Talent management programs : How should they be designed and implemented to satisfy talented employees?

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Talent management programs: the design and implementation Elisa Uijl M ast er t h esis fo r th e Uni versit y o f Ams terd am

1 Talent management programs

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Foreword

Hereby presented is a master thesis for the Master of Business Studies at the University of Amsterdam. This master thesis will study the topic of talent management programs. The thesis will study the design and the implementation of a talent management program necessary to satisfy talented employees. The subject of the thesis is selected in co-operation with Landal GreenParks. Landal GreenParks is a subsidiary of Wyndham Vacation Rentals, which is the world’s largest provider of holiday

accommodations. Landal GreenParks is an organization in chalet-park management and rental and has over 70 parks, of which 51 parks are located in the Netherlands. The other parks are located in

Germany, Belgium, Austria, Switzerland, the Czech Republic and Hungary. Every year approximately 2,2 million guests are enjoying a stay at one of the parks and in total 2.550 employees are working at Landal GreenParks worldwide.

I would like to thank my supervisor from the University of Amsterdam, Corine Boon. Her directions gave me needful guidance to write this thesis. I also would like to thank my colleagues from Landal

Sluftervallei and Land van Bartje, for participating in my interview.

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Abstract

The “War for Talents” started in 1997 and was introduced by a group of Mc Kinsey consultants. Since then talent management is an interesting and growing field. Organization seems to understand that if talent is managed in the right way, this could be beneficial for the organization.

This thesis describes research on talent management and on talent management programs, which is already done. Here we defined the phrase talent management, while no clear and complete definition is found in the literature. Also a framework for talent management is missing, therefore the AMO

framework, which explains the relationship between HRM and the performance of an organization, is uses in this research. We define the corporate HR roles when it comes to talent management and we also investigated the importance of satisfied employees for an organization and we linked this with talent management and a talent management program. Our results show how a talent management program could be designed according to employees.

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FOREWORD ... 2 ABSTRACT ... 3 INTRODUCTION ... 5 THEORETICAL FRAMEWORK ... 10

WHAT IS TALENT MANAGEMENT? ... 10

HRM BUNDLES ... 13

DESIGN WITH THE HELP OF AMO ... 14

IMPLEMENTATION ... 18 EMPLOYEE SATISFACTION ... 22 RESEARCH METHOD ... 25 DATA COLLECTION ... 26 DATA ANALYSIS ... 30 RESULTS ... 32 ABILITY ... 32 MOTIVATION ... 36 OPPORTUNITY ... 38 SATISFACTION ... 41 ABILITY ... 44 MOTIVATION ... 48 OPPORTUNITY ... 50 SATISFACTION ... 53 COMPARATIVE ANALYSIS ... 56 DISCUSSION ... 59 CONCLUSION ... 65 LITERATURE ... 66 APPENDIXES ... 73

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Introduction

Nowadays it is known in organizations that having the right people in the right place at the right time, has become an important factor to maximize business opportunities and to ensure the ongoing success of an organization. According to several studies, business managers agree on the fact that finding employees who are talented is one of the most important things nowadays. (E.g. Paauwe 2009; Guthridge, Komm and Lawson 2008; Deloitte 2010). These authors all state that the competition between organizations for finding talent will have a big effect on companies. Schuler et al. (2011) even state that the success of firms depends on how well and effectively talent challenges are identified and managed by an organization.

The topic of talent management is since 1997, where a group of Mc Kinsey consultants introduced the phrase “the War for Talents”, a topic of high academic interest (Collings and Melhali, 2009). The new look at talent management shifts from the more traditional human resource management towards the management of human resources where talent is managed to be specific suited for the competitive environment of an organization today.

Therefore, talent management is a growing and popular field. Different authors (Lewis and Heckman 2006; Collins and Mellhali 2009) have written about talent management. Both studies conclude that despite all the academic literature, no clear and consistent definition of talent management was given, and also a conceptual framework on this topic was missing. Not a lot of empirical research is done about the topic talent management. In the early years of 2000, the literature, f.e. Cappelli, 2008, is only listing a set of best practices, which are described by management experts.

Chris Ashton and Lynne Morton state in their research in 2005 that good management of talent in an organization is really important, and it even could become a core competence for an organization. But in general organizations find talent management hard to cope with. Research shows that 75% of business

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leaders in organizations have invested in talent management, and most of them state that there is no

impact visible yet.

Another study showed that CEO’s are more involved in the process of talent management, and the majority of respondents of a survey stated that more than 20% of their time was spend on talent issues. (Economist Intelligence Unit, 2006). Here it was also stated that most CEO’s argued that the topic of talent management was too important to leave to the responsibility of the HR department. And in a report of the Boston Consulting Group in 2007, talent management was identified as one of the five critical challenges for the HR department. Therefore the area of talent management is a relevant area to research.

While there is no clear definition about talent management, first a literature review will be written about what talent management actually is. When the definition is clear, we will take a look at the different HR bundles and who is actually responsible for the management of talent.

In the literature about talent management it is suggested that HR bundles could be used to manage the talent in an organization. According to Lepak and Snell (1999) it is important for organization to have work systems which focusing on the investment in human capital, where employees are committed and involved in the systems to maintain a competitive advantage. According to Miles and Snow (1984) some of the HR practices should be customized to meet the specific needs and requirements of different employee groups. The different groups of employees will have different skills which are all important to the competitive advantage of an organization. (Jackson, Schuler and Rivero 1989).

Therefore a more complex and flexible approach to talent management is required. Maximizing the talent of the individual employees, to make it a unique source of competitive advantage for an organization, has been a central element of the HR policy. (Frank and Taylor, 2004; Lewis and Heckman, 2006). Due to the new focus on talent management, it is required to create new HR tools,

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new HR methods and new HR processes. These are necessary to provide a co-ordination system for an organization, which support the global integration of talent management. (Kim, Park and Prescott, 2003). To cope with talent management in an organization, there are four HR roles, namely champion of processes, guardian of culture, network leadership and intelligence and managers of internal receptivity (Farndale et al, 2010), which will be explained later in the thesis.

