COLLEGE NAME

A REPORT ON

A NEW PARADIGM FOR

TALENT MANAGEMENT AND WORK LIFE
BALANCE

SUBMITTED TO SUBMITTED BY:

TABLE OF CONTENTS

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 Page #

Declaration

Acknowledgement

Executive Summary

Chapter-1 Introduction

1.1 Objective of the study 1

1.2 Limitations of the study

Chapter-2 Literature Review

Chapter-3 Research Methodology

Chapter-4 Talent Management

4.1 Dimensions of Talent Management

4.2 Talent management and HR

4.3 Challenges

4.4 The shift- New Approach

4.5 The strategic talent decision science

4.6 Ten steps

4.7 Strategies

4.8 Talent Management models

Chapter-5 Work life balance

5.1 The imbalance of life and work

5.2 The 3 pillars of work life balance

5.3 Developing a work life balance strategy

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 5.4 Making work-life balance a normal practice

5.5 Checklist

5.6 Impact of work life balance at work

5.7 Ways to ensure WLB- WLB initiatives

Chapter-6 Conclusion 60

Chapter-7 Recommendation 61

Chapter-8 Bibliography 62

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 DECLARATION

I, ___________ pursuing PGDM (HR) at WTIM hereby declare that I have completed the three
months Capstone Project on the following topic:

“A new paradigm for talent management and work life balance”

The information submitted is true & original to the best of my knowledge.

Signature of the Student

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 TO WHOM IT MAY CONCERN

This is to certify that Miss. ________________ student of PGDM (HR) from WITM , NAVI
MUMBAI has completed her Capstone project under my guidance. She has successfully
completed the following project:

“A new paradigm for talent management and work life balance”

I wish her all the good luck in future.

Prof. Bharti Deshpande

(Project Guide)

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 ACKNOWLEDGEMENT

It gives me an immense pleasure to present the report on “A new paradigm for talent

management and work life balance” undertaken as Capstone Project in partial fulfilment
of the requirement for the course Post Graduate Diploma in Management (HR).

I wish to thank and express my gratitude to those who extended their valuable co-operation
and contribution towards the project, who took time out of their busy schedules and provided
easy access to the information required.

I am grateful to Mrs Noopur Gandhi , HR Manager ,Fujitsu INDIA for giving me inputs
and infinite moral support.

At the outset, I would like to extend my gratitude to WTIM , NAVI MUMBAI for giving
me the opportunity to undertake this project and would also like to thank my internal guide Prof.
Bharati Deshpande for giving invaluable guidance and support in the completion of the project.

Lastly, I wish to thank people who provided me their inspiring guidance, encouragement
and valuable help for completing this project.

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 EXECUTIVE SUMMARY

The project deals with the study of talent management and work life balance where it talks about
that Talent management is a new, more holistic approach to HR. HR grew up in functional silos
—recruiting, benefits, learning and training. If you believe in talent management, you destroy
those silos. More companies are beginning to adopt processes and tools to more effectively
recruit, retain, develop and deploy talent. Translating workforce planning business strategy into
talent management activities.Today each company needs to understand the problem it faces,
estimate the gaps in its industry and determine the skills it needs to meet business objectives. The
direction in talent management is to a fact-based understanding and prioritization of what is
needed. It’s important not to adopt individual processes and tools in isolation from others, or
from the human capital management (HCM) platform. Companies need to set up governing
bodies that cut across all talent initiatives and include people from business units to establish
priorities and review progress continuously

CHAPTER -1 PROJECT INTRODUCTION

Over recent decades we witness the development of the autonomous and reflective individual. It
is an individual that has a full set of needs, internal and external to the organization. Power is
diffused and shared. “In contrast with traditional management, where structures and systems are
In addition to these generic changes (especially in the Western Hemisphere), the world has
recognized increasing shifts due to the internalization of business.

Today there is a need for the HR profession to redefine itself and how it contributes in more
quantitative terms. Also, the HR is in danger of overselling itself and faces a serious challenge to
defend why it should exist at all. plan, provides a framework for gaining a competitive advantage
in which HR can contribute.

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1.1 OBJECTIVE OF STUDY
The objectives include:

 To study the new approach to talent management and work life balance.

 To identify the new strategies of managing talent and balancing work-life

1.2 LIMITATIONS OF THE STUDY

1. Lack of time-As the duration for this project was short and that restricted me to work on

few parts of it.

2. Non availability of the staff members at FUJITSU

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“It doesn’t make any difference if you’re operating
a business in Mumbai, Beijing or New York — the
No. 1 challenge facing every organization is
finding and growing skilled talent.”
- SHRM CEO and President Laurence O’Neil

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CHAPTER-2 LITERATURE REVIEW

INTRODUCTION TO THE TOPIC

An organizations success to a larger extent depends on its human capital. The human resource
industry is transforming itself, as today hr pros are being asked to think and act strategically in
support of the business

Attracting the best and brightest employees, developing them and retaining them is a challenge
for any organization. The role of the Human Resources function has changed dramatically over
the past few decades and will become increasingly more strategic in nature in the future. With
the

TALENT MANAGEMENT

In the ancient times Kings like Akbar used to keep Nine Genius with him. They were Super Stars
of that time. The most famous among them were Birbal the Genius and Tansen the Music Aztec.
So, Talent

WHAT IS TALENT MANAGEMENT?

Talent management is a set of competency-based human resource management practices aimed
at getting the best out of its high-
We can also define high-performance talent management as the planning and execution of an
integrated set of management processes that drive business value by creating and continuously
optimizing workforce talent. The phrase itself incorporates several key themes:
1. It's about Talent: The words we use reflect our attitudes. Unlike a “resource” (which
can only be depleted) or “capital” (which is an economic abstraction), “talent” is a word

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 that carries a value statement. Borrowed from the world of entertainment (in a movie
studio, there is management and then there is “the talent”), the word correctly connotes
the fact that parts.

