Concepts of Employability about How They Influence Talent Management Process in Workplace - Coursework Example

Employability and Talent Management Summary In the recent past, employees considered promotion within the same organization as the best way to make a career. However, developments and changes in the employment patterns have imparted pressure on lifetime employment within the same organization. The condition has facilitated the search for new career concepts and it is a common phenomenon to change employers and professions in the current world. Talent professionals work in an environment characterized by volatility, complexity, uncertainty and ambiguity that require that they have skills of crafting talents if the organizations are to maximize the potential of their workforce. With that, talent entails the potential of an employee to move the organization to positions that are more senior. However, modern definitions have approached talent with inclusivity and without considering the hierarchical concept. Employers consider numerous personal attributes to assess workers’ employability. Talent management entails the process of evaluating the qualities that make up workforce talent. The talent management strategies must ensure long-term talent development and retention. Talent management enables the organizations to meet demands associated with increased complexity. Unfortunately, previous studies on the topic of talent management have not been able to define what requires management. Additionally, employability is fundamental to employee performance and organizational success. Individual employability includes general competence to a particular profession and organization. Employability has a wider coverage than talent and includes institutional, organizational, social and individual dimensions. Finally, different definitions of talent management and employability have enabled development of human resource practices such as training and development. The paper herein analyzes the concepts of employability about how they influence talent management process in a workplace. Furthermore, I will critically examine my current capability levels regarding matching a company’s business requirements. Employability and Talent Management Employability describes the attributes and awareness that a potential employee possesses to secure an employment opportunity within a particular company. The attributes include talent and skills that the employee possesses in a unique blend that differentiates him or her from other employees. More attempts to define employability have hinted at a more holistic approach with emphasis on the impact of the individual characteristics to the labor market conditions (Aicobm et al., 2015, p. 105). The approach considers both the labor demand and supply factors. The managers often look for the personal attributes before deciding on whether or not a potential employee would be of benefit to the company. The managers apply the skills of self-awareness, options awareness, decisional awareness, and transition awareness to evaluate such attributes. Employability plays an essential role in providing information about the labor market in the European Union. Moreover, employability has received numerous definitions depending on different views that the management personnel would offer (Chalofsky, Rocco & Morris, 2014, p. 35). The condition has led to an inadequate understanding of the term, and, therefore, some managers consider employability a buzzword. America has experienced a deficiency of talent in the workplace over the last decades. Organizational leaders strive to find talented workers to replace the retiring baby boomers employees. Conversely, leaders are in a dilemma of how to retain skilled and knowledgeable workers and simultaneously replace over 70 million retirees (Aicobm et al., 2015, p. 107). Companies also face a dilemma of addressing talent management and reformulating strategies in today’s global economy. The current global economy demands every leader to invest in human capital to address the talent shortage. The human resource leaders have worked besides the senior management to attract, hire, develop and retain the desired talents. However, talent shortage affects both the socioeconomic and cultural attributes as talent crosses borders. The socioeconomic challenges consist of aging work force, changing demography, inadequate comprehensive immigration legislation, global security concerns, and outsourcing of jobs. The cultural challenges include the power of labor unions, management style differences and cultural differences from country to country (Chalofsky, Rocco & Morris, 2014, p. 49). The management leaders, therefore, must formulate long-term strategies to achieve long-term stability from the talent management strategies. Besides, the company that appropriately captures and retains talent will remain competitive in the global economy. The companies will not engage in short-term approaches that may result in economic crisis including massive layoffs. Recently, tangible resources including land, equipment and money described the managers’ workplace. Intangibles such as brands, customer loyalty and company image also formed part of the workplace. The managers directed a significant effort towards the efficiency of the two major factors of production, labor and capital. However, the workplace has changed, and the current economy is knowledge based and centered on intellectual capabilities and skills. Organizations have developed an integrated approach to talent management as a core function to ensure productivity, profitability, and growth. The main drivers of talent management include the labor pool, talent retention, risk of self-selection and the effect of hiring on retention. Economic expansion and new job creation have averaged 2.5 percent globally over the last ten years. However, labor shortage still exists and depends on the inevitable pull of demographic and booming economic markets. Economic analysts have expressed fear that the labor force will continue to shrink and hence a consequential decrease in the employability of the individuals. Shrinking labor pool will have a significant effect on the professional, complex technology and service firms drawing labor force from the age groups in the range of 25 to 44. Many firms are already creating a new pool of junior executives to run their firms (Aicobm et al., 2015, p. 106). The junior executives, however, do not possess the adequate skills and talent to manage the firms resources properly. High rates of retirements also limit the labor pool thereby bringing about challenges in keeping the workforce motivated. Talent management largely focuses on attracting, selecting, engaging, developing and finally retaining workers. Demand for human capital continues to drive talent management and the manner in which companies address the situation determines the company’s competitiveness in the labor market. Employability’s main aim and the policy of maintaining and promoting it aimed at achieving full individual