Talent Management

Adding a New Dimension to Human Resource Management

Critical review of the peer literature in the field of talent management to explore the relationship between talent management and Human Resource Management to come up with an appropriate definition for the same and to define what makes an individual more talented when compared to others.

Gagandeep Singh September 2009, Lancaster University

ABSTRACT.................................................................................................................................... 3 1 INTRODUCTION...................................................................................................................... 5 1.1 DESIGN FOR CHAPTER ONE ................................................................................................................. 5 1.2 PURPOSE OF THE DISSERTATION ........................................................................................................... 5 1.3 DISSERTATION OUTLINE ...................................................................................................................... 5 RESEARCH METHODOLOGY .................................................................................................... 7 2.2 RESEARCH METHODOLOGY.................................................................................................................. 7 2.3 RESEARCH DESIGN ............................................................................................................................. 8 2.4 LIMITATIONS ................................................................................................................................... 10 DEFININGTALENT ................................................................................................................. 12 3.1 CHAPTER OUTLINE ........................................................................................................................... 12 3.2 DEFINING TALENT ............................................................................................................................ 12 3.3 HUMAN CAPITAL ............................................................................................................................. 14 3.4 SOCIAL CAPITAL ............................................................................................................................... 15 3.5 INTELLECTUAL CAPITAL ..................................................................................................................... 17 3.6 DEFINING TALENT BASED ON THE ABOVE DISCUSSION ........................................................................... 17 3.7 WHY TALENT MANAGEMENT?........................................................................................................... 18 3.8 AN OVERVIEW OF TALENT MANAGEMENT LITERATURE .......................................................................... 19 3.9 CATEGORIZATION OF TALENT MANAGEMENT BASED ON LITERATURE REVIEW............................................ 21 EXPLORING LINK BETWEEN TALENT MANAGEMENT AND HRM.............................................. 22 4.1 DESIGN OF CHAPTER FOUR ................................................................................................................ 22 4.2 LINK BETWEEN TALENT MANAGEMENT AND HRM ................................................................................ 22 4.4 THE SECOND SUB-CATEGORY OF RESEARCHERS..................................................................................... 24 4.5 THE THIRD SUB-CATEGORY OF RESEARCHERS ....................................................................................... 26 4.6 TALENT MANAGEMENT: NEW MAKEOVER OF HRM.............................................................................. 26

5 TALENT MANAGEMENT: RESOLVING PEOPLE RELATED ISSUES WITHIN ORGANIZATION ARISING DUE TO STRATEGIC FACTORS LIKE GLOBALIZATION AND CHANGE IN DEMOGRAPHICS. ................ 28 5.1 DESIGN OF FIFTH CHAPTER ................................................................................................................ 28 5.2 IMPORTANCE OF TALENT MANAGEMENT ............................................................................................. 28 5.3 SHORTAGE OF SKILLS ........................................................................................................................ 29 5.4 THE GENERATION GAP ..................................................................................................................... 30 5.5 TARGETING TALENT AT VARIOUS LEVELS IN THE ORGANIZATION THEREBY CREATING A TALENT MANAGEMENT PIPELINE .............................................................................................................................................. 31 5.6 THE WAR FOR TALENT ...................................................................................................................... 33 6 ANALYSIS............................................................................................................................. 37 6.1 DESIGN FOR CHAPTER SIX ................................................................................................................. 37 6.2 GOOGLE ......................................................................................................................................... 37 6.4 SUMMARY OF THE CASE STUDIES PRESENTED ABOVE............................................................................. 41 6.5 TALENT MANAGEMENT: A BRIDGE BETWEEN HRM AND STRATEGY ........................................................... 41 CONCLUSION ....................................................................................................................... 47 BIBLIOGRAPHY: ................................................................................................................... 48

7 8

Abstract
The popularity of the term talent management is attracting lot of practitioners and organizations that are resorting to talent management practices and restructuring of their HRM systems to battle the strategic challenges faced by the organizations today in the form of globalization, change in demographics and so on. One can find vast literature in the field of talent management yet none of them have been able to define talent management comprehensively. This paper has made an attempt to evaluate the existing literature in the field of talent management to come up with the appropriate definition for talent management. Further the dissertation attempts to define talent and answer the question about what makes an individual to be considered as talented by the organization.

Introduction

1.1 Design for Chapter One

This chapter starts off by presenting the aims and objectives of writing this dissertation, which is followed by the dissertation outline giving an overview of various topics that are going to be discussed in different chapters of this dissertation.

1.2 Purpose of the Dissertation

This dissertation attempts to unravel the true definition of talent management by thoroughly evaluating the peer literature. It initially discusses the literature on talent in order to find out what makes individuals high-value to the organization, thereby pointing out to the importance of managing talent to the organizations.Itfurther attempts to come up with a definition for talent management at the end which is complete in all aspects.As the overview suggests, there are two categories the talent management literature can be divided into. The first category suggests that both talent management and HRM are one and the same. Hence this dissertation tries to explore the literature on talent management to find out the relationship between talent management and HRM.

The next category points out to the factors like globalization and change in demographics and the impact they have on the job markets. Thus this dissertation attempts to study talent management literature by authors who have defined the same in context with the factors mentioned above. The knowledge acquired through careful examination of work by authors in this field would be used to come up with the definition for talent management which satisfies all the perspectives presented in the literature review.

1.3 Dissertation Outline

The aim of this dissertation is to explore the already existing literature in the field of talent management, based on which an appropriate definition for talent management could be identified. In order to achieve the objectives and fulfil the purpose of writing this dissertation both literature by academicians and practitioners would be made use of. Chapter two presents the research methodology accompanied by various methods used to accomplish this dissertation. In the third chapter, an introduction to the term talent is presented defining what
5

it is all about. The importance of managing talent to the organizations is highlighted in this chapter, which forms the foundation for exploring the literature on talent management.

In chapter four the term talent management has been introduced. Further by means of definitions and literature review the talent management literature has been categorised into two segments. The first is based on the viewpoint that both talent management and HRM are one and the same. The new term has been coined to give HRM a refreshing touch and change the mindset of completely or partially unaware executives within organizations to make them realize the added advantage the people of the organization provide to the business. Chapter four discusses in detail about the perspectives of authors belonging to the first category.

The second category presents the viewpoint of authors who have defined talent management taking the factors like globalization and change in demographics into account. The researchers from this category have further pointed to the change in work culture within the organizations due to the generation gap in employees and the lack of skills in work forces from different parts of the world. The viewpoint of researchers of this category has been expanded in chapter five. It further discusses the phenomenon about building talent pipelines as to how it can be achieved and what it takes to have efficient talent pipelines within organizations.

Chapter 6 then presents few case studies on talent management practices being followed within the organizations which points to the importance of employee engagement and retention. Finally the chapter concludes by presenting my personal viewpoint on talent management and attempts to come up with a definition for the same. Finally chapter 7 which is the conclusion of this dissertation summarises all the arguments presented in the earlier chapters.

2 Research Methodology
2.1 Research Objective
This paper starts off by attempting to define talent, thus portraying the importance of management of talent to the organizations.It further attempts to find out what makes individuals to be considered as high-value to the organization. This forms the main objective of this paper which is to evaluate the current literature in talent management and find out the various existing definitions for the same. Further by using these definitions this dissertation would try to come up with a definition for talent management that is complete in all aspects. This paper further tries to find out as to does there exist any sort of relationship between talent management and human resource management? This chapter gives an account of the kind of methodology and various methods and techniques used to achieve the research objectives mentioned above. Attempts have been made to thoroughly evaluate peer literature which is well supported by examples taken from the wide practitioners material in this field.

2.2 Research Methodology

In order to overcome the problem of explaining human behaviour in measurable terms certain methods were used to identify as to why different individuals had different behaviours (Hancock, 1998). According to Flick, Qualitative research is of specific relevance to the study of social relations, owing to the fact of the pluralisation of life worlds. (Flick, 2006, p. 13). The practice of using methods like interviews, observations, focus groups, action research, and case studies and so on is known as qualitative research methodology. As the whole process of talent management involves people, their behavioural aspects like qualities and competences that the organizations could use as an upper edge over their rivals this research methodology seems to be the most appropriate one. In order to fulfil the purpose of the research this paper has used qualitative research as a technique which comprises of collection of material from the researches that have already been conducted, thereby scrutinizing the information gathered thoroughly to arrive at conclusions. Further this paper uses the case study approach to evaluate and support the work done so far in this field.

All the articles that have been used to accomplish this dissertation are based on two main theories and perspectives of researchers. First is the resource based view advocated by Barney (1991, 2001) and the other is the integration of principles of strategy, economics, and human resources popularized by Boudreau and Ramstad (2005) to develop a decision science that can underpin talent management they call talentship (Lewis and Heckman, 2006). By going into depth of these theories the literature by various authors were studied to understand the meaning of the term talent portraying the importance of management of talent to the organizations. The resource based view also helped in identifying the definition for talent and explanation for the terms human, social and intellectual capital.

2.3 Research Design

To collect the data from the literature existing in the field of talent management by various authors databases like Google scholar, Google books, EBSCO, Science direct, Jistor, SpringerLink and so on were used. The practitioner material was collected by close examination of papers and journals published by companies like McKinsey, IBM, Accenture and Harvard business review and so on. To start with articles related to the definition of talent were found by entering the same termon metalib which is a collection of various databases mentioned above, that generated 217 articles of which 90 were retrieved. Initially the articles were shortlisted by using their titles and abstracts. Further the journals given by the supervisor were made use of to define the term talent and study about the importance of management of talent to the organization. These articles also helped to find literature on various types of capitals and competences required by individuals, to be considered as talented by the organization. In the next step the journals were searched for in the databases by entering the termtalent management through metalib. This search generated 17458 results of which 112 were retrieved that included lot of material which was not relevant. To further refine the search by eradicating all the non relevant articles the term talent management literature review was entered into metalib that generated 67 results of which 45 were retrieved from various data bases. Thus giving the articles like the one by Lewis and Heckman, 2006 and the work of Blackman and Kennedy, 2008 which gave a brief idea about what is talent management and various authors that have done research in this field. This formed the starting point for the collection of data regarding talent management literature.

These articles helped in identifying work of authors like Redford, Creelman, Jackson and Schuler, Olsen, Barney and so on which were read to get a hold on the subject of talent management. Through further reading I understood that talent management and HR are similar in their functions. This perspective was developed by reading work of authors like Cohn, Khurana and Reeves, Kesler, Pascal, Lermusiaux and so on along with the authors mentioned above. Hence data was searched by entering the terms like strategic HRM and practices on the databases. This search generated 249 articles of which 42 were retrieved. Thus by going through their abstracts important articles were shortlisted. As the reading progressed so did my knowledge about talent management and its link with HRM and its implications in an organizational change which revealed the connection between HRM and practices like continuing leadership in organizations, succession planning and development of employees to help the organizations in retaining them.

As the study progressed it helped to get to the bottom of the relation between talent management and HRM and indeed helped in defining the competences that would help the organizations to differentiate between ordinary and talented individuals. This study found the basis for exploring the relationship between organizational performance and Human Resource Management practices and how one factor drives the other. Various literatures on strategic Human Resource Management were thus studied in connection with the above argument. In order to achieve this, references used in the articles generated above were used. To collect the material on war for literature, the work by McKinsey and IBM were studied thoroughly along with the references from articles by Lewis and Heckman, 2006 and Blackman and Kennedy, 2008.