2. It's about Specific, Integrated Management Techniques that Multiply Talent: The
potential value in a company’s people must then be managed to multiply that value. And
the ability to manage talent well will separate the high-performance businesses from the
rest. Effective management of talent has a number of critical components that must be
treated in an integrated fashion:
a. Creating and industrializing a unique talent strategy in light of the overall
business strategy;
b. Defining and deploying talent through targeted sourcing, recruiting, and
workforce planning
c. Developing deeply specialized workforce talent through learning and
collaboration solutions;

Fig. 1.1

• Measuring and managing the performance of people, aligning rewards and incentives with
business results; and

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• Finding new sources of value in workforce performance through innovation and continuous
improvement.
3. It’s about Driving Business Results and High Performance: Talent management
drives business performance because it is informed by strategic intent and focused on
bringing about business outcomes based on that intent. Our research suggests that high
4.

Why Do Good Performers Leave?

Keeping hold of good performers is vital if businesses are to grow and continue to be profitable
in the future. A reputation for losing good performers can be extremely damaging and hard to
change. Here are some of the top reasons why good performers leave:

T h ey p erceive a lack of ad van cemen t opp ortu n ities

The first point to emphasize is that the key is the employee`s perception of the situation, and not
the reality. There may be opportunities for growth that have not been communicated successfully
to the

problem is when good performers expect to be promoted much faster than the company is used
to. Here the firm needs to find ways to reduce the gap if at all possible.

T h ey feel th eir con trib u tion is n ot valu ed or app reciated by oth ers ; h en ce
th eir w ork is not imp ortan t

Employees naturally want to feel their work serves some purpose; sometimes the link between
their contribution or role and the final product or service is not easily visualized. Unfortunately
unspoken appreciation is rarely recognized. A few words of thanks can go a long way towards
retaining good employees.

L imited ch an ce to u s e th eir n atu ral talen ts

Sometimes good performers are restricted to those roles in which they have previously
performed well. For the firm this may seem sensible, but does run the risk of them departing in
search of opportunities to use other skills they may possess. Finding opportunities for employees
to use additional skills may be difficult but with luck you may be able to create some.

T h eir exp ectation s h ave n ot b een fu lfilled

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These expectations may have been unrealistic, or have been due to slightly misleading
information at the recruitment stage. Either way, far too many good performers are lost due to
communication breakdowns. Regular dialogue between management and employee can help to
minimize this type of situation.

Equally, a realistic job preview at the interview stage is to be recommended.

T h ey are un h ap p y w ith th e w ay th ey are b ein g man aged

Unfortunately, managers are behind a significant proportion of employee departures. People

management is notoriously difficult and the value of having managers highly skilled in this area
is enormous. The departure of a favored manager is often followed by the departures of good
performers unhappy with the style adopted by the replacement.

It may be worthwhile reassigning roles so that managers who are not strong in this area can focus
on other aspects.

T h ey d o n ot sh are th e firm`s valu es

For some individuals it can be very difficult to sustain working in an environment or culture that
does not share their values. If this is a common problem, it may be appropriate for the firm to
adopt the values of its best performers. An additional benefit will often be that similar high
performers are attracted by these values, improving the quality of the pool from which the firm
recruits.

WORK LIFE BALANCE-

The role of work has changed throughout the world due to economic conditions and social
demands. Originally, work was a matter
as well. One of the vehicles to help provide attainment of personal and professional goals is
work-life benefits and programs. Implementation of these programs in the United States (“U.S.”)
and the European Union (“EU”) countries differs, due to fundamental beliefs about the goals of
such programs.

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Are work-life balance programs in existence as a result of a social responsibility to employees or
to provide a competitive advantage to employers?

Many people think of work-life balance only in the framework of what the company does for the
individual. However, work-life balance is a two prong approach. The other prong of work-life
balance, which many individuals overlook, relates to what individuals do for themselves.

According to Jim Bird, CEO of Worklifebalance.com1, “Work-life balance is meaningful

achievement and enjoyment in everyday life.” The primary way companies can help facilitate
work-life balance for their employees are through work-life programs and training. Achievement
and enjoyment at work is a critical part of anyone’s work-life balance. Furthermore, achievement
and enjoyment in the other three quadrants of one’s life (e.g. family, friends and self) is critical
as well

Work-life balance is not as much about the “balance” as it is about the “imbalance”. Corporate
burnout rate is rising at an alarming rate with employees feeling the pain more than ever before.

 Employees under stress result in huge corporate spending by way of wellness

programmes and counselling. The impact on corporate spending is almost fifty percent
higher than in the case of employees who work in relatively relaxed conditions
 Work-life imbalance is one of the most dominant reasons for ailments like heart attacks,
depression, cancer The aforementioned findings reveal that work-life balance is as much
about the role of the organisation as it is about the individual. Hence, to attain the right
balance organisations need to focus both on the individual and the approach the
organisation takes to tackle issues of work-life balance.

In addition, study on the subject has revealed that for best results there has to be coordination
between three pillars of work-life balance. These include: organisational initiatives and
programmes, corporate culture to support the initiatives and the role of the individual. These
three factors play a critical role in determining the success of corporate work-life initiatives.

