PROJECT REPORT ON: TALENT MANAGEMENT SUBMITTED BY: AKRUTI.S.SHEWANI T.Y.BMS [SEMESTER V] SMT.

MITHIBAI MOTIRAM KUNDANI COLLEGE BANDRA (WEST) MUMBAI -400050 SUBMITTED TO: UNIVERSITY OF MUMBAI ACADEMIC YEAR 2011-12 NAME OF PROJECT GUIDE PROF.SANA DHANANI DATE OF SUBMISSION 15TH DECEMBER, 2011

DECLARATION:
I, AKRUTI SHEWANI, OF MITHIBAI MOTIRAM KUNDANI COLLEGE OF COMMERCE AND ECONOMICS OF TYBMS (SEMESTER V) HEREBY DECLARE THAT I HAVE SUCCESSFULLY COMPLETED THE PROJECT ON TALENT MANAGEMENT. FOR THE ACADEMIC YEAR 2011-2012. THE PROJECT IS DONE UNDER THE GUIDANCE OF PROF. SANA DHANANI. THIS PROJECT WORK IS SUBMITTED IN FULFILLMENT OF THE REQUIREMENTS FOR THE AWARD OF THE DEGREE OF BACHELOR OF MANAGEMENT STUDIES. THE INFORMATION PROVIDED IN THE PROJECT IS TRUE AND TO THE BEST OF MY KNOWLEDGE.

SIGNATURE OF THE STUDENT

CERTIFICATE:
THIS IS TO CERTIFY THAT AKRUTI SHEWANI HAS COMPLETED THE PROJECT UNDER THE GUIDANCE OF PROF SANA DHANANI IN THE ACADEMIC YEAR 20112012 AND HAS SUBMITTED THE SAME TO THE UNIVERSITY OF MUMBAI IN PARTIAL FULFILLMENT OF THE REQUIREMENT OF THE BACHELORS OF MANAGEMENT STUDIES COURSES.

SIGNATURE OF THE PRINCIPAL (DR.AC VANJANI)

SIGNATURE OF PROJECT GUIDE (PROF.SANA PHANANI)

SIGNATURE OF THE EXTERNAL EXAMINER

ACKNOWLEDGEMENT
The project titled TALENT MANAGEMENT is the product of the support and guidance extended by the institute. It is not just the attempt to enrich myself with the last learning experience with the institute as a part of the curriculum but to do justice to my mentors efforts in grooming me as a professional, spanning over three years of my course. During the perseverance of this project, I was supported by different people, whose names if not mentioned, it would be inconsiderate on my part. I want to grab this opportunity to acknowledge my sincere thanks to all of them while submitting this report. To start with, I would like to thank my project guide, PROF. SANA DHANANI whose help and guidance has been of immense value throughout the completion of this project. She has helped me with all the problems I faced during the completion of the project. She also kept a constant supervision and made me available with all the sources for necessary information that would be required for the project. Last but not the least; I would like to thank my peers, colleagues, friends and all those who have helped me in bringing out my best to make this project a success

Executive summary:
Talent management describes the process through which employers of all kinds firms, government, non-profits anticipate their human capital needs and set about meeting them. Getting the right people with the right skills into the right jobs, a common definition of talent management is the basic people management challenge in organizations. While the focus of talent management tends to be on management and executive positions, the issues apply to all jobs that are hard to fill. Decisions about talent management shape the competencies that organizations have and their ultimate success, and from the perspective of individuals, these decisions determine the path and pace of careers. Talent management practices can have a crucial impact on society as well. The lifetime employment model of the post-WWII generation, for example, provided the economic stability that created middle class society. These techniques and indeed, every employee development practice that seems novel now forced ranking performance evaluation systems, 360 degree feedback programs, executive coaching, etc. were all common in the 1950s. Except at a few very large firms, they have been scaled back and, in many cases, largely abandoned. The reason was not that these practices failed to develop talent. It was because they were too costly. And the biggest cost was the difficulty they faced in managing the unpredictability of the demand for talent. Internal development of talent collapsed in the 1970s when business forecasting failed to predict the downturn in the economy, and the talent pipelines continued to turn out talent under the forecast assumptions of booming corporate growth. The excess supply of talent and the no-layoff policies for white collar workers caused a bloating of corporate organizations, and the steepness of the 1981 recession in the US and elsewhere led virtually all companies to back away from developing talent. A new way of thinking is required about the talent management challenge. A new framework for talent management has to begin by being clear about the goal. Talent management is not an end in itself. It is not about developing employees or creating succession plans. Nor is it about achieving specific benchmarks like a five percent turnover rate, having the most educated workforce, or any other tactical outcome.
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Serial. No 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 10 11 12 13 14 15 16 17

Topic Human Resources & modern concepts Intro to talent management Talent management, Objectives & Drivers

Page No 8 10 26

Factors influencing talent management and 28 Importance Focus of talent management Growing importance in organization Talent management Vs Human resource Importance & significance of HMR Retaining staff through talent Retention tips HR and employee findings Survey Case study Recommendation and Suggestions Conclusion Bibliography 31 35 39 46 50 54 56 59 63 67 70 71

Human Resources An Overview:

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Human Resource Management (HRM) is the function within an organization that focuses on recruit of, management of, and providing direction for the people who work in the organization. Human Resource Management can also be performed by line managers. Human Resource Management is the organizational function that deals with issues related to people such as compensation, hiring, performance management, organization development, safety, wellness, benefits, employee motivation, communication, administration, and training. The objective of Human Resources is to maximize the return on investalent management from the organization's human capital and minimize financial risk. It is the responsibility of human resource managers to conduct these activities in an effective, legal, fair, and consistent manner.

Human resource management serves these key functions:

Selection, Training and Development, Performance Evaluation and Management, Promotions, Redundancy, Industrial and Employee Relations, Record keeping of all personal data, Compensation, pensions, bonuses etc in liaison with Payroll, Confidential advice to internal 'customers' in relation to problems at work and Career development In the very narrow context of corporate "human resources", there is a contrasting pull to reflect and require workplace diversity that echoes the diversity of a global customer base. Foreign language and culture skills, ingenuity, humor, and careful listening, are examples of traits that such programs typically require. It would appear that these evidence a general shift to the human capital point of view, and an acknowledgment that human beings do contribute much more to a productive enterprise than "work": they bring their character, their ethics, their creativity, their social connections, and in some cases even their pets and children, and alter the character of a workplace. The term corporate culture is used to characterize such processes.

Modern concept of human resources:

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Though human resources have been part of business and organizations since the first days of agriculture, the modern concept of human resources began in reaction to the efficiency focus of Taylorism in the early 1900s. By 1920, psychologists and employment experts in the United States started the human relations movement, which viewed workers in terms of their psychology and fit with companies, rather than as interchangeable parts. This movement grew throughout the middle of the 20th century, placing emphasis on how leadership, cohesion, and loyalty played important roles in organizational success. Although this view was increasingly challenged by more quantitatively rigorous and less "soft" management techniques in the 1960s and beyond, human resources had gained a permanent role within an organization.

Introduction to talent management:

Talent management becomes very important as a hiring process because here is where it becomes essential for any cooperation to know what they are looking for and minimize the error of loosing top talent just because of the orthodox means. This is from the point of view of an HR Department which is responsible for hiring and appointing new talent in their respective fields, by new means and ways contradicting to the old ones our aim is to make sure that the right talent is not wasted and is being managed in a profitable way, profitable to both company and the employee. This new age economy, with its attendant paradigm shifts in relation to the human capital, in terms of its acquisition, utilisation, development and retention, has placed a heavy demand on todays HR professionals. Today HR is expected to identify potential talent and also comprehend, conceptualise and implement relevant strategies to contribute effectively to achieve organisational objectives. Hence a serious concern of every HR manager in order to survive this War for Talent, is to fight against a limited and diminishing pool of qualified available candidates to replace valuable employees when they leave, dramatically underscoring the difficulty to attract, motivate and retain the best employees in an organisation. To analyse the reasons, we first need to understand what TALENT means.

People have different views and definitions. According to Leigh Branham, vice president, consulting service at Right Management Consultants and author of the book, Keeping People Who Keep You in Business, a talent is not rare and precious. Everyone has talent too many to possibly name all. Talent is behavior; things we do more easily than the next person. We speak of natural born talent but those with a gift, knack, ability or flair for something can refine and develop that talent through experience. Talent, however, cannot be taught. As someone once said, you can teach a turkey to climb a tree, but it is easier to hire a squirrel.

Vice President, HR of Seagram, Mr. Gopi Nambiar, says talent can be best described as a combination of abilities and attitudes. The real trick is to match the right motivated talents to the right role, individually and collectively, harnessing and harmonizing this crucial attribute to achieve the objectives of your company. Today, companies have become fiercely competitive when it comes to attracting and retaining talent. According to Branham, 75 per cent of the senior executives admit that employee retention is a major concern today, the obvious reason being the increasing rate of turnover. This dynamically changing and volatile demand-supply equation with such erratic attrition trends and cut throat competition has led organizations to focus on mechanisms pertaining to attracting and retaining talent. It is an accepted truth that turnover will happen and companies need to device a strategy to curb unprecedented turnover from affecting organisational success. As the Director, HR (Asia) of Bausch & Lomb, Mr. P.G. George declares, achieving zero percent turnover is neither realistic nor desirable. People tend to seek change for a variety of reasons more money, better benefits, the appearance of a greener pasture- and this has been a practice from the very beginning. Then, what is it that has really changed? Despite intense competition being the key to market development and success, organisations have failed to identify some of the major reasons which highlight why good performers leave. In his study, Branham clearly states that one major reason why people leave their organisation is because of the organizations failure to bring about a correlation between pay and performance. Human Resource experts in the industry believe matching the right blend of talent with the right job profile can lead to superior performance. The present scenario with abundant opportunities has triggered a wave of employees, perpetually on the move, forever seeking better opportunities whenever, wherever and however they can. What is behind the restlessness of these hard to keep employees? By focusing on productivity, organizations are realizing that it is imperative to hire employees who can do the job and be successful at it. The organisation no longer wants to just hire to hire, in fact they are striving to find the right people, bring them into the organization and retain their services.