Having collected data on existing peer review the next step was to search for various practitioner material which was done by collecting data published by companies like McKinsey, IBM, Harvard Business Review and others as stated above as the earlier literature indicated the activeness of these companies in this field. Further research also showed the consultancy work done by these companies in the field of talent management. The literature by McKinsey particularly proved to be quite helpful to discover more about the term talent management. The literature by McKinsey is quite important for any researcher in this field as it was McKinsey that was instrumental in coining and popularising the term War for Talent. The literature by McKinsey further pointed out the strategic challenges being

faced by the organizations across the globe today. It also illustrated the increase in competition and the fact that how difficult it is getting for the organizations to survive in the market today without any competitive advantages and differentiating factors. Further the importance of creating brand value and loyalty for the same in the job market has been highlighted by the McKinseys literature on War for Talent. Thus by using qualitative research methodology and digging deep into the literature to unearth certain important fact about talent management has been the sole purpose of this dissertation. Attempts have been made to analyze the existing literatures and case studies thoroughly to find enough evidence to support the arguments presented in this dissertation.

2.4 Limitations
This research is based on qualitative research methodology, which does not involve any numbers and formulae. To achieve the objectives of dissertation a vast pool of literature by academicians and practitioners has been used. Hence there is a possibility of difference in interpretation of facts. Further the surveys conducted by companies like Mckinsey and IBM finally present the views which could be influenced by ideology of these companies to support their business needs. In support of this LaRossahas stated that, there are also as with any family research ethical hazards (LaRossa et al, 1981). Another issue with this kind of research as pointed out by Pauline Boss is that the process is too time consuming (Boss, 1993, p. 174). This results in reduction of the size of sample. Though researchers have argued that thoroughly studying a small size of literature can help in understanding the theories and questioning the models in the same way as one would do by studying more amount of literature (Campbell, 1978; Rosenblatt, 1981), the small number of cases raise questions for some people about the representativeness of findings and limit the kinds of numerical analyses that can be done (Boss, 1993, p. 174). But one thing is for sure as pointed out by Boss that qualitative research presents the true experiences, which they have had in life with, related to the subject that adds to the richness in the findings and conclusions of the research being conducted. Hence by taking careful measures the qualitative research methodology can be used to unravel the mystery behind talent management in this case. This paper has attempted to define the term talent management and give an account of why is it important in todays business world. If properly used, talent management can prove to be a

10

powerful tool to overcome the challenges posed by the changing elements of the work place. There have been lot of evidences presented by researchers demonstrating the relationship between the wealth generated in the firms and the performance of the workforce (Huselid, 1995; Delaney &Huselid, 1996; Singh, 2004). The literature by Lewis and Heckman 2006 further points out to the work of authors that demonstrate this relationship being replicated within industry (Delery& Doty, 1996), across industry (Guthrie, 2001), and at several organizational level of analysis (MacDuffie, 1995; Youndt, Snell, Dean, &Lepak, 1996) as cited in Lewis and Heckman, 2006 (p. 5). The research by Terpstra and Rozell (1993) has further provided evidences in support of the above argument. Besides the above mentioned authors there have been many more researchers who have demonstrated the influence of HRM practices over the performance of organizations which point out to the fact that this performance fluctuates based on the kind of policies implemented by the organizations with respect to its work force (Lepak& Snell, 2002; Lepak, Takeuchi, & Snell, 2003). It is the work of the authors in this field that have tried to study the impact of organizational policies, people related practices and talent as a whole on the working of organizations (Lepak, Marrone, & Takeuchi, 2004). The problem lies in the fact that none of the researchers have been successful in finding out evidence that could help to figure out questions pertaining to whether it is HR parameters that determine the success of the organizations or vice versa (Gerhart, 2005;Wright, Gardner, Moynihan, & Allen, 2005). Thus the limitation with the research as pointed out by the literature of Lewis and Heckman 2006 is Many of these studies are based on cross-sectional and retrospective designs and thus do not address whether HR practices lead to organizational outcomes or organizational outcomes provide the resources to invest in HR practices. (Gerhart, 2005;Wright, Gardner, Moynihan, & Allen, 2005 as cited in Lewis and Heckman, 2006, p. 5).

11

DefiningTalent

3.1 Chapter Outline

This chapter starts off by giving an overview of what the term talent actually implies. Further this part of the dissertation helps in identifying human, social and intellectual capital. Thereafter this chapter attempts to define talent and importance of management of talent to the organization. Finally this chapter concludes by introducing the term talent management by presenting an overview of the same.

3.2 Defining Talent

An important issue the organizations today face is about finding the right people appropriate for the right jobs. This gives rise to the question what makes an individual as being considered high-value manager by the organizations. There have been various authors giving the general characteristics and traits need to be possessed by the individuals for the organizations to consider them as talented. These qualities as pointed out in the literature of War for Talent are: skills, knowledge, experience, intelligence, judgement, attitude, character and drive (Michaels, Jones and Axelrod, 2001, p. Xii-preface). It would be interesting here to note that the above-mentioned characteristics are quite generalized and hence one could find a lot of individuals in this world possessing them. Hence it would be useful to find out as to whether, are there any other qualities that could be found out from organizations point of view, which could help in differentiating better among individuals considered as high-value by organizations compared to the rest of the work force. In order to ensure the growth of organization in the right direction and battling the challenges posed by the change in demographics and competition arising due to globalization requires organizations to formulate strategies with respect to the people in the organization that are in line with the business model of the organizations (Guthridge, Komm, Lawson, 2008). The literature on talent management by McKinsey has further pointed out to the problem arising due to the looming retirement of baby boomers in the developed world and dearth of young people entering the work force in Western Europe that can be attributed to the vacuum created by the people retiring from the work force (Michaels, Jones and Axelrod, 2001;Guthridge, Komm, Lawson, 2008).

12

Further few of the researchers by means of their work have pointed out to the fact that if talent management practices are put into use effectively can result in developing a smooth flow of leadership within the organizations (Romans, Frost and Ford, 2006). The literature on Talent Management: Developing or Preventing Knowledge and Capability? draws attention to the fact that if talent management practices are used efficiently, it will help in providing learning support and also in the development of organizational proficiency (Bersin, 2007; Kates, 2006). In order to understand as to why the above mentioned factors are important from an organizations point of view it would be interesting here to critically examine the question about what makes an individual talented? The war for talent literature describes Talent as the collective qualities of an individual (Michaels, Jones and Axelrod, 2001). These competences and qualities are general traits with in an individual that make them successful when compared to the ordinary ones. All the above-mentioned characteristics can be attributed to human capital as they are traits and characteristics of the individual, which are developed by the personal interest of the individual. No doubt human capital is instrumental in making an individual to be considered as high-value for the organization but in many cases the brand value of the individuals is what helps them to earn projects and contracts for the organization. This is what can be attributed to the social capital where in the individual results in gain to the organization due to his/her position in the market through the relationships they have established both internal and external to the organization. Social capital is something that is constructed over time due to the performance of an individual. Social capital can be attributed to the gain one gets in return of the work one has done throughout ones career. When an individual works for a long time in the organization, one tends to develop relations both internal and external to the organization, which contribute towards acquiring and handling of the projects and also in the smooth running of the business operations. Finally when the employee tends to develop a new product or a technology, this is what benefits the organization the most as they not only get the rights for the new invention but are the only ones dealing in the new product thereby attaining the monopoly. This can be attributed to the knowledge or the intellectual capital, which is an important asset to the organizations. To be able to understand these capitals in detail the next section depicts the nature and kind of practices that exist in various organizations belonging to different sectors and kinds of characteristics they require in their workforce.

13

3.3 Human Capital

The HRM of a large number of organizations have worked towards defining personal skills an individual needs to possess for qualifying for the job of managers (Boam and Sparrow, 1992; Dale and Iles, 1992; Fletcher, 1992; Iles, 1992; Salaman, 1992; Spencer & Spencer, 1993). According to Baron and Armstrong human capital is oriented around the competitive advantage referring to the upper edge provided by the people to the organizations over their rivals (Baron and Armstrong, 2007, p.5-7). Chatzkel, 2004 in an attempt to demonstrate the importance of human capital described it as a differentiator, which is cited in the literature of Baron and Armstrong, as it is human capital that is differentiator for organizations and actual basis for competitive advantage. According to Scarborough and Elias, 2002 The concept of human capital is most usefully viewed as a bridging concept- that is, it defines the link between HR practices and business performance in terms of assets rather than business processes. To understand the human capital better consider the following definition: Human capital is defined by the OECD as the knowledge, skills, competences and attributes embodied in individuals that facilitate the creation of personal, social and economic well being. (Keeley, 2007, p. 29) Sparrow, 1997 in his literature has identified and categorized various human traits essential from organizations point of view under three broad categories (Anderson &Heriott (eds.), 1997, p. 345). The first category defines the skills required for general day-to-day activities that resort to the management duties within the organization. The second category according to Sparrow is the behavioural competences that portray the skills like ingenuity, creativity and resourcefulness required to think beyond the general work circumstances (Sparrow, 1997; Kanungo and Mishra, 1992 as cited in Anderson &Heriott (eds.), 1997). Further these skills help the managers to work in specific situations that are a deviation from the ordinary ones and demand the characteristics to work under stress and think out of the way to inculcate creativity and innovation in to their work thereby helping to succeed over their counter parts. The final category consists of the skills that represent strategic competences needed to be possessed by the workforce in totality to carry out the operations smoothly in line with the business model of the organization by correctly interpreting the strategy of the organization (Sparrow, 1997 as cited in Anderson &Heriott (eds.), 1997). These skills are very important

14

as they help the work force to understand what is required by them and also work towards achieving the specific objectives. Bontis et al (1999) defined human capital as follows: Human Capital represents the human factor in the organization; the combined intelligence, skills and expertise that gives the organization its distinctive character. The human elements of the organization are those that are capable of learning, changing, innovating and providing the creative thrust which if properly motivated can ensure the long term survival of the organization. (Bontis et al, 1999 as cited in Baron and Armstrong, 2007) Baron and Armstrong (2007) through their literature have illustrated the fact that human capital is not something that is possessed by the company but is acquired through long lasting relationships developed with the employees through employee engagement. Davenport (1999) in support of the above argument has commented that People possess innate abilities, behaviours and personal energy and these elements make up the human capital they bring to their work. And it is they not their employers, who own this capital and decide when how and where they will contribute it. In other words, they can make choices. Work is a two way exchange value, not a one-way exploitation of an asset by its owner. (Davenport, 1999 as cited in Baron and Armstrong, 2007) The above argument clearly illustrates the need for organizations to identify human capital and make an effort to manage it in a way contributing towards growth and success of the organization. According to Lepak and Snell (1999) The value of human capital is inherently dependent upon its potential to contribute to the competitive advantage or core competencies of the firm. Barney (1991) architected the resource based view of the firm which in support of the Lepak and Snells argument proposes that sustainable competitive advantage is attained when the firm has a human resource pool that cannot be imitated or substituted by the rivals (Baron and Armstrong, 2007, p. 10).

