‘Despite the growing popularity of talent management and over a decade of debate and hype, the concept of talent management remains unclear’ (Collings and Mellahi, 2009)
This assignment will explore this statement by conducting a literature review of the current commentary on the definition of ‘talent management’. Furthermore the impact any lack of clarity around the concept of talent management may have on the national and international markets which organisations source ‘talent’ from and any impact of Human Resource Management practices in terms of employee retention and exit strategies being managed fairly and ethically will also be looked at.
After careful analysis of the academic literature on talent management and what it actually is, it becomes apparent that there is a ‘fundamental lack of consensus’ about the definition of talent management. Despite various attempts of countless academics to define and describe the concept of talent management, there doesn’t seem to be any consensus on what exactly TM entails. Before looking at the concept of ‘talent management’ as a whole, one must look at the definition of ‘talent’ first to gain a better insight into this confusion and lack of clarity. Here are some examples of some definitions that have been put forward in recent years: * ‘Talent’ is essentially a euphemism for ‘people’ (Lewis and Heckman, 2006:141) * The best and the brightest (McKinsey in Beechler and Woodward, 2009:274) * ‘Talent consists of those individuals who can make a difference to organizational performance…….by demonstrating the highest levels of potential (Tansley et al, 2007: 8)
Ross (2013) provides a useful commentary on the definition (or the lack of), arguing that earlier biblical definitions of talent i.e. the inference that ‘some people have more ability than others and as a result are more successful’ are outdated. Ross’s