AT&T Company: HR and Talent Management

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Introduction

We live in a world that is seeking the best possible brains in order to carry out tasks. This is because the society and business organizations to be specific have invested in quality work with the intention of achieving the best results. This is in line with the objectives of any organization which is seeking to establish the right framework for organizational success.

Organizations which are recruiting are seeking personnel and staffs who have the capability to achieve results within specific timelines and with high standards. This ensures that the organization has an edge within the market place. Consequently, organizations are seeking talented persons who are willing to do the extraordinary in order to achieve remarkable results.

These are people who are recognized as the talented people. Talent has become an important aspect when it comes to managing organizations. In essence, this has turned out be an aspect within organizations which serves to oversee and ensure that the recommended aspects are attained.

What is talent?

This is a term which can be defined as a special ability within a person which is characterized with a unique ability to solve a problem or an issue which might be prevailing at that particular point in time . Talented people in this case are people who might be possessing special aptitude or even faculty. This is in line with a special faculty which is unique and out of the box.

In the current business and organizational world, creativity and innovation are crucial. This is because they enhance the organizational edge within a given market. And in this case, talent is what is needed to infuse the existing human experience with the dynamism and creativity which is associated with the talent and creativity.

Organizations are working towards creating practices which bring out the best within their existing employees. This has been done or is being done by organizations which have successfully created programs that bring out the best in their workforce. Thus, helping to recruit and train new talent from without.

Building talent is crucial. This is because it employee development are critical to building and sustaining a workforce which is needed to capitalize on business opportunities. Essentially, HR practices that build workforce talent will determine whether or not companies are successful in harnessing the skills and abilities which are available.

Talent management

Talent is becoming recognized as an important and competitive aspect in business organizations. In essence in the current organizations, it is considered to be part of what they call the currency of business.

In the recent past, companies have adopted talent management initiatives and programs which are aimed at engaging and bringing on board talented employees who have the capacity and the potential to achieve the business objectives. The focus on talent management is potentially significant for organizations because it is an aspect which has come to be recognized as a value for progress.

Organizations have come to recognize the value of talent when it comes to the realization of the set objectives. Thus, companies have come to the realization that successfully buying or building critical talent would create competitive advantage in the global marketplace.

Thus we can define talent management as the integrated set of processes and procedures which are used in an organization to attract, onboard, retain, develop and move talent, as well as to exit talent, to achieve strategic objectives. Factors influencing the approach to talent management within an organization Talent management within an organization have very many aspects.

The role of the directors cannot be underestimated. They are supposed to be provided with talent profiles, assessments, and development plans for the key leaders so that they are in a better position of understanding what goes on within a population which is being managed.

The evolution which is observed within an organization drives up the momentum regarding talent management practices which are needed to achieve a given set of organizational objectives. It is on this basis that the leadership makes a decision regarding the human resources docket.

That is, whether the wise decision at a given point in time will be to recruit extra workforce or it is going to enhance the capacity of the existing workforce.

Workforce demographics have an impact of the talent management strategies and practices. This is because every company has got a different set of demographics. For instance, at AT&T there was a time there was an aging workforce. Thus, there was an urgent need to proactively manage the potential skill shortage in workforce which was looming at that particular time.

In addition to this, as the company seeks to enhance, the workforce, the challenge of the current crop of employees emerge. For instance, in the current time and age, few young employees seek to remain in a given location for a longer period of time.

Most of them will change careers for a while. In this regard, the company develops measures to ensure that it is able to retain employees over the course of their entire careers. Finding ways to retain employees long enough to reap the benefits of the investment is thus an important part of a talent management strategy.

Another factor which influences the talent management practices includes the degree to which managers are accountable for the talent management. This raises the question as to whether the managers believe that talent management is their responsibility or not.

In essence, being an effective manager entails doing talent management well. This involves recruiting and developing talent. Great companies have been very successful by embedding the notion that talent management is central to being a good manager.

