Talent Management: A Global Challenge

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Table of Contents

Executive Summary
Introduction
Hofstede Model and Link with Cultural Barriers to Global Talent
Cultural Barriers to Managing Global Talent
Reward Programme
Factors that will Assist or Hinder a Successful Programme
Recommendation for Assessing a Successful Programme
Conclusion
List of References

Executive Summary

The increasing levels of diversity and market dynamism have brought stiff competition among organisations, thus forcing them to engage in training of the available workforce, as well as hire competent employees in order to give them competitive edge in the crowded market. Technological developments have also brought business services into a single platform where customers in any part of the world can access products and services of an organisation from the internet (Salkey 2005).

With these drastic changes in business operations, organisations are struggling to be at advantaged positions by attracting, developing, motivating, and retaining productive employees. This move helps organisations to report high performance with the competent employees. In engaging a competent and diverse workforce organisations become sustainable in their operations, as they can successfully meet their strategic goals and objectives.

Introduction

HR departments in all organisations have to ensure that they bring out the best from the existing employees. This process does not only touches on hiring and retaining the right people, but also touches on making apt decisions that benefit both employees and the organisation (Salkey 2005). Talent management engages and motivates critical talents within a firm, and directs them towards achieving the strategic goals of the firm.

With the inclusion of hiring, motivating, training, and retaining of employees under this subject, talent management is a broad process that encompasses compensation, management, learning and development, global human resources, talent acquisition, performance management, goal management, and succession management. Employees who prove worthwhile to the organisation are retained for continuous growth of the business (Srinivasan 2011).

The process helps CEOs and company managers to link employees with the business strategy, thus empowering them to make a sustainable impact on the organisation’s success (McGee 2006). Most companies are working to recruit competent employees, but do little in terms of training and retaining in order to develop their talents. In expanding its presence in the global platform, Unilever hired new employees, and aligned its objectives with the global approach on employee services in order to register high performance levels (McLeane 2012).

From a cultural perspective, talent management becomes part of an organisational culture and strategy, such that it develops the skills and increases responsibility of employees. The aspect becomes a way of operation within firms, in which it optimises the performance of each employee in respect to the expected goals. With the economic recession of 2009, companies rely on lean staffs that are well conversant with their roles.

According to Uren (2007), the move helps in cutting expenses in order to maximise the return on investment. As a commercial factor, talent management helps firms to meet and even surpass the needs of their clients, thus gaining competitive advantage over their competitors.

The concept requires strategic positioning in the competitive market in order to attract ready-to-learn employees who can increase the profitability of an organisation. In my opinion, talent management is a human resource practice of maintaining relevance in the current global and competitive market by hiring ready-to-learn workforce to increase the growth of an organisation.

Hofstede Model and Link with Cultural Barriers to Global Talent

Multinational corporations struggle to manage global talents given that they attract employees from diverse cultural backgrounds. Cultural diversity in terms of race, ethnic group, language, and nationality cause incompatibility of perceptions of organisational performance. According to Hofstede’s cultural dimensions theory, culture instils values in its members, which in-turn influences behaviour (McLeane 2012).

From this presumption, countries having different cultures will have employees of different behaviours in terms of language, political systems, geographical proximity, and religious beliefs, as organisational leaders have to forge a diverse approach in handling such a multicultural workforce. Hofstede’s model analyses cultural values using power distance, uncertainty avoidance, individualism-collectivism, and femininity-masculinity.

In 1988, long/short-term orientation was added to the four dimensions. Therefore, handling employees from different nations that appraise employee performance differently will result in challenges in development of talents.

In line with power distance, which is the separation degree between subordinates and the management, different firms have practices that define the gap between employees and the top management. In a country like Argentina, where high power distance culture is practised, employees merely take orders from the top management, while in Ireland, employees interact closely with the top management.

Evidently, employees from the two countries will behave differently at the workplace. Societal behaviours are also seen from the individualism versus collectivism aspect. South American nations practice collectivism where they value group roles and value personal relationship more than the task, while in Canada, people operates on individual basis.

Therefore, in influencing behaviour of employees from these two nations requires different approaches. Integrating employees who believes in individualism in the management process of a firm requires. Uncertainty and avoidance, on the other hand, touches on the willingness to share and act on certain information (McLeane 2012).

Differences in religious beliefs and practices, language, and race act as barriers to global talent management. A close check on the dimensions of Hofstede’s model reveals the different barriers that exist in managing global talents, where employees come from countries with different practices and ideologies (Jenkins 2008).

