Talent Management and Acquisition: Human Resource Management

Before going into the discussion on Talent Management, it would be apt to understand the word “Talent”. Talent in general terms refers to the capabilities, skills or the art, a person possess in a particular field. It also refers to those people who have high potential, scarce knowledge and skill or who can successfully bring about transformation and change in the organization. Talent management refers to the process of developing and integrating new workers, developing and retaining current workers, and attracting highly skilled workers to work for a company.

Coming to the word Talent Management in an Organisation, it refers to those special steps an organization adopts to recruit, develop and retain its pool of top talent. The steps adopted should normally be creative and should not project bureaucracy. Talent Management also denotes a deliberate approach taken up by an organization to attract, develop and retain people with the aptitude and abilities to meet not only the current requirements but also future organizational needs.

In today’s talent-hungry market scenario, one of the greatest challenges that organizations are facing is to successfully attract, assess, train and retain talented employees. Talent Management encompasses in itself the entire process of Planning, Recruiting, Developing, Managing, and Compensating employees throughout the organization. Organizations have realized the need for talent management and are now focusing to develop and retain the existing talent in their organization rather than trying to acquire a new talent because the cost of identifying, developing and retaining the talent internally is more cost effective instead of replacing the talent which is lost from external market.

Though it may appear initially that in the process of retaining talent, we are spending more in terms of increased wages, rewards and recognition, when we practically analyse, the cost of acquiring a new talent is higher. Apart from higher cost of acquiring the new talent it has to additionally face the initial hiccups of this new employee getting along with the organizational goals and strategies.

Every business unit is making sure that they can respond and withstand the challenges of talent crisis by developing an effective talent management strategy like identifying the key talented people in the organization, cultivating and developing the skill of their present workforce and retaining highly talented employees by protecting them from competitors.

HISTORY OF TALENT MANAGEMENT

The origins of Talent Management can be traced to the 1990s with the realization of the immense value of the Human Asset for organizational success surpassing every other resource. Today it is a very widely used terminology with Google returning about 26,300,000 results. Many companies commit the mistake of putting a herculean effort in attracting the best employees but fritter away this valuable resource by not making any effort to develop or retain them. Companies have initially thought of talent management as a means to solve high employee turnover. In course of time it has become part and parcel of the corporate strategy itself with a key responsibility placed on the line managers. One cannot wish away the fact that these managers have to play a pivotal role in nurturing the talents and skills of those reporting to them. In other words, it is a case of joint trusteeship between the line and staff functions. However, in Indian Companies, talent management is of fairly recent origin.

Talent Management Process

Organizations are made up of people: people creating value through proven business processes, innovation, customer service, sales, and many other important activities. As an organization strives to meet its business goals, it must make sure that it has a continuous and integrated process for recruiting, training, managing, supporting, and compensating these people. The following chart shows the complete process:

Creative ways to innovate Talent Acquisition

There are seven creative ways to innovate Talent Acquisition which is mention here:-

1. Talent Acquisition Strategy
2. Outsource Internally: A clever way is to get someone else to do your job. It’s a clever way of finding the right person for a position while adding to the insurance of a successful hire. Involve the hiring manager, the superiors, the subordinates this person’s work will affect. Collect their ideas for increasing productivity, satisfaction and success. What skills are required? What personal traits will be helpful? What strengths are already on the team? Which might be missing? Translate this input into the skills and personality attributes that tell you exactly what to look for in a candidate.
3. Market your openings in ways you may not have tried before, and build relationships to reach people you’ve never reached before. Set up an ’employment interest’ station in your lobby, at tradeshows, or conferences. Give your business cards to salespeople, or anyone who can ‘evangelize employment’, or who may come across colleagues, or even customers, interested in employment with your company. Think like a talent ‘scout’, and open your recruiting efforts up to extend beyond the familiar grounds for sourcing talent.
4. Create a widespread referral network that works continuously. Recent hires, association colleagues, retirees and high performers who have left your company are all excellent points of reference. Consider putting up “wanted” posters, describing your ideal candidate, complete with a cash reward. The reward gets split among all referrers in a line that lead to a successful hire. There can also be other incentive referral programs, like ‘points awarded for referrals, with redemption for prizes, travel, or paid vacation days. However it’s implemented, the key ingredient is people reaching out to other people.
5. Really interact with people who show interest in joining your company. Job seekers, both active and passive, are a fountain of information about your business, your industry, your competition and your customers. If you develop the approach of treating your interested job seekers like you would treat prospective customers, this can become second nature. Forget about auto-responders on email, or generic postcards. These can actually confirm an applicant’s suspicion of being a number rather than a valued prospective employee.
6. Create an easy, non-intimidating talent ‘collector’ that makes it easy for people to explore your company, what it’s about, what it’s like to work for. The best place to do this is your company website, with its global reach, and endless possibilities for communication and relationship building around the clock. Move the ‘Careers’ area to a prominent position on your site.
7. Turn around your application process, reduce your workload and find the right people for open positions fast by having interested job seekers create a ‘profile’ of themselves. You can collect more information specific to your company’s hiring objectives, and also begin to turn the workload in your favour by not having to respond to each individual application. This way, you can build your talent pool exponentially to always have a ready source to search for current and coming position openings.

