Que.1 Explain the key elements of Talent Management System.

Ans.1 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 an
organisations 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 organization
and can ever expose the company to discrimination claims. Poor hiring choices can affect the organization 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. Organizations 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.
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 organisation 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 thebusiness strategy.
Performance: A performance management system increases the productivity and confidence in an organisation,
if planned and implemented effectively. An example of the problems in performance management is that, 34% of
surveyed Australian organisations using appraisals had no formal performance management policy in place.

The increasing number of new generation employees in the workforce adds thrust to the importance of a
transparent, objective performance management process as they perform best in a culture that encourages
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 anabundance 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 succession management
programs have greater business results. In addition, increasingly rigid labour 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, some other elements are also available 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 independent efforts
through its common objectives, metrics and rewards. Thus, no independent effort can 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 behaviours.
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 is
implemented in an organisation. It also explains the critical success factors used to ensure the organisations
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.
Que.2 Define Talent Management. Discuss the Talent management Approaches
Ans.2 Talent management is the integrated process of ensuring that an organization has a continuous supply of
highly productive individuals in the right job, at the right time. Rather than a one-time event, talent management is
a continuous process that plans talent needs, which includes the following:
builds an image to attract the very best

ensures that new hires are immediately productive

helps to retain the very best
Talent Management
Talent Management is useful to both the organization and the employees. It is defined as a conscious and
systematic approach taken up to attract, identify, develop and retain productive and engaged employees with
aptitude and abilities to meet current and future organizational needs by fulfilling the business/operation critical
roles. Its goal is to create a high-performance, sustainable organisation that meets its strategic and operational
goals and objectives.
Talent Management Approaches
Talent Selection: Having the right person in the right job is the key to the success of any business, while having
the wrong person in a key position adversely affects organisation. Every key job or position has a number of
complex requirements that might be difficult to identify.
Talent Selection is an enduring procedure that requires proper planning in order to achieve the expected results.
The Talent Selection consists of five selection processes. They are:
Job benchmark
Assess candidates
Compare job and talent
Behavioral interviewing
Selection
Talent Alignment: It explores all the possible talent strategies in the talent model and the organizational
framework that will attract, retain and motivate talent. It considers talent in terms of both competence required
and a capacity for attraction and alignment.
The talent environment can range from foul and fatal environment through to good, great or even inspiring
environment. Knowing the current and desired framework, one is far more able to explore appropriate media.
Talent Development: It is the basis of career affiliation with the employees. It gives organisation opportunity to set
objectives that will ensure that the organisation realizes the absolute potential of each employee.
It analysis employees development at all levels. The primary motive is to help employees set up realistic goals,
assess their particular strengths, and chart where they can best contribute and grow. It also addresses the
activities of self-development undertaken by the individual.
Talent Retention: It is an organized endeavor to create and promote an environment that encourages employees
to remain with company by having policies and practices in place that address their various needs.
Even in recession, companies are evaluating and upgrading their employee development programs. A number of
surveys have indicated that the reason behind people leaving their jobs is because of their relationship with the
boss, not because of displeasure with their job. A recession is ideal time to review leadership approach and
training to increase employee agreement with management.

Que.3 What is retention? Explain why retention is important. List the keys to strong
retention.
Employee retention refers to the ability of an organization to retain its employees. Employee retention can be
represented by a simple statistic (for example, a retention rate of 80% usually indicates that an organization kept
80% of its employees in a given period). However, many consider employee retention as relating to the efforts by
which employers attempt to retain employees in their workforce. In this sense, retention becomes the strategies
rather than the outcome.
A distinction should be drawn between low-performing employees and top performers, and efforts to retain
employees should be targeted at valuable, contributing employees.Employee turnover is a symptom of deeper
issues that have not been resolved, which may include low employee morale, absence of a clear career path,
lack of recognition, poor employee-manager relationships or many other issues. A lack of satisfaction and
commitment to the organization can also cause an employee to withdraw and begin looking for other
opportunities. Pay does not always play as large a role in inducing turnover as is typically believed.[1]
The human resources (HR) function is at the center of most employers efforts to identify, hire and retain the
people the organization needs to execute its strategy and achieve its goals. But the HR function is a key player
within the organizations compliance structure as well.
There are numerous laws and regulations governing the employment relationship that HR professionals must
understand and

