assignment 5

Talent Management

Phyllis Spears Jones

Strayer University

HRM532 Talent Management

Dr. Daniel Frost

November 9, 2018

Talent Management Strategy

A talent is an inborn skill that enables an individual to do a particular task in an outstanding manner (Collings & Cascio, 2017). It is believed that each individual has their own talent, however, some do not understand or know what their actual talents are and they should be assisted to identify their talents and develop them. In an organizational setup, talents are very important because they enable the employees to do some remarkable work. As stated earlier, there is a possibility that even in an organization, there are employees who do not know what their talents are. They need to be assisted accordingly to make sure that they can discover what they are best at so that they can focus on it. Through an effective talent management strategy, an organization can be of help to its employees and itself by assisting the employees to discover what they are best at.

Below are the steps of an effective talent management strategy

1. Attracting the talent

To manage talent, it is necessary to, first of all, attract talent. A company that is interested in managing the talents of its employees must create an environment that will attract the right talents. In other words, the company should create a positive, first and lasting impression that will convince potential employees that it is the best place to develop their talents. This is concerned with how the company affects the perception of the potential talented individuals. The company culture plays a significant role in attracting the right talent. It is the responsibility of the management team to make sure that they have developed the right culture that matches the standards of the talent that it desires. The culture should be supportive to an extent that the current employees should be positive ambassadors to act as agents of attracting the right talent to the company.

2. Developing the talent

Once the talent has been attracted, it should be developed by being shaped to be in line with the long-term goals and objectives of the company. As much as the attracted individuals are talented, it should not be assumed that they will always do the right thing for the company. It is important to guide and mold them so that they can acquire the specific skills that are required in the company. This involves refining the talents so that they can deliver the best for the company (Lawler, 2017). This can be achieved through on-job training as well as blended learning. It is a strategy in talent management that will enable the employees to adjust their talents and realign them to the requirements in the company for the interest of efficiency and effectiveness.

3. Managing the talent

In this step of the talent management strategy, the major concept is to ensure that the attracted and developed talents are properly aligned to the goals and objectives of the company. In other words, the social aspect of talented individuals should be taken into account so that they can effectively work with each other. One of the aspects, in this case, is teamwork skills. The employees should be guided on how to work as one unit while utilizing their talents. They should also be taught on how to effectively communicate in different situations. Lastly, the concept of conflict management should also be incorporated. This enables employees to handle their differences and disagreements in a professional manner.

4. Evaluating the talent strategy

The last step basically involves determining whether or not the strategy is effective. This is done by comparing the expected outcomes within the actual outcomes. Where necessary, adjustments can be initiated to make sure that the strategy is effective.

Key components of talent management

Talent management is essentially a process that an organization uses to get the right people to take different duties and responsibilities that are available. It should be kept in mind that as much as talented people are gifted and can perform tasks in an outstanding manner, not all talents are important in an organization. This implies that organizations only require specific talents that can be useful and effective to enable them to achieve the goals and objectives. To make sure that this is achieved properly, there are various components in talent management that a talent manager must incorporate in their strategies as identified below.

1. Identifying the talent

The first and the most important component of talent management is identifying the talent. A talent can only be managed after it has been identified. An organization needs to go out to the market and seek different talents according to its needs. Through a variety of criteria, it will be able to identify talents that exist in the outside market. This is a very important component because it lays the foundation of the entire talent management process. One of the simplest ways to identify such talents is by advertising the vacancies that exist in a particular organization. Through this strategy, individuals who believe that they have what it takes to work for an organization will emerge. This is a process that will enable the company to identify the right individuals so that they can be assigned to different duties and responsibilities.

2. Assessing the talent

This is a component that basically involves determining whether or not the identified talents are relevant and useful to the company. As stated earlier, talents can only be useful to a company if they are in line with its long-term goals and objectives. Through this component, the management team of the company closely analyses available talents to tell whether or not they are appropriate for the company. From a different point of view, this component can be perceived as the interviewing stage (Sharma, 2018). The potential employees are taken through a series of questions and basic assignments to determine whether or not they possess the right skills for the company. The assessment of the talent needs to be done carefully and keenly because it directly affects the quality of the employees that the company will hire. It needs to be an extensive process so as to make sure the talent is the best for the company.