Due to the changes in the environment and competition, organizations are testing the added value of HRM to the performance of an organization more. The AMO framework is one of the most used frameworks to measure the effect of HRM and to explain the relationship between HRM and the firm performance. (Bailey 1993). At this framework the individual levels of employees are taken into account, which are the skills and competences (A = abilities), the motivation (M = motivation) and the

opportunities employees have to participate (O = opportunities) (Boselie et al, 2005). It is stated in the research of Purcell in 2003 that employees will perform better when they have the abilities to do so, when employees are motivated to do so and when the support which is needed is provided by the organization. With the help of the AMO framework, the research in this thesis is conducted.

Mankins, Bird and Root state in their research in 2013 that it is important for an organization to have best performers, or talents, while these employees are four times as productive as the average performer. Another statement which is made by HR professionals is the phrase that happy employees are also productive employees. It is also stated in different research (Saari and Judge, 2004; Organ, 1988; Organ and Ryan 1995; Judge, Thoresen, Bono and Patton, 2001) that there is a positive relationship between job satisfaction and the performance of an organization. Therefore a talent management program could help an organization to maintain a competitive advantage and to improve the firm’s performance.

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In 2012 the research focuses more on the global talent management, which derives from literature on

international human resource management. The design and implementation of a talent management program is very limited described in the literature. Therefore a research about the design and implementation of talent management programs will be done.

The research will be conducted at Landal GreenParks. Here the employees of two vacation parks will be interviewed about their experiences with training and they are asked to give their opinion about a talent management program.

Landal GreenParks is an organization which manages and rents vacation parks. In total 70 parks are possess by Landal, 51 of these parks are located in the Netherlands.

There is a difference between the parks at this organization, namely there are “management” parks and “beheer” parks. Management parks are owned by the organization Landal GreenParks and the beheer parks are owned by a group of owners. The owners all own at least one villa at the park and the villas are rented through Landal GreenParks. Another difference between these parks is the fact that the management teams of the management parks will be supported by the head offices of Landal

GreenParks. For example the department of HR will support the management teams with different HR issues and they will provide training for the employees at the parks. For beheer parks it is also possible to make use of the different bundles which are offered by the head offices for a certain amount. Due to this arrangement, management parks are not paying when employees are participating in training. Here a fixed amount of service costs are paid by the parks, and training costs are included. Beheer parks which are participating in the HR bundle, will receive a discount on the costs for training employees.

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For this thesis employees and managers from both a management and a beheer park will be

interviewed. Due to the difference in training costs for these parks, we expect a difference in training. It even could be the fact that employees at beheer parks are not able to conduct in training. Another expectation is that there will be a difference in expectations of a talent management program between managers and employees and between the respondents of the different parks.

The aim of this research is the fact that despite the growing field of talent management, there is no clear definition and concept of this subject according to the literature. With the help of a literature review I would like to come up with a clear definition about this subject. I also would like to make clear who is responsible for designing and implementing a talent management program. After the research, it could be clear how a talent management program should be designed and implemented.

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Theoretical framework

What is talent management?

In 1997, a group of McKinsey consultants announced a “War for Talent”. They stated that big

companies think it is difficult to draw in and to keep good people at a time when it is necessary to have superior talent. Due to this “War for Talent “, talent management became a very common term in management. But to define the precise definition of talent management is not easy. Different definitions of talent management are named and found in the literature and Aston and Morton (2005) stated that there is no consistent definition of the term talent management.

According to Cappelli (2008, page 1) talent management is “the process through which employers anticipate and meet their needs for human capital”. Here the author only takes into consideration the employers view, and nothing is said about the employee, or the talent itself.

Collins an Mellhali (2009) are talking about the process and the human resource architecture in their study in 2009, where they state that talent management are “the activities and processes that involves the systematic identification of key positions which differentially contribute to the organization’s sustainable competitive advantage, the development of a talent pool of high potentials and high performing incumbents to fill these rolls, and the development of a differentiated human resource architecture to facilitate filling these positions with competent incumbents and to ensure their continued commitment to the organization”. (Collins and Mellhali 2009, page 304).

In the article of Davies and Davies of 2010, the authors state that talent management is “the systematic attraction, identification, development, engagement/retention and deployment of those individuals with high potential who are particular value to an organization”. (Davies and Davies 2010, page 419). This definition is quite similar to the definition of Scullion and Collings in their study in 2011. There the authors stated that global talent management “includes all organizational activities for the purpose of

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attracting, selecting, developing, and retaining the best employees in the most strategic roles on a

global scale”. (Scullion and Collings 2011, page 7).

Still it is not clear which definition of talent management is the most complete one. In 2006 Lewis and Heckman studied the definition of talent management. The authors found that despite all the different or incorrect definitions, there are three explicit perspectives on talent management. According to the first perspective, talent management is a collection of skills, activities and functions which are distinctive for the human resource department. These activities are for example the selection, recruiting and

development of employees, and the career and succession management. (Byham, 2001; Heinen and O’Neill, 2004; Mercer, 2005). These authors state that talent management is the responsibility of the human resource department, and it requires nothing more than just doing what the department always does, but doing it faster or across the whole organization. Some of the authors see talent management as very broad, while others are focusing more on sub-disciplines. Recruiters state that talent

management is about finding the best employees possible, where trainers state the talent management is about growing talent with the help of training programs. The authors may not agree on their view, they all state that talent management is seen as a part of human resource management.

Another perspective on talent management is about the concept of talent pools. According to Kessler (2002) and Pascal (2004), talent management are processes which are made to make sure that employees are able to flow into jobs through the whole organization. The approach of the authors is quite similar to succession planning, but it can also include some skills which are distinctive for human resources, namely selection and recruiting of employees. Key of this approach is to monitor the needs of the employees and the needs for staffing, and managing the development of the employees through positions.

