All the research findings are presented and discussed in this chapter which consist of the basic definition of TM and talent, the alignment of TM with business strategies , the roles in TM, TM planning, talent attraction, talent development, talent retention, and measuring TM.
The Definition of Talent
There are various definitions and criteria for talent in different industries and companies. At the very beginning, the researcher asked the interviewees to define the characteristics and their definition of talent. Some companies directly define a talent as a successor of specific critical position. The other companies define the talent as the one who have relevant capability, potential, attitude, mobility, etc. The relevant content is presented as table 4.1.
Table 4.1
Coding List with the Definition of Talent
Research Topic Category Coding Key Concept (FDI) Coding Key Concept (Local) 1. The definition of
Talent
1.Successor A1-1-1 Successor of Critical Position
B1-1-1 Successor of Critical Position
2.Capability A1-2-1 Ongoing Good Performance
B1-2-1 Ongoing Good Performance A1-2-2 People-Job Fit B1-2-2 People-Job Fit
B1-2-3 Professional Skill &
Irreplaceable
B1-2-4 Obvious Contribution
(continued)
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Table 4.1 (continued)
Research Topic Category Coding Key Concept (FDI) Coding Key Concept (Local) B1-2-5 Accord with
Requirements 3. Potential A1-3-1 High Potential and
Proactive
B1-3-1 High Potential and Proactive
4. Attitude A1-4-1 Learning Agility B1-4-1 Business Philosophy Identification A1-4-2 Aspiration B1-4-2 Aspiration A1-4-3 Commitment B1-4-3 Commitment A1-4-4 Respectful
5. Mobility A1-5-1 Mobility 6. Others A1-6-1 Adaptability of
change
B1-6-1 All the Employees are Talent
A1-6-2 Leadership A1-6-3 Sharp Judgment
Successor
For both FDI and Local companies, there are around six criteria or definitions the talents need to have. The first one is that they define the talents are the successors of critical positions in the companies such as CEO or other executives. The reason they identify these talented employees is to develop them into the future leaders. This definition is similar to the second type of definition form Lewis and Heckman (2006) that TM is to ensure the talent to fill in the position at the right time.
Capability
Good capability for both parties is essential for the employees who want to enter talent pool. Capability will reflect on their performance records for the past few years.
On the other hand, the fitness with specific position for talent will also affect the employees’ performance and whether they can enter the talent pool.
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For the local companies in this research, the employees who have professional skills which is difficult to be replaced and have great contribution to companies can be regarded as talents.
“The first one is performance, we need them to have consistent high performance for one or two years” (A6)
“We should consider that whether this employee is at the right position or not……what you can show us depends on whether you are at the right position.”(A1)
These definition of talent correspond to the definition from Silzer and Dowell (2009)’s definition which represented a talent must have skills, abilities and is able to contribute to the company.
Potential
Both two parties think potential is one of the criteria which need to be considered.
Some even think potential is the most important thing, since other skills can be learned afterward. Especially for the potential of leadership is critical for such an important group of people.
“Basically, I think talents must have potential and good performance!” (A2)
“We always remind line mangers that skills can be learned, the most important things is if this person have potential or not” (A3)\
“…the second one is the managerial potential, we will use some scientific tools to assess it.”(B1)
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Attitude
There are several FDI companies and local companies think that a talented employee should always have aspiration for their career challenges, and have strong commitment to the organization. Part of FDI companies thought the typical talented employees are willing to learn new things, and respectful to other people. Local companies especially emphasize that the talents need to have identification with companies’ business philosophy and culture.
“A talent cannot live without learning agility. He or she must have good attitude and capability in learning. We also asked talent must have career aspiration” (A3)
“We hope when the talent is dealing with people issue, he can pay respect to other team or people”(A6)
“Talent must devote himself in his job and do the contribution to company!...They must have commitment!”(A5)
“I have a stand for our talent, that they must have identification to the way we run business, and…”(B4)
A person with aspiration will desire the recognition in daily work which can decide the extent to devote in organization and work(Silzer & Church, 2009).
