Challenges and Opportunities
ABSTRACT:
Today’s companies subscribe to the idea of people being one of their most valuable assets. This has led to the growing importance of HRM and also developed it as a strategic partner. The concept that recently has received most attention in HRM is Talent Management. Several authors have suggested focusing on top 3-5% of performers touted as “Super Achievers / Stars” to create competitive advantage.
If an organization overtly focuses on a gifted few (top 3-5% of performers), the vast majority of ordinary people who make an organization extraordinary could get neglected for their development leading to their separation psychological and / or physical. This will affect long term sustainability of competitive advantage.
For long term sustainability of competitive advantage, all those committed and loyal employees across job categories who possess competencies required by the organization and are delivering at expected performance level are needed by the organization. Thus whole group of employees (including gifted few) should be treated as Talent and not alone the gifted few. This is the talent pool that companies should endeavor to retain for building long-term competitive advantage and stability.
Therefore it is critical to have all-round talent (across performance levels & career stages) retention model to guide line managers and HR practitioners. Objective of this study is to capture Executive (Top management) perception on all-round talent retention; and propose a model to achieve the same. Managing retention is “an art of managing process science”. The proposed strategic model is part of process science that needs to be implemented / practiced with precision i.e. “Art”.
The findings of the research study (executives, academicians and practitioners across different organizations) clearly support the requirement of “all round talent retention” and criticality of the factors considered in proposed model for “all round talent retention”. Discussions with “Select Group” validate the expectation growth pattern of the employees with different performance levels during different career stages.
Research reveals that organizations with a focus on retention management at all levels will have employees who are more engaged and more satisfied with their jobs and companies. Whereas others (organizations with overt focus on gifted few) may succeed in short run / get few quick results but will not succeed in realizing long term vision.
Never before in the history have companies and authors overtly focused on / advocated developing and retaining of top 3-5% performers and end result (irrespective of means) based performance pay with the intensity and vengeance seen in the past one decade or so. Never before in the history has economy seen such a meltdown and falling of long lasting companies like “house of cards” as seen in the recent past. It does indicate a correlation. How strong is the matter of further study and research?
Strategic Talent Retention Management – An Art of implementing Process Science
Challenges and Opportunities
OBJECTIVE of this study is to capture Executive (Top management) perception on “all-round talent retention”; and propose a model to achieve the same.
Research Methodology
Research is based both on primary and secondary data sources. The Secondary source of data will capture the Global Experience & various studies.
The primary survey will be used to capture thoughts of executives (Top Management) from Public sector, Private Sector, and Academia on need of “All-Round Talent Retention”; and validate criticality / relevance of assumptions, selected factors in the proposed model for “all round talent retention”.
Select Group Discussions are followed for validation of the proposed model.
Introduction:
“Where is the Talent?” This is the question that is frequently asked be it a HR Conference or CEO’s forum; Session at business school or Discussions in the board room. Phrases such as “We are in a talent crisis that is growing in intensity; the global talent war is upon us;” have become clichés in the corporate world. This is because organizations face talent landscape that is more globally competitive, demanding, expensive, and mobile than ever before in their struggle to find, retain, motivate, and develop their people adequately.
Several studies have shown that in order to build a “Talent Pool” to gain competitive advantage, good to great organizations have begun implementing “Talent Management” under their Human Resource Management.
“Human Resource Management” (HRM) as the name suggests is the practice of managing human resources in organizations and has evolved during the decades from personnel administration dealing with absenteeism, salaries and costs to its current form of an employment management school seeking to build a company’s competitive advantage through strategic use of cultural, structural and personnel techniques to develop competent and committed employees. Today’s companies acknowledge that one of their most valuable assets is people. People are important part of a company’s ability to meet its goals and vision. Further, unlike other resources (finance, material, or machinery) the human resource is far more complex and fast changing. Thus significance of HRM is growing and HRM now is touted as a business strategic partner. However, there are enough voices contrary to this due to the ambiguity and contradictions of HRM practices. “Talent Management” concept has received most attention in the recent past.
