HRD

Research
Paper on
Talent
Manage
ment Submitted By:
Princy Singh
Richa Sharma
Rohit Anand
Shalini Tiwari
 Abstract
This paper explores the usefulness of analyzing an organizational performance on the bases of
Talent Management. Talent management is an umbrella phrase which includes employee
recruitment, retention, performance management, skills and competency management,
succession planning, redeployment, learning management, training, on – boarding, career
development processes, internal career centers and internal career pathing. Effective talent
management enables organizations to successfully complete in an increasingly global economy
by effectively identifying and harnessing the human power within. Additionally, talent
management helps companies with employer of choice initiatives, regulatory compliances issues,
M & A activities, downsizing, career transitions, organizational change, as well as human
resources measures and metrics.

Introduction
Talent management is a process that emerged in the 1990s and continues to be adopted, as more
companies come to realize that their employees’ talents and skills drive their business success. A
talent management system must be worked into the business strategy and implemented in daily
processes throughout the company as a whole. It cannot be left solely to the human resources
department to attract and retain employees, but rather must be practiced at all levels of the
organization.

Talent management implies recognizing a person's inherent skills, traits, personality and offering
him a matching job. Every person has a unique talent that suits a particular job profile and any
other position will cause discomfort. It is the job of the Management, particularly the HR
Department, to place candidates with prudence and caution. A wrong fit will result in further
hiring, re-training and other wasteful activities.

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Talent Management is beneficial to both the organization and the employees. The organization
benefits from: Increased productivity and capability; a better linkage between individuals' efforts
and business goals; commitment of valued employees; reduced turnover; increased bench
strength and a better fit between people's jobs and skills. Employees benefit from: Higher
motivation and commitment; career development; increased knowledge about and contribution to
company goals; sustained motivation and job satisfaction.

Talent
Talent can be defined as "a recurring pattern of thought, feeling or behavior that can be
productively applied." The emphasis here is on the word "recurring." Talents are basically the
behaviors we find our self doing often.

Talent can also be defined as a combination of individual’s skills and competencies which he or
she posses.

A talented employee is a person who brings something into an organization that, in a way, is in
excess in that organization, often unexposed in its plans and strategy, because to ascertain
moment the organization is unaware of it. The qualities of a talented persons ‟competency
profile are in accordance with the needs of the organization at an accepted level, but there is that
“thing” that makes the person standout. That “thing” does not lend it self to measurement, and
the effects of putting talent to use rarely translate into actual achievements. Typically, their
action is deferred overtime and the effects are cumulative and synergistic. The employee is
talented regardless of the organization, donating their talent to other organization only
temporarily.

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Talent Management

Talent Management can be defined as the process of developing and integrating new workers,
developing and retaining current workers, and attracting highly skilled workers to a company.
The concept of “Talent management” emerged in 1990s and the term talent management was
coined by David Watkins of Softscape.

The Talent Management Process (TM) can also be defined as an ongoing, dynamic process
assessing the current managerial talent present in an organization so that action plans may be
created to develop each manager to their full work potential. It can also be defined as a
conscious, deliberate approach undertaken to attract, develop and retain people with the aptitude
and abilities to meet current and future organizational needs.

Talent Management implies recognizing a person's inherent skills, traits, personality and offering
him a matching job. Every person has a unique talent that suits a particular job profile and any
other position will cause discomfort. It is the job of the Management, particularly the HR
Department, to place candidates with prudence and caution. A wrong fit will result in further
hiring, re-training and other wasteful activities.

Talent Management is beneficial to both the organization and the employees. The organization
benefits from: Increased productivity and capability; a better linkage between individuals' efforts
and business goals; commitment of valued employees; reduced turnover; increased bench
strength and a better fit between people's jobs and skills. Employees benefit from: Higher
motivation and commitment; career development; increased knowledge about and contribution to
company goals; sustained

Talent Management involves individual and organizational development in response to a

changing and complex operating environment. It includes the creation and maintenance of a
supportive, people oriented organization culture.

