Talent Management: Trends That Will Shape the Future - Essay Example

Talent Management: Trends That Will Shape the Future 1.0. Framework for human resource management review Quoting the 1979 work of Likert, Clegg et al. (2005, p. 236) pointed out that employee-centred leaders were more successful leaders than job-centred ones. Human resource management helps the leadership focus on its on employees. The practice of human resource management and management in general draws substantially from motivation theory (Steers et al., 2004, p. 379). In the field of motivation theory, Maslow’s 1954 theory of human needs and hierarchy of needs influence the science of human resource management (Steers et al., 2004, p. 379). Maslow prioritized human needs into physiological, safety and security, belongingness, esteem, and self-actualization (Steers et al., 2004, p. 381). According to Maslow, the first three are the priority needs while the last two are needs related to the advancement of man’s potentials (Steers et al., 2004, p. 381). Alderfer (1972) modified Maslow’s theory and asserted only three needs which are existence, relatedness, and growth (Steers et al., 2004, p. 381). McClelland (1971) threw aside Maslow’s concept of hierarchy of needs and forwarded the view the individuals have needs that may be competing at times (Steers et al., 2004, p. 381). McClelland stressed that some of the human needs can be potent (Steers et al., 2004, p. 381). In particular, McClelland argued that sometimes the need for achievement and power could override other needs (Steers et al., 2004, p. 381). Fundamentally, Maslow identified what the basic needs are suggested that the human needs are hierarchical while McClelland argued that human needs may not be hierarchical and may be competing. Both Maslow and McClelland argued that needs are the foundations for motivation. At the same time, the theories on motivation are suggestive on how human resource management professional can do about his or her work. However, Herzberg (1966) asserted that the motivation to work is largely influenced by the extent that work is challenging (Steers et al., 2004, p. 381). Herzberg also argued a challenging work also provides recognition and reinforcement (Steers et al., 2004, p. 381). Thus, Steers et al. pointed out (2004, p. 381) that Herzberg deserves credit for introducing the management task of job design or job enrichment as an important factor for motivating employees. Other scholars on management have identified the role of the organizational climate and work-family life balance and the like in keeping high the motivation to work (Moran and Volkwein, 1992; Saltzstein et al., 2001). In this management review, the focus is organizational culture, ethics, and management of talent. The latter is important because the last ten years have seen the emergence of a talent literature and the notion is causing a revolution in the field of human resource management. We review some of the literature. Jose & Thibodeux reported that the corporate world has been institutionalizing ethics through a variety ways (1999, p. 133). Although the trend is that managers have found ethics to be a good bottom line for their organizations, managers did not see a need for institutionalizing ethics (Jose & Thibodeux, 1999, p. 133). Human resource managers perceive that the more explicit forms of institutionalizing ethics to be effective than the explicit form of institutionalized ethics (Jose & Thibodeux, 1999, p. 133). The explicit forms of institutionalizing ethics are through the institutionalization of an ethics officer, ethics committee, ethics newsletters, and the like (Jose & Thibodeux, 1999, p. 133). In contrast, some of the implicit forms of institutionalizing ethics include corporate culture, leadership to observe ethics, corporate culture, and management support to observe or follow ethics (Jose & Thibodeux, 1999, p. 133). Jose & Thibodeux (1999, p. 134) argued however that all organizations have ethics, “whether they know or not” (citing Brenner, 1992). Companies propagate or promote their ethics explicitly through ethics programs that make use of codes of ethics, policy manuals, employee training materials, employee orientation programs, and ethics committee. At the same time, companies also promote propagate or promote their ethics implicitly through corporate culture, incentive systems, leadership, promotion policies, and performance evaluation (Jose & Thibodeux, 1999, citing Brenner, 1992). Based on their empirical study, Jose & Thibodeux concluded that the majority of managers perceive that ethics promote business (1999, p. 136). Through interviews by the authors, managers have confirmed the importance of ethics in the overall strategy of organizations and have even considered ethics as one of their bottom lines (Jose & Thobodeux, 1999, p. 139). Zablow (2006) highlighted the role of ethics in managing risk to organizations. He defines organizational risks as the possible “physical, financial, and reputational damage to an enterprise that results from