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One of the critical functions of HR is a sound Human Resource Planning through which they are able to project the demand for human resource and thereafter formulate strategies for acquiring them. As the leading HR heads of the country point out, the solution is not just about finding the correct retention mechanisms, but it starts from the very beginning by devising ways to acquire the right people for the right jobs.

Talent management a Top Concern:

Finding, developing and keeping talent are among the top concerns for HR executives for 2008, according to a survey released by ORC Worldwide, a New York-based provider of human resource management consulting and data services. Nearly 62 percent of respondents said that the most pressing strategic issues they will face in 2008 would fall into the realm of talent management. Talent management, encompassing acquisition, assessment, development and retention of a workforce, was also cited by 33 percent of the survey's respondents as what they expect to consume the majority of their time in 2008. Stated by 7.7 percent of HR professionals, activities related to a "cultural transformation" were also among the top three concerns of HR executives. Shifting the culture of workplace has become an increasingly popular topic in recent years, according to the survey, encompassing the implementation of tools from performance management and "pay for performance." HR executives also foresaw a continued expectation of supporting the responsibilities of senior managers in implementing requirements of the Sarbanes-Oxley Act. Among the most important issues ranked by HR executives, leadership development, succession planning, workforce planning, compensation and diversity ranked at the top. However, among medium and largest companies, leadership development and succession planning ranked the highest, and among the smallest companies, diversity was considered as a top emerging HR issue.

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1.

Program for a strategic talent management planning:

The following four stages in the creation of a strategic talent management program will help develop the five areas. They operate as a cascade down the organization, from senior management, to talent managers and onto the people identified as talent themselves.

Stage 1. Strategy formulation:

This stage involves understanding the current business context and its challenges followed by

developing objectives and processes for the talent program. Meetings with senior management

are used to elicit their views and experiences of existing methods for recruiting, developing and engaging talent and to understand demands for change. Further supporting input can be provided organizations. Stage 2. Diagnosis: The next step is to hold interviews and focus groups with current managers of those identified as talent. The main focus of the diagnosis is understanding how well talent management is working in providing them with what they need to run the business, and in particular, what attributes they believe talent needs to exhibit. through reviews of competitor activities and benchmarked practices in other leading

Strategy Formulation

These attributes can be documented in a high-level talent framework. The diagnosis stage may also include an assessment of talent against the framework. By including head-hunters in this process, internal talent can be compared to people outside the organization who might also

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display the attributes identified in the talent framework. This comparison can provide information on internal talents strengths, weaknesses and further development or replacement needs. Stage 3. Analysis: Based upon the results of the diagnosis, the future talent management program can be mapped out. This involves workshops and interviews with those people identified as talent. The understanding of what talent needs (moderated by what the organization believes it can provide) developed from this analysis can be documented as an organizational-level EVP. Stage 4. Action planning: Recommendations to build upon existing talent management processes can be made based on the above data. Examples of strategic, value-adding actions that might arise at this stage in talent program development and that could excite business leaders and help close the strategy/implementation gap fall into three categories: 1. Pre-recruitment actions. 2. In employment actions. 3. Departure-related actions. 1. Pre-recruitment actions: Organizations have an opportunity to ensure theyre recruiting the very best people (rather than just those who are available when an organization wants to recruit) by proactively searching for external talent. The benchmarking conducted in the diagnosis stage of talent program development has an additional benefit here in enabling organizations to pinpoint existing external talent. Organizations can then engage the external talent early on, finding out how they are being looked after and identifying their career drivers. This helps potential employers of choice to identify who to target when the time is right, but also to recruit internally with knowledge of all options and to succession plan externally as well as internally, transforming the level and quality of talent that can be made available.

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2. In employment actions: During employment, its the personalized relationships between talent managers and the individuals identified as talent that is the key. This relationship needs to be based on discussion around the organizational and adapted individual EVP, supported by the enhanced manager capabilities described earlier on. With this support, management of performance extends into management of the deal clarifying both organizational and individual needs and providing a two way review of whether, and how well, needs are being met. However, even more important than the discussion, is effective delivery of the deal that has been agreed. One important area emerging from the EVP is likely to be development of potential. Experience and research tell us that the key development opportunities for talent lie within the roles they occupy and the element of stretch these roles provide. Formal executive education programs can address specific development needs and produce better performance, but theyre unlikely to offer the range of development situations necessary to maximize potential. Its therefore important that those assessed as talent are assigned to (and can contribute towards) high-value strategic roles or assignments. These should be real work assignments that a leader would be expected to deliver against. Effective development aligned to both the talent framework and the EVP will have the potential to significantly upgrade talents contribution and retention and so have tangible impact on business results. 3. Departure-related actions: Most leading organizations already maintain ongoing contact with departing talent for six months or more following their exit, in case their career move proves not to be a success. Another common approach involves developing alumni networks to encourage talent with further appropriate development experiences outside of the organization back in again at a later date. However, a more strategic approach to either response would be to develop an ongoing relationship with those who have been identified as talent rather than focusing on just one short, transactional contract of employment. This approach recognizes that talent will always be in high demand and will also be attracted by the prospect of short periods of employment with a large number of employers.
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2.

Developing Talent:

Developing Talent, i.e. the learning and performance improvement of high performers, is an essential part of talent management. Firms can protect their human capital from being eroded by making knowledge, skills and capabilities more unique and/or valuable by a so called make system, or internal system of HRM, which comprises of comprehensive training, promotionfrom within, developmental performance appraisal process, and skill based pay. Building on performance management systems, it is predicted that in the future, employees will receive custom made responses to task or skill weaknesses continuously. Although everyone can not become organizational superstars they can push the limits of what they can accomplish. Therefore, organizations which embed development into their very core can attract more Talent, retain it longer and have better performance over the long run. There is, however, a divergence from this academic truth. Most companies deliver poor development possibilities, but new approaches on development will simplify this by using already available tools i.e. job experience, coaching and mentoring.

The change of mindset regarding development. Old Approach to Development New Approach to Development
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Development just happens

Development is woven into the fabric of the organization Development primarily means challenging experiences, coaching, feedback, and mentoring The company owns the Talent; people move easily around the company Everyone has development needs and receives coaching Mentors are assigned to every high-potential person

Development means training

The unit owns the Talent; people dont move across units Only poor performers have development needs A few lucky people find mentors

Job Experience: It is identified that people need challenges and experiences to grow; this is especially true for high-potential employees. Further the importance of stretching the abilities, not being afraid to promote and assign projects to people without the specific relevant experience. Timing is, however, important since moving people too fast will undermine the ability of the employee to achieve any motivating results and wilt the learning process. Giving importance, not only on stimulating people through bigger jobs, but also stressing the fact that employees need different jobs e.g. line-to-staff switches, starting projects from scratch and fixing projects in trouble. Thus, this gives the pool of Talent many different challenges throughout their careers.

Coaching: Great importance is given to coaching as a part of the new paradigms of development who finds coaching to be a great improver of effectiveness. Employees need knowledge of their strengths
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and consequently the areas where they can improve to be able to develop in the best possible manner. Further, there is also a chance of derailment of highly talented people if no feedback is given, and then the lack of these practices becomes directly harmful to a business. Feedback should be given to allow for people to illuminate areas which they need to improve. Coaching builds on this knowledge and contributes instructions, guidance and support to allow employees to act on the feedback that they are given. This process should ideally be built on the coaches own experiences and be communicated through storytelling. This does not only make the manager appear more humane but also instructs and comforts. Leaders who are exceptional at providing vital development tools such as feedback and coaching should do so frequently in both verbal and written form. Including both genuine affirmation, but also provide direction on how the employee can grow and improve. Mentoring: Another important way for developing Talent is mentoring. A manager builds self-esteem in the high-potential employee by offering praise, encouragement and support by believing in the employees ability to achieve above everyones expectations. However, the mentors role also requires the communication of painful feedback, but from the mentor position a bigger picture should be visible so that further encouragement and advise on how to develop from the source of the feedback can be initiated. The employees involved in mentoring experience greater career satisfaction and commitment. As with most of the concepts within talent management, mentoring needs to become an integral, embedded, part of the organizations whole strategy in order for a firm to reap its benefits. This is known institutionalization of mentoring. Although there might be sporadic everyday cases of mentoring for a select few, which have found mentors themselves, few companies explicitly assigns mentors to high potential Talent. However, their research shows that mentoring is valuable for the development of Talent. Training: Although development is no longer synonymous with training it is, still the most used approach and that it is not completely without value when it comes to Talent. Especially management

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development can be enhanced by foundational managerial education and high-impact leadership development. The latter that can only be delivered in a face-to-face environment where the instructor is a well respected senior leader within the organisation. This becomes an arena for development based on the solving of real and important business problems. Foundational managerial education on the other hand, is the knowledge of academic disciplines taught in M.B.A. or executive education programmes which become particularly useful for those facing transitions in their careers. It is how the training will be integrated into the job which is the main consideration of these approaches. These programmes have in common that they introduce new skills, concepts and knowledge. The high-impact leadership approach also provides in a powerful action-learning format. Further, this approach to development immerses the employee in the leadership principals and values of the company, and also facilitates the creation of trustbased networks and spontaneous mentoring relationships. It also becomes important to implement this way of developing into the mindsets of the participants so that they learn first hand what it takes to successfully lead the organisation.

