Talent Development and Capability in Sunny Optical - Dissertation Example

?Case Study: Talent Development and Capability in Sunny Optical Executive Summary SUNNY Optical (SO) an optical business, began in Taiwan, as a smallbusiness in 1956 but over the years had emerged as a major multinational force. By 2007, SO emerged as China’s largest retailer in optical products, with 610 retail outlets in Taiwan and 1118 outlets staffed by 7700 employees in China’s major cities. The business was family-owned by maintained a flat organizational system, managed by a CEO, a CFO and COO together with department heads. Together these department heads and senior managers convened weekly and staff briefings were conducted monthly. CEO John Wu believed in transparency and with his encouragement employees were permitted to go directly to him with concerns and ideas. Wu was a personable leader and believed that mistakes could be interpreted as valuable lessons. Wu’s single most harmful flaw was his inability to say ‘no’. He explained this flaw as a symptom of his love for new challenges. SO has always prided itself on product quality, innovation and professional service. This was tied to employee satisfaction and independence. Employees were regarded as valuable assets and thus given creative license and a collaborative system was established. However, there are challenges relative to talent retention, particularly with respect to China’s new labour law which requires lifetime employment. Making matters worse, there is a shortage of talent in China. As a result, SO needs to consider appropriate organizational responses to talent retention and to ensuring that talent is satisfactorily managed within the organization. This report identifies the challenges for achieving this objective and recommends ways that SO can overcome these challenges to meet its talent retention goals. Analysis Wu is described as having emotional intelligence. Emotional intelligence is a good way to retain and attract talent and thus if channelled properly, Wu can meet the challenges of the shortage of talent and the threat posed by China’s new labour mandate of life employment. Coleman’s (1998) Emotional Intelligence Model is instructive. Coleman’s (1998) model consist of self-awareness, self-management, social awareness and relationship management. When the four dimensions of emotional intelligence pursuant to Coleman’s model are examined, the value for talent retention and attraction is obvious. These four dimensions of emotional intelligence are the cornerstone of “effective primal leadership” (Pahl 2008, p. 8). Leaders will not be able to manage their emotions if they are not aware of their own emotions. As a result, their ability to cope with and manage organization relationships will be compromised. Also tied to self-awareness is self-confidence. A confident leader inspires trust from within the organizations. This is important because, talented employees are more likely to remain with an organization lead by a self-confident leader (Pierce and Newstrom 2002). The self-management dimension of emotional intelligence is also important to talent retention and attraction because it is tied to control of one’s emotions and will likely be accompanied by transparent leadership, the ability to adapt, high achievement, initiative and optimism. What this means is that by being transparent, Wu exhibits key elements of trustworthiness: honesty and integrity. Being able to adapt means that Wu has the necessary ability to adapt to the new labour law and low available talent and to overcome these challenges. Achievement means that Wu has the determination to enhance performance and talent and to meet these objectives. Being possessed of initiative, Wu is ready to act and to take advantage of any opportunity that arises (Pahl 2008). Social awareness is perhaps the most important trait associated with emotional intelligence for resolving the challenges for SO. Social awareness involves empathy and manifests the basic ability to sense and predict the emotions of others and to show understanding and interest in an active way. This means and listening and taking account of other’s perspectives (Coleman et al 2002). This is very encouraging to all employees regardless of talent. When employees are encouraged to speak and act freely they may be more inclined to be creative and take the initiative to improve or to collaborate with leadership in the cultivating and acting on ideas. This is also an important way to learn and therefore develop talent (Galagan and Oakes 2011). As Pahl explains: The triad of self-awareness, self-management and empathy all come together in the final EI ability: relationship management. Managing relationships skilfully boils down to handling other people’s emotions (p. 11). Leaders who lead with motivation and a convincing “vision” demonstrate “inspirational leadership” (Pahl 2008, p. 11). In other words, possessed of emotional intelligence, Wu has the inherent ability to influence the development of talent and to retain talent within his organization. He thus has