GE and Pepsi come to mind as classical examples because they have developed a system of long traditions of talent management practices. This has been captured as a key line management responsibility, which is equivalent in importance to budget management or strategic planning practices. The process or procedure of managing talent in these companies is not the same.

They have different approaches which they are using in these processes. However, this notwithstanding, the degree to which there is a talent mindset that is broadly held in management is considered to be one of the key aspects which determine what makes talent management to account to successful talent management.

Predictors of high potential

There are several factors which are considered when talking about high potential talent. Organizations try to assess an individual to determine how high the person can go in the leadership ranks based on what they have demonstrated in their workplace or any other place worth considering.

In most companies, there is usually an assumption that if a person is a high potential person, they are normally performing adequately in their jobs. Despite this, we need to know that potential is a generic designation. The term high potential is usually loosely used to put people in certain pools.

While the characteristic of high potential and talented people are general in nature, it is worth considering the fact that organizations such as the AT&T look for people who embody the company values and who can assimilate new information quickly.

Furthermore, this should be a person who has the energy and the desire to move ahead in any given organization. Having a person who has the ability to learn is an important aspect when it comes to talent management. This is because this person is able to move quickly up the ladder of progress as they help the organization attain the goals and the objectives which are set up for them.

AT&T

This is a telecommunications company which is located in the United States of America. Its headquarters are located in Texas in the United States of America. In terms of domination, it was the second largest provider of mobile and fixed telephones in the United States of America. As of 2010, this company was rated to be the seventh largest company in the United States of America.

Company background

This Company was formerly known as the American telephone and telegraphs Company, AT&T. this company was incorporated on March 3, 1885. This was following the invention of the telephone by the founder Alexander Graham Bell.

This meant that AT&T was the nation’s local and long distance telephone monopoly until 1984. It is during this time that the company opted to divest itself of its local exchange service operating companies which later came to be known as the “Baby Bells”.

From the year 1894 until 1996, this company was an integrated telecommunications services company. In the year 1996, the company took part in the largest voluntary break up in the history of the American business. During this event the company opted to spun off a systems and equipment company. In the year 1997, it also spanned off the computer company leaving it as a wholly communications services company.

In the next three years, this company merged with TCI and Media One to become the leading and the largest cable company in the United States of America.

In the year 2001 the company opted to spun off AT & T wireless, and in November, 2002 it opted to spun off AT&T Broadband to AT&T corp. shareowners. Immediately after that, AT&T Broadband combined with Comcast Corp to create a new company which became the AT&T Comcast.

Currently, AT&T’s remaining operations provide voice and the data services to about 4 million corporate customers and 50million residential customers in the United States of America.

This company employs an estimated 166,000 employees. In 2002, it was ranked as number 15 on the Fortune 500. It worth to mention that this is a company which is evolving from providing long distance voice calls to a company that provides data and voice communications.

Challenges facing this company

Just like any other company, this company has got its fair share of challenges. This is because in the recent years this company has faced challenges in operating in challenging business environments. Like many other companies, this company has taken efforts to cut back on excess spending plans in the attempt to stay afloat challenging and lofty times.

Vision for change

Given the challenges that the company has been facing in the competitive environment, there has been the need to bring about change. It is worth noting that this company has been forced to adopt a strategy for restricting its operations which are geared towards ensuring that there is full power of information networking into every operation. In order to accomplish this, the company has developed three concepts and approaches.

These are as follows, the Concept of One, Concept of Zero and the Concept of None. These concepts act as guidelines and goals for the process of change. The idea behind the Concept of One is based on the need to simplify processes and reduce the complexities which are associated with the AT&T systems. This concepts deal with integrating the current company platforms into a common architectural approach.

This is aimed at achieving the maximum efficiency and coherence. In as much as the concept behind this concept is simple, it is worth noting that the implementation of this process is rather difficult and complex. This is because the implementation of this process relies heavily on the team work efforts across the organizations.