Succession Planning: Succession planning is something overlooked by many companies, this becomes an increasing concern considering the departure of the baby boomer generation and the void they will leave behind them. Succession management can be executed with many goals in mind, and it is important for an organisation to identify these. Not only because the internal development of people or the potential successor to the CEO have different requirements, but also because the target audience for the programme needs to be determined. Role-based programmes target key positions critical for the business success. Individual-based programmes focus on specific employees that have great potential for future advancement while Pool-based programmes are created to facilitate the move of any number of people that could fill several positions within the company. The next step becomes the establishment of e.g. leadership competencies or qualities that are considered to be a part of desirable candidates profiles. This is integral so that the long term strategies can be built and supported by the HR practices.

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To know who will take the place of someone that leaves or gets an internal promotion, i.e. succession planning, is important but, other than in the case of retirements, could be problematic since the question of who leaves often is unpredictable. This call for organisations to be proactive and have a pool of people that can be promoted into leadership roles, hence invest in the development of junior manager graduates. Succession development is recognizing the need for the organisation to be flexible and able to choose from several options when someone leaves. Career Management: The direct opposite of successor development is career guidance and it is described a place where the individuals career choices and development is in focus instead of what position to be filled. Todays increasingly changing environment makes the corporate ladder more diffuse and career moves are not necessarily vertical. Future development opportunities can be more important than a vertical promotion without it. Advancement is not synonymous with promotions in the traditional sense of the word. However, a lack thereof is the main reason for employee turnover. This added complexity makes career choices more difficult and guidance is appreciated by many, providing younger employees with a variety of paths for the future, simultaneously enhancing communication.

3.

Talent Retention :

The greatest challenge faced today by organisations the world over is retaining talented employees in the organisation. A debate raging since many decades has been as to whether to
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retain them is more important than finding a successor to the vacant position. Whilst the argument continues, let us examine the causes, consequences and control of employee turnover in an organisation. By employee turnover, we mean that employees of an organisation cease to remain in the services of that organisation and leave for reasons best known to them.

Some of the causes/consequences could be classified as:

Dissatisfaction parameter: Employees are dissatisfied with the salaries, perks and benefits offered by the organisation they are currently in. They may also be dissatisfied with their bosses or find their jobs meaningless and unimportant as a result of which their job satisfaction levels are very low. Further they may be dissatisfied with career opportunities in the organisation or even its personnel policies in general. As a consequence of the above, Employees leave to join other organisations which satisfy their needs. As the wheel of time moves along, they find a third organisation which offers to satisfy them even more. Thus they change again i.e. they are perennially job-hopping from one organisation to another. Alternatives parameter: Here the employee leaves the organisation in search of "greener pastures" such as starting his own business, joining the family business, joining an organisation in a foreign country or even availing of the Voluntary Retirement Scheme of the organisation and relaxing at home, living off the interest generated from fixed deposits and investalent management. An interesting trend in recent years in has been that many managers leave industry to become consultants or even faculty in management institutes or go abroad to complete their PhD or further studies. It is important to note here that the separation here was not because of dissatisfaction with respect to the present organisation but because of other available alternatives and inclinations in that direction by the employees. The consequence here is that the organisation loses some talented employees for no fault of theirs. In some organisations some of these employees are even used as consultants on a retainership basis from time to time. This is possible if and only if the separated employees are not always in a competitive area of work.

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Personal parameter: In this case, the employee chooses to separate himself from the organisation because of personal reasons such as ill-health, desire to return to the native place for family reasons, the spouse is transferred and the current organisation has no branch in the new location and so on. In the Indian context, women may have to give up their jobs post-marriage to resettle elsewhere in the country or even post-pregnancy. As some of the above problems are more common with the women employees, many organisations have an unwritten policy, which is widely practised i.e. to minimise employment of women. This is a very unfair and biased policy and unfortunately many competent and well-qualified women have had to suffer. But companies argue that many women executives, even in today's Indian context have to quit jobs after marriage or pregnancy. It is best therefore not to generalise and treat such cases on their respective merits.

Organisation initiated parameter: Sometimes employees have to separate from an organisation as they have not completed their probation period successfully or they are being laid off for want of work or their appointalent management was only on a temporary basis. In fact it is this aspect of separation that is most unpleasant since the earlier ones discussed were cases of separation which were employee initiated. Care must be taken by the organisations to ensure that the above be carried out as smoothly as possible else, this could create a lot of negative impressions about the company which could be detrimental for the organizations image in the long run. One major consequence of this type of separation is that it affects the morale of the employees at large and creates a feeling of insecurity in general. Today recruit has become both a highly specialized area and a costly exercise too. Once an individual joins an organisation, costs incurred on him include Acquisition costs i.e. cost of recruit lent management, selection and placement &Training Costs i.e. induction, specialized training and on the job training. Besides when he separates from the organisation, the company faces the cost of his position lying vacant besides having to pay his separation pay and such dues. Hence organisations today are focusing on minimizing employee turnover.

4.

Talent Acquisition:
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Companies realize that if they can attract and hire top talent, they will have a competitive advantage. In essence, companies are competing on the basis of their intellectual capital. Their ability to acquire top employees is critical due to the "war for talent," in which organizations are always looking to lure the "best and the brightest." A simple way chief learning officers can help improve talent flow is to offer training on effective interviewing techniques. When managers are able to select more effectively, it lowers the probability of making a "bad hire." But talent flow is more than just reducing poor hiring decisions. It also involves being able to attract top candidates. These talented individuals tend to have several choices as to where they can work because they are in high demand. Knowing that they can no longer rely on - nor desire - lifetime employment, these talented individuals are seeking something else: lifetime employability. Top candidates are seeking out jobs that will provide them with opportunities to learn and grow. By enhancing their skills, capabilities and education, these individuals know that they will be more marketable when they move on to their next employer. (Remember, the question today is not if an employee will leave, but when.) These increased capabilities help ensure their employability throughout their career, thus giving them even more job choices. For today's talented candidate, lifetime employability is the mantra. Thus, providing challenging job assignments and robust development programs that will help an employee grow professionally are critical for organizations to enhance their appeal to star job candidates. A 2006 study conducted by Accenture indicates that one of the top elements impacting candidates' decisions to join a firm is a company's ability to provide fast career growth and professional development. Alysia Vanitzian, assistant vice president of human capital at Farmers Insurance Group, indicates that a commitalent management to people development through stretch assignments and job rotation helps attract top talent. "Farmers are successful because we attract people who are achievement and results oriented. People with those attributes are attracted to us because we promise them a professional challenge and professional growth," she said.
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Companies with poor training and development opportunities are at a severe disadvantage in attracting star employees. Candidates see a lack of learning opportunities, or minimal tuitionassistance benefits, as a sign that an organization is not truly committed to employee growth, making job offers from such firms less attractive. While tuition assistance often is highlighted as a benefit in recruit efforts, CLOs should ensure that staffing resources are able to sell all the learning programs available. It serves a company with excellent training programs well to promote such benefits aggressively as a part of its talent acquisition strategy. Enhanced Employment Brand No matter how hard a company tries to retain its top talent, it will be difficult to keep all its star employees due to today's increasingly mobile workforce. However, if companies take into account some amount of turnover due to talent flow, their talent development programs still can provide a benefit. Employees who feel their current employer has helped them learn and grow by helping them keep up their skills will still have a positive impression of the company even if they leave for a new opportunity. These results in a positive employment brand and alumni of the organization will speak favorably about their old employers. Companies can then leverage this positive employment brand to further help attract future talent. For example, a high percentage of the employees who join management consulting firm McKinsey & Co. do not stay very long at the firm. However, these employees know that while they are employed at McKinsey, the company will invest in their growth and development, thus enhancing its marketability in the future. Not surprisingly, McKinsey alums often are big advocates of the firm and help enhance McKinsey's employment brand. In fact, the company's employment brand is so strong that people who are "ex-McKinsey" are highly sought after by other employees. This reputation further enhances its ability to attract top talent. In the annual survey in Fortune magazine of the most desirable employer by graduates of top-tier business schools (Harvard, Wharton, etc.), McKinsey has ranked first or second throughout the past 10 years.

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As the talent-flow phenomenon continues in today's knowledge economy, it is clear a robust learning and development effort helps a company recruit, retain and develop the best. Not only do developments programs help lengthen the average employee's tenure at a company, they enhance that employee's performance level during his or her time with a company. Thus, CLOs should seek a better understanding of the positive impact their programs have on talent flow.

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Talent management-An Integrated Model:

Talent management is a set of competency-based human resource management practices aimed at getting the best out of its high-value people and ensuring that right people are in place to do a particular job. A recent research by Success Factors and human capital expert Dr. Jac Fitz-enz has shown that smarter talent management leads to better financial performance of the company. The factors influencing talent management Strategy are to be dealt in such a way so as to fine tune it in accordance with the conditions that a firm is faced with. The macro-level variables are the environmental factors and the industry factors while the micro-level variables are the organizational factors. A talent management process model has been developed, which outlines the sequence of steps to be followed in effectively implementing the talent management strategy. In addition to these, ways of aligning the HR practices of the organization with the talent management initiatives have to be looked at. Thus it is seen that an integrated talent management approach by the organization, with the talent management strategies and processes perfectly aligned with the various HR processes and with the overall organizational strategy, would help in getting the best out of the talent and in achieving its objectives.

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Objective of talent management:

The objective of the talent management System is to capture the right talent, convert the talent by providing them with appropriate developmental opportunities, which will help them take on key positions in the organization. All this in turn will help in retaining the right talent. Talent management is viewed as a strategic approach to managing human capital throughout the career cycle: attracting, retaining, developing and transitioning your most important assets. The basic objectives: To identify various upcoming challenges of talent management To establish upcoming trends in talent management. To identify the ways to retain the best talent.

