280 _ HRM AND CONTEMPORARY ISSUES O Opening Case Study Localisation in the Gulf States |As you wil see in this chapter, ‘talent’is interpreted in diferent ways across different organisations and cultures, Broadly speaking, it can mean exceptional skils relative to others, for example a talented sportswoman has bet- ter skills than others in her field, or it can mean the particular, idiosyncratic abilities that people have. This case leans towards the idea of talent as idiosyncratic rather than relative. A serious economic problem facing the Gulf States is the employment of locals in place of migrants and expatri- ate workers. Gulf populations are young and growing. Young Saudis and Omanis, for example, want good jobs and a career, but the working populations of the Guif States contain large numbers of foreign workers. The tra- ditional way of finding jobs for locals has been to expand the public sector with cash from oll revenues. Public sector jobs are attractive to locals because they offer high status and are well paid and secure. But the public sectors in the Gulf cannot keep expanding ~ employing locals in the private sector is a priority. ‘To catalyse the employment of locals, Gulf countries and others have created localisation policies (e.g. Saudisa~ tion, Omanisation).In essence, these require employers to employ a percentage of locals in their workforce, with the percentage varying by sector and depending upon economic importance and past progress. So, we can see localisation as a particular form of talent management that focuses not on finding the best of the bunch but on deploying the talents of local people in decent jobs and laying the foundations for social and economic progress. But progress towards localisation has been slow. A key question therefore centres around the barriers to locali- sation: what are they and why do they persist? ‘Some barriers are well known. They include a lack of management and leadership training for locals, poor train- ing, poor English language training, and negative perceptions of private sector employment by locals. New research, however, has revealed some more complex structural problems (Al Nahdi and Swalles, 2016). Bearing in mind that many foreign managers have influence over staffing decisions and that many private organisations are owned by locals, additional barriers to employing local talent include: » Networking among expatriate managers suppresses the employment of locals. » Local owners and managers preferring to employ foreign workers because they are perceived as being more productive. » Inter-fath barriers - most foreign workers are not Muslim and observe different religious practices at work. » Local owners and managers preferring to employ foreigners with whom they can maintain a greater social distance because of differences in language and customs. Local talent therefore, in its broadest sense, is being suppressed by a lack of opportunity. Despite long-standing efforts by governments to increase the percentage of locals in the workforce, there are some deep-rooted bar- Tiers that impede progress. Some changes seem relatively easy, such as prioritising better language and man- agement training, but some of these barriers will not be overcome in the short term. Foreigners prefer to employ foreigners because they are seen as more productive and easier to manage, and some locals who are owners and/or managers can control their businesses more easily through foreigners than through other locals by lever- aging differences in language and culture. Social barriers of this kind are not easily dismantled, and the case illustrates the sorts of issues that arise in tal- ent identification and that can be extrapolated to talent management in organisations. Identifying talent is fraught with impressions, feelings, and biases. Questions 1. Why can cash-tich governments not continue to expand the public sector to employ locals? 2 To what extent would you agree with the suggestion that foreign workers in the Gulf States are more efficient and productive than local workers? ‘3. What types of prejudices might exist against local workers in the Gulf and Middle East? is often given asthe influential book The War jor Talen INTRODUCTION (Michaels, Handfeld-Jones and Axelrod, 2001). The ide ‘A quick look through the management literature might that corporations were fighting a war for talent and com suggest that talent management is a recent phenom- _ peting with each other for high-quality employees spreac enon, Most articles postdate 2000, and the starting point quickly through the boardrooms of corporate Americand Norther Europe. Good people were in short supply, orso itwas assumed. However, althouigh talk of ‘talent’ and talent manage- ment’ in the context of everyday work was uncommon before 2000, the benefits of talented people to organi- sations and society had been recognised long before (Swailes, 2016). By the middle of che twentieth century, there was much interest in identifying promotable execu tives and the characteristics that gave them their pro- motability (Bowman, 1964; Randle, 1956). What is clea, however is that there has been a shift in the emphasis that domestic and multinational organisations now put on managing talent. ‘An extensive study by the Boston Consulting Group (8CG, 2013) of executives across 34 countries found that while talent management was the most pressing HRM priority for companies, it was also the one in which their capabilities were the lowest. Similar findings came out ofa large Pricewaterhouse Coopers survey of executives (PwC, 2014), which reported that 63 per cent of execu tives felt that skills shortages were a serious problem but only 34 per cent felt that their employee selection systems were ‘well prepared’ for the challenges that lie ahead. Despite the heavy rhetoric about the importance of talent identification, many companies do not run talent programmes. Factors positively influencing the adop- tion of talent management in multinationals are size of the firm, whether products/services are standardised, whether the firm has a global HR approach, and whether the firm operates in relatively low technology sectors (McDonnell etal, 2010). Thereis no shortage of prescrip tive advice on how to design and operate talent pro- grammes, and we do not repeat that advice here. Instead, we set out a more critical analysis of talent management in an effort to better appreciate the practical operating problems that could arise when talent programmes are attempted. DEFINITIONS Incommon with other HR practices such as performance related pay, organisations are free to choose whether they engage with talent management or not. If they do engage with it, then they are free to define it and to oper- ate it in any way they wish to suit their own outlook on how people should be managed and their market posi- tion. An organisation might run a talent programme but prefer to call it something else that better fits with the organisation's language and culture, What this means is, that organisations may run what they see as