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CHAPTER 10
TALENT MANAGEMENT AND DEVELOPMENT

 Identify the importance of talent management and discuss two issues it addresses.
 Differentiate between organization-centered and individual-centered career planning.
 Discuss three career issues that organizations and employees must address.
 List options for development needs analyses
 Identify several management development methods
 Explain what succession planning is and its components

I. Nature of Talent Management

- Talent management can be seen as bridge. As illustrated in Figure 10-1, talent management
activities provide the means to ensure that individuals who have been recruited and
selected are retained as well-performing human resources. Talent management activities
include training, individual career planning, and HR development efforts. Additionally,
succession planning involves identifying future workforce needs and what candidates will be
available to fill them. Throughout the talent management process, effective performance
management activities are vital, as discussed in the next chapter.

TALENT MANAGEMENT

Career HR Succession Performance

Training
Planning Development Planning Management

Selection Retention

Qualified Workforce
Recruiting Supply/Demand
Match

1. Talent Management Information Systems:

- A vital part of talent management is the implementation and use of electronic, Web-based,
computer software. Vendors have developed software for various parts of talent
management, such as tracking training, providing succession planning replacement charts,
or online performance appraisal systems.
2. Scope of Talent Management
- As talent management has evolved, some design issues have been identified. Each of these
issues reflects differences in how talent management is viewed and the organizational
priorities that exist.
a) Targeting Jobs:
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- The first issue is to identify the types of jobs that will be the focus of talent management. In
some organizations, talent management focuses on the CEO and other executive jobs, rather
than more broadly.
b) Targeting High-Potential Individuals:
- Another issue associated with talent management is how it is used with individuals in
organizations. One problem identified with fulfilling effective talent management needs is
that managers at all levels are not committed to the time and effort required, which can
limit successful activities.
- Some organizations focus talent management efforts primarily on “high-potential”
individuals, often referred to as “high-pos”.
- Other organizations view talent management more broadly.
- Regardless of the focus, effective talent management must be linked to HR planning. This
means having the right number of human resources, with the right capabilities, at the right
times, and in the right places, both short term and longer term, as Figure 10-2 indicates.

Effective Talent
Management

Right Right Right Right

People Capabilities Time Place

II. Careers and Career Planning

Career: Series of work- related positions a person occupies throughout life.

1. Changing Nature of Career

- The old model of a career in which a person worked his or her way up lader in one
organization is becoming rare.
- Indeed, in a few industries, changing jobs and companies every year or two is becoming
common.
a) Careers and Work-Life Balance
- The individuals’ work lives are changing in many areas: more freelancing, more working at
home, more frequent job changes, more job opportunities but less security.
- More people set goals for the type of lives they want and then use jobs to meet those
goals.
- It’s difficult to balance work demands with personal and family responsibilities for dual
career couples and women.
b) Global Evolution of Careers
- Insecurity caused by layoffs and downsizings marks a trend that contrasts with the trend
toward personal control over career goals.
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Careers for many individuals contain both more flexibility and more insecurity
- With the ongoing global recession, people are now more aware of the need for skills
upgrading such as more open to taking up subsidized skills upgrading or re-skilling programs.
2. Organization-Centered Career Planning
- Organization-Centered Career Planning focused on identifying career paths that provide for
the logical progression of people between jobs in an organization.
- Career Paths: Represent employees’ movements through opportunities over time.
3. Individual-Centered Career Planning
- Individual-Centered Career Planning: Career planning that focuses on an individual’s
responsibility for a career rather than on organizational needs.
a) Individual Career Planning Components:
- For individuals to successfully manage their own careers, they should perform several
activities. The three key ones are as follows:
 Self-assessment
 Feedback on reality
 Setting of career goals
b) Individual Career Choices:
- Four general individual characteristics affect how people make career choices:
 Interests
 Self-image
 Personality
 Social background

