Talent Management Program in the Bank of America - Case Study Example

Bank of America Case Study The Talent Management Program Talent management refers to the set of numerous integrated Human Resource activities and processes that are designed to ensure that the productive and engaged employees are motivated, developed and retained within an organisation (Lewis & Heckman, 2006). It remains one of the key elements which are utilised by organisations seeking to achieve their strategic goals. The fundamental objective of the talent management program is creating high-performance organisations which are capable of meeting operational and strategic goals and objectives. The process of talent management involves numerous activities and processes that are undertaken by the human resource to ensure the organisation gets the best out of every employee. The bank of America has effectively developed a talent management program which has been applied in improving the organisational performance to enable the growth that has been achieved. The bank has utilised various processes in the talent management programme which includes the following. Recruiting This refers to the process of attracting and hiring the key talents required by the organisation for current and future needs. The Bank of America has adopted a recruitment policy which is mainly based on competency which is assessed during the interviewing process for the qualified candidates. The recruitment process at the bank is an intensive activity that seeks to assess the key competencies of the candidates. This is mainly aimed at ensuring that they are able to meet the demands of the particular job for which the candidates are being interviewed. The skills of the people being recruited are aligned with the strategic goals of the organisation in seeking to establish their capability to fit into the system easily. Objective metrics The company has clearly defined the organisational objectives and goals that all employees must remain committed towards achieving. These objectives form a significant part of the key parameters defining the roles which employees perform. These objectives have been communicated to the management and the other top level employees as a way of ensuring they are on the frontline in committing to the company. The objectives that have been set are utilised in determining the roles of different employees within the organisation. Based on the objectives which have been defined, various other elements of the job are also determined including the evaluation of employee performance. Leadership development Different forms of training have been developed with the purpose of developing the capabilities of employees in order to improve their performance. The bank undertakes various intentional goal driven activities focusing on the management in seeking to enhance their leadership skills. This development of management has resulted in the organisation establishing an effective leadership which has enabled the organisation to achieve the current level of growth. The quality of leadership within the organisation has been enhanced by changing the attitudes and abilities of the top level employees who perform leadership roles and related responsibilities. The bank has been extensively involved in a process of establishing training goals and plans that are utilised in planning for such elements like goal attainment and succession planning. On-boarding This has been the most extensively applied approach within the bank and this has been emphasised at the management level in seeking to ensure the newly recruited managers become quickly acclimated to the organisation (Schuler, Jackson, & Tarique, 2011). The CEO of the bank has been actively involved in an engaging activity aimed at going beyond the traditional orientation process for new employees. This process of on-boarding is focused on ensuring the policies and procedures which are involved within an organisation become clearly understood by new employees. This has become an instrumental process in the talent management program at the bank since it remains focused mainly on the management level employees. Once they have been undertaken through the process, many of the individuals develop a clear understanding of their functions. This makes them capable of achieving their optimal performance while undertaking those responsibilities. Strengths of Talent Management Program The talent development programme at the Bank of America has been fundamental at ensuring the company achieves the growth objectives which have been established. The implementation and sustainability of the talent management programme remain a core element which has made the organisation be at its current position. There are various aspects of the programme that have resulted in the accomplishment of the organisational goals, and they include the following strengths Retention of talent The effective functioning of any organisation requires the establishment to have employees who have the necessary skills and capabilities to undertake the various functions within the organisation. Attrition within many organisations remains a fundamental challenge to the human resource department (Dessler, 2014). The program has enabled the organisation to retain the top talent within itself. Losing of the best talent to competitors presents the bank with the risk of losing market share and failing to achieve the development and growth objectives that have been established. The organisation has remained focused at charting employee retention and adopting strategies for recruiting, retaining and engaging quality people within the organisation. Improved professional development decisions Through the talent management programme the organisation gets to understand the high potential that it holds, making it relatively easier to invest in the process of professional development. In seeking to make such investments, there is need for the organisation to make decisions regarding the training goals and objectives for the betterment of the individuals (Vaiman, Scullion, & Collings, 2012). The professional development of employees allows the organisation to be able to achieve the desired growth through improvement in their performance. Better hiring The element of quality within an organisation is defined by the quality of the workforce that the organisation possesses. Through the talent management program, better hiring approaches can be utilised within an organisation. This ultimately results in the bank having quality workforce capable of meeting the requirements of the organisation and achieving the various organisational objectives (Lewis & Heckman, 2006). The talent which the organization has within its employees is as a result of the recruitment processes that are effective and enables the organisation to have the right people performing the right jobs. Opportunities for improvement While the talent management program adopted by the Bank of America has been significant in improving the performance of the entire organisation, there are still some opportunities upon which the program can be improved. The bank has been highly dependent on the on-boarding process in ensuring they achieve sufficient results through the talent management program. The organisation can consider undertaking the following approaches in seeking to improve the current program The bank should ensure the management is actively involved in the program in order to encourage other employees and motivate them as well. This would involve ensuring that whenever there is a recruitment session for various employees, some of the high ranking management employees are present as the process is being conducted (Schuler et al., 2011). Ensuring the managers establish formal mentorship relationships with the employees in order to tap into the expertise of the new hires while enabling them to learn from the bank employees. It would be essential to ensure that the people selected to guide newcomers possess the right skills and have the time and interest to undertake the mentorship. When the programme has been completed and employees have become fully acclimated to the new working environment, it would be critical to undertake a follow-up of the individuals who have been on probation. This would involve managers seeking feedback through questions in order to establish any challenges encountered by the new employees during the period. Feedback would be able to pinpoint flows within the system for changes to be implemented accordingly (Dessler, 2014). Meeting future talent management challenges Other than the approach that is currently utilised by the organisation, the future talent management challenges can be overcome through the following approaches Productivity improvement approach This would include conducting activities which are aimed at improving the productivity of employees within the organisation. These would include Work flexibility by providing employees with the options of having a flexible working shift Identification of the bad and ineffective managers within the organisation as they are impediments to productivity due to their ineffectiveness in undertaking their responsibilities. Ensuring that there is an increased emphasis on the management of factors which increase productivity within an organisation like continuous learning, variable rewards and motivations, employee skills and many others Removing elements which have been assessed and determined to be barriers to productivity within an organisation. Leveraging on providing non-monetary motivations within the organisation Strategic talent management approach This would involve conducting activities which are aimed at aligning the talent management with the strategy of the organization (Collings & Mellahi, 2009). It would include the following aspects Ensuring the talent management approaches which are adopted offer solutions which the managers within the organisation expect. Rewarding managers for effective and efficient people management since it is a key motivating factor which increases performance Continuously conducting workforce assessment within the different business units in order to identify the understaffed and overstaffed units. Gathering authentic stories form employees and then publishing them of the social media networks. These could have a significant effect in helping people understand the stories of ordinary people doing extraordinary things, consequently improving the company reputation. References Collings, D. G., & Mellahi, K. (2009). Strategic talent management: A review and research agenda. Human Resource Management Review, 19(4), 304–313. Dessler, G. (2014). Human Resource Management (14th ed.). New Jersey: Prentice Hall. Lewis, R. E., & Heckman, R. J. (2006). Talent management: A critical review. Human Resource Management Review, 16(2), 139–154. Schuler, R. S., Jackson, S. E., & Tarique, I. (2011). Global talent management and global talent challenges: Strategic opportunities for IHRM. Journal of World Business, 46(4), 506–516. Vaiman, V., Scullion, H., & Collings, D. (2012). Talent management decision making. Management Decision, 50(5), 925–941.  Read More