Introduction
Background Information
The paper recognises the various challenges facing firms with reference to decision-making and global talent management. The dynamic nature of the global business environment, increment in the degree of complexity, and level of competition are some of the factors that Vlad Vaiman, Hugh Scullion, and David Collings, the authors of the journal article, associate with the changes being experienced in the business environment.
The report entails a comprehensive analysis of the article by identifying the assumptions made, credibility of the authors, the literature used, how well the authors have established the importance of international human resource management and the strengths and weaknesses of the article.
Analysis
The authors assume the definition proposed by Scullion and Collings in a bid to undertake a comprehensive literature review on the topic. The two authors opine that talent management entails the process of recruiting, selecting, inducting, developing, and ensuring a high level of employee retention, especially the talented employees.
According to the authors, talent management is one of the most important elements that firm’s management teams are increasingly integrating in their strategic management processes. Failure to implement effective talent management strategies is one of the reasons why organisations are not effective in implementing talent management.
Ensuring effective talent management is one of the major challenges that organisations’ management teams experience in their quest to steer their organisations towards attainment of a high competitive advantage in the global market. The authors assume that talent management should be integrated in an organisation’s corporate culture and business strategy.
Over the years, General Electric has become very successful because of integrating talent management with strategic management. In an attempt to develop a high competitive advantage, General Electric undertakes continuous talent reviews in an effort to improve its strategic planning. Similarly, Ingersoll Rand has also incorporated talent management with strategic planning.
As a result, the firm has developed and maintained a strong human capital base. The authors critique the view held by most scholars that decision-making with regard to talent management is likely to be a major challenge to organisations within the developed economies compared to organisations in developing economies.
However, talent management is a challenge to most organisations irrespective of their size or location. Business organisations are experiencing a major challenge in talent management decision-making due to the high rate of globalisation. The high rate at which the business environment has become globalised has led to an increment in the intensity of competition with regard to human capital. Consequently, large organisations face a major challenge of recruiting and maintaining a strong human resource base.
Credibility of the Authors
A review of the paper reveals that the authors are well-versed with the concept of talent management decision-making. One of the major concerns of large and small organisations in developed and developing economies is how to improve their competitive advantage.
In a bid to achieve this goal, there has been an increased demand to acquire workforce that contributes towards a firms’ current and future success. However, the authors appreciate that attaining optimal results through talent management is a major challenge, for managers must develop the talent first in order to attain the desired results.
With regard to economic factors, the authors appreciate a number of elements that have become very critical with regard to managing talent, which include the emergence of a talent economy, globalisation, and skills gap. Emergence of a knowledge economy has pushed organisations to start considering talent as a strategic asset. In a bid to establish themselves as talent powered organisation, firms must incorporate talent management in their strategic management practices.
The authors recognise that the high rate of globalisation will present opportunities and challenges in firms with regard to talent utilisation, diversity, and risk management. For example, the global labour market is increasingly experiencing shifting demographics, changes in the global labour supply chain, increase in the rate of global mobility, and the high rate at which the workforce is ageing.
Strengths and Weaknesses of the Article
Some of the article’s strengths hinge on the fact that it identifies some of the main challenges that firms’ management teams have to consider in their effort to improve competitive advantage via talent management. Some of these challenges relate to workforce diversity, shortage of talent, and demographic changes.
Due to the high rate of globalisation, workplace diversity has become one of the major aspects that organisations should consider in an effort to develop a higher competitive advantage. Failure to take into account the element of diversity in the workplace can adversely affect a firm’s ability to manage talent.
The article provides great insight with regard to the provision of the prevailing talent shortage in the global labour market. Firms’ management teams should focus on how to retain talented workforce.
The high rate at which new markets are emerging has increased demand for skilled and competent employees. By taking considering the insights provided by the article, firms can reduce the rate of employee turnover. Therefore, the article is of great enlightening on the importance of integrating talent management in a firm’s strategic management processes.
The article is also effective for it provides insight into the importance of continuous research on talent management as a strategic management issue. Talent management is one of the building blocks that organisations should take into account in an effort to develop their competitive advantage.
The article stimulates the reader to identify gaps, which should be addressed in the future in order to develop talent management. According to the article, it is critical for firms’ management teams and academicians to focus on the challenges associated with implementation of talent management.
