CONTEMPORARY
ISSUES IN HR
(CHR612S)
UNIT 5
TALENT DEVELOPMENT
Herman Aguinis, University of Colorado at Denver
OVERVIEW
Define the concept “talent development”
Discuss the lack of consensus concerning the concept of “talent” by
mentioning four possible scenarios.
Discuss the talent development trends.
Suggest seven components of a talent-development programme.
Discuss the key point of a succession planning programme.
Describe some talent-development strategies.
Elaborate on the talent development stakeholders.
Discuss the three key characteristics that high potential employees
have in common.
Describe the core future competencies.
Critically discuss the competencies to be developed for the future world
of work.
TALENT DEVELOPMENT
EXPLAINED
• Talent - refers to those employees whose
contributions are vital to an organisation’s
ability to produce a product and/or deliver a
service.
• Excellent talent refers to those who
produce an above-average amount of the
product and
• Poor talent means those who do much less
than average.
Herman Aguinis, University of Colorado at Denver
DEFINITION OF TALENT
DEVELOPMENT
• Talent development defined by Gagne
(2004:121), is a process in transforming specific
natural abilities into the skills that define
competency or expertise in a given occupational
field.
• The success of talent development is dependent
on how the talented employee can be
developed and placed in the positions to add
value to the organisation and the society (Yu &
Tam, 2016:424).
Herman Aguinis, University of Colorado at Denver
DEFINITION OF TALENT
DEVELOPMENT - CONT
• Talent development focuses on the planning,
selection & implementation of development
strategies for the entire talent pool to ensure
that organisation has both the current and future
supply of talent to meet strategic objectives and
that development activities are aligned with
organisational talent management processes
• Talent development activities are undertaken by
organisations to ensure planned succession rather
than replacement and to enhance the
organization’s reputation as a talent magnet
(Gandz,2006)
Herman Aguinis, University of Colorado at Denver
INDUSTRY 4.0 AND TALENT
DEVELOPMENT
Concerning Industry 4.0 and talent development the
following are important:
•Talent development is a business strategy to retain the
organisation's topmost talented and skilled employees.
•Find a balance between constant strategic agility and
dependable operational excellence within the organisation
•Incorporate cyber-physical systems, the Internet of Things
(IoT), Industrial Internet of Things, (IoT), cloud computing,
cognitive computing and artificial intelligence were possible
in the talent development strategy
Herman Aguinis, University of Colorado at Denver
TALENT DEVELOPMENT
TRENDS
• Talent pipeline – Talent pipeline flow for organisational
sustainability
• Technological advancement – The future of work will be
characterised by: virtual teams, employees’ interaction in
cyberspace and social networks, flexible working hours, remote
workstations and contingent workers.
• The global marketplace – globalisation that allows skilled
workers to migrate has increased demand for talent
unexpectedly high.
• Partnerships.- organisations will have to partner with teaching
and learning experts to design effective talent development
programmes (Stopper, 2016). This could mean university or
private partnerships Or something different altogether.
Herman Aguinis, University of Colorado at Denver
TALENT DEVELOPMENT
PROGRAMME
• Phillips (2018) suggests seven components of a talent
development programme:
[Link]-development vision, values and goals that
support business objectives.
[Link] an end-to-end talent-development framework
to have the right mix of workforce, including skills and
competencies.
[Link] gap assessment: determine the gap between the
present and preferred competencies
[Link] succession-plan model: define the roles,
responsibilities and demonstrated capabilities needed for
advancement
Herman Aguinis, University of Colorado at Denver
TALENT DEVELOPMENT
PROGRAMME - CONT
5. Employee engagement programme: this
programme measures the perception of the
workforce and provides data to leadership on the
true pulse of the culture and the workforce
6. Diversity and inclusion strategy this strategy
promotes balanced hiring.
7. HR talent and tools assessment: once the
talent development plan is executed, it is important
to continue to assess the plan against the goals to
ensure future readiness
Herman Aguinis, University of Colorado at Denver
KEY POINTS FOR A
SUCCESSFUL SUCCESSION
PLANNING
Recognise succession planning as a line management
programme.