FIGURE 10-3 Organizational and Individual Career Planning Perspective

Organizational Perspective Individual Perspective

 Identify future
organizational staffing  Identify personal abilities
needs and interests
 Plan career ladders  Plan life and work goals
 Assess individual potential  Assess alternative paths
A PERSON’S
and training needs inside and outside the
CAREER
 Match organizational organization
needs to individual  Note changes in interests
abilities and goals as career and
 Audit and develop a career life stage changes
system for the
4. organization
Career Progression Considerations

FIGURE 10-4 General Career Periods

CAREER STAGE

Characteristics Early Career Mid-Career Late Career Career End

Age Group + / - 20 years 30-40 years +/ - 50 years 60-70 years

Needs Indentifying advancing in Upgrading skills, Planing for
 several jobs may limit options, in, individual is a examining non-
growth, leader whose work interests
Concerns External rewards, opportunities opinions are Retirement,
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acquiring more Values, valued time employment
capabilities contribution, Mentoring,
integrity, well- disengaging,
being organizarionalconti
nuance

5. Career Transition and HR

- Career transition can be stressful for individuals who change employers and jobs.
- Three career transitions are of special interests to HR: organizational entry and
socialization, transfers and promotion, and job loss.
- Starting as a new employee can be overwhelming. “Entry sock” is especially difficult for
younger new hires who find the work word very different from school, includes:
 Supervisors
 Feedback
 Time
 The work

FIGURE 10-5 Portable Career Path

Beginning Expanding changing Sustaining concluding

Spend several Use networking Change Refresh skills, Move to projects

years at large to develop indestries, or go take a as a temporary
company to broader skills to work for sabbatical, go employee or
learn skills and and make smaller back to school, subcontractor
III. Special Individual Career Issues
build network contacts, companies, start gain experience
establish
The goals and good in career
perspectives a company
planning may differ in
fornon-profit
organizations and individuals,
but three issues can reputation
be problematic. Those issues are highlightedorganizations
next.

1. Technical and Professional Workers

- Technical and professional workers, such as engineers, scientists, physical therapists, and IT
systems experts, present a special challenge for organizations.
- An attempt to solve this problem, a dual-career ladder, is a system that allows a person to
advance up either a management or a technical/professional ladder. Dual-career ladders are
now used at many firms, most commonly in technology-driven industries such as
pharmaceuticals, chemicals, computers, and electronics.
2. Women and Careers
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- Women have been entering the labor force in a bog way in many parts of the world,
including the U.S. and Singapore. Women are found in all occupations and jobs, but their
careers may have a different element than those of men. Women give birth to children, and
in most societies they are also primarily responsible for taking care of their children. The
effect of this biology and sociology is that women’s careers are often interrupted for
childbirth and child rearing.
a) Work, Family, and Careers:
- The career approach for women frequently is to work hard before children arrive, plateau or
step off the career track when children are younger, and go back to career-focused jobs that
allow flexibility when they are older. This approach is referred to as sequencing.
b) Glass Ceiling:
- This issue describes the situation in which women fail to progress into top and senior
management positions. In general, women may be found holding managerial/professional
positions more readily but less so in respect of corporate officer positions.
3. Dual-Career Couples
- As the number of women in the workforce continues to increase, particularly in professional
careers, so does the number of dual-career couples.
a) Family-Career Issues
- For dual-career couples with children, family issues may conflict with career progression.
Thus, one partner’s flexibility may depend on what is “best” for the family.
b) Relocation of Dual-Career Couples
- Traditionally, employees accepted transfers as part of upward mobility in organizations.
However, for some dual-career couples, the mobility required because of one partner’s
transfer often interferes with the other’s career.
4. Global Career Concerns
- Many global employees experience anxiety about their continued career progression.
Therefore, the international experiences of expatriates must offer benefits both to the
employer and to expatriates’ careers as well
a) Repatriation
- Another global HR issue is repatriation, which involves planning, training, and reassignment
of global employees to their home countries.
- Another major concern focuses on the organizational status of expatriates upon return.
Many expatriates wonder what jobs they will have whether their international experiences
will be valued, and how they will be accepted back into the organization.
b) Global Development Issues
- Global managers are more expensive than home-country manager and more problematic as
well. Most global firms have learned that it is often a mistake to staff foreign operations with
only personnel from headquarters, and they quickly hire nationals to work in a country.