talent pro- ‘grammes but that do not match definitions used by academics. ‘TALENT MANAGEMENT: CRITICAL PERSPECTIVES 281 Talent and talent management First, what is talent? In the context of gifted children, Howe, Davidson and Sloboda (1998) argued that talent has five properties. These include: a partly innate and ‘genetically transmitted component, that talent is some- thing confined to a minority, and that talents are domain- specific, for example, music or dance. They refer to the genetic component as the ‘talent account’ but conclude that the main determinants of excellence are differences in early experiences, opportunities, training, and practice. Extending this theory to organisations suggests that: «employees showing exceptional talent will make-up only a small proportion of the workforce; ‘+ employees will need ample opportunities to hone and practice their talents; and, «employees will use social capital accumulated in early if. In telation to talent and giftedness in art, sport and other domains, ‘talent is often taken as meaning the top 10 per cent ofan ability group compared to their age peers (Gagne, 2000), The link to age is important since, for example, itis inappropriate to compare the best pianists aged 16-18 with the best pianists aged 30-40 simply because the older group has more experience. A similar philosophy is usually applied in workplaces where talent might be sought across various levels of seniority and different operational areas. The easiest way of looking at talent management is to see it a5 differentiating between current and porential employees in terms of their performance, contribution, and especially their potential; sorting the ‘best from the rest’ Potential is a key factor because, although high per- formance is important, not all high performers are deemed to have the potential to go further in the organisation. This leads usto an exclusive or elitist view ofa workforce and the labour markets that supply new employees: itis exclusive because most employees are excluded from the talent poo. Following the elitist line, only a small proportion of ‘employees will be deemed as talented. Although research on talent management has been impeded by a lack of consen- sus around a definition, the dusts starting to settle now and ‘we suggest that, fr eltist talent management, the definition provided by Collings and Mellahi (2009:305) capeures it wel, ‘As they see it, organisational talent management isthe activities and processes that involve the systematic identification of key positions which differentially con- tribute to the organisation's sustainable competitive advantage, the development of a talent poo! of high potential and high performing incumbents to fill these roles, and the development ofa differentiated human resource architecture to facilitate filling chese positions with competent incumbents and to ensure their con- tinued commitment to the organisation.282 HRM AND CONTEMPORARY ISSUES ‘Three things are emphasised in this definition: high poten- tial people, sets of human resource management practices to leverage and further develop their potential, and fitting ‘these people into key or pivotal roles where ther skis will rmake the greatest impact on the organisation. This approach is unashamedly elitist. It assumes that some people are of ‘more use than others and that some roles have more influ- ence on organisational success than others. Pivotal roles are not just the most senior however; people in lower level, ccustomer-facing roles can have big effects on organisational performance. @ Class Activity New research suggests that in sport and arts ‘a small proportion of super-performers make disproportionately high impact on organisational performance, » To what extent might this result generalise to more traditional work sectors? » Are there any characteristics of the nature of dif- ferent types of work that make this finding more or less likely? Global talent management Global talent management is essentially the same philoso- phy and approach but applied across a much larger scale. Because ofthe larger scale global talent managements more ‘complex as it has to respond to an organisation’ differing strategic priorities globally and be sensitive to cross-national and regional differences in beliefs about how people should bbe managed, Scullion and Collings (2011) give the following. reasons for the emergence of global talent management asa key strategic issue for multinational corporations. Table 12.1 Talent management and human resource management + Agrowing belietamong executives that global business, success rests on globally competent talent. «+ Agrowing bei that there are shortages of management and leadership talent on an international scale while rec- ognising that talented employees may be located (hid- den) in complex global operations. Ways of surfacing the latent talent in a workforce are therefore priority Global talent searches are needed to identity the peo- ple who are capable of managing very diverse work forces brought about by rising gender diversity in the workplace and much easier mobility of labour wit and across labour markets Easier mobility also makes it easier for high potential people to work elsewhere — so retaining them has become more ofa priority The increasing shift to knowledge-based and service sectors in which human capital has more direct con- nections to organisational success because of the increasingly intellectual nature of work. Inclusive talent management ‘As mentioned above, talent management is usually viewed through an elitist lens, but it can be approached in a vari- ety of ways. Some organisations, perhaps because of sen- sitivity to possible criticism of elitism or perhaps because ‘of genuine concerns about the morality of elitism, operate more inclusive strategies. Inclusive talent strategies appear to be much less common than elitist versions, however, and raise questions about how they might differ from good but standardised human resource management practices. To get a better understanding of what inclusive talent management could be like we need to appreciate how exclusive approaches differ from human resource management (see Table 121). Human resource management focuses on all employees for the whole of their employment with the organisation, Dimension | HRM "| Exclusive talent management. Scope | Coversall employees from recruitment through to termination of employment. Focuses ona minority of employees forso long as they arena talent poo organisation should be lke. Includes strategies, polices, and practices unique tothe organisation. Heavily influenced by the ways that line managers incerpret and implement policies, Functions | Coversall HR remits(eg, reward, employment | Focuses on identifying high potential employees and delivering relations and performance management)and | a differentiated development experience. emphasises career compliance with employment lav. development and succession planning. Purpose | Looksforconstencyofexperenceacossjobs, | Focuses on succession planning for key