Peter Cappelli’s article “Talent Management for the Twenty-First Century” aims at identifying the principles of successful talent management based on the demand and supply needs (“Talent Management” 74-75). Cappelli is a renowned Professor of Management who has dedicated numerous articles to the subject of talent management. Apart from that, he has authored and co-authored several books on this issue (The India Way: How India’s Top Business Leaders Are Revolutionizing Management, 2010; Why Good People Can’t Get Jobs: The Skills Gap and What Companies Do about It, 2012). The article has been cited for 458 times, which makes it a relatively influential paper. On the whole, the article is a valuable source by an acclaimed author. However, it has some limitations which shall be discussed further.
In his article, Cappelli investigates one of the most current issues in management relations. Talent management has been the subject of the research of many recent studies (Collings and Mellahi, 2009; Bird et al., 2010; McDonnel et al., 2010). Cappelli traces the history of the management development starting back in the 1950s and suggesting the progress of the notion till the present. However, the author does not provide any references at all. Thus, it is impossible to determine what research contributed to his arguments and to check their validity. The reference list would also be helpful in identifying how original the sources used by the author are and how extensive their range is.
The article has no abstract, but there is an introduction in which the author explains the necessity of talent management investigation for the companies’ successful operation (Cappelli, “Talent Management” 74). Cappelli provides a short definition of talent management: it is “a matter of anticipating the need for human capital and then set out a plan to meet it” (“Talent Management” 74). Still, again, the reader cannot be sure whose definition it is since there is no reference to either outside source or the author himself.
The author’s intended audience is comprised of the executives and managers of the companies who strive to make their activity successful and profitable. Also, the article is attractive to the researchers in the sphere of talent management. The author’s style is suitable for the intended audience. It is not loaded with too much scholarly explanation or complicated vocabulary. The article presents the facts directly connected with the audience’s interests.
Cappelli’s purpose is to present an argument that builds on past research. By mentioning the succession of ineffective approaches to the problem, he concludes that a brand-new method is required. This approach, according to the author, will enable progress in the organizations’ talent management.
In order to make his article easier to comprehend, the author divides it into several parts using sub-headings to differentiate between them. Thus, Cappelli presents the history of the issue (“Talent Management” 74-75), suggests a new approach to the problem (“Talent Management” 76-77), and describes the four principles the application of which might solve the current obstacles (“Talent Management” 77-80). Such a structure of the article makes it easy to understand and draws attention to the most important points. It also allows to find the needed information faster and to differentiate between the main parts of the paper.
While determining the article in terms of its belonging to fact or opinion writing, the reader meets with a new difficulty. Cappelli suggests plenty of factual material: dates of origin and collapse of internal development (“Talent Management” 74-75), company names involved in the process (“Talent Management” 75-76, 79-80), and names of the scholars who dedicated their research to the issue (“Talent Management” 79-81). However, the author does not provide a single reference to any of these dates and names. Therefore, it is hard if not impossible to call the paper a fact article. However, if proper citations were applied, the article could be defined as the one including mostly fact information. As for now, the data is unsupported by any references.
The author suggests clearly stated conclusions of his study. He is convinced that the talent management problems connect the managers, the workers, and the whole society (Cappelli, “Talent Management” 81). Cappelli remarks that in order to solve the problem it is necessary to come up with a new paradigm characterizing the demands more efficiently than the old approach did. The four principles suggested by the author comprise his main points in a logical way. Cappelli clearly indicates the solutions to the current state of a talent management issue.
Cappelli’s language is mostly objective, but sometimes it is charged with slight bias: “talent management practices… have been… dysfunctional,” “responses” are “ineffective” (“Talent Management” 74), the “excess supply… fed corporate bloat” (“Talent Management” 75), “a hopeful dream… an impossibility in the aggregate,” “the candidates feel betrayed” (“Talent Management” 75-76). However, these examples are not numerous, which allows calling the author’s style mostly objective.
All in all, the article by Cappelli is a valuable source for those interested in talent management, its history, and feasible solutions. The only thing it lacks to earn entirely positive feedback is the lack of references which undermines the study’s validity.
Works Cited
Bird, Allan, Mark Mendenhall, Michael Stevens, and Gary Oddou. “Defining the Content Domain of Intercultural Competence for Global Leaders.” Journal of Managerial Psychology 25.8 (2010): 810-828. Print.
Cappelli, Peter, Harbir Singh, Jitendra Singh, and Michael Useem. The India Way: How India’s Top Business Leaders Are Revolutionizing Management. Boston: Harvard Business Press, 2010. Print.
Cappelli, Peter. “Talent Management for the Twenty-First Century.” Harvard Business Review 86.3 (2008): 74-81. Print.
Cappelli, Peter. Why Good People Can’t Get Jobs: The Skills Gap and What Companies Do about It. Philadelphia: Wharton Digital Press, 2012. Print.
Collings, David, and Kamel Mellahi. “Strategic Talent Management: A Review and Research Agenda.” Human Resource Management Review 19.4 (2009): 304-313. Print.
McDonnell, Anthony, Ryan Lamare, Patrick Gunnigle, and Jonathan Lavelle. “Developing Tomorrow’s Leaders – Evidence of Global Talent Management in Multinational Enterprises.” Journal of World Business 45.2 (2010): 150-160. Print.