unethical behaviour” (Zablow, 2006, p. 26). Zablow stressed that ethics goes beyond organizational compliance to regulations (2006, p. 26). Observing ethics is crucial for business because “a broad cross-section of stakeholders, including shareholders, regulators, law enforcement, lenders, insurance underwriters, analysts and bond raters are willing to reward organizations that have proven commitment to integrity” (Zablow, 2006, p. 26). For Zablow, the most important in the creation of corporate ethical culture is the personal integrity of the organizational leadership (2006, p. 26). Zablow even argued that if the organizational leadership lacks integrity, the situation by itself serves as the most serious obstacle to the creation of an ethical workforce (2006, p. 26). Zablow pointed out that employees are highly sensitive to what they hear senior management say and do and build their perception on their organizational culture based on these perceptions (2006, p. 26). Because personal values fundamentally govern behaviour, corporate leaders must build organizational values at the workplaces and convert the values into behavioural standards (Zablow, 2006, p. 26). The organizational leader must see to it that as soon as the employee enters the organization, they must be “greeted by an internal culture that speak to ethical values that are inculcated and supported within the organization” (Zablow, 2006, p. 26). Thus, for Zablow, each employee “should be met with a specific ‘ethics message’ from the CEO, which should include a discussion of organizational culture and values, prescriptive models for ethical behaviour (code of ethics), internal ethics support, zero tolerance for unethical conduct, rewards/incentives for ethical behaviour, confidential reporting mechanisms, and the organization’s support and commitment to its ethics program” (Zablow, 2006, p. 26). Frank & Taylor (2004) highlighted the trends that will shape the human resource profile of many companies in the immediate future. According to them, there is “war for talent” that is ongoing in the corporate world. Thus, for them, human resource management will have a “talent management” component that will be a top priority for years to come. Further, according to Frank and Taylor (2004, p. 34), management of talent will be the central role of the human resource manager (HRM) “in the evolution of HR’s impact with organizations they support” (Frank & Taylor, 2004, p. 34 citing Bukingham & Vosburgh, 2001). One emerging trend in the human resource is that training the work force is moving away from purely individually oriented learning towards making teams more effective in working with each other to meet common goals (Frank & Taylor, 2004, p. 35). In other words, the emerging emphasis is team play rather than training individuals to learn skills (which can be provided by compact disks anyway). The team play can be undertaken by several individuals in different parts of the globe connected by information technology through e-learning circles (Frank & Taylor, 2004, p. 35). Technology is shaping the workplace in a manner that “workplace learning will become more integrated with the workflow (Zablow, 2006, p. 26). Guthridge et al. (2008) is the short version of a book popularly known in the literature as the McKinsey book. The McKinsey book was written sometime year 2000. The book articulated that a war for talent in the corporate world has begun. An important message of the “war for talent” is that companies are competing with each other to grab the loyalty of the most skilled labour that is considered as in a very short supply in the market. Meanwhile, the most important messages of Guthridge et al. (2008) are the same as the predecessors of the article. One important message of Guthridge et al. (2008) is that companies are increasingly finding it difficult to find talented people. Talented people are the most important human resource of the workforce because they are difficult to replace and today’s global and computer technology environment requires a talented workforce and not simply a workforce. Thus, the term “talent” and “talent management”. The human resource management style in the 21st century supposedly requires a management style that promotes the retention of talent in view of the difficulty of replacing talent and in view that several companies are competing for the possession of talent. Prior to the writing of Guthridge et al. (2008), two surveys were done. The first, in 2006, indicated that the respondents consider that finding talented people is a key need of our time (Guthridge et al., 2008, p. 49). The second survey, in 2007, indicated that around half of the respondents expressed that competition will increase in the acquisition of talent (Guthridge et al., 2008, p. 49). Talent management became a new agenda because of three things: demographics, globalization, and the rise of knowledge worker (Guthridge et al., 2008, p. 50). Guthrie et al. (2008, p. 55) pointed out that the company talent is at all levels and are not simply those at the top of the hierarchy, and yet talent affect company performance. Even with this situation, however, “experience suggests that an exclusive focus on top players can damage the morale of the rest of the organization and, as a result, overall performance” (Guthrie et al., 2008, p. 56). Thus, in summary, Guthrie et al. (2008) have two key messages. 