The Advantages and Issues Related to Talent Management - Research Paper Example

The Advantages and Issues Related to Talent Management Table of Contents Introduction 2 Definition 2 Background 4 Shifting Roles of HR 5 Stage 1: Personnel Department 5 Stage 2: Strategic HR 6 Stage 3: Talent management 7 Objectives of Talent Management 9 Talent Management Strategies 11 Advantages of Talent Management 12 Issues of Talent Management 12 Authority and Power 13 Importance of Employee Relations 14 References 15 Introduction As quoted by W. J. Rothwell ‘People are our organization’s greatest asset', holds true in every aspect of a business (Weiss, 2012). According to the author employees of the organization plays an indispensible role towards the growth and success of an organization. Increasing importance of employees has laid human resource management as one of the crucial functions of the organization (Centrorisorse, n.d.). The new age of business has been witnessing revolutionary changes in the field of employee management. Nowadays demand of HR professionals has been like never before. Presently an HR plays a multi dimensional role (Turner, 2003, p.10-11). They are responsible for identifying the potential candidates and also build relevant strategies in order to contribute efficiently towards the process of achieving organizational goals. Hence in order to survive the ‘war of talent’ it becomes the responsibility of HR department to attract, motivate and retain the best employees of the organization. The next half of the report will offer insights about talent management. While doing so, the report will also offer some examples of the companies that practices Talent management. Furthermore it will also emphasize on the issue of changing paradigm of HR. Apart from that the report will also shed light on the advantages and issues related to talent management. Definition Talent management can be defined as the process, by which an organization develops and integrates new employees, retain the present work force, and also attract skilled employees to work for them (Armstrong, 2008, p.168). The process of attracting and keeping the skilled workers within the system of the organizations is getting extremely difficult. There has been an increased competition between the firms to get hold of skilled employees. For the strategic importance, it is commonly termed as ‘the war for talent’. Although strong competition is the key towards the success and development of market, but organizations have failed in their efforts to identify the exact reason behind performing employees leaving the organization. According to a study conducted by Branham, he stated that the biggest reason behind a performing employee leaving the organization is due to the failure from the part of organizations to bring a steadiness between the level of performance and compensation offered. However HR experts highlight that with the right blend of job profile and talent, an individual can exhibit superior performance. Figure 1 (Source: IMCUSA, 2008) Background The concept of talent management has emerged during the early 1990s. With the passage of time more and more organizations have adopted it. Organizations realized that the skills and expertise of their employees are the factors which highly contribute towards the success of an organization. The rationale behind companies incorporating talent management into their system is for solving the issues pertaining to employee retention. Nowadays most of the companies spends huge amount of money and effort towards for attracting new employees. However on the contrary organizations spend little effort and time to retain and develop the employees. Hence talent management system must be incorporated into the core business strategy and put into practice as a regular process. The basic functions of the management are to attracting best candidates, diminishing employee turnover, and to enhance the performance of the employees (Taylor, 2005, p.1). It cannot be left only to the Human Resource Department (HRD) to attract and retain the work force and rather it should be practiced in all the levels of the organization. Therefore the business strategy should be to focus on the development of the employees and to increase their efficiency. For instance line managers can be given the responsibility of developing the skills of the group members working under him/her. Also each division of an organization must share information with other departments in order to help the staff members to gain knowledge about the principal objective of the organization. An organization that focuses on developing the talent of the staff member and develops methods to manage and track talent of their employees does the following: - To attract and recruit qualified candidates those have competitive backgrounds. Defining competitive salaries. Providing training and development opportunities to employees. Managing the performance level of the candidates. Initiate various employee retention programs. To look after the promotion and transitioning of the employees (Tomar, 2009, p.120). There are different terms used for Talent Management. Some of them include Human Capital Management (HCM), HRMS (Human Resource management System), and HRIS (HR Information System). Shifting Roles of HR There have in drastic changes in the process of human resource management from the past few years. The evolution from being a mere personnel management to talent management needs a special mention and is also important in the history of human resource management. Within a span of 35-40 years the techniques of human resources management have witnessed colossal changes. Now in order to present the scenario more evidently, the next half of the report will discuss about the stages of evolution of corporate HR. Stage 1: Personnel Department The concept of personnel development was initiated in the early 1970s. In this era the business functions which was associated with the company’s dealing with it manpower, was known to as personnel department. The primary function of this department was to recruit new employees, look after the remuneration, and to ensure employees receive obligatory and necessary benefits. In addition to this other functions such as batch payroll systems were also developed in this phase. With such advancements, personnel department became a well identified business element. Stage 2: Strategic HR The