Talent management is a process that emerged in the 1990s and continues to be adopted, as more companies come to realize that their employees talents and skills drive their business success. These companies develop plans and processes to track and manage their employee talent, including the following: Attracting and recruiting qualified candidates with competitive backgrounds Managing and defining competitive salaries Training and development opportunities Performance management processes Retention programs Promotion and transitioning

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Factors influencing talent management:

There are certain factors which influence the importance and need of talent management. They include the following:

Globalization: Now for any jobseeker the whole world is the potential place to find employment. One can know the opportunities available in any part of the world easily and the number of talent seekers has also increased.

Increased Competition: Increased competition in the market place has necessitated the need for consistently good performance on the side of organizations. These have made the companies to put in all efforts to hire and retain the best talent in the respective field of operation.

Increasing Knowledge: The knowledge era has necessitated the retaining of those talents which have the ability to assimilate new technologies and knowledge, which are growing at a pace never seen before.

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Importance of talent management:

Like human capital, talent management is gaining increased attention. Talent management (talent management) brings together a number of important human resources (HR) and management initiatives. Organisations that formally decide to "manage their talent" undertake a strategic analysis of their current HR processes. This is to ensure that a co-ordinated, performance oriented approach is adopted. Quite often, organisations adopting a talent management approach will focus on co-ordinating and integrating:

Recruit- ensuring the right people are attracted to the organisation. Retention - developing and implementing practices that reward and support employees. Employee development - ensuring continuous informal and formal learning and development.

Leadership and "high potential employee" development - specific development programs for existing and future leaders.

Performance management - specific processes that nurture and support performance, including feedback/measurement.

Workforce planning - planning for business and general changes, including the older workforce and current/future skills shortages.

Culture - development of a positive, progressive and high performance "way of operating".

An important step is to identify the staff or employees (people and positions) that are critical to the organisation. They do not necessarily have to be senior staff members. Many organisations
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lost a lot of "organisational knowledge" in the downsizing exercises of a few years ago. The impact of the loss was not immediately apparent. However, it did not take long for many companies to realize their mistake when they did not have people with the knowledge and skills to either anticipate or solve problems that arose. The current discussions about skill shortages and the ageing population are also helping organisations to focus on the talent management issue. It may not be possible to simply go out and recruit new people to meet operational needs. Many leading companies have decided to develop their own people, rather than trying to hire fully skilled workers. In brief, every organisation should be implementing talent management principles and approaches.

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The focus of talent management:

At the heart of talent management is developing the following intrinsic human capacities: 1. Capacity to learn (measured as learning quotient LQ) Enhancing an individuals capacity to learn improves the persons awareness. It adds to the persons quest to know more and delve into newer areas. This capacity is developed by holistic education that teaches how to learn, an enabling environment and good mentoring. Capacity to learn comprises of the following: Introspection is the individuals willingness to look back and learn ability to learn from mistakes and identifying areas of improvement. Reflection and contemplation is the individuals ability to observe his own thoughts, actions and emotions/feelings and using the awareness to improve further and perform better. Getting into the flow is the individuals ability to get into a new experience and flow with the experience. It is the persons child-like ability to derive joy out of learning. 2. Capacity to think (measured as conceptual quotient CQ) An individuals quest to know more leads his mind to create images. Enhancing an individuals capacity to think helps the person not only takes learning to a higher level of intellect but also improves creativity. Capacity to think comprises of the following: Analysis is about asking the right questions and breaking complex things into simpler elements. Creativity is about generating new thoughts and breaking the existing patterns of thought. Judgment requires both. This is what helps an individual take quality decisions.

3. Capacity to relate (measured as relationship quotient RQ)

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It is important for an individual to be able to relate to his learning and thoughts. This leads the person to be able to relate to other individuals and the environment around him. The outcome is indeed a sense of belongingness and an environment of trust at the organizational level and team spirit at the individual level. Capacity to relate comprises of the following: Listening is the individuals ability to listen with warmth and respect. Active listening is free of biases, evaluation and pre-conceived notions. Empathizing is the ability to put self in someone elses shoes and getting out of ones own shoes. Trust requires a combination of both empathizing and listening. It is about authenticity, openness and genuineness. 4. Capacity to act (measured as action quotient AQ) Action is how the above three capacities of an individual are manifested. It is the individuals ability to enact his intentions. Following are components of capacity to act: Organizing refers to the individuals ability to organize his time and resources so as to enable him to convert intentions into reality. Implementing means delegating, attention to detail, and focus on the right process. Perform under pressure means the ability to work under pressure and time constraints and handle multiple tasks without negative stress. The individuals values help in discriminating amongst alternatives and act as the bedrock for decisions. They act as multipliers in enhancing the individuals capacities, a sigma of which reflects the individuals true talent. Thus: (LQ + CQ + RQ + AQ) * Values = Talent Organizations provide individuals the opportunity and space for physically manifesting their talent into performance for achieving individual and organizational vision. Talent manifests into performance as follows:

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Talent + Vision/Mission/Strategy + Skills & Competencies + Role & structure + Opportunity + Encouragement & Recognition + Training & Development + Coaching + Action Plan & Goals + Resources Performance Management System Performance
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Thus the domain of talent management focuses not only on development of individuals intrinsic capacities, but also on culture building and change management to provide the other elements listed above for manifestation of talent into performance.

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Need for talent management:

Dramatic shifts in the make up of the workforce can influence the way organizations recruit, develop and retain employees in the future. They include: An increasing global labor market An increasing virtual workplace A vastly diverse workforce, in terms of age, race and culture A workforce independent views about their own lifestyle and access to information about career opportunities The supply side puts pressure on companies to attract the best talent and ensure that employees join the company and choose to stay in the organization rather than look for opportunities elsewhere. Present study is supposed to find out the existing Indian talent scenario so as to analyze its emerging challenges and trends. For several years, hundreds of people were laid off in one part of the business while hundreds of others, often with similar skills to those departing the organization, were hired in other parts of the company. Regrettably, this situation is not unusual in many organizations today. Indeed, many companies are missing substantial opportunities to save costs and improve performance by upgrading their talent management capabilities. Companies can take up steps to quickly assess their talent management process and begin improving their talent management competency.

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Talent management becomes an imperative:

The reason lies in the convergence of dramatic economic, demographic, social and business trends. The scope and speed of these shifts have created a talent gap that is so deep and so wide that no organization can rely solely on recruit to supply the talent necessary to stay successful. A few of the factors:

Worker Shortage: By 2010, the U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics estimates the retirement of Baby Boomers alone will create a shortage of 10 million qualified workers. Forrester Research states that 45% of U.S. public employees will reach retirement age and refilling these positions takes up to 7 years of on-the-job training or 2.5 new employees to replace one skilled, experienced retiree.

Skills Shortage: In addition to long-documented skills gaps in reading, math and technical skills, a study by Americas Promise Alliance shows weakness in so-called soft skills: decision-making, teamwork and leadership, and communications.

The Pace of Change: The U.S. Department of Labor estimates that todays worker will have 10-14 jobs during their career. By 2010, the amount of new technical information is predicted to double every 72 hours.

Turnover: The U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics reports that in February 2008, the U.S. employee turnover rate was 3.4%. This is the national average, however, and turnover in certain sectors of the economy and types of jobs can be far higher. For example, Jim Wall, Managing Director of Human Resources for Deloitte notes that turnover rates at the Big Four have historically been high roughly 15-20% the cost of which is astronomical.

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Growing Importance of talent management in Organisations:

According to Towers Perrin's 11th Annual HR Service Delivery Survey, after a decade of upgrades, many companies are shifting priorities. Talent management has snagged the top slot this year in HR service delivery issues, and organizations are turning their upgraded systems into tools to leverage their people agendas. Organizations are now putting the people dimension first and viewing their existing technology platforms as the foundation for and the means of better enabling their people agenda to deliver on business needs and goals." The research also found that, despite the current economic downturn, large organizations continue to invest in their HR technology platforms. Specifically, 30% have increased their investalent management in HR-related technologies, and 55% are maintaining their technology budgets at 2007 levels. Only 15% planned budget cuts for 2008.

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And although companies will continue to upgrade and streamline their technology systems to create a better employee experience, a more significant slice of their budgets is now earmarked for:

Internal and External recruiting staffing Succession planning Workforce analytics Other talent management-related technologies.

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Traditional understanding of talent management:

Traditional talent management systems have clearly defined components including: Training and development, skill inventories, performance management, recruiting, and succession management. According to Kevin Wheeler, internationally known expert in talent acquisition and management says, Most companies perform two or three components of a talent management system well, but the total system seems to be elusive without executive level involvement. When you consider all of the complexities of human capital and how it impacts organisational performance, the senior executives across the organisation should be the sponsors and owners of talent management.