3. Developing the talent

Once the talent has been identified and analyzed and found to be useful and effective in a company, it should then be developed to make sure that it specifically serves the interests of the company. As stated earlier, individuals might have talents but they might not be in the best to assist the company in achieving its purpose. Through this component of talent management, an organization through its human resources team assists the employees in refining their talents to make sure that they address the specific needs of the company. This is done through coaching and periodic training to ensure the employees understand what the organization requires from them. They can then adjust their talents so that they can be useful to their employer.

4. Motivation

The last component of talent management is motivation. Despite the fact that the employees possess the right skills as required by the company, it is necessary for them to be encouraged through different ways to make sure that they have the morale to keep working. One of the most effective ways to motivate employees is by compensating them for the services nestle offer to an organization.

Talent management and the competitive advantage

Talent management is an indirect strategy for improving the competitive advantage of an organization. As aforementioned, it is basically a process that an organization uses to identify the best-skilled individuals in the market and train them on how their skills can be useful to it. In simple terms, businesses look for talented individuals so that you can assist them to be competitive in whichever industries that they operate. Keeping in mind the fact that the talent that exists in an organization affects its competitiveness, it is then understood that the entire process of talent management is basically intended to improve the competitive advantage of an organization. Each company wants to identify and employ the most talented individuals so that it can have an effective and competent workforce. The objective of this is to have the best results in terms of the overall performance of the company.

One of the greatest reasons for talent management is to make sure that the employees of an organization possess the right skills. Businesses would only be interested in talent management if the objective is to improve in terms of competitiveness. They want to employ individuals that are competitive in both personal and professional perspectives (Deters, 2017). Having such a workforce implies that the organization will improve in terms of its competitiveness. It will be able to perform various duties and responsibilities better than others in the market. As much as talent management benefits individual employees, its ultimate purpose is to boost the competitive advantage of a company.

The change in the talent management strategy

The business environment is dynamic due to the various forces that affect it. Given the fact that this is an external force, a business cannot single-handedly change this situation. However, it can adapt to the new development in the environment by adjusting its strategies accordingly. One of the major causes of the dynamics in the business environment is competition. Frequently, new businesses come up and this shows that the size of the market for each individual organization is likely to shrink. To survive in such an environment, businesses need to change their strategies for the interest of becoming more competitive and effective especially in terms of service delivery.

Given the changes in the business industry, the talent management strategy must also change. It has to be in line with the organizational as well as the industry demands. In other words, the talent management strategy needs to be more intensive and should pay more attention to the natural capabilities of individuals rather than those that can be learned. By focusing on natural talents, the talent management strategy will be able to identify and select the best individuals that will adapt to the changes in the environment to make sure an organization moves to the right direction. Such a change will introduce the concept of efficiency and effectiveness in terms of organizational performance and competitiveness.

When the anticipation of a company doubles in five to six years, it simply implies that stiffer measures should be put in place especially with respect to acquiring individuals with the right talents to work for the company (Bailey & Garavan, 2018). The talent management strategy needs to use tighter and tougher criteria to make sure that it acquires the individuals that have the specific talents that are required by the company in relation to its long-term goals and objectives. Another change should come in terms of the strategies of motivation. Motivation being a component of talent management, it should be doubled to motivate the employees even more so that they can also double their performance.

References

Bailey, C. & Garavan, T. (2018). Strategic Human Resource Management. Oxford: Oxford University Press.

Collings, D. & Cascio, W. (2017). The Oxford Handbook of Talent Management. Oxford: Oxford University Press.

Deters, J. (2017). Global Leadership Talent Management. Bingley: Emerald Publishing.

Lawler, E. (2017). Reinventing Talent Management: Principles and Practices for the New World of Work. Oakland: Barrett-Koehler Publishers.

Sharma, R. (2018). Human Resource Management: Theory and Practice. London: SAGE.