“Talent Management” is not just a euphemism for finding and developing employees but is all about attracting, recruiting, developing, motivating, and retaining people those posses’ competencies required by the organization and have a potential to grow within an organization. It is a systematic ongoing proactive activity that calls for dynamic interaction between many functions and processes. Many researchers define “Talent Management” around different concepts and dimensions. However, everyone agrees that it can be the best way to create a long-term sustainable competitive advantage. Each organization practices it either by design or default.
Hot on the heals of a British study suggesting that firms with a comprehensive approach to talent management enjoy higher profits per employee and greater productivity, more evidences have emerged that good talent management can also improve how employees feel about the capabilities of their manager, their job satisfaction and their intent to stay with their organization.
In current hyper competitive knowledge era, Talent Management is an essential key for improving business efficacy i.e. Strategic Performance & Business Efficiency. Talent Management comprises of many steps including but not limiting to 1) Better identification & sourcing; 2) Communication for aligning teams to goals; 3) Creating high performance work culture; 4) Motivating & Retaining; 5) Developing & Rewarding; 6) Succession Planning; 7) Weeding Out. For successful talent management these steps are not separable and need to be followed in tandem.
For effective “Talent Management”, it is essential to build clarity on what is “Talent”. Is it the gifted few or all those ordinary people who make the organization extraordinary.
Talent: As per Berger “Talents” are the core competencies of the organization and represent a small percentage of the employees. He argues that only the top 3-5% performers are ‘super keepers’ i.e. Talent (Berger ( 2004). Chowdhury describes talented individuals as the spirits of an enterprise, being temperamental, creative, rule breakers and change initiators. Using that definition, it is doubtful any organization would want more than 3-5% of their workforce to be ‘talents’! (Chowdhury 2002). As per Hansen, Talents in the organization refer to core employees and leaders that drive the business forward. They are the top achievers and the ones inspiring others to superior performance.
As per Collins, good company regardless of industry first asks who, then what, and only when the right people are in the right positions the company take steps forward towards achieving beyond their competitors. Other research takes it one step further and argues that to be really successful it is not only to find the right people on the right position but you should identify the superior performers for every position. In addition, as per Nicholls everyone in an organization should be able to change and allow for entrepreneurship, innovation and growth.
In the above statements, it should be noted that focus is on “positions” i.e. all positions and not only leadership; and everyone and not only gifted few (top 3-5% performers). Thus need is to have right people and superior performance across “job families” and not only the high visibility / impact jobs. Therefore each position within the organization should be attended to in such a way that it can serve its needs.
“Most highly successful companies produce extraordinary results from ordinary people. Super achievers give performance with the help of other talented / committed and loyal employees of the organization.
Therefore, “Talent” is defined as an aptitude i.e. “flair / endowment / capacity / forte” of individual to deliver unique results in assigned jobs. The whole group of employees (including gifted few) who deliver expected results in assigned jobs should be treated as “Talent” and not alone the gifted few.
This is the talent pool that company should endeavor to retain for building long term competitive advantage and avoid collapse like “house of cards” similar to one seen in current – 2008 US meltdown.
Further for meeting increasing necessity of growing talent from within, retention across the job families and performance levels rather than of select few is critical for organization to grow, remain cost effective and stable over a long period of time. Thus all those committed and loyal employees who possess competencies required by the organization and are delivering at expected performance level across the job categories are needed and to be nurtured by the organization.
If an organization overtly focuses on the gifted few, the vast majority of ordinary people who make organization extraordinary may get neglected. This in turn would lead to their separation psychological and / or physical.
Thus proper development & involvement of these (talented, committed and loyal) employees to keep them motivated, loyal and committed is at least as if not more important as focusing on super achiever.
This necessitates an “all-round talent (across performance levels & career stages) retention model”.
Global Experience:
Labor markets are entering a time characterized by a shortfall of qualified / skilled labor. This situation is becoming complex due to shifting business requirements, and attractive competing job offers. Also most companies are finding it necessary to outsource talent to fill key positions as the “growth from within” that was prevalent in many companies has become rare occurrence due to downsizing, flattening, and redefining the employee contract.