concept of strategic HR was developed in the early year 1980s. In this decade, organizations have understood that the function of an HR department was as essential as the other departments of the organization. With the concepts of strategic HR, the importance of HR within an organization further increased to a new level. In this phase the general functions of an HR department were as follows:- Recruitment of the right candidate Providing orientation classes and training Designing the Job roles of each department Designing the organizational structure Development of a total compensation package that includes different benefits, bonuses (Unpan, n.d.). To serve as the first point of contact for the employees. To develop various strategies. Figure 2 (Source: Sampleletter, n.d.) Stage 3: Talent management With the transformation of business environment and as it started to become more dynamic, organizations employed talent management into their system of operations. In context with the role of HR in organizations this era is termed as talent management. However the importance of HR as a strategist continues to grow. From the inception of talent management, apart from being a strategist, HR department has to perform other set of operations as well. The traditional functions of talent management department are illustrated below:- To look after the process of ‘competency based’ recruitment, rather than sorting only one resume at a time. The primary intention is to enhance the effectiveness and efficiency of the recruitment process. To ensure sustainable development of the organization, by formulating various strategies pertaining to sustainability. To identify skill gaps among the employees and quickly addressing it to the employees. Also offering the solution is a part of the process (Bersin, 2006). To manage the workforce in such a way that everybody within the organization is held accountable and also gets remunerated fairly. Apart from the aforementioned function, a number of other tasks need to be accomplished by the talent management department. However in order to initiate some of the activities, the department needs full support of the upper level management. For instance to ensure sustainability within the organization, assistance from the senior executives as well as support from the CEO is highly desirable. Moreover these days organizations are have also initiated other programs such as succession planning, performance management system and succession planning system. Such systems also need approval from the higher authority. Figure 3 (Source: Bersin, 2006) Objectives of Talent Management In the 21st century management of talent from the part of an organization has become a pivotal function. Skilled employees are considered as assets to the organization. Hence organizations are focusing more and more towards the management of its talents. The common tasks are as follows:- Recruitment: - It is the duty of modern talent management department to ensure talented candidates are recruited by the organization. Employee Development: - HR department is also liable to offer training to the employees for the purpose of enhancing their leadership and managerial skills. It also ensures a steady flow of potential managers within the organization. Also it organizes specialized training programs for the existing leaders for further developing their skills and expertise. Employee Retention: - Retaining the best people of the organization has become a common issue. The traditional techniques of employee retention are failing at times, as retention is overcoming the preconceptions of management. Hence a new set of employee retention program has been developed by the talent management department. Some of the new techniques are implementing reward system, setting a transparent benchmark for promotion, offering benefits and also to ensure motivation and satisfaction among the employees. Performance management: - One of the fundamental tasks of the talent management department is to look after the performance of employees. During the process of employee appraisal it plays an important role. Furthermore it ensures effective and efficient performance from the employees. Some of the modern techniques include feedbacks from the supervisors and subordinates, setting benchmarks and comparing with that, 360 degree appraisal method etc. Planning the workforce: - This is probably the most important function i.e. to plan the workforce of the organization. It includes planning for the existing workforce, and the new set of workforce which will be required by the organization in the near future. Apart from the recruitment of new workforce and maintain existing workforce, some companies also focuses upon the diversity of workforce. To cite an instance IBM, the technology giant has the largest diversified workforce of world. The company maintains its workforce diversity in the form of demographics. Culture: - Culture plays a major role towards the success of an organization. A sound organizational culture adds to the satisfaction level of employees. Therefore the HR department is focused upon the development of a positive and progressive culture within the organization. Furthermore work culture together with diversity some time acts as a core competency of the organizations. The most imperative task is to identify the potential employees or staffs that acts as an asset to the organization by portraying their skills and talents. Nonetheless it is also not necessary that in order to be a vital member of the organization he/she has to belong from the upper management. There have been instances where we find that a number of employees at low level offer high value to the firm. However, with the course of time organizations have been able to gauge the importance of every employee. Talent Management Strategies Talent management strategy is divided into 4 phases. Most of the organizations which practices talent management follow the same strategy. The phases are: - 1. Attract Talent: - In this aspect HR department designs a sound talent management system. The primary functions include offering unbiased recognition and reward, providing proper training and developing positive and flexible working environment. Furthermore effective appraisal system and high end research facilities helps to attract talent. 