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The final perspective on talent management is about the talent in general. In this perspective two views on talent management come up. The first view in this perspective, states that talent is a resource which should be managed mainly according to performance levels. This means that highly talented and competent employees should be attracted, recruited, hired and rewarded in spite of their role or the needs of the organization. In contrast with the above named concept of talent pools, here organizations are supported to manage talent pools generally for the whole organization, instead of managing talent pools for specific positions. The second view in this perspective, states that talent is a good which is undifferentiated and which will evolve out of two perspectives, namely demographic and humanistic perspectives. According to this perspective talent is crucial, because a strong human resource

department has to manage all employees to high performance (Walker & Larocco, 2002; Buckingham & Vosburgh, 2001) or due to the fact that talent is made more valuable in general because of business trends and demographic.

Those perspectives still do not give the term talent management a clear definition. Mostly the term is used to mark the importance of human resource skills, like recruiting, selecting, etc, without linking the term to research-based findings.

Collings and Mellahi (2009) take into account those three views, but they add a fourth perspective on talent management. In their study they state that it is important to identify the key positions in an organization, instead of focusing only on the individual talents. So the authors see talent management as the processes and activities of an organization where the identification of key positions is involved, the development of a talent pool with talents who are able to fill those key positions and the

development of a different, specific human resource architecture for talent. Where this specific

architecture makes sure the positions which are identified could be filled with competent employees and that the employees are committed to the organization.

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The definition talent management named above by Collings and Mellahi is the most complete definition so far. The authors have taken into consideration different opinions about the topic. Therefore this will be the definition which is used in this thesis.

HRM bundles

It is not possible to suggest that all employees are the same and can be managed in a same way. According to Lepak and Snell (1999) the most appropriate way of investing in employees depends on the different types of human capital. Therefore the authors come up with a human resource architecture with different employee modes, relationships, configurations of human resources and some criteria for competitive advantage. Lepak and Snell identify four different modes of employment, namely internal development, acquisition, contracting and alliance. According to the resource-based view (Porter 1985) resources are of value to a firm when they are able to act out organizational strategies which will improve the efficiency and effectiveness, to achieve market opportunities, and are able to cope with potential threats. Human capital can be seen as a resource. Assets which cannot be copied could provide an organization competitive advantage.

According to Minbaeva and Collings (2013), it is a myth that talent management is not a human resource responsibility. A lot of academic research state that, talent management either should be placed on the management’s agenda, (Schuler, Jackson and Tarique 2010) or that it is more a line management responsibility. CEO’s who are interviewed find talent management too important to leave to the responsibility of human resources alone. (Economist Intelligence Unit 2006). These CEO’s also stated that more than 20% of their time is spend on talent management issues. Off course the roles of CEO’s and senior managers are important in defining the direction for talent management in the organization, but Schuler, Jackson and Tarique (2010) state that corporate human resources should continue to play a central role in the operation of talent management. To do this, the steps of talent management should be aligned and integrated with other systems, policies and practices of human

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resources. But according to different consultancy reports (Boston Consulting Group 2008 and 2009),

there is not enough capability in the human resource department to manage talent. Human resource departments think that they miss the competencies to address the challenges of talent management effectively, where the management of a company thinks the human resource department is not able to adapt the strategic importance. (Schuler, Jackson and Tarique 2011). Therefore it is challenging for the human resource department to persuade the top management of their capabilities to manage talents in an organization. Minbaeva and Collings (2013) state that this could be done by linking the organizations strategy to talent management. Then talent management is one of the business processes (Becker and Huselid 2006). Such a business process could lead to competitive advantage for the organization. To make sure that talent management as a business process lead to competitive advantage, talent management should be assembled in the human resource architecture, which will aim to change the behavior of employees and affect the effectiveness of the implementation of a talent management program.

Design with the help of AMO

In the literature a lot is said about how HRM could be used to contribute to the performance of an organization. According to Paauwe and Boselie (2005), there are two main approaches, namely best fit and best practice. According to the best fit approach, HRM could be more effective when it is integrated within the organization, where the best practice approach states that the performance of an organization could be improved when the best practices in the way people are managed are adopted.

A lot of researchers in the field of human resources management state that it is important to have work systems where the focus is on investing in human capital to maintain competitive advantage and where employees are involved and committed in these systems. (Lepak and Snell 1999). Mostly talent is measured in organizations with the help of frameworks where talented employees are differentiated from the other employees. (Sparrow, Farndale, Scullion, 2013). Both Snell and Dean (1992) and Huselid

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(1995) collected data and analyzed the HR practices first of different employee groups. Later the results of these different employee groups were combined into one profile. Lepak and Snell (2002) argue that possible important aspects of how different employee groups are managed strategically are not shown in this way. Miles and Snow stated in1984 that some HR practices might be customized to make sure that the specific needs and requirements of particular employee groups are met. Customizing some HR practices crucial aspects of the strategic approach to HR for an organization. Different groups of employees will have different skills which are all on a different level important to the competitive advantage of an organization. So it would make sense that the HR practices to manage those skills are likely to vary. (Jackson, Schuler and Rivero, 1989). It is known that there are different employment modes, but not much empirical examination of HR systems is done.

Due to the changing environment and competition, the added value of HRM to the performance of an organization is tested more and more. There is no fixed or agreed list of HRM practices which could be used to measure the effect of HRM. One of the dominant frameworks explaining the relationship between HRM and performance is the AMO framework (Bailey 1993)

Different models and frameworks are made on how the practices of HRM actually works and the AMO framework is a theoretical basis which is widely accepted. (Bartel, 2004). According to Purcell (2003), people do perform better when they have the abilities to do so, when they are motivated to do so and when the support which is necessary is provided by their work environment. These statements are the basis of the AMO framework and it is stated within this framework that the capabilities of the employees are setting the upper limit of performance, that the level to which the capabilities are turned into action are influenced by motivation and that the opportunity to participate relates to enhance avenues for employees’ capabilities to be expressed, and it also refers to the eliminate barriers which could prevent employees from using their capabilities. (Macky and Boxall, 2007).

