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Talent management refers to the anticipation of required human capital the organization needs at the time then setting a plan to meet those needs^[1]. Talent management^[2] in this context does not refer to the management of entertainers. Companies engaging in a talent management strategy shift the responsibility of employees from the human resources department to all managers throughout the organization.^[2] The process of attracting and retaining profitable employees, as it is increasingly more competitive between firms and of strategic importance, has come to be known as "the war for talent." Talent management is also known as HCM (Human Capital Management).

The term "talent management" means different things to different organizations. To some it is about the management of high-worth individuals or "the talented" whilst to others it is about how talent is managed generally - i.e. on the assumption that all people have talent which should be identified and liberated.^{[citation needed]}

History[link]

Talent management is a term that emerged in the 1990s to incorporate developments in Human Resources Management which placed more of an emphasis on the management of human resources or talent. The term was coined by David Watkins of Softscape^[3] published in an article in 1998;^[4] however the connection between human resource development and organizational effectiveness has been established since the 1970s.^[5] Talent management is part of the Evolution of Talent Measurement Technologies.

The issue with many companies today is that their organizations put tremendous effort into attracting employees to their company, but spend little time into retaining and developing talent^{[Need quotation to verify]}. A talent management system must be worked into the business strategy and implemented in daily processes throughout the company as a whole. It cannot be left solely to the human resources department to attract and retain employees, but rather must be practiced at all levels of the organization. The business strategy must include responsibilities for line managers to develop the skills of their immediate subordinates. Divisions within the company should be openly sharing information with other departments in order for employees to gain knowledge of the overall organizational objectives.^[6] Companies that focus on developing their talent integrate plans and processes to track and manage their employee talent, including the following:

• Sourcing, attracting, recruiting and onboarding qualified candidates with competitive backgrounds
• Managing and defining competitive salaries
• Training and development opportunities
• Performance management processes
• Retention programs
• Promotion and transitioning^{[7][copyright violation?]}

The talent management strategy may be supported by technology such as HRIS (HR Information Systems) or HRMS (HR Management Systems). Modern techniques also use Competency-based management methodologies to capture and utilize competencies appropriate to strategically drive an organization's long term plans.

Talent management is a term that emerged in the 1990s to incorporate developments in Human Resources Management which placed more of an emphasis on the management of human resources or talent. The term was coined by David Watkins of Softscape^[3] published in an article in 1998, and further defined in the book "Talent Management Systems" in 2004 ^[8] "

Human Capital Management[link]

Companies that engage in talent management (Human Capital Management) are strategic and deliberate in how they source, attract, select, train, develop, retain, promote, and move employees through the organization. Research done on the value of such systems implemented within companies consistently uncovers benefits in these critical economic areas: revenue, customer satisfaction, quality, productivity, cost, cycle time, and market capitalization.^[9][10] The mindset of this more personal human resources approach seeks not only to hire the most qualified and valuable employees but also to put a strong emphasis on retention.

The major aspects of talent management practiced within an organization must consistently include:^[11]

• performance management
• leadership development
• workforce planning/identifying talent gaps
• recruiting

Evaluations[link]

From a talent management standpoint, employee evaluations concern two major areas of measurement: performance and potential. Current employee performance within a specific job has always been a standard evaluation measurement tool of the profitability of an employee. However, talent management also seeks to focus on an employee’s potential, meaning an employee’s future performance, if given the proper development of skills and increased responsibility.

Competencies and Talent Management[link]

This term "talent management" is usually associated with competency-based management. Talent management decisions are often driven by a set of organizational core competencies as well as position-specific competencies. The competency set may include knowledge, skills, experience, and personal traits (demonstrated through defined behaviors). Older competency models might also contain attributes that rarely predict success (e.g. education, tenure, and diversity factors that are illegal to consider in relation to job performance in many countries, and unethical within organizations). New techniques involve creating a Competency architecture for the organization that includes a Competency dictionary to hold the competencies in order to build job descriptions.

Talent marketplace[link]

A talent marketplace is an employee training and development strategy that is set in place within an organization. It is found to be most beneficial for companies where the most productive employees can pick and choose the projects and assignments that are most ideal for the specific employee. An ideal setting is where productivity is employee centric and tasks are described as “judgment-based work,” for example, in a law firm. The point of activating a talent marketplace within a department is to harness and link individuals’ particular skills (project management or extensive knowledge in a particular field) with the task at hand. Examples of companies that implement the talent marketplace strategy are American Express and IBM.^[12]

Current Application of Talent Management[link]

In current economic conditions, many companies have felt the need to cut expenses. This should be the ideal environment to execute a talent management system as a means of optimizing the performance of each employee and the organization. Selection offers are large return on investments. Job analysis and assessment validation help enhance the predictive power of selection tools. However, within many companies the concept of human capital management has just begun to develop. “In fact, only 5 percent of organizations say they have a clear talent management strategy and operational programs in place today.”^[11]

Talent Review[link]

To develop a clear talent management strategy and to increase awareness of available talent and successors, all organizations should conduct regular Talent Review meetings to be prepared for a variety of business changes, such as mergers, company growth, or a decrease in talent needs. In the same way that all companies have regular meetings and reports regarding their financial status and budgetary needs, the Talent Review meeting is designed to review the current talent status and future successor needs in the organization.

The Talent Review meeting is an important part of the overall talent management process; it is designed to review the performance and career potential of employees, to discuss possible vacancy risks of current employees, to identify successors and top talent in the organization, and to create development action plans to prepare employees for future roles in the organization. "This is what talent management is all about — gathering information about talent, analyzing their career interests and organizational business needs, identifying top talent and successes, and developing these individuals to reduce the risk of losing the best people and experiencing extensive leadership gaps when turnover occurs." ^[13]

See also[link]

• Talent supply chain management

References[link]

13. ^Understanding Cost and Talent Characteristics

Sims, Doris, 2009. The Talent Review Meeting Facilitator's Guide

External Links

Bersin & Associates, Talent Acquisition Systems 2011: Market Realities, Implementation Examples and Solution Provider Profiles, April 2011