According to RHR International, America’s largest 500 companies will lose 50% of their senior managers in next five years. Similarly a survey by the Society of Human Resource Management states that 83% of workers are likely to search for new job in the coming couple of years.
Increased competition for talent is leading to higher compensation packages, slower time to new hires, strains on quality and customer service, and reduced business flexibility for large and small companies alike. Further it is observed that rejection rate of externally hired executives is quite high, despite the skills, because of a poor cultural fit. Due to external hiring in other than specialized areas, companies could gain in short-term performance but lose much more in long term due to loss in organizational morale and increased attrition.
According to Deloitte Consulting’s “2007 Top Five Total Rewards Priority Survey”, the biggest concern for organizations in the US, apart from health care benefits, is how to attract and retain Talent. Further Deloitte estimates that an average company in the U.S. spends nearly 50 times more to acquire a $100,000 professional than it spends on training for that individual once employed.
Thus organizations are increasingly looking inward to train, develop, maintain and evolve their existing workforces because of rising costs and time required to hire good new talent. Therefore companies will have to hold on to their valued employees and favor internal recruitment practices when possible, especially for higher position within the organization (Erik Brandt,Patrik Kull,Ethel Brundin May 2007). Certainly people that eventually drive the company into the future are more important than even the vision and strategy of a company.
Employee Engagement is a concept that is closely connected to retention. ISR research has shown that employee engagement is linked to higher levels of staff retention, and superior levels of organization performance. Therefore, Employee Engagement is an important step to achieve high levels of retention.
As per Uren, Employee Engagement is “to create an environment that engages the individual to perform at their best and stay committed to the firm” (Uren,2007).
Employee Engagement
Harvard Business School research has shown that the most significant contributing factor to an organization’s success is employee loyalty, which can never be achieved in an environment that is not conducive to long term stay. Human beings can only be at their productive best when they have a compulsion to stay, develop, produce and contribute.
Employers want employees who will do their best work, or ‘go the extra mile’. Employees want good work: jobs that are worthwhile and “turn them on”. More and more organizations are looking for a win-win solution that meets their needs and those of their employees. What they increasingly say they are looking for is an “engaged workforce”.
So what is employee engagement? It can be seen as a combination of commitment to the organization and its values plus a willingness to help out colleagues (organizational citizenship). It goes beyond job satisfaction and is not simply motivation. Engagement is something the employee has to offer: it cannot be ‘required’ as part of the employment contract.
HR consultancy Towers Perrin defines ‘Employee Engagement’ as 'the extent to which employees put discretionary effort into their work, beyond the required minimum to get the job done, in the form of extra time, brainpower and energy'. Employee Engagement is about releasing employees’ discretionary behavior, and is a psychological construct hard to define and measure. It is generally about how the employee feels, the intentions behind actions, and the extra efforts exerted.
When employers deliver on their commitments (when by their actions they fulfill employees’ expectations), it reinforces employees’ sense of fairness and trust in the organization and generates a positive psychological contract between employer and employee.
There is no definitive all-purpose list of engagement ‘drivers’. The Institute of Employment Studies (IES) has concluded that the main driver of engagement is a sense of feeling valued and involved. The main components of this are said to be:
· involvement in decision-making
· freedom to voice ideas, to which managers listen
· feeling enabled to perform well
· having opportunities to develop the job
· feeling the organization is concerned for employees’ health and well-being
There is no short-cut to building and maintaining employee engagement. It is built throughout the employee life cycle.
Based on an analysis of millions of employee survey responses from around the world, ISR has developed an engagement model consisting of three dimensions. These are 1) Engaged employees support their company’s strategy and ways of doing business (the Think dimension); 2) have a strong bond of attachment to the organization and are proud to work for it (the Feel dimension); 3) and finally, they are committed to staying with the organization and are motivated to work hard to help it succeed (the Act dimension).