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According to Delery (1998), not a lot is known about in which way HRM practices are influencing

performance. These so called mechanisms are taking place in the “black-box” stage between performance and HRM practices. (Purcell, Kinnie, Hutchinson, Rayton and Swart, 2003). The AMO framework, which consists of employees abilities, motivation and opportunity, is one of the key models to understand the influence more.

In more than 50% of all the literature which is published after 2000, the AMO framework is used (Boselie, Dietz and Boon, 2005). Paauwe states in literature in 2009 that this framework actually shows some sort of a commonality around the way HRM is operationalized when the relationship between the performance of an organization and HRM are explored. At the framework, variables at the individual level are taken into account, such as skills and competences of employees (A=abilities), the motivation of employees (M=motivation) and the opportunities employees have to participate (O=opportunities) (Boselie et al, 2005).

In 2010 Boselie states in an article that “the AMO framework proposes that specific HRM practices, often termed high performance work practices (HPWP’s) enhance the three main components of the model”. Due to this fact HRM practices can be distinguished into three groups, namely skill-enhancing, motivation-enhancing and empowerment-enhancing and according to Theriuo and Chatzoglou (2009) this emphasizes the increased improvement in employee decision making, motivation and commitment.

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The idea behind the AMO model is that the interests of an organization are best served with the help of an HR system that will attends to the interests of employees, namely their skill requirements, their motivation and the quality of the job their doing (Boselie et al, 2005). While a talent management program is focused on identifying the employees who are having high potential and who are high performers, supporting them with an HR architecture which is differentiated will lead to higher levels of individual performance according to the AMO model.

The objective of investing in a strategic talent management system is the positive impact on

organizational outcomes. (Collings and Melhali, 2009). In their research these researchers state that they demonstrate that the effects of talent management on the overall performance of an organization can be more understood and predicted through motivation, organization commitment and extra-role behavior. They expected that managing talent in an effective way will have an indirect and positive relationship with the performance of an organization, which is mediated by work motivation,

organizational commitment and extra role behavior. While developing their theory, the authors stated that organizations first have to focus on the performance of an individual, before focusing on the organizational performance. According to researcher Vroom (1964), performance was a function of motivation and ability. In 1982 Blumberg and Pringle stated that performance is a function of capacity, willingness and opportunity to perform. This literature is reflected in the AMO framework. All three of these elements, ability, motivation and opportunity are impacting the performance of employees (Boxall and Purcell, 2008).

Above it is stated that HRM could contribute to the organizations performance and it could create a competitive advantage for an organization, if done well. One of the way to manage the employees in an organization in a way they could contribute to those things is with the help of a talent management program. But Lepak and Snell (1999) state that all employees are different and that it is not possible to manage them in the same way. This should be taken into account when designing and implementing a

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talent management program. The AMO framework shows the relationship between HRM and

performance, and therefore could be used in a talent management program. Implementation

Although talent management seems to be really important to managers, then why are not a lot of companies involved in a talent management program? A study of the Boston Consulting Group (2007) stated that talent management can be seen as one of the five key challenges which are faced by human resources. According to executives who were interviewed during this study, talent management was the one challenge they found really hard to cope with. Strategic human resource management so far has focused on the need to invest in different methods of managing talent and the need to invest selectively in talent. Research from the field has focused more on ways to improve a talent pool, once this pool is selected.

In 2010 Farndale, Scullion and Sparrow developed a framework of corporate human resource roles in global talent management. Here they describe four different roles. The first role is called champignon of processes. Research has shown that it is important to build the commitment of top management. This could be done by providing coaching and training for these managers, by equalizing talent across markets and by monitoring the talent management processes. (Sparrow et al, 2004). According to Sparrow and Balain (2008), organizations are required to take control of the skills supply-chain due to the competitive forces. This could be done with the help of more forward planning activities, namely strategic workforce planning, market-mapping and employer-branding. Here it is important that the global talent management practices, policies, strategy and tools are developed and monitored. These should be implemented throughout the organization.

The second role is guardians of culture. One of the social responsibilities of HR is to make sure that the organization is sensitive and equipped to deal with challenges globally. In their research in 1999, Ferris,

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Hochwarter, Buckley, Harrell-Cook and Frink explain with their social context theory how the corporate culture is representing an organizations social environment which will influence the foundation of HRM systems. O’Reilly and Chatman stated in 1996 that it also is a form of social control, which stimulates appropriate attitudes and behaviors for the members of an organization. There the role as guardians of culture is created. When developing a talent management culture in an organization, HR should oversee the implementation of systems and values which are global. Here it is important that a culture of mobility is ensured throughout the whole organization.

Network leadership and intelligence is the third role in this framework. The term network leadership was used by Evans et al in 2002. The term indicates that HR should have an awareness of leading

developments and trends both the internal and external labor market and HR should have a sense of timing and context, the department must know what is going on at both the global and the local levels. Here being well networked is really important. This means HR should be aware of events inside as outside the organization, but HR should also take on the role to facilitate collaboration across the whole organization. Different researchers (Gratton 2005, Lengnick-Hall and Lengnick-Hall 2006 and Taylor 2007) have recognized the role of HR in building a social capital beyond the boundaries of an

organization to encourage cooperation across the organization and to improve the success of the firm. In 2007 the study of Mäkelä’s shows how the social capital will become more important for global talent. The researcher state that the relationships are richer trust fuller, and more long term, which will create more opportunities for sharing knowledge. It also has a multiplying effect while ties are spread through new units more effectively. In 2007 Taylor states that IHRM functions are really needed in an

organization, because these need to manage the structural social capital and the cognitive social capital. According to the study, we do not understand much about the competencies which are needed to do so. The second dimension which is added to this role is the dimension of intelligence. According to the researchers, the organizations should take a more proactive stand, where both the talent markets and the capabilities which are created by different providers are known. For global talent management

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this final role is a key requirement. So networks should be developed to support the process of global

talent management. Therefore Farndale et al stated that organizations should require new human resources tools, processes and methods.

