MGMT3025 Chap.8 Global Talent Management
Global Talent Management
Global talent management is presented in Week 8 as a subset of IHRM that grew out of a worldwide war for talent, demand for global leaders, workforce diversity, mobility and migration, the knowledge economy, digitalisation and diverging demographics between countries.
This chapter starts with what talent means, whether it is innate, acquired or both, and the choice between an exclusive approach that invests in a few and an inclusive approach that develops most of the workforce, with a hybrid in between. It then follows the talent lifecycle: the practices firms use to attract, develop and retain people, and the link from all three to succession planning.
The outcomes section contrasts the universal and contingent views, sets out indicators for retention, development and succession, and notes the societal level of macro talent management. Survey trends on AI, resilience, the employee value proposition and skills close the chapter, together with the challenges of analytics, bias and virtual teams.
What this chapter covers
- 01
Definitions of talent and the forces behind global talent management
- 02
Innate, acquired and inborn plus acquired views of talent
- 03
Exclusive, inclusive and hybrid approaches
- 04
Attraction, development and retention practices across the talent lifecycle
- 05
Universal and contingent views of talent management outcomes
- 06
Indicators for retention, development and succession
- 07
Survey trends, HR analytics, bias and virtual talent
Worked example · free
Where in the talent lifecycle should a video game studio intervene?
- +1Attract: strong applicant numbers show the attraction stage is working, so no change is needed there beyond keeping talent pools stocked.
- +2Develop: too few mid-level developers ready to lead is a development gap; add rotations across game teams, mentoring by senior leads and development plans tied to succession.
- +1Retain: senior artists leaving for share schemes is a retention gap; review competitive pay with long-term wealth building and monitor attrition by performance level.
- +1Conclude that both gaps empty the succession pipeline, which is where the lifecycle shows the cost.
Key terms
- Exclusive talent management
- An approach that treats only a limited group, such as high performers, high potentials or holders of pivotal roles, as talent.
- Inclusive talent management
- An approach that regards most employees as talent and assumes talent can be built through training.
- Contingent view
- The position that talent practices improve performance only when they fit the firm's strategy, objectives and culture.
- Talent pool
- A group of candidates identified in advance for future roles, used instead of hiring only for a named vacancy.
- Macro talent management
- Talent management viewed at the level of a society or nation rather than inside a single firm.
Global Talent Management FAQ
What is the difference between exclusive and inclusive talent management?
The exclusive approach treats a small group as talent, chosen for key skills, high performance, high potential or a pivotal role, and assumes talent is fixed. The inclusive approach sees most employees as contributing to value creation and assumes talent grows through training. A hybrid approach, the lecture notes, combines the two, so a firm can use elements of each.
Is talent innate or acquired?
The lecture sets out three positions. Acquired talent comes from experience, practice and training; innate talent rests on inborn strengths; and the combined view says inborn qualities are a prerequisite that still need nurturing. The course's own working definition covers innate abilities, attitudes and acquired skills and knowledge, so the combined view fits it best.
How do global firms attract talent?
Practices include building talent pools instead of hiring only for vacancies, close ties with business schools and universities, very selective hiring, a compelling employee value proposition with a strong global brand, screening for values and cultural fit, continuous assessment of performance and potential, competency profiles, talent inventories for succession, and separate pools for executives and specialists.
What is the universal view of talent management outcomes?
It holds that best practice in talent management improves organisational performance wherever it is applied. The opposing contingent view argues that practices pay off only when aligned with strategy, long-term objectives and culture. A firm that copies another company's programme without adapting it is assuming the universal view.
What challenges does global talent management face?
The lecture highlights three: using HR analytics and talent metrics well, for instance to identify strategic positions and relate talent to financial indicators; checking practices for bias and discrimination across social, geographical and structural distance; and managing virtual talent, where cultural, geographical and organisational factors can hinder collaboration in dispersed teams.
Exam move
Draw the talent lifecycle from memory, with attraction, development and retention around a succession pipeline, and list two practices under each stage. Then practise placing a problem on the lifecycle: a shortage of applicants, a gap in ready successors and high departures need different fixes.
Learn the exclusive, inclusive and hybrid approaches as a comparison of who is in the pool and how people enter it, and be ready to argue which suits a given strategy. Pair the universal and contingent views with a scenario where a firm copies a famous programme. Finally, attach indicators to each area so an evaluation question can be answered with evidence rather than opinion.
Keep the survey trends as supporting examples, not as the core of an answer.
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