REVIEW OF LITERATURE OF TALENT MANGEMENT AND TALENT ACQUISITION

While study of talent management and talent acquisition. I have been read some articles; Review of literature some mentioning her

Business Editors & High Tech Writers,Dec4,1998

We are a marketing and communications company with Internet and interactive businesses at our core,” said Werner Haase, co-chairman and chief executive officer of Exceed, Inc. “Whether our clients are looking for ecommerce solutions, or communication strategy and execution for mergers, acquisitions, corporate branding, Web development, human resources or consulting services, we’ve got the talent to deliver.

Ian Cunningham,2007

This paper explores ways in which organizations can take a systemic stance on talent management. The article is based on work done in a variety of organizations plus research in HR functions. The need is for a systemic approach to talent management. Just focusing on talent acquisition is misguided and unhelpful. The article has real practical implications for leaders/managers and learning and development professionals in setting up a functional strategy for talent management. The article will be of value to managers and learning specialists who are involved in talent management strategy.

Business & Finance Week, Atlanta, Feb 18, 2008

In the paper, McCoy says that in both good economies and in times of economic uncertainty, it is incumbent upon senior management and human resource (HR) leaders to be smart about the resources they hire and ensure their organization’s workforce is structured for flexibility and maximum productivity.

PR Newswire, New York, Mar 5, 2008

A January 15, 2008 Wall Street Journal article (“Demand Rises for Talent Management Software”) identifies one of many issues that shine a spotlight on the looming talent crisis: a labour shortage in industries across the board caused by the aging of the Baby Boomer generation and a decline in worker satisfaction.

The Banker, London, Jul 2008

Outsourcing requires the same commitment to understanding organisational goals, due diligence and governance as a merger, acquisition, or strategic partnership. Before any outsourcing initiative is undertaken, there needs to be a clear vision of how the project enhances stakeholder value. Infosys finds that its most successful clients have a well-thought-out, long-term, strategic sourcing plan that focuses less on cost savings and more on leveraging global talent and industry expertise. This article discusses location strategy while considering global sourcing.

Steven Land berg, Jan 2010

Positions on what can a corporate hiring executive learn from sports teams’ an approach to talent acquisition is answered. When pursuing talent acquisition, executives can observe some interesting analogies and learn some lessons from sports teams. First, talent selection and acquisition is recognized as one of the most critical aspects for success in a sports organization. Sports teams frequently acquire free agents that have moved amongst a number of teams with the understanding that many of those moves are not necessarily the choice of the player.

Chris serres,Jan24,2010

Two years of brutal downsizing and consolidation on Wall Street, combined with the disappearance of such storied firms as Lehman Brothers and Bear Stearns, as well as a slew of regional investment banks, have given Piper the opportunity to play on a bigger stage, according to industry analysts. Piper declined to comment for this article, citing a company policy against discussing its financial performance or other material non-public information in advance of earnings.

PR Newswire, New York, Apr 26, 2010

Media Link LLC has launched an Executive Search Practice and hired Christopher Nutile, one of the most respected professionals in the executive search and talent acquisition sector, to run it as Director of Executive Search, it was announced today by Media Link Chairman & CEO Michael Kassan and President & COO Wenda Harris Millard

Business Wire, New York, Apr 28, 2010

In creating i-GRasp 3.0 we incorporated many of the features that customers said were vital to them in terms of increasing recruiter productivity, reducing operating and IT costs through enhancing self-configuration capabilities, and providing a great candidate experience as they step up recruitment activity in the face of economic recovery. Step Stone Solutions’ on-demand (SaaS) software and services enable organisations to implement efficient processes, including: attraction and hiring, post-hire talent management, performance management, compensation management, skills and competency management, career and succession planning, training and development management.

