Talent Management In Abu Dhabi Aircraft Technologies - Essay Example

? Dissertation Proposal Table of Contents Table of Contents 2 1 Talent Management 3 2 Problem ment 4 1.3 Research Aim 4 1.4 Research Objectives 5 1.5 Research Questions 5 2.0 Literature Review 6 2.1 Talent and Talent Management 6 2.2 Advantages and Disadvantages of Talent Management 7 3.5 Sampling 14 1.0 Introduction 1.1 Talent Management Talent Management is a method that an organisation utilises to acquire and retain workforce that is optimally efficient and productive. The correct utilisation of talent management gives companies a competitive advantage in production, fully utilises an organisation’s workforce and ultimately results in an increase in market value for the company. Clearly defining the extent of each employee’s role in various company activities is just one of the ways Talent Management helps to accomplish that objective. Surprisingly, organisations have only just begun to embrace models of Talent Management as a means to reaching goals and objectives. This proposal will explore the current model of Talent Management, exploring its advantages, processes, and objective. Since 1987, Gulf Aircraft Maintenance Company (GAMCO), renamed Abu Dhabi Aircraft Technologies (ADAT) in 2007, has through the investment of the Abu Dhabi government, become the largest provider of aircraft maintenance, repair and overhaul (MRO) in the Middle East. It serves not only the Gulf Region and other parts of Middle East but also attracts customers for Africa, North America and Asia. ADAT’s operation has garnered approval from many certificates on Authorities including local, European and American ones, provides the following services in-house and remotely on site: 1) Airframe Services; 2) Component Services; 3) Engine Services; 4) Technical Services; 5) Technical Training & 6) Material & Management Supply. In combination with major United Arab Emirates government defence contracts, its principle activities include the sale and support for missile defence, commercial jetliners, satellites, military aircraft, and human space flight to Etihad Airlines and various international carriers operating to and from more than 50 international airports worldwide. In this case study will analyse Talent Management in Abu Dhabi Aircraft Technologies (ADAT). 1.2 Problem Statement Due to the highly competitive nature of the aviation industry the need for Abu Dhabi Aircraft Technologies (ADAT) to employ a team that can expand its technical and management team is immense. The challenge; therefore, becomes can ADAT adopt effective strategies that will not only enable them to attract, but also maintain the right talent. As likely surmised, the right talent is paramount to maintaining a competitive advantage in both new and existing markets. 1.3 Research Aim This study aims to analyze the Talent Management process in Abu Dhabi Aircraft Technologies and to make recommendations for improvement. One of the largest--if not the largest--cost to a company generally involves compensation for its workforce. Proportionately, effective analysis of the process of recruiting and hiring employees will pay dividends in providing insight to areas of improvement. Studies have shown that a high standard of performance from employees positively correlates with a high performance from the company (Peter 2008). Unfortunately, only a handful of companies are able to achieve that goal (Peter 2008). Leading to the questions of how to handle that limited supply of talent, how to procure it, and how to maintain it. The company that figures this out first will ultimately become the leader in their respective field. Bent (2011) argues that available professionals within the aviation industry are declining substantially. This is due to procurement by other companies. From previous studies, a multitude of factors affect employee recruitment aside from financial compensation such as development and training, potential for advancement, work environment, relationship with co-workers and boss, recognition, and overall work condition to name a few (Sean and Kleiner 1999). Therefore, understanding the factors listed above will complete one more piece of the puzzle involved in understanding how to attain the most talented workforce by recruiting and retaining employees. 1.4 Research Objectives To effectively tackle this topic of study, this research is governed by the following objectives: i. To define Talent Management and Talent ii. To discuss the process of Talent Management iii. To discuss the advantages and disadvantages of Talent Management iv. To describe the current Talent Management Strategy of Abu Dhabi Aircraft Technologies (ADAT) v. To identify the employee’s perceptions of Talent Management at Abu Dhabi Aircraft Technologies (ADAT) vi. To propose improvement to Abu Dhabi Aircraft Technologies (ADAT) current Talent Management Strategy 1.5 Research Questions 1. What is Talent and Talent Management? 2. How does Talent Management work? 3. Why should organizations have a Talent Management Strategy? 4. What is the current Talent Management Strategy of Abu Dhabi Aircraft Technologies? 5. What are employees’ perceptions on Talent Management at Abu Dhabi Aircraft Technologies? 6. How can the current Talent Management at Abu Dhabi Aircraft Technologies be improved? 