Festing, Marion, and Lynn Schafer. “Generational challenges to talent management: A framework for talent retention based on the psychological-contract perspective.” Journal of World Business 49.2 (2014): 262-271. Grounded in the psychological contract theory authors’ analysis explores how the hiring of talented professionals depends on the generational differences and values, considering the growing interest in the employment of the Generations X and Y (Festing and Schafer 262). The article in comparison with the other works which cover the same topic regards the personal variables and analyses them as one of the forces that can have the significant impact on the psychological contract and the process of selecting talented professionals. Thus, the study provides the detailed examination of the application of psychological contract theory in the talent management (TM) and the authors’ contribution to the theoretical knowledge of the issue opens further possibilities for the research in interdisciplinary fashion combining exploration of TM and social-exchange theory concerning the age group differences.
The validity of authors’ assumptions is strengthened by their authority in the field. Prof. Dr. Marion Festing is an expert in human resources management and international relations who have written numerous articles about the topics. Moreover, she holds memberships in business and administration related academies and functions as an editor of the “German Journal of Research in Human Resources Management” (“European Identity Global Perspective” par. 1, 2, and 3). Dr. Lynn Shafer is a Head of the Talent Management Institute at European Identity Global Perspective. Her research interests include TM and organizational behavior (“Talent Management Institute” par. 1).
The authors provide the explicit literature review on psychological-contract theory, TM and its development, and the research of the age group differences (Festing and Schafer 263). However, the researchers are interested in practical application of their findings they describe the functional limitations of their work and the framework in which the study is set. The primary concern of the analysis is to supply the further research and practical implementations with profound information about the relationships between hiring talented professionals and the values of different age groups.
TM practices are an integral part of the corporate strategy (Joyce and Slocum 190) and include the psychological contract that can be described as the realization of the employee’s potentials, high-level work performance, satisfaction, and commitment (Sonnenberg, Koene, and Paauwe 665). This is the foundation point of author’s framework. Festing and Lynn consider TM as a prolonged investment strategy which will bring positive reward to a company. Therefore, the following variable such as the emphasis on the development of the specific and organization oriented skills and knowledge, emotional engagement and codependence between the employee and the firm have to be counted because they affect the performance of the company (265). The cultivation of firm-employee alliance represents “a long-term and stable orientation due to formalized obligations by the employer, with a scope and focus on the firm as a whole and not only on the job” (265). The execution of the psychological contract as a part of the company and, thus, TM’s strategy may differ from one age group to another. The generational values and preferences regarding the works are crucial variables that depend on diverse factors and have to be considered by the TM as well (Viaman, Scullion, and Collings 927).
To summarize, the analyzed study has the thorough review of existing literature on the topic of TM. Based on the previous research, the authors develop the framework which explains how the TM strategy operates within the company. Fasting and Lynn examination is a solid theoretical work that can be used for the further academic and practical implementations.
References
European Identity Global Perspective n.d. Web.
Festing, Marion, and Lynn Schafer. “Generational challenges to talent management: A framework for talent retention based on the psychological-contract perspective.” Journal of World Business 49.2 (2014): 262-271.
Joyce, William F. and John W. Slocum. “Top Management Talent, Strategic Capabilities, And Firm Performance”. Organizational Dynamics 41.3 (2012): 183-193.
Sonnenberg, Mariëlle, Bas Koene, and Jaap Paauwe. “Balancing HRM: The Psychological Contract Of Employees”. Personnel Review 40.6 (2011): 664-683.
Talent Management Institute n.d. Web.
Vaiman, Vlad, Hugh Scullion, and David Collings. “Talent Management Decision Making”. Management Decision 50.5 (2012): 925-941.