2. Keep talent: - Keeping the talent is also another area of concern. Organizations keep talented employees into their system to get benefitted for longer period of time. It can be achieved by offering right job for the right employee, maintain superior employee relations, compensating to the best possible extent. 3. Manage Talent: - Talent can be managed by taking various measures. For instance establishing a sound communication system, employees can address their issues to the higher authority. This in turn helps in increasing the level of employee satisfaction. Apart from that management can be also carried out by performing various analyses, setting goals, and also by taking remedial actions when necessary. 4. Identify Talent: - Organization should understand the present set of talents prior to the process of hiring others. Nonetheless talents can be identified using talent tools, scorecard entries and tests. Advantages of Talent Management Talent management offers a number of advantages to the firm. It ensures that employees of the organization hold the required skills and knowledge to face any kind of situations. It strengthens the capabilities of the organization by enhancing the knowledge, skills, and expertise of the employees. This also helps to meet the future needs of the organization. Talent management also helps to develop a group of back up staffs with sound skills and knowledge. Further it will help the organization to meet crisis situation that may arise due to higher employee attrition. Apart from the aforementioned advantages it also offers another set of benefits to the organization. It increases competitive advantage, level of employee satisfaction, productivity of the workers, effectiveness of learning, service levels. It also reduces employee turnover and cost of recruitment program. Issues of Talent Management Some of the issues related with the function of talent management are described below:- Talent management is always a motivating factor for the talented and skilled personnel. While it is de-motivating factor for others. It generates difficulties in the process of hiring proper employee as it is difficult to find talented employees in every single unit of the organization. It raises the cost of training and development. It grooms the employee to become the future leader of the organization. In this process organizations spend substantial amount of money. However if the employee leaves the company in the midway. It causes huge financial setbacks. It gives rise to the possibility of the employees to lose motivation and or even leave the organization if the job profile do not suit the candidates need. Authority and Power Authority gives rise to power. Power is defined as the capability of a person or a group that influences the actions and beliefs of other people (Cambridge Dictionaries Online, n.d.). Hence power can be referred to as a tool to influence and direct others. Power can be either personal or legitimate. Personal power comes in the form of expert knowledge or through personality. For example personal power is exhibited by professionals such as doctor, engineer, lawyer, actors, singers etc. While on the other hand legitimate power is developed through the official position. This is also referred to as the power that has been provided to an individual from the higher authority to administer a group of employees. Authority on the other hand is the supremacy given to a manager in order to achieve the organizational goals (Cambridge Dictionaries Online, n.d.). Hence it is also known as the process to get things done from other by employing command. Through the use of authority managers holds the power of taking decision, ordering the subordinates, and also to monitor their performance through effective techniques. In context with the talent management program, power and authority does play a substantial part. Through the use of power and authority sometime a manager develops the skills of the subordinates. Also at times employees feel to skip the training sessions, and through the deployment of legitimate power, such issues can be easily resolved. Importance of Employee Relations Each and every employee at the workplace shares some kind of relationship with the colleagues. Also an individual cannot work alone in a workplace, as employees may get de-motivated on working in an isolated place. Therefore having a group of employees is important for an organization. Likewise relationship among the employees is also important for efficient and productive outcome. Employee relations are important in a workplace for the following reasons: There are certain phases and issues when an individual faces difficulties to make a decision on their own. In such scenarios employee relation may play a decisive role. Work also becomes easier if it is being shared among a group of individuals. Also with better employee relation, an individual can work happily. It also gives motivation to the employees as they feel the support of others. Most important from the organizational perspective, healthy relationship among the employees hugely reduces conflicts. Besides conflict is a major issue in every organization. In this aspect, to maintain a healthier relationship among the workers, HR department cooperates to a large extend. An HR professional helps to unite the employees together by undertaking certain activities. Activities such as small get-togethers, celebration etc. adds to the betterment of employee relation. Apart from that there are various other techniques which are employed by the human resource department to ensure healthy employee relation. References Armstrong, M., 2008. Strategic Human Resource Management: A Guide to Action. 4th ed. London: Kogan Page Publishers. Bersin, J., 2006. Talent Management: What is it? Why now? [pdf] Available at: [Accessed 22 August 2012]. Cambridge Dictionaries Online, No Date. Authority. [Online] Available at: [Accessed 22 August 2012]. Cambridge Dictionaries Online, No Date. Power. [Online] Available at: [Accessed 22 August 2012]. Centrorisorse, No Date. The Human Factor in the Current Business Environment. [Online] Available at: < http://www.centrorisorse.org/the-human-factor-in-the-current-business-environment.html#> [Accessed 22 August 2012]. IMCUSA, 2008. IMC DFW Management Consultants Forum - Strategic Talent Management. [Online] Available at: [Accessed 22 August 2012]. Sampleletter, No Date. Sample Interview Questions: Human Resource Management. 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