Now-a-days, the issue with most of the organizations is that they spend huge amount of money
and great effort for attracting employees to their company, but spend little time into retaining and
developing talent. As a result the ROI i.e. return on investment is also not attained properly. For

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an effective talent management system, it must be worked into the business strategy and
implemented in daily processes throughout the company as a whole. The business strategy must
include responsibilities for line managers to develop the skills of their immediate subordinates.
The practice of attracting and retaining employees should be practiced at all levels of the
organization along with the human resource department.

Companies that focus on developing their talent integrate plans and processes to track and
manage their employee talent, including the following:

 Sourcing, attracting and recruiting qualified candidates with competitive backgrounds

 Managing and defining competitive salaries

 Training and development opportunities

 Performance management processes

 Retention programs

 Promotion and transitioning

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 IMPORTANCE OF TALENT MANAGEMENT

Talent Management (TM) brings together a number of important human resources (HR) and
management initiatives. Quite often, organizations adopting a TM approach will focus on
coordinating and integrating:

 Recruitment: Ensuring the right people are attracted to the organization.

 Retention: Developing and implementing practices that reward and support employees.

 Employee development: Ensuring continuous informal and formal learning and

development.

 Leadership and "high potential employee “development: Specific development

programs for existing future leaders.

 Performance management: Specific processes that nurture and support performance,

including feedback/measurement.

 Workforce planning: Planning for business and general changes, including the older
workforce and current/future skills shortages.

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  Culture: Development of a positive, progressive and high performance "way of
operating".

Application of Talent Management

Human capital is the most valuable asset in the business and one that is increasingly being
treated as a strategic imperative for long-term organizational success. Talent management
involves individual and organizational development in response to a changing and complex
operating environment. It includes the creation and maintenance of a supportive, people oriented
organization culture.  These are just a few of the challenging questions being asked about talent
in today’s workforce.

In current economic conditions, many companies have felt the need to cut expenses. This should
be the ideal environment to execute a talent management system as a means of optimizing the
performance of each employee and the organization. However, within many companies the
concept of human capital management has just begun to develop. “In fact, only 5 percent of
organizations say they have a clear talent management strategy and operational programs in
place today.”

Globalization presents more than new markets.  It also means new challenges in how we manage
our talent, how employees choose to communicate and collaborate, how HR organizations keep
leadership pipelines healthy, and how companies develop internal cultures focused on high-
performance.

To be successful, today’s organization must be able to adapt to new, shifting workforce

dynamics.  Organizations are composed differently than just a decade ago – people are
geographically dispersed, working remotely, operating in flatter managerial hierarchies, and
faced with massive amounts of constantly changing information.

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 Talent Management Process

A strategic talent management plan includes a process for:

 Identifying Organizational Goals/Priorities

 Identifying Organizational Drivers and Challenges

 Identifying Gaps

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 Defining HR Priorities and Goals

 Articulating the Talent Management Processes/Functions Your Organization Currently

Performs

 Measuring the Results and Communicating Successes/Contributions

Talent Management Cycle

The “Talent Management Cycle”, this strategy addresses four key phases that an employer
needs to address: attracting, retaining, developing and transitioning talent. Businesses which
are not paying attention to these processes will likely find themselves facing higher turnover
and greater difficulty in recruiting the talent that they need.

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Attracting the right talent

Given comparable job opportunities, why would someone want to choose one over another
candidate. Contrary to popular belief, higher pay is not the main or only criterion. Challenge,
growth, effective leadership, opportunity to make a difference, benefits, a collaborative team
environment and family-friendly policies are all critical considerations for today’s
candidates. First and foremost, candidates should be treated by organizations as would be the
best customer from the very first point of contact, and throughout the recruitment and
selection process. Organizations should be rigorous in designing a selection process that will
help them in finding the best match. Top notch employees will want to work for an
organization that sets high standards in its employment process.