3.4 Social Capital

With the advent of internet and electronic connectivity, the work culture has changed considerably. The number of interactions within the organization has increased owing to the spread of business globally (Easton &Araujo, 1994 as cited in Holman, Wall, Clegg, Sparrow and Howard (eds.), 2002). The literature by Sparrow further suggests that operation of knowledge markets within the firm has become important in order to be able to utilize the

15

talent of individuals in more efficient way (Holman, Wall, Clegg, Sparrow and Howard (eds.), 2002, p. 381). Hence the development and management of contracts and relationships within the organization has become very important. Butler further pointed out that this interactive capability is to get better over the next decade (Butler et al., 1997 as cited in Holman, Wall, Clegg, Sparrow and Howard (eds.), 2002). Researchers have also pointed out to the fact that the organizations today have transformed into information pools that facilitate exchange of information resulting in resolving issues in the best way possible (Hansen & Haas, 2001, Hansen, Nohria& Tierney, 1999). Sparrow through his literature points out that the interactions within organisations have the same economic purpose, which is the exchange of goods, services or information (Holman, Wall, Clegg, Sparrow and Howard (eds.), 2002, p. 381). This adds to the responsibility of managers to make sure that the exchange process is carried out smoothly without any hindrance to the business operations. This environment marked with globalization and competition demands for the skills of managing relationships within the organization as a prerequisite in the individuals, to be considered as high value managers by the organizations. These skills represent the social capital. According to Kocharekar, managers act as a medium of information exchange, by enhancing the rolling of information internally thereby intensifying it through effective communication within the firm (Kocharekar, 2001). In order to demonstrate the importance of social capital VanWijk&van den Bosch have proposed that understanding the enabling and restricting factors of this knowledge sharing process is of great importance (VanWijk&van den Bosch, 2000, p. 175). The existing literature on social capital has given a lot of definitions for the social capital. Adler and Kwon in an attempt to portray the generalized view of the researchers have defined social capital as the good-will that is engendered by the fabric of social relations and that can be mobilised to facilitate action (Adler and Kwon, 2002, p.17). To foster a level of understanding and comfort is the prime requisite for development of good relations. This breeding of relations and contracts is what is meant by good will, which helps in driving projects and operations within the organizations. Bourdieu&Wacquant in an attempt to define social capital pointed out that it is, the sum of the resources, actual or virtual, that accrue to an individual or group by virtue of possessing a durable network of more or less institutionalised relationships of mutual acceptance or recognition (Bourdieu&Wacquant, 1992, p. 119). Social capital is considered an important characteristic of high value individual as the absence of the former would make business processes unlikely in many situations.
16

Burts view as pointed out in the literature by professor Sparrow illustrates the use of social capital as a representation for terms like creativity, leadership and team work (Burt, 2000 as cited in Sparrow, 2002). In an attempt to distinguish Social capital from human capital Sparrow points out that human capital represents personal traits and characteristics while social capital is a measure of how well connected is the individual both internally and externally (Holman, Wall, Clegg, Sparrow and Howard (eds.), 2002, p. 384).

3.5 Intellectual Capital

Baron and Armstrong through their work on human capital management have described intellectual capital as the stocks and flow of knowledge available to the organization (Baron and Armstrong, 2007, p. 6). These are considered as intangible assets that account for total worth of the business in the form of patents. According to Bontis (1996; 1998), intangible assets are the resources other than money and other physical possessions that help in creation of wealth for the organizations (as cited in Baron and Armstrong, 2007). Edvison and Malone (1997) depict intellectual skills as relationships inside and outside the organization, including those with customers and suppliers (as cited in Baron and Armstrong, 2007). The literature by Baron and Armstrong points out to goodwill, corporate image, brands and patents as some of the key parameters constituting intellectual capital.

3.6 Defining Talent Based on the Above Discussion

Having discussed social capital, human capital and intellectual capital it is important here to note that all are significant from organizational point of view and go hand in hand to contribute towards the success of the individuals which is indicated by the work of Sparrow. In words of Sparrow behaviour without intent is not a source of competency. (Anderson &Heriott (eds.), 1997, p.348) .He further points out to the fact that talent is not just about possessing few qualities in the form of human, social and intellectual capital as mentioned above, instead it is the combination of a number of elements as specified below (Anderson &Heriott (eds.), 1997, p.348): Consortium of expertise and know-how: In order to be able to perform the task and achieve the objectives set forth by the management of the organization, an individual needs to possess the required pool of knowledge which would not only help him/her but also help in assisting the fellow employees.

17

Expertise of working in dynamic work environment: The work environment both internal and external to the organization is constantly changing owing to globalization and innovations which are resulting in great deal of competition by the rival organizations. Possessing skills to combat challenging scenarios and being able to develop certain pattern of behaviours which could be applied to similar situations in future could add to the knowledge pool of organization. Attitudes and values: The foremost requirement of successfully achieving the objective is for an individual to possess the right kind of attitude, which could prove as a motivating factor for others. In order to achieve success an individual needs to portray to fellow employees that that the task could be accomplished. In order to lead successfully a manager needs to earn the trust of the employees and make them believe that the task could be successfully completed. Human capital: as already stated earlier that human capital is a group of qualities or traits that an individual needs to possess in order to be successful. Human capital refers to characteristics of individuals like risk taking abilities, good leadership qualities, motivating skills, team working and so on which would make him/her stand apart from the rest of the employees. Purpose: for a strategy to be triumphant it is important that the intent or the objective of the goals is reflective of the purpose of the individual. The cause behind the individual joining the company and the nature of the job should be complementary to each other. For example a person wanting to learn more about the mechanisms of automotive should work in the automotive sector than any other mechanical engineering related industry.

3.7 Why Talent Management?

Thus the various capitals together account for the establishment and development of talent pools within the organization. Hence it is important to understand what these capitals are, to achieve an even blend of these credentials and competences to make the organization a successful unit generating loads of wealth. Through successful management of the above mentioned talent, organizations could achieve a competitive advantage over its rivals which is unique and difficult to be reproduced in the form of individuals thus qualifying them to be considered as being of a high value by the organizations.

18

Thus for an individual to be considered as high value when compared to his fellow employees the knowledge about the various types of capital would play an important role. The knowledge about the various capitals would help in identifying what sort of qualities are required to perform particular jobs which is recognized by understanding the definition of the various capitals. By defining various types of capitals we get an idea about what type of capital would be important at various levels of management in the organization by equating the definition of the capitals with the job requirements. It would not be possible to define what makes an individual a high-value manager as different jobs have different requirements. But by possessing the knowledge about various types of capitals one could know what kind of qualities need to be possessed by the individuals for them to be considered as high-value. The identification of the appropriate talent pertaining to specific job profiles poses a great challenge to the organizations in the current world of business. Hence it is very important for the organizations to figure out certain practices to manage and utilize the talent in the most effective and efficient way possible. Thus talent management is gaining recognition at a fast pace in the organizations to provide them with a competitive advantage that is unique and rare and cannot be reproduced by the rival organizations.

3.8 An Overview of Talent Management Literature

Lot of articles by the consultants have described the process of talent management as a mind set of the objectives and strategy planners of the organization (Creelman, 2004, p. 3, cited in Lewis and Heckman, 2006). Studies by Mckinsey in 1997 showed that there was a shortage of executives at that time and the problem exists even today, only becoming worse due to the factors like globalization, change in demographics and increase in competition. (Guthridge, Komm, Lawson, 2008). The same study by Mckinsey has further revealed the problem of looming retirement of baby boomers in the developed world and by a dearth of young people entering the work force in Western Europe. (Guthridge, Komm, Lawson, 2008). The literature in the field of Talent management further suggests that there has been a concern among larger organizations to establish themselves as a brand in the market of human resources to be able to acquire the best talent. The literature by Lewis and Heckman, 2006 indicates that often the terms like talent management, talent strategy, succession management, and human resource planning have been used as substitutes for one another.

19

For instance consider the following definitions given below about handling operations related to work force within the organizations: -Ensure the right person is in the right job at the right time. (Jackson & Schuler, 1990, p. 235 as cited in Lewis and Heckman, 2006) -A deliberate and systematic effort by an organization to ensure leadership continuity in key positions retain and develop intellectual and knowledge capital for the future, and encourage individual advancement (Rothwell, 1994, p. 6) -A company's traditional department-oriented staffing and recruiting process needs to be converted to an enterprise wide human talent attraction and retention effort. (Olsen, 2000, p. 24 as cited in Lewis and Heckman, 2006) The first definition by Jackson and Schuler defines human resource planning while the one by Rothwell defines the process of succession planning. Finally the definition by Olsen pertains to talent management within the organizations (Lewis and Heckman, 2006). Therefore the terms are different but all of them imply the same thing. To understand talent management better consider the definition by Redford, which defines talent management as a process of ensuring that everyone at all levels works to the top of their potential (Redford, 2005, p. 20). Hence the whole process of talent management is about acquiring and managing talent in the form of the people that work towards the growth of the organization keeping the factors like globalization and change in demographics in mind. In support of this Helen Handfield-Jones defines talent management as quoted in the literature by CIPD as Talent management is about programmes aimed at the people who fill, or have the potential to fill, key positions. These programmes include talent reviews, succession planning, and leadership development aimed at the wider employee population. Further the literature by CIPD 2006 has defined talent management as the process involving, The systematic attraction, identification, development, engagement/retention and

deployment of those individuals with high potential who are of particular value to an organisation. (Talent Management: Understanding the dimensions by CIPD, 2006). Thus there have been various researchers in this field who have attempted to portray the value of appropriate talent in the form of work force and the benefits they result in, to the organizations. The talent management literature can be classified into two major categories as described below.
20

3.9 Categorization of Talent Management Based on Literature Review

Various authors through their work have pointed out to the fact that talent management will form a crucial part of the 21st century HRM (Ingham, 2006; Ashton and Moreton, 2005; McGee, 2006; McCauley and Wakefield, 2006; Heinien and ONeill, 2004; Blackman and Kennedy, 2008). The entire literature on talent management can be classified in to two broad categories (Blackman and Kennedy, 2008). There is the first category that suggests that talent management and HRM are one and the same. The term talent management is used only to give a reviving touch to HRM to emphasize on the importance of people to the organizations. Researchers like Hass 2006; Soliman and Spooner, 2002 through their work have illustrated the fact that it is important for the organizations to understand the significance of the value, the human factor adds to the organizations and consequently use it as a competitive advantage over their rivals (Blackman and Kennedy, 2008).

Few authors have argued that certain HR functions aid in indentifying, retaining and development of talent in the form of people, which would benefit the organizations through their skills, and abilities to understand and resolve business related issues (Lopez, Peon and Ordas, 2005, 2006; Haesli and Boxall, 2005). In support of this Blackman and Kennedy have said that talent management can be seen as a specific way of attracting and retaining the key knowledge and capabilities of the future (Blackman and Kennedy, 2008). Thus the authors belonging to fist category present an argument saying that talent management is same as HRM. The term talent management is used instead of HRM to give it a new and enhanced identity, which helps in changing the mindset of the people that are completely or partially unaware of the value, the peoples factor adds to the organizations. This is going to be discussed in chapter four in detail.

The second category points out towards the role of factors like globalization and change in demographics in influencing the business operations around the world. Various authors have pointed out towards the problem of dearth in the competences, aptitude and talent in the work force around the world that has become a cause of concern for the organizations (Green, 2000; Aiman-Smith, Bergey, Cantwell and Doran, 2006; Blackman and Kennedy, 2008). There have been lot of researchers who have illustrated the problem about shortage of skills needed in the work force coming from Asian countries like India and china along with those coming from Australia (Guthridge, Komm, Lawson, 2008; Michaels, Jones & Axelrod, 2001;
21

Holland, Sheehan, Donohue and Pyman, 2007; Thomson, 2007; Blackman and Kennedy, 2008). Another problem as pointed out by the literature review on talent management is due to the change in demographics. The generation gap has resulted in a need for the organizations to redesign their HR systems by aligning their policies with the demands and working culture of the generation Y employees. The workforce of the modern day is not keen on establishing long term relationships with any one particular organization. They are rather looking for opportunities to switch jobs, make more money and advance at a faster pace within organizations (Green, 2000; Eisner, 2005; Holland et al., 2007; Guthridge, Komm, Lawson, 2008; Michaels, Jones & Axelrod, 2001; Blackman and Kennedy, 2008). The viewpoints of authors from this category will be expanded in chapter five.

Exploring link between talent management and HRM

4.1 Design of Chapter Four

This particular chapter as pointed out before evaluates the part of talent management literature, which suggests that both talent management and HRM are one and the same. The new term is coined to give a refreshing touch to HRM, which would be discussed in detail in this chapter. This chapter would start by giving an introduction to the claim by a category of authors which say that both talent management and HRM are similar as they involve same practices. The sections to follow have analysed the literature by the authors of this class by dividing them into three sub-categories. Finally the relationship between talent management and HRM is discussed.