the ability to generate, build, attract and retain talent by his ability to influence inspiration, innovation and confidence (Pahl 2008). The drive to attract and retain talent is important for the success of any organization. Ultimately, organizations will stand or fall on its talent. The key issues are whether or not Wu and the remainder of the management team at SO are making the correct decisions relative to where to invest finances and human capital and whether or not they have the wherewithal to ensure that the organization is innovative and competitive. Just as important, it is necessary for management to be able to “energize and direct the organization” to retain, generate, build and attract new talent (Silzer and Dowell 2008, p. 3). The fact is, SO already has the key leadership qualities necessary for retaining and attracting talent in market where human capital is fiercely competitive. Emotional intelligence as previously noted is comprised of significant elements and dimensions that have the capacity to generate confidence and innovation, both requisites for retaining and attracting talent. However, as a leader, WU may be busy and thus insulated to such an extent that employees are not coming into direct contact with him and are therefore not consistently influenced by his emotional intelligence (Meredith 2008). Recommendations As a result of the difficulties associated with coming into direct contact with leaders, the following recommendations are made so that SO capitalizes on its CEO’s emotional intelligence for the purpose of retaining and attracting talent: To start with, SO is a knowledge intensive organization with its emphasis on quality products and innovation. Therefore in order to attract new talent, SO needs to hire specifically for knowledge rather than simply for a specific job (Vaiman and Vance 2008). In other words, SO should start hiring for “knowledge gaps” as opposed to “job gaps” (Vaiman and Vance 2008, p. 42). Secondly, emphasis should be placed on retaining those employees who have demonstrated an ability to continually learn and to make contributions to the organizations on a long-term basis. These employees will be more encouraged to remain with the organization if they are prioritized. This is especially important since these employees are willing to develop the necessary talent or to build on the talent that they already have. Employees who have little or no interest in the organization or in learning continuously are less valuable to the organization. Thus resources and attention should be placed on the more valuable employees. Thirdly, SO should ensure that the organization has an atmosphere the “nurtures and supports knowledge acquisition, capture and diffusion” (Vaiman and Vance 2008, p. 43). As Vaiman and Vance (2008) explain: This is necessary both to attract talented workers with needed knowledge and to ensure once hired, the talented workers have the motivation and opportunity to apply their knowledge for the benefit of the organization (p. 43). More importantly, the talented employees already on staff, are motivated and have the opportunity to use their knowledge. If talented employees are suppressed or held back, they will be more likely to leave for other jobs. The risk of leaving is heightened by the mere fact that there is a high demand for talent that is disproportionate to the supply of talent. Finally and more importantly, Wu should take steps to ensure that he is personally available to his staff so that they can be influenced by his emotional intelligence. It is not enough that he meets weekly with other management. He needs to ensure that he meets regularly with other staff members particularly those who have been identified as talented or have potential. He may not be able to meet with all the employees but he should be available to all of them at some point throughout the year. In the meantime, funds and resources should be allocated to training and education so that all staff members will have the opportunity to develop talent. References Coleman, D. (1998). Working With Emotional Intelligence. New York, NY: Bantam Dell. Coleman, D.; Boyatzis, R. and McKee, A. (2002). Primal Leadership: Realizing the Power of Emotional Intelligence. Boston, MA: Harvard Business School Press. Galagan, P. and Oakes, K. (2011). The Executive Guide to Integrated Talent Management. Danvers, MA: ASTD Press. Meredith, C. L. The Relationship of Emotional Intelligence and Transformational Leadership. Ann Arbor, MI: ProQuest Information and Learning Company. Pahl, N. (2008). The Role of Emotional Intelligence in Leadership. Nordestedt, Germany: GRIN Verlag. Pierce, J. L. and Newstrom, J. W. (2002). Leaders and the Leadership Process: Readings, Self-Assessments and Applications. New York, NY: McGraw-Hill. Silzer, R. F. and Dowell, B.E. (2010). Strategy-Driven Talent Management: A Leadership Imperative. San Francisco, CA: Jossey-Bass. Vaiman, V. and Vance, C. (2008). Smart Talent Management: Building Knowledge Assets for Competitive Advantage. Glos. UK: Edward Elgar Publishing Limited. Read More