‘In-nar trid tirrispettah u ma tiħux kunfidenza miegħu’ : the need for succession planning within pyrotechnic voluntary organisations

Abstract

While the fireworks sector has been largely researched from an anthropological perspective, no research has yet looked at the management and legal issues related to the passing on of leadership roles to future generations within the field, also known as succession planning. This study aims to address this gap by focusing on the management and legal issues related to succession planning in fireworks factories within the Maltese context. Traditionally, the fireworks voluntary sector was, and is still, highly active in Malta (Bossevain, 1974; Farrugia, 2012). Indeed, the structure, composition and culture of voluntary organisations are significant (Anderson & Kotler, 2008) because they cherish strong social kinships based on intergenerational loyalty (Blouet, 1989). However, lack of succession planning within pyrotechnic societies has proved to be problematic due to psychological and managerial constraints.