Topic: Talent Management
Publication: The Financial
Article: Employers reshaping talent management programs as economy shifts toward growth
Reviewed by: Sarah Teague
The success of an organization has proven to be largely contingent on the success of their employees. Indeed, the– see below for more info on this cornerstone article. A recent survey by Mercer sought to investigate the current status and practices of over 400 U.S. organizations.
One of the key findings shows that over half of the organizations surveyed are either in a growth stage or entering into one. Not surprisingly, responses also indicate that an overwhelming majority are placing a great emphasis on talent management (TM), particularly leadership and succession planning, in order to prepare for a new, slower-growing economy. Unfortunately, only 5% of these organizations reported feeling confident in their ability to quantitatively measure the effectiveness of their TM strategies.
This is a huge opportunity for Industrial/Organizational (I/O) Psychologists and Human Resource (HR) professionals, alike. As organizations begin to regroup from the recent economic downturn, the skill set possessed by I/O psychologists and HR professionals will likely be in high demand. Mercer’s own Jason Jeffay said it best when he stated that “you can’t manage what you can’t measure.” From both a research and practice perspective, this is a chance to replace fads and trends with evidence and measurement as the basis for organizational practices and TM decisions. And for those of you interested in early research linking talent management and organizational effectiveness, consider this:
The idea that “the people make the place” has received great support since Schneider first espoused his Attractions-Selection-Attrition (ASA) model (Schneider, 1987). The ASA model posits that applicants are attracted to organizations similar to them, that organizations select applicants whose skill sets are similar to their current employees, and that those employees who are least similar are most likely to leave. Based on this theory, talent management (TM) can make or break an organization.