MU0017 Talent Management and Employee Retention Assignment Set -1

Q1. What is the importance of talent management? Answer : Like human capital, talent management is gaining increased attention. Talent management (TM) brings together a number of important human resources (HR) and management initiatives. Organisations that officially decide to manage their own talent carry out a strategic analysis of their current HR processes. This is to make sure that a coordinated, performance oriented approach is adopted. Many organisations are adopting a TM approach which focuses on coordinating and integrating methods which are given as Recruitment: To ensure the right people are attracted to the organisation. Retention: To develop and implement practices that reward and support employees Employee development: To ensure continuous informal and formal learning and development .o Leadership and "high potential employee" development: Specific developmentprograms for existing and future leaders Performance management: Specific processes that nurture and support performance, including feedback/measurement. Workforce planning: To plan for business and general changes, which include the older workforce and current/future skills shortages. Culture: To develop of a positive, progressive and high performance way of operating.

Q2. Explain the five stage approach for building a competency model. As the term "competency", it refers to personal factors that enable individual performance, become too broad? Let's begin by asking the question, "What factors are NOT competencies?"First, we can eliminate the external factors. Those are "facilitators" of performance. (The opposite would be "barriers" to performance just as the opposite of competencies would be "weaknesses".) External factors (e.g. resources, processes, information, rewards, etc.)can have a clear impact on the ability and/or willingness of an individual to perform, but the term "competency" includes only the factors that are elements of an individual person's make-up. External facilitators of performance are not competencies. So what is a person made of? And which of those elements affects the capacity to perform? Through my research and experience I have identified the following categories: Abilities Physical (body or brain) traits that enable performance are called abilities. If a task requires one to lift a certain weight without aid of an external resource then the "performer" must have the capacity to lift weight. This ability is comprised of the muscle strength required, as well as the appendages required, to lift. The brain must also be able to interpret the instructions. Therefore, intelligence sufficient to grasp and act on the instructions is also an ability. However, intelligence, as a physical function of the brain, is not the only mental trait that is critical. For example, judgment is a competency that is based on knowledge rather than intelligence. Data storage is different from intellectual horsepower, but they are interdependent on one another when we need to leverage them. Knowledge The brain stores facts and generalizations about the world around us. For example, some of the information that we store allows us to understand and speak a language. Information comes from our personal interpretation of each event that unfolds in our life. Experience itself is not a competency so much as the knowledge we have gained from each experience is. This is most clear when we find that someone has learned a lesson from an experience that is contrary to what we expected. Do you know anyone that has graduated from college or passed a specific certification test, but who is not as good at a job as someone who learned from the "school of hard knocks" (general life experience on the streets)? Performance requires us to collect data and convert it into usable information so knowledge is a competency.