Cultural Barriers to Managing Global Talent

Depending on the values of an organisation, employee retention becomes a challenging aspect since most employees leave for other companies, especially to local organisations (Cseres & Kelly 2006). Effective management of individuals of different races or nationalities requires a culturally diversified HR department in order to incorporate the practices of all employees in the strategic objectives of the organisation, especially during the design of training and motivation programmes.

China is an example of a nation that has set up talent management that focuses on specific jobs. With the globalisation aspect, organisations are competing for the same pool of talent and are trying to standardise the process of recruiting and developing new and existing talents. The move on standardisation makes it easy for other companies to imitate given the availability of data from large organisations.

However, the move to imitate talent management by other corporations complicates the issue of competitive advantage, as strategic HRM assumes that competitive advantage only exist when other firms cannot copy or imitate an idea that gives a specific firm the competitive edge (Ingham 2006).

Huawei Technologies Company built a global culture of shared values in order to create a talent base that targets specific markets (McLeane 2012). The $28 billion Chinese networking and telecommunications equipment supplier devised a culture and human resources that is capable of supporting its operations in all regions where it exists.

Reward Programme

Talent development is key to the success of businesses in the present world; therefore, successful implementation of the talent programme is also vital for the same. A reward scheme helps in ensuring that the process becomes successful. For instance, using annual salary increments and variable commissions or allowances can improve the implementation process (Gratton 2012).

An annual salary of $15,000 and bonuses depending on the output per worker will be effective for the programme. Further, there ought to be an assessment approach that is structured to monitor the application of the learnt ideas in line with the goals and objectives of the firm. Compensation and recognition of employees and key management staff should also be in place to monitor the implementation of talent programmes in organisations that intend to remain competitive in the market.
Rewarding employees after positioning the organisation in the upper quartile of the market with a pay of $1500 for all employees will be recommendable.
In addition, a base pay of $600 will be useful to motivate employees to work towards meeting the organisational targets in the talent management.
In monitoring this programme both men and women possessing same skills will be entitled to same allowances of $800.
The implementation of the talent programme will guide employees’ movements up the pay scale. This will occur after completing the entire global talent plan. The pay will increase the recruitment, retention, motivation, and productivity of the firm from the aspect of variability, which removes predictability of occurrence (Gratton 2012). Employees get motivated from pay, but variable pays motivate them more than the fixed ones.

Factors that will Assist or Hinder a Successful Programme

In restructuring new and existing talents within organisations, there are issues that hinder or assist the success of the programme. Investment in human capital remains the driver of organisational success. Even though the global talent management has numerous benefits to the overall performance of both employees and the organisation, the process of implementing the concept attracts many challenges.

Lack of HR leadership is one factor that can hinder the successful implementation of a global talent programme. Most HR executives give less time to talent development and training, but pay keen attention on tactical activities that do not add value to the growth of an organisation in the current shaky economy (Powell & Lubitsh 2007). The uncertainty in the economy has made key organisations to avoid investing in talents.

Such leadership believes in pushing employees to meet the expected targets forgetting the essence of organisational learning and development in nurturing talents of employees. The HR leadership should work closely with employees and the senior management in facilitating their employees’ talents through an integrated and proactive strategic approach (Chris & Morton 2005).

Lack of support from business leaders and unwillingness from the senior management to buy into the global talent management idea also hinder the success of the programme. Such moves create a workplace environment that does not support development of talents, thus making retention difficult. Lack of organisations’ commitment towards inculcating talent management in their management process creates negative impacts to adoption of new ideas.

However, a healthy, rewarding, and enjoyable working environment positively affects performance of organisations since employees feel motivated to learn new ideas, and apply them in their line of operations within the organisation (Swailes 2007). An organisation with a well-structured reward system for employees can enhance the success of implementing a global talent programme. Rewards coupled with an employee-talented organisation create a culture that enhances the talent of employees and the senior management.

Recommendation for Assessing a Successful Programme

The shifting demographics in terms of age, gender, and race, the HR department must device an inclusive approach to attract and retain skilful employees who are ready to remain updated with the current information and trends in the marketplace. Organizations can assess the success of its global talent programme by analysing its historical aspects on hiring, retention, productivity, and competitiveness in the market.

In a situation of hiring new employees, an organisation can analyse the level at which applicants increase their interest to be part of the company (Gratton 2012). Since the talent management programmes develops employees’ knowledge bases, more employees will prefer to work for organisations that enhances their personal development. If a programme is successful, an organisation will receive more applicants for a vacant position than in the periods before the implementation of the programme.