Talent management v/s Traditional HR Approach:

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Traditional HR systems approach people development from the perspective of developing competencies in the organization. This can actually be a risk-prone approach, especially for companies operating in fast evolving industries, since competencies become redundant with time and new competencies need to be developed. Thus, over time, the entire approach to development of people might be rendered obsolete calling for rethinking the entire development initiative. Talent management on the other hand focuses on enhancing the potential of people by developing capacities. Capacities are the basic DNA of an organization and also of individual potential. In fact, the following appropriately describes the role of talent management:

D
Point of Departure
into goals and mapping

N
Navigation

A
Point of Arrival
understanding roles of the the within organization and appreciation of the value-addition from self and others leading to building a culture of trust, sharing and

Translating organizational vision Aligning individual values and Clear the vision with organizational values varied required level of capacities and and vision competencies to achieve goals

team orientation Assessment of talent to profile the Enhancing capacities to learn, Individual growth to meet and level of capacities and set of organization think relate and act through accept varied, incremental and transformational roles in an overall scenario of acknowledged need for change Gap analysis and identification of Helping individuals realize their Developed individuals enabling development path full potential through learning breakthrough performance and development competencies possessed within the development initiatives

Shortage of Talent Higher Compensation:

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Many IT companies in India have offered higher salary increases during the increment season of this year, compared to what they did the year before. The increases appear to be particularly high at mid levels, where talent scarcity is becoming pronounced. More so in smaller companies, for whom retaining talent has become extremely challenging. Most of the companies have increased their pay packets but, despite the high pay packet structure in MNC companies, India still offers a low cost arbitrage which in turn has forced Indian biggies to push up their salary levels. While most employees are likely to rejoice at such salary increases, companies are far from enthusiastic. The issue now is how long they will be able to maintain these levels of increases. The general cost factor is becoming a concern said a COO of another company. In the salary game, everybody is a loser considering particularly that billing rates have not gone up dramatically. HR managers in the biotech field appear to have realized that they would not be able to attract and keep top talent if companies do not open their purse strings long and wide. Some surprisingly pleasant facts expressed by the concerned top management personnel are, The biotech sector has money its only a matter of companies wanting to part with it. That can only happen if they find an exceptional talent. Companies seem to have realized the need to take care of the fresh candidates. In case of IT its becoming difficult between retaining employees and clients as the billing rates have not gone up to meet recurring increases in compensation to employees.

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Benchmark Firms:
Firms that have been recognized for their broader and more strategic approach to talent management include:

Microsoft GE Pepsi Wachovia Intel Wal-Mart Dell Southwest Airlines SAS

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The service and consulting areas of talent management emerged are:

Talent appreciation Potential enhancement Acquisition of talent Knowledge management

Grow Talent offers services in all the above areas. Grow Talents offerings are based on the models discussed above and follow a unique methodology. Talent appreciation (TA talent management) TA talent management services from Grow Talent are focused on assessing the way individuals learn, think, relate to others, and act. Tap is used to evaluate the capacities, competencies and values of individuals for assessment of potential for career development and succession planning. This is intricately linked to helping organizations map their capacity and competency requirements and then assessing talent to draw up individual development plans. The talent profiling thus done for organizations helps them identify critical competencies to be developed and capacities to be enhanced in order to meet future business requirements and achieve plans. Potential enhancement (PE talent management) The focus of PE talent management is to create learning experiences and solutions for individuals that will help convert their talent into competence. It also involves designing learning events and processes that enhance the potential of individuals. Two intrinsic components of Grow Talent PE talent management are: Capacity building modules - which focus on enhancing the four capacities of individuals

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Competence building modules which focus on specific areas like consulting skills, problem solving, service quality, strategic selling, process designing, interviewing skills, etc.

Acquisition of talent (AC talent management) Grow Talents approach to helping organizations acquire talent is based on the following: Helping organizations define roles for specific leadership positions based on 'preferred futures' and strategy Identifying the competencies required for each of these jobs Determining the levels of fundamental capacities of learning, thinking, relating and acting needed to acquire these competencies Defining the values which are needed to display the desired behaviors Identifying individuals who would fit into these positions Enable organizations and individuals to establish mutually acceptable contracts for employment and lay the foundation of win-win relationships Knowledge Management The domain of talent management includes culture-building and change management. Knowledge management services from Grow Talent are aimed at leveraging knowledge for performance by creating an environment for sharing by building trust. The focus of knowledge management is to connect people and technology to capture and harness the tacit knowledge of the organization. By making trust the bandwidth of communication, knowledge management enhances sharing and thereby creates an appropriate environment for talent to translate into performance.

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With its comprehensive spectrum of services for talent management and unique methodology, Grow Talent is strongly positioned to help organizations gain a competitive and sustained talent advantage.

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Top 10 issues of talent management:

1. Attracting and retaining enough employees at all levels to meet the needs of organic and inorganic growth. All three companies are facing a talent crunch. Essar, for example, has grown from 20 thousand employees to a staggering 60 thousand in the past 3 years. Fifty-five percent of their employees have less than two years of tenure. 2. Creating a value proposition that appeals to multiple generations. With four generations in today's workplace, most companies are struggling to create an employee experience that appeals to individuals with diverse needs, preferences and assumptions. The Gap, for example, has 153,000 people in its workforce. The stores have a high percentage of Gen Y employees, while corporate roles and leadership ranks are primarily made up of Gen X'ers and Boomers. How does one create a compelling employee value proposition for the organization? 3. Developing a robust leadership pipeline. I believe one of the biggest potential threats to many corporations is a lack of a robust talent pool from which to select future leaders. This is in part a numbers issuethe Gen X cohort is small and therefore, as I like to say, precious. But it's also an interest issuemany members of Gen X are simply not particularly excited about being considered for these roles. There was wide agreement among the panelists that a lack of individuals ready to move into senior client manager and leadership roles is a critical challenge. 4. Rounding out the capabilities of hires who lack the breadth of necessary for global leadership. It's relatively straightforward to identify and assess experts in specific functional or technical arenas, but much more difficult to determine whether those individuals have the people skills, leadership capabilities, business breadth, and global diversity sensibilities required for the nature of leadership today. Increasingly, the challenge of developing these broader skill sets falls to the corporations. Essar has formed an academy specifically to develop and groom its own leaders.

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5. Transferring key knowledge and relationships. The looming retirement of a significant portion of the workforce challenges all companies, but particularly those who are dependant on the strength of tacit knowledge, such as that embedded in customer relationships, a key to Mercer's business success. 6. Stemming the exodus of Gen X'ers from corporate life. A big threat in many firms today is the exodus of mid-career talentpeople in whom the organization has invested heavily and in whom it has pinned it hopes for future leadership. For example, developing talent management practices and programs calibrated to leverage technology and create greater work/life balance has been a priority for Mercer over recent years. 7. Redesigning talent management practices to attract and retain Gen Y's. The challenge of calibrating talent management practices and programs to attract and engage our young entrants is critically important to all firms and particularly so for firms that depend on a strong flow of top talent, such professional service firms like Mercer. All three panelists agreed that making the business infrastructure more attractive to Gen Y is a high priority. 8. Creating a workplace that is open to Boomers in their "second careers." Age prejudice still exists, but smart companies are looking for ways to incorporate the talents of Boomers and even older workers in the workforce. In many cases, this requires rethinking roles and work relationships. 9. Overcoming a "norm" of short tenure and frequent movement. Some industries, such as specialty retail, are known for having a very disposable view of talent. Companies intent on changing that norm, such as The Gap, must address both external influences in the marketplace and an internal mindset. The Gap believes retaining employees in roles for 3+ years will be a key to their future earnings growth. 10. Enlisting executives who don't appreciate the challenge. Many talent executives complain that business leaders still believe that people are lined up outside the door because of the power of the company's brand. The challenge of enlisting the support of all executives for the transition from a talent culture that has traditionally operated with a "buy" strategy to one that places more emphasis on "build" is widely shared.

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Importance and significance of HMR:

Here is where I cover the importance of the following steps that are Hiring, Mentoring and Retaining. Now a days most of the companies still use the old and orthodox techniques of HMR The top ten companies are always consistent on to their rankings due to unusual and new methods of HMR. This is the significance of growing over the old ways and adapting to new means that are not only beneficial but also in accordance to the new markets and new resources. I will be listing out the steps in HMR which are not orthodox but more efficient for the hiring process. These new methods are something that people at good levels are not aware of these can bring a revolution into searching for the right talent so that the movement of error in doing so can be minimized.

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Hiring/Recruitment:
Recruitment and selection is the process of identifying the need for a job, defining the requirements of the position and the job holder, advertising the position and choosing the most appropriate person for the job. Retention means ensuring that once the best person has been recruited, they stay with the business and is not poached by rival companies. Undertaking this process is one of the main objectives of management. Indeed, the success of any business depends to a large extent on the quality of its staff. Recruiting employees with the correct skills can add value to a business and recruiting workers at a wage or salary that the business can afford, will reduce costs. Employees should therefore be carefully selected, managed and retained, just like any other resource

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Mentoring is a partnership in which a mentee is assisted in making significant advances in knowledge, perspective and vision in order to develop their full potential; the mentors wisdom is utilised by the mentee to facilitate and enhance new learning and insight.

Mentoring/Training:
Mentoring essentially entails the transferal of wisdom, knowledge and skills from a more experienced individual to a less experienced individual in business. Coaching focuses on raising personal performance within a range of areas relevant to both the individual and the business. Both focus on personal development, but mentoring targets the acquisition of appropriate skills and insights to develop the business, while coaching hones in to enabling sustainable change through personal ownership, effective decision making, and motivation.

Mentoring process for the organization:

Develop a Mentoring Strategy: outcomes, process and implementation Identify stakeholders and communicate purpose and process build buy-in
Mentoring Co-coordinator to implement programme

Identify mentees attributes and requirements Develop a profile for potential mentors Only recruit those who are keen! Train mentors skills and process Brief mentees and allow choice of mentor Match mentee with mentor Schedule regular meetings Provide reflection time for mentor supervision
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 Measure whether intervention has achieved intended outcomes

Mentor roles:
The Sponsor champions the ideas and/ or the advancement of the mentee, creates opportunities for the mentee, sets high performance expectations, encourages professional behaviour, encourages winning behaviour, assists with careers

The Teacher teaches the mentee new skills, knowledge, explains show things work, teaches by example

The Facilitator/Coach supports the mentees learning by creating a space in which the mentee can explore possibilities and options, provides growth experiences, offers challenging ideas

The Connector or Networker introduces the mentee to people, organisations & associations that may be important for their career development

The Source of Information provides mentee with relevant technical or critical information from inside or outside the organisation that is helpful to the mentee, shares critical knowledge

The Advisor gives advice on pertinent issues , offers wise council

The Nurturer- listens to ideas, frustrations, dreams, hopes, listens to personal problems, confronts negative behaviours & attitudes, helps build self confidence, triggers self awareness, inspires to excellence, offers encouragement

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Mentor vs. Business Advisor:

It is important to realise that there is a difference between a mentor and a business advisor. A mentor can convey aspiration and goals, and share knowledge, skills and attitudes necessary to assist the mentee to achieve specific objectives. The mentor can also assist the mentee to assess his or her strengths and weaknesses and determine which functional or behavioural competencies need to be developed. Whereas a business advisor specifically focuses on providing strategic and tactical advice to ensure the entrepreneur meets the administrative, financial and operational requirements of establishing and running the business.

