TALENT MANAGEMENT PRACTICES OF ORGANIZATIONS IN INDIA

Abstract

The study aimed to understand the talent management practices of organizations in India. The constructs of talent management that were studied are Talent Acquisition (TA), Competency Mapping (CM), Performance Management and Appraisal (PMA), Career Development (CD) and Succession Planning (SP) were considered for study under one umbrella aiming to develop a framework in the Indian context. The study investigated the interrelation amongst these constructs of talent management and examined the differences in the talent management practices of public and private sector organizations in India. Further, the study also investigated the role of demographics (age and hierarchical level) in impacting these dimensions. To accomplish the objectives of the study the data were collected from 260 Indian employees in various organizations at the senior, middle, and junior level positions. The convenient sampling technique has been chosen for administering the survey for this study. A structured interview was also conducted with senior-level HR managers of 25 reputed organizations in India to understand the practices of talent management adopted by them. The organizations selected for this study included manufacturing and service sector organization in India. The organizations considered for data collection were targeted to have at least 1000 employees and an annual turnover of 10 billion Indian rupees. The different statistical techniques are used in this study are correlation analysis, multiple hierarchical regression analysis, independent sample t-test, and MANOVA. The collected data were analyzed using SPSS and AMOS. Before analyzing the data were subject to preliminary screening of data, normality test, and the assessment of common method bias (CMB). After the preliminary data screening, the confirmatory factor analysis (CFA) was conducted to test the factor structure of study variables in the Indian context. Further various hypotheses were tested. The role of demographics has been tested using independent sample t-test and MANOVA. Further, multiple hierarchical regression was administered to determine the interrelation between the dimensions of talent management Talent Acquisition (TA), Competency Mapping (CM), Performance Management and Appraisal (PMA), Career Development (CD) and Succession Planning (SP). The findings of the study revealed that Talent Acquisition (TA), Competency Mapping (CM), Performance Management and Appraisal (PMA), Career Development (CD) and Succession Planning (SP) varied with employees’ age when studied jointly, but when studied independently only career development showed a significant effect on the age that varies with the different group of age. Further, the results revealed an insignificant effect of hierarchical level on the Talent Acquisition (TA), Competency Mapping (CM), Performance Management and Appraisal (PMA), Career Development (CD), and Succession Planning (SP). The finding revealed that a significant difference could be observed in public and private organizations in the perception of the practices of talent acquisition, Performance Management and Appraisal (PMA), succession planning (SP) practices in organizations in India depending upon the type being public or private. The results further indicated that there is no significant difference in career development (CD) in public and private sector organizations. The results of multiple hierarchial regression analysis demonstrated that talent acquisition (TA) is significantly associated with competency mapping (CM). Results further revealed that competency mapping (CM) was found to be a significant predictor of performance management and appraisal. The results demonstrated that talent acquisition (TA) is significantly associated with performance management and appraisal (PMA). In the accomplishment of an objective to study the relationship between performance management and appraisal (PMA) to career development (CD) based on the type of organization public or private in the Indian context. The result revealed a significant association of Performance Management and Appraisal (PMA) with Career Development (CD). The study further revealed that performance management and appraisal (PMA) is positively associated to succession planning (SP). In the discussion on the relationship between Career Development (CD) to Succession Planning (SP) based on the type of organizations public and private in the Indian context. The results revealed that there is a significant relationship between career development CD and succession planning (SP). The present study contributes to the field of talent management with the measures for optimum utilization of human resources aiming into long term retention. The findings of the study provide the empirical support to the importance of the practices of talent management namely talent acquisition, competency mapping, performance management and appraisal, career development, and succession planning. The study suggested that firms must understand the importance of talent management while managing talent. The results of the study reflect the importance of talent acquisition as a key construct for the identification of talented employees, collated to the organization’s goals, and need requiring for the present as well as future. The research suggested that organizations must take strategic measures for successful hiring by developing a competency model to identify the right person for the right job as and when required. The study suggests strategies to promote talent management in the form of improving systems of performance management and appraisal by developing analytical feedback based career development tool to reform the organizations in India to ensure long-term retention of its talented employees. This will enable the employers to understand the various skills of the employees which will result in judging the employee and predict the progress based on competencies and required training and development activities required to enhance the skill gaps of the employee. The study further recommends the need to develop a well-planned succession planning with objectives of career development of the employee. The career development opportunity brings in the feeling of being nurtured, developing a positive attitude, and trust amongst the employees. The finding of the research further highlights the need for an integrated systems model in the practices of talent acquisition, competency mapping, performance management and appraisal, career development, and succession planning to bring in the retention of talented employees in various organizations in India. HR practitioners can devise their policies to focus on the integrated relationship between Talent Acquisition, Competency Mapping, Performance Management and Appraisal, Career Development, and Succession Planning. The results of the study effectively contribute to the existing literature of talent management as an effort to study the talent management practices in the Indian context. It is a unique effort to study the practices of talent management talent acquisition, competency mapping, performance management and appraisal, career development, and succession planning, under one umbrella to develop an integrated talent management practice. The study attempted to investigate the interrelationship between talent acquisition, competency mapping, performance management and appraisal, career development, and succession planning. This study fulfills the gap in the existing literature employing an exhaustive literature review and empirical pieces of evidences to contribute to the field of talent management to address the urgent need for empirical research as recommended by many researchers. The study addresses the immediate need for an empirical study on the practices of talent management in a different culture-specific context as the past studies are more western-centric. Importantly, the study is an attempt to understand the need for talent management practices for retention because of war for talent, in the fast-growing economy like India, which has become a major hub for investment by many international organizations and is becoming a favorite market for the world. Conclusively, this study is a unique contribution to the existing literature, by providing empirical evidence to address the gap to understand how integrated talent management practices of talent acquisition, competency mapping, performance management and appraisal, career development, and succession planning will effectively retain employees. The study recommends the need for organizations to take up measures for mutual growth of employees as well as organizations with a common goal of development based on trust, satisfaction, and feeling of long term commitment.