employment. However, increasing employment retention shifted from concentrating on factors relating to attitude towards aspects of skills and knowledge. The economy, therefore, necessitates the need for an employee to become as employable as possible (De Vos & Van Der Heijden, 2015, p. 50). Scholars in the field of management began by focusing on the different ways through which companies could cope with the changes faced during workforce selection. Employability therefore aimed at achieving employee flexibility. The history of employability dates back to at least a century. Since then, numerous scholars have generated myriad different definitions most of which consider the attributes and skills that an employee possesses. There are seven versions of the concept of employability as put forth by Gazier. The dichotomic employability emerged in America and the UK in the 20th century. The concept focuses on the opposing sides of employability and un-employability with initial little or no gradation. The employable workers constitute those able and willing to work (Aicobm et al., 2015, p. 108). Conversely, the unemployable workers are those who cannot work and require relief. The concept provided a simplified basis for differentiating the employable from the unemployable individuals. However, the concept has suffered myriad criticisms since many factors such as technological improvement can cause un-employability. Socio- medical employability concept emerged in the 1950s in the United States, Germany, and the UK. The concept focuses on the differences between the current work abilities of mentally, socially and physically challenged people. The concept moreover considers the work requirements of employment. Contextually, new considerations view employability as an alternative to job security (De Vos & Van Der Heijden, 2015, p.53). The idea brings forth the argument that learning methods stimulate entry into the labor market while at the same time ensuring more career possibilities both within and beyond the borders of organizations. The management considers the individual’s ability to fit in both the internal and external labor markets. The managers, therefore, look for such attributes that enable an individual to secure multiple job placements and retain those individuals’ talents. Such workers are often in high demand and higher ranked in the firms they get employed. Labor employability emerged in America in the 1960s and attracted extended discussions of socio- medical aspects to the socially disadvantaged groups. The concept has similar emphasis as the socio- medical version. Flow employability emerged in French sociology literature. The concept focuses on the demand side and the accessibility of employment within local and national economies. The concept defines employability as the probability with which a particular individual looking for a job can find and secure a job. Labor market performance employability has been in use since the 1970s. The concept focuses on the outcomes of the labor market achieved by policy interventions. The results are measurable regarding days employed, payment rates and hours worked. Initiative employability emerged in the North America literature of the 1980s. The concept informs individuals and organizations that successful career development requires skill development that is transferable and flexible to move between job roles (Aicobm et al., 2015, p. 105). The individual must have the onus on workers to develop skills and networks in the workplace. Consequently, their position strengthens when they wish to move. Interactive employability emerged first in North America and then internationally in the late 1980s. The concept maintained an emphasis on individual initiative and acknowledged that employability of individuals and other employees is directly proportional to the opportunities, institutions and rules governing the labor market (De Vos & Van Der Heijden, 2015, p. 46). The role of employers and labor market, therefore, becomes of significant importance in determining an individual’s employability. The above versions of the employability concepts have largely yielded new versions including labor market performance employability, interactive employability, and initiative employability that focuses on individual responsibility. The concept expects employees to take responsibility for their career. Employers would only offer the essential support and resources to enable the employee to expand his or her employability (Lorraine, & Sewell, 2007, p. 80). The concept is an outcome-based approach. Interactive employability focuses on individual adaptation. The concept, however, introduces a collective and interactive priority. Of all the above three versions, the labor market performance employability remains the core component of policy evaluation. Developments in human resource literature have utilized employability as an essential explanatory and descriptive concept considering employer and employee relations not as a model of reciprocity but as involving a form of personal and psychological contract. The aforementioned form of contract provides the individual with a sense of balance between personal time and work. The work is of the form that allows autonomy to attend to specifically defined objectives (Aicobm et al., 2015, p. 109). The autonomy ensures that personal development is possible through consistent learning adding to individual employability. Promotion of employability both within and outside the organization is the key to developing a more flexible and adaptable workforce. An individual with a variety of skills and talents that will attract many employers have higher levels of employability. The concept of interactive employability accepts that employability concerns are overcoming a broad array of barriers to employment that workers face (Hatum, 2010, p. 110). Employability policies should therefore not just focus on individuals but also on the talents and skills that the individuals possess. Presently, applications of employability concepts within the labor market policy lean largely on its self-centered, supply side components. Broader approaches to employability seek to describe the factors affecting individuals journeys in the labor market. Thus, the approaches include factors affecting a person’s ability to get or take a job. The abilities include personal factors such as lack of appropriate skills and improper institutional infrastructures such as suitable childcare or means of transport (Andresen & Nowak, 2014, p. 38). Additionally, the approaches include demand labor factors that involve employer preferences such as discrimination or availing only shift work. The above factors affect an individual’s employability since they cannot freely gain employment or move to more suitable jobs. The factors also compromise discovery and retention of such individuals’ talents. Factors such as global and virtual, empowered and autonomous workforce change the workplace and consequently continue to influence the talent management strategies (Hatum, 2010, p. 111). Demographic changes