4.2 Link between Talent Management and HRM

As described in the previous section the literature on talent management can be divided into two categories. This section evaluates the work by authors belonging to the first category, which illustrate that both talent management and HRM involve same practices. There is a lot of literature in the field of talent management giving various definitions for the same. But none have been able to define it appropriately owing to the fact that there has been a lot of confusion about the terms and also different notions and perspectives of the authors who have done work in this field so far. Further the peer review on the literature suggests that the major

22

characteristics of talent management are recruiting, retaining and development of the employees which are the aspects of HRM. Lot of academicians have pointed out to the link between HRM and talent management through their work (Barney and Wright, 1998; Brewster, Sparrow and Harris, 2005; Evans, Novicevic and Davis, 2007; Ghanam and Cox, 2007; Hailey, Farndale and Truss, 2005; Holland, Sheehan and De Cieri, 2007; Martell and Carroll, 1995; Michie and Sheehan, 2005). Then why is there a need to use different terminology talent management? (Lewis & Heckman, 2006). To answer this question this section evaluates the literature by studying the three sub-categories of viewpoints highlighted by Lewis and Heckman, 2006 in their literature as described below. The first stream identified by Lewis and Heckman based on the studies of various other scholars like: Byham, 2001; Chowanec&Newstrom, 1991; Heinen& O'Neill, 2004; Hilton, 2000; Mercer, 2005; Olsen, 2000; depicts the view of these authors who consider talent management as a collection of various functions of HR like recruiting, selection, development and career and selection management (Lewis & Heckman, 2006, p.2). The literature by Lewis and Heckman further illustrates that these authors advocate talent management being about performing the same traditional practices what HRM does but the differentiating factor in both is the rate at which these functions are performed. Talent management by using certain specific practices helps in cutting down on the time taken to perform the HR functions. According to Olsen A company's traditional department-oriented staffing and recruiting process needs to be converted to an enterprise wide human talent attraction and retention effort. (Olsen, 2000, p. 24). Thus it can be found out that the authors possessing the first stream of thoughts more or less tend to rely on using the basic functions of HR to extract the definition of talent management. The work done by researchers belonging to this category tends to revolve around the normal HR practices. Further the authors belonging to this stream point out to the fact that, in the quest for finding the right kind of talent for the organizations, term talent management has been used to zero in on the most important practices out of the basic HR functions. This approach towards talent management suggests that HR and talent management are one and the same with the difference that talent management tends to focus only on the HR practices that seem to be relevant from strategic point of view to the organization and
23

performing the functions at a quick pace as stated above. Based on the general HR practices this stream of researchers can be further sub categorized owing to the importance given by them to a particular practice. For instance the literatures of Sullivan, 2005 and How a Talent Management Plan, 2004 tend to advocate talent management in terms of the best candidates possible (Lewis & Heckman, 2006, p.2). On the other hand Cohn, Khurana and Greeves, 2005 have carried out research in the area of development of employees in the organization through skill enhancement programs, thereby coining the term growing talent in their literature (Cohn, Khurana&Greeves, 2005, p. 64). Lewis and Heckman have thoroughly summarized the views of scholars belonging to this category in their literature as: Regardless of the breadth of their point of view, or lack thereof, these authors replace the traditional term Human Resources with Talent Management. (Lewis & Heckman, 2006, p.2)

4.4 The Second Sub-category of Researchers

The second stream consists of researchers like: Kesler, 2002; Pascal, 2004; Jackson and Schuler, 1990; Lermusiaux, 2005, The Changing Face of Talent Management, 2003; who consider talent management as offering adequate flow of employees into jobs throughout the organization (Lewis & Heckman, 2006, p.2). This category of scholars preached talent management as the promotion of employees within the organization. According to them talent management is a process of constructing strong pipelines which have a continuous flow of talent at any point of time in space, Thereby helping in resolving the problems arising due to the vacancies being created within the companies. Though the authors from this category advocate talent management as the shaping of basic HR practices (Lermusiaux, 2005), the main idea advocated by them is that talent management mainly revolves around planning the progression of talented individuals within the organization (Jackson and Schuler, 1990; Rothwell, 1994). Schweyer in an attempt to present the viewpoint of this category of researchers pointed out that The first step in talent management is to gain a solid understanding of the internal workforce (Schweyer, 2004a, p. 20). The area concerning the man power and work force organization has been intensifying, presenting a challenging task to both practitioners and managements of large business entities (Pegels, 1981; Stahlman& Lewis, 1994; Wild &Schneeweiss, 1993).
24

Further the problem of ensuring an adequate flow of talent into positions while optimizing organizational resources has long been a topic of interest to researchers in industrial engineering and industrial management(Lewis & Heckman, 2006, p.2). Hence talent management is being used by the researchers belonging to this type as a means to highlight and resolve the issues pertaining to organizational modelling and staffing/career flows by coding levels of hierarchy, rules for entering and exiting a position, and parameters such as costs, anticipated tenure, and supply and demand (Lewis & Heckman, 2006, p.2). Thus talent management when studied from the point of view of scholars belonging to this group gives a notion that talent management is more to do with the planning of internal issues related to the HR within an organization. Selection and recruiting are not an issue but development and promotion of individuals within an organization is what would ultimately help in retaining talented individuals thus helping in employee engagement. Based on the views of this class of scholars it can thus be concluded that organizations invest heavily in development of individuals and moulding them according to the needs of the business model of the organizations. This calls for establishment of trust and belief between the individuals and organization and providing the firms with an assurance that the individuals will stay for a long time and thus help towards the growth of the organization. The formation of such contracts based on trust and belief is referred to as employee engagement (Macey and Schneider, 2008). The literature on talent management by McKinsey points out to the fact that one of the important demographic challenges the organizations today face is due to the difference in thoughts owing to the disparity in the needs and perspectives between workers based on age groups (Guthridge, Komm, Lawson, 2008). The invention of internet made the world a global village resulting in exchange of thoughts between groups from different parts of the world. Thus affecting the culture, practices and thought process of the people born after 1980 representing the generation Y. The whole idea of working today has changed. The McKinsey literature further points out to the interesting change in needs of the work force which demand more flexibility, meaningful jobs, professional freedom, higher rewards, and a better worklife balance than older employees do. (Guthridge, Komm, Lawson, 2008). The so-called Generation Y no longer aims for long career periods. They look for challenging opportunities to show their talent and contribute towards the growth of organization through their creative and innovative ideas, in

25

turn expecting and rather demanding high compensation packages. In such a scenario it has become crucial for the organizations to promote and retain the right sort of talent within the organizations and the cost of doing so has risen quite sharply. Hence talent management is being viewed as a process to bring down the transaction costs associated with the work force to lower levels. The organizations today are not shying away from providing the talented individuals with huge amounts of pay packages and salaries, but in return expect the share prices to increase considerably.

4.5 The Third Sub-category of Researchers

The third stream focuses on talent generically (Lewis & Heckman, 2006, p.2). The authors belonging to this category, in order to define talent management, go beyond the limits of general HR functions in order to identify the talent that actually separates the successful organization from its rivals. Identification of talent in this case refers to the few individuals that are in some way or the other responsible for the growth of organizations as pointed out by Buckingham and Vosburgh, 2001. According to them If we deal only with programs and processes, then we never touch what is ultimately our greatest strategic differentiator: The talent inherent in each person, one individual at a time (Buckingham&Vosburgh, 2001, p. 18). This also justifies the use of talent management as a separate field to attract, retain and develop talent that helps in expansion of business. According to Lewis and Heckman 2006, the high performers would like to work with associates who possess the same amount of wisdom and level of expertise. This would also sound tempting from the point of view of the organizations to employ individuals belonging to the creamy layer as this would help them gain more profits (Lewis & Heckman, 2006, p.3). This is what presents the organization with a barrier and a task as pointed out by the authors that employing all 90th percentile performers would not be feasible as this would result in companies incurring high costs for the jobs, which could be done by the mediocre at a minimal price.

4.6 Talent Management: New Makeover of HRM

If one pays close attention to the literature on talent management one would find that both talent management and HRM practices are one and the same (Schweyer,2004; Vaiman& Vance, 2008; Boudreau & Ramstad,2005; Wright and Haggerty, 2005; Lewis and Heckman,

26

2006). Then the question arises about, why the use of a different term talent management? Consider the definition for talent management given by Schweyer as Talent management is a strategic approach to the optimization and alignment of human capital. It represents the next step in the evolution of HR. With the advent of HR, we saw companies to take a more professional approach to managing people, implementing recruitment and retention programmes, looking at sourcing etc. Thus talent management is the modern day term used for HRM to give it a revitalizing touch. Vaiman and Vance in support of this present the viewpoint of scholars as certainly a new spin on an old concept can provide a refreshing change, as well as an opportunity to renew and recommit efforts for organizational improvement. They also point out to the fact that if talent management is to make a significantly new contribution beyond simply providing a rather superficial new and improved label to essentially the same HR practices, it must hold a more clear link with strategic human resource management (Boudreau & Ramstad,2005; Wright and Haggerty, 2005 as cited in Vaiman& Vance, 2008).

27

5 Talent management: resolving people related issues within organization arising due to strategic factors like globalization and change in demographics.
5.1 Design of Fifth Chapter
This chapter starts off by illustrating the importance of talent management, which gives an account of factors that have an impact on the job market today. Further up in the chapter the problems pertaining to shortage of skills and the generation gap are discussed. The importance of having strong talent pipelines and the challenge it poses to the organizations is also discussed in detail. Finally the literature by McKinsey on War for Talent is given an account of which illustrates the struggle of the organizations to keep pace with the changes occurring due to the factors like globalization, change in demographics. Finally a case study on allied signal is presented in support of the above argument. Henceforth the chapter is concluded by portraying talent management as a tool to battle against the impact of the factors changing the work environment.

5.2 Importance of Talent Management

Talent management as seen in the previous section is all about performing HRM functions in line with the growing challenges in the form of demographic change, globalization, and the rise of the knowledge worker as pointed out by the literature on making talent as the strategic priority (Guthridge, Komm, Lawson, 2008). These challenges have pushed the organizations to think beyond the limits of traditional HRM involving just the recruitment and promotion of the employees. With the growth of organizations in terms of people and business the need for the hour has become to synchronize the strategy of people with the overall strategy of the organization. The literature points out to an interesting fact about the increase in the young talent owing to the rise in the rate of education. Further the study by Guthridge, Komm, Lawson, 2008 has revealed that the professional talent in the emerging markets such as China, Hungary, India, and Malaysia lack certain factors necessary for employment like Poor English skills, dubious educational qualifications, and cultural issuessuch as a lack of experience on teams and a reluctance to take initiative or assume leadership roles (Guthridge, Komm, Lawson, 2008). The emerging markets present the organizations with the opportunity of cutting down the peoples cost as hiring labour in the third world countries is not so expensive. The multinational corporations are thereby

28

confronted with the task of penetrating the emerging markets and choosing the appropriate candidates with the right skill sets. Another important factor haunting the organizations today as mentioned above is that about demographic change. The main challenge the organizations today face is due to the difference in the age groups. The generation gap has resulted in different expectations among the work force. As pointed out by the literature on making talent as the strategic priority, the workers belonging to the present generation demand, flexibility, meaningful jobs, professional freedom, higher rewards, and a better worklife balance than older employees did (Guthridge, Komm, Lawson, 2008). Hence the demographic changes force the organizations to keep pace with it by regularly reviewing and updating their peoples strategy. The third important and daunting task for the organizations is the management of knowledge workers within them. The workers belonging to this category account for the major part of the talent consortium within organizations.Guthridge, Komm, Lawson point out to the fact that it is the knowledge workers who are able to earn almost three times greater profits than normal workers (Guthridge, Komm, Lawson, 2008). The identification, development and management of these knowledge workers pose a herculean task for the organizations. All the above-mentioned factors ultimately point out to the challenge faced by the organizations today to form strong talent pipelines that cater to the business needs at any point in time.