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Building strength

Programmes and initiatives To begin with every work-life initiative should be screened first at
the programmatic level. Organizations that pursue seriously the cause of work-life balance
ideally have a series of programmes and initiatives catering to employee needs. These
programmes help organizations channelize their energies in the right way, thereby lowering
work-related stress and discomfort. The following is a programme menu that depicts the type of
programmes that should be included in the work -life effort of every organization:

 Employee assistance programmes or EAPs that aim to provide employees with emotional
and professional support in stressful times
 Flexi time initiatives that allow employees to work long hours and take an extra day off
in lieu of the extra hours
 Day care centres and other children-friendly arrangements like an on-campus crèche
 On-campus gymnasium and yoga classes that help employees unwind

Experts believe that programmes such as these work better as they are more precise and user-
friendly. Interventions that discourage employees from working overtime in the name of work-
life balance do not work well. For, employees finally end up taking extra work home without
really getting rewarded for it.

Cultural sculpting Work-life initiatives like other initiatives can fail if corporate culture does
not support them. By a supportive culture we mean the involvement of the CEO and other top

Individual responsibility Work-life initiatives may fail to show the desired results in spite of an
effective programme and a supportive culture. This expert’s say is because of lack of individual
responsibility and accountability towards maintaining the desired balance. Employers can only
provide the necessary benefits, but the of a tilted balance lies completely with the individual.
Hence, individual responsibility plays a major part in creating a successful work-life balance.
Work-life balance is an essential and individual accountability is thus the only way forward for
success with work-life initiative

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THE IMBALANCE

 Work-life imbalance can lead to high employee turnover, high employee-burnout and low
employee productivity
 Work-life balance can be attained through an integrated solution where programme
quality, culture and individual responsibility complement each other.

Articles

THE TWENTY FIRST CENTURY HR ORGANIZATION

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Like any value-creating staff function, HR departments should operate as a business within a
business. Others have focused on the strategy and direction of HR departments. This article
examines the next evolution for how HR department organization structure can deliver value
based

TALENT MANAGEMENT FOR 21ST CENTURY

The author focuses on four major practices:

• Companies should balance make-versus-buy decisions by using internal development programs
to produce most--but not all--of the needed talent, filling in with outside hiring.
• Firms can reduce the risks in forecasting the demand for talent by sending smaller batches of
candidates through

Henceforth taking the four major practices together, these principles form the foundation for a
new paradigm in talent management: a talent-on-demand system

TALENT MANAGEMENT MUST MESH WITH BUSINESS GOALS FOR POST-

RECESSION SUCCESS

The article talks the survey which reveals the link of talent management process in the
achievement of business goals of the business enterprises in the U.S. It states that the survey
reveals that 73% of the executives agree the linked between talent management process to
business strategy to help organization succeed. It explains that organizations recognize the
importance of talent management integration with business strategy.

PETERHONEY WONDERS WHETHER  TALENT   MANAGEMENT IS A

CONTRADICTION IN TERMS.

In this article the writer discusses about his understanding about the concept
of talent management. He if confused from the juxtaposition of the two words ‘talent’ and
‘management’. Those two words side by side Suggest that talent can be managed. But can it?

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He stresses on TM being a process with the implication that it will always be work in progress,
the acknowledgement that talents need to be identified and developed, the focus on current and
future, not just one or the other. Further he defined TM as the process “The process by which an
organization identifies, manages and develops its people currently and for the future.

He emphasizes that he regarded talent as a natural predisposition to do something well. He

stresses that he remains doubtful that talent can be managed, but, it can be identified and
developed.

HOW TO KEEP UP WITH THE WAR FOR TALENT? : A COMPARATIVE STUDY

BETWEEN TALENT MANAGEMENT IN COMPANY X AND LITERATURE
SUGGESTIONS FOR IDENTIFICATION OF TALENT

In this case study author discusses talks about the how to keep on war for talent and also a
comparative study between talent management in company X was conducted.

The problem discussed for companies today is to keep their up with the war for talented workers,
and the way leadership talent is managed in the company is crucial for gaining competitive
advantage. It further discusses about the how company can manage their talent successfully in
the organization by encouraging their personnel to take challenges and rotate, clear
understanding of the roles in the organization, the responsibility of top recruitment and
development. The areas that are in need of further development are leadership development,
learning and training.. The company should encourage their employees to take challenges to be
able to discover who can learn the most from them.

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TALENT MANAGEMENT: DRIVER FOR ORGANIZATIONAL SUCCESS

In today's global economy, companies must continually invest in human capital. In the role of
business partner, HR leaders work closely with senior management to attract, hire, develop and
retain talent. Yet the skills shortage presents both socio-economic and cultural challenges as
talent crosses borders. Thus, in view of workforce trends such as shifting demographics, global
supply chains, the aging workforce

TALENT MANAGEMENT FOR 21ST CENTURY

This article is given by harvard business review and talks about the talent management in 21 st
century. Most firms have no formal programs for anticipating and fulfilling talent needs, relying
on an increasingly expensive pool of outside candidates that has been shrinking since it was
created from the white-collar layoffs of the 1980s. It talks about Internal development the norm
back in the 1950s; the stable business environment and captive talent pipelines in which such
practices were born no longer exist.

It's time for a fundamentally new approach to talent management. Fortunately, companies
already have such a model, one that has been well honed over decades to anticipate and meet
demand in uncertain environments: supply chain management. It described about the four
practices in particular for talent management. First, companies should balance make-versus-buy
decisions by using internal development programs to produce most--but not all--of the needed
talent, filling in with outside hiring. Second, firms can reduce the risks in forecasting the demand

BUILD ON YOUR DESIRED BUSINESS OUTCOMES FOR SUCCESS

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This article discusses that effective talent management must be relentlessly focused on your
organizations’ desired business outcomes and this differs traditional approaches to talent
selection and development focused on worthy, but HR-centric goals such as building a leadership
bench, training and developing managers, or selecting the right people for the right job at the
right time. 

