What are the challenges before HR Dept in the business age of V U C A (volatile / uncertain / complex / ambiguous) ???

WILL TALENT MANAGEMENT

SUPERCEDE TRADITONAL HRM ???

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, builds an image to attract the very best, ensures that new hires are immediately productive, helps to retain the very best, and facilitates the continuous movement of talent to where it can have the most impact within the organization. "The war for talent has shifted, now it's the war for the right talent," said David Ulrich, leading Human Resources guru. "It is not enough to say that people are our most important asset; but to believe that people are the customer's most important asset." So where does the traditional HRM system survive with the onslaught of outsourcing & automation of most HR operations???

 

TALENT MANAGEMENT : A STRATEGIC & INTEGRATIVE APPROACH

The talent management strategy is superior not just because it focuses on productivity, but also because it is forward looking and proactive, which means that the organization is continuously seeking out talent and opportunities to better utilize that talent. It produces excellent results because it overcomes the major problem of traditional recruiting, which is isolation. It instead integrates the previously independent functions of recruiting, retention, workforce planning, employment branding, metrics, orientation and redeployment into a seamless process.

 

TALENT MANAGEMENT & HRM : THE DIFFERENTIATORS

 

There are some other factors that help define how talent management differs from traditional HRM. They include:

• A focus on high impact positions. A talent management strategy requires managers and HR to determine which jobs, when filled with top talent, have the largest impact on a firm’s success.
• Cross Functional Approach. Talent management builds cooperation and integration between previously independent efforts of line/functional managers, through its heavy use of common goals, metrics and rewards. As a result, no independent function like marketing, production or IT  can be considered successful unless the overall talent management effort is also successful.
• Accountability. Talent management gets managers’ attention by instituting a system of measures and rewards that ensures every manager is recognized and rewarded for excellence in people management (high workforce productivity). It simultaneously measures employee engagement to ensure that managers reach their productivity goals while using the appropriate management behaviors (two-way communications, empowerment, meritocracy, etc.).

¨     Recognition of the business conditions. The talent management approach involves recognizing that different types of talent are required depending on changing business situations & the business cycle. As a result, talent management requires the continuous 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. Our experience  with client companies, suggests that too many firms rely on recruiting new talent rather than systematic development of “home grown” talent. This generally leaves them unprepared to respond quickly to business opportunities. It is a constant struggle to have the right people in the right jobs at the right time in order to deliver improved business results.

• Focus on Internal Customer Service. Seamless service is the expectation of talent management. Customer satisfaction, process speed, quality, and responsiveness are continually measured. In our HRD EFFECTIVENESS AUDIT newsletter we have described how this arm of the talent management should be evaluated

¨     Anticipation. While traditional HRM tends to be reactive, talent management is forward looking. It forecasts and alerts managers about upcoming problems and opportunities. It encourages managers to act before the need arises in talent management issues

 

 

PRIMARY PRINCIPLES OF TALENT MANAGMENT 

 

The four primary factors that make the talent management approach unique include:

1.    An integrated approach within HR. Talent management formally integrates ALL people management programs and functions so that they work as a continuous & complementing process.

2.    Integrating people processes into standard business processes. Talent management goes the next step and further repositions people management programs and processes into the company’s standard business processes, such as the corporate strategic planning process, budgeting, mergers, and new product development.

3.    Shifting responsibility to managers. Talent management pushes the accountability and the responsibility for executing people management down to the line management levels.

4.    Measuring success with productivity. Talent management shifts the success measures from the more traditional HR and recruiting functional metrics towards measuring the overall productivity of the

 

The Key Success Factor of Talent Management

 

 Before going into any detail about talent management, it’s important to take a step back and look at where it fits into the  business map. Start with the operation of the HR department. Most HR departments operate using a functional model where every HR unit operates on a relatively independent basis. Other than HR generalists, every HR unit has independent goals, measures, and budgets. For example, there is little or no integration in the traditional recruiting function between its recruiting programs and the activities of other HR functions like development, compensation, and retention. Although this traditional separation provides the recruiting function with the opportunity to focus on its own specialty area, it can limit the impact of recruiting efforts by not meeting the expectation or needs of other people management and business processes and programs.

"Alignment" is therefore the key element of a successful Talent Strategy.  When selecting or developing people, most organizations focus on the skills, knowledge, experience and behaviours required for the role.  However, some organizations are beginning to look at the behaviours required to operate effectively in a particular team or culture.  Our experience at Synergy Management Associates, in serving our clients, is to have an approach that looks at all of the factors that drive team performance, the relationship between people's motivations and the sorts of organizational cultures in which they will thrive.