IV. Developing Human Resource

Development: Efforts to improve employees’ abilities to handle a variety of assignments and to

cultivate employees’ capabilities beyond those required by the current job.
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Development benefits both organizations and individuals. Employees and managers with
appropriate experiences and abilities may enhance organizational competitiveness and the ability to
adapt to a changing environment.

Figure 10-6 Development vs. Training

 Understand information
 Learn specific behaviors and
Focus concepts and context
actions
 Develop judgment
 Demonstrate techniques and
 Expand capacities for
processes
assignments

Time Frame Shorter term Longer term

 Availability of qualified
Effectiveness  Performance appraisals people when needed
 Cost-benefit analysis  Possibility of promotion from
Measures
 Passing tests within
 Certification  HR-based competitive
advantage

Development differs from training, in many organizations greater focus is being placed on
development rather than simply on training. At the organizational level of analysis, executives craft
the broader organizational strategies and should establish a system for developing the people to
manage and achieve those identified strategies.

a. Developing Specific Capabilities/Competencies

Exactly what kind of development individuals might require to expand their capabilities depends
on both the individuals and the capabilities needed. One point about development í clear: in
numerous studies that asked employees what they want out of their jobs, training and
development ranked at or near the top. Because the primary assets that individuals have are
their knowledge, skills, and abilities (KSAs), many people view the development of their KSAs as
an important part of the organizational package that affects retention and performance.
Lifelong Learning: Learning and development are closely linked. For most people, lifelong
learning and development are likely and desirable. For many professionals, lifelong learning may
mean meeting continuing education requirements to certain certificates.
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Re-Development: Whether due to a desire for career change or because the employer needs
different capabilities, people may shift jobs in mid-life or mid-career. Re-developing people to
give them the capabilities they need is logical and important.
b. Development Needs Analyses
Assessment Centers: Collections of instruments and exercises designed to diagnose individuals’
development needs.
Psychological Testing: Psychological tests have been used for several years to determine
employees’ development potential and needs. Intelligence tests, verbal and mathematical
reasoning tests, and personality test are often given.
Performance Appraisals: Well done performance appraisals can be a source of development
information. Performance data on productivity, employee relations, job knowledge, and other
relevant dimensions can be gathered in such assessments.

V. HR Development Approaches
Job-Site Development Approaches
a. Coaching: Training and feedback given to employees by immediate supervisors
b. Committee Assignment: Assigning promising employees to important committees may broaden
their experiences and help them understand the personalities, issues, and processes governing
the organization.
c. Job Rotation: Process of shifting a person from job to job.
d. Assistant-to Positions: Some firm create “assistant-to” positions, which are staff positions
immediately under a manager.

Off-Site Development Approaches

Off-the-job development techniques give individuals opportunities to get away from their jobs and
concentrate solely on what is to be learned.

a. Classroom Courses and Seminars

Most off-the-job development programs include some classroom instruction. Most people are
familiar with classroom training, which gives it the advantage of being widely accepted. But the
lecture system sometimes used in classroom instruction encourages passive listening and reduced
learner participation, which is a distinct disadvantage.

Organization often send employees to externally sponsored seminars or professional courses, such
as those offered by numerous professional and consulting entities.

b. Outdoor Development Experiences

Some organizations send executives managers off to ordeals in the wilderness, called outdoor
training or outdoor development. The rationale for using these wilderness excursions, which can last
one day or even seven days or longer, is that such experiences can increase self-confidence and help
individuals re-evaluate personal goals and efforts.
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c. Sabbaticals and Leaves of Absence

Time off the job to develop and rejuvenate oneself

Learning Organization Development Efforts

As talent management becomes more important, employers may attempt to become learning
organizations.