Skills Skills are techniques that an individual has learned and intentionally applies to a given situation. The three most common academic skills are reading, writing, and arithmetic(computation). However, there are also gross motor skills such as riding a bicycle. An example of a combination of both skills would be using a specific software application (reading and typing). Many interpersonal traits are also learned skills (e.g. listening is a skill, hearing is an ability). Once a person becomes fluent at a skill they no longer consciously practice it. They just do it. When someone does not know how to do something that they never even knew was possible, they are unconsciously in competent. After they learn of the skill's existence they are consciously incompetent. As they learn the skill they pass from being a novice to being proficient to being an expert. At some point they may just begin to use the skill without even thinking about it. That level of unconscious competence may be called a habit, but habits are also things that we unconsciously do in response to some stimulus as part of a regular routine. For example, Pavlov's dogs salivated when he rang the bell because they associated the bell ringing with being fed. Skills rely on knowledge and ability because you must have memory of prior experiences, if any, with the skill and the ability to execute the skill in order to use or improve the skill. Q3. List the key elements of talent management system Talent management practices and techniques have evolved over time in response to a changing workplace. The most effective talent management processes are organisation-specific and react to anorganisations distinctive business and human capital framework. Talent management includes a range of interdependent processes and procedures that need to be properly integrated. The organisation will not achieve the desired level of human capital performance if talent management processes do not operate as a unified group. The key elements of Talent Management System are explained as follows: Selection : Selection is the process of choosing a candidate amongst a number of probable candidates. Recruitment and Retention has become a big challenge for organisations due to the continuing global talent shortage, the changing worldview of work by new generation employees entering the workforce ,and the ever increasing evidence that poor recruitment decisions have a direct impact on the bottom line. Recruitment process that is not merit-based and has poor reliability and validity are a burden to an organisation and can even expose the company to discrimination claims. Poor hiring choices can affect the organisation in additional recruitment costs, training and orientation costs, loss of time, lost opportunity, lost revenue, loss of competitive advantage, tarnish image and reputation. It is about recruiting the right people in the right place at the right time. Organisations need to filter their attraction, recruitment and selection approaches to ensure they have the right talent on board to enable them to remain competitive. A global view that includes a diverse workforce is critical. Induction and training : Induction is the formal entry of the selected candidates into the organization and Training is to develop their knowledge, skills and competencies by teaching with respect to the organisational requirement. Employers should not assume that new hires can cover for themselves, and will only need brief introductions and a chunk of corporate information to get them started. Although lost profits due to the training of a new hire has been estimated as 1.0 2.5% of total revenue, it is clear that this induction period is vital given that 6.3% of people leave within the First 6 months of starting in a new role, which is typically due to their induction experience. A proper induction program helps to reduce employee discomfort, improve productivity and save money After an effective, useful and timely training experience should be the progressing development chances that support the individual in the role, but also the organisation in achieving its broader objectives. Such training, where possible and practical, should be in-time rather than in-case to provide training environments and materials that change to meet individual or small group demands precisely at the time when new skills are needed.

Capability development: Customised improvement opportunities for key talent are seen as an essential component for motivation and retention of these people. In the present scenario, developing the current employees is a more cost effective and efficient means of maintaining internal talent pools rather than recruiting new people and wasting vital resources on their training. Career growth also has a major impact on job satisfaction and commitment, to an organisation that relates directly to the retention of dynamic employees. Both high potentials and core contributors should be given enough opportunities to develop by the internal talent management in order to maintain operational effectiveness and output. Key performers and core contributors require different growth experiences that should be modified accordingly for maximum profit. Committed leaders are required to emphasise the idea on both groups given their competing business priorities. The Talent Development structure adopted by an organisation needs to support the talent capabilities required for the future and needs to be able to blend with ongoing changes. Good leadership quality in a global and increasingly diverse workplace is a highly sort after competence, and this must be embedded into any comprehensive development program. Other elements will be established by the business strategy. Performance: A performance management system increases the productivity and confidence in anorganisation, if planned and implemented effectively. An example of the problems in performancemanagement is that, 34% of surveyed Australian organisations using appraisals h ad no formal performance management policy in place. The increasing number of new generation employees in the workforce adds thrust to the importance of atransparent, objective performance management process as they perform best in a culture tha tencourages feedback. Performance management systems should be visibly related to training or development and recognition or compensation systems within the organisation in order to increase productivity and retention. Organisations can also defend themselves against legal action resulting from discrimination or unfair claims through use of a legitimate and fair performance management system. Retention and succession: Retention is the measure taken to encourage the employees to remain in the organisation for longer period of time. Succession helps an organisation to ensure that employees are hired and trained to fill each key position within the organisation. Employee retention is an important issue for top leaders in organisations all over the world. In todays world an abundance of jobs are available in the market for a job seeker and therefore employers must compete to attract and retain the talent they need to fulfil their organisational objectives. Talent retention is necessary to good quality, customer satisfaction and operational efficiency. Typically, companies prefer to induct 85% of their leaders through internal placement. For example, Hewitts Top 10 Companies in the Asia Pacific develop 76% of their leaders internally while a global survey found a 30% failure rate when placing highly sought after external talent. It is evident that organisations with high quality strategic improvement programs and succesio n management programs have greater business results. In addition, increasingly rigid labor markets make succession management a business necessity and force organisations to identify and accelerate the development of future leaders from within. The stable organisations under such pressure need to have an effective succession management policy in place, with a particular focus on the continuity of key specialists and leaders. Other key elements of talent management Besides the four above elements of talent management, that help to characterise the relationship between talent management and conventional recruiting. They include: A focus on high impact positions:A talent management policy requires managers and HR to determine an organisations success by filling top talent in the appropriate jobs. Accountability:Talent management assigns accountability to the chief talent executive for managing the talent pool, who is responsible for results, not effort. Rewards and metrics:Talent management builds support and relationship between earlier in dependent efforts through its common objectives, metrics and rewards. Thus, no independent