Talent Management should be about delivering business success through understanding what we actually mean by talent, and how it will achieve the specific goals of the organization.  It is about ensuring that we value the natural talents and aspirations of our people.  It is about ensuring that we understand what blockages can spoil all our hard work.  It is about operating people processes that join together not only with each other, but with the business's goals.  And finally, it is also about understanding how to manage people for alignment as well as ability.  If we adopt these approaches, not only will business success follow, but we should also have fulfilled and effective people.

 

 

CONCLUSION

 

It comes down to whether a company has the talent needed to execute its business strategy. And the signs of a faltering system are readily apparent: failing to meet business targets or objectives; shortages of key talent; talent management a low corporate priority; employee morale and satisfaction on the wane; problems recruiting employees; problems retaining employees; a tarnished employment brand. The end result of the talent management process is to increase overall workforce productivity through the improved attraction, retention, and utilization of talent.

 With best compliments

Dr Wilfred Monteiro

From the organization's viewpoint, one of the most important reason for having a system of performance appraisal is to make the reporting manager not just a evaluator of performance but a catalyst to the individual’s performance .

RETHINK ! YOUR PERFORMANCE APPRAISAL SYSTEM EVERY YEAR.

We have all been through it: the annual appraisal demanded by HR dept & backed by the CEO but cynically scorned by staff.

 It a familiar story year after year …the reporting  boss is vague about what the appraisee have been doing for the past 12 months but still says the appraisee is above average. A few trivial complaints are mentioned to damp the appraiser hopes of any increment or bonus. The appraisee’s heroic efforts to keep the show on the road are completely ignored. His part of the story is never heard. He vows to find another job…. Not this yearend 2009 but as soon as the job market improves…. The meeting is ended as quickly as decently possible and soon forgotten.

Until next year- recheck your objectives…

Yet performance appraisal is taken very seriously in some leading companies - and not just because the salary review depends on it. Many of India’s best employers describe it as the key to superior corporate performance. From the organization's viewpoint, one of the most important reasons for having a system of performance appraisal is to establish and uphold the principle of accountability, transparency of management processes of rewards & penalty, involve people in the goals setting process, create goal congruence between the individual and organization, align the individual /departmental goals to business strategy , make the reporting manager not just a evaluator of performance but a catalyst  to the individual’s performance . And last but not the least, continually aim to perfect the performance management system itself.

Recent insights into performance management systems:

1. Total Performance Management System refers to the system of managing both behaviors and results…the two critical elements of performance. Most forget the evaluation or appraisal system to be the whole of Paste main aim of the evaluation system is to identify the performance gap (if any). This gap is the shortfall that occurs when performance does not meet the standard set by the organization as acceptable. Effective appraisal systems contains four basic systems operating in conjunction:

¨      a goal setting system

¨      an evaluation system

¨       a feedback system.

¨      a development system

2. It is important that the appraiser (usually the employee's supervisor) be well-informed and credible. Appraisers should feel comfortable with the techniques of appraisal, and should be knowledgeable about the employee's job and performance. When these conditions exist, employees are more likely to view the appraisal process as accurate and fair. They also express more acceptances of the appraiser's feedback and a greater willingness to change.

3. To facilitate greater accuracy & credibility, more and more companies, are using multilayer appraisals of manager performance with an objective to using useful feedback from multiple raters to guide the personal development of ratees.The basic premise is that multi-rater appraisals can be used to enhance the ratees' self-awareness, leading to improved leadership and management skills through knowledge of strengths, weaknesses, and others' expectations.

4. The main aim of the feedback system is to inform the employee about the quality of his or her performance. However, the information flow should not be exclusively one way. The appraisers also are duty bound to listen & receive feedback from the employee about job problems, resources needed, expectations of the staff member.

5. One the leading causes of organizational failure is "non-alignment of responsibility and accountability." Non-alignment occurs where employees are given responsibilities and duties, but are not held accountable for the way in which those responsibilities and duties are performed. What typically happens is that several individuals or work units appear to have overlapping roles. The overlap allows - indeed actively encourages - each individual or business unit to "pass the buck" to the others. Ultimately, in the severely non-aligned system, no one is accountable for anything. In this event, the principle of accountability breaks down completely. Like an engine that is poorly made or badly tuned, the non-aligned organization may run but it will be sluggish, costly and unreliable.

