Southern Company - Evaluation of Talent Management Strategy - Case Study Example

Introduction

If one takes a close look at the contemporary business world, one will be able to see that it is dramatically different from its counterpart from the past. Indeed, today companies tend to engage various scientific concepts in order to improve their performance and achieve their objectives instead of simply focusing on maximizing the return on investment. A good example is the interest towards talent management. It is quite understandable that employees should be regarded as the most essential asset of a company. So, it is natural to invest into it and develop it in many ways. This paper will provide the analysis of talent management strategy performed in Southern Company, focusing on the effectiveness of the roles played by the strategic leaders, proposing five point criteria that will be used to evaluate the strategy and the manner in which the data is collected, provide a critique of the proposed components, outline the functional expertise, and show its ability to identify highly qualified individuals.

Effectiveness of the roles played by the strategic leaders

A careful consideration of the roles that are played by the strategic leaders in the case study will lead to the following results. First of all, it becomes obvious that the Leadership Action Council which was established by the CEO should be regarded as the cornerstone of the renews talent management strategy. Oakes and Galagan (2011) insist that it is extremely important that the desire to look for the talented employees and develop them should come from within the company. The case shows that the Council turned out to be one of the major drivers of initiatives resulting in the implementation of highly effective strategies. That is why it would not be an exaggeration to suggest that if the CEO had not established it, the company would not have benefitted from its initiatives.

The other role that should be mentioned focuses on the review that is performed by the CEO. Schweyer (2004) notes that the latter is expected to perform a considerable range of functions, one of which is to verify and validate the decision made by lower bodies. In the case of Southern Company, the CEO had to review succession plans, making sure that they align with the strategic objectives. Moreover, it was also mentioned that by doing so, he would perform cross calibration, making sure that the objectivity of the evaluation is achieved. Indeed, it is quite obvious that this may not be directly connected to the primary business responsibilities of a CEO. However, the evidence shows that that is something that is expected and, therefore, one has to perform this function for the benefit of the company.

Criteria for evaluation of talent management strategy

The core of the case study provided is the transition of Southern Company from an organization that did not have a properly developed talent management system to one that has a well-designed one. These are the five criteria that can be used to evaluate it. The first and the most obvious one is the number of jobs that are filled by the employees taken from the talent pool. After all, this is exactly the reason why the strategy was created. Secondly, the size of the pool may also be used as a measurement: the bigger it is, the more effective the strategy is. Thirdly, if a position was several successor waiting for this means that the company has been quite successful in the implementation of the strategy. Fourthly, cross-functional moves will reveal whether certain employees hold the right position (Deb 2005). Finally, the turnover rate of the pool may also be regarded as a valuable measurement.

Speaking of the manner in which the data is collected, one should point out that five criteria may be introduced. To begin with, the candidates should take psychological tests. Given their reliability and validity, they leave little room for speculations. Secondly, simulation exercises may be used to test the skills of the candidates in situations resembling the real ones. Thirdly, a structured interview may be needed to obtain a lot of important information. A feedback from psychologist will be quite helpful since a professional will be able to highlight information that could have been missed by the tests or overlooked during the interview. Lastly, in order to make the assessment extremely objective, a 360 assessment should be introduced. Adherence to all these criteria will provide the company with a sufficient amount of data.

Critique of components

One would make no mistake that while the criteria of talent management strategy that were mentioned above seem to be convincing, a fair amount of criticism can be expressed regarding them. For example, the first criteria suggest that the measurement of the effectiveness of the system relies on the number of jobs filled by the employee from the pool. However, it may happen so that the number of well-situated employees will be great and it would not counter-productive to promote them. In other words, one should not start a talent pool, believed that there will be a number of people that will fill the possible vacant positions: this represents a certain bias and will prevent one from gaining a proper understanding of the available human resources. In other words, it is possible that a company possesses many employees who needed be promoted, but will benefit from further development.

Another point that should be mentioned is that it is not logical to prepare several replacements for a single job. Indeed, a company may be willing to be able to choose between the candidates, but it is obvious that only one of them will receive the job. Therefore, the existence of several option can hardly be perceived as a good measurement of effectiveness, since only one of them will ultimately be chosen. Povah and Thornton (2011) insist that turnover in talent pool is a rather interesting phenomenon that needs to be explored properly and the role of it is not fully understood yet. Indeed, talents may be acquired and lost due to a wide range of reasons; that is why this may not have a direct connection to the talent management strategy that is implemented by a company.

Alternative ways

There are several alternative ways that might be proposed to enhance the talent management strategy of Southern Company. First of all, the latter may benefit from refraining from creating talent pool as such. As it has already been mentioned, since only one person will receive the job, it is not logic to spend resources on training several candidates. Therefore, instead, the company may focus on preparing a single person for a job and making sure that one will be able to develop all the necessary competencies. In this case, no resources will be wasted and a candidate will receive more attention and time to develop the required skills and abilities. In other words, this will make the talent management strategy more effective through the most logical allocation of resources and ensure the right outcome.

The next alternative way that can be proposed focuses on the exchange of the employees between different departments. It has been mentioned in the study that the ability to move employee across sections is something that the company wants to achieve. However, it may not be logical to train a person and then let one move to a different department. It is quite obvious that employee may benefit from brief training that is carried out on a regular basis. In this case, they will get a first-hand experience of working in a different section and will be able to see for themselves whether this new position is suitable for them or not. In other words, the transition from one department to another should not be the ultimate goal: it should be regarded as an effective measure to unleash the potential of an employee through exposing a person to different tasks and responsibilities.

Functional expertise component

Now it may be logical to outline the functional expertise component for the proposed strategy. To begin with, it focuses on finding one right person for the position. In other words, the large number of candidates should only be regarded as a distraction since it makes the right candidate less visible. Secondly, the candidate will be directed to the right department. In other words, the talent of a person will be used in the right place immediately. This means that there is no need to wait for an employee to gain knowledge in one department first and be moved to another afterward[. Finally, the turnover of talent pool will not be regarded as the ultimate measure of the effectiveness of it (Schiemann 2009). In other words, the company will acknowledge that there is a number of factors that influence the changes in this pool and one cannot work out a steady correlation.

The proposed strategy optimizes the ability of the company to identify highly qualified individuals in many ways. First of all, it puts emphasis on the quality of the candidates, not the quantity of them. Indeed, an organization will not benefit from several averagely talented individuals, but will most surely benefit from a highly talented one. In other words, it is important to prepare a good replacement than a number of acceptable candidates. Secondly, the strategy in question will put emphasis on the in-house development of the human resources, making sure that it is carried out properly. Indeed, it may be particularly important to refrain from wasting the available resource and direct them into activities that will bring up the best possible result. The proposed strategy allows a company a save the resources and pay more attention to the most talented candidates.

Conclusion

Having examined all the points which were mentioned in the paragraphs above one is able to come to the following conclusion: the case of Southern Company is an extremely interesting one since it highlights all the problems that are associated with the process of developing talent in-house. One would make no mistake that under these conditions it is important to make sure that the talent management strategy that is implemented adheres to a certain set of criteria that was developed to assess its effectiveness. So, it is important that the organization in question focuses on the quality of the replacements, not the quantities, making sure that the newly promoted employees are well-suited for the job. Another point that should be mentioned is that the latter should be provided with an opportunity to work in different departments in order to gain first-hand experience of different operations and decide on the desired position.