Employees are said to be “Fully Engaged” when they express positive views about all three of the dimensions. In other words they believe in the company’s goals and objectives, are proud to work there, are prepared to put in the extra efforts in working towards those goals and will stay with the organization. As per Gallup, organizations using emotional engagement record high financial growth; high percentage of customer retention; and very low attrition.
Therefore, aligning job (nature, content) and feelings (result of support and returns) at work place to employee expectations (supported by potential) is crucial for building employee engagement. Once done it will go a long way in retaining all-round talent for longer.
All-Round Talent Retention ModelAs per research by many organizations, including Gallup, most employees leave behind difficult environments, difficult people and stressful situations; even though they say a myriad of reasons during their exit interviews.
Primary Survey conducted for this study conclusively prove that employees tend to leave organization if they think their long term aspirations on job, work environment, and returns would not be met by the company. (94% of respondents agreed)
In today’s hyper competition era, it is only the human resource at every level within the organization that can give and sustain competitive advantage. In order to understand executive (top management) perspective of “Talent” and need of “All-Round Talent Retention”, a primary survey was conducted. Details of the survey are given in Annexure 1. Analysis of survey responses on Organization Talent Pool is given below.
· Executive Perception on Organization’s Talent Pool
SD: Strongly Disagree; D: Disagree; A: Agree; SA: Strongly Agree
From the above it could be observed that
98% of respondents agreed that Talent Management is critical to organizational success; and 96% agreed Retention is critical for Talent Management.
94% of respondents agreed that Committed and Loyal employees delivering expected level of performance (Solid Citizens) are important element of organization Talent Pool.
86% agreed that Misfits need to be weeded out for organizational efficacy. Whereas only 25% of respondents said that it is important to retain high performers and super achievers anyhow and at any cost.
Thus it can be concluded that
1. Retention is critical to Talent Management
2. Committed and Loyal employees delivering expected level of performance (Solid Citizens) are important element of Talent Pool
3. For organizational efficacy, Misfits need to be weeded out;
4. Anyhow and at any cost retention of high performers and super achievers is to be avoided.
It is generally accepted amongst management researchers that “Human Capital” is a unique competitive advantage that cannot be easily replicated by competitors and is an internal quality of the organization. Similarly, commitment, loyalty, learning ability, and positive attitude are internal qualities of an employee that cannot be easily replicated and are becoming scarce in current scenario. Hence, employees with such qualities should not be neglected as compared to employees with higher degree of knowledge for short term gains. After all now a days knowledge is available at the click of mouse.
Retention of Talent is critical to build the competitive advantage and achieve organization’s vision. Primary Survey conducted also captured executive perception on need of retention. Details are given below.
· Executive Perception on need of Talent Retention
SD: Strongly Disagree; D: Disagree; A: Agree; SA: Strongly Agree
From the above it could be observed that
94% of respondents agreed that it is important to retain Committed and Loyal employees delivering expected level of performance (Solid Citizens).
88% respondents agreed that retention of Solid Citizens is as important as high performers; and 83% agreed that retention of Solid Citizens is as important as Super Achievers. 92% of respondents agreed that retention of High Performers is as important as Super Achievers.
Thus it can be concluded that
1. Retention of Committed and Loyal employees delivering expected level of performance (Solid Citizens) is critical and almost as important as that for High Performers and Super Achievers.
Both, high performance work culture and Motivation are critical and essential for retention as money (salary / compensation) is important but not adequate for retention. Motivating high performance work culture can be evolved iff most of the employees find meaning / purpose in their jobs and feel that they are successful in doing their part of the job. Thus it is essential that each one in the team gets due importance and developmental focus to generate environment of pride and performance.
For this, organizations need to address all three dimensions of employee engagement i.e. Cognitive; Emotional; and Physical. Therefore, creating pride by providing meaning & purpose to individuals; and engaging their heart & soul rather than mind alone is critical to Employee Engagement. This is easier said than done. Thus it is essential that we create an objective model to deal with this highly subjective field.