positions and filing key ‘aces and roles during theliftime ofempoymen. | positions with high potenial people. Drivers | Visions of what employment with the Talk of scarcity and competitive advantage. Closely inked to the resource-based view n choosing whom to develop. Conformance to sector and labour marker expectations. Heavily influenced by senior managers, consultants, and a talent team in designing the approach.Itcovers a wider range of functions than talent manage- rent and operates those functions across all roles and grades. The human resource management experience is heavily dependent upon the individual's relationship with his/her line manager, whereas the talent experience is overlaid with exposure to senior managers and other high potential people. If inclusive talent management is to be more than 2 seandard human resource management experience on offer to all employees, then it has to offer something dif- ferent, Recent theoretical consideration of what inclusive talent management could entail (Swailes, Downs; and Orr, 2014) proposes the following characteristics: «Inclusive talent management has to focus on all (or at least most) employees. + Talent in inclusive talent management in seen as an absolute characteristic ofa person, not something that is relative to the talent of others. ‘Organisations must try to identify and deploy the unique talents of all employees. Talent deployment on a larger scale requires greater organisational willingness to rotate people through jobs as a way of helping to discover where talents are best deployed. ‘s Wherea person's talent cannot be effectively deployedin an organisation then reasonable efforts should be made to help the individual deploy their talents ‘elsewhere. In sharp contrast to the elitist definition, inclusive talent management has been defined as, ‘the recognition and acceptance that all employees have talent together with the on-going evaluation and deployment of employees in positions that gives the best fit and opportunity (via participation) for employees to use those talents (Swailes et al, 2014: 533). This approach to talent management is unlikely to become widespread, however, because of the costs of implementing it. Nevertheless itis in many ways a more accurate description of ‘true’ talent management since it recognises and tries to use the abilities, interests, and skills of an entire workforce rather than a small part ‘of one. Indeed, Swailes and colleagues (2014) argued that conventional, elitist talent management is better seen as partial talent management since it only addresses part of the talent available to an organisation. St2P4y, Questions “2, 1. Of the forms of talent programme |= desorbed above, which do you think (3 has the strongest moral basis and why? 2. Asan employee, which type of programme would you prefer to be part of? TALENT MANAGEMENT: CRITICAL PERSPECTIVES 283 THEORETICAL PERSPECTIVES Strategic human resource management Eltse approaches to talent management fit very well with classic theory around strategic human resource manage- ment. In particular, eitist talent management fits with and brings life to the idea of workforce differentiation (Huseid and Becker, 2011). In the differentiated workforce, not all ‘employees are thought to contribute equally. Some jobs are assumed to be more important than others that, while they may be essential, do not add as much value to the “organisation and may be easily staffed or contracted-out. ‘Theory suggests that a differentiated workforce needs a differentiated human resource architecture to get the best ‘out of it (Becker and Huselid, 2006). Failure to recognise differentiation impedes the organisation's competiveness and competitive advantage. The key question this poses is whether organisational competitiveness derives from the average performance of a majority of employees or the ‘super’ performance of a minority. New research is ‘very clear that, in some sectors, employee performance is not normally distributed but follows a power distribution (Aguinis and O'Boyle, 2014; O’Boyle and Aguinis, 2012). Put simply, outstanding performance by a minority has a massive effect impact on organisational performance. ‘Much mote research is needed to test the extent to which thisappliesin other business sectors and cultures, however. Talent management is aform of human resource devel- opment and, like most HRD, exists largely for the benefit of organisations not individuals. This is consistent with human capital theory and the resource-based view (Bar- rey, 1991; Wright, Dunford and Snell, 2001) which assume that it is not worthwhile for organisations to develop employees unless it serves the organisation to do so and even then they may leave (Bryson, 2007). Human capital theory has been influential in explaining why organisa- tions should engage in HRD, and it recognises two types of sis general and firm-specific. General skills are usable to other organisations whereas firm-specific sils by defi- nition, are not. From a human capital perspective, it only rmakes sense to run talent programmes that develop firm- specific skills as these give ahigher return on investment. ‘The resource-based view shifted explanations of competi- tive advantage away from external factors, such as social and economic trends, towards greater recognition of the role of internal factors. To give sustained competitive advantage, resources need to be rare, valuable, inimitable and integrated into the business (organised) and the more of these characteristics that a resource has the more use- ful it becomes. This makes sense because, for example, a resource that is easily obtained by competitors (not rare) andJor which is easily copied by competitors will not give competitive advantage for long.284 HRM AND CONTEMPORARY ISSUES Resources can be many things such as natural resources, capital, and inter-firm relationships, and we need to ask: what is the resource in talent management? At a simple level itis the people named as talent who are the resource. ‘We use ‘named’ here because in this context to say ‘denti- fied’ as talent suggests that talent is objectifiable, some- thing that can be identified with precision such that ‘anyone not identified as talent is not talented. With that ‘caveat in mind, the resource has to be more than simply the people and much more about what they bring. The resource is better seen as social structures that the ‘tal ented! create and use to benefit the organisation, itis their relationships and their networks and their ability to use them effectively tha lie atthe heart ofthe true resource. The distinctive social architecture that develops among people is rare in the sense that no other identical archi- tecture or configuration exists and its inimitable because other organisations cannot copy the same architecture. If this unique social structure is well organised, then the con- ditions for talent management to contribute a distinctive resource are met. There is some evidence for this theory from research on what happens to stars’ when they move between