1. The workforce is not monolithic. There is a section of the workforce, loosely labelled as talent, who possess skills or social networks crucial for the company’s operation and yet are in scarce supply (see Guthrie et al., 2008, p.55). In a language, a talent is a company is A players (Guthrie et al., 2008, p. 54). 2. Human resource managers should focus on acquiring and retaining talents because talent supply is getting scarcer as corporations compete to get talent. Thus, one key set of tasks of the human resource manager and management as a whole is the identification, acquisition, and retention of talent. However, in doing the set of tasks on talent management, the HRM professional must be aware as well that focusing solely on the top performers can be damaging for employee morale and overall firm performance (Guthrie et al., 2008, p. 56). Adopting the perspective of the “talent war” and “talent management” suggested by the McKinsey book discussed earlier, Kootze and Roodt (2005) identified the factors that can affect the retention of managers and specialist staff. The study used empirical methods and interviewed 120 highest paid employees of two banks with a response rate of 86%. Some of the key points of Kootze and Roodt (2005, p. 49-50) are as follows: 1. Employees are more likely to leave if they believe that management lack direction. 2. Employees have a stronger commitment to work if they have a higher control over their work environment. 3. Employees tend to remain on the job if their well-being is addressed. 4. Employees will like remain in the company if there are opportunities for advancement that can be manifested as well by staff development opportunities. The work of Kootze and Roodt pointed out a very important point that to succeed in the war for talent, there are actually two options. The first option is “to become and remain an employer of choice” (Kootze & Roodt, 2005, p. 48). This means that management, particularly the human resource manager, must make the firm a “talent magnet” or that the firm becomes or remain attractive to employees as well as retain people with the “required profile” (Kootze & Roodt, 2005, p. 48, citing the 2002 work of Johnson). The second option is “to develop, retain, and efficiently utilise the employer’s existing talent pool” (Kootze & Roodte, 2005, p. 48). Together, the materials Jose & Thibodeus (1999), Zablow (2006), Frank & Taylor (2004), Guthrie et al. (2008), and Kootze and Roodt (2005) define the scope and framework of this human resource management review. As a framework for review, this will work will utilise the key insights from the five works. Meanwhile, although human resource management certainly covers a lot more, the scope of the management review is limited to the following: 1. The review will assess whether human resource management of the firm is cognizant of the need for an effective talent management. In particular, this means this review will assess whether the firm had already built itself as an employee of choice and whether there is evidence to say that the firm has adequately addressed the need to acquire and retain talents. Based on the review, this report will suggest concrete steps pertaining to talent management. 2. The review will also assess if a corporate culture exist and find out whether steps are being taken to instil deeper that corporate culture among the company’s employees. The review will also cover the exposition of steps that can be taken for an appropriate corporate culture to evolve in the company. 3. Lastly, the review will assess whether there is a set of corporate ethics governing the company. As discussed earlier, other than defining the behaviour of employees, the role of company ethics is to enhance customer trust for and patronage on the company and its products. The key method that will be employed by this human resource management review is documents review. Unfortunately, the author or reviewer was unable to conduct a review of the company using interviews, key informant interviews, focused group discussion, and surveys. The primary source of documents that is utilised for the company review is the company official website at www.ey.com/uk. 2.0. HRM review of Enrst & Young-UK We do an HRM review of Ernst & Young-United Kingdom (EYG-UK). As pointed out earlier, the key problem that this review seeks to address is to find out whether Ernst & Young has a good organizational and ethical rules through which it can guide its personnel. Further, this review seeks to assess if Ernst & Young are in a sufficient war footing to survive in the so-called war for talent. In sum, the war for talent fundamentally involves the recruitment and retention of personnel