Need & Importance of Employee Retention

Let us understand why retaining a valuable employee is essential for an organization.
Hiring is not an easy process: The HR Professional shortlists few individuals from a large pool of talent, conducts
preliminary interviews and eventually forwards it to the respective line managers who further grill them to judge
whether they are fit for the organization or not. Recruiting the right candidate is a time consuming process.
An organization invests time and money in grooming an individual and make him ready to work and understand
the corporate culture: A new joinee is completely raw and the management really has to work hard to train him for
his overall development. It is a complete wastage of time and money when an individual leaves an organization
all of a sudden. The HR has to start the recruitment process all over again for the same vacancy; a mere
duplication of work. Finding a right employee for an organization is a tedious job and all efforts simply go waste
when the employee leaves.
When an individual resigns from his present organization, it is more likely that he would join the competitors: In
such cases, employees tend to take all the strategies, policies from the current organization to the new one.
Individuals take all the important data, information and statistics to their new organization and in some cases
even leak the secrets of the previous organization. To avoid such cases, it is essential that the new joinee is
made to sign a document which stops him from passing on any information even if he leaves the organization.
Strict policy should be made which prevents the employees to join the competitors. This is an effective way to
retain the employees.
The employees working for a longer period of time are more familiar with the companys policies, guidelines and
thus they adjust better: They perform better than individuals who change jobs frequently. Employees who spend
a considerable time in an organization know the organization in and out and thus are in a position to contribute
effectively.
Every individual needs time to adjust with others: One needs time to know his team members well, be friendly
with them and eventually trust them. Organizations are always benefited when the employees are compatible
with each other and discuss things among themselves to come out with something beneficial for all. When a new
individual replaces an existing employee, adjustment problems crop up. Individuals find it really difficult to
establish a comfort level with the other person. After striking a rapport with an existing employee, it is a challenge
for the employees to adjust with someone new and most importantly trust him. It is a human tendency to
compare a new joinee with the previous employees and always find faults in him.
It has been observed that individuals sticking to an organization for a longer span are more loyal towards the
management and the organization: They enjoy all kinds of benefits from the organization and as a result are
more attached to it. They hardly badmouth their organization and always think in favour of the management. For
them the organization comes first and all other things later.
It is essential for the organization to retain the valuable employees showing potential: Every organization needs
hardworking and talented employees who can really come out with something creative and different. No
organization can survive if all the top performers quit. It is essential for the organization to retain those employees
who really work hard and are indispensable for the system.
All high performance environments share a serious devotion to results.
Theyre competitive, stressful workplaces where mediocrity is disdained and failure intolerable. Moreover,
individuals who thrive in these environments tend to be A players with intense ambition. And they are always on
the lookout for greener pastures.
How can high-performing employers better retain these critical employees?
The challenge is often how companies approach retention reactively. Retention issues are ignored until the
company suspects an employee might bail, at which point its addressed by offering the employee some kind of
enticement to stay, and then its back to business as usual.
This approach might work in the short-run, but does nothing to cultivate longer-term loyalty.
A better approach is to address retention proactively, as a strategic issue. I recently connected with two thought
leaders in talent management strategy to discuss how to do this in high performance environments. Based on our
conversation, here are five things any organization can do to proactively combat turnover.
1. Hire retainable employees
The pressures on from Day One in a high performance environment. While some thrive under pressure, others
will falter. Elissa Tucker, Human Capital Management Knowledge Specialist at APQC, says the first thing leading
organizations are doing to curtail this type of turnover is a focus on hiring retainable employees.
While there are some obvious indicators of a candidates ability to deliver consistently (e.g. three to five years
tenure in a similar role), there are other signals that can provide insight in your sourcing and screening.
Tucker suggests working with your managers and top performers to identify what backgrounds, skills or
personality characteristics your retainable employees have in common.
2. Plan careers, dont fill roles
Its easy to focus on the near-term when managing people in a high performance environment. You bring in A
players with the expectation that theyll succeed in the role for which youve hired them and unrealistically
assume they will stay in that role forever. Your top performers are thinking about their career, and you should be
too.
Best-practice organizations work to help individuals plan to stay with the organization to plan their careers
with the organization, says Tucker. The key is to guide your employees in mapping out how they can attain their
career goals within your company.