To avoid plan failing, obtain practical support of top
management to see the data in the plan whenever a
promotional, compensation (salary, bonus, stock) or
development opportunity occur.
Each plan must list only succession guidance who are
worthwhile and not people that HR allow the line
executive to list without their being properly scrutinised.
The HR leader responsible for administering this
programme should know the following in detail each
management position and what it really takes to be
successful.
Herman Aguinis, University of Colorado at Denver
KEY POINTS FOR A
SUCCESSFUL SUCCESSION
PLANNING
Obtain data face to face for the top two or three organisational levels and
lower if possible.
Spend a lot of time and energy learning more about the skills of the
candidates.
Establish a personal development plan (PDP) for all incumbents and
succession candidates especially those at Middle Upper and top
management levels.
Develop critical skills such as technical/job knowledge,
management/executive skills, financial skills interpersonal and leadership
skills.
This programme should track the promotional compensation development
plan progress, and turn over data of every incumbent and succession
candidate.
Herman Aguinis, University of Colorado at Denver
TALENT DEVELOPMENT
STRATEGIES
• Training and development – Designed to align group
and individual goals and performance with the
organisation.
• Mentoring and coaching – The mentor guides,
supports, advise the employee on what the culture
expects and guides on how to be successful within this
environment.
• Engagement – Learning and Development (LD)
programmes are key differentiators between companies
competing for talent. They play a role in engaging,
motivating, retaining and empowering the best talent
Herman Aguinis, University of Colorado at Denver
TALENT DEVELOPMENT
STRATEGIES - CONT
• Performance management – It assists in feeling the gap
between the current and planned performance of
employees (Mohan, Muthaly & Annakis, 2015).
• Learning management – TD should be linked to other LD
initiatives. LD aims to improve individual performance by
increasing and enhancing their skills and knowledge.
• Measuring talent development – LD Practitioners
should begin analysing changes in performance (Mopolani,2019)
and return on investments instead of measuring learner
satisfaction, engagement and skill settlement.
Herman Aguinis, University of Colorado at Denver
MEASURING A RETURN ON
INVESTMENT (ROI) FOR THE
ORGANISATION
The following factors must be considered:
Programme cost.
Organisational behavioural change
Employee engagement.
Employee Advancement
Employee Retention
Herman Aguinis, University of Colorado at Denver
FIVE TALENT
DEVELOPMENT
STAKEHOLDERS
• The executive team – Meet one-on-one with high potential
employees at least once a year
• Mentor and coach – Growth-oriented and promotes knowledge
sharing in organisations. Mentor: experienced leader who
provides perspectives, helps remove barriers offer political
insights and assist the mentee to articulate and define career
goals (Richmond, 2019)
• Human Resource Management – The HR player must be
figured, as the field makes or break the development programme
success. It is keenly concerned with delivering the top-line
viewpoint of the board.
Herman Aguinis, University of Colorado at Denver
FIVE TALENT
DEVELOPMENT
STAKEHOLDERS - CONT
• High potential employee (HPE) – Is a recognised individual who is a
rising star in an organisation. Aspires to assume more responsibility. Should
own on development and be open for feedback. According to Hobbs (2019)
the employees focus should be:
I want to show what I can do and have control over my destiny.
I want to use my strength and be valued for the good work I do
I want the organisation to understand that work is only part of my life but I have a family
• Three Key Characteristics of HPE
Aspiration is the desire to take responsibility, challenges and reward of seniors
Ability is a combination of innate characteristics and learned skills.
Engagement is the employee’s emotional and rational commitment, discretionary effort and intent to stay
Herman Aguinis, University of Colorado at Denver
FIVE TALENT
DEVELOPMENT
•
STAKEHOLDERS - CONT
High potential employee manager (HPEM) - The primary
responsibility of the HPE not be given to the direct manager because
he/she may not have the expertise needed. On the emotional side,
the manager may not accept their employees have greater potential
than them. They need tools to help them engage positively with their
teams. According to Hobbs (2019), their focus should be:
Transparent, positive conversations focus on the best contributions for everyone
performing satisfactorily.
Tools that show the organisation and management value diverse talent and not just
fast trackers.
Tools that start a conversation
• High potential employees manager.
Herman Aguinis, University of Colorado at Denver