The WAR for TALENT - Analyzing the statement through the lenses

I.??????????????????Introduction:

The hysteria created by McKinsey & Co. ‘The War for Talent’ in 1998, through eye catchy briefings and subheadings that emphasized on ‘Talent War’ and predicted through stats which to intensify over upcoming years while few warned the vulnerability of encompassing all, remains an area of sound debate (How McKinsey & Co. created “The War for Talent” in 1998 to propagate a “myth of brilliance,”?2021). The term ‘The War for Talent’ comprises of the ever-changing landscapes, focusing on retaining and attracting talent (War of talent, no date) and considering the macroeconomic conditions this has become more complex, hyper competitive and ruthless where organizations now not only seek to become the employer of choice through working extraordinary lengths but redefines this as the ‘new paternalism’ (Pilbeam and Corbridge, 2010). The Pandemic of 2020 has introduced a paradigm shift to this battle being more intense and raging as published by GrantThornton and supported by Microsoft’s global study report (The accelerating war for talent, no date).???????

II.???????????????Literature Review?

‘People Resourcing’ can be attributed as a term that relates to attracting & retaining the right resources at the right time while ‘Talent management’ is the application of the workforce planning techniques, frameworks, and practices to enhance efficiency, productivity while also developing, identifying and retrain employees (Learn, 2021).

Resourcing is a contingent approach governed by macro and microenvironments defined through PESTLE[1], SWOT[2]. This volatile area requires understanding to the contemporary style of work:

II.1 Changes to ecosystem of work

?These includes:

1.????Growing transactional psychological contract,

2.????Customer interests and power,

3.????Organizational restructuring; mergers; acquisitions and branding

4.????Globalization of workforce; services; products and information etc.

5.????Evolving employability; new patterns of work and career etc.

II.2 Emerging HR Function

HRM a western concept that originated in USA from concept of TPM[3] to HRM[4] that focuses on five key philosophy (refer Appendix 1). The changing HR roles and behaviors from past that circled around personnel management; administration; policing; defining SOPs[5], training and employee care to future that encompasses HR to be an integral process of the business operations; enablement of the line managers as the advocate of HR; Rewards and Recognition; define HR metrices; organizational learning and valuing the human capital through inclusive experience are the HR practices and functions to add a direct value to the organizational performance through developing sound business.

Out of groundbreaking HR models like Warwick; ASTD[6]; Dave-Ulrich; 5Ps and more, Ulrich’s three-legged model is the simplest implementation of the future HR roles (Refer Appendix).

II.3 Concepts, Frameworks & Practices in People Resourcing & Talent Management

Often intermixed together, the two are significantly different while TM[7] encompasses people resourcing as a part of the end-to-end process.

A.???Three-point Framework (Barstow)

The three-point framework includes: Identify; Develop and Support (no date). ???

B.???Practices:

The above framework focuses on the five core areas of the practice i.e., Talent acquisition & development; Performance management; Succession planning; Engagement of talent and Organizational results. These are further achieved by a step-by-step approach:

1.????Involving the stakeholders and the leadership to understand the impact of talent management.

2.????Clear communication of the organizational goals and strategies.

3.????Include the employee lifecycle with HXM[8]

4.????Define measurable and SMART goals with KPIs for the framework.

5.????Action the framework through developing the tools and employee eccentric approach (How to develop a talent management framework for your organization, 2021).

II.4 Impact of National & International Culture to Resourcing & Talent Management

As businesses operate from locally to globally, they face challenging requirements of global approach to standardization while local approach to customization. Hofstede’s cultural model (Insights, no date) is a classic example that demonstrates the significant impact of the national culture. HR policies and practices are influenced by them which includes selection, interview systems, compensation, work benefits etc. This also includes the organization’s pursuit to attract talent, retention plans, leveraging learning opportunities and engagement approaches.?Local isomorphism where firms intend to behave as local systems basis on the circumstances are expected in the talent management areas like policies or SOPs due to the governing constraints, example: in India, PF[9] (Social Security) is a mandatory contribution for any organizations employee more than 5 employees. Cultural challenges arise majoring in international resourcing which intends to exploit the host culture for maximizing the organizational operations and aid cooperation. The practice of the national and international culture influences the TM. These are influenced by the workforce nature, competitors, history, and the organizational culture.

It is from the considerable research that can be summarized that organizations act in significant different patterns for the people resourcing, HR polices and cross-cultural management. Loose culture allows to foster innovation, diversity and higher degree of tolerance and high possibility that the local practices may likely get adopted in the host countries (All Answers Ltd, 2021).

III.????????????Methodology:

Covid has changed the talent market and split it to pre and post pandemic era. The popular methodical selection processes like the ‘classic trio’ or elimination or assessment centers are no longer sufficient and do not meet validity or reliability in the hyper-competitive prospected candidates. Classic Trio, have moved towards hybrid process where Interviews have moved to VCs[10]; references captured electronically and application forms have moved to the ATS[11] like Workday, Taleo etc. Other formats of selection like ‘Centralized Assessment Centers’ have seen rise in the ‘Psychometric’ & ‘Personality’ assessments in India (Been to that assessment centre yet?, no date).?Although there exists variety of the selection methods, Covid has changed the holistic approach. There exist certain drawbacks in the most popular ‘Classic Trio’ like Interviews creating ‘Halo effect’; ‘and ‘Favoritism’. Panel and group interviews can be time consuming and given to the nature of paradigm shift or hybrid or online may not support bandwidth in rural India. Assessment centers can be costly while virtual assessment centers may lack sufficient proctoring. Organization to select the right talent now use variety of methods like pre-engagement, Induction & onboarding and exit interviews to reduce the turnover and R&R[12] to increase EVP[13]. Covid has also increased the need of gratification as the period of ‘Great Resignation’ also observed a huge influx of hiring and employee turnover.