For example: If a top salesperson sees her current role as a rung in the ladder up to senior management, outline
some long-term goals that will get her there. If another is just in it for the money, keep him in challenging roles
that will reward him for working hard and allow him to play hard.
3. Make retention personal
Every employee is motivated by different things, and retention strategies thus need to be tailored down to the
individual level.
Steve Miranda, Managing Director of the Center for Advanced Human Resource Studies, Cornell University ILR
School, says, The key phrase is specialized efforts. Successful organizations, he says, dont view retention
initiatives as one size fits all. Instead, theyre making retention strategies personal. How? By simply asking,
What motivates you?
You may be surprised to find that monetary incentives are low on the list of responses you get. These days, A
players are more concerned with challenging work, personal and professional growth opportunities, work/life
balance, and workplace flexibility.
4. Get to the heart of underperformance
Lets face it: Underperformance happens, but you dont want to lose employees who were previously strong
performers. If you notice a drop in performance, Miranda advises against writing them off without first getting to
the heart of the issue.
In my conversation with Miranda, we broke underperformance down into a few root causes:
Skill and competency issues often come up when someones been promoted into a role they werent
quite ready for. Fortunately these can be addressed with coaching and trainingand usually for a fraction of the
cost of replacing an employee.
Behavioral issues are usually more difficult. If its a behavior issue, Miranda says identify the source of the
issue to get an idea of whether its something worth investing the time and effort in.
Personal issues are a leading cause of burnout among top performers. Things come up (divorce, health
issues, mortgage issues, etc.), and can distract employees from their work and affect their ability to deliver. In
these cases, a little support and flexibility will go a long way toward cultivating loyalty.
You may uncover trends in underperformance that you can use to your benefit. Are employees bored with the
work? Are people burning out after six months? This kind of feedback is vital to the refined people process that
supports success and curtails turnover.
5. Invest in your line managers
Employees dont quit jobs they quite managers he estimates that 80% of turnover is driven by the environment
a manger creates for an employee because of this any investment is training and development for your line
mangers are well spent.
The success of your retention strategies are ultimately subject to your line mangers ability to deliver on initiatives
you put in place. According to turcker whatever your company values you have to be sure your mangers are
executing on it. Help them help you reduce turnover. Teach them how to empower employees to succeed and
grow, rather than just drive performance.
Its also critical to keep the line of communication about careers wide open between employees and mangers
especially because career goals change over time. Build more opportunities for employee check ins with
mangers.
Que.4 Explain the key Compensation principles. What do you mean by Total rewards?Describe the
elements of Total rewards
Ans.4
Compensation Principles 1. The mix of salary, benefits and incentives is designed to align associate and
shareholder interests. 2. In order to achieve that goal, a significant amount of compensation is deferred over time
for certain groups of associates and awarded in equity. 3. Incentive compensation determinations take into
account Company-wide, business unit, and individual performance. 4. Compensation determinations take into
account both financial and non-financial factors over both the short- and longer-term. 5. Compensation
determinations take into account performance evaluations that reflect individual performance including
adherence to the Companys risk and compliance policies. 6. Incentive plans are designed in a manner that
supports sound risk and compliance management. In order to achieve that goal, performance metrics for
applicable business units: Are risk-adjusted where appropriate; Individual award determinations include
consideration of adherence to compliance-related goals; A significant portion of variable compensation is
provided in long-term compensation payable over three years, subject to reduction for detrimental conduct, and
may be subject to performance-based clawbacks for key risk takers (e.g., based on profitability); and In order to
further align their interests with those of shareholders, senior and higher paid associates are compensated with
long-term incentives such as equity. In addition, the following processes have been established to ensure
appropriate governance and on-going consistent application of the compensation principles:
1. Compensation decisions are made in a manner that reflects adherence to governance process and
procedures.
2. Incentive compensation design involves the following practices: Control functions (e.g., Compliance and
Risk) that report independently of the lines of business and are compensated independently of the lines of
business; and An incentive certification process is utilized that requires line of business heads, risk heads and
compliance heads to execute a certification stating that they have reviewed and approved the appropriate
incentive plans, believe the plans to be well aligned with the line of business and the Companys business