To ensure perceived (and real) relevance for contemporary talent management practices,
organizations need to shift dramatically. Talent management has never been more of an
immediate concern than

TRENDS IN HUMAN CAPITAL MANAGEMENT: THE EMERGING TALENT

MANAGEMENT IMPERATIVE

This core of this article is that how talent management is a leading strategy for improving the
workforce and an element of human capital management Today, there is a progressive movement
to transform the HR function and establish a Human Capital Management (HCM) environment
that truly leverages the workforce as a competitive weapon.

The “talent management” has become a vital element in establishing a human capital
management (HCM) environment .Organizations leading the way in HR transformation are
focusing less on administrative aspects and more on strategic issues. Talent management tops the
list as a strategy for radically improving workforce productivity to drive higher value for the
organization. Today, most organizations are struggling to understand the characteristics, enabling
technologies and definition of talent management.

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The process of managing the supply and demand of talent to achieve business goals represents
one of the greatest opportunities for organizations to not only overcome these critical issues, but
most importantly, survive and thrive for years to come. This article provides a common
understanding of talent management discusses current macroeconomic, workforce, and
technology trends and challenges and highlights the business results organizations stand to gain.
It also offers guidance for implementing an effective talent management strategy, with enterprise
resource planning (ERP) technology as the core enabler.
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 and Prepare the
workforce for changes associated with the new environment

WORK--LIFE INITIATIVES AND ORGANIZATIONAL CHANGE

The article of work life balance discusses about the employer work--life initiatives which are
acting as a as potential organizational change phenomena. Work--life initiatives address two
main organizational challenges: structural (flexible job design, human resource policies) and
cultural (supportive supervisors, climate) factors. While work--life initiatives serve a purpose in
highlighting the need for organizational adaptation to changing relationships between work,
family, and personal life,

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THE ABILITY OF WORK–LIFE BALANCE SOCIAL/ ORGANIZATIONAL ISSUES

There is increasing evidence that work–life imbalance has a direct impact on societal issues, such
as delayed parenting, declining fertility rates, ageing populations, and decreasing labour supply.
It is documented that work–life bala in newly industrialized nations, are discussed.
Recommendations for work–life balance to be addressed via a comprehensive multilevel
approach are made.

WORK–LIFE BALANCE AMONG MEN AND WOMEN IN MID-LIFE

This study of Work-life Balance since long either ignore gender or take it for granted. In this
article research was carried out by conducting semi-structured interviews with men and women
in mid-life (aged 50 to 52 years) in order to compare their experiences of work–life balance.
The research suggests that gender remains embedded in the ways that respondents negotiate
home and work life. In this article

EXPLAINING ORGANIZATIONAL RESPONSIVENESS TO WORK-LIFE BALANCE

ISSUES: THE ROLE OF BUSINESS STRATEGY AND HIGH PERFORMANCE WORK
SYSTEM

This first study to examine how the type of business strategy an organization follows will
influence the likelihood of its adopting of WLBPs and how this relationship is mediated by high
performance work system. HPWS, is a system of human resources management practices that
gives employees the skills, knowledge and motivation to improve productivity in order to help an
organization gain a competitive advantage. Although work-life balance practices can help a
company gain competitive advantages by developing committed employees and contributing to
company success, some work-life balance practices such as on-site day care and compensation
for eldercare are costly. Companies pursuing a cost leadership strategy are not likely to adopt
these expensive practices. But, companies that follow a product leadership business strategy need
to invest in their employees in order to attract and retain the best employees

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The results show that there is a positive relationship between product leadership strategy and the
adoption of some WLBPs such as fitness and recreation programs and employee assistance
programs. Cost leadership strategy is negatively related to adoption of these programs. But
childcare and eldercare service, two very important WLBPs used to help employees deal with
dependent care obligations, do not appear to be related to business strategies in our data.

WORK-LIFE BALANCE GIVING WAY TO LIFE-WORK BALANCE

This article explains that the current generations value personal benefits of friendship and close
social bonding more than anything. The writer of this article also stressed how the workplace has
become a subordinate to building personal relationships and commonalities across fundamental
human attributes.

It explains the issues affecting diverse workers and a diverse working environment from a
perspective of work-life balance and later as work-life integration. But now, a paradigm shift to
life-work balance can be seen The workplace and work itself become subordinate to building
personal relationships and strong bonds in a shared human community. In large measure,
younger people now give

10 PRINCIPLES FOR SUCCESSFUL WORK-LIFE BALANCE 

This article mentions about the 10 principles which an employee can use to get more done in
less time—and get back to a healthy balance between time spent at work and home. These ten
principles include 1.Set Goals. 2. Focus these patterns can help individuals in delivery of
successful balance between their work and personal life

SABBATICAL SAGA- PEOPLE MANAGEMENT

Sabbaticals and programmess like unpaid leave offer benefits to both the employer and
employees. With the economic slowdown many employers are opting to offer sabbaticals then to
layoffs. This article talks about the definition of sabbaticals “as a planned job pause-paid or
unpaid whereby an individual takes time to rest, travel, volunteer , learn a new skill or fulfilling

23
a lifelong dream before returning to work. Eligibility and benefits will vary from company to
company”. Also it is mentioned why sabbaticals are required to give as employers retain their
valued employees, re-engaging them, reduced turnover and no re-hiring cost. But then today also
many of the companies are unaware of this concept as an approach to people management.
Sabbaticals are an essential part of work life balance and understandably helpful in grim
economy too. Hiring new set of employees costs very high. Given this employer are opting for
unpaid time-offs also known as sabbaticals. Many fortune 500 companies offer this and be a
place where everyone wants to work.

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Chapter-3 RESEARCH METHODOLOGY

Qualitative method will be used in the study. Qualitative method strives on understanding data
through giving emphasis on determining people words and actions.