Recent trends in talent management

Attracting qualified talent is the critical first step in the talent management cycle. Jobs are plenty, finding the right candidate is the challenge. The need is to “sell a job”. Having sold the job well, retaining good employees is the next challenge that arises. And the company’s brand image makes these tasks easier. Hence the marriage of compulsion arises between HR and marketing principles-employer branding. As we know that we get good customers with a good brand. In the same way companies must develop their image in the society by implementing the best practices in each and every aspect.

Employer branding therefore helps a company attract, recruit, and retain employees that if wants and is becoming increasingly important in attracting and retaining star performers in a talent-tight market. Employer branding is not different from (branding a product or service and the payoff are identical. Some of them are product service branding customer acquisition is easier Increased retention possible Loyal customers Less “price sensitive” customers Employer branding Recruiting people is easier Reduced employee churn Committed employees Less “CTC sensitive” employees

Selecting Talent

An effective retention strategy begins at the earlier stages of the recruitment & selection process. This is true because most of the employee turnover happens due to poor chemistry or bed fit. The research indicates that most of the people leave organizations due to the mistakes made during the hiring phase. For this reason some smart companies are adopting the strategy of “hire for attitude & train for skill.” They have realized that it is easier to develop the skills & capabilities that an employee needs than to attempt to change the employee’s personality or mind set. For instance, although Infosys receives about twice the number of application as its competitors it is very selective in recruiting employees. In the financial for 2004-2005, it received close to one million resumes which went through rigorous selection process and offers were made to about 1.5% of the applicants. Infosys looks at candidates who display a high degree of “learnability”.

Indian company was selecting a senior marketing manager after the candidate had gone through several rounds of interviews. The company had identified the person they thought was the right one for the job and was on the verge of making an offer.

Retaining Talent

In present scenario people choose companies which have congenial atmosphere and prefer change if they don’t get desirable, as it may hinder the growth and success of the company. Hence retention is vital than recruitment. The attrition rate of employees in organization is alarming. Take any industry, any sector, any organization and you can find more than enough examples of employees joining and leaving their workplace. All this adds to the worry of HR managers who are only left with the option of scratching their heads and singing no mercy’s all-time hit-“where do you go?” Thus it is an organization’s ability not only to recruit, but also to cultivate and retain, talent that will ultimately determine its longevity. Two major trends point to the growing importance of employee retention as an important HR issue.

Cost of Employee Turnover

Turnover is important because it costs the organization money in direct expenses to recruit and train new hires and indirect expenses to pay overtime for remaining workers, when necessary, and in opportunity cost of lost production. With a 10 per cent turnover rate per year and on average individual pay level of $40,000 might be expected to spend between $ 4 million and $ 8 million per year on turnover-related costs.

Talent management involves in

1. Recruiting- Does the firm have a formal recruitment processes to recruit internally or externally?

2. Career Management- Is there clarity in the career path for the employees?

3. Succession Planning- Are there clear-cut plans for who steps into which position at which time. This involves matching current potentials with future organizational demands.

4. Performance Management- This should be able to tell us how each staff performs in his/her present responsibilities. A very good performance Management should be able to unfold the following; those who need to be rewarded, those who need to be cautioned, those who need additional responsibilities, Staff training and development needs, Promotions, Demotions etc.

5. Reward Management- Talent Management will not succeed without a system that clearly defines performance results. Average, Superior and Outstanding performers in an organization should be rewarded differently otherwise outstanding performers for instance will not be motivated to work harder.

Today’s Top 10 Talent-Management Chalenges

Attracting and retaining enough employees at all levels to meet the needs of organic and inorganic growth

All three companies are facing a talent crunch. Essar, for example, has grown from 20 thousand employees to a staggering 60 thousand in the past 3 years. Fifty-five per cent of their employees have less than two years of tenure.

Creating a value proposition that appeals to multiple generations

With four generations in today’s workplace, most companies are struggling to create an employee experience that appeals to individuals with diverse needs, preferences and assumptions.

Developing a robust leadership pipeline

I believe one of the biggest potential threats to many corporations is a lack of a robust talent pool from which to select future leaders. This is in part a numbers issue.

Rounding out the capabilities of hires who lack the breadth of necessary for global leadership

It’s relatively straightforward to identify and assess experts in specific functional or technical arenas, but much more difficult to determine whether those individuals have the people skills, leadership capabilities, business breadth, and global diversity sensibilities required for the nature of leadership today.