strategy and performance objectives, do not believe the plans encourage excessive risk taking beyond the
organizations ability to effectively identify and manage risk, and believe the incentive plans are compatible with
effective controls and risk management.
3. The Company conducts an incentive certification process to include annual certifications prior to the annual
award date for incentive awards by the line of business heads and the head of Risk to the effect that the
determinations of incentive pools and the allocation of incentive awards (i.e., the mix and form) have been made
in a manner consistent with Bank of Americas incentive compensation principles (referred to above). 4. The
Compensation and Benefits Committee of the Board of Directors receives direct input from the Risk function. 5.
At the line of business level, the Risk, Compliance and Audit functions are responsible for surveilling business
practices and processes (including the operation of incentive design). 6. Independent control functions provide
input into each line of business performance objectives and review incentive compensation designs. Annually,
any risk issues identified by the independent audit function are included as a key consideration in associate pay
awards, including compliance with rules established by the Federal Reserve Board and Bank of Americas
internal policies and procedures, as well as compliance with internal risk metrics.
Compensation practices at large financial institutions were a key contributing factor to the global financial crisis.
The FSB Principles for Sound Compensation Practices and their Implementation Standards (Principles and
Standards, P&S) were developed to align compensation with prudent risk-taking, particularly at significant
financial institutions.
The Principles require compensation practices in the financial industry to align employees incentives with the
long-term profitability of the firm.
The human resources professional community has expanded how it defined the discipline generally known as
compensation and benefits to rename it "total rewards." The definition of compensation and benefits was rather
limited--mainly the perception of it--to mean what you pay employees, and the types of benefits such as medical
coverage, income protection options, vacation and sick time.
Components of Total Rewards
Total rewards is a relatively new term coined by members of the human resources professional community and
adopted by human resources associations, such as the Society for Human Resources Management and
WorldatWork, an association primarily for compensation professionals. Formerly referred to as simply
compensation and benefits, total rewards takes on a more creative and broad definition of the ways employees
receive compensation, benefits, perks and other valuable options. WorldatWork defines this new term: "Total
rewards include everything the employee perceives to be of value resulting from the employment relationship."
Prompted by brutal competition and demanding customers, companies are looking for new ways to engage
employees. In doing so, they often vacillate between two approaches. The change debate often sounds like a
not-so-funny take-off on the classic Abbott and Costello skit, "Who's on first?" Do you first change the culture, the
"What it's like to work around here" mindset? Or, do you first change the reward system and hope everything else
will work itself out?
The reason for the debate is the longstanding belief that a company can change either its culture or its rewardsbut not both. Naysayers believe that an organization can't handle too much change at once. Unfortunately,
they're missing the point. Just ask the employees in plants across the country who face plant closures unless
they can find ways to increase quality and productivity while reducing costs. Or ask customers whose new and
more complex demands aren't being met. The message-and it ought to be coming through loud and clear by
now-is that companies need to make big changes.
Culture and rewards go hand in hand.
A growing number of organizations have stopped arguing and taken a different approach. They're changing both
their companies' cultures and rewards at the same time. Culture, in this instance, refers to the way in which
people work and how they're organized, how and by whom decisions are made, and how constructive levels of
trust and respect are developed. Rewards go beyond the financial returns to include all of the things about work
and working that people find rewarding, such as recognition, career development, feedback and meaningful
work.
By changing their cultures without also developing a reward system, companies run the risk of sending
employees terribly mixed signals and are much less likely to sustain any gains. Along the same lines, by simply
changing the reward system-often in the hope that the reward system can fix the company's cultural problemscompanies often end up throwing money at their problems. Consider the experiences of two companies that
changed one key aspect of the organization without changing the other.
A 'round-the-clock manufacturing plant with several thousand employees changed its culture, but not its rewards.
A few years ago, the company moved toward greater accountability to its business units within the plant and
moved to a team-based work model. Now, there are several hundred teams in place. The company has enjoyed
success with this new work design, and employees now have the tools and knowledge to make significant
business decisions about such things as scheduling, quality and training.
Since the plant increased its focus on business units and teams, costs have been reduced, quality has improved
and accidents have decreased. However, because the company hasn't fully aligned rewards with its new work
system, there's a sense among employees that they've hit the wall. They still receive most of their pay for hours
worked with an annual profit-sharing award based on the profitability of the total corporation-performance that's
far beyond the walls of this particular plant. But operators and managers are frustrated because there's no link
between the way people are being asked to work-that is, in business units and teams-and their pay.
"By changing their cultures without also developing a reward system, companies run the risk of sending their
employees terribly mixed signals.