This project titled as mentioned involves the study of Talent management and quality of work
life including work-life balance in a new paradigm is completed by collecting data from the
below mentioned two sources-

Sources of Data collection

A) Primary source

 Un-Structured Interview- Mrs. Nupur Gandhi, HR Manager was interviewed.

B) Secondary source

This will include data collection from various websites and books. It also includes data from
company and other referral sites and sources.

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 Chapter-4 TALENT MANAGEMENT

Distinctly called human capital management, employee relationship management and workforce
management, among others, talent management is not a new concept, but one that in the past
corporations haven't been set to finalize. In most companies functions such as recruitment and
succession planning, learning and development, performance management, workforce planning,
compensation and other HR or training functions have often been isolated in departmental silos.
While important individually, these programs are usually a loose potpourri of HR initiatives with
little relation to each other, little arrangement with the organization's vital few business goals and
little real way of measuring their bottom-line impact.

Talent Management enables organizations to rapidly align, develop, motivate, and maintain a
high-performance labor force. They also alleviate the hassle of writing performance reviews by
automating the task and ensuring quality of reviews and reviewed on time. Organizations can
establish and communicate critical corporate goals, measure performance improvement, and
ensure that all levels of the organization are aligned to attain critical business objectives. The six
dimensions of talent management are as shown in table 1below

4.1 DIMENSIONS OF TALENT MANAGEMENT

Talentmanagement dimensions Description

Develop strategy Establishing the optimum long term strategy for attracting, developing,
connecting and deploying the workforce
Attract and retain Sourcing ,recruiting and holding onto the appropriate skills and
capitalize, according to business needs

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Motivate and develop
Deploy and manage
Connect and enable
Transform and sustain
Table 1-Six dimensions of Talent Management
Capital Institute.
Verifying that  people's capabilities are understood and developed to
match business requirements, while also meeting people's  needs for
motivation, development and job satisfaction
Providing effective resources deployment, scheduling and work
management that match skills and experience with organizational needs
Identifying individuals with relevant  skills , collaborating and sharing
knowledge and working effectively in virtual settings
Achieving clear measurable and sustainable change within the
organization, while maintaining day to day continuity of operations
Source: IBM Institute for Business Value/Human

4.2 TALENT MANAGEMENT AND HR

Talent management suddenly evoked the charm and attention for the business world. Much of
the reason may be due to the fact that technology has finally begun to catch up. Human resource

Many HR processes and systems that organizations use today to manage people suffer from
three fundamental flaws as shown in figure () below

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   Figure 1: Fundamental Flaws in HR systems

Because of these flaws in most HR systems – limited direct business impact, difficult for
managers to use, and poor integration – business managers use them only halfheartedly. They do
not adopt them as vital to achieving their business goals.

The greatest talent management system on the market is worthless if the organization is not
prepared to adopt and integrate it. Each company needs to take inventory of its people and
processes, answer questions about its direction and who is responsible for getting it there. Most
importantly, companies need to break down the ever present "departmental silos" by creating an
environment in which technology can be leveraged to facilitate and maximize an already well-
thought-out program and to link it the organization's strategic goals.

4.3 TALENT MANAGEMENT CHALLENGES

Business success relies on successful talent management. If a hospital executive can't find
nurses, a retail store executive can't develop and engage store managers, or a lab director can't
keep great scientists, they will have difficulty meeting their organization's strategic business
objectives. The challenges of finding, keeping, developing, and motivating people in key
positions are precisely what progressive HR professionals should be focusing on. These
managers face ongoing talent management challenges that are critical to their achieving business
goals. The main challenges are as shown in figure 2 below

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 Figure2: Main challenges

Many organizations believe that effective talent management practices can be a significant
source of demarcation in today's cutthroat competition in a globally integrated economy. At the
same time, industries face their own set of unique challenges – a situation that has led ventures to
focus on different pieces of the talent management "puzzle." A recently completed study by IBM
highlights how knowledge- and service-intensive industries tend to spend significant time and
attention on talent management activities, while not-for-profit organizations appear to struggle to
make the most of their workforce. Knowledge-intensive industries tend to focus on developing
and connecting their employees. Financial services companies tend to focus on employee
attraction and retention, Retailers apply a notable number of talent management practices overall
and finally Government agencies, educational institutions and some healthcare firms fall short in
managing talent and sustaining change

Effective talent management processes and systems can have a significant positive impact on
business. The most valuable systems are those that deliver direct value to the business manager,
which are easy to use, and that are integrated across functions. Processes and systems that meet
these criteria are well-suited to help companies meet their critical talent management challenges.

4.4 THE SHIFT –NEW APPROACH

Managing talent in tough economic times

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Companies don’t know what to do about uncertainty and unpredictability.

The recession means many employees are paralysed with fear and can’t do their own jobs, they
are not on the same page as the leadership and can’t execute with excellence. Confidence has
disappeared and has been replaced by its polar opposite - fear.

When employees are fearful it undermines trust there is no transparency or honesty and
eventually they will panic.

These companies are still in a TOP DOWN mode and are concerned about being seen to be
active, slashing jobs, reducing costs aggressively and increasing earnings in the short term to
appease investors. It’s a race to the bottom and it’s got some very ugly aggressively macho
characteristics. The PR teams are churning out the press releases everywhere.

In this environment “innovation” and “creativity” is stifled, snuffed out like a solitary candle
exposed to a strong wind.

The old paradigm

It doesn’t work anymore. Most top executives today haven’t bought into the new paradigm that
we are living in a knowledge worker age. The industrial age is over.

Many pay lip service to this, nodding attentively but go straight back to the old ways of working.
Hierarchical, command and control ways.

