Global Talent Management by Collings and Mellahi - Article Example

How the talent management issues reported in the article by Collings and Mellahi are relevant to the field of International Human Resource ManagementContents Contents 2 Executive Summary 3 Background of article 3 Key issues from article 4 Alternative strategies 7 Recommendation 8 Conclusion 9 References 11 Executive Summary The concept of talent management has been of interest to many academicians and practitioners but it still is in its early stage of development. One of the main limitations of talent management is that there is lack of clear definition along with clearly defined boundaries. This report discusses about a strategic talent management model and provides key insights into a number of areas of talent management so that mangers can focus on these issues whenever they face problem regarding talent management. Background of article The article discusses about the importance of talent management issues within the organisation. This article places more emphasis on talent management which represents a huge shift from more traditional human resources towards the management of talent which is specifically suited for dynamic competitive environment. There is huge debate regarding the conceptual boundaries of talent management. Firstly talent management is an important issue of human resource management. There have been many studies in this respect where focuses have been put on important HR practices like leadership development, recruitment, succession planning and the like. There are have been many streams of thought about the talent management issues and few have focussed on important issues which have the potential of making a significant impact on the competitive advantage of the firm. The article looks at the theoretical model of strategic talent management. The model deals with the various techniques used in identifying key pool of talents from where the company can source important resources as well as various techniques used for motivating the workforces which will ultimately improve the firm performance. There are three important parts within the strategic talent management model. These include identification of pivotal talent positions, developing a talent pool and creating differentiated HR architecture. Thus the entire focus of the article has been in developing a strategic talent management system which will have a positive impact on individual and organisational level outcomes (Kumar and Shani, 2012 100) Key issues from article The article focuses on developing an effective strategic talent management activity which can help the organisation achieve their goals. In today’s dynamic and complex environment many multinationals have the difficult task of managing a global workforce which will be an asset to the company. The concept of talent management has been looked at from different perspectives. First it was thought that talent management was simply another human resource management activity. This view is limited and it does not include the large talent management area present. The second view stresses on the development of talent pools by focusing on staffing and managing the employees. Here at least the concept of Human resource management is differentiated from the talent management. It recognises the two vast fields and its application. The third view places importance on managing the talented people. This view stresses on the need to classify all the roles within the organisation as “a performer”, “poor performer” etc. There has been emergence of fourth view which is mainly discussed in the article. It stresses on the identification of key positions within the organisation which can have an impact on the competitive advantage of the company. Hence the main point with this view is identification of important positions instead of talented individuals (Collings and Kamel, 2009 304) Thus talent management deals with lot of issues like identification of key positions which can have a significant impact on the competitive advantage of the firm, development of talent pool, recognising the high performing incumbents, and filling the those roles with such high performing individuals. The strategic talent management model discusses three key activities. First activity is identification of key talent positions. According to Huselid and Becker (2006), companies should adopt top-down approach indicating that if the employees are able to contribute towards the strategic objectives then they have strategic value in them. Thus it is recognized that the main importance should be given to the job (Lewis and Robert, 2006 139). According to Huselid and Becker, organisations must identify job positions which have the potential of contributing towards organisational strategic intent. Ramstad and Boudreau (2005) differentiated between job role which will have an average and marginal impact from those having huge impact. Second activity for an organisation is to develop a talent pool. The organisation needs to recruit ahead of the curve and identification of key positions which are available for them. But the employees can become delusional if such high performing employees are appointed in tiles with limited scope for applying their skills. The organisation needs to maintain a balance between demand and supply of talents so that they don’t face boundaryless careers. The organisation should try to source talent internally as well as externally. The organisation should try to reduce the risk of mismatch between employees and skills. With external talent source it is possible to recruit high performing individuals from the labour market (Lance and Berger, 2004). According to Arthur (1994) the organisational effectiveness can be increased by enhancing their career movements across many organisations. Again hiring experienced candidates is helpful for the organisations since they are pre-trained and pre-socialised in doing similar tasks in other organisations. Cappelli (2008) argued that the talent pool should focus on mitigating the risk associated with events they face in their pivot positions. Organisations should try to combine the external recruitment with internal development to meet the goals of the organisation and reduce the waste of resources. Organisation must try to develop talent keeping in mind entire business rather than developing them according to specific roles (Axelrod, Ed and Handfiled 2001, 11). Next the organisation should try to create a differentiated HR architecture. Many researchers like Tsui, Porter, Pearce and Tripoli (1997) have understood the importance of developing a differentiated HR architecture to meet the needs of specific worker groups so that they can contribute to organisational performance. Many organisations have been known to employ multiple HR systems catering to different types of employees like managerial and non-managerial. Snell and Lepak (1999) emphasised that there should be specific HR systems for different types of situations and it depends on the value of worker skill and their contribution to the company. Snell and Lepak (2002) classified four types of HR systems. First is job-based employment where the workers have strategic value but low uniqueness. The Second is Knowledge based employment where the employees are both unique and valuable and thus contributes to the strategic objectives of the company. The Third is contract work where the workers are not unique and important. The fourth is