5.3 Shortage of Skills

Academicians suggest that in the current situation prevailing over the business world talent management is seen as a resource for developing the appropriate competency levels within the organizations (Aiman-Smith, Bergey, Cantwell and Doran, 2006; Bernhart, 2006; Donaldson, 2006; Green, 2000; Holland, Sheehan, Donohue and Pyman, 2007; Thomson, 2007; Leape, 2006). The factors like globalization and change in demographics have made the usual HRM practices of selection and recruitment even more complex than before. Blackman and Kennedy through their literature present the viewpoint of Strack, Baier andFahlander 2008 which portrays the problem of aging work population in the third world countries owing to the current demographic set up existing in these countries (Blackman and Kennedy, 2008). Research has further shown that the number of workers to retire is expected to go up in the next few years (APSC, 2007; Patrickson and Hartmann, 1995).
29

Baker, 2006 has pointed out to an interesting fact in his literature. Through his research he found that the interest of people is continuously changing with respect to their choice of subjects at various stages of their educational career as cited in (Blackman and Kennedy, 2008). The shift in trend towards a particular field results in shortage of people in the other fields. Thus the shortage of skills poses a big threat to organizations, which could also result in declining the growth rate of the organizations. Attempts are thus being made by the academicians in the field of talent management to formulate specific strategies to overcome this problem (Romans, Frost and Ford, 2006; Archer, 2007; Dewey, 2007; Baxter and MacDonald, 2007).

5.4 The Generation Gap

As illustrated in the beginning of this chapter generation gap is seen as an influencing factor in the job markets of today. The current generation of work force has different needs and expectations from the job. Armour in support of the above argument has quoted that Unlike the generations that have gone before them, Gen Y has been pampered, Nurtured and programmed with a slew of activities since they were toddlers, Meaning they are both highperformance and high-maintenance as said by TuglanThey also Believe in their own worth. (Armour, 2005, np).

Organizations spend load of money in training and developing their employees hence retention of employees is very important. The loss of work force would result in huge amounts of capital losses in the form of both money and skills to the organization. Talent retention thus forms an important aspect of talent management. Initial indications for 2007 are that candidates continue to be bullish about how much they are worth, and companies are trying hard to keep pace with their skills requirements (CareerOne, 2006 as cited in Blackman and Kennedy, 2008). Thus companies need to figure out about the expectations and requirements of the current generation of work force and thus formulate their people related strategies aligning them with the same.

30

5.5 Targeting Talent at Various Levels in the Organization Thereby Creating a Talent Management Pipeline
The McKinsey literature on war for talent points out to the fact that the main problem faced by organizations today is not just limited to attracting and retaining employees but to create talent pipelines that caters to the needs for talented individuals within the organization at any point of time (Michaels, Jones and Axelrod, 2001). The literature has quoted Kevin Sharers view, the CEO of Amgen as He believes that building a strong talent pipeline is as critical to his companys success as building a vibrant product pipeline (Michaels, Jones and Axelrod, 2001, p. 37). In support of the Sharers view Goldman and Bernshteyn, 2007 have rightly pointed out as talent pipeline being concerned with the bench strength owing to the fact that The only way your organization can be firing on all cylinders is if no seat is left unfilled for long. They further point out that whenever a vacancy is created at executive levels within the organization the HR departments start looking outside the organizations describing it as the recruitment issue. According to the authors this should be the last option for the organizations to look up to. There should be talent available within the organization that is by all means ready to accept the position of responsibilities after the huge amounts of investment by the firms in the development of individuals constituting the work force of the organization. It is thus important from organizations point of view to create talent pipelines capable enough to cater to the business needs of the organization. The literature on building a talent pipeline further points out to the lack of employee engagement amongst U.S. employees (Goldman &Bernshteyn, 2007). The literature reveals that 70 percent of the work force in U.S. feel either not engaged or actively disengaged at work, as pointed out by a recent survey by the Gallup Organization. The literature has identified few factors that would help in creating employee engagement and loyalty of employees towards the organization thus helping to build strong and efficient talent pipelines (Goldman &Bernshteyn, 2007). These factors are as given below: Targets: The literature on building a talent pipeline indicates that targets and objectives set forth by the organization not only assists in driving business models to success but also act as a motivating factor for the employees (Goldman &Bernshteyn, 2007). The literature also depicts the viewpoint of the authors David Sirota, Louis A. Mischkind and Michael Irwin

31

Meltzer who by means of their article "Why Your Employees Are Losing Motivation," portray that it is the targets that keep the employees engaged to the organization apart from money (Goldman &Bernshteyn, 2007). The targets should be difficult enough to act as a motivating factor for the employees to use their creativity and efforts but at the same time should be such that it is realistic and achievable. The literature further goes on to show that Goals that are negotiated and mutually agreed on improve employee-manager relationships and provide an important sense of ownership for employees (Goldman &Bernshteyn, 2007). The authors by means of their literature revert to the fact that defining targets and objectives helps both the organization and the employees. It enables the organizations to measure performances of the individuals in turn motivating them with the rewards and feel good factor they get on successful completion of the task. Development: employees have huge expectation from companies with respect to their personal development and skill enhancement as pointed out by Dr. Jac Fitz-enz through his book "The ROI of Human Capital" which has been portrayed in the literature on building a talent pipeline (Goldman &Bernshteyn, 2007). The literature further quoted Dr. Jac saying "On the job, they are looking for development activities and training that will make their job easier and their results better. They want their career objectives to be addressed by their supervisors and by the organization. Opportunities to make adjustments that will increase their contributions to the company are critical." (The ROI of Human Capital as cited in Goldman &Bernshteyn, 2007). Thus it is important for the organizations to make sure that the targets they set for their employees give a chance to the later to develop along with the organization. This will help the organization to retain the best of the talent. Lucrative compensation: Enthusiastic, high-performing employees expect to receive good remuneration and incentives in return of the work they do (Goldman &Bernshteyn, 2007). The literature also points out to an interesting and important fact that the rewards should be in line with the amount and quality of work done by individuals. This would not only help in retaining the best of the talent but will also act as a motivating factor for the employees. This would also help the companies to enhance their brand value to attract the creamiest layer of talent owing to the importance of branding as rightly pointed out by the literature on war for talent. Career progression: Quite often the organizations develop succession plans only for the executive levels in the organization (Goldman &Bernshteyn, 2007). If this is done at all the

32

levels within organization, it will give the clear picture about the vacancies that would be created in near future within the organizations and also help them to identify the profiles that would best suit and rather that are willing up to fill in the void. Thus to establish an efficient talent pipeline demands a sound succession planning system. Recruitment: The factors listed so far assist in establishing employee engagement, thereby helping in holding out on to the best of the talent available in the organization. Goldman &Bernshteyn indicate that the retained profiles could be further used in identifying talent in the external job market (Goldman &Bernshteyn, 2007). This would help in maintaining the continuous flow of talent through the pipelines created by organizations to cater to the business needs at any point in time. Hence talent management practices if suitably employed can help the HR executives in the organizations to battle the challenge of building up strong talent pipelines to ensure a talent pipeline within a firm which could cater to business needs arising at any point in time thereby making the organizations self sufficient. Having efficient talent pipelines prevents the organizations from going to the external job markets for filling in the positions at executive levels as people would be available in the organization itself to take up responsibilities. By having strong talent pipelines would ensure a smooth inflow and outflow of the employees thus having someone always available to have a continuous flow of leadership within the organization. Thus building up strong talent pipelines forms as important part of talent management systems.

5.6 The War for Talent

Mckinsey in 2001 released the war for talent literature, which was based on data collected from more than 6000 companies (Michaels, Jones & Axelrod, 2001). The term War for Talent was first coined by McKinsey &Company in 1997. The studies were conducted to find out about the situation of the 1990s which had seen events like dot-com burst, the crumbling of Nasdaq and the fears regarding the spreading of recession (Michaels, Jones & Axelrod, 2001, p. 1). The findings from the study indicated that the War for talent was not something to get over quickly. It was expected to last for two decades as we see even today. The literature further indicates that the increase in number of graduates both in technical and managerial degrees have intensified the competition in the job market.

33

All the companies look towards attracting recruiting and retaining the best of the talent available in the market. The literature based on the studies conducted expressed the concern of the organizations with respect to the growing demands for talent at executive levels. The authors have written that In addition to this broad demand for talent, the demand for highcalibre-managerial talent is growing (Michaels, Jones & Axelrod, 2001, p. 3). The managers today are expected to respond to the challenges of globalization, change in demographics as mentioned above. The literature has further quoted the stats from US bureau of labour statistics, which indicated a growth in the total work force in US by 12 percent from 1998 to 2008 but at the same time pointed out to a 6 percent decrease in the supply of talented managers for future. The study also indicated that the work force would mostly be constituted of 25 to 44 years old workers (Labor Force 2008 as cited in Michaels, Jones & Axelrod, 2001). On close scrutiny of figures one can easily see that the percentage of individuals who would actually contribute to the growth of the company is found to decline by 6 percent. The literature on war for talent also reveals the increase in the switching of companies by the employees owing to the advantages they enjoy by doing so. Today the whole scenario has changed. Employers no more have the control and authority over the employees in terms of retention of the employees. Globalization and increased competition has resulted in the rise of number of players existing in the market. The literature on war for talent poses the question that most organizations face today, that is what are the employers suppose to do to gain the control over the employees back? (Michaels, Jones & Axelrod, 2001, p. 6). Further organizations need to figure out ways for employee engagement and gaining the trust and loyalty of the employees. Finding answers to these questions and resolving such issues form one of the most important functions of talent management. The existing literature in the field of talent management suggests that most of the companies today have realized the importance of adjusting their business strategies and making use of opportunities due to factors like globalization and change in demographics and so on. But most of the organizations lack the appropriate mindset needed to take bold decisions by making adjustments to their existing HR systems that would result in the success of the organization as a whole. The literature on War for talent in an attempt to portray the importance of talent mindset has the authors saying that A talent mindset is the deep-seated belief that having better talent at all levels is how you outperform your competitors

34

(Michaels, Jones & Axelrod, 2001, p. 22). In support of the above statement the War for talent literature has quoted the example of Allied Signal. Allied Signal case study: After Larry Bossidy took over as the chief executive officer of the company in 1991, in less than three years the company saw a rise in price of the stock from $30 to $75. This was due to the changes in the performance measurement system introduced by Larry soon after he took over as the CEO. He identified the need to improve the standards of his manufacturing work force. To start with, he first identified the traits that he thought were important in order to qualify individuals as being talented which included qualities like the leader who would empower, not micromanage; lead not administer; and understand technology but not act like a technician. The next two years were spent filtering the system by evaluating the top manufacturing team constituting of 400 people. Each individuals profile was compared with the kind defined by the CEO. Those who managed to surpass the talent defined by the CEO were given additional responsibilities while those found under-rated were pushed to improve themselves. This saw the company Allied Signal replace half of its top manufacturing persons. (Gilbert, 1994 as cited by Michaels, Jones & Axelrod, 2001)

5.7 Talent Management: as a Tool for Formulating Modern Day People Related Strategies
It is clear from the arguments presented in this chapter that modern day equation for job market is changing due to the introduction of factors like globalization, change in demographics, skills shortage and the generation gap. Talent management is thus seen as a tool by researchers to battle against these changes and it helps to bend the existing strategies in a way so as to neutralize the effect of these changes. To be successful today as pointed out by the literature on war for talent, the organizations need to craft a winning employee value proposition which refers to a smooth fusion of all the things that make up a company (Michaels, Jones & Axelrod, 2001, p. 61). The literature further suggests that this is what helps to attract the work force, the company aims to target and help to cater to the demand and needs of the employees of the new generation. The literature also illustrates that suitable profiles can be identified and programs be developed to form the required pool of talent the company is looking for as in the case of allied signal. Thus efficient talent management systems can help in resolving the problem of

35

skill shortage and generation gap thereby battling against the factors like globalization and change in demographics through establishment of strong and efficient talent pipelines.