It is observed that creating pride by providing meaning & purpose to individuals; and engaging their heart & soul rather than mind alone are the roots for retention. When this is achieved, there will be “very high degree of engagement”. This can be only done through meeting professional, financial, social, and personal aspirations of the performers at all levels. Furthermore, for creating high performance work culture and motivating environment, it is essential that each employee gets due importance and developmental focus to generate an overall environment of pride and performance.
Therefore, three critical factors that go a long way in building pride & performing culture are 1) Expected Job; 2) Expected Environment; and 3) Expected Returns. For the purpose of this study “returns” is beyond financial and normal grade growth rewards.
Primary Survey was also used to understand executive (top management) perspective on criticality of three factors [i.e. Job Compatibility, work environment; and Returns (beyond monetary and grade growth)] for retention; and expectation growth on these factors during the career span. Analysis of survey responses is given below.
· Executive Perception on criticality and growth with career span of selected factors for retention of Talent Pool
SD: Strongly Disagree; D: Disagree; A: Agree; SA: Strongly Agree
From the above table it could be observed that
96% of respondents agreed that Job Compatibility to employee potential is critical for employee retention; 88% agreed that providing expected 1) Work Environment and 2) Returns (beyond monetary and grade growth) by employee is critical for employee retention.
86% of respondents agreed that employee expectation on job content / nature increases with career progression. Whereas 78% of respondents agreed that employee expectation on Returns (beyond monetary and grade growth) increases with career progression; and 71% of respondents agreed that employee expectation on work environment increases with career progression.
88% of respondents agreed that employee expectation on job; work environment; and returns by and large depend upon employee’s self perception of own potential.
Thus it can be concluded that
1. Job Compatibility to employee potential; providing expected work environment; and Returns (beyond monetary and grade growth) are critical factors for retention of talent pool.
2. Employee expectation on Job Content / Nature; Work Environment; and Returns (beyond monetary and grade growth) depend upon employee’s self perception of own potential and increase with career progression.
As far self perception about performance category, general thumb rule of 80:20 works, i.e. 80% of the people internally know and accept their performance category and thus have aligned expectations, while 20% may have misconception about their performance and potential and hence misaligned expectations. If 80% of the Talent Force is managed systematically, and balance 20% by building appropriate set of expectations or weeding out, retention in the organization (Average Service Span and % retention) can be increased.
In order to build high degree of employee engagement, organizations need to align job (nature, content) and feelings (result of support and returns) at work place to employee potential / expectations. Thus it is essential to build a model that guides HR professional on job, support, and return expectations throughout the career span (early, mid, and mature stage) of the employees in different performance categories (i.e. Solid Citizens, High Performers, and Stars). The proposed model would assist HR professionals in achieving high degree of employee engagement on all three dimensions (i.e. Think / Cognitive dimension; Feel / emotional dimension; and Act / physical dimension).
A 3X3 model for expectations of Job, Environment, and Returns in relation to Career Stage and Performance Category is proposed. For this purpose Career Stages are categorized as 1) Early, 2) Mid, 3) Mature; and Performance Categories are 1) Solid Citizens; 2) High Performers; 3) Stars. (For details refer Annexure 1 – Primary Survey Details)
When employees are provided desired / appropriate job, environment, returns throughout their career path, Strategic Talent Retention Management is achieved.
Below Table No. 1, 2, and 3 give expectation growth pattern of talent (different performance categories through their career stages) on Job, Environment, and Returns.Table No. 1 - Expected Job Matrix
It is observed that “solid citizens” are comfortable with monotonous jobs (simple repetitive) during the early stages of their careers and upkeep jobs (maintenance / data mining) and process oriented (non tricky logically manageable) work during the mid and mature career stage. These types of jobs give them a sense of independence as well as achievement as they can perform assigned responsibilities efficiently.High performers look for analysis & recommendations oriented jobs at an early stage in their careers, and are happy being involved with implementing new initiatives during mid career stage. During their mature career stage they prefer and enjoy business strategy formulation and implementation. These are the jobs that give them satisfaction as they are able to perform to their potential, and get seen, talked about as important people who matter in the organization.