In another manufacturing plant, rewards have changed, but there haven't been changes in the culture. This
facility has a gainsharing plan in which awards are driven almost totally by production-that is, tons of product out
the door. Recent awards have added up to 40% to employees' base pay. Yet, there's been no attention given to
the culture side of the equation. Employees are encouraged to work harder, but their work processes aren't
becoming more flexible nor are they becoming involved in making important decisions about their work.
Moreover, they don't have contact with the customers. They are driven toward production, period. And that's
exactly what the facility has gotten. Yet quality is very uneven. Long-time customers are threatening to go to other
suppliers whose service and quality is better and more consistent. And because employees are paid by how
much tonnage is processed, production grinds on. Employees also resist any effort to change a pay plan that's
been so lucrative for them. And no one works on the underlying problems. Employees are involved in achieving
production, but there's more to the equation. Pay alone won't get them out of their mental rut or energize the
work force to make significant changes in their work processes.
Companies increase customer focus and work in new ways.
Organizations of all descriptions are organizing themselves in ways that are simple and efficient for their
customers. Some even invite customers in to help with product design and key features. For example, at Seattlebased Boeing Co., customer input resulted in important improvements in the design of new jumbo passenger
planes, including wider aisles and larger storage bins.
Some companies have gone a step further by putting the people who do the work in direct contact with the
people who buy the work. At a manufacturing plant operated by Bridgewater, New Jersey-based Hoechst
Celanese, line employees visit customer locations to see how customers use the company's products. These
visits help give employees a better understanding of customer requirements and problems. At a maker of topquality home cabinets, line workers are actually considered the company's best salespeople. Customers who visit
a Jasper, Indiana-based Aristokraft facility meet with production employees to hear first-hand about the
company's commitment to quality, craftsmanship and complete customer satisfaction. It's important to recognize
that the customer is directly connected to employees-the people who make and supply the product or service.
Smart companies also believe that employees with a broader view can make better decisions. They know how to
please the customer and work more efficiently. Today's employees often welcome opportunities to help their
colleagues, their teams and overall operations. That's why it makes so much sense for employees to learn
multiple parts of the operation. For example, in one manufacturing plant, when the production process develops a
bottleneck in one area, multiskilled employees from other areas help eliminate the backlog. Not only are these
employees more valuable to the company, but they report higher job satisfaction and turn out better products.
Yet, while the key to flexible organizations is often increased teamwork, the team concept is neither a silver
bullet nor an easy fix. It isn't enough to gather a group of people, sprinkle some magic dust on them, and say,
"Poof, you're a team." Developing effective teams takes much more than magic dust. Some companies approach
team- and work-system design by broadly including management, company and union staff, employees and
customers. If stakeholders recognize that change is in everyone's best interest, the quality and acceptance of the
plan is likely to be higher. In one manufacturing company, stakeholder meetings defined the organization's future
vision and how that vision could be accomplished through significant changes in the way work would be done
and the role employees would play as team members. If, for example, a team structure is put in place, a
company should be prepared to back up the change effort with ongoing training and communication, as well as
team-based rewards. These are important steps in maintaining a change effort's credibility among employees.
One manufacturing firm that established teams concluded that it needed to devote extra resources, such as more
and better training programs, to make their employees more capable team members. The company then followed
up by developing a group incentive plan to reward those new behaviors and the results they produced.
Although companies still need solo contributors in some situations, very little of any organization's work is done
alone these days. Now, more than ever, employees must be able to work together to achieve the complex goals
most organizations require.rganizational charts today look less vertical and more like circles, spheres or other
exotic shapes. Meanwhile, downsizing, information technology and employee empowerment have removed
whole layers from the traditional structure. Customers don't want to wait unnecessarily for service while a sales
representative seeks rubberstamp approval from a supervisor. They want an immediate decision.
Hence, the traditional job is giving way to more fluid roles in which everyone does whatever it takes to satisfy the
customer. Employees are accountable to one another and, with fewer supervisors and managers, they often
manage themselves.
Little wonder, then, that employee involvement has become a mainstream strategy in many organizations. The
total quality movement (TQM) sparked the awareness by teaching that quality is everyone's responsibility. In his
new book, Creating Strategic Change, organizational change expert Bill Pasmore, professor of organizational
behavior at Cleveland-based Case Western Reserve University, argues that for employee involvement to make a
real difference in an organization's performance, the issues on the table must be meaty and substantive. People
must understand the business and what they can do to make a difference; they need to have both the technical
and social skills necessary to participate in real business decisions.
Workplace changes have implications for rewards.
Focusing on the customer will require new ways of measuring an organization's performance. Financial
performance is still important, but so are more operational measures, which are often the ones that directly link
employee efforts to customer needs. So with new measures of overall organizational performance in place, the
next step is to translate those measures into new reward programs for the employees.
The Consortium for Alternative Rewards Strategies Research (CARS), sponsored in part by Sibson & Company
and the American Compensation Association, studied 663 incentive plans for broad-based employee groups and

