Talent Management

Section 1: Parivar Case Analysis

Question 1

Indira has concerns regarding the ‘People support function’ in the organization. She believes that at the moment the ‘cult’ aspect is not really working for the company as seen in the high turnover rates. It means that she is not comfortable with a system that encourages a further intrusion of the organization into the employees’ lives. The fact that she needs to be honest with Sudhir here means that she will not endorse the project despite his seemingly unrelenting support for it.   

Question 2

Based on the Charles Handy definition of organizational cultures, Parivar is a power culture. A power culture in current case is basically an organization in which power is consolidated within a small circle of people, with one central figure being considered as the most powerful individual. In Indira’s conversation with Amal, it can be noted that the organization has some people who are more privileged than others. Sudhir is considered as the central figure and thus, he has a small circle of ‘privileged’ employees that he visits randomly to communicate with and engage in work-related discussions at his pleasure. Such individuals belong to the organization’s inner circle, and are believed to be able to influence decisions within the organization in one way or another. It may be appreciated that Sudhir had an intention to create a clan culture, with himself as the central figure. Anyway, as the company grew, he became overwhelmed and unable to ‘hang out’ with every employee.

Question 3

The problem at Parivar is mainly deals with the value for the employees. The company is a great place to work in but it does not offer much in terms of job satisfaction thus, losing employees to higher paying competitors. It means that the management of organization has to change its work culture to involve factors that the employees would appreciate. At the moment, they are trying to create a kind of family within the workplace, but the people are more willing to embrace transactional work situations like that at Infosys and Wipro among others. It means that in order to reduce on the company’s turnover rates and provide a competitive advantage in the labor market, they will have to deal with their work culture situation (Brady, Bolchover & Sturgess, 2008).    

Question 4

Work culture is embedded in the organization’s ‘way of doing things.’ It means that it can be changed provided the leadership is in support of the change, and thus, has the will to convince the rest of the employees to embrace the new situation. It would require a good plan with respect to the kind of change required, how to implement it, and the measures for evaluation and monitoring. On the one hand, it can be expected as an easy task to do, but, in addition, it must be considered that the organization’s leadership should see the disadvantages of the present work culture. The major prerequisite here is convincing Sudhir that his position as a central figure is only creating ties that alienate some members of his staff, leading to high turnover. A network at work is only positive if it is all inclusive, since all the members need to feel valued and appreciated within the organization.

Section 2: Talent Management

Introduction

Most organizations today have been in a position where they attract, select, and train the right people only to lose them shortly afterwards to more competitive offers in the talent market. It is caused by the fact that there are many strategies for attracting and selecting the best employees, as well as training them outside of their working places while also mentoring their work. However, the concept of employee retention remains evasive within most organizations, as employees seem to value new opportunities over their present work conditions. The question is what are such organizations doing wrong? In most cases, it can be appreciated that they are simply not paying attention to the needs of their employees. In the Parivar cases study, a major conclusion would be that the company is assuming that the employees would like to be members of a ‘family’ within an organization, but it is not the case if Amal’s opinion is considered.    

The Role of Talent Management

Each organization knows where to find the kind of people it needs, and in most cases it can attract and select the right kind of skills and competences based on the job descriptions made for the available positions. Talent management can be defined as a process of anticipating, planning for and evaluating the kind of human capital that the organization requires in order to function fully. It implies not just finding and recruiting the right people, but also managing them in terms of giving the relevant training, the right opportunities for growth and basically shifting them within the organization to optimize their career potentials and value to the organization (Bushnell & Stone, 2014). Within the organization, talent management has approximately three important roles.

First, each organization has a set of needs that must be met through finding and hiring the right people (Brady, Bolchover & Sturgess, 2008). Taking the example of an ICT based company, it is critical that they obtain individuals who have the right skill sets and personal competences that are relevant to the organization’s objectives. As a result, it can be expected that such company would be a source for employees within the ICT sector. It can be established that the first role of talent management within any organization is to determine the kind of employees that are needed. For example, after losing a good number of the employees, Parivar must determine the kind of employees they need to find and hire. It means establishing the needs of the organizations with the pending departure of employees and finding the best way to meet such needs (Neffinger, 2014).

Another role of talent management is with respect to training the employees. The needs of the company determine the kind of hired employees. However, companies are known to grow with time. It means that their needs can change, as well. In addition, it can be appreciated that in most cases the senior executives leave the organization to work in other organizations. It is caused by the fact that it is impossible for the company to need CEOs at the same rate at which they hire and train new recruits (Shukla, 2009). When considering the training of employees, the idea is to enable them to grow in their careers. Giving them new skills and competencies is the best way to ensure that they remain loyal to a growing organization. Talent management allows the organization to understand the kind of training its employees require, and thus, the direction in which the employees’ careers must develop in order for them to remain loyal to the organization. Talent management is also very crucial when dealing with promoting the employees or shifting them within the organization. It helps understand which skill level would serve the company best at which position, and which employees are best suited for the company’s leadership positions. As a result, it can be stated that talent management helps the organization generally determine the direction it would like to take, and thus, take it in as far as its human capital is concerned.          

The third significant role of talent management is with respect to the employee retention. Most companies fail to grasp the significance of talent management to employee retention, as they believe their task is performed after recruitment and training. Training the employees is like preparing them to work in the organization, but without effective monitoring and management they are likely to fail even with the best of training. It explains why companies like Parivar manage to hire some of the best brains in the industry but it the end lose them after only a few months of service. Talent management optimizes the employee’s productivity, as well as their enthusiasm, since they feel more appreciated and valued at work. Employee retention deals with not just compensation practices, and that is why talent management is one of the most effective ways of building employee retention (Brady et al., 2008). Companies that offer their employees the right responsibilities, career growth opportunities, and training programs are more likely to register high retention rates compared to those that simply look at compensation as their greatest motivators. Talent management, in such case, reduces the risk for the employee by ensuring that even if they lose their job, they would still be very competitive in the labor market, since the company was investing in them and adding value to their resume.     

How Organizations Should Nurture Talent

In order to nurture talent, there are a number of things that organizations can do. The first option would be to emulate the Google concept of “working hard and playing hard”. The best ideas often occur randomly and, in most cases, it is possible in the environment in which one feels relaxed. The first step to nurturing talent is to create an environment in which the employees are able to feel comfortable and valued (O’Leary, 2010). It does not often entail offering expensive office furniture, free food and a possibility to have a nap in the middle of a working day like at Google, but it requires much investment and, in some cases, faith in the employees. It is important to trust the employees and give them responsibility over their roles within the organization. It will make them accountable enough to work within their own means, but to correspond to the organization’s expectations of them at the same time. In the end, the company will be offering enough inspiration for hard work while the employees will try hard to achieve their set goals and objectives.

Another alternative to nurturing talent is to embrace an innovative organizational culture in which tasks define the structure of power. People should be able to take control of their tasks rather than relying on supervision and constant monitoring from the management. Very often, the employees are able to complete their given tasks and accomplish them on their own with minimal supervision as requested. In other words, the employees who are accountable for their actions receive more opportunities to grow in terms of their talent and competences (Israelite, 2008).      

Conclusion

Organizations do not always have the right strategy dealing with the human capital management, unless they find the right talent management strategy that can meet their specific needs. It implies that in order to ensure that the organization is competitive in the labor market, it is imperative for the management to consider a comprehensive talent management strategy that is not only relevant to their specific industry, but also aligned to the organization’s set goals and objectives. The idea is to understand what it would require to attract, recruit, train, and retain the best people in the labor market.