There are different contributing factors to the ‘Talent War’ that includes from tight labor market because of niche skills, employer branding and positioning in market to organizational culture and fitment.

IV.???????????Conclusion:

It can be apprehended that irrespective of the young TM methods, the word is only attributed to Recruitment, resourcing and retainment. Talent still today remains a crucial component of the organizations and the environment along with the limited quantitative data from the TM and resourcing reflects talent in the sweeter side of the challenge where organizations are struggling to attract and retain these highly motivated frogs. TM should be associated with the entire experience management rather a qualitative area not limited to quantity.

Talent war is raging and seems to favor talents winning this while organizations going beyond scope to attract, nurture and retain them.

References

All Answers Ltd (2021) International resourcing and talent management, Ukessays.com. UK Essays. Available at: https://www.ukessays.com/essays/business/international-resourcing-and-talent-management-economics-essay.php (Accessed: March 25, 2022).

Been to that assessment centre yet? (no date) The Economic Times. Available at: https://economictimes.indiatimes.com/been-to-that-assessment-centre-yet/articleshow/582397.cms (Accessed: March 28, 2022).

How McKinsey & Co. created “The War for Talent” in 1998 to propagate a “myth of brilliance” (2021) ThePrint. Available at: https://theprint.in/pageturner/excerpt/how-mckinsey-co-created-the-war-for-talent-in-1998-to-propagate-a-myth-of-brilliance/755705/ (Accessed: March 25, 2022).

How to develop a talent management framework for your organization (2021) AIHR. Available at: https://www.aihr.com/blog/talent-management-framework/ (Accessed: March 25, 2022).

Insights, H. (no date) National culture, Hofstede-insights.com. Available at: https://hi.hofstede-insights.com/national-culture (Accessed: March 25, 2022).

Learn, I. C. S. (2021) “What is Resourcing and Talent Management in HR?,” ICS Learn, 21 July. Available at: https://www.icslearn.co.uk/blog/posts/2021/july/what-is-resourcing-and-talent-management-in-hr/ (Accessed: March 25, 2022).

Pilbeam, S. and Corbridge, M. (2010) People Resourcing and Talent Planning: HRM in practice. 4th ed. Harlow, England: Financial Times Prentice Hall.

The accelerating war for talent (no date) Grantthornton.com. Available at: https://www.grantthornton.com/library/articles/audit/2021/the-coming-war-for-talent.aspx (Accessed: March 25, 2022).

War of talent (no date) Keka HR. Available at: https://www.keka.com/glossary/war-of-talent (Accessed: March 25, 2022).

Winter, T. (no date) In a nutshell: Strategic HR business partnering (Ulrich model), Dtssydney.com. Available at: https://blog.dtssydney.com/in-a-nutshell-strategic-hr-business-partnering-ulrich-model (Accessed: March 25, 2022).

Bibliography

Kelly, J. (2021)?A war for talent is starting—spoiler alert: Workers will win,?Forbes. Available at: https://www.forbes.com/sites/jackkelly/2021/04/17/a-war-for-talent-is-starting-spoiler-alert-workers-will-win/ (Accessed: March 25, 2022).

Work Trend Index: Microsoft’s latest research on the ways we work?(no date)?Microsoft.com. Available at: https://www.microsoft.com/en-us/worklab/work-trend-index (Accessed: March 25, 2022).

(No date a)?Gov.au. Available at: https://www.academy.vic.gov.au/initiatives/talent-management-framework (Accessed: March 25, 2022).

(No date b)?Shrm.org. Available at: https://www.shrm.org/resourcesandtools/hr-topics/talent-acquisition/pages/2021-recruiting-trends-shaped-by-covid-19.aspx (Accessed: March 28, 2022).

Appendix

1. Five elements of HRM philosophy

1.????Strategic integration of the corporate strategy along with the HR management approach.

2.????Inclusion of line managers for the HR activities

3.????Developing worker flexibility

4.????Management of the corporate culture

2. Ulrich’s three-legged model

A.????HRBP[14] as the internal consultants providing the advice and support to strategic and non-strategic needs of the business.

B.????CoE[15] to develop, implement and practice the strategic initiatives

C.????Shared Services to handle all administrative activities (Winter, no date).

List of Abbreviations:

[1] PESTLE – Political; Economic; Social; Technology; Legal and Environment

[2] SWOT – Strength, Weaknesses, Opportunity, and Threats

[3] TPM – Traditional Personnel Management

[4] HRM – Human Resource Management

[5] SOPs – Standard Operating Processes

[6] ASTD - The Association for Talent Development (ATD)

[7] TM – Talent Management

[8] HXM – Human Experience Management

[9] PF – Provident Fund

[10] VCs: Virtual Calls

[11] ATS – Applicant Tracking Systems

[12] R&R – Rewards & Recognition

[13] EVP – Employer Value Proposition

[14] HRBP – Human Resource Business Partners

[15] CoE – Center of Excellence?