36

6 Analysis
6.1 Design for Chapter Six
This chapter presents few case studies demonstrating the kind of practices being followed in these organizations in order to successfully manage talent and obtain an upper edge over its rivals. To present a better picture of talent management practices the organizations are selected in such a way that each one of them represents a different sector and in no way are rivals of one another. The talent management practices in the two companies presented as case studies are Google followed by HSBC. After giving a brief account of the people related policies being followed in these firms, a summary of the same is provided. In the final section of this chapter one of the main objectives of this dissertation as indicated before about coming up with a definition for talent management which is complete in all aspects will be presented.

6.2 Google
The literature on talent management by IBM points out towards the nature of talent management practices used at Google (Ringo, Schweyer, DeMarco, Jones and Lesser, 2008). The literature pointing out towards the reason for Google to attract talented people, quoted the words of Larry Page and Sergey Brin as We empower them to change the world through the many data democratizing endeavours the company pursues.(Larry Page and Sergey Brin as cited in Ringo, Schweyer, DeMarco, Jones and Lesser, 2008) Further individuals are provided with opportunities to showcase their creativity and innovative thoughts through the practice of 20 percent, which is devoting a certain amount of time towards doing whatever one is interested in, as long as it contributes towards growth of the company. The literature by IBM also pointed out to an interesting approach of learn fast fail fast being practiced in the organization. All these practices can be attributed to employee engagement and creation of brand value in the existing job market to attract the best talent. It would be interesting here to analyze the kind of skills that would qualify individuals for a job in the company. According to an article published in Business Week (Business Week, 2005) the company was found to conduct a competition called India Code Jam to find the most

37

prolific and outstanding coder in South and South-East Asia. The company was to give away an amount of US$6900 to the winner. The article also pointed out to the fact that prior to this Google was found conducting such contests within US. All these practices suggest that innovation and creativity is what Google looks for in individuals to consider them as highvalue for the company, thus pointing out to the importance of human capital for the organizations. An article published in ZDNet UK pointed out towards the hiring of Vint Cerf regarded as one of the founding fathers of internet, to help Google to sort the best talent. (Espiner, 2006) This clearly portrays the political capital in the form of image Vint Cerf has established for himself in the IT world. In order to improve its employee retention Google the company is currently collecting data with respect to employee reviews, promotions and pay histories. The company is expected to organize the data to get an algorithm for developing a mathematical formula. The sources further indicate that his formula would tell the company about the employees out of the total work force of 20,000 that are more likely to leave the organization Lazlo Bock the companies human resource director has further been quoted saying that the algorithm will help them to get inside peoples heads even before they know they might leave. (Talent Management Review, unknown year)

6.3 Case Study on HSBC (The whole case study is taken from the website of Chris
Roebuck 2009) The author describing the talent management system in the company states The HSBC case reflects the more common situation of the development of a low visibility coordinated approach to talent and leadership. This is based on the completion of a jigsaw that moves the organisation forward step by step through tailored responses to demands from individual business units or areas towards a complete delivery system. The creation of the HSBC Investment Bank produced an organisation with a wide variety of business models and cultures, including Asset Management, Private Banking, Corporate Banking, Equities, Foreign Exchange and Fixed Income Trading, Merger and Acquisitions, together with Support and Supervision functions. In order to establish a fast developing, mutually supporting and business focused teams the company used the procedure shown below:

38

Realignment of HR service from product orientation to client orientation The company decided that the team apart from performing its specific functions would appoint an individual acting as the client relationship manager (CRM). This change was introduced recognising the kind of relationships each team member had developed with different business areas owing to their skills and competences. The team members were further given instructions to report to the CRM about any business needs arising in the areas they specifically worked with. The CRM would also be responsible for working with the relevant HR business partners and would be key in bringing them up to speed on the benefits that the Leadership & Management Development team could deliver for their business area.

This helped the CRM to update the employees on the business needs at any point in time. This was particularly useful as it allowed the creation of the big picture for the whole organisation that had not yet been fully clear. This then enabled the development of the talent and leadership jigsaw and the subsequent development of the strategy. This led to a rise in the enthusiasm with which the teams worked. Maximising High Leverage Activity Having realigned the team to client service and created the bandwidth to focus on high value add initiatives the stage was set for the key initiatives to be implemented. This lay the foundation for implementing the all important transformational HR. The overall strategy was to build an effective talent and leadership system that minimised risk, maximised performance and created a positive environment so retention of talent was also maximised. Thus to achieve this various practices were undertaken like succession planning, 360 appraisals development programs and so on out of which succession planning is presented below.

Succession planning Initially the current post holders were asked for their nominations and then, based on the performance data from those with the skills and experience to hold the post, additional names were added to the lists. An assessment tool was then designed which included the last two years performance data together with 5 key areas reflecting the organisations values and desired leadership behaviour. The current post holder then rated the potential successors

39

against these criteria. These results where then discussed with senior HR management and a number of possible successors, generally 2 3, for each role were identified. This was reviewed annually after the appraisal period. In this way a fast developing mutually supportive and business focussed team was created. (Chris Roebuck, 2009, probable year) The authors has further highlighted the ten key lessons from this case study as follows Key lessons from the HSBC case study 1. If there is no drive from the CEO and senior management for specific talent/ leadership activities you need to use the Jigsaw approach 2. Have a clear strategy to reach a vision of top quality HR, see what each business is currently doing, map it and identify the gaps. 3. See what individual business areas want, focus on delivering the best you can to the most enthusiastic client. 4. Try to match what they say they want with what they need and will make the most benefit. Go for easy wins first; mentoring is a good one. 5. Always do something for every business area no matter how small that thing is, even just a little facilitation. 6. Use the idea of a small pilot project if they are sceptical select people to enter the pilot who will ensure success. 7. Fill in the gaps in the jigsaw as you go along leveraging success from one place to another towards your final vision of a total system 8. As credibility builds move to more strategic level activity and outsource the lower level more generic activity. 9. Deliver everything in a business friendly and focussed way even presentations, reports, development programme content the business doesnt care about HR best practice. 10. Make sure your team develops its own Vision, Values and Objectives. Each individual should also have personal and professional objectives. The team must agree to be mutually supportive. All the matter in the above section has been copied from the website

(http://www.chrisroebuck.net/downloads/hsbc_case_study.pdf)

40

6.4 Summary of the Case Studies Presented Above

The companies taken into consideration above belong to different segments of the business world. The first company is software-based industry providing IT solutions, while the second is a financial institution that comprises of a number of business units. From the practices and talent management systems it can be seen that creativity and innovation is what the industries in technology sector basically looks for. To make the best use of people related capital these companies indulge in practices like employee engagement as in the case of Google.Further being a software based company Google doesnt need to spend money on research in terms of equipment and raw materials and hence there is no fear of incurring huge losses. Thereby encouraging its employees to take risks and reward them heavily on being successful, thus achieving employee engagement and retention. This gives a notion that talent management is the term given to the practices that help in utilizing the individual talents to the most effective and efficient use. The case study on HSBC, a company offering financial solutions illustrates that how fast developing, mutually supporting and business focused teams can been formed by following certain practices and taking careful measures as indicated above. The case study further gives an account of the succession planning system in the organization.(Chris Roebuck, 2009, probable year)

6.5 Talent management: a bridge between HRM and strategy

Whichever category of talent management literature you consider from those presented above, all point out to the strategic importance of the talent in the form of people. This is because of the fact that be it human capital, human resource management, or talent management all have their foundations deeply rooted into the resource based theory of organizations (Barney, 1991, 1995 as cited in Vaiman and vance, 2008, p. 3). The literature by Lewis and Heckman 2006, present the perspective of Barney who points out to the sustained competitive advantage gained by developing talent that is valuable, rare and hard to imitate (Barney 1991, 2001 as cited in Lewis and Heckman, 2006, p. 7). Further the literature by Barney, 1995 says firms resources and capabilities include all of the financial, physical, human, and organizational assets used by a firm to develop, manufacture, and deliver products or services to its customers (p. 50). Adding to the above

41

argument by Barney Lewis and Heckman 2006 indicate the view point of Barney as Barney (1995) notes that companies, through their people, gain skills and abilities over time and develop a culture, social networks, and an organizational/management structure that manages those skills and abilities and is hard for competitors to duplicate. Thus we get a raw definition for talent management as Talent Management can be defined as practice of providing organizations with an added advantage over their rivals; that is valuable, unique and cannot be replicated; by adding assets to the organization in the form of talented people who through their human, social and intellectual capital increase the wealth of the organizations.

The above definition answers to the question about the process of talent management but does not give an account of the link between talent management and HRM. The peer review on talent management points out to the importance of HRM to the organizations and the issues faced by them. The most important of all the tasks is the attraction, recruitment, development and retention of top performers. Attraction further points out towards the problem of creating a brand name for the organizations that helps them in enticing the creamiest layer of individuals present in the job market at any point in time. Recruitment presents organizations with the task of short-listing the applicants by matching the competences of the individuals with the job specification. As mentioned earlier the organizations cannot go on recruiting just the top performers in the organization. The work force needs to be an efficient blend of both the top and average performers which not only helps in the growth of business but at the same time help organizations in bringing down the labour cost. Finally retention and development is what actually results in high labour cost of the organizations. Firms invest high amount of capital in order to develop the talent of selected individuals by providing them with development and training programs. The corporation tends to lose all the invested capital if they fail to retain the talent within the organizations. The individuals would tend to stay in the organization only if they are able to enjoy the work and get the rewards for the same at appropriate phases of their career. Another important factor as discussed in the peer review above is that of maintaining the flow of workforce within the organization keeping the factors like demographic change, retirement and resigning of people at important positions within organization.

42

Hence by improvising on the definition presented above would help to define talent management which gives an account of the viewpoint of the authors constituting the first category described in chapter two in conjunction to the argument that talent management and HRM are same with the new term coined to add a refreshing touch to HRM. From the above discussion on literature of talent management and the case studies presented on practices of talent management being followed in various organizations it is clear that the HRM practices like selection, recruiting, developing and retaining talent are all about creating pipelines of talent within organizations so that there is availability of talent at all positions and at all times in the organization. Hence the above definitions can be modified as follows Talent Management can be defined as an improvisation in the HRM practices of providing organizations with an added advantage over their rivals; which are valuable, unique and cannot be replicated; by adding assets to the organization in the form of pipelines comprising talented people who through their human, social and intellectual capital increase the wealth of organizations.

The above definition does give the link between talent management and HRM and also indicates to the difference in both through the word improvisation that accounts for the viewpoint of authors from the first category who suggests that, talent management is about performing HRM practices at a quicker pace. Some argue that it is all about succession planning. Hence the definition given above regarding talent management also justifies the point that both talent management and HRM are two different words for the same kind of practices. It also gives an account of what kind of workers would be considered as talent by the organizations by the use of terms like human, social and intellectual capital. There is one final addition required to the above definition to make it complete in all aspects, which is about adding the strategic factor to it. This strategic factor would not only represent the factors like globalization and change in demographics but also give an account of the difficulties in the form of skill shortage and generation gap being faced by the modern day organizations. Talent Management can be defined as an improvisation in the HRM practices of providing organizations with an added advantage over their rivals; to battle against the strategic challenges in the form of skill shortage, globalization and change in demographics and this competitive advantage at the same time is valuable, unique and cannot be replicated; thereby
43

adding assets to the organizations in the form of pipelines constituting talented people who through their human, social and intellectual capital help the organizations to increase their wealth.