Retaining talent

Organizations should try to ensure that they are creating an environment that will encourage
valuable talent to stay. Too many organizations, once their candidates are hired, do little to
implement retention strategies right away. The first step is reinforcing to the new employee
that he or she has made the right decision in choosing to work for you. A well-designed
orientation and on-boarding process can help to reinforce that commitment. For the long
view, organizations will need to identify and continue to cultivate those unique aspects of
their culture that motivate employees to stay. Through employee satisfaction surveys,
employee focus groups, and other sources of input, senior management and their human
resource strategic partners can design programs, processes and policies that will best reflect
the specific retention needs of their own employees.

Developing talent

“Grow me, develop me” is the cry of the new generation of employees. Skill acquisition and
continual learning are not just perks. They are necessities for both the employee and the
organization. Satisfying the learning appetite and leveraging employee knowledge to
maintain that competitive edge go hand-in-hand. Businesses must take a much-needed look

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at the career aspirations of their talent pool as well as assess needed competencies within the
organization and respond to them with frequent opportunities for employee development and
growth. These can come in the form of continuing education, in-house or external seminars,
professional memberships and conferences, and providing coaching or mentoring support.

Transitioning talent

The final phase of the talent management cycle is transitioning: up, over or out. Internally,
career and succession planning - including lateral moves and traditional upward promotions –
will mark the beginning of a new cycle for those employees.

Externally, transitioning talent can mean exiting the organization through downsizing, re-
organizing, terminations or retirement. In most cases, the employer will want to support
outgoing employees by providing them with career transition support services. This is not
only of practical assistance to the outgoing employees, but serves to uphold the positive
reputation of the employer within the community. With ongoing recruiting, this reinforces
the “attraction” aspect and signals the beginning of a new talent management cycle.

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Literature review
A detailed survey of the concerned literature has been carried out based on various journals,
reviews concerned magazines, case studies and internet are presented below:

Talent Management refers to the process of developing and retaining current employees,
developing and integrating new workers and attracting highly skilled workers to work for a
company Any Organization needs to have a vision and a well defined strategy on hiring for the
future. They should have the right strategies to attract and retain the best available talent for
which a number of measures for talent management are required. Emphasis should be paid on
initiatives that can be put in place to help organization to retain and nurture the talent [PANDIT,
2007].

Talent Management: driver for organizational success, HR magazine, June, 2006 by Nancy
R. Lockwood

In this article, the author has focused that in today's global economy, companies must continually
invest in human capital. Talent management refers to the process of developing and retaining
current employees, developing and integrating new workers and attracting highly skilled workers
to work for a company. Now days the issue with most of the organizations is that they spend
huge amount of money and great effort for attracting employees to their company, but spend
little time into retaining and developing talent. As a result the ROI i.e. return on investment is
also not attained properly and organizations are facing problems. In the role of business partner,
HR leaders work closely with senior management to attract, hire, develop and retain talent. Yet

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the skills shortage presents both socio-economic and cultural challenges as talent crosses
borders.

Thus, in view of, workforce trends such as shifting demographics, global supply chains, the
aging workforce and increasing global mobility, forward-looking organizations must rethink
their approach to talent management to best harness talent. By doing so, they will be positively
positioned to succeed in a highly competitive marketplace. In addition, organizational culture,
employee engagement and leadership development have a significant impact on talent retention.
Taking these factors into consideration, an integrated approach to talent management offers a
pathway toward sustaining outstanding business results.

Other article is “Talent management “ by Sandeep V ,in this article, the author has focused
on the fact that despite providing great work environment to their people ,good salary, perks,
overseas assignments, challenging and highly competitive work environment and a great future,
the attrition rate of the employees of the biggest companies is still considerable. This is giving a
severe headache to the top management in general and HR department in particular. So, this has
added to the functions of the HR department a new function –‘Talent Management’.