The second concept is the Concept of Zero. This is a concept which arose from what may be termed to be a revolutionary idea that systems need to have. This concept is based on the need to eliminate the human intervention and manual processes through the utilization of the automation approach.

The main theme behind this concept is to challenge the existing systems and strive to determine the productivity of each system or activity. In this case, if a product is not considered to be productive then it is eliminated.

The Concept of None of the other hand is known as the Cybernated Network. This entails creating a network which understands the customer’s needs by continually monitoring and adapting automatically – fixing any problems even before the customers feels them. For example the viruses which enter the human body, the body will automatically develop antibodies to fight off the antigens.

In this case, AT&T aspires to develop a network that will predict failures before they occur, set up measures to prevent them from occurring in the future and at the same time act in a proactive manner which anticipated and proactively fixes problems that may occur at any given point in time. Implementation

The implementation of this process is not an easy one. This is because it calls for the development of strategies which need talented manpower and individuals who are creative and innovative to sustain the changes. Thus in an effort to attain the stated standards, there is need to in order to define and discover elements of the talents which are available within the company.

This will also ensure that in cases where these are not available, the recruitment process should be engaged in order to meet these needs. For AT&T, the capability for developing talent will involve ensuring that employees acquire new skills and capabilities and prepare then to take the new responsibilities which are up coming.

This will develop a link between the development of the employees’ talents and the accomplishment of the organization’s purpose and strategy. The system will work towards ensuring that the recruited and the employees are attracted and retained in these positions. Furthermore, they will be motivated in order to be nurtured and grow the talent which they have at that particular point in time.

This system should reward them when they accomplish and achieve the results that the company desires at that particular point in time. Thus, through these strategies and policies, the company will be able to ensure that all the managers develop the individual talents for which they are responsible and adopt this as their key priority. Deploying the talent strategically

AT&T will need to have capabilities which will be crucial in deploying talent and at the same time adopt methods which will match and align the external talent accordingly. This will ensure that the aspect of managing talent is realized.

For instance, the best suited persons will be suited in the best located positions which will allow them to meet both the current needs and the future challenges or opportunities. Furthermore, this will create the best possible match between the employees’ talents and the aspirations which they have for the long term benefits of the organization.

Through this, the company will be able to discover new capabilities which will enhance the company to attain the status that it seeks within the telecommunication sector.

Essentially talent powered organizations such as the AT&T will be adept at combining and recombining talent within the organization, enabling the sharing of knowledge and bets practices, and encouraging continuous renewal and improvement of current practice within the organization.

Finally, when these practices and measures are taken, they will create expectations of high performance from all the people they will employ. They will also make them aware of how they will use their talents and gifts to greatest effect, give them the will and opportunities to do so, and provide them with continuous, constructive feedback on their performance.

Talent management programs

Talent is critical to the success of any organization. Thus, talent management has come to be one of the major areas of focus in the HR departments of any major organizations or businesses. Talent is important because it ensures that the business is able to maintain a competitive advantage within any organization.

In essence, talent management is needed to ensure that there levels of success, efficiency and consistency are achieved. A systems approach is usually preferred among many organizations. This takes a process.

This is a process which begins with identifying and attracting talent and ends when the talent is retained within the organization. This process has a host of challenges. These challenges include the following; (1) the successful talent management entails identifying the critical jobs as well as finding ways that ensure that the top performers are placed in this positions.

The challenges come when the people who are in these positions are not the best performers and at the same time the best performers are not in the right positions. (2) The process of talent management entails identifying and developing promising potentials in this sector.

The process of identifying and retaining high performers at times is marred with confusion when there are challenges which are facing retention procedures. (3) Successful talent management procedures normally plan for the succession plans. However, in this case, the plans for organizational transitions are challenged when it comes to transition disruptions.