Despite the above strengths, the article only focuses on one definition of talent management, which relates to recruiting, selecting, inducting, and retaining employees. However, the definition of talent management varies across countries. Therefore, this evaluation skews the article towards one direction. This aspect limits the article’s degree of relevance to most scholars.
The article is also skewed for it only focuses on human aspects of talent management. It has ignored the impact of culture in managing talent. The high rate of globalization makes it paramount for firms to appreciate and understand the prevailing cultural differences across countries.
Understanding prevalent culture of the host country is paramount in a firm’s internationalization efforts because it enables firms to nurture corporate cultures that align with the foreign country. One of the models that managers should consider in an effort to understand the culture of the host country is the Hofstede Model. The model asserts that cultural differences are due to various aspects, which include power distance, uncertainty avoidance, masculinity/feminity, individualism/ collectivism, and long-term orientation.
The power distance dimension deals with evaluating the degree of equality or inequality prevailing between individuals from different societies. Power distance is categorised as low or high. The power distance in a country influences the organizational structure that a firm adopts. For example, firms with relatively high degree of power distance, for instance between 35 and 40, tend to adopt decentralized system.
The organizational structure adopted by the firm influences the effectiveness with which a firm makes decisions. The individualism dimension entails the degree to which individuals support interpersonal relationships and hence the extent of collaboration. A country with a high individualism score means that its citizens value individualism, which implies that the degree of employee loyalty to the firm is relatively low.
Masculinity/feminity dimension emphasizes on allocation of roles and responsibilities between the two genders. A country that is characterised by a high degree of masculinity tends to assign assertive roles to the male gender. On the other hand, uncertainty avoidance index entails the extent to which individuals perceive threats due to the prevailing uncertainty. By understanding the prevailing culture in the international market, firms’ managers can formulate effective international strategies.
The article has not adequately focused on technological factors that drive change with regard to talent management. Currently, technology has become a very important aspect with regard to talent management. The high rate at which organisations are undergoing technological advancement presents a major challenge with regard to talent management.
This observation hinges on the fact that employees are increasingly expecting organisations to empower them along their professional lives. Therefore, to remain competitive, it is critical for firms’ management teams to focus on how to address the ever-increasing employee expectations.
The article does not provide knowledge on how organisations can use technology in managing talent. Digitalisation is one of the ways through which organisations can use technology in managing talent. For example, a firm can undertake attribute matching using emerging technologies. This aspect will allow the firm to recruit and develop a talented workforce that contributes towards attaining the firm’s goals and objectives.
Importance of the Article to International Human Resource Management
The article illustrates a number of challenges that firms experience in their effort to manage talent. Gaining such knowledge is important to firms in the course of formulating international human resource management. For example, the high rate of globalisation has become a challenge for firms in managing talent given that firms have to deal with the intense competition in the labour market.
Therefore, to retain their workforce, the article illustrates the importance of implementing effective human resource management strategies such as employee training and empowerment. Therefore, enlightenment on such issues makes the article a very important tool in international human resource management.
The article is of great importance to human resource managers for it addresses the importance of incorporating talent management in a firm’s strategic management practices. Additionally, it also evaluates how organisations can best merge strategic management and talent management in the quest to achieve higher competitiveness.
Conclusion and Recommendations
The article undertakes a comprehensive literature review on talent management by evaluating findings of various studies conducted on the subject. The article relies on credible sources. Analysis of the article illustrates that it is vital for firms’ management teams to attract, hire, induct, and retain effective talent in an effort to improve their competitive advantage. However, firm’s management teams face a major challenge in their effort to manage talent.
These challenges emanate from changes in the business environment. For example, the high rate of globalisation, increment in the rate of diversity in the workforce, and shifting demographic; moreover, an aging workforce presents a major challenge in talent management. Consequently, the article provides insight on the importance of forward-looking organisations to reconsider their approach towards talent management.
Harnessing talent is one of the main aspects that firms’ management teams should consider in a bid to succeed in an increasingly dynamic environment. The article also illustrates the importance of leadership in talent management. From the analysis, it is paramount for firms to consider the possibility of integrating effective leadership in order to increase employee retention. By integrating leadership with talent management, the probability of firms attaining sustainable business results increase consequently.
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