Failure

Mostly this has resulted in failure particularly over the last 10 years. The corporate landscape is
beginning to be littered with examples - I would say in my experience over 50% of the global
organisations of today are old paradigm organisations staring at failure down the road at some
POINT.

New approach to talent management -talent management for competitive advantage

Talent

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All of us will be succeeded by Generation Y at some point in the not too distant future.
Tomorrow’s leaders. Generation X is now in charge and They will be succeeded by the media
generation (Y) and this demands of us a change in approach.

The Talent paradigm shift is only possible with a complete change from the top. Empowerment.
Letting employees and managers decide for themselves what greatness looks like to them, how it
fits in. Not “what I want” but “what can I do?” It’s a positive force that’s needed and its source
must be the CEO and his team.

Creating the conditions for innovation is more important than the innovation itself. Because then
its sustainable and not a one off.

 a high level of trust

 empowerment
 collaboration

Initiate new organic growth and thinking in your organisation, but don’t manage the process or
the outcome. Introduce the tools; open your systems to web 2.0.

Embrace new technology - sometimes its anarchic but it connects people, ideas and creates the
unexpected. Twitter, love it or hate it. It definitely fills a need in society, as does Facebook.

When experts say offshore don’t think cost reduction. Think “I need to have my Technology
Group integrated from more than one nationality and culture to foster innovation as well as
driving down cost”.

View talent management as a long-term strategy. It holds true that in the long term, the Be
opportunistic and go after the strong talent now available in the market;

 Focus your talent strategy on your core, what makes your organization unique ; and
 Start developing talent not for what your business needs today, but for what it will need
tomorrow.

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4.5 THESTRATEGIC TALENT DECISION SCIENCE

As HR strives to gain greater strategic influence, human resource and business leaders must look
beyond the HR profession. They must learn how the strategic "decision sciences" of finance and
marketing evolved from the professional practices of accounting and sales. Today's HR is
focused mainly on its professional practice, which, like accounting and sales, is important but
incomplete. Full strategic partnership requires a "decision science" that enhances decisions about
talent resources; finance and marketing enhance decisions about money and customers.

The decision science of talentship

The lessons from marketing and finance tell us that the goal of a talent decision science would be
"To increase the success of the organization by improving decisions that impact or depend on
talent resources." The term "talentship" describes the new decision science, and to reflect the
notion of stewardship for the resource of employee talents. Talentship is to HR what finance is to
accounting, and what marketing is to sales.

As talentship evolves, organizations will increasingly succeed not simply through HR practices,
but by the quality of decisions about talent resources, throughout the organization. Just as with
decisions about financial and customer resources, talent decisions reside with countless strategic
managers, leaders, and employees, deciding about the talents available to them, and their own
personal talents.

When we ask business and HR leaders to think of a decision that depended on or affected talent,
but was not made well, even companies with "best in class" HR functions have little difficulty
generating examples. The examples carry a remarkably consistent message: The talent decision
mistakes are NOT being made by HR professionals. Poor talent decisions seldom focus on HR
programs,

," "change agents," and "employee advocates" (Ulrich, 1998), but, unlike in finance and
marketing, such competencies are not logically linked to a decision-making framework.
Enhancing the strategic role of

for mapping the organization's talent resources, it becomes the default framework for things such
as signature authority

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action. Managers, in turn, often resent such systems, because they imply that managers are not
to be trusted with talent decisions. This is one reason that HR is seen as administrative, or even
obstructive. HR managers are often perceived to be effective business partners only when they
help business leaders work around the HR control systems. They are good partners within a bad
system.

action on talent issues throughout the organization. This improves talent decisions within the HR
function and outside it, where the opportunity for impact and improvement is the greatest.

The elements of a talentship point of view: impact, effectiveness, and efficiency

What will be the elements of the decision framework that supports talentship? Nearly all
decisions that depend upon or affect people within organizations can be described in terms of
three elements: impact, effectiveness, and efficiency. Moreover, these elements have useful
analogies within existing decision sciences, such as marketing.

Impact

In talentship, "impact" concerns "How much will strategic success increase by improving the
quality or availability of a particular talent pool?" The analogy in marketing is "How much will
organizational profitability increase by improving market share or sales success with particular
customers or customer segments?" In marketing, customer segmentation determines how much
strategic success would increase by improving sales to a particular customer segment, and thus
which segment should get more attention. Answering the impact question for talent resources
requires what we call "talent segmentation," a term we coined to describe the logical
differentiation of talent pools by their importance to strategic success (Boudreau & Ramstad, in
press).

in which improvements in market share most improve sales and profits. When business leaders
consider only the average value of talent, they routinely overlook talent pools that could have a
significant effect

for every product" would never be tolerated. Differentiating among customer segments is
fundamental to marketing, just as "impact"--differentiating among talent pools based on their
importance to strategic success--must be at the heart of talentship.

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Effectiveness

In talentship, "effectiveness" concerns "How much do HR programs and processes affect the
capacity and actions of employees in talent pools?" The analogy in marketing is "How much
does an advertising or pricing program change the behavior of the customers in a customer
segment?" "Effectiveness" is independent of "impact."

Traditionally, HR organizations are in favour of effectiveness can produce well-meaning HR

programs that have large "effectiveness" on low-"impact" talent pools.

Efficiency

In talentship, "efficiency" concerns "How much HR program and process activity do we get for
our investments (such as time and money)?" The analogy in marketing is "What program activity
(advertising, sales, etc.) is generated for a certain investment of resources?" In marketing, typical
efficiency measures include the number of television program segments acquired per advertising
dollar, or the number of billboards acquired per region.