Talent management implies recognizing a person's inherent skills, traits, personality and offering
him a matching job. Every person has a unique talent that suits a particular job profile and any
other position will cause discomfort. It is the job of the Management, particularly the HR
Department, to place candidates with prudence and caution. A wrong fit will result in further
hiring, re-training and other wasteful activities. Highly demanding business environment makes
it imperative for the organizations to build competence in the form of superior intellectual
capital. It is agreed by almost all CEOs of big companies that it is the human resource - a
talented one - that can provide them competitiveness in the long run.

So it is the duty of the HR department to nurture a brigade of talented workforce, which can win
them the war in the business field and proper strategies should be maintenance by employees in

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order to attract and retain the best talent in their organization. So proper manpower planning is to
be done which is lacking in most of the organizations.

The Strategic Development of Talent by William J. Rothwell:

"Rothwell ignites the imagination, expands the possibilities, and offers practical strategies any
organization can use to effectively develop, retain and utilize talent for the benefit of an
organization and enter the fluid, flexible future. Managers at all levels will cheer the sanity
Rothwell suggests."

Bucking conventional talent management wisdom, by Arvinder S. Dhesi:

1) In this article, the author has focused on the fact that most organizations make in talent
management is the seemingly relentless focus on a few selected ones only. Most
companies believe and act as though ‘talent’ is a scarce commodity in their organizations
and typically use the term to describe a tiny minority of their workforce. This means that
the companies are not managing their talent well i.e. proper manpower planning is
lacking, i.e. proper people are not placed at proper place.

2) According to an article on talent management in an organization, the main reasons for

attrition in this sector are as follows :-

 Gap between organizational values and goals and the personal values and goals is one
of the major reasons of the attrition rates. If they go parallel, there is no way both
would be satisfied and inevitably, the organization would lose out on a talented
employee.
 Working environment is another major factor. Employees in the knowledge era
demand creative and a democratic work environment. Failure on the part of the

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 management to provide such an environment will result in a talented employee
leaving the organization.
 The competitive world has made sure that there is high work pressure on the
employees of any organization. This has led to psychological problems like stress,
and in extreme situations, total burnouts. It also leads to other health related
problems.
 Movement for higher salary is also common among the younger professionals. There
is no shortage for organizations who are looking for talented employees and who are
ready to shell out a hefty salary for a talented person. Other lures like better job
opportunities, higher posts and overseas assignments are also major factors in the
attrition rates.

 Not taking proper care during the recruitment and selection process and not taking
proper care to fit the right person to the right job also breeds dissatisfaction among
the employees.
 Bad or opaque policies from management on issues of succession planning and
promotion, appointments for senior positions also is a major factor which makes the
organization lose out on the talented employees.
 The professionals have different aspirations at different times of their career. During
the initial years, they have good salary and foreign assignments. Next on the list is
working on cutting edge technology. More seasoned professionals look for learning
opportunities. So employees tend to move to those organizations which provide them
with means to fulfill their aspirations.

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 Conclusions

Talent identification

Talent is identified in the companies mainly through qualifications, through feedback of colleagues
as well as superiors and through results / performance.

Talent management initiatives

Organization has some of the talent management initiatives in place like coaching, mentoring,
short term assignments in India/abroad, multidisciplinary field familiarizing technique, etc.

Employee awareness

The responses obtained from the survey shows that the employees of the companies are aware
about their organisations mission, vision, goals. They are well aware about their job description i.e.
their duties and responsibilities but a significant percent of employees are unaware about the
same. So the organisation should focus on these issues at the time of orientation.

Organizational Environment

The responses obtained from the survey shows that the company provides good organisational
environment to their employees in terms of superior subordinate relationship, etc. The employees

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of the company are satisfied with the personnel policies of the organisation and they consider
the organization as a good place to work as compared to other organisations, they are satisfied
with the working environment (superior subordinate relationship, etc). Apart from this the
employees are provided with better work condition like recreation facilities, yoga, gymnasium,
etc. but a significant percent of employees are not satisfied with the promotion policies of the
organization as well as the transparency of promotion policies of an organization.