Benefits of Mentoring:

Individual Benefits

Organisational Benefits

Learn to solve own problems Improve interpersonal skills Able to identify and act on own development needs Greater self confidence and self esteem Be more positive and assertive Greater self awareness Gain new perspectives and ways of thinking Acquire new skills & abilities Develop adaptability for change Improve work / life balance Reduce stress levels

Improve productivity, quality, customer service Gain increased employee commitment = retention Demonstrate commitment to employees: developing them & improving skills Support newly promoted employees Change culture of org less toxicity Support other training initiatives, to ensure the integration and application of new learning within the workplace.

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Retaining Staff through Talent Management

Introduction: Retaining skilled or talented staff can be the basis of developing real competitive advantage in your markets; it can also be a complete waste of management effort if your market strategy is not based on the use of rare or scarce skills and is simply used as a mantra for progressive HR or employee relations practices. The issue of talent management was first raised in the mid 90s (in its current form) through an article in the Harvard Business Review. The War for Talent framed a competitive marketplace where those companies that could attract and retain the best talent would eventually out-perform their competitors. McKinsey &Co, the strategy consulting business whose people wrote the article went on to develop a whole new line of business in consulting on talent management and developed numerous methodologies and techniques to make it a reality with their clients. The notion that talent should be retained and rewarded was best embodied by two large American corporations: GE and ENRON, both of which were long standing McKinsey clients. GEs position on talent is perhaps the most well known though the publicity which was attracted to Jack Welsh, the Charismatic CEO. He ran a system whereby the top 10% of the staff in the company were seen as talent and where promoted rapidly and exceptionally well rewarded. The bottom 10% were actively performance managed and quickly moved up the rankings (everyone in the company was placed in rank order based on their perceived performance) or were managed out of the business. Being ruthless in applying this principle was seen as a way of constantly improving the DNA of the organization. ENRON ran a system very similar to the one at GE though observers have commented that it was even more ruthlessly applied than the GE model. For a number of years the spectacular growth of ENRON and GE, as well as a number of other large corporations employing this model, has encouraged the take up of similar talent management processes in many businesses; however the dramatic collapse of ENRON has created a serious and distinct problem with talent management systems. In fact many commentators have suggested that the use of talent systems was a major contributor to the ENRON collapse. The documented activities of the ENRON talent - operating without restraint, encouraged to experiment and be exceptionally entrepreneurial but never having to face the results or consequences of their actions because of the policy of rapidly developing them by constantly moving them to new and bigger challenges, helped to create an organizational culture where charismatic but inexperienced managers could try anything and the normal financial and management control systems were rebuilt to tell a good story rather than monitor reality.

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In the aftermath of ENRON, it became clear that many talent systems where selecting their talent using criteria that look like: perception of future potential by bosses and I like this person, so he must be good rather than on criteria which is based on real underlying performance and this tended to select people who had very good interpersonal and verbal skills, but not necessarily those who were doing the best job. Interestingly, one development out of this is the potential launch of a number of class action law suites in the USA by people who were in the bottom 10% of talent systems who now feel they have been unfairly treated by their company through the systematic use of unfair systems of performance management.

So what Now?

The clear lessons from the war for talent saga are:

Retaining talented staff is not a panacea the strategy of the business may genuinely

not need talent except in a few key roles. Let your business strategy determine your retention programmes. You need to be very clear why you need to retain people it may be for many reasons in addition to simply being talented Talent does not equal good interpersonal and verbal skills being good at forming relationships and self promotion does not necessarily mean you can do a good job Talent does not equal potential potential is taking a bet on the future and as any good bookmaker will tell you, always manage your risk! The issue is getting the balance right between talent, experience and skills Performance Management should not rely on perception data Fact and reality based assessment should determine performance management outcomes

General Principles That Drive Staff Retention:

Be clear about what you are trying to achieve

What are your organisations goals?

How do they relate to the need for staff retention? Can you build a case for longer serving staff creating more value? Specifically who do you want to retain? and how will that affect achievement of the organisations goals?

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Communication creates Commitment Do you have a compelling vision for staff? Regular communication is a vital precursor to staff believing they are involved in the organisation. Are your people aware of the organisation's goals and how their personal performance goals contribute? Communicate all changes whether large or small, good or bad.

Involvement creates Commitment People increase their effort and motivation when they believe they are involved and can affect the shape of events (and goals and targets etc) In organisations which rely on the commitment and effort of staff (rather than just the time they spend at work) then consulting and involving are much more strongly correlated with higher levels of productivity than telling or selling. Recognition creates Motivation Motivation to put more effort into future work increases when a person is recognised as having done a good job in the immediate past. Being seen as having made a difference makes people try harder! Trust creates Satisfaction A recent survey by IRS Employment Review (August 2002) highlighted that trust is an important factor in the workplace, with 70 per cent of respondents citing relationships with line managers or supervisors as key. A similar study found that having friends at work was highly correlated with increased job satisfaction Strong, trust based relationships at work appear to be a primary factor in people being satisfied with work and indicating that they wish to remain in the organisation Coaching creates Retention
Recent research (2000-1) at London Business School is currently suggesting that in

commitment and knowledge based businesses, the use of coaching by managers has a potentially causal link to greater satisfaction and productivity of their staff and that staff will remain in the organisation longer as a result

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Regularly measure and review performance Appraisal systems and performance management tools provide a valuable framework with which to nurture and coach staff. They allow management to tell individual members of staff that their contribution is appreciated and that their longer-term prospects for the organisation are recognised. Extend the possibilities of training
An interesting American study has found that simply having the option of participating in

training is related to an increase in staff satisfaction even if the individuals dont actually want the training! Its not just volume of training, but also ensuring that training can be flexibly delivered e.g. through open or e-learning, not just courses to suite the lifestyle of the participants Stress management Employers need to be aware of workplace stress. People who are stressed at work are more likely to fall sick, perform poorly or leave. Encourage a culture of openness where concerns can be openly expressed. The UK audit commission surveyed former public sector workers to find out why people left the sector and found that stress was the biggest single factor. Sixty-five per cent of leavers surveyed by the commission said that having too much work was an important reason for leaving. Insufficient resources were also cited as leading to unmanageable workloads. Flexibility of reward and benefits
Consider employees individually. The ability to match benefits to lifestyle, for example

in holidays, car choices, childcare, healthcare etc is a key lever in creating a sense of involvement and a perception of trust in the organisation Flexible working More workers want to strike a balance between their personal and professional lives. This can be used as a great motivator and boost productivity and efficiency.

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Top ten talent retention tips:

By Craig Donaldson A recent US white paper found that by 2010, there could be as many as 10 million more jobs available in the country than there are employees. Further, there is growing evidence of worker dissatisfaction, primarily as a result of layoffs, lack of career growth, and minimal pay increases over the past several years. Additionally, some employers have become ruthless in order to survive over the past decade, creating aggressive cultures that may not be comfortable for many workers. The Responding to the mega-billion- dollar retention crisis white paper, produced by The Ken Blanchard Companies, detailed 10 steps for building retention within organisations:
1. Show genuine interest and appreciation. Continue to be or become genuinely interested

in each person whom you support and depend on.

2. Make work meaningful. Help people see the connection between what they do and what

difference it makes, to the company, the internal or external customers, and society.
3. Ask courageous questions. Dont shy away from asking why people stay and what it will

take to retain them.

4. Grow competencies, situational. Look for opportunities to put people into challenging

situations where their skills and competencies will grow.

5. Meet one-on-one, routinely. Conduct regular, but brief one-on-one meetings between

manager/leaders and direct reports. Begin by asking, Whats on your mind? then listen and act.
6. Make retention everyones responsibility. Encourage all members of the work group to

feel responsible for the retention of their peers and to be alert to problems that can be fixed.
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7. Be a career builder. Talk to people about their long-term career aspirations and help

them use or build the skills and competencies they need for the future.
8. Help people get an A level. Give the gift of being clear about what an A level

performance looks like.

9. Manage the meaning of change. Move toward people in uncertain times, including

personal and organisational change. Be there and be open. Check in with people often.
10. Walk your talk. Be aware that people are always watching and assessing you and your

actions as a leader.