The final role in this framework is managers of internal receptivity. It is shown in different research that HRM can play an active role in managing the career of international employees. Nowadays a more flexible and complex approach is necessary to approach talent management. Due to the ideally position of HR within an organization, they do have the overview which is necessary to be able to manage the talent of different employees. When managing the talent, HR processes should be changed, local mindsets and practices should be challenged and new lower-cost forms need to be looked at to meet the international experience demands and skills shortages. It should be encouraged to place talents across the organization. These key talents should be managed actively to make sure that these individuals are looked after. So they are encouraged to share their talent with the firm as a whole instead of sharing it only at one department

There are some different approaches to talent management. According to some, there are employees who are having unique qualities which will result in being a talent. (Briscoe and Hall, 1999). Others state that everyone has strengths, and that these strengths can be developed. (Bothner, Podonly and Smith, 2011). These two approaches are called the egalitarian (inclusive) approach and the differential

(exclusive) approach. The question is if an organization should give all their employees an equal chance to become a talent and to occupy a higher position or should these changes only be given to the

employees who are identified as talent? Both approaches need a different implementation strategy. According to the differential approach, the talented employees should be identified and some

commitment-based configurations of human resources should be implemented to accomplish the goals of the organization. (Lepak and Snell, 1999). The other approach, the egalitarian approach, minimizes the negative effects on commitment which could be caused by the workforce differentiation. (Pfeffer and

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Langston, 1993). Actually it is up to the organization which approach is used, because both could be

successful. But high training costs and limited resources, will often lead to a certain approach. (Bethke-Langenegger, Mahler and Staffelbach, 2011).

According to Mankins, Bird and Root (2013), the best performers are four times as productive as the average performer. The authors state this applies to all job types and all industries. The authors wonder why not a lot of organizations are bringing the best talents in the company together to cope with

challenges. The authors state, there are two main advantages in such a “all-star team”, namely synergy and sheer firepower. Synergy, because such a team will come up with ideas that no member would have thought about alone. Sheer firepower, because the productivity and the performance advantages will be multiplied.

Some companies offer internal development programs. Most of the time, these programs will address common subjects for employees. These subjects are general management, interpersonal skills, along with some function-specific material. Of course it is a possibility to come up with a program which starts with a general training where all employees of a company are able to train together. After the general training a more specialized training can be started. While all the general skills are trained together, the advantage for the company will be the fact that the redundancy in training investments will be reduced. According to the group of McKinsey consultants, companies are able to win the “War for Talents”, if talent management is made into a big and corporate priority. To attract and to keep talent, an employee value proposition must be made and refined. Afterwards it is important to focus on how to recruit the talent. Finally the biggest challenge is to keep developing.

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Employee satisfaction

But why is it so important for organization to keep their employees satisfied? Employees voluntarily leave organizations due to many reasons, some personal, like a desire to learn a new skill or changes in the family situation. Other reasons could be influenced by the organization, like being passed over for a promotion or the unfair treatment of coworkers. A high turnover in an organization is a problem, due to the fact that it brings extensive costs for both the organization as the leaving employee. (Mitchell, Holtom, Lee 2001). When someone leaves an organization, they also take valuable knowledge and expertise with them. And these are not the only costs which are faced by an organization. Other costs which are directly linked to turnover are administrative requirements, an exit interview, payout of unused vacation time and the costs of overtime of others, who temporary fill in the vacant job position. Hiring a new candidate also costs money, and finally the new employee should be trained, which also brings costs to the organization.

In academic research it is stated that employees who are satisfied about their job, namely they are positive about their salary, their managers, their changes for promotion, their work environment and their working tasks, will stay in an organization, while people who are not satisfied will leave the company. (Mitchell, Holtom, Lee, 2001). The authors also state in their study of 2001 that people will stay with an organization when we are satisfied with our job, but also when we have positive feelings about the job, which are organizational commitment and perceived organization support. So if someone likes a job, is committed towards the organization and if this person believes that the organization is committed to him, he will not leave the organization.

With the help of a comprehensive retention plan, organizations are able to prevent their employees from leaving the organization. One of the components of such a retention plan is to assess the job

embeddedness. Here it is important to make use of a personal development plan, so an organization is able to provide an employee with opportunities to fit in their jobs during their career. These programs

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are expensive and will require some effort of an organization, but it is recognized through the literature that these programs will compete for talent.

Another reason for organizations to keep their employees satisfied is the fact that job satisfaction is an attitude of employees which is related to organizational outcomes the most often (Saari,and Judge 2004). In the literature there is a debate going on if satisfied employees are indeed also productive and where HR practitioners have to reduce costs, they are concerned about the effects this reduction could have on job satisfaction, and, the performance of the organization. Since the 1930’s when the

Hawthorne studies were conducted, researcher are made aware of the effects employees attitudes have on firm’s performance. Studies in those early years stated that there was a weak, but also inconsistent relationship between job satisfaction and the performance of an organization. In 1985 the researchers Iaffaldano and Muchinsky found that there was no relationship between job satisfaction and the performance, when they conducted their study. This had an impact on researchers and on some organizations, until Organ in 1988 conduct new research which did not agree with this conclusion. Here the researcher stated that the narrow means which were often used to define job performance could lead to the failure to find a strong relationship between performance and job satisfaction. According to Organ the relationship between those two will improve when performance is defined to include important behaviors which generally are not reflected in performance appraisals, like organizational citizenship behaviors. Other researchers, Organ and Ryan, supported this conclusion in 1995. And in 2001 the study of Judge, Thoresen, Bono and Patton, found that the relationship between performance and job satisfaction was even higher for complex jobs than for the less complex jobs. So according to the research which was conducted later, performance could be predicted by job satisfaction, and the relationship is even stronger for complex jobs.