organisations (Groysberg, Lee and Nanda, 2008; Groysberg, Nanda and Nohrria, 2004). Groysberg and col- leagues found that the performance of'stars' dipped when theyswitchedtoanother organisation, and thisisexplained by a loss or fracture of the networks that sustained the stars before switching. While some of a star's network remains in place, important aspects of it are lost and with it the ability to perform at the same very high level. This also explains why organisations often recruit whole teams, for example research and development teams or teams of traders, Recruiting a whole team improves the chances of preserving the social architecture that sustained the high performing team, and the chances of impor ilar high levels of performance are maximised. Now that we know why talent management should work, wo related questions arise. First, are there other rea- sons why organisations pursue it? Second, why do some organisations not adopt it? Reasons for not adopting tal- ‘ent management include: + Managers being satisied with organisational perfor. mance to the extent that deliberate employee differ- entiation strategies are judged unnecessary ‘¢ Managers believing that there are more pressing pri- orities to boost performance than talent management. + Traditions of collectivism and equality in organisa- tional cultures that would cash with the philosophy of elitist talent management. This explains why tal- ent programmes occur less often in the public sector which tends to be sensitive to hard performance evalu- ation and explicit valuation of employee contributions, accelerated promotion, and reward (Boyne, Jenkins and Pools, 1999). + In large organisations, the sheer complexity of design- ing a fair international talent operation may be a disincentive. ‘© The (in)abilty of senior HR managers to understand business needs to the extent that ausefultalentsystem could be designed and operated. Oz ical Thinking 12.1 Geographical variation in philosophy Later inthis chapter we refer to a ‘dark side’ to sum-up possible negative consequences of talent manage- ment. Think of the basics: A small number of employ- ‘208 is selected for special development aimed at accelerating ther careers. The majorty of employees are not. We would like you to think about possible dark- side effects and how organisations could minimise the risks of a dark side occurring. To help you do this Questions 1. Organisation cultures are all different, so what types of culture could accentuate a dark side? 2 What features could organisations design into talent programmes to minimise the risk ofa dark side? 3. How could organisations assess the extent to which a dark side is occurring? Institutionalism In relation to why organisations adopt or do not adopt talent systems, there is a compelling explanation over and above the resource-based view. In essence, some organi- sations adopt talent management because others do. ‘This explanation relies on organisational insttutionalism theory, which explains why organisations operating in the same sector are often very similar in the ways that they structure and operate. Think of banks and universities, for ‘example, Every organisation operates in afield of organisa- tions providing the same or similar products or services. Ina field, organisations source new employees from the same labour markets, access the same supply chains and have similar stakeholder configurations. Fields create pres- sues for organisations to behave and function in the same or similar ways. Failure to conform to institutional pres- sures and look the same can be problematic for an organi- sation, a its reputation inthe field could be tarnished by ‘nonconformity Institutions are not organisations and should not be confused with them, An institution is, ‘the more or lesstaken for granted repetitive social behaviour that is under- pinned by normative systems and cognitive understand- ings that give meaning to social exchange and thus enable selfreproducing social order (Greenwood et al, 2008: 4). Talent management arose in a particular corporate con- text in che United States. efits with the American tradition of individualism ancl comparatively light unionisation and employment relations legislation. Organisations in Scandi- ravia, Southern Europe, and South America, for example, ‘operate in very different contexts. All countries operate d= ferent social security systemsand have diferent approaches to the role and extent of unionisation, worker involvement and collective bargaining. National-level factors like this have inspired the study of comparative human resource management, because of concerms over the generalsabilty ‘of Anglo-American approaches to managing people, Institutional environments come with a unique history shaped by culture and values, traditions, habits and inter- ests (Jafee, 2001). This means that organisations do not behave in rationally economic ways but conform to the social expectations of an institutional field. Organisational behaviour, such as choices about how to manage people, is notsimply a response to market pressures but aso insti- tutional pressures (Paauwe and Bosele, 2007). Conform- ing to the expectations ofthe field helps organisations to gain legitimacy and increases the likelihood of survival (Greenwood and Hinings, 1996). In institutional theory, the mechanism that explains why organisations lookalike isisomorphism (DiMaggio and Pow- ell, 1983), which manifessin three ways ~ coercive, mimetic and normative isomorphism, Coercive mechanisms involve ‘employment legistation and the role of government in bus- ness organisation, Recent government interes in the ways that banks operate is an example. Mimetic mechanisms refer tothe imitation (miming) of competitors. A multina- tional corporation, for instance, that sees its competitors running talent programmes and whose current and pro- spective employees are looking for talent programmes wil feel under pressure to respond even though there may not bea clear business case To some extent, talent management could be a fashionable rather than a rational response. Nor- ‘mative isomorphism is shaped by the influence ofthe pro- fessions on organisations. Different professions, for example finance, engineering, and law, have their own norms about how knowledge is created and transmitted and about career structures. Aspiring tax consultants or lawyers will have views about the career development that employers should be offering, and those views may push the organisa- tion towards some sort of talent strategy. Failure to respond ‘would make the organisation look out of synch in the sector and tarnish ts legitimacy. Furthermore, all business sectors contain executives who move between firms and who meet at informal and TALENT MANAGEMENT: CRITICAL PERSPECTIVES 285) formal events. As the network of interactions between people grows, then the occurrence of rationalised myths increases. These myths then diffuse throughout a sector through ‘relational networks’ (Greenwood etal, 2008: 3) What is deemed as rational, however, is set by the