effortcan be considered successful unless the overall talent management effort is also successful. Balanced metrics: Talent management attracts managers attention by instituting a system of methods and rewards that ensures every executive is acknowledged and rewarded for excellence in human resource management. It simultaneously evaluates employee commitment to ensure that managers reach their productivity goals while using the appropriate organisation behaviors. Business approach: The talent management approach is not taken from an overhead or administration model. It is created from and replicates other successful business process models, like supply chain management, finance, and lean manufacturing. Recognition of the business cycle: The talent management strategy involves identifying the different types of talent required with respect to changing business situations. Consequently, talent management requires the constant internal movement of talent in and out of jobs and business units based on current business needs and where the company is in its business cycle. Truly global: Talent management encourages attracting, retaining, and developing the best talent no matter where it is. Focus on service: Flawless service is the expectation of talent management. Customer satisfaction, process speed, quality, and commitment are continually measured. Anticipation: While conventional recruiting and retention tend to be reactive, talent management is forward looking. It predicts and alerts managers about upcoming problems and opportunities, It indicates managers to act before the need arises in talent management issues. The overall objective of this unit helps you to understand the Talent Management System and how it isimplemented in an organisation. It also explains the critical success factors used to ensure th eorganisations have the right people in the right jobs. This unit provides a list of primary and applicable merit principles to state the responsibility and role of an organisation and workforce productivity. You also came to know about the key elements which are required for an effective Talent Management System.

Q4. Describe the important steps involved in assessing talent management process. Ans . An organisational assessment is the evaluation of organisational factors in the internal environment which affects the competitive situation. An organisational assessment is a process of taking steps to reflect and analyse the various functions within the organisation. It categorises the initial steps of a talent management process into: Identifying organizational and departmental trends. Reviewing strategy, challenges, and opportunities. Prioritizing goals, work, and projects. Determining the factors affecting workforce planning. Organisational effectiveness and employee development occurs when there is a firm alignment between individual interests and organisational needs. To set the environment for talent reviews, it is essential to first identify the organisational requirements. The goal is to show any changing requirements, skills, and knowledge needed by the organisation. An assessment of an organisation includes the following steps: 1.Review of strategy and key challenges: Here, the constructive analysis about organisational strengths, opportunities, and challenges is done. This discussion sets the organisational framework for considering the workforce development.