Furthermore, Yost and Plunkett (2009) mentioned that learning agility is to capture the experiences and can apply it in daily life. It will be much more important when the business environment become more dynamic. Therefore, the companies expect a talent have good aspiration and learning agility to contribute to the companies in dynamic business situation.
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Mobility
For FDI companies, some of them even need their talents to have mobility. They look at it from global viewpoint, and expect the talents can become a future leader in global. Therefore, they need the talents who are willing to rotate or accept assignment in other countries and then their global view and mind will be acquired.
“We will consider their international mobility, since we are a big international company. We hope in the future he/she can work for us in maybe a region or worldwide. ”(A6)
According to Silzer and Church (2009), the purpose of asking the talents to have mobility is that the companies expect their talents can broaden their experience and advance their career quickly in order to fill in the future critical role globally. The idea is similar to the opinion from some interviewees’.
Others
Besides the above mentioned criteria and characteristics for talents, there are also some interviewees mentioned that talented employees should have the ability to adapt to continually changing environment¸ to lead a high performance team and have sharp judgment in business.
“Since the market and business environment have become more changeable, we need them to have the ability to adapt to changes…… we also want them to have a sharp judgment which can help them to observe things which is not noticeable for others”(A6)
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Finally, some local companies regarded all the employees working for them are talents, since they think that if the one who is not talented would not be hired. But they still pay more attention on the talents at key positions.
“You can call other employees as talents. We just put more resources on a key talent” (B6)
The Definition and Content of TM
Similar to the definition of talent, the companies have different definitions and ways to do their TM. The definition and their implementation contents are presented as Table 4.2. The first category is the definitions of TM in those companies. And then the general TM content including purposes, process, involvement of unions, and integration in HR and other functions are presented in this part.
Table 4.2
Coding List with the Definition and Content of TM
Research Topic Category Code Key Concept(FDI) Code Key Concept (Local) 2. The Definition and
A2-1-2 Succession Planning B2-1-2 An Overall Development
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Table 4.2 (continued)
Research Topic Category Code Key Concept (FDI) Code Key Concept (Local) 2.Involved
Functions
A2-2-1 High Level Manager B2-2-1 High Level Manager
A2-2-2 Line Manager B2-2-2 Line Manager
A2-2-3 HR B2-2-3 HR
3. Integration in HR
A2-3-1 Compressed HR B2-3-1 Business
Partner(Account)
A2-4-2 System B2-4-2 Headquarter
A2-4-3 Specific Integrator B2-4-3 Specific Integrator B2-4-4 Business Partner
(Account)
Definition of TM
For FDI companies, in this research, basically, there are two kinds of definition were mentioned by the interviewees. Some companies called it as a series of management activities focused on talents who can help companies to achieve the business goal. Those activities include talent recruiting, development, promotion, compensation and career development, etc. The other definition calls it as succession planning. TM is regarded as a systematic process to develop high quality pipeline for critical roles.
“It is actually a series of activities including recruiting, development, promotion staffing, etc. It is an overall systematic program not a single activity. All of these can help talented employees achieve the expected business goal for company. ”(A2)
“It starts from recruiting! It also includes how to develop his strength,
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improve their weakness, plan the career path, etc. and the talents can contribute their effort to company. ”(A4)
“We hope that the successors are developed by ourselves, even though it is time consuming……we need a systematic method to develop them to be the future leader. ” (A6)
For local companies, there are also two definitions were found in this research.
The first one is similar to the one for FDI companies which is a series of HR activities to develop the potential employees in order to achieve organizational goal. The other perspective thinks that it should be an overall development system which can help to raise an employee to a talent.
“It is similar to Major League Baseball, we first need to attract the potential player into 1A, and help them to have good performance at Major League Baseball.” (B2)
The first definition in local companies corresponds to the first definition mentioned by Lewis and Heckman (2006) which called TM as a collection of HR practices which is done faster and across the organizations.
Derived from the definitions, we can understand the purposes of TM including the enhancement of business outcome and bringing up the future successors of companies. Local companies add one purpose which is help these talents to grow up fast and reach the position they should be at.