intitu- tional context. What appears as rational in one sector is not necessarily seen as rational in another. Furthermore, hile practices can differ widely between sectors, they can also differ widely within sectors when the same sector is viewed across national borders. Most developed countries have a university sector, for instance, but there are big dif ferences in the ways that universities operate between ‘countries and the differences are caused by political and cultural overlays Whether talent management has become an insti tution is itself debateable. It perhaps has further to go before it becomes one, but in sectors where ic is widely implemented without much thinking itis getting close to becoming one (Zucker, 1983). This insight from insti tutionalism tells us that, in some sectors, talent man- agement, which is essentially an idea about how people should be managed, is probably adopted: ‘eto gain or maintain legitimacy; + toappear rational and normal; and «© to offer something different from other organisations but also to conform with other organisations (Sahlin and Weddin, 2008). @ Class Acti Look on the internet for examples of talent pro- {grammes in multinational companies. » What are the philosophies behind the programmes, what areas of the workforce are covered, and what, development programmes are available to people intalent pools? a oe eg Celebrity society Another critical view of the spread of talent manage- ment relies on ideas from the notion of celebrity society (van Krieken, 2012) and the ways that it has extended to organisations. Increases in the pay and rewards given to chief executives have outstripped those given to other employees, and alongside this many chief executives have sought andJor achieved corporate celebrity status. With constant pressure to deliver business improvements and a media hungry for stories, organisations are always looking cout for success stories and individuality. Corporate insid- ersare often assumed to be too far steeped in problematic286 HRM AND CONTEMPORARY ISSUES organisation cultures to risk at the top, and so outsiders are often preferred. Attracting attention, making bold decisions, publicising successes, winning prizes and awards are now an indispensible part of life at the top and have become part of what it means to be talented. ‘Alongside the increasing importance of celebrity, the ‘management of large organisations has become more complex. Intemational and global scale operations are ‘more common, labour markets are much more fluid, capi- tal is more easily available, and the power of investors is stronger. Talent management is logical response to man- aging complex situations; find the smartest people and set them to work on taking the organisation forward, Those who pass the talent auditions and perform wel will also become minor celebrities on the organisational stage and maybe, someday, a big’star: Talent pools symbolise what ‘one has to do to be successful in an organisation. They are a touchstone, a reference point, for revealing one's identity in an otherwise large, complex and anonymous organisation, Van Krieken (2012) argues that in celebrity society there is an oversupply of information and a scarcity of attention. Creating talent pools is a way of concentrating executive attention on a few people and interpreting per- formance through them rather than dealing with a mul- titude of employees and the countless interactions that ‘occur between them. Talent management can be seen therefore as a way of helping to simplify the management cof very complex situations. 5f0P.4, Think about the reasons for the growth .°,, and spread of talent management given |) above, Which reason(s) do you think is r3' the most compelling and why? To help you do this, you might think about and discuss this statement: Talent manage- ment is much more about top managers playing-out their own visions of what high performers should be doing than it is about making a measurable difference to organisational performance,’ IDENTIFYING TALENT Nine-box grids Talent is usually seen as a combination of recent and ‘current performance together with future potential, A ‘common method of visualising a workforce on these dimensions is through a nine-box grid where the nine boxes are combinations of three levels of performance and three levels of potential ~ see Figure 12.1. na large organi- sation, the grids are completed at departmental and local levels and/or by functional areas. ey re then aggregated upwards to provide talent analysts and planners with a picture of organisational talent across the organisation by level and area. The end-of-chapter case study shows how 2 large company used the nine-box approach and the sys- tems that support it. In Figure 12.1, each box is labelled according to the assessment of performance and potential based on the criteria used in the organisation, The implications of being located ina particular box depend on the organi- sation’s HR policies. Only occupants of the ‘super- star’ box might be deemed ‘talented’ in a very elitist scheme. ‘Stars’ and ‘future stars’ might be included in 42 more inclusive but still elitist scheme. The majority of employees are likely to be located on the first and second rows. Grids of this type can be problematic because indi vidual performance can be erratic for reasons such as changing personal circumstances. Even though perfor. mance can be evidence based, it is also partially ilu- sory, and underperformance is perhaps more likely to be recognised than excellent performance. In complex and fast-changing business conditions, assessments of high potential can be shortived as environmental changes act to make them redundant. Effective grid use also requires open conversations with people, for example asking questions about their intent to leave the organisation. The grid approach is highly managerial and performa- tive. Ie utilises the concept of human value which in this instance assumes that different employees posses dif- ferent values because they are capable of rendering dif- ferent levels of service in the future. Borrowing directly from economics, the value of people is defined as the expected value of the services that they will deliver to the organisation in the future. Future services are a func- tion of aperson’s productivity their transferability, their promotabilty, and the likelihood that they will stay with the organisation (Flamholtz, 1999). In economic terms, the human value of an employee depends upon the value of what he/she could do in the coming year or two, Each of the four levels of service represents a ‘service state’ (Famholtz, 1999: 180). For example, an employee who stays in his/her current position occu- pies one service state; an employee who is promoted to a higher position, and in theory who gives more value to the organisation, occupies a different service state. The nine-box grid is a qualitative way of capturing talent by scanning actoss a workforce and allocating employees to different service states according to their perceived value to the