The Principle of ‘Self-Control’ in the Design of Instruments, Processes and Procedures: True Success Factors of Talent Management

Jens Landwehr

doi:10.11648/j.jhrm.20160406.11

Abstract

There seems to be a lack of clarity both in research and practice as to what makes talent management instruments and processes truly successful. This study shows, HR organizations and talent managers in many German organizations prefer more traditional over innovative procedures and instruments, even if latter instruments are empirically linked to more success as shown by our research. Furthermore, this paper makes a contribution to the question what makes talent management processes, procedures and instruments truly more successful than others. Based on the responses of 125 participants of an online survey–talent managers and other HR professionals responsible for talent management-we linked the success of certain talent management instruments to specific ingredients which appear to be the differentiators of successful talent instruments and procedures. We found that what we label ‘organization centric’ talent management instruments driven by the language of corporate requirements and personnel needs often lead to lower levels of talent management success. On the other hand, ‘employee centric’ talent management instruments and processes, which take an employee’s self-efficacy, initiative, skills, and personality as starting point resulting in what we call a ‘pull dynamic’ of employee engagement, are significantly more associated with perceived talent management success. We also found that these instruments tend to be associated with lower levels of fluctuation and external recruiting rates. Furthermore, we found that the professionalization of talent management has a positive effect on the relationship described. The study results have important implications on the design, activities and branding of talent management in organizations.

Highlights

Talent management in organizations, which in its current form ignited in 1997 with a McKinsey study on the assumed future talent shortage, implies a paradox: While a talent is ‘given’ to an individual, which requires special development and fostering, management summarizes a set of professional activities related to coordinate a group of people to achieve a common goal
The results show that pull instruments across the different talent management areas correlate high, which is documented by high values for internal consistency
In order to test the hypothesis about the significance of push vs. pull dynamic in talent management instruments, regression analyses were carried out with three different dependent variables: talent managers’ assessment of talent management, external recruiting rate, and fluctuation

Summary

Introduction

Talent management in organizations, which in its current form ignited in 1997 with a McKinsey study on the assumed future talent shortage, implies a paradox: While a talent is ‘given’ to an individual, which requires special development and fostering, management summarizes a set of professional activities related to coordinate a group of people to achieve a common goal. The battle of personal versus organizational control continued through the ages with early rights granted by the state (Rousseau 1762), fueled after WWII with new insights about people’s motivations The paradox peaked in 2009 with the start of the economic crisis, when many companies had to balance on ongoing shortage of top talents while managing their talent surplus (Moser, Saxer, 2008). Balancing these paradigms is not easy for most organizations. Talent management processes in organizations need to carefully manage the paradoxical goal of freedom versus control to enable a maximum level of accomplishment and to meet organizational requirements

Results

Discussion

Conclusion