Furthermore, there are cases when a person is not identified who is likely to fill a desired position. (4) Successful talent management occurs or takes place when employee skills occur at the right position in the right manner. In this case, if the employee has skills which can be used effectively in a certain position then they are moved to these positions. However, in most cases, these cases are not identified.

This is because there are managers who due to fear of their current positions opt not to subject themselves to the relevant progress. (5) Successful talent management systems report on the outcomes.

Providing information and data about the number of the employees with certain skills is of vital importance in this case. This enables the boards to be in a position of effective planning about the future. However, there are instances where this information is not readily available. This slows down the very process of gaining the objectives which have been set.

Succession planning

Organizations are like organisms which are undergoing evolution. In this case, the organization needs successive approaches to ensure that the strategies which are laid out within the mission and objectives are realized. In such cases, succession planning is needed. In essence, succession planning involves something more than replacement planning.

It is a strategy which includes a well designed employee development system to reach its potential. This is a process which involves identifying a plan for the orderly replacement of the key employers while at the same time retaining the vital performers who are in certain positions.

The succession planning process

This is a strategic process which is linked to progress. This process entails identifying the important positions within an organization and going ahead and mentoring and coaching the personnel who might be involved in this process. The next step is usually identifying the talent available and determining the personnel who might be having the potential for promotion.

Furthermore, this also entails identifying the personnel who have the need for additional development to enhance organizational capacity. The work which is involved in succession planning should ensure that two products are realized. These products include the identification of potential emergency replacements for the critical positions as well as other successors who will be ready with some additional development.

The HR is responsible for ensuring that the organizational successive planning is realized. The HR in this case is supposed to achieve the following actions.

These actions include identifying development needs of the workforce, assisting executives or managers in identifying needed future job skills, participating in identifying employees who might fill future positions and offering training opportunities for the potential employees who might fill these positions.

In as much as this is the process, it is worth mentioning the fact that the process requires one to be able to identify the available opportunities and the necessary changes which should be realized. The intentionality of the organization is seen in the nature of the processes which are set up.

HR and Talent Management: An Unfinished Evolution

It is worth noting the fact that HR is not about talent management alone within AT&T. the HR is the enabler of many processes. But in this case, talent management is actually much more than this. This is because it requires much more pervasive and requires engagement of the whole organization and the notion of the talent mindset. Conclusion

In conclusion, empirical research suggests that talent management practices have positive effects on the employees and company performance. This is because, when employers and firms apply the talent management practices then this enhances their commitment to the firm.

In essence, talent management practices applied are usually geared to responding to the prevailing conditions within the external environment. Consequently, the company achieves superior performance which ensures that all the stakeholders are successful.

It is also worth noting that for a company to be able to perform well, it must attract the best people in the field. A good employee value proposition enhances the company’s reputation as a good place to work, and thus drives talent attraction and retention. Secondly, an organization needs to identify which recruitment channels will be able to meet the desires and the demands of the market at large.

Thus, an organization should identify the right and appropriate channels which are most appropriate to attract the desired outcomes. At the same time, the most successful companies implement talent management practices with the cultural context in mind.

In this case, a company should be in a position of understanding the prevailing conditions which will ensure that the recommended personnel who have the savviest skills take the positions which are being offered.

In this case, AT&T should be on the fore front in ensuring that the procedure and measures which are applied are practical and realistic towards realizing the aims and objectives. Thus, talent management practices forms a vital aspect of organizational management practices. This is because it will ensure that the vital elements within an organization are achieved.

References

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Human resources management. New York: Houghton Mifflin Co. Mathis, R. L., & John, H. J. (2010).

Human Resource Management. California: Cengage Learning. Silzer, R., Silzer, R., & Dowell, B. E. (2009).

Strategy-Driven Talent Management:A Leadership Imperative. New York: John Wiley & Sons. Tabrizi, B. N. (2006).

Becoming a Real-Time Enterprise:Harnessing the Power of RTE to Maximize Competitive Advantage. California: McGraw-Hill Professional.

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