"Efficiency" is independent of "impact" or "effectiveness." Most of today's HR measures focus

on efficiency, such as ratio of HR staff to total headcount, cost per hire, training hours per
employee, benefit costs per employee, HR functional costs as a percentage of revenues
(Conference Board, 2004; Corporate Leadership Council, 2001). Attending only to efficiency
can produce extremely articulates all three elements, HR efficiency may get more than optimal
amounts of attention

4.6 TEN STEPS TO SUCCESSFULLY DEVELOPING A TALENT MANAGEMENT

STRATEGY

1. What business issue are you trying to solve? – Talent management has become a
buzzword, bandied around by HR professionals and business leaders alike, and is
increasingly perceived as a ‘must have’ by any credible organization. Fine – but start by
clarifying exactly what issues you are trying to solve, for example:

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 a. Retention of the best performers

b. Lack of successors to senior positions

c. Over-reliance on external recruitment over internal promotion

2. Check you have a ‘burning platform’ – Establish whether these issues really do present
a genuine business dilemma or risk; consider whether there is a ‘burning platform’.
Consider for whom this is an issue - the CEO / a particular department / only HR?
Building and delivering a successful talent management strategy will take time and
money – you want to know there is genuine commitment before you create your strategy.

3. Define what success would look like – Discuss with key parties what success would
look like for the organization and for them. This should cover both quantitative measures
(KPIs) and qualitative measures (what success will ‘look and feel’ like). You will use
these measures later to help build the business case.

4. Consider this in the context of your organization – Clarify what people management
processes already exist, what could be improved, what are missing etc. For example, is
your recruitment activity successfully attracting talented candidates? Does your
performance management system accurately identify talented individuals? Is a fair
proportion of your training and development budget targeted at talented individuals?

5. Create the talent management strategy – Pull together your talent management
strategy outlining what needs to be done in the light of existing HR processes and teams.
This will ensure the outcome complements, rather than contradicts, the rest of the HR
agenda.

6. Gain buy-in and approval – Define your business case emphasizing the burning
platform which is driving the issue. The business case should detail the financial cost and
benefits of the program as well as the risks of not taking action (e.g. all our competitors
are doing it and we’ll start to lose our talent if we don’t catch up). Discuss your talent
management strategy with ‘allies’ around the business and your HR colleagues first. This

35
 will both give you valuable feedback, but also will help you to secure buy in and
understanding from within your team to ensure HR presents a ‘joined up’ approach to
talent management. 

7. Present the strategy – Present your talent management strategy and business case to
secure appropriate resource, budget etc.

8. Proceed with implementation – Now you have a well thought-through strategy, and
approval to go ahead. You can now get on with building your integrated talent
management process.

Typical outcomes from developing a successful talent management strategy

 Improved business results / a reduction in the business issues which the talent
management strategy was designed to address, e.g. increased ability to attract the very
best to join your organization, increased retention of high performers, reduced reliance
on external hires to fill critical senior positions.

 Talent management activity is rooted at the heart of the business and is seen as a credible
activity which reflects well on HR

 It is easy (or easier!) to gain buy in and commitment from line clients and to secure
budget and resource.

 HR is recognized as an integrated, mutually-supportive department which does not suffer

4.7 STRATEGIES FOR TALENT MANAGEMENT

Talent Management, usually  referred as Human Capital Management, is the process recruiting,
managing, assessing, developing and maintaining an organization's most important resource—it's
people!

The typical strategies include-

36
1. Merge talent management data by having incorporated exceptional capabilities in learning,
performance, and compensation management software

2. Automate the talent management process into an online solution there by reducing time and
costs of performance reviews.

3. Recognize and close employee performance gaps by instantly turning automated performances
appraisals into training development plans.

4. Align training demand with performance needs and strategic goals directly there by reducing
time and money spent on non- strategic training activities.

5. Eliminate conflicting evaluation criteria by applying a standardized solution that impose

consistent language, feedback, and evaluation criteria.

6. Use reliable, fair pay-for-performance initiatives

Talent Management processes is typically found in numerous parts of an organization. Thus,

many organizations struggle to align their talent management under one consistent strategy. It
may be a considerable challenge to make this happen. For example, a cohesive talent
management strategy is as shown in figure 3 below

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                                        Figure 3: Cohesive Talent Management Strategy

To apply these strategies a 4 level engagement model is applied the business managers which is
as shown in figure 4

                                                  Figure 4: 4-Level Engagement Model

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Other strategies-
Forward-thinking organizations are changing their strategies for building the workforce. They
seek strategies that, unlike the recruiting practices of the ”Internet Boom,” deliver long-term
results, minimize the risks of losing critical talent, and ultimately save the company money.
These strategies include:
• Cultivating Existing Talent: By “farming” rather than “hunting” for the right skills,
companies will keep skilled employees longer, decrease training costs, and reduce or eliminate
hiring cycles
• Improving Employee Satisfaction: By supporting employees in their personal career plans,
and by providing learning opportunities, companies will reduce attrition and conserve their
knowledge capital.
• Planning Ahead for Succession: Especially as baby-boomers retire in large numbers,
companies will not risk leaving mission-critical positions open; successful companies will
prepare succession plans for top spots, and keep transitions short.
According to Gartner4, the components of an integrated Talent Management suite include:
• Performance Management
• Learning Management
• Succession Planning
• Career Development
• Competency Management

Eight ways to win and keep top performers

Executives have little difficulty appreciating the importance of high-caliber human resources.
The challenges lay in identifying the best people, attracting them and retaining their services.
Here we present eight strategies, tactics, realities and attitudes necessary to win top talent.

Firms realize that high-caliber leaders, managers and product developers are critical in service-
oriented professions. Because

According to one survey of senior-level human resources and line executives, 65% shared that
they were unable to effectively recruit top talent; 60% reported they did not even know who the
top talent was in their markets. A similar percentage admitted that they do not have a structured

39
approach to recruit for management positions. All this despite a clear need for these abilities:
48% of these HR executives stated that half their management talent was hired from outside the
firm.