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In 1987 Guest introduced a framework in which he described the essence of HRM. He stated that HRM was a new approach to the management of personnel, where he focused on HRM outcomes such as commitment, quality and flexibility. He stated that a range of positive organization outcomes could be expected due to the achievement of these HR outcomes. Namely, it should lead to high job

performance, low turnover, low absence and high cost-effectiveness through the full utilization of employees. Since 1994 a lot of researchers presented their research where they stated that there is a link between performance and HRM. Some researchers stated that personnel planning had an effect on the performance (Koch and McGrath, 1996), others stated that there was a relationship between performance and performance related pay (Dowling and Richardson, 1997), according to Kalleberg and Moody (1994) there was a relationship between training and development and performance and Verburg stated in 1998 that there was a relationship between internal career possibilities and the firm’s performance. Here Verburg stated that if employees have the possibilities on an internal career, this will have a positive effect on the performance of an organization.

While not much is investigated about the different elements which should be included in a talent development program to satisfy the employees who are participating in such a program, the research question for this thesis will be:

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Research method

The research method of the study will be a qualitative research. One of the reasons for using qualitative research is the fact that this type of research is suitable when trying to answer a “how” question. Qualitative research is suitable when a researcher would like to interrogate interviewees and when in-depth questions about a certain subject are asked. Questions in this type of research method are open. Therefore it is possible for the respondent to give their opinion about the subject, and for the researcher to react on the answers which the respondents are giving. On the other hand it is much easier to adapt the questions and the methods during the research when conducting a qualitative research. And due to the fact that not a lot literature on the research topic can be found, this method is chosen.

The overall design will be a multiple case study. According to Saunders and Lewis, a case study is “a research strategy which involves the investigation of a particular contemporary topic within its real-life context, using multiple sources of evidence”. (“Doing research in business and management”, page 116).

A case study will help to get a clear understanding of the context of the research. Also the activities which are taking place in this context will be clear and detailed.

A single case study or a number of cases can be researched. In this case, a multiple case study is chosen, due to the fact that the researcher has the access to resources in one organization, which consists of different parks. The organization where the cases study will be performed is Landal GreenParks. Out of the parks of Landal GreenParks two different parks will be selected.

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Data collection

Landal GreenParks is an organization which is managing and renting vacation parks. In total Landal GreenParks possess over 70 parks, and 51 of these parks are located in The Netherlands. Landal GreenParks is a part of Wyndham Exchange and Rentals, which is one of the sections of Wyndham Worldwide.

The parks will be selected on the basis of the management of the park. At Landal GreenParks there is a difference between a “management” park and a “beheer” park. The management parks are owned by Landal GreenParks, where the beheer parks are owned by a group of owners, and rented through the organization Landal GreenParks. The owners all possess at least one villa at the park. A part of the rental turnover of the beheer parks will be for the owners.

At the management parks of Landal GreenParks, the management teams will be supported by the head offices of Landal GreenParks. At these offices, which are located at Leidschendam, Eerbeek and Groningen, different departments are located, for example HR, Finance, Food and Beverage, Marketing and Fun and Entertainment. The management teams of the beheer parks are able to make use of these different bundles. When a park decides to make use of the HR bundles, the HR department will support the management team with different HR issues.

For management parks this support is normal, where beheer parks are able to make use of this support for a certain amount. Therefore management parks are not paying to let employees participate in a training or course. These parks pay a certain and fixed amount of service costs, and the training costs are included in this amount. Beheer parks are able to “buy” a HR module. When parks are participating in this HR module, they will receive a discount on the costs for training employees. Due to the fact that there is a difference between the amounts which should be paid, I expect there will be a difference in

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attending different courses. It could be expected that the management team of beheer parks is less

easy in letting employees conduct in training.

On the other hand I would like to conduct a research which gives a total view of the wishes of the employees at both types of parks about a talent management program. Do they differ in opinion about a talent management program?

The participants of the interviews will be employees of Landal GreenParks. The employees who are chosen will be likely to participate in a talent program. We would like to pick two parks, which are representative for the whole organization. A coworker of the HR department of Landal GreenParks, who is responsible for the talent management program, will help with the selection of the parks. With the help of the park managers, respondents will be selected. From the different departments of the park, one supervisor and one employee will be asked to participate in the interviews. The interviews will be conducted at the park where the employees and supervisors are working.

The two parks which are selected are Landal Land van Bartje and Landal Sluftervallei.

Landal Land van Bartje is located in Ees and this is a beheer park. The park consists of a pony ranch, an indoor playground for children, a swimming pool and a restaurant. The park is located in the area of Emmen. The park consists of 500 bungalows, of which 400 are rented.

Landal Sluftervalei is located in De Cocksdorp at Texel and this is a management park. The park consists of a restaurant, a swimming pool and a play area for children. The park is located within the dune. The park rent 316 bungalows, 60 camping sites and 16 mobile homes.

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At Landal Land van Bartje 6 interviews will be conducted. Here 3 managers and 3 employees will be

interviewed. The managers are responsible for the Front Office, the Technical department and for the Fun and Entertainment department. The three employees who will be interviewed are also working at these departments. None of the respondents is participating in a talent management program.

According to management team, the employee of the Fun and Entertainment department is a talent, and eventually could participate in such a program.

At Landal Sluftervallei 5 interviews will be conducted. Here one manager and four employees will be interviewed. The manager is responsible for the Food and Beverage department, and the employees are working at the Front Office, the Technical department, the Fun and Entertainment department and the Food and Beverage department. None of the respondents is participating in a talent management program.

The topic of the interview will be the talent management program within Landal GreenParks.

Respondents will be asked about their findings about training at Landal GreenParks. Also questions will be asked about how the learning effects of training and such a program are guaranteed and how this could be done differently. The interviews will last thirty minutes and they will be recorded. Due to the fact that the employees who are participating are from the Netherlands, the interviews will be conducted in Dutch.