Star performers prefer jobs that give them opportunity to analyze future trends and challenges quite early in their career stage and crave for jobs that put them in the limelight by their mid career stage. This gives them the feeling of “having arrived”. Since by and large they achieve quite senior positions within the organization by the mid career stage, they enjoy being associated with jobs / projects that have a social impact during mature career stage. This gives them opportunity to get projected beyond business responsibility holder.
Table No. 2 – Expected Environment Matrix
Solid Citizens are shy of being in the spot light during early career stage due to less self confidence / esteem. They prefer an environment of shared responsibility during the mid career stage as they fear failure and hence often look for support. During the mature stage of their career they prefer an environment of stability and consistency.High performers expect clarity of their role and deliverables during early career stage and prefer an environment that provides them industry / cross company exposure during mid career stage. At mature career stage they enjoy an environment that permits them to drive change in line with their strategic plans.
Star performers enjoy an environment that provides them exposure to senior management early on and during the mid career stage they look forward to environment that allows them to be involved and informed about the organization and their future. During the mature stage they look forward to an environment that provides them unlimited authority like that enjoyed by business owner cum leader.
Table No. 3 – Expected Returns Matrix
This matrix essentially deals with psychological and emotional (rather than financial) returns. Solid Citizens look for getting patronage of seniors in return for the hard work they put in during their early career stages. They wish to get a sense of “belongingness” during mid career stage. During their mature career stage they expect to be involved / informed before important decisions are taken. It is matter of seeking their consent that solid citizens are waiting to provide in return of the feeling that they are consulted.High performers look for generous appreciations in return for good work done during the early career stage and seek visibility within the organization during mid career stage. During the mature career stage they wish to be seen as industry brands and look for opportunities for being projected at various industry forums.
Star performers want visibility and uniqueness of reward and appreciation during the early stage and crave for opportunities to grow fast during the mid career stage. During the mature career stage they wish to be considered as a business owner cum leader.
Combining above three matrices, comprehensive 3X3 Matrix for Expected Job, Environment, and Returns for all-round retention (Table No. 4) is arrived at.
Table No. 4 – All-Round Talent Retention Matrix
J: job; E: Environment; R: ReturnsThe above model is indicative and guiding in nature for line managers and HR experts so that based on performance category and career stage, desired employees / talent can be managed and retained for organizational efficacy. The above model will also help in addressing Talent requirements for current and future strategic and operational activities.
Findings of Select Group Discussions:
Select group discussions were held in the form of guided interview method. Process followed at guided interviews included 1) Explaining the Concept of all round retention; 2) Explaining Proposed 3X3 Model for all round retention; and 3) Seeking their views on the proposed Model. Discussions were held with eight respondents (Identity of the respondents is held back for obvious reasons.). Six of them agreed with the proposed model, while one was unsure and one mentioned that matrix cannot be generalized. Thus it is concluded that proposed matrix has wider acceptability.
Consequences of Overtly Focusing on Stars / Super Achievers:
Primary survey conducted also captured respondents views on likely scenario if organizations focus overtly on top 3-5% performers i.e. Stars / Super Achievers. Summary of views expressed by respondents is given below.
· The organization would be good at conceptualization and strategy but weak in execution
· As a result, other categories if they take in right spirit will stretch themselves to perform better but many will falter and will not deliver. They might feel dejected and may leave organization.
· The fabric of the origination will be destroyed if the focus is only on super achievers.
· The good ones may move out and lot of short term oriented managers will flourish for a time.
· Focusing only on super achiever in long run affect loyalty, commitment and also creates an atmosphere of non-trust.
· Super achievers are ambitious people who may leave the organization if their expectations are not met. Organizations that focus on such persons may find itself without leaders and a population of ignored persons. Such organization will not progress.
· The organization will be driven by mistrust, unhappiness and back-biting.
· It’s quite harmful and can result in a sudden collapse of the organization as witnessed in the recent times.
· Will lead to a lot of attrition and discontent.
· It will make the rat race prime.
· It will promote high degree of insecurity and narcissism.
· No company can survive only by focus on super Achievers. Survival is depended on loyal, committed.
· Disaster
· This is a dangerous situation.