So how do you attract people who will succeed, and how do you keep them on your side?

Be Ready to Pay to Play - Despite the common refrain that "it's not about the money," it's about
the money. What respondents share with pollsters about what motivates them as employees bears
little resemblance to the harsh supply-and-demand reality: The strongest candidates command
the highest compensation.
For excellence that will raise the bar within your organization, you will need to allocate the
necessary resources. Since historical compensation scales and models have become obsolete, it's
best to think of winner-take-all salaries as investments. Of course, the competition for your talent
does not end after they've signed on. To protect your investment and avoid costly turnover-
related disruption later, frequently re-evaluate and update your compensation structures.
Treat Candidates as Customers - In many lines of business or geographies, the balance of
power has shifted. Because candidates increasingly hold the leverage, companies can succeed
with two approaches. First, sell prospective employees on your corporate culture, your growth
strategy or another forward-thinking attribute; second, interact with them as if you are trying to
close a sale.

Consider the mounting demand for private bankers and wealth managers, especially in Europe,
the Middle East and Asia. Barclays Wealth has developed a two-part program to keep pace: "The
scheme is familiar with institutional investments and an ability to transition to wealth
management.
Complement Compensation - As a baseline, salary must keep pace with inflation, and raises are
your primary weapon in the ongoing battle to retain your company's most vital talent. But
generous and wide-ranging benefits, such as tuition assistance or specialized training, are
increasingly useful in helping you keep the best people while encouraging their continued
professional development.
Encourage Supportive Management - It's not as simple as throwing money at the problem. In
addition to throwing money, corporate leaders need to throw their weight. Successful companies

40
have leaders who invest in the success of their subordinates. Managers must support their reports
in real, concrete ways. No human-resources-driven retention policy will accomplish anything
unless it's pushed out to supervisors and managers who take action. These efforts require buy-in

annual ". Companies who follow guidelines like these, however, better position themselves to
compete in a marketplace with a pronounced talent shortage.

4.8 TALENT MANAGEMENT MODELS

The Talent Management Model

In the high-stakes hunt for talent, you can’t simply rely on finding stars that will produce
miracles for you. First, there aren’t enough of them to go around. Second, you have to honestly
ask yourself, “Just how many wonder workers can we really tolerate in our organization? And
for how long will they be able to tolerate us?” Excellent performance results do not depend upon
the high talent you can snare, but in recognizing the talents of the people you have, effectively
drawing on these and managing them to achieve your organization’s goals. It's not about the
talent that you need, but rather what you do with the talent you already have. For lasting success,
the best talent managers take ordinary people and get them to do extraordinary thing

Fig.4.1

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Fig. 4.2

42
HR often complains that they are not perceived to be strategic and don’t represent much of the
overall budget of a company. We have to acknowledge that indeed, as shown on the chart below,
HR and certainly talent management as a percentage of revenue is often below 1%.

Fig. 4.4

But for all of us that believe that business performance is driven by talent, it is at the center!

More importantly, this chart shows the huge leverage that superior Talent Management
practices have. From a productivity standpoint to turnover impact, organizations with sub-
optimal talent management practices are doomed to mediocrity.

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CHAPTER-6 CONCLUSION

Failures in talent management are mainly due to the mismatch between the supplies and demand
not due to the failure in the concept. We need a new way of thinking about the talent
management challenge.  A new framework for talent management has to begin by being clear
about the objectives. 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. The
goal of talent management is the much more general, but the most important task of TM is to
help the organization to achieve its overall objectives.

It's time for a fundamentally new approach to talent management. Companies should first
balance make-versus-buy decisions by using internal development programs to produce most--
but not all--of the needed talent, filling in with outside hiring. Second, firms can reduce the risks
in forecasting the demand for talent by sending smaller batches of candidates through more
modularized training systems in much the same way manufacturers now employ components in
just-in-time production lines. Third, companies can improve their returns on investment in
development efforts by

Every successful activity has involved a breakthrough. But there is no breakthrough without a
change in paradigm. You can’t manufacture innovation but you can create the right conditions
for it.

Breakthrough requires a “break” with the old ways of thinking. It starts with your culture, your
leadership style, acceptance of the new paradigm. It allows your teams to develop third
alternatives. Not MY WAY or YOUR WAY but a THIRD WAY, our way.

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CHAPTER-7 RECOMMENDATION

1. Engagement and employment brand as dynamics that can create momentum in building
an organic talent culture -Be opportunistic and go after the strong talent now available in
the market.
2. Focus your talent strategy on your core, what makes your organization unique
3. Start developing talent not for what your business needs today, but for what it will need
tomorrow.

4. Talent management as a long-term strategy- Experienced people need opportunities to

coach and mentor newer employees, and this will undoubtedly take them away from their
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CHAPTER-8 BIBLIOGRAPHY:

Books

 “Human resource management” by V S P Rao

Articles

 “Work anywhere” by Mark Dixon Hindustan times; March 16’ 2010.

 “Home work the new favourite” by Priya C Nair Ascent Times of India; March 17’2010.
 “Building the high-performance workforce’. A quantitative analysis of the effectiveness
of performance management strategies. Corporate Leadership Council,
2002;www.corporateleadershipcouncil.com
 “Work-life survey report 2006” Equal Employment Opportunities Trust EEO Trust,
2006, Auckland. www.eeotrust.org.nz
 “The Workplace Productivity Challenge” Summary of the report of the Workplace
Productivity Working Group. Workplace Productivity Working Group (WPWG), 2004
www.dol.govt.nz/productivity

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