War for Talent Analysis Assignment Sample

• Subject Name : Human Resource Management

Human Resource Management

1. Potential can be defined as a capacity of the individual to develop and grow exponentially in future (Campoy et al. 2019). It is a process by which it can be determined whether the person will be able to meet the expectations and succeed in the bigger role in future or not. The person can handle the responsibilities of greater scale and scope. This means that say a person, is at a certain position, he or she will be able to get involved in the complex job activities of more breadth. It also means that the person does the same job but with a larger number of employees and an increased budget. It is often seen that companies invest only in those people who are talented that is on whom they are confident that the company would receive the return on the investment it has done on the development of the employee. It also means that the employee can hold the senior position and can start performing the tasks immediately. The organization does not promote any employee in a higher position. Managers test the potential and knowledge of the employees before promoting an employee to a higher position (Othman and Mahmood 2019). A potential employee knows how to discover and apply new ideas from the information. They are the one who keeps driving themselves towards the goals. People who are constantly looking for new experiences and growth are the ones who have high potential in them. Such employees even ask for feedback and adjust their behaviour according to the situation.

While working in an organization, I came across three different people having immense potential in them to lead the team and take a higher position in different departments.

Anna was working in a project management team, she often used to ask her manager to give her a new project which is more challenging and requires a lot of responsibility, accountability and decision making skills. Anna used to take initiative on her own and she was the only member of the entire team who was ready to accept the complex challenges. She had a very simple personality and this was a benefit for the organization as her nature helped in conversing with the client. She could handle a difficult conversation with the customers. She handled the complaints of the client in a very calm and responsible manner (Abraham, Renaud and Saulquin 2016). Anna had worked with her manager for two years. She was the only employee in the organization who go out of her way to ensure that the clients who had given a project to the company remained happy and satisfied with the services provided to them.

John was working in the sales team for over a year. His work was phenomenal. He could attract an individual towards the product he wanted to sell. Suddenly, the manager left the organization. Looking at the work performance of John he was appointed as the new head. He wasn’t prepared for the managerial position but he had the leadership qualities to lead the team and assign people the target to achieve. He slowly and steadily learned the managerial qualities required to assist and lead the sales team. The team members working under him were happy because he was an understanding leader (Abraham, Renaud, and Saulquin 2016). He kept on motivating his team members and it is due to his efforts the team was performing much better than it used to under the previous manager. From a sales position, he achieved the place of manager in very less time and this is an achievement for him and the organization.

Jess was another potential worker that I came across with. She was working in research and development of the organization. She had outstanding research skills. She always came up with new ideas in which the organization needed to proceed. She knew about identifying useful information from data by discovering the new dimensions. She always helped her colleagues in research and development. She was the one who used to spend extra hours in the organization to find a solution to the complex problems through research (Asplund 2020). She always used to mark her progress and was passionate for her work. Despite some many good qualities none of the members appreciated her work and thus she left the organization for a better opportunity.

2. One of the best approaches for attracting candidate during the recruiting and selection process is to establish programs to attract the right potential. This program appeals to both the side of the organization that is people who are looking for a higher position and the organization. Managers get attracted to companies where there is a development opportunity. The scenario has changed now employees like to work in those companies where there they can grow and attain higher position. The high potential programs are new and dynamic. These programs have not even been tested until now. Despite these programs have provided companies with the idea and inspiration to strengthen their talent pipes (Mihalcea 2017). There is no standard program for attracting the employees towards the organization it is because every company is different from the other in structure, values, culture and employment types. All the companies cannot have the same programs and strategies for attracting and recruiting the candidate. A high potential program for attracting the clients and recruiting candidates may work at someplace and may not work for the other. For example: - if the company is trying to establish its firm through acquisition at someplace in that case the type of the high potential program would be different from the company that is pursuing low-cost leadership. It is observed that many companies replicate the same high potential program in their organization without understanding the goals of the organization (Bush et al. 2016). The company needs to understand that potential is situational and it is because of this the programs must be aligned such that it fulfils the company strategy. The companies must therefore periodically check their priorities and must also refresh their talent pools by investing in the development and management processes (Jabar et al. 2019).

Any organization needs to select a deserving candidate because if not selected properly then it would dishearten the proactive star moreover it would also make training and development investment in vain. It also decreases the credibility of the entire program. Consequences of wrong selection are costly thus candidates must be selected after thorough examination through different programs (Boštjančič and Slana 2018). Thus while recruiting or selecting high potential employee, the organization must keep the future of the people and company in mind. The selection process must begin with the nomination of the employees. It is one of the best ways to select a potential candidate. Several companies put forward the name of the team member or a candidate who is outstandingly performing in a different department. There are some companies like Danish Bank and Scandinavian where employees are allowed to nominate themselves for higher positions. This self-nomination practice was not prevalent because it was found that the candidate underestimated their performance (Alic 2016). The organization must decide a candidate based on the role, position and timeframe. Of the different category of selection and recruitment criteria based selection is most beneficial. This type of approach helps the organization to find and understand whether the candidate will be able to meet the goals and responsibilities put forward and so on. The candidate would be then assessed based on individual performance and criteria. To select the right candidate for the higher position the company must conduct a personality test. This practice is generally adopted in North American companies to predict which role the candidate would fit into. Another approach for selecting the right candidate is through behavioural interview. It would help the employees to understand them properly and identify whether they are fit for the organization or not.