have also diversified the workforce from age, gender and ethnicity. Employability, therefore, has many dimensions that seek to explain the extents of employability and consequently formulate relevant ways to tackle such challenges. The first dimension focuses on individual characteristics. The number of individual characteristics that an employee possesses determines the employability level of such an individual. The dimension further includes the ability of an individual to find or keep a job. The second dimension considers the context of employability as involving other parties besides individual characteristics. The considerations may include employers’ demand for labor. Employees’ mobility that refers to the readiness of the employee to undertake various tasks or move to different positions within the organization with time constitutes the context (Andresen & Nowak, 2014, p. 35). The absence of favorable conditions and possibilities with the employer are the main limiting factors in career development. The third dimension approaches employability by its effects. For instance, the concept may consider an individual’s labor market position to assess their employability. The concept not only considers if an employee has secured a job but also the quality of the job such as possibilities for growth. Finally, the last dimension may consider the activities that enhance employability (Lorraine, & Sewell, 2007, p. 57). According to the concept, managers assess the extent to which the employees take part in activities such as training and task enrichment. Employability is not merely an individual’s characteristic estimated by the individuals’ willingness and ability but considers other factors in the workplace that may hinder employability (Hatum, 2010, p. 109). For instance, an individual may possess relevant academic qualifications that render him or her employable but the company’s bankruptcy to employ and pay the individual may hinder such a person’s employability. However, employability may depend on time where a person not employable at a specific period becomes more employable later when the factors are more favorable. In most cases, people often point to established companies such as General Electric, Starbucks, and Microsoft as their companies for admiration and would like to work with. However, they have little or no management strategies. Some do not know or care about how many management layers they have at their disposal. People have an interest in the companies not because of their structure, but their capabilities to innovate and respond to customer needs (Hatum, 2010, p. 109). Such organizational capabilities are the key management intangible assets. The capabilities are the key determinants of investments in staffing, training, communication, compensation and other human resource areas. They determine how people and resources come together to accomplish work. Employers perform numerous capability audits to assess the company’s strengths and weaknesses. Evaluating my capability about the current business requirement, I get the difference between capability, competence and ability. Often, the terms are used interchangeably. Competencies refer to the technical abilities of individual organizations to address challenges involving technology changes. Conversely, capabilities refer to the social issues such as a person’s leadership ability (Lorraine, & Sewell, 2007, p. 77). I must acquire the capabilities, abilities, and competencies to be work ready in the current business market. I should acquire competencies in technical fields such as expertise in marketing, manufacturing or finance. I should also have the ability to set direction, communicate a vision and to motivate people. Additionally, I should have the ability to manage risks, innovate and perform tasks within specified time limits. However, I can only acquire the skills and capabilities when I practice them during employment. The company must deliver a relevant environment to promote learning such of capabilities. For instance, an employee may demonstrate leadership skills but the company may not be ready to embody similar strengths. The employees, therefore, get frustrated and may quit or continue working at low productivity levels. Moreover, the capabilities would enable me as an individual and the company to turn the technical knowledge to results. Companies buy and retain talents that are relevant to today and tomorrow’s business requirements. The employers also promote the talents to perfect them, so they become competitive in the labor market by ensuring that they earn proportionally to their contributions. Besides talent, I have the ability to change rapidly from one task to the other. I have the ability to recognize opportunities and act quickly. The concept is speed and involves commercializing ideas. Finally, I have a positive and consistent image of experiences within my career. The experiences have made a positive change as to how I view the employment world and thus can deliver with the best performance level possible. I understand the fact that failure to meet objectives is unacceptable to companies, and I can address this by tracking how I manage my performance levels. However, the company can also motivate us (employees) through actions such as performance appraisal and compensations depending on individual performances. Obviously, employability is a matter of individual characteristics. The concept largely considers the skills and knowledge that an individual has acquired and will enable him or her satisfy the company labor requirements. Such an individual must learn how to apply the skills and attributes to their career specifications, so the employers have trust in the employees’ abilities. Employers often want their companies to rank highest in quality and workforce. Employees must therefore always work to deliver their best to ensure the employers retain and promote their talents. Bibliography Aicobm (Conference), Pyeman, J., Rashid, W. E. W., Hanif, A., Tan, P. L., & Mohamad, S. J. A. N. S. (2015). Proceedings of the 1st AAGBS International Conference on Business Management 2014 (AiCoBM 2014). Singapore: Springer. http://search.ebscohost.com/login.aspx?direct=true&scope=site&db=nlebk&db=nlabk&AN=1046680. Andresen, M., & Nowak, C. 2014. Human Resource Management Practices: Assessing Added Value. Cham: Springer. http://dx.doi.org/10.1007/978-3-319-08186-1. Chalofsky, N., Rocco, T. S., & Morris, M. L. 2014. Handbook of Human Resource Development. San Francisco, CA: Pfeiffer. Print. De Vos, A., & Van Der Heijden, B. (2015). Handbook of Research on Sustainable Careers. Cheltenham, UK: Edward Elgar Publishing. http://search.ebscohost.com/login.aspx?direct=true&scope=site&db=nlebk&db=nlabk&AN=1016556. Hatum, A. 2010. Next Generation Talent Management: Talent Management to Survive Turmoil. Hound mills, Basingstoke, Hampshire, Palgrave Macmillan. Print. Lorraine, D.P. & Sewell, P. (2007). "The Key To Employability: Developing A Practical Model of Graduate Employability", Education & Training, vol. 49, no. 4, pp. 277-289. Read More