organisation,‘TALENT MANAGEMENT: CRITICAL PERSPECTIVES 287 Promotability timescale eee ‘Uncertain Medium term Short term Potential star Future star ‘Superstar a Combines under Solid performance and | Outstanding performance ey performance with high shows high potential inall areas and shows p potential. high potential Promising ‘One to watch ‘Star promotable | Peformance improvement | Solid perormanceand | Excellent performer and | needed to confirm showssome potential | shows some potential potential. Under performing Reliable performer Excellent performer Not promorable |) Peformance management Steady-state Keep interventions needed. Underperforming Good ‘Outstanding fs Figure 12.1. Example nine-box grid Biasing factors in talent identification A limitation of manageralist methods such as the grid is that they mask a lot of irational behaviour that affects, how employees are viewed. Sources of bias are summa- ised below. Physical differences A small but noticeable effect comes from personal attrac- tiveness. Better-looking people tend to earn more than others. This does not apply everywhere, but it does in sectors where looks are more likely to enhance productiv ity, such as sales or consulting, Indeed, the best-looking people are more likely to self-sort into occupations where their looks will work to their advantage (Hamermesh and Biddle, 1994). Physical height also correlates with career success and higher earnings (Judge and Cable, 2004). This is explained by nutrition, which correlates with height and cognitive abilities (Schick and Steckel, 2015), although apparent height/earnings effects may be accentuated by Performance rating, very short people sorting into low-pay occupations (Lun- berg, Nystedt and Rooth, 2014). Upwards influence and liking ‘A supervisor's ratings of promotabilty are affected by the upwards influence tactics used by subordinates such as rea- soning, ingratiation, assertiveness, and bargaining, Trying to influence supervisors, however, is a risky game for subordi- nates because they do not know how supervisors will react (Thacker and Wayne, 1995). Upwards influence tactics are likely to vary across cultures and may be related to power- distance and individualism-collectvism (Terpstra-Tong and Ralston, 2002). Impression management is a closely related concept, and men and women have different approaches to the use of impression management, which leaves younger ‘women in particular at a disadvantage (Singh, Kurnra and Vinnicombe, 2002). Selfpresentation is a powerful tactic in the workplace, and people who exhibit political sil will progress faster than those who do not (Blickle et al, 2012).288 HRM AND CONTEMPORARY ISSUES In addition to influence tactics, performance ratings are highly correlated with the extent to which raters lke the people they are rating (interpersonal affect). Research shows a substantial overlap between rater liking and per- formance rating, although this is to some extent a refiec- tion of true differences in ratee performance (Sutton et al, 2013; Varma and Pichler, 2007). A plausible explanation is that raters tend to like high performers more than others. ‘In the News Class matters! ‘Top law and accountancy firms in the UK are ‘side- lining’ working-class job applicants in favour of can- didates from privileged backgrounds - according to ‘a survey published in 2015. In their search for talent, firms used criteria such as the amount of travelling that candidates have done, their confidence, and a ‘posh’ accent, These and other factors were more likely seen in graduates from ‘top universities where recruitment was focused. Graduates from working- class backgrounds who are less likely to travel and be involved in prestigious social events were less likely to be recruited. Read more at http://www.bbe.co.uk/news! education-33109052. Gender Gender isan important variable in leadership research and is a source of potential bias within talent management. Women continue to be disadvantaged at work (Acker, 2012; Calas and Smicich, 2006; Chartered Management Institute, 2014) and tend to lose out in terms of an endur- ing gender pay gap, an association with lower status and less stable part-time or flexible work (Durbin and To son, 2014; Wilson, 2013), and both horizontal and vertical segregation of obs. Horizontally, men and women tend to be located in different types of work that become associ- ated with a particular gender, typically to the detriment ‘of work that is seen as largely populated by women, Verti- cally, there are far more men at the top of organisations and the professions than women. Even very senior women tend to lose out through political processes in organisa- tions, which can became a double-bind since politcal behaviour is seen as congruent with a male norm and thus deemed inappropriate for women (Doldor, Anderson and Vinnicombe, 2013). ‘Acker (1990, 1992) suggested that inequality is inher- cent in organisations that are themselves gendered. Organi- sations are seen to have an inherent preference for male workers who ate typically seen to be'‘unencumbered!’ and thus ideal workers. Acker (1990, 1992) identified four ke processes through which organisations remain gendere ‘The first, gender divisions, refers to notions of horizont and vertical segregation noted above. The second refe to the manner in which ‘symbols, images and forms « consciousness’ (Acker, 1992: 253) produce and reproduc a gendered order. Thus, language and communicatio in organisations typically rely on notions of masculi ity and making oneself heard, to the advantage of me The third process, interactions between organisation stakeholders, works to reinforce images of gender’ (Acke 1992: 253) and ensures that hierarchies supporting an highlighting male dominance are maintained. The fourt process, ‘internal mental work’ (Acker, 1992: 253), relate to actions at both an individual and collective level ch: adhere to (or otherwise) gender-appropriate person with all four processes working together to reinforce gendered organisation ‘substructure’ (Acker, 1992: 255 ‘Women in modern organisations (fluid, focused on ind vidual success) may be at an even greater disadvantag through these four processes, since career structures an ascendancy through the ranks are now less formalised an more subject individual self-promotion and line mar ager sponsorship (Williams, Muller and Kilanski,2012), Such sel and line manager promotion is relevant t talent management that focuses on leadership taler and high leadership potential (De Vos and Dries, 2013 Talent identification processes, therefore, struggle to b gender-neutral (Famdale, Scullion and Sparrow, 201( and are particularly prone to gender bias. The CIPD (201 ‘conducted a mixed-method study of talent managemer from the perspective of the talent managed and foun that the manner in which talent is identified is increa: ingly reliant on opaque processes and aspects such social networking, Other research supports this view an Points to the central role of informal networks in taler Progression decisions (Handley, 2014; Tansley