found that, although profit is still the most common type of measurement, quality and productivity are nearly as
common. The research also indicated that by using some of these operational measures and supporting them
with strong involvement and communication efforts, companies reported better results. These plans simply work
better than those with a one-track financial approach and limited employee involvement.
If a company wants to foster a greater customer focus, the key is to ensure the success of a multitude of
"moments of truth," those critical opportunities when an employee's actions can make a breakthrough. Those
moments of truth involve everyone, not just executives or managers. That's why more companies are sharing
both risks and rewards with the people who do the work. Employees have always shared in the risk, of course.
They know all too well that business failures mean jobs lost. The difference today is that, in many cases,
employees across the organization have an opportunity to share in the upside as well. The old standbys of hourly
pay, seniority and individual merit pay have been supplemented with other plans that encourage a collective
attention to the needs of the customer. At Zeeland, Michigan-based Herman Miller, for example, a product
development team designed and installed a plan that rewards team members for achieving critical goals,
including those defined by the customer. Once the product is launched, team members have a financial stake in
its first-year commercial success. They are encouraged to stay close to the customers even after the product is
introduced.
Reward systems often send a clear message to employees about "what's important around here"-that is, what
the organization values. So a move toward new ways of getting work done-new skills, greater flexibility, teamsopens the door for new ways to deliver rewards. Skill- or competency-based pay design, for example, requires
that the organization discover which competencies are necessary for its success, then brings that analysis down
to the team or individual level and rewards for the acquisition of those skills. In this case, the organization shifts
from paying for the job to paying the person for what they bring to the job. When it's combined with a way to
recognize results, in either base pay or a variable element, skill- or competency-based pay can provide an
important future-oriented balance.
Other companies encourage employees to broaden their experience by offering career-development pay-that is,
base pay increases for moves, usually lateral, that meet the company's needs and help employees broaden their
skills, but aren't promotions. This might be a change in function, such as a move from sales to marketing; a
change in role, such as from manager to senior individual contributor; or a change of business unit. The key is to
identify the kind of breadth the organization needs, and then be willing to reward employees for helping to
achieve that breadth.
When you reward for results, there's more at work than just pay. Work content is important. For example,
employees at Hoechst Celanese say they like the responsibilities of their new team-based work environment.
With less supervision, these employees have more elbow room and more space to make their own decisions.
The move to teams itself is energizing and invigorating for a while. But sooner or later, employees will begin to
ask, "What's in it for me?" That's why a new way of getting work done must be supported by a new approach to
rewards.
Reward accountability.
From the employee's perspective, the biggest change occurring in many organizations is an increased level of
employee empowerment. Employees now make decisions that were once made in a far-off executive suite or in
the plant manager's office. A classic example is the Saturn plant in Spring Hill, Tennessee, where any line
employee can halt production to correct a problem.
In this kind of environment, the importance of hierarchy and even the hierarchy itself fades as organizations
move to flatter structures.
Such changes put jobs into broad bands to further encourage exchange and mutual accountability. Organizations
need to devise new approaches to career management so that the focus shifts from the position one holds to the
results produced.
One advantage of empowering employees is their inclusion in designing and implementing reward systems.
Once upon a time, these systems were designed by experts. Later, they were designed by a team of managers.
Then came representative teams of employees. Now, a few companies have begun taking a broad approach by
involving large segments of the work force at critical points. This broader involvement has resulted in higher
quality plans, and greater employee buy-in and acceptance of these plans than ever before. After all, employees
often resent change that's thrust upon them. They're more likely to embrace change when they're part of the
process.
Ensuring the alignment between culture and rewards is, undeniably, a big job. To many companies, the whole
process is simply overwhelming. But organizations can take comfort in understanding it can take several years to
put a completely redesigned culture and reward system in place. They will achieve their best results by creating
new ways to work, hiring more capable, flexible employees and flattening the decision-making processes, all of
which must be supported by appropriate rewards.

Que.5 Explain the organizational issues pertaining to Talent Management.