After reading the literature, questions for the interviews are made. After discussing these questions with the supervisor and the coworker at Landal GreenParks, changes are made. The first attempt was too long, while the interviews can only take thirty minutes. The second attempt shows an interview with two main subjects, namely what the respondents think about a talent management program and what Landal GreenParks could do with such a program and what respondents need to grow their talent or what could be improved.

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For this research, the data collection will be done with the help of interviews. According to Mark Sanders and Peter Lewis (“Doing research in business and management”) there are three types of data

collection, namely, questionnaires, semi-structured interviews and unstructured interviews:

 Questionnaires

Questionnaires are a type of data collection where the same set of questions will be asked to respondents in the same order. If a questionnaire is used by an interviewer, it is also called a structured interview, due to the fact that every respondent answers exactly the same questions in the exact same order. Mostly questionnaires are used to collect data from a large group of respondents.

 Semi-structured interview

Semi-structured interviews are more relaxed. Here there is some room for the researcher to ask participants for clarifications, or more information. The interviewer will have a list of topics which should be covered, but the order of these questions can be different for each participant. These interviews are mostly used in qualitative research, where the topic which is researched is very personal to the participants.

 Unstructured interview

In an unstructured interview, there are hardly any rules. The researcher only has to make sure that some topics are discussed. There is no order in the different questions and there is no script. For this study semi-structured interviews are chosen. Here the researcher is able to ask for clarification and additional information. Open questions will be asked, while we are looking for opinions of the participants. We will not give them examples, but we would like to know how they feel about the subject.

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Data analysis

The interviews will be recorded and worked out in transcripts. Due to the fact that the respondents are Dutch, the transcripts will be written in Dutch. When the transcripts are finished, they will be coded. Coding the transcripts will be done with the help of the AMO model. The subject of the AMO model, namely ability, motivation and opportunity will be the core themes of the coding scheme. Due to the fact that the satisfaction of employees has been taken into consideration during this research, satisfaction will be the fourth core theme in the coding scheme.

Starting the coding was a deductive approach, due to the fact that the coding scheme consists of themes which are part of the literature. But during the coding process, some sub themes were added to the coding scheme. The answers of the respondents could be coded under the core themes, but these core themes could be divided into separate sub themes. This shows an inductive approach.

When coding the answers of the respondents about their ability, the respondents were talking about training, knowledge and skills. Therefore these three subthemes were added to the core theme ability. When talking about motivation, respondents were talking about intrinsic and extrinsic motivation. Where intrinsic motivation refers to motivation which is driven by an interest in the task. This motivation exists within the respondent rather than relying on external pressure. Extrinsic motivation refers to being motivated in order to attain an outcome. This motivation comes from outside the respondent. Therefore these two subthemes were added to the core theme motivation.

When coding the answers which are given by the respondents about opportunities, the respondents were talking about their own opportunities, but also about the opportunities of others. Therefore the subthemes “respondents opportunities” and “others opportunities” are added to the core theme opportunity.

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Finally the answers about satisfaction where coded. Here respondents were talking about their

satisfaction about their job, job satisfaction, or the respondents were talking about what elements of a talent management program would satisfy them. Therefore the two sub themes job satisfaction and program satisfaction were added to the core theme satisfaction.

Core theme Subtheme Fragment Label Respondent

Ability Training Skills Knowledge Motivation Intrinsic Extrinsic Opportunity Respondent Others Satisfaction Job Program

Table: Coding scheme

After coding the transcripts, the answers are analyzed. By analyzing the transcripts, first all answers are put together. Afterwards there will be a difference between the different parks, management or beheer, and between the different job positions, namely a manager or an employee of the departments.

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Results

After conducting in total 11 interviews, the interviews were transcribed and afterwards coded. Respondents were asked questions about their training and about a talent management program, in order to answer the research question How should a talent management program be designed and implemented to satisfy employees?

The results will be shown per park and per theme. First the results of the respondents of Land van Bartje will be shown; second the results of the interviews at Landal Sluftervallei will be explained. The answers are coded with the help of the AMO-model, where the themes of the coding scheme were Ability, Motivation, Opportunity and Satisfaction. The subthemes were training, skills and knowledge for the theme ability, intrinsic and extrinsic for the theme motivation, respondents opportunities and others opportunities for the theme opportunity and job and program for the theme satisfaction.

First the results for the theme ability will be shown, second the results for motivation, than the results for opportunity will be shown and finally the theme satisfaction will be revealed.

Ability

The three managers which were interviewed at Land van Bartje, a beheer park, all talked about abilities when they were asked about their job positions within Landal GreenParks and their training. 24 answers were coded under the sub-theme “training”, 22 answers were coded under the sub-theme “skills” and 12 were coded under “knowledge”. When the employees of Land van Bartje talked about abilities, they talked about training (31x), skills (12x) and knowledge (10x).

Training

All three managers stated that they conducted in some training which are organized by Landal GreenParks. Training like “Managing with Landal”, “Impact on others” and “coaching with the help of competences” are mentioned. Most of the training are focused on managers and managing, for the

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technical department within Landal GreenParks not a lot of training is offered. All managers agree upon the fact that training is mostly about developing yourself and about growing: “With the help of this study and training you should grow” (BFM, A18), and it is also about the development and growth of

colleagues: “It is important to keep thinking about the person, how could this person be developed” ((BFM, A10) and “So it is important that my colleagues become more responsible and get more responsibilities. And when they need training, we try to invest in this” (BSM, A13).

When talking about training, all employees were talking about the training they did receive: “I was able to conduct in the course Leidinggeven bij Landal” (BFE, A3), “I also conducted in a training at Land van Bartje, “elektrisch schakelen”….” (BTE, A4) and about the training they would like to conduct in: “And I think some form of time management would help me” (BSE, A3), “I think it would be nice if the courses were more practical” (BTE, A10). The employee of the Front Office, also talks about how employees should be trained: “There should be guidance at the park, that is the most important part” (BFE, A15) and the employee of the Technical department states that not a lot of technical training is available “I think it would be nice if the courses were more practical” (BTE, A10) and that he received most of his training on the job “…Just at the park. Colleagues took me with them and I had to solve little problems.” (BTE, A2).