partnership or alliances. These workers though are unique have low strategic value to the company. Hence there are different resource allocations and HR strategies for different types of workers. Again organisations deploy different types of resources based on the strategic importance of the employees. The fourth part of the strategic talent management model is Outcomes. Here organisation undertakes various techniques for motivating the employees to achieve organisational goals. In this regard the AMO framework has become critical one with respect to HRM-performance link. According to AMO framework the performance of the employees (P) is a function of motivation (M), employees’ ability (A) and opportunity (O). Motivation is a set of energetic forces which originates from within the employee and outside the employee regarding the organisational environment. The basic premise of the AMO model is based on the idea that the interests if the organisation is fulfilled if the organisation takes care of the needs of employees namely motivation, skill requirements and the quality of their job. Motivation plays an important role in connecting the strategic talent management and firm performance. Alternative strategies It is important for an organisation improve its talent management structure to improve its market share and defend the current position. Thus it is important for organisation to do more with fewer resources through proper talent management system put in place. With improvement of technology the traditional barriers are breaking down and new production methods are coming up to support increasing demand from the customers. Thus it is important for the top leaders to give priority to talent acquisition. An organisation should go for internal development of employees through various development and training programs to improve their competencies. The acquired or identified talent needs to go through structured development program. Talent development programs should be integrated with training and education. These programs should include developmental job projects and assignments, coaching and mentoring from seniors, formalized performance, and work redesign. The company should focus on talent development efforts by taking few steps. These include ensuring clear link between work and development program and scheduling regular meetings to ensure that things progress well. Organisation needs to identify specific opportunities for their employees so that they can apply them accordingly. The organisation needs to agree and discuss on the expected outcomes of these development programs which are in line with the talent requirements for the position, include rewards for employee achievement and try to conduct a post review session to identify aspects which were good according to the employees and areas which require further improvements. The next step for the organisation is retention of talent management. The company should make effort for retaining talent given the investment and effort given by the company in identifying and developing them. Organisation need to understand that the needs of individual vary with changing situation and times. The satisfaction of the employee change with change in job, but the organisation needs to make leaving the organisation difficult for talents. Hence organisation needs to employ talent retention strategy and make specific plans for creating a total retention package which is valuable to their talent pool. Recommendation Organisation should look at talent management as a specialised area other than traditional HR. Organisations need to make the give importance to all the aspects of strategic talent management model. Organisation should try to identify key positions within organisation which affect organisational performance. Next Organisation should identify talent pool both from internal and external source. But more stress should be put on retaining the talent. Organisation should try to focus on factors which affect employee turnover and retention. Companies need to understand that organisational commitment is an important bridge between organisational performance and talent management. Thus companies should try to develop organisational commitment within their talent which acts as a positive association between organisational performance and talent management. Organisation should give importance to extra-role performance which is reinforces the association between organisational performance and talent management. Organisation should focus on employee relevant benefits package and employee and leadership engagement. The organisation should put focus on providing flexible benefits in areas where it can manage and ensure that the value from such programs outweighs cost incurred to them. Organisation should try to develop transformational leaders which share same visions as that of the employees and lead change from the front. Such leaders should be knowledgeable and involved with the employees and help the employees develop trust and integrity within them, increase their performance level and motivate them for engagement and commitment. Further organisation should not downplay the importance of competitive compensation for key talents. During economic downturns where talents are a scare resource, organisations need to reconsider their pay package for compensating such employees. The pay package should be based on what they contribute to the organisation. Special incentives like long term incentives like grants and stock options and retention bonuses should be provided to such employees. Conclusion Majority of the business leaders believe that identification of right talent is crucial to the success of an organisation. Talent management is still in its infancy stage and lot needs to be understood by organisation to effectively implement it in their organisation. It is a specialised stream which is different from traditional Human resource management. The article discusses about the strategic talent management model which is provides features important for talent acquisition and retention. Organisation needs to first identify positions within the organisation which have the potential to impact the performance of the employee. After that focus should be on filling those key positions. Finally the organisation should support the above stages with a differentiated HR architecture to achieve organisational goals. References Axelrod, Beth, Michaels, Ed and Jones, Helen Handfiled. 2001. “Talent Management: A Critical Part Of Every Leader’s Job,” Ivey Business Journal, no. 2 (1): 11:15. http://iveybusinessjournal.com/topics/strategy/talent-management-a-critical-part-of-every-leaders-job#.UzMMZfmSzu8. Collings, David G.and Mellahi, Kamel. 2009. “Strategic talent management: A review and research agenda,” Human Resource Management Review, no. 19 (2): 304:311. http://www.entrepreneurship.ethz.ch/education/lectures/dm/DM.ST12/HRM_ABB_Article_Collings_2009.pdf. Kumar, M.Surya and Shani, N. 2012. “Strategic Talent Management,” International Journal of Management, no. 3 (3): 100:104. http://www.iaeme.com/MasterAdmin/UploadFolder/STRATEGIC%20TALENT%20MANAGEMENT/STRATEGIC%20TALENT%20MANAGEMENT.pdf. Lance A., Berger and Dorothy R., Berger. 2004. The Talent Management Handbook. New Delhi: Tata McGraw-Hill Education. Lewis, Robert E. and J. Heckman, Robert J. 2006. “Talent management: A critical review,” Human Resource Management Review, no. 16 (2): 139:146. doi: 10.1016/j.hrmr.2006.03.001 Read More