Employee benefits

The company provides good remuneration package to their employees. Apart from this, the
welfare facilities provided by the company to their employees like health care, child care,
loans, etc. are at par with other competitors. Employees are satisfied with the remuneration
package and other welfare facilities provided by the company to them.

Employee retention

Most of the employees are of the opinion that stock option to employees is a good way to retain
talent. It inculcates a sense of belongingness within the employees for the organization which will
be beneficial for both the employees as well as the organization.

Recruitment process

Most of the employees are of the opinion that candidate’s skills should be assessed earlier in the
hiring process and vacancies should be identified at the earlier stages that will be created as the
company advances and expands.

Organization culture

In an organization, there is the need of Creating a culture that makes individuals want to join and
stay with the organization and creating an environment/culture where employee’s ideas are
listened and valued.

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Employee motivation

Top performing employees should be given rewards and recognition in order to boost their morale
and encourage them to make them feel that their efforts are being recognized by the organization.

Recommendation

It is now proved beyond doubt that, in the era of technology and knowledge, talent is in the
driving seat. One who possesses it dictates. It is the demand of the time that business leaders
elevate management of talent to a burning corporate priority. Quality people are no longer
available in plenty, easily replaceable and relatively inexpensive .These are some of the
measures that should be taken into account to hire and retain talent in the organization, to be
efficient and competitive in this highly competitive world: -

1. Hire the Right People

Proper care must be taken while hiring the people itself. It would be beneficial for an
organization to recruit young people and nurture them, than to substitute by hiring from
other organizations so that new blood is infused in the organization with new ideas and
skills. Questions to be asked at this stage are: Whether the person has the requisite skills
needed for the job? Whether the person's values and goals match with those of
organizations? In short, care must be taken to fit the right person to the right job.

2. Providing Learning Opportunities

Employees must be provided with continuous learning opportunities on & off work field
through management development Programmes & distance learning Programmes. This
will also benefit the organization in the form of highly talented workforce.

3. Good Working Environment

It has to be accepted by the organizations that highly talented persons make their own
rules. They have to be provided with a democratic and a stimulating work environment.
The organizational rules must be flexible enough to provide them with freedom to carry

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 out their part of task to their liking, as long as the task is achieved. Opportunities should
also be provided to the employees to achieve their personal goals.

4. Shielding from High Work Pressure

If an organization has to make the most of the available talent, they should be provided
with adequate time to relax, so that they can de-stress themselves. It is very important to
provide them with holidays and all-expenses-paid trips, so that they can come back
refreshed to work and with increased energy. They must also be encouraged to pursue
their interests which are also a good way of reducing work environment stress.
Recreation clubs, entertain Programmes, fun activities with in the work area will also
reduce the work life stress of the employees and develop camaraderie among the workers
and result in a good working environment.

5. Keep the Promises

Talent cannot be motivated by fake attitudes and broken promises. Unfulfilled
expectations can breed dissatisfaction among the employees and make them either leave
the organization or work below their productive level. Promises made during the hiring
stage must be kept to build loyalty among the employees, so that they are satisfied and
work to their fullest capability.

6. Recognition of Merit
It is highly motivating for any person if his talent is recognized & is suitably rewarded.
One way is providing them with salary commensurate with their performance.
Promotions & incentives based on performance are another way of doing it. Another way
is by providing them with challenging projects. This will achieve two objectives-it makes
employee feel that he is considered important & gets the work done in a efficient manner
and brings out the best in the employee.

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7. Benchmarking of HR Programmes and policies against international standards

They should look at innovative ways to enhance collaboration with industry peers, such
as infrastructure partnerships, shared service models and production alliances. Work with
specialists who can help you assess the operational and financial impact of environmental
issues and decommissioning liabilities.

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