of the highest calibre. The firm adopts the slogan “quality in everything we do”. The slogan constitutes the corporate culture to which employee behaviour is directed as well as to which customer attention is attracted. The Ernst & Young-UK company slogan constitutes the most important company value as well. It is explicit consistent with the notion prescribed by Jose and Thibodeux (1999). The company projects itself as a global leader in assurance, tax, transaction and advisory services. It project itself as firm imbued with social responsibility as it declares its aim “to have a positive impact on businesses and markets, as well as on society as a whole” (EYG-UK, 2010a). The company is on a war-footing in the so-called talent war. Right on its website is an invitation to join EYG-UK. The recruitment piece is diplomatic and not condescending. The firm announces that in the selection process, the company and the potential recruit will discuss with the potential recruit his ambitions and the role he/she can play in EYG-UK (EYG-UK, 2010b). If the potential recruit and the company make a good fit, then the recruit may be accepted (EYG-UK, 2010b). Nowhere is the potential recruit told that if he/she does not qualify, he will not be accepted. The emphasis is on fit and not on qualification although the implication may be similar in some respects. The company provides a realistic promise of career advancement. Towards this, the company makes it clear that there will be learning experiences and coaching (EYG-UK, 2010c). The other than the professional advancement, there is a promise as well of personal advancement as the recruit is informed that he or she will travelling worldwide to explore different parts of the worldwide organization, obtain a professional qualification and expand skills and knowledge” (EYG-UK, 2010c). This indicates a real promise for self-actualization that is consistent with Maslow’s theory of man’s need for self-actualization. In addition, the promise of a potential for really advancing are consistent with the advise of Kootze & Roodt (2005). The EYG-UK, like any EYG company in the world, follows a code of ethics. The latest edition of the code of ethics is 2008, indicating that the code of ethics is current. According to EYG (2008), the code of ethics or conduct cover relationship with colleagues, clients, and regulators. The code of conduct and ethics covering work with colleagues are as follows (EYG, 2008): Build work relationships based on shared trust and confidence. Do the right thing. Be personally accountable to other members for contributions. Deliver quality service. Nurture integrity, respect, and teaming. Consult with colleagues and value the perspective of each one. Embrace multicultural experience and diversity as strengths of a global organization. Encourage and support the professional development of colleagues. Promote individual achievement and continuous learning. Expect and deliver feedback regularly, candidly, and constructively. Recognize success of colleagues. The code of conduct and ethics covering direct transactions with clients are as follows (EYG, 2008): Uphold the trust placed in the company by others. Deliver quality services. Deliver courageous the challenges and even the unwelcome information to clients. Withdraw from clients that put colleagues under undue pressure or threats in the exercise of their professional duties. The code of conduct covering relationships with regulators and other groups is that EYG commit to the following (EYG, 2008): Reject unethical or illegal business practices in all circumstances. Avoid working with clients and others whose standards are incompatible with the code of conduct and ethics of the EYG. Recognize responsibility in playing a positive role in supporting a sustainable society. Based on the code of conduct and ethics discussed, the image immediately constructed on the EYG is that it is an honourable organization, performing ethical practices and work, refusing to be involved in illegal acts, and truthful with its assessments even the information will hurt the clients. One business in which the EYG is involved is financial auditing. The reputation that the EYG has built through the years plus its code ethics would have the effect of projecting a positive image for its clients as well. This means that if the EYG is not involved in something illegal then an EYG certification of the company through audits will imply that the client is not engaged in anything illegal. EYG audit and advise reflect truthful information and the like. In short, EYG audit and advise will be a source of pride and a seal of good housekeeping. Clients would like themselves to be associated with the EYG. Similarly, from the perspective of HRM, a talent would be honoured to associate himself/herself with the EYG. The code of conduct and ethics of the EYG will promote an organizational culture that is caring and yet professional within the EYG. From the EYG code of ethics and conduct, it is understood that colleagues will help each other advance