2. Environmental scan: In addition to the review of strategy and challenges, organisational departments can perform a more detailed strategy review. An environmental inspection reviews the current and changing client requirements and requests for services. Workforce analysis: It is a systematic process in which an organisation identifies the critical jobs and competencies, needed for the current and future employees, and develops strategies to overcome any gaps. Its main priority is using information to obtain an overview of the workforce and targeting talent management initiatives which are given as: a) Identifying critical job roles for analysis and planning. b) Reviewing knowledge/skills/attributes needed. c) Determining employee population for review. d) Gathering demographic information. After recognising organisational priorities, the next step focuses on the roles and skills needed for the department to be successful. Identification of critical roles: The management team determines the key job functions and roles that will be the primary focus of the talent review discussions. Based on the requirement, a talent review committee focuses on any of these groups: a)All staff in a particular function or organisation unit. b)A specific group or job category of the employee population. c)A specific level of leaders, managers, or supervisors. Inventory of skills and knowledge: Here, the leaders discuss on skills, knowledge, and performance that adds to success for the identified job roles. This information serves as a basis for evaluating the performance and potential of a particular employee group. This process also includes an overall strength/gap analysis of the department that encapsulates existing workforce capabilities and identifies gaps that is required to be met by external hiring or internal development initiatives. Talent review: A Talent Review is a process to involve more senior business executives in sharing and analysing talent information, mostly part of an overall succession management process. Compared to talent alignment sessions, talent reviews present a chance to discuss talent at a higher level of depth and focus. It provides an overview of how to encourage a discussion of key talent in the given ways to: a)Identify readiness and potential for future assignments or positions. b)Review possible succession plans. c)Determine strengths and development needs of employees. Having set the organisational goals, management teams can start with the process of reviewing talent in the organisation. The type and significance of a talent review can vary based on the department's need. Talent review examples include: Talent Inventory which in turn involves the current performance and future capability of a selected employee group. The objective is to get a combined perspective of strengths, requirements and development opportunities for specific employees, and to identify the organisation's "talent pool." Readiness for major assignments or future jobs is considered.

Succession planning which recognizes the potential successors for key roles. In association with a general talent inventory, management teams can also focus on vital job roles to assess current and future bench strength. Capability planning which focuses on the competence and availability of staff to provide key services. As a substitute to evaluating prospective successors for particular job roles, the management team uses a similar method to review key jobs, efficiency, or competencies that need to be implemented in the organisation. Knowledge Transfer focuses on the supporting, developing, or transferring of skills and knowledge in the organisation. Knowledge transfer begins with an account of proficiency in the department, and continues with a discussion about workforce learning. Knowledge transfer programs facilitate managers to recognise internal "leaders" who can motivate and increase knowledge of other team members through informal mentoring or peer teaching relationships. Development planning Development planning refers to the strategic quantifiable goals that a person, organisation or agency plans to achieve within a certain amount of time. It deals with the implementing development activity in the organisation after the talent review. Given below are some of the developments of planning activities: a)Review development assignments for on-the-job learning. b) Identify appropriate training and education programs. c)Explore formal and informal mentoring initiatives. d)Plan and conduct development discussions. e)Hold follow-up sessions to review outcomes of development discussions, assignments, and learning plans. Talent Review discussions help managers to identify the development priorities for the department. Consequently, managers or senior leaders are better prepared to have follow-up development discussions. These discussions have the advantage of helping managers to include job experiences, development assignments, or training in the short-term that can help organise employees for future responsibilities.

Q5. Explain the methods adopted to control recruitment and hiring process. Ans: Most of the organisations irrespective of fact whether they are small, medium, or big scale companies have their own methods of hiring the candidates for the required positions. Sometimes, this process is dealt within the company itself or it is handled by some subcontractors or recruiting agencies. Following are some of the aspects of the recruiting process: Get the candidates resume/CV from different job portals. Classify the candidates based on different criteria like experience, technology, so on. Send automated mails to sorted candidates for the interview. Schedule/reschedule the interviews. Manage many rounds of interviews for the candidate. Manage interviewers for different rounds of interview. Send automated mails and SMS alerts to keep the interviewers informed about the interview schedule. Handle interviewers remark and rating for the interviews. Send alerts for the scheduled interviews, hold candidates, joining candidates, so on. Get the soft copy of documents like experience letter, relieving letter, resignation letter, soon from previous company once the selection process ends. Manage background check result for the candidates. Get feedback report for ex-employees, ex-employee documents like experience letters, pay slips etc. Support different reports like hold candidates, selected candidates, candidate feedback report so on.

