

Management

Advisor

Carol Wells

Abstract

Senior directors in the public sector often lack viable succession plans for middle managers. Four conceptual elements from Burns’ transformational leadership theory provided a framework to investigate the practices directors in the public sector use to prepare middle managers for leadership positions. Succession planning is essential to retain highly skilled employees and maintain a sustainable competitive advantage in today’s competitive environment. The conceptual elements directly relate to succession planning and its components of career development and preparing future leaders. The purpose of this qualitative phenomenological study was to explore the succession planning practices public sector directors use to prepare middle managers for director positions. Data collection was from semistructured interviews with 17 department directors in the public sector in South Central Texas with a minimum of 3 years of working experience and skills specific to implementing succession planning programs. Thematic coding resulted in three themes and six key findings concerning directors’ practices to prepare middle managers for leadership positions. The key findings were (a) motivating, inspiring, and empowering managers, (b) building a strong relationship with the manager, (c) developing skill set, (d) delegating authority, (e) training opportunities, and (f) retention and recruitment strategies. The findings of this study could enable social change through the processes public sector directors use to promote middle managers and prepare them to fill key leadership positions. Public sector directors could also enhance a middle managers job performance and productivity, increasing the number of successful leaders in the public sector who can positively affect social change city communities.

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