Introduction: Technological developments, globalization, the need for immediate reaction to environmental changes , reduction in costs in the presence of  of intense competition, and a decrease in loyalty among the staff are all to emphasis the need for Succession Planning in organizations. This study aimed to assess the current and desired situations of Succession Planning by gap analysis in Iran Ministry of Health and Medical Education in 2013.

Methods: This study is cross-sectional. A questionnaire benefiting from the existing literature was developed by a research team about current and the desired situations of Succession Planning. After ensuring validity and reliability, the questionnaire was distributed among 268 people from general managers, Heads of offices, deputies of general managers, Heads of expert groups, responsible Experts and Experts by the census. The data were analyzed by SPSS₁₈ , using  Paired T-test .

Results: The current situation of organizations for Succession Planning based on  the six axes including planning, organizational culture, systems approach, model of competence, professional upgrade path and the role of senior managers in the research, was acceptable rating over 50 percent. At the same time the gap between the current and desired situation in all aspects, was significant. Average rating of the status quo was 1.06 with a standard deviation of 2.90 while it was   3.82 with a standard deviation of 0.89 for the desired situation.

Conclusion: Given the  acceptable points in the current situation and a significant gap between current and desired situation for Succession Planning, it seems that the critical issue of Succession Planning should be taken into close consideration due to the nature and specific features of the organization under the study.

Keywords: Succession Planning, Organization, Management, Ministry of Health