Both the managers and the employees state that they were able to conduct in training and courses at Landal GreenParks. The employees also state what they still would like to learn and in which training they would like to conduct in, where the managers do not talk about this, but they are talking about the fact that training is about the development and growing of colleagues. Only one employees, working in the Front Office, also talks about the training for colleagues. Both the manager and the employee of the Technical department state that not a lot of training is offered for employees of their department.

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Skills

The managers agreed on the fact that skills are developed with the help of training, but it should be executed by the employee himself. It should be practiced. They are talking about challenges for

themselves and for colleagues, “But they could also look for new challenges, and tell me what they need to solve it” ((BSM, A23). They are also talking about the expectations they and the park are having about their colleagues: “So on paper they are “just” employees, but in real life they have more responsibilities (BSM, A15).

When talking about skills, the employees are talking about their own skills: “I have noticed that my colleagues are different and unique. So I know I have to address one colleague different than another colleague. This helped me” (BFE, A6), and about skills from colleagues: “When I look at the interns, sometimes you notice that someone can do more than what he or she is doing” (BFE, A 10).

Looking at the answers, the managers and employees differ. Employees only talk about their own skills and the skills of colleagues, and managers do not mention this. The managers talk about the challenges they were given to them and to colleagues in their job positions and about the expectations they and the park are having about their colleagues. They also state that training could be a basis for developing skills, but they agree upon the fact that employees are responsible for practice the skills they learned in a training.

Knowledge

When talking about the final subtheme, knowledge, the managers are talking about previous studies and training. They are talking about the knowledge they already gained: “…due to the fact that I only studied a MBO study and…” (BSM, A4), and about gaining more knowledge with the help of training: “A training is gaining and receiving more information and more knowledge” (BFM, A5).

Employees are talking about the knowledge they already have: “To the fact that I have finished a HBO study and I am working at a job position which is suitable for someone with a MBO study” (BSE, A2) and

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about the knowledge they are missing and they would like to gain at the park: “I think you should first be able to look at your own park, and learn more about the different departments here” (BSE, A10). Both the managers and the employees talk about their previous study and training and about the knowledge they gained with the help of this study/training. The employees also talk about the knowledge they are still missing.

Core theme Subtheme Fragment Label Respondent

Ability Skills The challenge are huge, so there should be a job position which will be an ever bigger challenge than the challenges here.

BFM, A8 Manager FO, 35 jaar (m)

Ability Skills Guiding should also be done by colleagues BFM, A13 Manager FO, 35 jaar (m) Ability Skills So, you are talking about it, but they have the

ability to make a decision. Yes, they have to arrange it themselves.

BTM, A4 Manager TD, 43 jaar (m)

Ability Skills But if the organization states that I am not enough qualified to do something, or if I cannot do it yet, or if I am not performing well,…

BTE, A19 Employee TD, 24 jaar (m)

Ability Knowledge At a specific time it will work out BTE, A3 Èmployee TD, 24 jaar (m) Ability Knowledge But eventually you will learn by doing it, I think BTE, A7 Employee TD,

24 jaar (m)

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When looking at the research question and the answers the managers and employees gave on the

theme ability, we could state that both the managers and employees were able to conduct in training. So the ability to participate in a training, and maybe also in a talent management program is present at the park. The respondents agree upon the fact that training helps people to learn and to develop

themselves. The respondents are looking for challenges in their work, where participating in a talent management program would be a challenge for employees and a change to develop themselves. The managers also state that a training could be a basis for developing skills. Some employees agree on missing some knowledge, which could be gained in a talent management program.

Motivation

Not a lot is said about motivation by the managers when asking them about a talent management program and their experience in participating in training. 8 times something is said about intrinsic motivation and only 7 times about extrinsic motivation. Here the employee of the Front Office only talks about extrinsic motivation, while the employee of the Fun and Entertainment department mostly talks about intrinsic motivation. In total 11 times something is said about intrinsic motivation, and 9 times about extrinsic motivation.

Extrinsic motivation

The manager of the Technical Department only talks about extrinsic motivation and states that the management team could motivate colleagues who would like to develop themselves: “So you actually have to make sure that the training already is approved by the management team, that they already heading in that direction”. (BTM, M1). The other managers were also talking about how they were extrinsically motivated: “And due to the fact that I was always stimulated to learn and to grow, I will do the same thing” (BSM, M4). They are also talking about how to motivate others: “…but I like helping colleagues to grow and to develop” (BFM, M7).

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Employees are talking about the challenges they receive within the company when talking about

extrinsic motivation, namely: “And they are giving me a challenge” (BSE, M1), “More responsibility” (BSE, M2), and about the way they are motivated by the company or their managers: “They told me they knew what I was capable off. And I was really happy with it!”(BFE, M1).

Except for the manager of the Technical department, all managers and employees talk about the way they were extrinsically motivated. The managers also talk about how colleagues could be motivated. Intrinsic motivation

When talking about intrinsic motivation, managers mostly talked about developing yourself, “During the course I am developing myself” (BFM, M3) and about how the managers are motivated: “…I like that the employees around me are growing also, this give me energy” (BSM, M6).

The employee of the Technical department only makes one comment about intrinsic motivation, where he states that he would like to participate in training: “…And we will tell them, when we would like to conduct in a training” (BTE, M1). The employee of the Fun and Entertainment department talks a lot about intrinsic motivation. She “would like to develop herself” (BSE, M3), and she “would like to learn more” (BSE, M4).

The managers and the employee of the Fun and Entertainment would like to develop themselves. Because the managers and employees state that they will be motivated through getting more responsibilities, through challenges at work and through develop themselves, a talent management program could help employees to be motivated, as well intrinsic as extrinsic. Employees also state that being able to conduct in training will motivate them.