· Not a right approach
· Surely, if the organization focuses only on the super achievers, the organization cannot prosper. It is like paying attention only to arrow head and not the shaft and the tail of the arrow which are equally important to the arrow to fly. But of course you do need the arrow heads to be sharp.
Thus it can be concluded that overtly focusing on Super Achievers (Top 3 – 5% performers) is not the right approach.
The above view clearly give a strong case in favor of all round talent retention and equal focus on development and retention of Committed and Loyal employees delivering expected level of performance (Solid Citizens) for organizational efficacy, rather than luring few high performers and super achievers only.
Conclusion
Literature and general observation of current practices indicates preference by many of the organization for excessive focus on developing and retaining top 3-5 % performers (Super achievers / Stars). However, study reveals that firms with a comprehensive approach to people management for all round talent retention will enjoy higher success and achieve a sustainable advantage for longer term.
The findings from the primary research (questionnaire and Select group discussion) clearly support the requirement of all round talent retention and proposed strategic model for the same.
It is also found that executives, academicians and practitioners across different organizations support the need for an all round talent retention approach. According to them, organizations with a focus on retention management at all levels will have employees who are more engaged and more satisfied with their jobs and companies overall. Whereas others (organizations with overt focus on gifted few) may succeed in short run / get few quick results but will not succeed in realizing long term vision. In the words of one of the respondents
“Surely, if the organization focuses only on the super achievers, the organization cannot prosper. It is like paying attention only to arrow head and not the shaft and the tail of the arrow which are equally important to the arrow to fly. But of course you do need the arrow heads to be sharp”.
To sum up the entire analysis in this study,
· The retention of Committed and Loyal employees delivering expected level of performance (Solid Citizens) is critical and almost as important as that for High Performers and Super Achievers.
· Job Compatibility to employee potential; providing expected work environment; and Returns (beyond monetary and grade growth) are critical factors for retention of talent pool. Employee expectations on these factors depend upon employee’s self perception of own potential and increase with career progression.
· All round talent retention can be achieved by managing above factors dynamically throughout the career span in line with employee expectations linked to their potential.
· Employees tend to leave organization if they think their long term aspirations on job, work environment, and returns would not be met by the company.
Human capital is unique competitive advantage that cannot be easily replicated by competitors and is an internal quality of the organization. Similarly, commitment, loyalty, learning ability, and positive attitude are internal qualities of an employee that cannot be easily replicated and are becoming scarce in current scenario. Hence, employees with such qualities should not be compromised for employees with higher degree of knowledge for short-term gains.
Managing retention is “an art of managing process science”. The proposed strategic model is part of process science that needs to be implemented / practiced with precision i.e. “Art”
Current(2008) spate of bankruptcies / near bankruptcies of the so called leading and long lasting organizations in US (Lehman brothers, Merrill Lynch, Freddie Mac and Fannie Mae, AIG etc) could be the result of absence of committed and loyal employees across the organization for whom organization is above self. If investigated / researched it could substantiate the view – “too much dependence on select few and not having / ignoring committed and loyal employees with acceptable performance level (Solid Citizens) across positions within the organization could give short term gains but ruin even most stable and successful organization in mid – long run”.
Area for further Research:
Never before in the history have the companies and authors overtly focused on / advocated developing and retaining of top 3-5% performers, and end results (irrespective of means) based performance pay with the intensity and vengeance seen in the past one decade or so.
Never before in the history has economy seen such a meltdown and falling of long lasting companies like “house of cards” as seen in the recent past.
It does indicate a correlation. How strong is the matter of study and research?
Annexure – 1
PRIMARY SURVEY DETAILS
Objective of Survey:
In today’s hyper competition era, it is only the human resource at every level within the organization that can give and sustain competitive advantage. This survey aims to assess executive perception on organization talent pool; their expectation; and need for all round Talent Retention v/s overtly focusing on gifted few. Survey also captures executive perception on likely scenario if organization overtly focuses only on top 3-5% of employees (super achievers).
Concepts:
For analyzing All Round Retention, employees are segmented in four categories viz Solid Citizens, High Performers, Super Achievers, and Misfits.