Candidate information management. Personal information of a candidate is collected from various sources like job portals, employee referrals so on. Personal information include full name, contact number, address, email ID, designation, so on. The resume or CV (curriculum vitae) of candidate is also managed, and the soft copies of these resumes are uploaded in different formats Q6. Explain the five key steps in strategic talent planning. Recruiting rarely is based on any sort of strategic plan. For most organizations, recruiting is a tactical operation a series of things that take place that result in qualified people getting hired. It is mostly reactive, and few recruiters have the time or charter to look forward more than a few weeks. To ensure that your organization has a chance at hiring the best people and to successfully operate in a global, competitive environment, organizations you will need a strategic plan coupled to appropriate resources and tactics. Heres a quick overview of the five essential first steps needed to put this plan together and to begin making it operational: The five key steps in strategic talent planning Step 1: Talent Plan Workforce or talent planning is the first and hardest step. It means deeply understanding the organizations business goals and the competitive environment the organization functions in. It is a combination of understanding and predicating demand, while at the same time being educated and aware of the talent supply situation from all the sources that are available. This step needs to be far more than simply listing the jobs projected in the annual budgeting process and factoring in turnover. It is an evolving process, as opposed to an annual event, and is the most dynamic and critical stage of any strategic process. Step 2: Image and Brand It is not true that if you build a great strategy or a great organization, people will necessarily flock to your doors. Getting people aware of your organization is a tough job. It requires having a consistent communication process as well as a plan to raise general awareness through advertisements, promotions, or by getting listed as a best place to work. You have to be able to answer questions like, What makes your company different or unique? or Why would I want to come work for you? Not only should you have answers to these questions, but you should also make sure your advertising, web presence (which is essential), and overall corporate advertising support this image. This has to be an organization-wide effort. It takes time and an accumulation of messages to be effective. One or two advertisements or a handful of posters wont do it. Step 3: Sourcing Methods Develop a multi-faceted sourcing strategy. Embrace active candidates who are responding to your brand and image-building messages, but maintain the capacity and skills to tap passive candidates. Decide based on past experience what works best for you in locating candidates, and then build those sourcing channels to the max. Make sure you are using referrals from current employees, your network of professionals, web-based search, your own web site and also develop methods to keep in touch with potential candidates that you have no current position for but might have at some later time. Step 4: Screening and Assessing Candidates Are you going to invest heavily in educating managers in behavioral interviewing? Are the recruiters going to be the main screeners, or will you use testing and other tools? What role will the Internet play, if any? Are you going to look into using web-based tests? How much will you rely on candidates screening themselves out or in? What role does the hiring managers play in screening and assessing, and what are the differences between what you do and they do? This is an area where there can be great improvement with reasonable effort, but where things are still done mostly the way they have always been done. A focus on automating screening to some degree reduces the volume of candidates and actually raises candidate satisfaction. Step 5: Market and Communicate! Candidates want to be in the know about their status and prospects. They seek out feedback and information. Your organizations website is an invaluable tool, but you will also need to develop systems to communicate with candidates personally and to send out newsletters and emails. Probably all the people you need at one time or another sent a resume or expressed interest. They were most likely told that there were no current openings. Wouldnt it be wonderful if you could actually stay in touch with those people and let them know when there is an open position? Thats what CRM (candidate relationship management) systems can do. Unfortunately, they are not yet generally available or optimized for recruiting. But ask your ATS vendor what they doing about this and urge

them to provide you the tools you need to effectively keep qualified candidates interested in you. Make sure that whatever systems you choose fit your strategy and make economic sense A few other things to keep in mind:

Make sure all managers and recruiters have a simple system for deciding on a candidate. As you know, speed is the real differentiator today, and the recruiter/manager who moves the most quickly will usually get the candidate. Eliminate unnecessary approvals, and make sure your selection criteria are clear to avoid slowing down the process. If you are a decentralized firm, work out a system for who owns what. If you all agree together then the areas of dispute will be limited. The rule I use is that the central or corporate function should set standards and establish corporate-wide systems. Local offices should participate in that process and have great autonomy on the day-to-day stuff. They can supplement broad image and branding activities with local advertising within the bounds of an agreement you all make with one another.

These initial steps and processes are what enable the back-end activities of scheduling, interviewing, making offers, and on-boarding.