Talent Management: A Bundle of Hurdles

Abstract

Although companies around the world have made talent management a top priority, most human resource professionals and senior executives believe their organisations have not fully resolved the talent management puzzle. The paper investigates if there are any indicators that suggest that talent management is a puzzle. Applying mainly review of academic and popular literature, the assessment is done under five headings and nine propositions are developed that suggest various talent management perceptions, difficulties and applications. It is found that albeit being differentiator between organisations that succeed and those that do not, talent management is saddled with uncertainties, lack of clarity, and misunderstanding, hurdles that need to be cleared to pave way for more effective talent programmes. To overcome these, organisations should avoid one common blueprint to all talent situations, but develop approaches that suit individual talent requirements.

Key Words: Talent management; talent perspectives; skills deficiencies; talent process; talent dilemma