Ans.5
The concept of talent management seems to be attractive. Talent management is considered to be the process of
developing the workforce for the future. The entire idea of talent management has a positive attitude. It is

associated with doing things for your best people and developing their strengths. The needs of the
organanisations and the individual can be met by talent management.
Organizational issues could be of because of focus and fit. The different types of focus are:
Step by step focus.
Leadership focus.
Organizational issues pertaining to Talent Management
Organizational issues pertaining to talent management could arise because of focus and fit.
(i) Focus: The different types of focus are:
Step by step focus: In this, managers look for employees with potential to take one step ahead in their career.
Talent management needs to have a proactive approach to both skill enhancement and career progress
Leadership focus: It is to produce future leaders. Organisations need to work on the required talent to equip
employees to become future leaders.
Functional level or workforce level focus: Talent management can be associated with the recruiting and
training of functional or professional groups. This is what the functional or workforce level focus stresses on.
Specific critical posts: It brings about the role of talent management in filling individual posts that are difficult to
be filled in and are a risk to business.
(ii) Fit: There are several dimensions to getting the fit right.
Fit to focus: Fit to focus is associated with both senior managers and workforce for talent management program.
It needs to be aligned with organisations strategy in order to be efficient. Linking it with the strategy ensures that
program is never static and remains future oriented and helps to measure employee development.
Fit to culture: The structure of the corporation is a major reason for the cultural challenges facing the
organisation. The structure can be centralized or decentralized. Organizational culture is affected by the decision
making process or transparency of organization and so on. The talent program can fit right by certain degree of
openness in the organisation, transparency, employee involvement and so on. Cultural fit is highly essential for
the success of the organisation.
Fit to workforce: Fit to workforce can be achieved by ensuring that the talent management processes
understands the psychological contracts between organisation and employees. Talent management process
must be in alignment with the needs of the individual.
Fit to other HR policies: The talent management processes needs to fit with other HR policies and processes in
order to be effective.
Fit to management capability: Talent management processes require commitment and capability for the
process to work. A talent mind-set needs to be established throughout the organisation. Senior managers need to
support the talent management process while the line managers along with HR need to spot, develop talent and
manage performance and provide feedback.

Ans.6 . Write short notes on:

a) Workforce Analysis
b)Talent Review
Answer :
Workforce Analysis
Having identified organizational priorities, the next step focuses on the roles and capabilities needed for the
department to be successful.
The aim of Workforce Analysis is to develop a good understanding of the key drivers that will affect the future
supply and demand for labour for the organisation. This involves scanning the internal and external environments
to identify factors that may impact on the workforce.
Identification of Critical Roles
The leadership team identifies the key job functions and job roles that will be the initial focus of the talent review
discussions.
Depending on the need, a talent
t is a systematic process in which an organization 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 include:
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 recognizing organizational 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 key job functions and roles that will be the
primary focus of the talent review discussions.
a)
b)
c)

All staff in a particular function or organisation unit.

A specific group or job category of the employee population.
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.
Workforce analysis is the foundation of any good workforce plan. It involves three distinct phases including
Supply Analysis, Demand (or Needs) Analysis and Gap Analysis. Altogether, this process yields information that
can be melded together with the other components of workforce planning to form a strategic plan to cope with the
workforce challenges of the future. The whole analysis should be revisited periodically to identify new trends and
factors. Step OneSupply Analysis: Evaluating the Current Resources This step is generally the easiest
because much of the information has been collected already somewhere in the organization. Evaluating current
employee and demographic data will help identify future needs as well as a projected workforce strategy. Below
is a list of the kind of data you will need and some potential sources of it. Existing Employee Data. Most of the
employee data is available to authorized users through the State Employees query in WiscJobs: What are the
demographics of your current workforce? (Gender, ethnic, disabled, full/part time, classified/LTE, etc.) How
many people are performing each job? Where are the jobs located? What is the employee/supervisor ratio?
Does it need to change? What are the pay rates of current employees? What is the likelihood of attrition
through retirements? You can estimate potential retirements by identifying those employees who are eligible for
retirement benefits currently and in succeeding years. The value of this type of estimate is limited by the scope of
the data in payroll systems. Additional information such as total years of creditable service, amount of
accumulated sick leave, and retirement eligibility of spouses would be very helpful, but is difficult to obtain.
Termination Reports (from the payroll system), Exit Interviews and Employee Surveys: How many people have
left the department? Why did the employees leave the department? Where did they go? What were their
impressions of the work environment before they left? How do the continuing employees feel about the agency?
Recruitment Data (from WiscJobs and payroll records): What recruitments have been completed in the last two
to three years? Check both your own agency and recruitments done by other agencies for related jobs. What
recruitment activities and resources were used? How many qualified applicants were found? Where did the
most qualified applicants come from? What do new employees think of your recruitment practices? Additional
materials agencies can use to assist in the analysis include: Strategic planning documents. Current budget
and position reduction information. External influences on operations. External labor market and economic
data. (See links at the end of this document.) Step TwoDemand Analysis: Evaluating the Future Needs of the
Agency To assess future needs, determine the answers to the following questions: How essential is each job?
What job functions, if any, could be consolidated? How many people are needed in the future to perform each
job? What knowledge, skills, competencies and abilities (KSA) are needed to perform anticipated job functions?
What technology changes will be made? What processes could be done more efficiently or effectively? What
activities can the agency stop doing or give up? Are there opportunities for reorganization? What are the
organizations strategic objectives? What are the organizations diversity objectives? Step ThreeGap Analysis:
Comparing Supply and Demand This step can be completed in a fairly straightforward manner. Simply take the
demand analysis results and match them to your supply results. Any mismatches indicate either a projected
unmet need or a surplus, either of which presents a challenge. To fill the gaps between current resources and
future needs, use the results of the other core components of your workforce plan to craft possible solutions.
Some approaches include: Ensure employees with obsolete skills receive the training needed so they can
continue to contribute. Hire and maintain employees who can develop and use ever-changing technology.
Provide a workplace and work opportunities that retain employees. Train employees in skills that support the
agency's strategic direction to ensure valuable use of time and resources. 2 Document the processes, methods,
tools and techniques for positions requiring special skills and responsibilities. Determine the best use of
positions by analyzing needs rather than just refilling the position in the same way. Increase efficiencies in
recruitment and hiring processes by proactively identifying future anticipated vacancies and completing some of
the steps in the exam development process prior to positions being vacated. Identify training needs,