2.0 Literature Review 2.1 Talent and Talent Management Talent is a term, which indicates individual competencies in performance of various activities within an organisation (Schwartz and Liakopoulos 2010). Simply put, it is the ability of an individual to possess the desired skills and competencies needed by an organisation. In general, the human resource department is responsible for functions such as recruitment and selection of employees, as well as development and succession of employees. Inevitably, Talent Management will be affected by growth, supply and demand, and the skills of its employees. Having the right model is; therefore, paramount to the success of this chain of events. As stated earlier, Talent Management is a technique that companies adopt in order to ensure that recruitment and retention of the best employees possible is achieved. With the best employees easy to conceive how a company would stand the best chance for success (Laub 1998). Conversely, failure to apply proper talent management technique could put the productivity and ultimately the future of a company at risk (Mihelic and Plankar 2010). Talent Management encompasses many facets of human resources such as attracting, recruiting, training, developing, motivating, and retaining workforce. Effective use of this model has been shown to lead to risk mitigation while simultaneously creating value for the company. The growing need for Talent Management is further exacerbated by the shortage of skill, the aging workforce, and the emergence of globalisation (Schweyer 2004). Haskins and Shaffer (2010) assert that talent building in an organization should not only achieve the results stated above, but should also focus on delivering measurable results such as an organisation performance. To do so the model must be integrated, future focused, and business driven. A somewhat Darwinian philosophy, Schweyer (2004) goes so far as to claim that the capacity of human beings to create value in the operational processes of a company will determine whether that company lives or dies. This human power has been regarded as an intangible asset, which is referred to as human capital. Like any other asset, a company can build its assets by investing time and money into it. In the case of human capital, companies can increase it through the support and the building of their workforce (Sharma, and Bhatnagar 2009). The result is effective performance, attaining and maintaining a competitive edge, innovation, substantial growth, and effective utilisation of one’s environment. Talent itself may be assumed to be a natural resource that with cultivation leads to an increase in capital (human capital that is) and if done correctly results in the success of a company. Even the best talent directed incorrectly; however, does not deliver results. This is because there is more to management of talent than directing talent in order to attain results in an organization. Focusing the talent at the right time and place in order to attain success; therefore, becomes the next challenge. Doing so will certainly pay dividends allowing companies to get a return on their investment. Currently companies face a dynamically changing workforce demographic. Compounded that with the ebb and flow of talent and one can easily see how proper talent management is crucial maintaining an effective and reliable human capital for the organization (Schweyer 2004). 2.2 Advantages and Disadvantages of Talent Management Talent Management is an effective means of attaining a competitive advantage in a company (Vaiman & Vance 2008: 3). Armed with such tools companies are able to create difficult to imitate, rare, and valuable assets; they can also help an organisation really commit to their goals, have excellent innovation, and retain a large pool of resourced employees who have the capacity to improve company performance (McCartney 2010). Correct implementation of talent management helps companies to compete at the highest level with its competitors, and in some cases, it can even be the reason why a company is able to gain market share. The employees’, also known as human capital, are the single most important asset the company has; managing that asset can have a positively influence the success of a company. Even when approached conservatively, Talent Management may lead to inequality among employees. Such a predicament may arise when the Talent Management process itself is flawed. More often than not, disgruntled employees leave the company either for better offers or simply for because poor work conditions. Even with non-disclosure and non-compete clauses in an employees’ job contract they may still be able to leave the company and become a formidable competitor. This downward spiral of events can be simply avoided by having the right model of talent management in place. Talent management is a multifaceted process that relies upon other functions of human resource management (McCartney 2010). 2.3 Talent Management Model Organizations adopt Talent Management models in order to ensure that such organisations have the potential and ability to attain success from their inherent talent (Armitage 2008). This is because Talent Management planning acts as an effective process of business strategy aligning with systems of people in order to improve the effectiveness and performance of human resource function in an organization. Effective Talent Management results in leveraging on the supply chain talent investment. On the other hand, if Talent Management is not used correctly, without active engagement of managers and employees, the initiative results in a reduction of productivity of the organisation, and draining the organisation enthusiasm, energy, and time. As such, success of the Talent Management model is reliant on the ability of Human Resource function in an organisation to align core value drivers of the business with the daily activities of the business. This is because core value drivers are the first steps towards attainment of organisation strategic objectives. (Source: Talent Blueprint LLC, n.d. Talent Management – Today’s Business Imperative. Retrieved from: http://talentblueprint.com/index.php?option=com_content&view=article&id=5&Itemid=6) The above talent management model integrates core systems, which are needed in an organization. These core systems include competency management, career development, succession planning, learning management, and performance management. These systems ensure that the organization has the potential to cultivate existing talent. As such, the organization engages in ‘farming’ instead of ‘hunting’ for the desired skills. This allows an organization to maintain skilled employees for longer, reduce the cost of training, and minimize hiring cycles. Further, the talent model indicates how an organization improves employee engagement. This includes showing employees that they lead to attainment of sustainable results and organization corporate goals. On the same note, the organization is able to outline the performance review strategies for its employees, which include performance appraisals. Finally, an organization has the potential of planning ahead in order to attain success. 