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HR Managers Findings:
Most of the covered companies have talent specific initiative in place (81%) and they give them top priority in their organization (86%).They also have exclusive staff member for managing talent initiatives (68%) In most of the companies the talent is identified by competencies (42%) and the HR professional view to increase career growth opportunity. HR staffs as well as the department heads are responsible for recruiting individuals (64%) retaining the current talent is top priority for the organization (38%) Sales and business development are the two areas where retaining talent is most difficult Class room workshop, mentoring and coaching are usually used by the organization to carry out talent development activities. More than 60% of the respondent view organizational culture as a main driving force for the new talent and for the existing talent. Even rewarding plays an important role (48%) Base pay (57%) and Job security (52%) are the two main areas for retaining talent in coming years. Other than this, training plays an important role in motivating the employee. Organizations are using certification for improving the training programs. In more than 90% of the organizations budget for recruiting developing and retaining employees is going to increase over the next three years

Employees Findings:
Most the employees have a clear knowledge about the companys vision, mission and objectives. And they know how to achieve these objectives (76%)

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 They are clear about their role and responsibility (85%) and they know about other staff members also. Most of the respondents are satisfied by job description, salary review, health care benefits etc. Base pay (60%) and Job security (44%) are in top priority for the employees in coming years. Apart from financial benefits, employee emphasis more on career growth, work culture and international opportunities. 91% of the employees want more training in their specified job. The employees have a mix response on benefits like Medical insurance package, Company savings plan, Retirement plan, Holiday Entitlement, Job market etc. 64% of the employees are satisfied with the company's personnel policies where as 36% are neither satisfied nor dissatisfied Overall 32 % employees are extremely satisfied where as 52% are just satisfied with their organization.

The future is now for talent management technologies:

The worldwide market for talent management technologies is thriving. A number of factors are fueling the exponential growth: a dynamic geo-economic climate that increases focus on the workforce; a changing global labor market; and the need for organizations to transform their workforce and build a climate and culture of performance and innovation. The impact of organizational brain drain and the fear of a global talent shortage due to an increasingly aging workforce have caused companies to focus on finding, developing and retaining superior, talented employees. That makes talent management technologies must-haves for organizations committed to developing a competitive human capital advantage. Demand for talent management solutions is pervasive throughout North America, Europe and Asia, where interest is high and adoption is brisk.
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The talent management market includes HR process functionality for recruit lent management, performance, compensation, succession planning, learning and other capabilities around selfservice, analytics and reporting. Many vendors have pursued a suite approach in an effort to leverage the data and intelligence across the various modular capabilities while others have chosen to go deep in distinct modular functionality. The growth of talent management technologies will nearly double by 2009 and will exceed US$4.0 billion, a compound annual growth rate of more than 26 percent in the next four years. Based on the heavy influence of the on-demand, software-as-a-service subscription model, many organizations are attracted toward talent management solutions based on low upfront costs, limited deployment risks, and predictable pricing model. Over 2300 companies worldwide adopted some form of talent management technology in 2005. Of those companies, approximately 65 percent of those companies deployed their talent management solution in an on-demand model. Recruit and learning categories will fuel growth because of an increasing talent shortage and focus on training and career development. Asia-Pacific will invest and spend between 2006 and 2009.

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Appendix
************************************************************************ This Questionnaire will be used only for academic purpose. All the information will be kept fully confidential. COMPANY NAME: SONY PVT LTD HR INTERVEIWER: MANGIRISH BORKAR (MANAGER) QUESTIONAIRE:

1) DO YOU HAVE ANY SEMINAR OR EXTRA LECTURE FOR EMPLOYEES TO ENCHANCE THE KNOWLEDGE? IF YES THEN HOW MANY TIMES IN 6 MONTHS. -We do have workshops and seminars conducted in-house by professionals to facilitate modern learning amongst employees and effective ways of performing and accomplishing tasks. The emphasis is on enhancing soft skills and technical skills for better performance. Such workshops are held twice in a year with a number of job refresher trainings which are conducted round the year.

2) WHO ARE THE PEOPLE WHO USUALLY COME FOR THESE SEMINARS OR EXTRA CLASSSES? -The workshops are conducted by professionals who expertise in the relevant fields and the beneficiarys without doubt are our in-house employees.

3) DO YOU GIVE AWARDS OR APPRAISAL TO PEOPLE WHO PERFORM WELL? -Yes. An Appreciation certificate backed with an Appreciation Momento is awarded to recognize good work and exemplary performance.

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4) DO YOU THINK JOB ROTATION IS A GOOD PRACTISE TO KEEP THE EMPLOYEE ACTIVE? DO YOU PRACTISE IT? -Yes indeed. It is practiced to a certain extent in operational areas but is not extensively used owing to the continuous nature of operations that we are engaged in.

5) DO YOU TAKE FEEDBACK OF THE EMPLOYEES WORKING? IF YES HOW OFTEN? -We have an annual ESTS (Employee Satisfaction Survey) programme, wherein all employees are encouraged to come forth with their valuable feedback.

6) WHAT IS THE SELECTION PROCEDURE WHILE SELECTING AN EMPLOYEE? -A panel interview (comprising of an HR representative and a Functional representative) is conducted to assess the candidate on both behavioral and technical front. If the candidate is found suitable, he needs to undergo a defined medical test, on successful completion of which, the candidate is inducted into the organization.

7) HOW ARE EMPLOYES PROMOTED? ON THE BASIS OF YEARS THE PERSON HAS BEEN IN THE JOB OR ON THE BASIS OF PERFORMANCE? -Promotions are based purely on Performance.

8) WHAT IS THE PROCESS OF INDUCTION? FORMAL OR INFORMAL -There is a formal induction programme designed for familiarization and gradual adoption of companys culture and work procedures and processes for a new recruit.

9) DO YOU RECRUIT EMPLOYEES FROM COLLEGE? IF YES WHCH COLLEGES? YOUR COMAPANY FOLLOWS INTERNAL RECRUITMENT OR EXTERNAL RECRUITMENT?
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-Yes, we do engage in Campus Recruitments. However, our first preference is recruiting through Internal References. If we cannot find a suitable fit through internal sources then we look for external sources.

10) DO YOU CONDUCT ANY KIND OF CAREER COUNCELLING FOR YOUR EMPLOYEES? IF YES HOW OFTEN? -No. We do not conduct career counseling for our employees. But we do have a growth path defined within the Organization for every employee subject to him / her meeting the desired standards of performance.

11) IN CASE OF ANY DISPUTE IN THE ORGANISATION, HOW WOULD YOU RESOLVE IT? -Generally, an amicable solution is sort for, wherein HR plays the role of a mediator. However, if the situation blows out of proportion, we strictly follow procedures as per the Industrial Disputes Act and the Model Standing Orders.

12) ON WHAT ASPECTS IS REMUNERATION GIVEN TO AN EMPLOYEE? -Remuneration is based on the nature of Job, Skills involved for successful completion of tasks & level of responsibility linked to the given Job.

13) DOES YOUR COMPANY PROVIDE VOLUNTARY RETIREMENT SCHEME? -Not as a regular feature. But we do propose the scheme as a Payroll Cost Reducing Measure for the Long Run and to fuse in young minds and talent.

14) WHAT EXTRA EFFORTS ARE TAKEN TO IMPROVE EMPLOYEE MANAGEMENT RELATION?

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-A number of Welfare activities are carried out to boost employee morale and to keep them engaged. Annual Day with Family Environment Day with Function for kids Free Staff Meals Annual Pooja Celebrating Events & Important days with Staff Food Festivals

15) IS PERFORMANCE APPRAISAL CONDUCTED IN YOUR COMPANY? IF YES HOW OFTEN AND WHAT TECHNIQUES ARE USED? -Our Performance Management System is spread over a year. The foundation of our Performance Appraisal system is derived from MBO (Management By Objective) technique. Herein, Objectives (KRAs) are set by the HOD in consultation with the employee at the start of the year, performance is monitored and reviewed after six month period, areas of improvements are discussed and by the end of 12 months assessment is made based on Actual Performance against Standards Set. Incentives are linked to the Performance Levels and the ratings of PMS.

TALENT MANAGEMENT LESSONS FROM APPLE: CASE STUDY FROM THE WORLDS MOST VAUABLE FIRM64

Career paths reduce self-reliance and cross-pollination: in most organizations, HR helps to speed up employee career progression. The underlying premise is that retention rates will increase if career progression is made easy. The Apple approach is quite different; it wants employees to take full responsibility for their career movement. The concept of having employees own their career began years ago when Kevin Sullivan was the VP of HR. Apple doesnt fully support career path help because it doesnt want its employees to develop a sense of entitlement and think that they have a right to continuous promotion. Apple believes career paths weaken employee self-reliance and indirectly decrease crossdepartmental collaboration and learning. Absent a career path, employees actively seek out information about jobs in other functions and business units. In a company where creativity and innovation is king, you dont want anything reducing your employees curiosity and the crosspollination between diverse functions and units. Automatically moving employees up to the next functional job may also severely narrow the range of internal movement within the organization, which could reduce the level of diverse thinking in some groups. Create and manage a culture of innovation: most firms have a culture with a singular focus on one attribute like performance, quality, customer service, or cost-containment. Apple is unique in that it has two dominant cultural attributes that exist side-by-side. The first (discussed in part one) is performance, with the second being innovation; the latter may actually be the strongest of the two. The dual emphasis works at Apple because the firm operates in the consumer technology field, where there is a universal expectation for disruptive performance. Producing $2 million-plus in revenue per employee certainly establishes Apple as a performer, but it is its industry-dominating product innovation that differentiates it from competitors like HP, Sony, Microsoft, and IBM. Three factors drive the innovation attribute, including the expectation of continuous innovation, extreme secrecy within the product development process, and continuous brainstorming/challenge meetings (even at play just days before a product launch). I expect a pony Apples culture of innovation is unique because the goal is to produce a pony, not a real horse but instead something so desirable that everyone wants it and considers it gorgeous. Simple evolution doesnt cut it only extraordinary industry-leading innovation that results in WOW products does. To accomplish that, Apple doesnt do what most consumers assume it does. Instead of developing completely new industry technologies, Apple takes existing technologies and then bundles numerous small developments on top to produce what appears to the public as giant step forward. It takes a powerful culture and group of managers to delay taking great work public faster, but Apple knows that numerous small releases dont produce the same media and consumer buzz.