“The reason we put effort into doing TM is to enhance our business outcomes ” (A7)
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“TM is aimed at developing the successors of general manager and his one level down.”(A6)
“Fast track way which help them to get to the position they should be at as soon as possible.”(B1)
Integration in HR and with Other Functions
The groups which need to be integrated in TM can be separated into two categories. The first one is to integrate the information and relevant works from different functions in HR. Since some HR in FDI companies consist of few employees they thought it is not that difficult to do so within HR. Specially assign a post of talent manager to coordinate all the talent management issues and stakeholders is also a method to enhance the level of integration.
On the other hand, for the external integration, except creating a position deal with the integration, a powerful information system and holding a formal talent management meeting regularly can also increase the efficiency of integration.
“In fact, the internal integration in HR is not difficult, since the HR department is small” (A6)
“ The “Talent relevant ”things will integrate by me! And I also need to coordinate the whole talent management activities. ”(A1)
“Basically the system is easy to control, so it can help us to do coordinate with other functions.”(A1)
“Our talent review is the most formal way to integrate with other functions.”(A5)
For some local companies, they reported that the “account service” design could
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help them to integrate each HR function and other departments in the companies. The account managers are sent to each department in order to collect information and sometimes have discussion with them, and then come back and share the information in HR. For external integration, some companies also rely on their head of HR to exchange the information with other department leaders in high level meeting.
Furthermore, one interviewee mentioned that the headquarters is responsible for integrating the practices, information, and resources for the branches. Finally, part of local companies set up a taskforce or an ad hoc committee to deal with TM issues and be responsible for integrating.
“For example, if I am responsible for training and an account of business unit, I can understand the talent development issue and their staffing issue… we will share the information in HR.” (B6)
“We just do the follow up through some meetings… we can integrate it during the meeting…”(B7)
From the ASTD research (Green, 2011), effectively integrating TM is a major opportunity for organizations to compete with others, and many scholars emphasized the importance of integrating TM into a system (Ashton & Morton, 2005; Avedon &
Scholes, 2009). In this research, the integration of TM in each function is also highly valued by FDI and local companies.
The Alignment between TM and Business Strategy
Above mentioned that one of the final purposes of TM is to achieve the business goal; therefore, TM strategy definitely needs to be closely aligned with business strategy or goals. The methods to align them are presented as table 4.3 including
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initially make it as business strategies, extend from business strategy, ensure talents accord with organizations values, use TM meeting, do it through high level managers, align with KPI and use Balanced Scorecard.
Table 4.3
Coding List with TM and Business Strategy
Research Topic Category Code Key Concept (FDI) Code Key Concept (Local) 3. TM and
Alignment with Business Strategy
In order to fully support the talent needs of companies’ operation, some FDI and local companies directly include the TM into one of the business strategies which can help the companies to achieve business goals. The second type is to extend from business goals and strategies. Setting up TM strategies and talent development plan according to the business strategies ensure TM will not depart from reality and business outcome. Companies are suggested to synthetically consider the company strategy, department goal, development situation to do the TM plan.
“Under the goals, there are so many strategies to support the goals. One of them is people relevant issue….Therefore, TM strategies are under the goals
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to ensure it can support the overall direction of company”(A6)
“From the top management, the strategies will go down to department. And talent should do their individual development plan according to it.” (A3)
“In our strategies, one of middle stage goal is talent relevant… ”(B1)
Besides, some companies do the alignment with business through regular TM meeting, executive meeting or top executives’ support. The participants discuss the business strategy or goal at the very beginning of the TM meeting in order to align the discussed results with talent review or discussions. Since the CEO and other top managers who have clear understanding of business strategy, the discussion and opinion expression between high level managers in meetings can also lead TM to align with business strategy. According to Tsai and Kuo (2012), the support of high level managers are regarded as the bridge between TM and business strategies.
Furthermore, establishing good relationship with these high level managers can help HR to understand their thoughts more.
