People and Talent Management The following work examines people and talent management and the importance that this has for today's organizations. The works reviewed in the study demonstrate the need for and the methods used in today's people and talent management. Reviewed is the work of Stockley (2011) as well as other various works that relate the processes and methods of people and talent management in today's organizations.

Findings in this study include that talent management is somewhat different for each organization because talent is different for each organization, or in other words, what is valued as talent in one organization may not necessarily be valued as 'talent' in another organization. Talent then is organization specific and each organization provides support toward talent management based upon that specific organization's values and what they view as 'talent'. It is necessary to manage the people within the organization in order to identify the organization's talent so that it can be supported, enabled and developed for the organization's gain and in view of the organization's present and future objectives.

People and Talent Management

Objective

The objective of this work in writing is to conduct an in-depth analysis of the concept of people and talent management. Therefore, this work will conduct a critical review that includes an examination of the application of theories, models, and frameworks and which provides clear evidence to demonstrate theoretical understanding and application ability of the concepts in organizational behavior perspective.

Introduction

The work of Stockley (2011) defines talent management as "A conscious, deliberate approach undertaken to attract, develop and retain people with the aptitude and abilities to meet current and future organizational needs." Stockley goes on to state that talent management "involves individual and organizational development in response to a changing and complex operating environment. It includes the creation and maintenance of a supportive, people oriented organization culture." (2011)

I. Definition of the Concepts of People and Talent Management

Talent management is reported to be such that "brings together a number of important human resources (HR) and management initiatives." (Stockley, 2011) Organizations that make a formal decision to manage their talent are stated to in actuality be undertaking "a strategic analysis of their current HR processes." (Stockley, 2011) The organizations that adopt the talent management approach have as their focus the coordination and integration of the following:

(1) Recruiting -- making sure that right individuals are attracted to the company;

(2) Retaining- development and implementation of practices that result in employees being supported and rewarded;

(3) Development of employees -- making sure continuous learning and development takes place both informal and formal learning;

(4) Leadership and 'high potential employee' development which involves specific development programs for present and future leaders of the organization;

(5) Management of performance -- processes that are specific to providing support for performance which includes such as measurement of performance and feedback;

(6) Planning of the workforce -- this involves business changes as well as general changes being planned for and this is inclusive of the older members of the workforce and in addressing workforce shortages in the present and future of the organization;

(7) Culture -- this involves the positive and progressive development of high performance and making this a method of operation within the organization. (Stockley, 2011, paraphrased)

II. Explanation of Why People and Talent Management Have Become Important

Management of talent is increasingly critical to organizations today due to the need for planning for management of the older workforce comprised of by members of the Baby Boomer generation. Skill shortages are cited as one of the primary reasons that talent management is a critical issue in today's organizations and it is stated specifically in regards to talent shortage that in the future "…It may not be possible to simply go out and recruit new people to meet operational needs. Many leading companies have decided to develop their own people, rather than trying to hire fully skilled workers." (Stockley, 2011) Cited as well is the competition for talent is presently experiencing growth and as well "workforce demographics are evolving." Additionally the "context in which organizations conduct their operations is increasingly complex and dynamic." (Stockley, 2011) It is also reported that "more efficient capital markets have enabled the rise of small and medium-sized organizations that offer opportunities few large organizations can match and todays "financial markets and boards of directors demand more." (Stockley, 2011) Furthermore, "the mobility of personnel is quickening or part with changing expectations. Talent is hard to find it is becoming harder to keep." (Stockley, 2011)

III. The Components of People and Talent...

These elements include those as follows:
Target segmentation -- identification of the critical pools of people in the organization and how they will be managed, compensated, trained and hired differently. The company's "people strategy" must include things which go beyond what we would call "talent management";

Understanding pivotal talent -- it is reported that the concept of pivotal talent is not new and involves the organization understanding which roles are of the greatest value today and in the future;

Integrated compensation or total reward strategies -- the majority of "talent management" teams are very OD focused. They do not directly integrate with the compensation function yet. But once you think about your organization's business strategies, talent segments, and pivotal talent, it is now important to consider compensation within the same framework";

Diversity -- this asks how the organization will "dovetail…diversity strategy into our talent management strategy?

Talent planning -- how the organization will "plan, model, forecast, and manage the pool of people we have, the people we need, and their requisite skills and capabilities? Using highly skilled contingent workers is a business strategy, not just something to account for in HR";

Career models and deep specialization and skills -- the majority of organizations realize that their "core business is dependent on deep levels of skills within certain critical roles; and Learning Culture and Business agility -- this topic is now at focus and asks the question of how the organization can learn more rapidly. The topics of innovation, leadership, new business growth, harvesting of existing businesses, all depend on the "people strategy." (Kaiser Permanente, 2008)

IV. Examples of companies, which focus on People Management and Talent Management

The 'High Impact Talent Management Framework' is reported to be such that is inclusive of the following metrics, compensation, and talent strategy and planning including the listed subsets of each of these that include: (1) sourcing & recruiting; (2) management of performance; (3) planning of succession; and (4) development of leadership. (Kaiser Permanente, 2008) It is reported that talent management philosophy at Siemens' "involves making sure that every employee is provided with the guidance and support to achieve their full potential." (Kaiser Permanente, 2008) This is because the employees are then enabled to do their best and to work collaboratively toward realization of the objectives of the organization and their own individual goals. The same vision and dreams are shared by all and this culture is conducive to employees growing ability to take on a larger responsibility in the organization. Talent management is stated to be something that every organization addresses however, Siemens enables: (1) job enrichment; and (2) responsibilities within an existing job role to make work more rewarding as well as enlargement of the job extending the existing job's scope broadening the range of employee responsibility and assisting the employee in gaining additional knowledge and to develop their skills. (Kaiser Permanente, 2008)

Stated as the result of application of talent management are the following:

(1) All customer-facing staff are engaged, so all customer benefit;

(2) Everyone has the potential and choices to achieve their best; and (3) The pipeline of highfliers is sustained. (Kaiser Permanente, 2008)

The performance management process at Siemens is such that this process "creates a direct link between the strategy of the whole organization and plans for each individual. Every individual is given targets based on their role and responsibility within the organization. It is through meeting personal targets that the individual is best able to help the organization to achieve its targets." (Kaiser Permanente, 2008) Performance management is a systematic process that creates trust and open communication by:

setting objectives monitoring progress made creating an ongoing dialogue between each team member and his/her manager enabling forthright discussion. (Kaiser Permanente, 2008)

Performance management at the Siemens company "…is the engine that drives Talent Management. It is the cornerstone of its high performance culture. When carried out in a consistent way, this system makes sure that everyone is told honestly about their performance. Employees are clear about the impact of their performance and what the consequences are for their development. Everyone within the organization is pulling together to achieve the business strategy." (Kaiser Permanente, 2008)

Hasbro reports that talent management is "an organizational imperative" and that the success of the company is dependent upon "a high performing and highly motivated workforce." (Hasbro, 2011) The talent management program at Hasbro is reported to be "an integrated…