3.0 Methodology 3.1 Philosophy Philosophy facilitates in identification of the methodology, which research has to adopt (Midgley 2000). This involves identification of the content, process, knowledge, language, which the research methods have to adopt. According to Chiara (1997), the philosophy of methodology creates room for the researcher to make a judgement on the method, which will be adopted in the research process. This includes stating of the research methods and analyzing these methods. This is because the study focuses on interpretivism paradigm instead of a positivism paradigm. Following the requirement of philosophy of methodology, this study uses a qualitative research method, which will involve the use of interviews to collect data on Talent Management at ADAT. This research approach is classified as inductive research. 3.2 Inductive and Deductive Inductive research is an approach to research, which has a basis on observations. As such, data gathering occurs through observation of the phenomenon of interest. Tentative hypothesis, observation, theory, and pattern are the significant steps, which are involved in inductive research. On the other hand, deductive research involves the approach of using general ideas for the purpose data collection (Richard 2001). These ideas include laws, theories, and principles among others. As such, hypothesis may be formulated during the research process for the purpose of testing the ideas. As stated earlier, this study focuses on using inductive research approach. As such, the study will have an opportunity of generating subjective reasoning that is based on real life examples of Talent Management at ADAT. Further, inductive research approach grants an opportunity to focus more on new ideas, and link between theory and real examples instead of basing the research process on the existing theories or hypothesis. In addition, inductive research approach does not demand pre-determination of theories on information and data collection. This depicts that the approach is flexible. As such, use of this approach in collecting data on Talent Management at ADAT will lead to effective attainment of the study objectives, as well as answering of the research questions. 3.3 Quantitative and Qualitative The most commonly used approaches to research methods include the qualitative and quantitative methods (Rocco et al. 2003). The qualitative approach addresses human or existing social problem. The approach employs the use of enquiry process that has a characterization of establishment of a holistic and complex picture by the use of words (Powell 2004). Further, the approach conducts research in a natural setting and informants provide the raw data that is analysed. On the other hand, quantitative approach aims at theory testing (Creswell 2003). This includes all variables determined by use of numbers. The data gathered finds analysis through the use of available statistical tools for analysis. This study focuses on using qualitative method, which is a subjective research approach, which has a characterization of identification of new knowledge, participation in the fieldwork, and use of the researcher as the key source of primary data. In the research process, the personnel conducting the research aim at getting the meaning of existence of a phenomenon and nature of reality. Moreover, the researchers have limited concerns on the outcomes and have more concerns of the research process. Qualitative method finds use as a descriptive study approached in an inductive manner (Greene and Caracelli 2003). However, the analysis of qualitative data may use statistical tools that aid in making accurate inferences concerning the collected data. Qualitative research method will facilitate in effective identification of various issues related to Talent Management at ADAT. This will occur since during the research process, intensive interaction with sample population, at ADAT, will occur. This will create room for identification of existence of Talent Management, as well as the nature of Talent Management at ADAT. 3.4 Data Collection While conducting research, two methods of data collection are used; primary data collection and secondary data collection methods (Kumar 1999). These data collection methods focus on providing answers to the study’s research questions, as well as facilitating in making of conclusions and recommendations on the research conducted. Primary data collection method may be classified as experimental research, qualitative research, survey research and observation (Sieber 1973). Primary data collection method is characterized of using specific data, which has not been used (Axinn, & Pearce 2006). This data is normally collected as first-hand data. As such, primary data collection is expensive and consumes more time. However, the validity degree of primary research method is high, and accurate and reliable data is obtained while using primary data collection method. On the other hand, secondary research focuses on using data that has been used for other research activities. Such data may be obtained from publications such as government releases, company journals, and market research journals among others. However, this data should have a closer relationship to the research topic. This indicates that secondary data collection method consumes less time and is cheap, but the reliability and credibility degree of the data, which is collected, is low (Yin 2003). As such, this research focuses on using primary data collection method. This is because this method will facilitate in the collection of reliable and accurate data, which will contribute towards answering of the research questions and attainment of the objectives for the research. The selected method of collecting primary data in this research is the interviews method. Interviews are one of the effective means of collecting primary data (Opdenakker 2006). This involves conduction of a discussion or posing open questions with people in order to identify meaning to a social phenomenon. This method enables the researcher to have unlimited access to data and information, which would not have been gathered while using other research methods such as questionnaires and observation. This occurs since the researcher has an opportunity and a chance to dig deeper on issue under consideration in order to seek clarification from the respondent. Interviews have several variations. Classification of interviews is based on the flexibility degree. This includes semi structured, unstructured, and structured interviews (Opdenakker 2006). Interviews are suitable when the researcher wants to gather in-depth information and for complex situations. The application of interviews is wide, and they have a benefit in that questions may be explained. Nevertheless, interviews have a limitation in that they may be biased, they are expensive, they consume time, and their quality relies on the interaction level between the researcher and the respondent. Therefore, the study focuses on using semi-structured interviews as a means of collecting data on Talent Management at ADAT in order to gather adequate and reliable information. Interviews will also enable the study to seek clarification on areas of interest in order to ensure that all the necessary information is accurately determined. 3.5 Sampling This research is focusing on Talent Management in ADAT. The population is License Aircraft Engineers (LAE), a sample of 20 participants will be selected randomly. This sample population will comprise of 20 License Aircraft Engineers (LAE). The selection of 20 participants for this research will be adequate to collect substantial research data, as saturation is expected within this number. The 20 participants sample population will be subjected to interview questions, and this will facilitate in effective collection of data on Talent Management at ADAT. This is because the selected composition of the sample population will be easy to handle and there will be substantial time to conduct research. This sample population represents 7.4% of the total number of License Aircraft Engineers at ADAT. 3.6 Reliability and Validity This study focuses on ensuring that the data, which is collected from the sample population, has an element of reliability, by effectively formulating and structuring the interview questions, which will be used in the research process. This will ensure that these interview questions have covered the research questions in detail, and they have the ability of seeking to identify further information on Talent Management at ADAT. On the other hand, the validity of the study will be ensured through careful selection of the participants in the study. This will occur in the stage of sampling. The selected sample population will then be informed of the necessity of conducting the study through a consent form and information sheet. This will ensure that the population has the ability of developing a positive attitude towards participating in the research process. 4.0 Discussions and Analysis The analysis of the data will involve summarization and classification of individual responses from the interview questions. To do this effectively, the research will use thematic networks. Attride-Stirling (2001) asserts that thematic networks are accurate analytical tools that are used in qualitative analysis in order to identify features. Thematic analysis of the data collected will involve coding of information in order to identify the themes with respect to research questions. The discussion process will involve a consideration of the research objectives and questions in order to validate whether objectives were met and research questions answered. 5.0 Limitations and Scope of the Study This study is focused on Talent Management at ADAT. The study population for the research is Licence Aircraft Engineers in ADAT. As such, the data, which will be collected, will be representative of this selected sample population only. Further, the data will concentrate on the area of Talent Management at ADAT only. Since this study focuses on the use of interviews as data collection method, intimidation of interviewees is one of the ethical issues, which is expected to emerge during the research process. Another limitation is that the participants of this study may fail to provide adequate and reliable data for research. As such, the data, which will be collected, is only based on the perception of this small population. 6.0 Anticipated Problems Effective taking of notes of information from interview respondents is one of the anticipated problems when conducting this study. This is because of the balance needed to listen and write at the same time while ensuring that all the information is effectively captured. Another problem, which may emerge, is the failure for some of the participants to take part in the interview process. This may occur in case such participants become occupied within their job responsibilities and lack time to attend the interview processes. However, this will be mitigated against by providing a consent form and information sheet to all participants of the study. Further, other participants may be encouraged to replace the ones who cannot avail themselves for the interview process. This will ensure that these participants take it as a personal responsibility to attend the interview sessions once they agree and sign on the consent form. Finally, maintaining and running the interviews is expected to be a challenge for this research. Nevertheless, adequate preparations are being made on how to run and maintain interviewing process effectively. This will ensure that the study has the ability and potential to gather the desired data, and it is not challenged by the failure of the interview process to collect adequate and accurate data. Bibliography Axinn, W & Pearce, L, 2006. Mixed Method Data Collection Strategies. 32 Avenue of the Americas, New York: Cambridge University Press. Armitage, A, 2008. 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