classification and compensation issues, organizational or position changes. Research labor market availability
of candidates and possibilities to grow your own for certain positions. Create affirmative action strategies in an
effort to maintain and increase diversity within the department.

b)Talent Review
Having set the organizational context, management teams can proceed wtih a review of talent in the
organization.
The type and emphasis of a talent review can vary depending on the departments need.
Talent review examples include:
Talent Inventory focuses on the current performance and future potential of a selected employee group. A Talent
Review is a process to involve more senior business executives in sharing and analyzing 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 organizational context, management teams can proceed with a review of talent in the
organization. The type and emphasis of a talent review can vary depending on the departments need.
For example: Talent Inventory which in turn involves current performance and future capability of selected
employee group. The objective is to get combined perspective of strengths, requirements and development
opportunities for specific employees, and to identify the organizations talent pool. Readiness for major
assignments or future jobs is considered.
Employees are our greatest asset has unfortunately become an enduring clich, but few businesses would ever
succeed without the intelligence, innovation and contributions of its employees.It is crucial to recognize the
impact people have on business success, understand the organizations top performers and identify succession
candidates and those individuals with potential to move into larger roles.
Increasingly, organizations are turning to enterprise-wide or business-unit talent review meetings strategic
sessions that mesh business performance with people performance at a high-level view as a forum for tackling
these big issues. The meetings bring senior-level stakeholders together, but often processes for evaluating talent
isnt systematic or system-wide. And, many organizations lack accurate data to support talent decisions.
Without a common lexicon for all parties, or a consistent way to rate and review talent specific to varying talent
types, its difficult to achieve a fair evaluation of an employees performance. Making more pertinent data
available can address this issue and improve cross-departmental, global talent initiatives.
Simply ranking employees based on performance or potential isnt enough to help the organization grow
stronger. To do that, development needs must be aligned with business priorities from corporate to the respective
division and department as well as employee career goals in order to increase an employees ability to contribute
effectively to business success. The talent review process is an ideal time to initiate development discussions
and implement development plans. And although it is time difficult to consistently make, its critical time well
spent, especially when it comes to identifying talent moves from the inside.
This time well spent ultimately leads to a disciplined approach that links performance management and
development planning with succession planning can help organizations increase the value of their talent review
meetings and improve planning for near- and long-term needs. A data-rich talent review process improves
aligning individuals with business strategy and helps organizations understand the connection between people
management and business performance. With visibility into talent, organizations can identify critical roles for
competitive advantage and business innovation; find talent to fill those roles and ensure developmental activities
for success.
To facilitate talent discussions, many organizations use a nine-boxperformance and potential matrix to evaluate
talent, understand leadership readiness and which employees have potential for larger roles. Having data to
populate those boxes ensures organizations focus on the right talent and clearly understand the development
needs to power performance and align with business objectives.
While succession planning should be a natural outgrowth ofperformance management, many organizations are
unprepared when key talent leaves and they spiral into reactive mode, often missing opportunities internally.
Formal talent reviews supported by accurate data ensures the organization can harness the bench strength
behind critical roles and build an internal pipeline of talent to quickly fill open roles with high-performing, highpotential individuals.