Transferring key knowledge and relationships

The looming retirement of a significant portion of the workforce challenges all companies, but particularly those who are dependent on the strength of tacit knowledge, such as that embedded in customer relationships, a key to Mercer’s business success.

Stemming the exodus of Gen X’ers from corporate life

A big threat in many firms today is the exodus of mid-career talent-people in whom the organization has invested heavily and in whom it has pinned its hopes for future leadership.

Redesigning talent management practices to attract and retain Gen Y’s

The challenge of calibrating talent management practices and programs to attract and engage our young entrants is critically important to all firms.

Creating a workplace that is open to Boomers in their “second careers.”

Age prejudice still exists, but smart companies are looking for ways to incorporate the talents of Boomers and even older workers in the workforce. In many cases, this requires rethinking roles and work relationships.

Overcoming a “norm” of short tenure and frequent movement

Some industries, such as specialty retail, are known for having a very disposable view of talent. Companies’ intent on changing that norm, such as The Gap, must address both external influences in the marketplace and an internal mind set.

Enlisting executives who don’t appreciate the challenge

Many talent executives complain that business leaders still believe that people are lined up outside the door because of the power of the company’s brand. The challenge of enlisting the support of all executives for the transition from a talent culture that has traditionally operated with a “buy” strategy to one that places more emphasis on “build” is widely shared.

CRITICAL APPRAISAL

Firstly I want to discuss about “Critical appraisal”. It is the process of carefully and systematically examining research to judge its trustworthiness, and its value and relevance in a particular context. When I study some the articles of talent management and talent acquisition then I find something which is helpful in company to solve the problem related to talent management and talent actuation issue.

1. Costs

The costs of having to replace someone with scarce skills are considerable. Firstly, the

Recruitment costs are substantial. Qualified staffs, especially Blacks and Women, are not freely available in the market place. This means that agencies or search consultants are required to find such talent and they are expensive. Further costs are incurred during the first 3 – 6 months of employment during which new staff are seldom fully functional

2. Risk

Despite every attempt to follow effective selection practices, there is always a risk that new staff will not perform as expected. It is often said that while organisations select people on their competence and experience, they fire or lose them due to lack of cultural fit. A highly competent professional who is unable to fit the organisational culture is unlikely to be effective or remain for long.

This is particularly true in respect of HDIs entering a firm which has been historically white and or male dominated.

Client Service and Opportunity Costs

In a service organisation service excellence relies largely on personal relationships. It demands that clients feel confident in the people providing the service and that service providers have a memory of client needs and issues. If that relationship is broken as a result of key talent leaving the organisation, the capacity of the firm to provide sustainable service is severely compromised. This has the potential to compromise future business with the associated opportunity costs

Lack of Capacity

Lack of people with suitable skills and talent is a key restraint in terms of service capacity. This manifests itself at 2 levels. Firstly, firms soon reach a state of overload. Deadlines are missed, standards and quality of work drop and a vicious cycle emerges and feeds on itself. This is a very common phenomenon with small and medium sized professional firms. They do not have the capacity to manage their growth or the peaks and valleys associated with the modern business world. Secondly, the firm is so consumed with meeting operational deadlines that it loses its ability to keep up to date with latest best practice, legislation or other issues demanding new skills. In this case clients will soon recognise that mistakes are made due to lack of currency of skills. These are some of the more visible risks to firms who do not pay attention to the attraction, growth and retention of key talent. Beyond the visible, other manifestations of the problem arise. Staff morale declines because leadership talent is absent and this energy drop is transferred to the client. Internal politics and protection of territory or unwillingness to share information and surface problems affect the functioning of the firm. All of these things affect the ability of the organisation to offer great service and take advantage of opportunities to grow

Conclusion

When I study then I decided that the attraction, growth and retention of talent are a key success factor for modern service based knowledge organisations. To be known as an employer of choice is considered a key organisational goal with direct benefits. Whether is a small accounting firm or a large consulting organisation there are certain processes that need to be applied for effective talent management. However, research has shown consistently that the most important factor that influences a person’s decision to stay or leave an organisation is the relationship with their boss. Other key factors are opportunities for personal growth and career development, the culture of the organisation in terms of facilitating innovation and the nature of the work itself South African organisations, large or small, have an obligation to the country and to themselves to grow the professional skills required for economic growth and competitive advantage.