Talent Management In Organizations

The recognition that employee skills and knowledge are critical in developing and sustaining competitor advantage has led many organizations to focus on human resources to attract and retain the very best employees. Over the past decade many organizations have sought to develop “talent management” programs to restore their staff recruitment and retention difficulties and to harness the skills of their best employees. This is particularly important in the global economy which is highly transient and fluid, and where supply shortages of skilled workers exist. Effective talent management strategies will improve profitability and increase shareholder value. Hence, it’s important first to define what is a Talent?

2.1.0 What is the meaning of talent?

In order to start with a common ground “talent” should be explained. While there has been substantial research undertaken on talent management as an HR initiative (Scullion et al., 2010), as Howe et al. (1998, pp. 399-400) note, people are rarely precise about what they mean by the term ‘‘talent’’ in

For example: The first dictionary definition of talent refers to a denomination of weigh used by the Assyrians Babylonians Greek Romans and other ancient peoples. A talent became a monetary unit when value was attributed to one talent of silver. According to Tansley (2011) the word talent entered English via the Bible. In Matthew 25: 14 there is a reference to a man who about to go on a journey entrusts his property to his servants, giving each five talents two and one respectively according to his ability. The Greek version of this verse uses the word talent whereas the New English Bible translates the Greek word talent with the word capital. Today HR people also use the term human capital which in some contexts could be seen as synonymous to talent (Tansley,