This definition is quite comprehensive in defining talent management and also giving an account of what is talent all about. Talent management acts as a bridge between the policies related to the people in the organization and the strategic elements that play an important role in driving the business to success. Hence talent management can be defined as the bridge built upon the pool of talent where the bridge refers to the business operations taking place in the organization. The HR practices to achieve the objectives defined by the business model of the organization and the external issues related to the people that impact the business form the foundation pillars that support this bridge.

The literature review presented above gives an indication towards talent management being a process to organize the internal parameters within the organization so as to reduce the impact of factors external to the organization, which influence the strategies formulated within the firms. An interesting factor pointed out in the literature on talent management is that the use of term Human Resource Management increases the cost for the organizations by introducing specialists in the form of HR managers who caution the organizations against any legal restrictions and what management cant do, whereas the talent managers could be portrayed as general managers who work in harmony with the talent in the form of people to drive business objectives to success (Vaiman& Vance, 2008). Hence talent management is a more general term referring to the management of talent, which is necessary alongside the management of finances and operations that needs to be on the priorities agenda of the managers in order to enhance the performance of both the managers and the organizations.

The academicians have argued that there seems to be a lot of Hype given to the term talent management and War for Talent by the practitioners constituting large multi-national organizations like McKinsey, Harvard business Review and IBM and so on with intent to fulfil their own personal interests. Though this might be true the fact remains that out of the entire work force it is few selected individuals who are actually responsible for increasing the wealth of the organization through the distinct capabilities possessed by them as described above in the form of human, social and intellectual capital. The case study of Google is presented above which highlights the various talent management practices being followed in
44

the organization. It is due to the policy of the organization to let its employee invest some amount of time in the projects that interests them apart from their regular schedule as long as that project benefits the organization. It is due to these kinds of practices that the company has been able to taste the success in the form of popular social networking sites like Orkut and Facebook. There have been talented managers like Carlos Ghosn who single handedly revived Nissan, which was incurring huge losses at one stage and today is one of the biggest competitors in the automobile industry. When it comes to managers there are certain aspects that become important to organizations, which can be termed as the social capital. The traits of successful individuals as listed earlier are no doubt important but the relations the individual shares in the internal and external environment of the organizations are also quite important when it comes to contribution towards increasing the value of the stocks of the organization as pointed out in chapter five. According to a famous quotation To win you have to risk loss. Jean-Claude Killy Hence risk-taking ability is very important in an individual for the organizations to succeed. The traits mentioned above come into picture as the supplement to the risk taking ability of individuals and increasing the probability of success by taking the risk in the right direction. To be able to take risk and put innovative methods into practice a manager needs to achieve the trust and support of all his colleagues. In order to effectively make use of human capital social capital forms an important part of a successful individual. The world of business has today become a universal hamlet. The big organizations have functions spread to different parts of the world. A movement in the position of individuals could result in organizations incurring huge amount of losses.

A C B D E
Figure 1 Shows the relation between various business units of the same organization

45

Look at the figure given above. The lines represent the people reporting to the managers represented by alphabets A, B, C, D and E who manage the functions in different geographic locations. B in the above figure is the most important manager as A and D report to E through B. Hence absence of B could result in causing an upset to the operations. The above figure surely illustrates the importance of social capital.

HRM is about managing individuals as a whole which does not actually get into depth of identifying individual talent, while talent management is about identifying, attracting, retaining and developing the individuals at all levels within organization that actually contributes to the value of the organization. Thus by introducing a new and enhanced version of HRM in the form of talent management stresses on the need for organizations to identify such individuals in the organization. Having identified such influential job profiles it is up to the organizations to produce and develop such talent within them, which proves to become the future winning formula for the organization. The peer review of literature on talent management indicates that it is more about managing the internal affairs related to people in the form of succession planning, development and retaining of the talented. The people factor will only prove to be an asset if they can be retained and developed within the organization. Gone are the old days when the employees shared a long-term relationship of trust with the organization where in the organizations rewarded the employees with job security in return of the loyalty offered by the former. Talent management can thus be seen as a tool by the companies to win back the trust of the employees and re-establish the image of the organization. By taking suitable measures the organizations need to tackle the external challenges in the form of generation gap, skill shortage, competition and globalization and make sure that the advantage in the form of talented individuals stays within the organization and does not pass on to their counterparts.

46

7 Conclusion
This dissertation has attempted to thoroughly evaluate the peer literature to get to the heart of the problem regarding management of talent faced by the organizations today. This dissertation initially defined talent and what makes individuals to be considered talented by the organizations. This portrayed the importance of talent management to the organizations and laid the foundation for the review of peer literature on talent management. The literature on talent management was discussed in detail by dividing the researchers in this field into two broad categories based on the ideas advocated by them. The first category gave an account of the relationship between HRM and talent management by further sub-categorising into three broad categories. The second category discussed about managing the people resource within the organization based on the changes taking place in the work culture in the modern day. Further the concept behind building talent pipelines and its importance was discussed. Finally the case studies on Google and HSBC were presented along with analysis of the peer literature. This dissertation has helped to unfold important facts related to talent management depicting it same as HRM with the new term adding a refreshing touch to it. management has been defined by considering the viewpoint of various authors. Be it HRM or Talent management both stress on managing the human resource within the organization. Hence instead of arguing that both are same the researchers should actually focus on establishing concrete relationship between the workforce performance and performance of the organization. Practices should be developed that help to identify the people most valuable to the organization by understanding the true meaning of talent, as it is much more than just the skills and traits possessed by the individuals. Organizations further need to find out clearly the needs of the workforce and try to fulfil them as far as possible to engage them to the organizations. It is only through employee engagement and establishment of loyal relationships that the talent in the form of the people can be retained back in the organization. The future research should thus concentrate on building succinct talent pipelines that cater to the business needs of the organization through revamping of the HRM practices that are competent enough to battle any kind of changes in the work culture along with other strategic factors that have an impact on the working of the organization.
47

Further talent

8 Bibliography:
Adler, P. S. & Kwon, S. W. (2002).Social capital: prospects for a new concept. Academy of Management Review, 27(1), 1740. Aiman-Smith, L., Bergey, P., Cantwell, A.R. and Doran, M. (2006).The Coming Knowledge and Capability Shortage.Research-Technology Management, vol. July-August: pp. 15-23.

Anderson, N. and Herriot, P., (Eds.) (1997).International Handbook of Selection and Assessment. John Wiley and Sons ltd.

APSC (2007).State of the Service Report.APSC. (www.apsc.gov.au/stateoftheservice/0607/index.html) accessed 2/08/09.

Archer, N. (2007).Talent Management: The State Of Play.Talent Management and Organisational Effectiveness, National Institute of Governance Research Symposium, Canberra, 22 November.

Armour, S. (2005). Generation Y: They've arrived at work with a new attitude.USA Today, 8th November: http://www.usatoday.com/money/workplace/2005-11-06-gen-y_x.htm, accessed, 5/08/09).

Ashton, C. and Morton, L. (2005). Managing talent for competitive advantage.Strategic HR Review, Jul/Aug, vol. 4 no. 5, pp. 28-31. Baker, M. (2006). What are the degree chart hits? BBC News, Friday, 20th October, available at (www.news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/education/6071026.stm) Accessed: 4/08/09

Barney, J. (1991). Firm resources and sustained competitive advantage.Journal of Management, 17(1), pp. 99120. Barney, J. B. (2001). Is the resource-based view a useful perspective for strategic management research? Yes.Academy of Management Review, 26(1), pp. 4156.

48

Barney, J.B. and Wright, P.M. (1998). On Becoming a Strategic Partner: The Role of Human Resources in Gaining Competitive Advantage.Human Resource Management, vol. 37 no.1, pp. 31-46.

Baron, A. and Armstrong, M. (2007).Human Capital Management: Achieving Added Value through People. London: Kogan Page. Baxter, J. and McDonald, S. (2007). Talent Management in Regional Australia.Talent Management and Organisational Effectiveness, National Institute of Governance Research Symposium, Canberra, 22 November.

Blackman, D. and Kennedy, M. (2008). Talent Management: Developing or Preventing Knowledge and Capability?(http://www2.warwick.ac.uk/fac/soc/wbs/conf/olkc/archive/olkc3/papers/contribu tion113.pdf), Accessed: 03/08/09. Bernhart, M. (2006). Preparing for a skills shortage, work intensification.Employee Benefit News, BenefitNews.com: 20th November.

Bourdieu, P.&Wacquant, L. J. D. (1992). An Invitation to Reflexive Sociology. Chicago, IL: University of Chicago Press. Boudreau, J.W.,& Ramstad, P. M. (2005). Talentship and the new paradigm for human resource management: From professional practice to strategic talent decision science. Human Resource Planning, 28(2), pp. 1726. Bersin, J. (2007). Reshaping the learning function to bridge talent gap.Training and Development, September, pp. 44-46

Boam, R. And Sparrow, P. R. (eds.) 1992.Designing and achieving competency: A competency-based approach to managing people and organizations. London: McGraw-Hill Boss, G. P. (1993).Sourcebook of family theories and methods: a contextual approach. Springer Science+Business Media, Inc., New York. Brewster, C., Sparrow, P. and Harris, H. (2005). Towards a new model of globalizing HRM.International Journal of Human Resource Management, vol. 16 no. 6
49

Burt, R. S. (2000). The network structure of social capital. In B. M. Staw&R. I. Sutton (Eds), Research in Organizational Behavior: an Annual Series of Analytical Essays and Critical Reviews, Vol. 22. New York: JAI Press. Business Week, April 11, 2005, (http://www.businessweek.com/magazine/content/05_15/b3928076.htm), Accessed: 5/08/09. Byham, W. C. (2001).Are leaders born or made? Work-span, 44(12), pp. 5660 Buckingham, M., &Vosburgh, R. M. (2001).The 21st century human resources function: It's the talent, stupid! Human Resource Planning, 24(4), pp. 1723

(http://www.entrepreneur.com/tradejournals/article/84345752.html) Accessed: 28/07/09 Butler, P., Hall, T.W., Hanna, A. M., Mendonca, L., Auguste, B., Manyika, J. &Sahay, A. (1997). A revolution in interaction.McKinsey Quarterly, 1997(1) pp. 524

Campbell, D.T. (1978). Qualitative knowing in action research. In M. Brenner, P. Marsh and M. Brenner (Eds.). The social contexts of method (pp. 184-209). London: Croom Helm. CareerOne (2006).Skills shortage: it's not just us.CareerOne, Available at

www.careerone.com.au/jobs/job-search/job-market-insider/skills-shortage-it-isnot-just-us.

Chowanec, G. D., &Newstrom, C. N. (1991). The strategic management of international human resources. Business Quarterly, 56(2), pp. 6570 Chris Roebuck, HSBC Investment Bank Case Study (http://www.chrisroebuck.net/downloads/hsbc_case_study.pdf) Accessed: 8/08/09. Cohn, J. M., Khurana, R., & Reeves, L. (2005). Growing talent as if your business depended on it. Harvard Business Review, 83(10), pp. 6370. Creelman, D. (2004, September). Return on investment in talent management: Measures you can put to work right now. Available from Human Capital Institute, 2121 K Street, N.W., Suite 800, Washington, DC 20037 USA. Dale, M. and Iles, P. (1992). Assessing Management Skills: A Guide to Competencies and Evaluation Techniques. London: Kogan Page.