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The expectation of innovation permeates the culture: The expectation of innovation is driven by Apples history of innovation, its leaders (who forbid the use of thats not possible), and the peer pressure among employees to be among the contributors to the final product that the customer sees. In order to generate this expectation of innovation, it doesnt rely on posters or motivational slogans (although they have those too around here, changing the world just comes with the job description). Instead, every communication, process, product launch event, and even advertising slogans (Think Different, Imagine the Possibilities, Heres to the crazy ones. The misfits. The rebels. Etc.) make it crystalclear that innovation is at the heart of Apples success. Innovation has driven Apples past and current successes, and it will continue to drive future success. After walking in the door of the corporate offices in Cupertino, California, you can literally feel the expectation to innovate. Secrecy drives internal competition: The second critical driver of innovation is the product development process. This innovation process is unique in that it doesnt rely on a formal ideation type model; instead, it has been described as an iteration process energized by peer competition and Apples famous siloed/secret approach to teams. Apple does many things using small development teams, as many firms do, but doesnt rely on a single team to design each product element. Multiple teams may be assigned to the same area (or they may accidentally wander into the same area). The approach has been called 10 to 3 to 1 because 10 teams may work on a product area independently. When work is ready for review a formal peer review, it will whittle 10 mockups to three and eventually down to one. It is an approach that is unique to Apple. Outsiders may consider it expensive and slow, but they cant argue it isnt effective. Apple is well known for its obsession with secrecy in order to heighten the impact during a product release. Secrecy is also the most unique element in its innovation process. In order to maintain secrecy, development and design teams are intentionally siloed. As a result of these communication barriers, team leaders may not be initially aware of how many teams theyre competing against and what those other teams are working on. The level of open collaboration that you might find at other firms like Google is not possible under this process, but neither is early-stage groupthink. Once possible feature solutions move forward to peer review, the organization benefits from broader scope best-practice sharing and collaboration. While it may seem counterintuitive, Apple has turned team silos that would be a negative factor at most firms into a positive force.

Paired design meetings force free-thinking to continue until the end of the design:

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Another element of the design and innovation process is the holding of weekly paired design meetings. Every design team is expected to hold two meetings each week. The first is a traditional production meeting where small refinements are discussed and made. The second is a go crazy meeting, in which everyone brainstorms and uses free-thinking to scope out parameters. Most organizations stop these brainstorming meetings once the design parameters are clear, but Apple continues them long into the development cycle to guarantee that completely new ideas will constantly raise the innovation bar. The talent management lessons to learn in the area of innovation include the concept that intense competition may produce innovation faster than any formal ideation process. In addition, peer vetting of ideas, delaying collaboration until toward the end of the development process, and requiring the continuous use of brainstorming processes may result in bolder innovations and higher levels of risk-taking. Tying economic rewards to overall company success can reduce selfish behavior: You wont find anyone who will publicly argue that Apple pays well with regard to base compensation. Economic rewards at Apple are significant, but largely tied to the companys valuation. The primary monetary motivator at Apple is the opportunity for wealth creation as a result of stock ownership. Most employees at Apple get periodic stock grants to reward their contribution. By putting the focus on the stock, they send every employee a clear message that individual accomplishments are important only if they directly contribute to the overall success of the company. This approach, coupled with the firms famous product focus, keeps everyone focused on product success rather than individual results and individual rewards. Individual rewards are provided based on performance and consist of stock grants and cash bonuses up to 30% of base salary. Apples retail employees also have stock opportunities. They are paid on an hourly basis and do not receive a sales commission. Benefits and even pay play a secondary role in recruiting and retention: At Apple, the primary long-term attraction and retention factors are stock growth and exciting work. Because of the importance of these two factors, its message on benefits is clear. If youre doing the best work of your life and having a major impact on the world, do you really need sushi in the cafeteria? (It has that also.) Although most talent competitors to Apple spend huge amounts of money on benefits, Apples offerings are spartan when compared to Google, Facebook, and Microsoft. While Apples health plan is well-funded, and it has good food and an on-campus gym, neither the food nor the gym is free. One perk that does excite potential applicants (especially in retail) is the employee discount on Apple products which is given to every employee. These discounts further support and reinforce Apples companywide emphasis on the product. Your corporate jobs website should boldly inspire:
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Because the primary goal of most corporate career/jobs websites is simply to provide company and job information to potential candidates, most corporate job pages are chock-full full of information. Apples website is lean on information but strong on inspiration. As a result, after exploring the site, the potential applicant comes away inspired rather than with a pile of information about the company. There are two categories of inspirational messages on the site, and each one is bold. The first group of corporate messages makes it clear that Apple is anti-corporate. In fact, the first bold headline you see is corporate jobs, without the corporate part. They also highlight what they are proud not to have including endless meetings, being bureaucratic, having executive perks and managers wearing suits. Instead they boldly tell you dont expect business as usual. The second category of inspiration on the website concentrates on openness, innovation, and changing the world. Key phrases include open minds, collaboration, and of course innovation. You will also find the phrase theres plenty of open space and open minds (obviously perfect sentence structure isnt a high priority either). Finally, they promise to give you a license to change the world and be inspired. Its focus on inspiration is so strong that for a tech firm, there is a surprising lack. You will not find blogs, videos, or any mention of Apples availability on Twitter or Facebook easily. When it comes to mobile access, the site will render fine on the latest smartphones, but receives a 1.51/5.0 with regard to meeting mobile standards. If you visit the site, you might even find links that dont work and features that load very slowly. What you will find is inspiration loads of it. Ill leave you with this introductory statement from its career site: Theres the typical job. Punch in, push paper, punch out, repeat. Then theres a career at Apple. Where youre encouraged to defy routine. To explore the far reaches of the possible. To travel uncharted paths. And to be a part of something far bigger than yourself. Because around here, changing the world just comes with the job description. Next week, Part 3: Employer branding, recruiting, retention, and other talent management approaches to copy and learn from.

Recommendation and Suggestions:

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 Organizations must have meaningful descriptions of the capabilities (skills, behaviors, abilities and knowledge) required throughout the organization. Organizations must be able to relate those skills and capabilities to a role or a center of demand, such as a job position, project or leadership role. Talent management processes must create a comprehensive profile of their talent. They must be able to track meaningful talent related information about all of their people - employees, contractors, or candidates. the working culture of the organization should be improved and maintained to retain talent in long run. more certified training should be given to the employee to boost their effectiveness and efficiency. It should be used as a tool of motivation. the organization should identify the crucial talent initiative to attract and retain the employee. They should know which talent management elements can have the greatest impact on the business and therefore provide a better basis for prioritization and implementation. to create a sophisticated talent management environment, organizations must: Define a clear vision for talent management Develop a roadmap for technology and process integration Integrate and optimize processes Apply robust technology to enable processes Prepare the workforce for changes associated with the new environment With the increasing competition for highly skilled talent, creating an open and innovative culture, aligned with what matters most to employees, will provide the organisation with the competitive edge to retain and attract the talent necessary to achieve organizational goals. The best practices critical to retaining talent include providing career development opportunities, leadership who can articulate core messages and live them everyday, trust-based relationships with managers

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founded on open communication and feedback, and giving employees a voice in the business along. If a climate that is characterized by an open culture is created, the groundwork set for an environment consistent with what most employees want would be the result. Maximum use should be made out of this engaging climate to attract new talent as well as retaining current talent. Articulate this employment brand in the form of an employee value proposition, that is, what employees in your organization get for what they give. An employee value proposition can be developed by interviewing top performers in your organization, targeted talent in the marketplace, and the clients and customers, asking questions to gain insights about what is most important to them when choosing a company as an employer or as a service provider. This should be followed by examining the competitors employee value propositions. It is essential to get differentiated among the other organizations in the industry. Then, based on a compilation of this data, an employee value proposition can be articulated. An intensive training and communication effort then needs to unfold in the organization to be sure there is continuity of expression. Having ensured that the employee value proposition accurately reflects the reality of working in the organization, one then communicate, communicate, communicate, as well as publicize, publicize, publicize.

Conclusion:
The HR department is a very traditional function that is slow to change. Professionals in recruiting are no different: they seem to like their independence and they often loathe working closely with generalists, compensation, or development professionals. But companies like Wal70

Mart that have championed integrated processes like supply chain management have demonstrated the dramatic impact that coordination and integration can have on companys success and profitability. A successful talent management process starts with the foundation built by supply chain management, Six Sigma, CRM, and lean manufacturing, and adapts it to HR. Unfortunately, its strength and integration are also the primary roadblock within HR because getting HR people to coordinate their efforts is about as easy as herding cats. Highly demanding business environment makes it imperative for the organizations to build competence in the form of superior intellectual capital. It is agreed by almost all CEOs of big companies that it is the human resource - a talented one - that can provide them competitiveness in the long run. So it is the duty of the HR departmentto nurture a brigade of talented workforce, which can win them the war in the business field. The talent has to be spotted, carefully nurtured and most importantly preserved. As organizations continue to pursue high performance and improved results through talent management practices, they are taking a holistic approach to talent managementfrom attracting and selecting wisely, to retaining and developing leaders, to placing employees in positions of greatest impact. The mandate is clear: for organizations to succeed in todays rapidly changing and increasingly competitive marketplace, intense focus must be applied to aligning human capital with corporate strategy and objectives. It starts with recruiting and retaining talented people and continues by sustaining the knowledge and competencies across the entire workforce. With rapidly changing skill sets and job requirements, this becomes an increasingly difficult challenge for organizations. Meeting this organizational supply and demand requires the right Talent DNA and supporting technology solutions. By implementing an effective talent management strategy, including integrated data, processes, and analytics, organizations can help ensure that the right people are in the right place at the right time, as well as organizational readiness for the future.

Right person for the right job - is the new mantra.

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