On the other hand, if the programme is not successful a few applicants will seek to occupy such positions. A successfully implemented programme can make organisations to register high retention of employees compared to the times before the implementation of the programme. An organisation will not find difficulty to find and retain employees if its talent programme is successful.

A study by Ernest and Young on refilling of vacant positions found out that 60% of employers worldwide experienced shortage of competent leadership in 2012, as well as an increase in the number of employers in India who experienced difficulties in filling vacancies in 2011 (Matthews n.d.).

In assessing the success of a talent programme, there should be less difficulty in retaining employees. In some firms, employees will voluntarily apply for extension of contracts before the expiry of their terms. The programme increases satisfaction among employees, thus making retention an easy activity.

However, the reverse will occur if the programme was not successful. Since global talent management intends to make an organisation gain competitive advantage over its competitors in the marketplace, productivity forms the core aspect of growth and sustainability of a firm.

For assessment on the success of the programme, a company should report high output from streamlined employees after the implementing the programme (Baker, Kubal & O’Rourke 2006). In case of low productivity, then, the programme was not successful. A well-implemented global talent programme ensures that there is a clear job analysis from the job design in order to match the roles employees with their specific goals, as well as those of the organisation.

Conclusion

Notably, organisations that do not inculcate talent management in their HR functions are only planning to lose their competitive advantage in the dynamic market. Managers who are knowledgeable in this field find it easy to identify outstanding candidates and facilitate more strategic recruitments, as well as designing training strategies basing the content on organisational goals and objectives (Uren 2007).

In addition, such managers are to design reward or compensation programmes for top performers to encourage development of talents. There is assurance of effective management and maintenance of core aspects of a global workforce in line with attributes of a country, thus aligning organisational goals and objectives with those of employees. Proper understanding of learning and development helps in designing plans that incorporates the needs of employees and the management.

Performance management helps in assessing performance of employees and developing and retaining top organisational talents. Motivation in talent management fuels the enthusiasm of employees and builds their commitment to work towards meeting the goals and objectives of the organisation throughout the period of change.

Organisations have to make training of employees a culture so that new recruits learn to adapt to the system. The broad nature of talent management requires a collective approach of all departments in an organisation for proper implementation. Line managers in organisations should help in developing the skills of employees under them. The concept of talent management has remained a significant aspect in the operations of current organisations given the fast changing needs of consumers and a combination of different workforce.

List of References

Baker, M., Kubal, D., & O’Rourke, T 2006, ‘How to use innovative approaches to retain key talent’, Emerald Journals, vol. 5, no. 6, pp. 87-105.

Chris, A., & Morton, L 2005, ‘Managing talent for competitive advantage: Taking a systemic approach to talent management’, Strategic HR Review, Vol. 4, no. 5, pp. 28-31.

Cseres, P., & Kelly, N 2006, ‘Restructuring talent sourcing at DuPont: Standardizing and simplifying talent-search and management processes’, Emerald Journals, vol. 6, no. 1, pp. 33-45.

Gratton, L 2012, ‘The Talent Factory of the Future’, Business Strategy Review, vol. 23, no. 3, pp. 20-23.

Ingham, J 2006, ‘Closing the talent management gap: Harnessing your employees’ talent to deliver optimum business performance’, Emerald Journals, vol. 5, no. 3, pp. 72-95.

Jenkins, J 2008, ‘Strategies for Managing Talent in a Multigenerational Workforce’, Employment Relations Today, vol. 34, no. 4, pp. 19-26.

Matthews, P n.d., Paradigm shift: Building a new talent management model to boost growth, Ernest and Young. Web.

McGee, L 2006, ‘CEO’s influence on talent management’, Emerald Journals, vol. 6, no. 1, pp. 22-39.

McLeane, V 2012, ‘The future of talent’, New Zealand Management, vol. 59, no. 10, pp. 36-40.

Powell, M., & Lubitsh, G 2007, ‘Courage in the face of extraordinary talent: Why talent management has become a leadership issue’, Emerald Journals, vol. 6, no. 5, pp. 18-27.

Salkey, J 2005, ‘Talent Management for the 21st Century’, Emerald Journals, vol. 4, no. 5, pp. 243-270.

Srinivasan, M. S 2011, ‘An Integral Approach to Talent Management’, Vilakshan: The XIMB Journal of Management, vol. 8, no. 2, pp. 81-90.

Swailes, S 2007, ‘The Ethics of Talent Management’, Business Ethics: A European Review, vol. 22, no. 1, PP. 32-46.

Uren, L 2007, ‘From talent compliance to talent commitment: Moving beyond the hype of talent management to realizing the benefits’, Emerald Journals, vol. 6, no. 3, pp. 237-241.

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