50

Delaney, J. T., &Huselid, M. A. (1996). The impact of human resource management practices on perceptions of organizational performance.Academy of Management Journal, 39(4), pp. 949969. Dewey, L. (2007). Department of Finance and Administration Career Starters Program: Talent Management and Organisational Effectiveness. National Institute of Governance Research Symposium, Canberra, 22 November. Donaldson, C. (2006). Skills shortage comes back to bite. Human Resources, 14th November, (www.humanresourcesmagazine.com.au/articles/6F/0C046F6F.asp?Type=61&Category=933 ) Accessed: 2/08/09 Easton, G. &Araujo, L. (1994). Market exchange, social structures and time.European Journal of Marketing, 28(3), pp. 7284 Eisner, S. (2005).Managing Generation Y.SAM Advanced Management Journal, Autumn, vol. 70 no.4, pp.4-15. Espiner, 7thMarch, 2006. Googles Cerf on talent Hunt in UK. 12:49 PM, ZDNet, UK http://www.zdnetasia.com/news/internet/0,39044908,39315821,00.htm, Accessed: 3/08/09 Evans, W.R.,Novicevic, M.M. and Davis, W.D. (2007). Resource-based foundations of strategic human resource management: a review and extension.International Journal of Learning and Intellectual Capital, vol 4, no.1-2, pp. 75-91.

Fitz-enz, J. (2000).The ROI of Human Capital: Measuring the Economic Value of Employee performance. New York: Amacom Fletcher, S. (1992). Competency-based Assessment Techniques. London: Kogan Page. Flick U., 2006. An Introduction to Qualitative Research. London: Sage Gerhart, B. (2005). Human resources and business performance: Findings, unanswered questions, and an alternative approach.Management Revue, 16(2), pp. 174185. Ghanam, D. and Cox, P. (2007). Dynamic capabilities: the strategy- HRM intersect? International Journal of Learning and Intellectual Capital, vol.4 no.1-2, pp. 57-74

51

Gilbert, N. (1994).CEO of the Year: Larry Bossidy of AlliedSignal.Financial World, 29 March 1994, 44-52.

Goldman, M. and Bernsteyn, R. (2007). Building a Talent Pipeline. (http://www.talentmgt.com/succession_planning/2007/June/351/index.php)Accessed: 5/08/09

Green, M. (2000). Beware and Prepare: the Government Workforce of the Future.Public Personnel Management, Winter, vol. 29 no. 4, pp. 435-443.

Guthridge M., Komm A. B., and Lawson E. (2008). Making talent a strategic priority. January 2008, Organization practice: McKinsey (http://www.mckinseyquarterly.com/Making_talent_a_strategic_priority_2092) Accessed: 07/07/2009 Haesli, A. and Boxall, P. (2005). When knowledge management meets HR Strategy: an exploration of personalization-retention and codification-recruitment

Configurations.International Journal of Human Resource Management, vol. 16 no. 11, pp. 1955-1975. Hailey, V.H.,Farndale, E. and Truss, C. (2005). The HR Departments role in Organisational Performance, Human Resource Management.vol. 15 no. 3, pp.49-66.

Hancock B., 1998. Trent Focus for Research and Development in Primary Health Care: An Introduction to Qualitative Research. Trent Focus Group. Hansen, M. T. & Haas, M. R. (2001). Competing for attention in knowledge markets: electronic document dissemination in a management consulting company.Administrative Science Quarterly, 46(1), 128. Hansen, M. T., Nohria, N. & Tierney, T. (1999). Whats your strategy for managing knowledge?Harvard Business Review, 77(2), 106116. Hass, M. (2006). Knowledge Gathering, Team capabilities, and Project Performance in Challenging Work Environments.Management Science, vol. 52 no. 8, pp. 1170-1184.

52

Heinen, J. S., & O'Neill, C. (2004). Managing talent to maximize performance. Employment Relations Today, 31, pp. 6782. Hilton, D. M. (2000).Hiring and retaining top talent. Credit Union Executive Journal, 40(5), pp. 1216. Holland, P., Sheenan, C. and De Cieri, H. (2007). Attracting and Retaining Talent: exploring human resources development trends in Australia.Human Resource Development International, vol. 10 no. 3, pp. 247-262.

Holland, P., Sheehan, C., Donohue, R. and Pyman, A. (2007). Contemporary Issues and Challenges in HRM.Prahan, VIC: Tilde University Press.

Huselid, M. A. (1995).The impact of human resource management practices on turnover, productivity, and corporate financial performance. Academy of Management Journal, 38(3), pp. 635672

Holman, D., Wall, T. D., Clegg, C. W., Sparrow, P. And Howard, A. (eds.) (2002).The New Workplace: A Guide to the Human Impact of Modern Working Practices.John Wiley & Sons, Ltd. Iles, P. (1992). Centres of Excellence?Assessment and Development Centres, Managerial Competence, and Human Resource Strategies. British Journal of Management, 3 (2), pp. 7990.

Ingham, J. (2006). Closing the talent management gap. Strategic HR Review, Mar/Apr, vol. 5 no.3, pp. 20-23.

Ingham, J. (2006). Closing the talent management gap. Strategic HR Review, Mar/Apr, vol. 5 no.3, pp. 20-23.

Jackson, S. E., & Schuler, R. S. (1990). Human resource planning: Challenges for industrial/organizational psychologists. American Psychologist, 45(2), pp. 223239. Kates, A. (2006). (Re) Designing the HR Organisation.Human Resource Planning, vol. 29 no. 2, pp. 22-30
53

Keeley, B. (2007). Human capital:How what you know shapes your life.France: OECD. Kesler, G. C. (2002). Why the leadership bench never gets deeper: Ten insights about executive talent development. Human Resource Planning, 25, pp. 3244. Kocharekar, R. (2001). K-commerce: knowledge-based commerce architecture with convergence of e-commerce and knowledge management.Information Systems Management, 18(2), pp. 3035. LaRossa, R, Bennett, I. A., &Gelles, R. J. (1981). Ethical Dilemmas in qualitative family research. Journal of marriage and family, 43, pp. 303-313 Leape, E. (2006).Managing the Skills Shortage.Canadian Manager, Winter, pp. 4-7.

Lepak, D. P., Marrone, J. A., & Takeuchi, R. (2004). The relativity of HR systems: Conceptualising the impact of desired employee contributions and HR philosophy. International Journal of Technology Management, 27(6), pp. 639646. Lepak, D. P., & Snell, S. A. (2002). Examining the human resource architecture: The relationships among human capital, employment, and human resource configurations.Journal of Management, 28(4), pp. 517543. Lepak, D. P., Takeuchi, R., & Snell, S. A. (2003). Employment flexibility and firm performance: Examining the interaction effects of employment mode, environmental dynamism, and technological intensity.Journal of Management, 29(4), 681X703X. Lermusiaux, Y. (2005, May). Talent Management: A definition. Retrieved September 8, 2005, from http://www.taleo.com/blog/index.php? m=200505 Lewis R. E., Heckman R. J. (2006). Talent Management: A critical review. Human Resource Management Review 16 (2006) 139154 Lopez, S.P., Peon, J.M.M. and Ordas, C.J.V. (2006). Human Resource Management as a determining factor in Organizational Learning.Management Learning, vol.37 no. 2, pp. 215239.

54

Martell, K. and Carroll, S. J. (1995). How Strategic Is HRM?Human Resource Management, vol. 34 no. 2, pp. 253-26

Macey, W. H., and Schneider, B. (2008). The Meaning of Employee Engagement. Industrial and Organizational Psychology, 1 (2008), 330. Society for Industrial and Organizational Psychology McCauley, C. and Wakefield, M. (2006). Talent Management in the 21st Century: Help Your Company Find, Develop, and Keep its Strongest Workers.Journal for Quality & Participation, Winter, vol. 29 no. 4, pp. 4-7.

McGee, L. (2006). CEO's influence on talent management.Strategic HR Review; Nov/Dec, vol. 6 no. 1, p. 3

Mercer, S. R. (2005).Best-in-class leadership. Leadership Excellence, 22(3), 17 Michaels, E., Handfield-Jones, H., & Axelrod, B. (2001). The war for talent. Watertown, MA: Harvard Business School Press. Michie, J. and Sheehan, M. (2005). Business Strategy, Human Resources, Labour Market Flexibility and Competitive Advantage.International Journal of Human Resource Management, vol. 16 no. 3, pp. 445-464.

Olsen, R. (2000). Harnessing the internet with human capital management.Workspan, 43(11), 2427. Pascal, C. (2004). Foreword. In A. Schweyer (Eds.). Talent management systems: Best practices in technology solutions for recruitment, retention, and workforce planning. Canada: Wiley. Patrickson, M. and Hartmann, L. (1995). Australias ageing population: implications for human resource management.International Journal of Manpower, vol. 16 no. 5/6, pp. 34-46.

Pegels, C. C. (1981).A Markov chain application to an engineering manpower policy problem. IEEE Transactions on Engineering Management, 28(2), pp. 3943

55

Redford, K. (2005, September). Shedding light on talent tactics. Personnel Today, 2022 (http://www.personneltoday.com/articles/2005/09/26/31782/shedding-light-on-talenttactics.html) Accessed: 2/08/09 Romans, J., Frost, A. and Ford, S. (2006). Developing high-potential talent at Hughes Supply.Strategic HR Review, vol. 5 no. 3, pp. 32-35.

Rosenblatt, P. C. (1981). Ethnographic case studies.In M. Brewer & B Collins (Eds.).scientific inquiry and the social sciences. (pp. 194-225). San Francisco: Jossey-Bass. Rothwell, W. J. (1994).Effective succession planning: Ensuring leadership continuity and building talent from within. New York: Amacom. Salaman, G. (ed.) (1992). Human Resource Strategies. London: Sage. Scarborough, H. and Elias, J. (2002). Evaluating Human Capital (Research Report). London: CIPD Schweyer, A. (2004a). Talent management systems: Best practices in technology solutions for recruitment, retention, and workforce planning. Canada: Wiley. Singh, K. (2004). Impact of HR practices on perceived firm performance in India. Asia Pacific Journal of Human Resources, 42(3), pp. 301317. Soliman, F. and Spooner, K. (2000). Strategies for Implementing Knowledge Management: Role of Human Resource Management.Journal of Knowledge Management, vol. 4 no.4, pp. 337-45.

Spencer, L. M. and Spencer, S. M. (1993). Competence at Work: Models for Superior Performance. London: John Wiley.

Stahlman, E. J., & Lewis, R. E. (1994). Workforce transition model for US Department of Energy non-nuclear reconfiguration. International Journal of Industrial Engineering, 1(3), 112 Talent Management: Understanding the dimensions. CIPD 2006,

(www.cipd.co.uk/researchinsights) Accessed: 12/07/2009

56

Strack, R., Baier, J. and Fahlander, A. (2008). Managing demographic risk.Harvard Business Review, vol. 86 no. 2, pp. 119-134. The changing face of talent management. (2003), HR Focus 80, 14 Thomson, V. (2007).We can't dismiss skills shortage.The Australian, January 17, (www.theaustralian.news.com.au/story/0,20867,21070104-12332,00.html). 28/07/2009 Accessed:

Vaiman V., Vance C. M. (2008). Smart Talent Management: Building Knowledge Assets for Competitive Advantage. Cheltenham-UK: Edward Elgar Publishing Limited. VanWijk, R. A.&van den Bosch, F. A. J. (2000). The emergence and development of internal networks and their impact on knowledge flows: the case of Rabobank Group.In A. M. Pettigrew & E. M. Fenton (Eds).The Innovating Organization. London: Sage. Wild, B., &Schneeweiss, C. (1993).Manpower capacity planning: A hierarchical approach. International Journal of Production Economics, 30, pp. 95106. Wright, P. M., & Haggerty, J. J. (2005). Missing variables in theories of strategic human resource management: Time, cause, and individuals.Management Revue, 16(2), pp. 164173. Wright, P. M., Gardner, P. M., Moynihan, L. M., & Allen, M. R. (2005). The relationship between HR practices and firm performance: Examining causal order. Personnel Psychology, 58, 409446 Talent Management Review.Year Unknown. (http://www.talentmanagementreview.com/articles/20090629_10), Accessed: 5/08/09

57

58