Global Talent Management (Global HRM)

Citation

Thunnissen, M. (2012), "Global Talent Management (Global HRM)", Personnel Review, Vol. 41 No. 6, pp. 852-854. https://doi.org/10.1108/00483481211263818

Talent management is a popular topic. Next to leadership development, value‐based recruitment and performance management, talent management is one of the key human resource themes and challenges in leading multinational companies such as IBM and Shell. Many scholars, consultants and practitioners are engaged in the subject, resulting in an immense amount of academic and non‐academic articles and books, blogs, LinkedIn, discussion groups and seminars.

The book on global talent management (GTM), edited by Hugh Scullion and David Collings, is an enlightening overview of the relevant topics and key issues on the subject, particularly focussing on the central topics multinationals operating in a diverse international context are confronted with. Theoretical and more conceptual contributions are successfully combined with empirical (quantitative) research and case studies. Therefore, the book is interesting for students and practitioners, but also scholars can get a quick and adequate overview of the relevant themes and authors on GTM.

The editors Scullion and Collings have a well‐established research reputation in the field of International Management and International HRM. They have contributions from other leading figures in the field, who share their expertise and up‐to‐date knowledge in well written chapters, and refer to recent and prominent literature. In contrast to much of the available literature on talent management, which is dominated by writers from the USA, the majority of the chapters are written by scholars working in Australia and Europe. Of course, the understanding of the relative young field of talent management has developed, thanks to many, mainly US‐based scholars. However, they make use of North American thinking and research and refer to organizations operating in a US‐context. To advance the field of talent management a counterbalance from different perspectives, traditions and contexts is necessary. The non US‐based authors and chapters on global talent management in key economies like China and the Middle East offer us those other perspectives and contexts. This helps us understand the key emerging issues on talent management in other parts of the world.

The book is divided into three parts. The first part focuses on the context of GTM and on the link with the strategy of the organization. I was pleased to find a definition of GTM in the first chapter and to get a grip on the specific characteristics of GTM in comparison with “regular” international HRM. Further, the factors and trends that influenced the growth of GTM, the critical challenges in GTM and drivers of those challenges are discussed. The authors claim that the success of firms today is dependent on how effectively they identify and manage the global talent challenges they confront, and adapt to them as the evolve and develop. The main issue is: Can an organization get the right people at the right place at the right time? They refer to the match, or mismatch, between supply and demand or a workforce that meets the talent needs of the firm. But isn't there more? What about the contribution of GTM to organizational effectiveness or sustainability, other organizational goals or to the goals of employees, customers or society surrounding the firm? These effects are underexposed in the book.

The second part explores the core areas of GTM in practice and discusses four crucial issues: the role of the corporate HR function in GTM, the identification and evaluation of internal talent, employee turnover and employee branding. In the chapter on the identification and evaluation of talent the authors emphasize that before an organization can determine how to identify and evaluate talent, they need to have a clear idea of what they actually mean by talent. Is seems rather obvious, but for many organizations it is a tough nut to crack. Because of differing internal views and interests (between managers and HR) on the meaning of talent, and therefore who's a talent and who's not, it is hard to get a unanimous definition on talent and to decide who benefits from GTM and who does not. Unfortunately, this internal “battle” between several stakeholders and their own, sometimes conflicting, goals and interests remains under‐explored in the chapter.

The chapter on turnover is exceptional. Most literature on talent management refers to the activities and practices concerning recruitment and staffing, training and development and retention management. Turnover is not an issue. Generally, authors try to convince us to prevent turnover and to keep talented employees indoors. Except Somaya and Williamson in this book on GTM. Regarding the increased mobility of employees it is rather unrealistic to think talented employees will never leave the organization as long as you take good care of them. Inter‐company mobility has become the career path norm for employees. Somaya and Williamson think organizations should accept and embrace turnover and use it for their own benefits. Former employees can be a strategic asset if ties to them are developed and utilized appropriately.

Finally, the contribution on employer branding is interesting. First of all because Martin and Groen‐in‐‘t‐Woud combine ideas from HRM and organizational behaviour with marketing and communication. Their multidisciplinary approach gives an enriched view on recruitment and retention. Second, Martin and Groen‐in‐‘t‐Woud stress the importance of organizational fit, in particular a cultural fit. Many scholars claim that talent management should fit the organization, but most of them refer to a strategic fit. A fit with the internal organization, like in the book of Scullion and Collings, is less often mentioned.

The third and final part of the book brings together a number of chapters on talent management in four key‐economies: India, China, Middle‐East, Central and Eastern Europe. Scullion and Collings think that there is a need to understand talent management in relation to the context in which it takes place arguing that “Copy‐and‐paste” policies and practices will not lead to the desired effects. By highlighting and discussing the importance of country‐specific factors on GTM, the third part of the book this argument is once more confirmed.

To conclude, it is a complete book on GTM, giving answers to many of my questions on the definition of talent, the definition of talent management, relevant practices and activities and the relevance of context. Still, some questions remain unanswered, like: “Is talent really manageable by organizations and is a manageable talent what we really want?” and “what about the non‐talents or the drop‐outs of the talent pools?”.