professionally, respect each other, and provide truthful information to each other. It is very clear that the EYG explicitly identifies its code of conduct as also a guide for its continuous growth and professional excellence. Further, the EYG explicit defines its code of conduct as the “ethical framework” on which the organization base decisions. This makes clear to personnel that there are fundamental criteria for making decisions and those criteria are in the code of conduct of the Ernst & Young. Although the salary scales are not immediately available for review by this writer, it is well-known in the industry that the EYG is among those with the highest pay in the industry. Thus, in addition to the attraction of the pay, the EYG will have the capability to attract talent to its organization based on its observance of ethics and a code of conduct. Fortune Magazine ranked Ernst & Young as the 51st best company to work with in 2009 and our review merely confirms the rank (CNN 2010). Moreover, there are other characteristics that employees will appreciate in the company: 30% of its employees belong to minorities and 49% are women (CNN, 2010). This strengthens the company’s position as an ethical leader. 3.0. Conclusion on recommendations Based on evidence on hand, evidence is adequate to conclude that the Ernst & Young-UK possess and organizational culture and ethics that would adequately allow the company to guide and marshal its human resource. The company is also in an adequate war footing in the ongoing war for talent. Salary is a concern because we have no data on salaries but, at the same time, Ernst & Young-UK enjoys a good reputation for having high salaries. Thus, fundamentally, the company reputation confirms that the company is in a good war footing in the ongoing talent war as painted by human resource management literature. From an HRM perspective, the management of the company is good. However, the key recommendation of this work is to conduct further studies if the human resources of Ernst and Young are ready to confront the risks and possibilities provided by the ongoing global crisis (moderating now but it can escalate again anytime). Further, human resource management study must be undertaken if relations among employees are harmonious enough and consistent with those painted by its code of conduct and ethics documents. Bibliography Alderfer, C. P. (1972). Existence, relatedness, and growth. New York: Free Press. Brenner, S. (1992). Ethics program and their dimensions. Journal of Business Ethics, 6, 265-280. Bukingham, V. & Vosburgh, R. (2001). The 21st century human resource function: It’s the talent, stupid. Human Resource Planning, 24 (4), 17-23. Clegg, S., Kornberger, M., & Pitsis, T. (2005). Managing and organizations: Introduction to theory and practice. London: Sage Publications. CNN (2010). 100 best companies to work for. Available 10 May 2010 from < http://money.cnn.com/magazines/fortune/bestcompanies/2009/snapshots/51.html>. EYG-UK (Ernst & Young Global Limited-United Kingdom). (2010). Company website at http://www.ey.com/UK. EYG-UK (Ernst & Young Global Limited-United Kingdom). (2010a). How we can make a difference. Accessed 10 May 2010 from < http://www.ey.com/UK/EN/About-us>. EYG-UK (Ernst & Young Global Limited-United Kingdom). (2010b). Applying to Ernst & Young. Accessed 10 May 2010 from . EYG. (2008). Ernst & Young Global Code of Conduct. Available 10 May 2010 from . EYG-UK (Ernst & Young Global Limited-United Kingdom). (2010c). Progressing in your career. Accessed 10 May 2010 from . Frank, D. & Taylor, C. (2004). Talent management: Trends that will shape the future. Human Resource Planning, 24 (1), 33-41. Guthride, M., Komm, A., & Lawson, E. (2008). Making talent a strategic priority. McKinsey Quarterly, 2008 (1), 49-59. Herzberg, F. (1966). Work and the nature of man. Cleveland: World Publishing. Johnson, M. (2002). Talent magnet, getting talented people to work for you. London: Prentice Hall. Jose, A. & Thibodeux, M. (1999). Institutionalization of ethics: The perspective of managers. Journal of Business Ethics, 22 (2), 133-134. Kotze, K. & Roodt, G. Factors that affect the retention of managerial and specialist staff: An exploratory study of an employee commitment model. Journal of Human Resource Management, 3 (2), 48-55. McClelland, D. C. (1971). Assessing human motivation. New York: General Learning Press. Moran, E. and Volkwein, J. (1992). The cultural approach to the formation of organizational climate. Human Relations, 45 (1), p. 19-47. Saltzstein, A., Ting, Y., Salzstein, G. (2001). Work-Family Balance and Job Satisfaction: The Impact of Family-Friendly Policies on Attitudes of Federal Government Employees. Public Administration Review, 61 (4), 452-467. Steers, R., Mowday, R., and Shapiro, D. (2004). The future of work motivation theory. Academy of Management Review, 28 (3), 379-387. Zablow, R. (2006). Creating and sustaining an ethical workplace. Risk Management, 53 (9), 26-30. 