Talent, Talent Management & its Practices: A Critical Review

Abstract

Talent management practices are one of the inspiring aspects in ultramodern stage’s HRM practices. Prevailing conceptual confusions can be observed due to ambiguities in the underlining concepts called “Talent” and “Talent Management”. Different global manufacturing and service industries are operating numerous talent management practices. There are two key objectives of this research, and the archival method was adopted by the researchers. The systematic reviewing process has covered empirical research on talent, talent management and talent management practices, which has been published between 1990 and 2019 in academic journals and published books. Based on the “objective approach” talent was defined as the multiplication of three main characteristics of people; competence, commitment and contribution. Based on the ‘subjective approach”, talent may be exclusive or inclusive or a combination of both. Thus, “Talent” was considered as an elite subset of the organization’s population or entire employees of an organization. Talent Management was defined as a collection of functions, practices and activities categorized into talent acquisition, talent development, talent retention, career management and succession management of talent pool and talent generically in implementing the business strategies in fruitful mode. It was identified that, the global manufacturing industries, namely cement manufacturing, steel case manufacturing, coal and mining industry, energy; automotive and service sectors, namely healthcare, hospitality, fast food service, banking, education, telecommunication and IT services are operating numerous talent management practices in attracting, acquiring, developing and retaining high performing talents. Talent acquisition, talent development, talent retention, career management and succession management are the key identified talent management practices in global contexts.