3. Many organizations do not communicate about their high potential policies to the employees. They do not mention it in advance so that candidates start preparing themselves for attaining the position. Through research, it was found that about 80 per cent of the employees are unaware of the high potential designations. It was found that if the employees were informed of the high potential policies retention rate of the employees in the organization would increase (Ambrosius 2018). Candidates who are aware of the potential policies perform well. The reason why companies do not communicate about their policies is that their processes are highly subjective, indefensible and unfair. The organizations must maintain transparency in the high potential selection so that it increases the productivity of the employees towards the goals of the organisation.

Besides, some companies challenge their employees so that they perform well and find a solution to the complex problem. These organizations even motivate people and also make sure that the senior leaders involve themselves in the activities like coaching, mentoring and so on. Some organizations conduct a training program for their employees where they can learn and enhance their knowledge. Eastern European financial service conducted a program in which all the young middle managers were provided 15-month training apart from their regular job. They were trained by the faculty members of the business school. They were even given a foreign assignment to complete after the end of the program. It was a great opportunity for the people who got the chance to attend the program and learn from it. It was a well-organized personal development program which is required by the candidates to grow (O’Connor and Crowley-Henry 2019). Through this program leader of the organization were also getting involved as teachers which were very useful for networking on the resources. In addition to this practice, the organization also came up with job rotations. This is another practice which would help the managers to grow exponentially in the organization. It would allow managers to handle bigger scale, bigger staff, change models, cross moves, staff to line or line to staff changes, turnaround rates and so on. It was identified through research that 84 per cent of the firms use job rotations as their primary concern (Kampkötter, Harbring, and Sliwka 2018). It is because these firms believe that with greater chances of changes there will be greater learning. It increases the candidate’s ability to adapt to the new location, unit and the industry. But this method is very costly and thus the organization is advised to choose this strategy of retention with utmost care.

Apart from this, some companies believe that high potential position is in itself a reward whereas some suggest that it is not. The companies which do not take a high potential position as reward thinks about the compensation of the employees (Martin and Ottemann, 2016). Some of the motivation include the need for achievement and recognition by the senior authority members on the work done. Compensation for the employees is a part of the strategy and therefore it must be aligned properly with the strengths and goals of the company (Widokarti et al. 2019). External incentives work on the employees only when they are combined with the internal motivators. Organizations must pay well the employees to attract the high potential people otherwise they would leave the firm if they find a better opportunity at some other place (De Boeck, Meyers and Dries, 2018). It is observed that employees feel demotivated if they do not get a good amount for the work that they do. Thus, the companies must come up with rewards and incentive policies so that employees feel satisfied with the work that they are doing. 

4. There is no doubt that talent differs according to the work of the employees as per the designation (De Boeck, Meyers and Dries, 2018). It can be easily explained from an example like a sales trainee if given a sales task he or she would not be able to justify for that work because of lack of experience and education. A marketing specialist would do the best than the trainee in sales. The trainee will fail in selling the product and convincing the client to purchase because he or she has not learned, yet, how to deal with the client. It proves that the work of every individual is different and an employee grows based on the knowledge and education acquired (Dubin 2017). A person at the lower position in the office cannot attain a higher position until and unless it has the same education and experience in the field similar to the senior manager. It is the talent of the person that decides which position he or she should hold (Michailova and Ott 2019). There is a vast difference between a lower-level employee and a higher level one because a lower-level employee would never be able to make the decisions that a senior-level employee can take in case of the risks.

A senior-level employee has a lot of responsibility and it includes even to manage the lower level ones but a lower-level employee cannot do the same (Banasiak 2017). The task assigned to both the levels is different and based on the talent and education. Both things are equally important. The employee may have the education but still, at the lower level, it is because he or she cannot manage the people and leave their impact on them. It is often seen that people on the lower position does not have the leadership skills and this resists them to get the take the higher position. The lower-level employees have raw talent. These employees know that their role will change with the changes introduced in the organization (Krishnan and Scullion 2017). Only the senior executives and manager have the talent in the processed form and thus they can run the organization completely. The senior executive, managers and leaders are categorized as A level employee and others as B and C. These designations are given based on the work they do. It is A level employee who takes the strategic decision in favour of the firm whenever required. They are the one who manages B and C level employees. B and C level employee if want to reach to the top executive place needs to work hard and increase their knowledge only if they are found to be of high potential they will get the opportunity by the company to serve as A level employee.