1.0. Reflection paper on the module “Managing Organizations” I learned several things from the module but I wish to highlight only few of what I believe to be the most important to me and from where I am coming from. One can say that this reflection paper reflects the portion of the course and its references that made important influences on me. I learned from material of Cherniss & Goleman (2001) that emotional intelligence can be described as the “ability to perceive and express emotion, assimilate emotion in thought, understand and reason with emotion, and regulate emotion in the self and others” (Cherniss, 2001, p. 3-4, based on Mayer, Salovey, & Caruso, 2000). Emotional intelligence can affect organizational effectiveness (Cherniss, 2001, p. 4). The view is supported by evidence. Zipkin (2000) reported that a Gallup Organization found that employee stay on the job is determined by his or relationship with her immediate superior (Cherniss, 2001, p. 4). Cherniss informed that one study found out that only 11 percent of those who rated their boss excellently indicated that they would be seeking a different job the following year (p. 4). Cherniss identified 11 greatest challenges that organizations face and pointed out that in almost all of these, emotional intelligence play an important part (p. 5). Emotional intelligence play an important role because although analytical information can organize data, in almost all cases there would be guesswork that will be involved as data can be ambiguous (p. 5). In view of this, leaders must rely on their gut feel of the situation or intuition and this is where the importance of emotional intelligence comes in (p. 6). The influence of emotional intelligence are in the areas of employee recruitment and retention, development of talent, teamwork, commitment, morale, health, innovation, productivity, efficiency, sales, revenues, quality of service, customer loyalty, and client or student outcome (p. 6). Meanwhile, one aspect of emotional intelligence is social intelligence (Cherniss, 2001, p. 16 based on the work of Thorndike in 1920). Thorndike defined social intelligence as the ability to understand and manage people to act wise in social relations (Cherniss, 2001, p. 16). Of course, there are other aspects and theories as well as models of economic intelligence according to Cherniss. I learned from Arnold et al. (1998) that behaviour in organizations can be assessed from the perspective of the entire organization, department, work team, and individual behaviour and that the organizations should be taken as organic systems. Organizations have behaviours worthy of study. For instance, organizations just like an organism adjust or adapt to the environment. In part, this can explain why some organizations are moving towards outsourcing or work supply from freelance work contractors. I also learned from Arnold et al. that assessing workforce attitudes are important because they can indicate certain regularities worthy of attention that can affect work. I learned that attitudes have affective, cognitive, and behavioural components. Thus, I surmised that although immediate or short-term behaviour may not immediately reflect the affective and cognitive aspects of attitudes, the affective and cognitive aspects of attitudes may be expressed at some future time by the workforce or members of the organization. To me, this implies that a manager or a human resource management professional must also simultaneously, if possible, at the affective, cognitive, and behavioural components of attitudes. Arnold et al. (1998) also discussed Maslow’s theory and, in my opinion, it is important that a manager or a human resource manager address the key needs of his or her human resource: the human resource have psychological, safety, belongingness, esteem, and self-actualisation needs and an organization must endeavour to provide these in the work environment. In performing the role of a human resource manager, the book Mentoring in Action (published by the Kogan Page Ltd) will be useful as the work of Mumford (1997). At the same, the work of SQW Consulting (2009) on mentoring will be an excellent reference. For assessing the mentoring or training programs, the book of Parsloe (1992) would be a good reference. Eric Parsloe has a 2009 book with the title, Coaching and mentoring: Practical conversations to improve learning written with Melville Leedham. Bibliography Arnold, J., Cooper, C. and Robertson, I., (1998). Work psychology. 3rd ed. London: FT/Pitmann. Cherniss, G. (2001). Emotional intelligence and organizational effectiveness. In Chernis, G. & Goleman, D. (eds), The emotionally intelligent workplace. San Francisco: Jossey-Bass. Cherniss, G. & Goleman, D. (2001). The emotionally intelligent workplace. San Francisco: Jossey-Bass, 2001. Mumford, A. (1997). Learning styles and mentoring. Management Development Review, 10 (4), 139-140. Parsloe, E. (1992). Coaching, mentoring, and assessing: Practical guide to developing competence. London: Kogan Page. SQW Consulting (2009). A review of mentoring literature and best practice. SQW Consulting: NESTA. Read More