Preparing for Growth: Human Capital Innovations in Charter Public Schools

Examines charter management organizations' strategies for boosting the supply of effective leaders and teachers, including recruiting and retaining talent, growing in-house talent; extending their reach; and importing and fostering management talent

What do we mean by the term "talent" in talent management?

Purpose – The purpose of this article is to consider the ways the notion of “talent” has developed over many years, both historically and linguistically, in a number of European and non-European languages and in use in organisations, and its use in talent management. Design/methodology/approach – The information was gained from a literature review of key reports on talent management and a major review of ten organisations across sectors and by interviewing over 100 individuals involved in talent management programmes in the UK and abroad. Holden and Tansley also conducted a philological analysis of the word “talent” from both an historical and a linguistic-comparative perspective analysing publications by consultancies and articles in the management press considering both literal (denotative) definitions and metaphoric (connotative) associations of the term talent in English, noting contrasting usages of the word in other languages

Troubling some assumptions: A response to "The role of perceived organziational justice in shaping the outcomes of talent management: a research agenda"

This Commentary is a response to the paper by Gelens, Dries, Hofmans, & Pepermans in this Special Issue on the development of a theoretical framework for talent management. The authors' central argument and hypotheses remain essentially untroubled here as this Commentary instead problematizes a central assumption of their paper which is commonly taken for granted in the talent literature—i.e., that talent is in shortage. In addition, suggestions for theory development are given and a more critical approach to the assumptions upon which talent management is based is advocated

A Capability Approach to talent management

This paper takes a fresh and radical look at organisational talent management strategies. It offers a critique of some of the prevalent assumptions underpinning certain talent management practices, in particular those fuelled by the narratives of scarcity and metaphors of war. We argue that talent management programmes based on these assumptions ignore important social and ethical dimensions, to the detriment of both organizations and individuals. We offer instead a set of principles proceeding from and informed by Sen’s Capability Approach. Based on the idea of freedoms not resources, the Approach circumvents discourses of scarcity and restores vital social and ethical considerations to ideas about talent management. We also emphasise its versatility and sensitivity to the particular circumstances of individual organisations such that corporate leaders and human resource practitioners might use the principles for a number of practical purposes

Talent Management and the Talent of Management

The topic that I have chosen to talk about, managing talent, is one that is exercising the minds of organizations, large and small, domestic and global, because it connects very strongly to their concerns, if they are privately owned about being competitive or, if they are public bodies, about providing pubic value

Gender, networks and talent management : interim findings of a narrative inquiry

Despite an enduring concern with the acquisition, development and retention of talent, literature in the field has tended to retain a practitioner focus. More recent work, however, includes attempts to develop a more robust empirical and critical perspective, with occasional calls for an analysis of the gendered aspect of talent management. This paper is aimed at partially filling the ‘gender gap’ in talent management research. Part of a larger narrative study, findings presented here focus particularly on the role of networks in gendering the translation of talent management into practice

Talent management in academia: the effect of discipline and context on recruitment

Although talent management is widely discussed in large for –profit organisations and multinationals, it has been little discussed in relation to higher education. This paper examines one aspect of talent management, recruitment, in academia in accounting, in two different countries, Scotland and the Republic of Ireland. It frames the study around three dilemmas - transparency versus autonomy, the power of human resources versus the power of academics, and equality versus homogeneity. It considers the recruitment context and drivers, what this tells us about how talent is defined, and the insights that can be gained from comparing recruitment across different disciplines and geographical contexts. By examining recruitment in one discipline across different contexts we show that recruitment is influenced by a complex interplay between subfield and context which can be linked to the strategic priorities of universities in the three contexts, resulting in different definitions of talent

Can You Use it in a Sentence? Defining Talent Management

Key Findings The term talent management has escaped a standard definition, and nearly every article written on the topic conclude that the concept of talent management is lacking in terms of definition and theoretical development and there is a comparative lack of empirical evidence on the topic. Perhaps the most salient criticism from researchers is that the use of the term talent management is often little more than a rebranding of a range of typical HR activities. A notable feature of much of the existing literature on talent management is that it continues to focus on practices associated with lifetime careers in corporations, despite the fact that the most profound shift over the past 30-plus years in how organizations manage their workforces has been an increase in dismissals and external hiring at all organizational levels. A definition that is consistent with traditional approaches and captures what academic researchers have been doing under the heading of talent management is as follows: the process through which organizations anticipate and meet their needs for talent in strategic jobs

A Fine Balance: Effectively Managing Growth and Contraction

[Excerpt] Times of economic hardship and prosperity both pose unique challenges to companies and their talent management practices. On one hand, while companies are experiencing contraction, employers may neglect motivating and developing their employees. Conversely, during periods of expansion, companies may set themselves on an unsustainable course that may lead to dramatic consequences when leaner times prevail. Indeed, it is easy for companies to fall into talent management traps both in times of growth and recession

Talent management in a microeconomy

In recent years, there has been a growing interest in talent management, but there is still considerable debate with regard to understanding of the meaning of talent. While talent management has been criticized for the lack of conceptual and intellectual foundation, this paper aimed at exploring the systematic approaches to talent management in Icelandic organizations. A qualitative study was performed and interviews were conducted with 10 human resources managers. The results indicated that there were positive attitudes towards the talent management. Also, the interviewees described talent management as a rather new phenomenon within Icelandic companies. Talent management was defined by the managers as a powerful tool to monitor, attract, and develop their employees’ skills and retain new talent.Peer Reviewe