The talent of the A level employee is highest and then goes for the B level and the talent of the C level employee is the least of all. The productivity of the high potential level employees is more than the ones who do not have much talent. These employees do their work faster in comparison to others (Krausert 2017). The compensation that a highly talented potential is much higher than a normal worker with the least talent. But there is a similarity too, both of the talents can improve themselves to reach a higher position than at which they are currently working. A firm must hire both the type of employees for functioning and operations. The person is designed and assigned work based on the talent. A low talent employee will work on similar concepts and a high-level employee will work on the difficult ones. So there is a huge difference between the talents at each step of the organization.

References for War for Talent Analysis

Abraham, J., Renaud, S. and Saulquin, J.Y. 2016. Relationships between organizational support, organizational commitment and retention: Evidence from high-potential employees. Global Journal of Business Research, 10(1), pp.11-26.

Alic, B. 2016. Talent recruitment and selection–issue and challenge for organizations in the Republic Of Moldova. Annals-Economy Series, 1, pp.62-68.

Ambrosius, J. 2018. Strategic talent management in emerging markets and its impact on employee retention: Evidence from Brazilian MNCs. Thunderbird International Business Review, 60(1), pp.53-68.

Asplund, K. 2020. When profession trumps potential: The moderating role of professional identification in employees’ reactions to talent management. The International Journal of Human Resource Management, 31(4), pp.539-561.

Banasiak, A., 2017. Manager's Responsibility in the Organization. Przedsiębiorczość i Zarządzanie, 18(12.3), pp.215-224.

Boštjančič, E. and Slana, Z. 2018. The role of talent management comparing medium-sized and large companies–major challenges in attracting and retaining talented employees. Frontiers in psychology, 9, p.1750. 

Bush, J., Skiba, T., Liu, W. and Li, A., 2016. The financial impact of strategic development and high potential programs. Journal of Organizational Psychology, 16(2).

Campoy, J.A., Darbyshire, R., Dirlewanger, E., Quero-García, J. and Wenden, B., 2019. Yield potential definition of the chilling requirement reveals likely underestimation of the risk of climate change on winter chill accumulation. International journal of biometeorology, 63(2), pp.183-192.

De Boeck, G., Meyers, M.C. and Dries, N. 2018. Employee reactions to talent management: Assumptions versus evidence. Journal of Organizational Behavior, 39(2), pp.199-213. 

Dubin, R., 2017. The world of work: Industrial society and human relations. United Kingdom: Taylor & Francis.

Jabar, N.A., Awang, S.R., Kowang, T.O. and Krishnan, H., 2019. THE RELATIONSHIP BETWEEN TALENT MANAGEMENT AND MULTIPLE INTELLIGENCE: A CONCEPTUAL FRAMEWORK. Asian Journal of Research in Business and Management, 1(1), pp.54-67.

Kampkötter, P., Harbring, C. and Sliwka, D. 2018. Job rotation and employee performance–evidence from a longitudinal study in the financial services industry. The International Journal of Human Resource Management, 29(10), pp.1709-1735.

Krausert, A. 2017. HR differentiation between professional and managerial employees: Broadening and integrating theoretical perspectives. Human Resource Management Review, 27(3), pp.442-457.

Krishnan, T.N. and Scullion, H. 2017. Talent management and dynamic view of talent in small and medium enterprises. Human Resource Management Review, 27(3), pp.431-441.

Michailova, S. and Ott, D.L., 2019. Talent Management Decisions. Talent Management in Small Advanced Economies pp.33-49.

Mihalcea, A. 2017. Employer branding and talent management in the digital age. Management Dynamics in the Knowledge Economy, 5(2), pp.289-306.

Martin, T.N. and Ottemann, R., 2016. Generational workforce demographic trends and total organizational rewards which might attract and retain different generational employees. Journal of Behavioral and Applied Management, 16(2), p.1160.

O’Connor, E.P. and Crowley-Henry, M. 2019. Exploring the relationship between exclusive talent management, perceived organizational justice and employee engagement: Bridging the literature. Journal of Business Ethics, 156(4), pp.903-917.

Othman, S. and Mahmood, N. 2019. Linking employee engagement towards individual work performance through human resource management practice: From high potential employee’s perspectives. Management Science Letters, 9(7), pp.1083-1092.

Widokarti, J.R., Kartini, D., Oesman, Y.M. and Sari, D., 2019. An Analysis of the Relationship between Compensation and Employees’ Working Motivation Controlling for Proactive Behavior in Indonesian Hotel Industry. Mediterranean Journal of Social Sciences, 10(3), p.70.

Remember, at the center of any academic work, lies clarity and evidence. Should you need further assistance, do look up to our Human Resource Management Assignment Help