Beside the efforts companies made to align with business strategy, part of interviewees emphasize that companies should ensure the developed talents can accord with the company’s culture and values. Therefore, those talents are always asked to fit in with the values of company in daily work.
For the local companies, they mentioned the best way to align TM with business is to link TM practices with the balanced scorecard system. The balanced scorecard descends from the chairman, and then spread the KPI. It helps TM have a closed connection with business strategy.
“When we do the talent management review meeting, we definitely analyze the business strategy instead of discussing people directly.”(A3)
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“Since top managers are supposed to understand their business strategy the most, they can use this forum to represent their opinion and check the content. We can call it a way to align TM and business strategy”(A1)
“We need to have close cooperation with country head who knows the business priority of this company the most, he can help us to ensure the process can align with business strategy!”(A6)
“We expect they can show the three values of our company in their daily life!”(A2)
“Because we did balanced scorecard ever year and which is top-down from the chairman…we have an quite clear indicator related to people”(B5)
In this research, almost all the interviewees represented that it is the first priority in doing TM which can respond with Mihelic and Plankar (2010)’s opinion that the failure of aligning business strategy lead to ineffective result of TM.
The Roles for High Level Managers, Line Managers, and HR
As mentioned in chapter two, high level manager, line managers, and HR are the three major groups of people who deeply involved in TM. Each of them plays an important role with different functions. The respective characteristics of them are presented in table 4.4.
Table 4.4
Coding List with Roles in TM
Research Topic Category Code Key Concept(FDI) Code Key Concept (Local) 4. Roles in TM 1. High Level
Managers
A4-1-1 Driver & Supporter B4-1-1 Driver & Supporter
A4-1-2 Communicator B4-1-2 Challenger
(continued)
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Table 4.4 (continued)
Research Topic Category Code Key Concept(FDI) Code Key Concept (Local)
A4-1-3 Identifier B4-1-3 Mentor
A4-1-4 Challenger B4-1-4 Intimate 2. Line
Managers
A4-2-1 Intimate
B4-2-1 Intimate A4-2-2 Identifier B4-2-1 Identifier
A4-2-3 Developer B4-2-1 Developer
3. HR A4-3-1 Facilitator B4-3-1 Facilitator
A4-3-2 Communicator B4-3-2 Communicator
A4-3-3 Observer B4-3-3 Observer
A4-3-4 Information and Resources Provider
B4-3-4 Information and Resources Provider
High Level Managers
In FDI companies, above mentioned, high level managers play an important role in TM since they have direct authorities to affect it. Their sponsor and support are regarded as the most important factors for TM’s success; therefore, high level managers need to be serious, and influential to the whole TM process. Moreover, a high level manager need to be a challenger who needs to view the whole process with an overall perspective and keep challenging it in order to ensure it stays in the right direction.
“They must take care of it and really do it. Commands or cares from top manager are the most helpful. ” (A1)
“Basically, high level managers need to be very serious to this talent issue…”(A4)
“High level managers still need to challenge why HR did this……He needs to know how to use an extensive way to check these things”(A6)
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Finally, high level managers could be effective communicators between stakeholders in talent management meetings. Due to their rich experiences, they also have their own ability to accurately identify talents out of employees.
“Sometimes, line manager cannot give us support, we will ask CEO to help us to do the communication…”(A6)
“High level managers are responsible to review and identify the talents.”(A2)
For the local companies, high level managers play a role to support and sponsor TM as well. The initial involvement and relevant resources provided by them will cheer others up and lead it to a right direction by keeping monitoring it. Many interviewees reported that the leaders of their companies also became the mentors of talented employees. They regularly deliver their vision, personal experiences and some business philosophy to talents. Furthermore, since some companies advocate
“management by walking” method, they sometimes play a closed role to engage those talents and then have a quite clear understanding of these talents.
“It is very important that if the boss is willing to provide resources or support including financial resources. Or, it will be an empty talk!”(B1)
“Our chairman did play a mentor role. He will communicate with a certain level above managers about his thinking and vision, etc.” (B3)
“Since we advocate management by walking, our top management know their talented employees clearly…”(B2)