6. Measurement is hard enough when the appraisee know how to do it. Having a clear path allows the appraisee to concentrate on creating measures instead of wondering what to do next. Common and yet avoidable errors in the evaluation are:

¨      Subjectivity of performance. It is always difficult to measure work performance. This is due to the fact that most work performance does not produce measurable results at the end of the day.

¨      The halo effect. This is when someone is appraised highly, because of one outstanding characteristic. For example, when someone is a very good speaker, this outstanding skill or ability will serve to cloud the judgment of the appraiser and there will be a tendency to grade this individual highly, irrespective of whether he performs or not.

¨      Central tendency. Experience has shown that most appraisers tend to avoid the high and low extremes on a rating scale. They tend to take the easier and 'safer' middle rating.

¨      Appraising the wrong things. Appraisers sometimes appraise behaviours rather than actual work performance. For example, behaviours like looking busy and being pleasant may tend to cloud an appraiser's perception and hence count more than the actual performance.

¨      Similar characteristics. Research has shown that there is a tendency for an appraisal to be more favourable if the individual is perceived as being similar to the appraiser in relation to gender, personality, race, appearance etc.

¨      Politics. There is always the possibility that politics may influence the conduct of appraisals, as individuals maneuver to try to get the rewards that come with good appraisals.

¨      Ability to evaluate. The other main problem is that people vary considerably in their ability to evaluate accurately the behaviour of others. Due to lack of training in how to observe subordinate behaviour, or lack of ability to do so, the immediate supervisor may not have the necessary skills to act as an effective appraiser, hence affecting the quality of the appraisal.

¨      Different standards. Different appraisers may apply different standards of judgment in making their assessments. As well as this individual variation, the position of the appraiser, the sex, the position of the appraisee may also affect the ratings.

7. Multiple ways to align or link. Linkage or alignment with organizational goals is more and more important in today's business environment. This process provides two ways to provide that "line of sight.”. This process is not rocket science. It can be taught and learned by any workforce with a high school education.

8. Traditional appraisal systems often fail because they have a strong top-down bias, concentrating, say, on how far the individual has achieved specified goals in the past year.  Feedback from our client companies (www.synergymanager.net) has shown that few employees understand the strategy on which the goals are supposedly based. An individual may be made to feel a scapegoat for organizational failings and even the manager feels uncomfortable.

9. In the modern business, teamwork is everything and change is constant. Modern appraisal systems emphasize future team performance and the way individuals can develop their skills and improve their contribution to the team. Appraisals can eliminate what they call the "C players" and relieve a company of the hidden costs of tolerating under performance.

10. Today HR managers report, that  appraisees seem to have greater acceptance of the appraisal process, and feel more satisfied with it, when the process is directly linked to rewards. There is also a school of thought which argues that the evaluation of employees for reward purposes, and frank communication with them about their performance, are part of the basic responsibilities of management. The practice of not discussing reward issues while appraising performance is, say critics, based on inconsistent and muddled ideas of motivation. Such findings are a serious challenge to those who feel that appraisal results and reward outcomes must be strictly isolated from each other.

11. Why does performance appraisal have to be a formal annual process – shouldn’t managers do this every day as part of managing their teams. Are managers always skilled to hold performance related conversations with their teams???

12. The basic problem with appraisals is that the system becomes loaded with too many functions, with the result that none is done particularly well. For individuals, money is probably at the top of their minds, followed by performance and working relationships. Longer term, career development and the necessary competences and skills are critical for the young professionals. For some others mentoring - from someone whom the individual respects - is usually valued higher.

13. A novel “competency-based” approach to performance appraisal is based on teaching all employees to identify, deploy, and develop their strengths. Then aligning all performance appraisal and review systems around employee strengths. And lastly designing each role to create world-class performers in the role. This is called performance planning & development the higher order of the performance management system

14. What role do HR and Line/Functional managers play in the performance appraisal process? Are line managers given a thorough grounding of the systems as a whole…with additional training in counseling & performance feedback skills? Or does HR see itself as a high & mighty arbitrator and lord of the performance appraisal system. There is need for complete clarity & trust between line managers and HR dept

Organizations need the system to ensure productive performances, and yet at the same time, whatever system implemented is fraught with pitfalls as it deals with the human factor. In a sense, performance appraisals are a necessary evil and a double-edged tool; organizations and managers will have to learn to live with this and work with this unimpeachable fact!