and Tietz 2013; Williams et al, 2012). However, women - particular! those in part-time employment (Durbin and Tomlinsot 2014) - do not benefit from mentors and networks to th same extent as men (Al Ariss, Cascio and Paauwe, 2014). On the basis of in-depth interviews with ‘high Potentials, Ibarra, Carter and Silva (2010) conclude that women are far les likely than men to benefit fror mentoring, largely because their mentors tend not to b as senior and, therefore, are less influential and les likel to open up Key network links for women. Linehan an. Scullion (2008) identified similar difficulties facing senic female managers who were found to miss out on opporet nities for promotion due toa lack of effective mentorsan, sponsors and a more limited access to powerful network compared to male managers. The female managers i their study explicitly referred to difficulties in succeedinina ‘man’s world’ (Linehan and Scullion, 2008: 29) high- lighting the continuing relevance of Acker (1990, 1992, 2012) model. Thus, women are les likely to benefit from mentoring and useful networks which may have a detr- rental impact on their chances of being identified and included in talent pools and of progressing upwards. ‘As outlined above, talent management tends to focus con leadership or managerial talent. The notion of man: agement or leadership itself, however, can be seen to be gendered because ofan enduringnotion of heroic’ ormas- culine leadership (Billing, 2011; Broadridge and Simpson, 2011; Ford, Burkinshaw and Cahill, 2074), thus calling nto question the equity of talent management approaches, ‘Makeld et al, (2010) found evidence of two processes in global talent management; ‘online’ (characterised by recorded and demonstrated prior experience and feed- back) and ‘offline’ (more furure-oriented) processes. The second, offline, stage was seen to be particularly limited due to cultural distance between HQ and subsidiaries and homophily or similarity bias (the tendency to sup- port or promote those who are similar to ourselves) and ako because of network position (propinquity). People who were included in more central networks, who were loser or more visible to, and perceived as similar to, cen- tral decision-makers were more likely to be included in the talent pool. This has obvious implications for gender bias; women are less likely to benefit from powerful or central informal networks and, because they are less likely to comply with a masculine leadership construct, are more likely to be disadvantaged. ‘Ackers nation of the ideal masculine unencumbered worker permeates other aspects of the talent manage- ment process. Festing, Knappert and Kornau (2015), for example, ater research across five countries, concluded that global performance management (one potential ele- ‘ment of talent identification and selection) is more closely aligned with the preferences of male managers. Such processes are reinforced through the exposure of those included in talent pools to strategic language’ and ways of talking to which the excluded are seldom if ever exposed. This can become a virtuous circle, whereby those identi fied as talented become perceived by others as ever more talented (as they are using strategic language) and, indeed, conduct identity work to reinforce this position (Tansley and Tietze, 2013). As women are les likely to be identi fied as talent and less likely to be senior managers, their exposure to such language will be restricted and their dis- advantage potentially intensified. Five aspects or elements of talent management that have an impact on the likely extent of gender bias have been observed in German media organisations (Festing, Kornau and Shafer, 2014). Gender bias was deemed more likely in an organisation that has: TALENT MANAGEMENT: CRITICAL PERSPECTIVES 289 a prevailing masculine talent/management stereotype: «hierarchical or vertical career orientation, with a model of linear career paths; ‘© greater focus on technical (rather than personal devel- ‘opment) sil in talent development programmes; an elite (rather than inclusive) approach to talent management; amore ‘discriminatory’ talent management approach, for example male-dominated talent selection teams and opaque processes. Thus, talent management, whist potentially adding value for organisations, may have several unanticipated and potentially undesirable consequences for women. ® ical Thinking 1 ‘As you can see, there are some serious biasing effects that might be introduced into talent pro- ‘grammes simply because of a person's gender and the idea of the gendered organisation. We would like you to think about the following questions: Questions 1. To what extent do you think that gender is a real issue in the faimess of talent identification? 2 Do you think itis possible to overcome gender bias in talent management programmes? ‘8. What practices could organisations put in place to minimise gender bias? 4. Can you suggest any additional factors to the five identified by Festing and colleagues (2014) that ‘would accentuate gender bias? ——_—— Talent identification in multinational companies Inaddition to the general problems in talent identification, some issues arise specifically in MNCs. One obvious differ fence is the interaction of management styles emanating from the parent country and the host countries in which subsidiaries are based. Subsidiaries in different countries are influenced by different institutional effects (see above) that push towards isomorphism and in effect push to keep staffing systems apart. Vo (2009), for instance, found that Usand Japanese MNCs operating in Vietnam followed dif- ferent staffing polices. The American firm was more wil- to employ locals in management roles and mirrored its home country practices by fast tracking high potential staff. In contrast, the Japanese MNC followed a traditional ‘model of relying more on expatriate managers long se vice and late promotion ifjustfied. The Japanese firm also290 HRM AND CONTEMPORARY ISSUES effectively restricted locals to going no further than mid- dle management positions. Analysing the British takeover of a French firm, Bousse- baa and Morgan (2008) found major incompatibility problems. French managers saw the British approach of ‘measuring performance and potential as leading to a ‘rat race’ in contrast to a much preferred esprit de corps. The whole philosophy of talent identification was different in France and grounded in the idea that a managerial elites developed outside the firm in the grand écoles system. A British approach of seeking potential talent clashed with a French approach of employing proven talent. Selection for talent pools in MNCS is, as well as per- formance, influenced by cultural diferences, similarities (homophily) between high performing employees and the talent decision-makers, and the network position of staffsuch that higher visibility increases the chances of ta tent recognition (Make, Bjorkman and Ehrnrooth, 2010). ‘Another specific barter isthe failure of MNCs to manage talent in subsidiaries, which is aggravated by managers in subsidiaries suppressing talented staff in an effort to keep them in the subsidiary (Mellahi and Collings, 2010). Large and fast-moving economies Large and fast-moving economies such as Brazil, Rus- sia, India and China face a particular challenge arising from the type and availability of the human capital open to them. Concerns centre mostly around country-level effects such as the mobility of talented people (broadly defined as people with skills and qualifications). For India and China in particular, Doh et al. (2014) identified four uunderiying talent issues: 1 Population growth and shifts in the working age that will ‘exacerbate generational differences within a workforce’ (227). Expanding university education is producing more graduates, but companies face chal- lenges responding to graduate expectations. Talent programmes will need to accommodate both local and expatriate ways of thinking about management. 