Abstract
PurposeThe purpose of this paper is to emphasize the role of talent management (TM) in strategic renewal. Furthermore, the authors extend the existing knowledge on the process of TM implementation by underlining particular activities, which are involved in this process during strategic renewal.Design/methodology/approachThe authors report a qualitative study of a TM program in a Finnish–Swedish Multinational corporation undergoing major strategic renewal. The data consist of 46 semi-structured interviews and secondary data.FindingsThe role of TM in the context of strategic renewal is to provide the conditions for the self-initiation and identification of potential change agents and for the development of the talented employees to perform in their roles of change agent. In the context of strategic renewal, TM process consists of identification of key projects to address critical business opportunities and challenges, the identification of talented employees to execute them, and the identification and creation of key positions.Research limitations/implicationsThe authors encourage scholars to explore the empirical settings characterized by change and unpredictability in more detail, and thus examine the role of talented employees and TM in other specific contexts. Future studies are also encouraged to study other cultural settings and examine to what degree the process of TM implementation may positively influence attitudes and behaviors of talented employees and, consequently, the overall organizational performance.Practical implicationsThis study offers practical advice for top management and HR managers. First, the process of TM implementation during strategic renewal should start with the identification of “must-win-battles” that can have a more profound impact on change. Furthermore, top management should allow and enable motivated potential talented employees to volunteer for the job of aiding company-wide changes. Next, top management should provide the talented employees with the space to come up with novel ideas and conceive new business opportunities. Finally, the importance of transparent and spot-on evaluation criteria should be emphasized.Originality/valueThe study contributes to advancing our understanding of TM and strategic management in practice.
Highlights
The research field of talent management (TM) has received a remarkable degree of academic and practitioner interest (Collings et al, 2019; Collings and Isichei, 2018; De Boeck et al, 2018; Krishnan and Scullion, 2017; McDonnell et al, 2017; Meyers et al, 2019; Vaiman et al, 2017; Van den Broek et al, 2018)
Our findings suggest that the role of TM in strategic renewal is to provide the conditions for the self-initiation, identification and development of talented employees to perform in their roles of change agents
For this reason, during strategic renewal, talented employees act as self-initiated change agents
Summary
The research field of talent management (TM) has received a remarkable degree of academic and practitioner interest (Collings et al, 2019; Collings and Isichei, 2018; De Boeck et al, 2018; Krishnan and Scullion, 2017; McDonnell et al, 2017; Meyers et al, 2019; Vaiman et al, 2017; Van den Broek et al, 2018). TM has become a vital component of the world’s most influential academic and practitioner-oriented conferences The full terms of this licence may be seen at http://creativecommons.org/licences/by/4.0/legalcode
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