Corporate Universities and Career Development Centers

Large organizations may use corporate universities to develop managers or other employees.
Corporate universities take various forms. Sometimes regarded as little more than fancy packaging
for company training, they may not provide a degree, accreditation, or graduation in the traditional
sense.

E-Development

The rapid growth in technology has led to greater use of e-development. On-line development can
take many forms, such as video conferencing, live chat rooms, document sharing, video and audio
streaming, and Web-based courses.
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Job-Site Approaches Off-Site Approaches Learning Organization

 Coaching  Classroom courses  Corporate universities

 Committees  Seminars  Career development
 Job rotation  Outdoor training center
 “Assistant-to” position  Sabbatical/leaves  E-development

Effective HR
Development

VI. Management Development

Although development is important for all employees, it is essential for managers. Experience plays a
central role in management development. Indeed, experience often contributes more to the
development of senior managers than does classroom training, because much of it occurs in varying
circumstances on the job over time.

This table will shows some experience-based sources of managers’ learning and lists some important
lessons for effectively developing supervisors, middle managers, and senior-level executives.

1. Supervisor Development

At the beginning level for managerial development is the first-line supervisor job. It is often difficult
to go from being a member of the work group to being the boss. Therefore, the new supervisors
who are used to functioning as individual contributions often require new skills and mindsets to be
successful supervisors.

A number of employers conduct pre-supervisor training.

Development for supervisors may vary but usually contains common elements. The usual materials
for supervisor training and development include several topics:

 Basic management responsibilities

 Time management
 Human relations
 This type of training attempts to prepare supervisors to deal with “people problems”
brought to them by their employees.
 The training focuses on the development of the human relations skills a person
needs to work well with others.
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2. Leadership Development

Organizations are aware that effective leaders create positive change and are important for
organizational success. A survey found that 80% of organizations use multiple types of leadership
development efforts. Activities include seminars, coaching, job rotation, mentoring, and other
means.

3. Management Modeling

A common adage in management development says that managers tend to manage as they were
managed. In other words, managers learn by behavior modeling, or copying someone else’s
behavior. This tendency is not surprising, because a great deal of human behavior is learned by
modeling.

The modeling process involves more than straightforward imitation or copying. Thus, exposure to
both positive and negative models can benefit a new manager as part of leadership development
efforts.

4. Management Coaching

In the context of management development, coaching involves a relationship between two

individuals for a period of time as they perform their jobs. Effective coaching requires patience and
good communication skills. A brief outline of good coaching pointers often includes the following:

 Explaining appropriate behaviors

 Making clear why actions were taken
 Accurately starting observations
 Providing possible alternatives/suggestions
 Following up and reinforcing behaviors used
5. Management Mentoring

A method called management mentoring is a relationship in which experienced managers aid

individuals in the earlier stages of their careers. Many individuals have a series of advisors or
mentors during their careers and may find advantages in learning from the different mentors.

6. Executive Education

Executives in an organization often face difficult jobs due to changing and unknown circumstances.
“Churning” at the top of organizations and the stress of executive jobs contribute to increased
turnover in these positions.

This type of training includes executive education traditionally offered by university business schools
and adds strategy formulation, financial models, logistics, alliances, and global issues.

7. Problems with Management Development Efforts

Development efforts are subject to certain common mistakes and problems. Common problems
include the following:

 Failing to conduct adequate needs analysis

 Trying out fad programs or training methods
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 Substituting training for the selection of qualified individuals

Another common management problem is encapsulated development, which occurs when an

individual learns new methods and idea, but returns to a work unit that is still bound by old attitudes
and methods.

VII. SUCCESSION PLANNING

Succession planning is the process of identifying a long-term plan for the orderly replacement of
key employees.

I. Succession Planning Process

In that process, both the quantity and the capabilities pf potential successors must be linked to
organizational strategies and plans.