“Solid Citizens” are the loyal & committed employees who diver expected (optimal) results.
“High Performers” are the ones who deliver more than expected (say 25% plus) on continuous basis and are innovative in approach.
“Super Achievers or Stars” are the ones who deliver multifold results through unique approach and have potential to provide future direction to the organization.
“Misfits” are suboptimal performers with or without attitudinal issues, or employees with attitudinal issues / team destroyers / not following organizational ethos, culture in any of the above performance category.
In the survey questionnaire, Job means nature, content of the job;
Work Environment means work related support, exposure and degree of empowerment;
and Returns essentially correspond to building self esteem and are beyond monetary & normal grade growth
Location: Mumbai (India)
Sample Size: 52
Target Group: Executive with minimum 10 years of experience and currently holding important position within their organization. Respondents are selected on stratified sampling basis from a large size Public Sector Undertaking, a medium size ITES company in Private Sector, and Business Schools.
Data Collection Method: Through Questionnaire. Questionnaire had 17 items on which respondents views were sought on four point scale (Strongly Agree, Agree, Disagree, and Strongly Disagree). Two items were open ended questions to seek their views / suggestions.
Analysis:
Details of responses received from respondents are given in Annexure 2. For obvious reasons company and respondent names are withheld. Data captured is analyzed for
· Executive Perception on Organization’s Talent Pool
· Executive Perception on Need of All round Talent Retention
· Executive Perception on criticality and growth with career span of selected factors for retention of Talent Pool
· Views on likely Scenario if organization overtly focuses on top 3-5% of performers (Super Achievers / Stars)
Conclusions from the primary survey are reported under “All-Round Retention Model”.
Survey Questionnaire:
Annexure 2 – Survey Response Analysis
Reference:
Creating a Talent Management System for Organization Excellence: Connecting the Dots; in L. A. Berger & D. R. Berger (Eds.), The Talent Management Handbook: Ch.1. New York: McGraw-Hill.
The Talent Era: Achieving a High Return on Talent. Chowdhury S. 2002; New Jersey:
FT/Prentice Hall
Good to great: why some companies make the leap- and others don’t. Collins, J. (2001); London: Random House Business
Emotional engagement at work; Jyothi Menon Feb 18, 2008 in Business line http://www.thehindubusinessline.com/
Talent Management – How firms in Sweden find and nurture value adding human resources; Erik Brandt, Patrik Kull, Ethel Brundin; Jönköping May 2007;
http://www.diva-portal.org
The Race for Talent: Retaining and Engaging Workers in the 21st Century HR. Human Resource Planning; Frank, F.D., Finnegan, R.P., & Taylor, C.R. (2004); Vol.27, No.3, PP. 12- 26.
What is 'Talent'? Workforce Management; Hansen, F. (2007); Vol.86, No.1, 12-13
Integrated Management of Human Resources; A. Mitrani, M. Dalziel & D. Fitt (Eds.), Competency Based Human Resource Management. (p. 17-45), London: Kogan Page Limited.
Benefits all round from good talent management; KRI's (Kenexa Research Institute) annual survey of worker opinions 2007; www.management-issues.com
Rapid growth and high performance: The entrepreneur’s “impossible dream?”; Nicholls-Nixon, C.L. (2005); Academy of management executive Vol.19,No.1, PP. 77-89.
Fighting the war for talent is hazardous to your organization‘s health, Organizational Dynamics; Pfeffer J.
From Talent Compliance to Talent Commitment, Strategic HR Review; Uren L (2007); Vol.6, No.3,PP. 32-35
Developing Your Organization’s Brand as a Talent Developer; Talent management: art or science? The invisible mechanism between talent and talent factory; Human Resource Planning – 30,2; p.21 Fang Fang Li,Pierre Devos, Philippe Daudi, Mikael Lundgren-
Developing Future Leaders: The contribution of Talent Management.
Eddie Blass Ann Knights Angelita Orbea; Ashridge Business School UK - http://www.ashridge.org.uk