2. Specialist skills could be in shore supply despite rising university output. 3. The nature of work in India and China is chang- ing, moving from labour-intensive to more capital- intensive and knowledge-based sectors. This requires far more interaction with other organisations and other countries, so cross-cultural competences will be ata premium, 4 Increasing interactions will push for convergence of HR systems, including talent management. Sharp differ- ‘ences in talent practices between Western and Eastern firms could be problematic. (One of the big debates in HRM is whether it actual makes any difference to organisational performanc Of course, many organisations assume that it does, bu demonstrating a link empirically is very dificult pare for methodological reasons. However, the consenst now is that there are links between HR practices an organisational performance (Birdi et al, 2008; Croc et al, 2011). The question arises, however: will the sarr HR practices and architectures that work in the We migrate with the same effects to very different cultun and economic conditions? Or are different HR archite ‘tures required? What is becoming clear is that whatev HR systems are used, they have to be matched with qua ity skil, expertise) of the local labour and the strateg of the firm (Li etal, 2015). Successful talent systems w also need to address local cultural norms such as coh siveness and collaboration in China (Zhou et al, 2013 employees who can act as boundary spanners such : Japanese immigrants in Brazil (Furusawa and Brewste 2015), and running separate HR practices for manageri and non-managerial employees where needed (Fey an Bjorkman, 2001). ‘A central question in cross-country studies of tar management is how the concept varies between cout tries. On what dimensions might ideas about talent di fer? Inclusion versus exclusion seems an obvious on ‘Attitudes to age may differ - can older people till be re ognised as talent? Expectations of the jobs that wome should do and the roles that are appropriate for them m: also differ starkly between West and East. Views towart sourcing talent from inside and outside may also var However, we suggest that differences within countrie wherever you look, will be greater than the differenc between countries. ‘A comparative study of India and China found th: both were comfortable with an elitist approach in con ‘mon with the West; talent was seen in terms of youn promotable people, but the extent to which firms wou see the need for distinctive programmes to manage te cent may diffe. Cooke et a, (2014) concluded that talet ‘management has to be contingency-based such that tt particular design ofa programme will be contingent upc local customs, norms, and HR practices. TALENT MANAGEMENT: THE DARK SIDE Sources of bias in talent identification processes a one example of the ‘dark side’ of talent managemer Figure 12.2 summarises some of the unanticipated cons: quences for employees who are included in or exclude from talent pools,Included in the talent pool # Silo mentality © Political and obtuse source: Adapted from Handley (2014) Potentially undesirable consequences for those who have not been identified as talent might include feelings, ofinsecutity because they fel less valued, disappointment particularly if individuals have been rejected, or frustra- tion, all of which could have a negative impact on their performance (Ford, Harding and Stoyanova, 2010). Those included in the talent pool might also experience negative consequences: they may feel that they are being treated simply as a ‘resource’ (and so dehumanised) or, alterna- tively, they may feel that promised opportunities have not materialised, causing individuals to become disengaged (Mellahi and Collings, 2010; Huang and Tansley, 2012; Vaiman et al, 2012). The processes through which talent is identified and/or selected are a key contributor to such feelings through the biasing effects identified earlier in this chapter. In addition, team working may become problematic in elitist work cultures (Meliahi and Collings, 2010; Thunnissen, Boselie and Fruytier, 2013), Divisional, regional, or local manag: cers may also have a vested interest in retaining their own talent and not putting their better performing or high potential people forward for central talent development (Farndale, Scullion and Sparrow, 2010). Political behaviour amongst those who might potentially be included in the talent pool, in addition to their line managers, may create significant bartiers to effective implementation of talent Disengagement ifno challenging projects + Selffulilling prophecy through exposure to better leadership and strategic language Process Figure 12.2 The'dark side’ of talent management ‘TALENT MANAGEMENT: CRITICAL PERSPECTIVES 291 Not included in the talent pool ~ Insecurity, reduced performance Frustration Both: dehumanisation © Elise culture, teamworking difficult ‘© Talent identification bias, management and intensify unanticipated consequences for both the individual and the organisation (CIPD, 2010; Huang and Tansley, 2012; Malik and Singh, 2014). CONCLUSION Talent management is an. evolving and complex field that is fraught with political overlays and interests. Some organisations have explicit talent programmes; others avoid explicit programmes but maintain ‘hidden’ talent lists of staff and others avoid the practice altogether. The reasons why organisations adopt @ particular approach ate mired in assumptions about good leadership, what it Jooks ike and how leaders should be developed, and each business sector has its own set of influencing factors that govern the extent and form of talent initiatives. Despite the investments that many organisations make in talent programmes, their effects on business performance are not well understood, For many organisations, talent pro- grammes are an act of faith rather than a demonstrable influence on performance. The reasons why some people are identified as talent, the effects of talent programmes cn performance, and the ways that organisations evaluate the success of talent programmes are important topics for future research,