1. HR’s Role in Succession Planning

For CEO and senior management succession efforts, top executives and board members often
have major involvement. Because of this, HR often performs the following actions:
 Indentifying development needs of the workforce
 Assisting executives/managers in identifying needed future job skills
 Participating in nothing employees who might fill future positions
 Communicating succession planning process to employees
 Aiding in tracing and regularly updating succession plan efforts
2. Global Succession Planning
Succession planning is not just a Singapore or U.S. issue. In fact, the proportion of aging
employees in the workforce is even higher in countries such as Japan, Germany, Italy, and
England. In those countries, as well as is Singapore and the U.S., the growth of immigrants has
added to the population, which means that employers face both legal and workforce diversity
issues.
Even in countries with growing workforces, such as China and India, succession planning is
important. Having younger workers who can replace senior managers with international
experience and contacts is a growing concern faced worldwide by employers of different sizes
and from different industries.
3. Succession in Small and Closely Held Organizations
Many CEOs plan to pass the business leadership on to a family member, most of these firms
would benefit from planning for orderly succession, particularly if non-family members or
owners are involved.
Addressing the development needs of the successor also helps to avoid a host of potential
problems for both the organization and family-member relationships.

II. Succession Planning Considerations

1. “Make or Buy” Talent?
Many organizations show an apparent preference for buying rather than making scarce
employees in today’s labor market.
Current trends indicate that technical and professional people usually are “bought” because of
the amount of skill development already achieved, rather than internal individuals being picked
because of their ability to learn or their behavioral traits.
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However, hiring rather than developing internal human resource capabilities may not fit certain
industry competitive environments.
Other organizations are focusing on growing their own leaders.
Like any financial decision, the make-or-buy decision can be quantified and calculated when
some assumptions are made about time and costs.
2. Succession Planning Skill Areas
Figure 10-12: Areas for Planning “Succession”

3. Electronic/Web-Based Succession Planning

The expansion of information technology capabilities has resulted in employers providing staff
members with succession planning components electronically.
HR departments have skills tracking systems and databases that can be linked succession plans.
As employees complete training and development activities, their data can be updated and
viewed as career openings occur in the company.
Via intranet systems, employees can access and update their databases, review job and career
opportunities, and complete skill and career interest self-surveys and numerous other items.
III. Values of Succession Planning
Key benefits include:
 Having an adequate supply of employees to fill future key openings
 Providing career paths and plans for employees, which aids in employee retention and
performance motivation
 Continually reviewing the need for individuals as organizational changes occur more frequently
 Enhancing the organizational “brand” and reputation as a desirable place to work
1. Metrics and Succession Planning
A wide range of metrics are used depending on the company plans.
One key measure is identifying the reduced costs of turnover, which is related to employee
retention.
Another factor to consider is how succession planning and its follow-up may lead to higher
performance and organizational profitability.
2. Common Succession Planning Mistakes
The greatest succession focus of Boards of Directors is on CEO succession. The reasons why
boards have increased the priority of CEO succession have become more complex due to
regulatory and other changes.
However, one survey found that about half of board members felt their CEO succession planning
efforts were less effective than necessary.
Focusing only on CEO and top management succession is one of the most common mistakes
made. Other mistakes include:
 Starting too late, when openings are occurring
 Not linking well to strategic plans
 Allowing the CEO to direct the planning and make all succession decisions
 Looking only internally for succession candidates
All of these mistakes are caused by lack of preparation for succession planning.

A study found that about 50% of corporations have insufficient preparation, which results in less
effective succession planning.

Longer-term succession planning should include mid-level and lower-level managers, as well as
other key non-management employees.
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Some firms target key technical, professional, and sales employees as part of succession
planning.

Others include customer services representatives, warehouse specialists, and additional hourly
paid employees who may be able to move up into other jobs or departments.

Succession planning is an important part of employers seeing talent management strategically.