ensure the right
person is in the right
job at the right time
Jackson & Schuler, 1990
managing the supply,
demand, and flow of
talent through the
human capital engine
Pascal, 2004
a deliberate and
systematic effort by
an organization to
ensure leadership
continuity in key
positions and
encourage individual
advancement
Rothwell, 1994
the terms in the
TM debate – which
centers on the
effective
management of
employee talent
“there isn't a
single
consistent
or concise
definition
Nevertheless,
Ashton and
Morton note,
“good TM is of
strategic
importance”
A second
perspective on
talent
management
focuses
primarily on the
concept of
talent pools
is a set of processes designed to
ensure an adequate flow of
employees into jobs throughout the
organization
Kesler, 2002; Pascal, 2004
Grounding TM in
research
In the peer-reviewed literature there
is a significant body of research that
has examined the link between HR
investments and practices and
organizational outcomes
This field is
broadly known
as strategic
human resource
management
this research demonstrates the value
of high quality HR practices and has
outlined how that relationship can vary
depending on the business or people
Problems with TM as
currently defined
the term “talent
management” has
no clear meaning
“If we deal only with programs and
processes, then we never touch what is
ultimately our greatest strategic
differentiator: The talent inherent in each
person, one individual at a time”
Buckingham &
Vosburgh, 2001
To date, the criticisms of the “War
for Talent” approach to TM have
been equally unburdened by
rigorous data analysis
criticizes this approach
for promoting a nearly
exclusive focus on
individuals rather than
the many organizational
attributes (team
structure, physical
capital) that support
them.