TM within professional SMEs: the fit between talent management and professional organizational culture
Master thesis, MscBA, specialization Human Resource Management University of Groningen, Faculty of Economics and Business
Final Version May, 2010
JOLIEN SARAH HUIZING Student number: 1752405 Koninginnelaan 74A 9717 BX Groningen (t) + 31 (0) 6 50858589 (e) j.s.huizing@student.rug.nl Supervisors University Prof. Dr. B.A. Nijstad
TABLE OF CONTENT
ABSTRACT ... 3
1. INTRODUCTION ... 4
2. LITERATURE REVIEW ... 6
2.1TALENT MANAGEMENT ... 6
2.2PROFESSIONAL ORGANIZATIONAL CULTURE ... 11
2.3RELATIONSHIP BETWEEN TM AND A PROFESSIONAL ORGANIZATIONAL CULTURE ... 13
3. METHODS ... 16
3.1PARTICIPANTS ... 16
3.2SEMI-STRUCTURED INTERVIEWS ... 17
4. RESULTS ... 19
4.1IS IT USEFUL AND RELEVANT TO IMPLEMENT TM WITHIN A PROFESSIONAL ORGANIZATION, AND WHICH SPECIFIC TM PRACTICES MIGHT BE FRUITFULLY IMPLEMENTED? ... 19
4.2WHAT IS THE ROLE OF ORGANIZATIONAL CULTURE WHEN IMPLEMENTING TM IN A PROFESSIONAL SME ORGANIZATION? ... 24
5. DISCUSSION ... 27
5.1MAIN FINDINGS ... 27
5.2PRACTICAL AND THEORETICAL IMPLICATIONS ... 29
5.3STRENGTHS, LIMITATIONS AND SUGGESTIONS FOR FURTHER RESEARCH ... 32
5.4CONCLUSIONS ... 33
REFERENCES ... 34
ABSTRACT
TM within professional SMEs: the fit between talent management and professional organizational culture
1. INTRODUCTION
Workplaces everywhere are facing an increasingly complex and ever-changing landscape in their efforts to acquire, retain, motivate, and develop the talent needed to keep their organizations operating efficiently and competitively. Talent management (further called TM) concerns the identification of key positions, the development of a talent pool and the development of supportive human resource architecture (Mellahi & Collings, 2009). A casual review of the trade and popular literature on the topic of TM would certainly lead one to conclude it is a popular and growing field (Lewis & Heckman, 2006). This relatively recent emphasis on TM represents a paradigm shift from more strategic human resource management (Huselid, Jackson & Schuler, 1997) towards the management of talent specifically suited to today‟s dynamic competitive environment (Mellahi & Collings, 2009). Therefore has TM become an imperative in the face of today‟s business challenges. In addition, TM processes must be more strategic, connected and broad-based than ever before (McCauly & Wakefield, 2006).
Because of these three reasons, it is important that the TM strategy is tailored to the specific organization‟s needs. Each organization must ensure that the TM strategy is aligned with the organization‟s culture, goals, and business strategies. Therefore, a specific, effective and efficient TM strategy needs to be developed for SMEs. This will produce the best results for implementing and improving TM (Preziosi, 2008). As a result, a TM strategy is only useful in an organization in which there is a fit with the organizational culture. The issue of TM and the alignment with culture is thus of interest to a wide range of HR academics and HR professionals.
We will explore the usefulness and relevance of TM practices and strategies within a professional organization and explore the relationships with organizational culture. This research area is interesting because TM is a critical challenge for HR and there is a lack of research about the usefulness and relevance of TM within professional organizations. Yet, professional organizations are dependent on talented professionals to achieve their goals, and TM may provide a competitive advantage for professional organizations. We thus need to know more about the TM policies and practices that might be applied in professional organizations. Therefore, this research aims to answer the following question:
To what extent and in which form is it possible to have TM in a professional SME organization?
The following sub-questions were formulated:
1. Is it useful and relevant to implement TM within a professional organization, and which specific TM practices might be fruitfully implemented?
2. What is the role of organizational culture when implementing TM in a professional SME organization?
2. LITERATURE REVIEW
To explore the usefulness and relevance of TM practices and strategies within a professional organization and to explore their relationships with organizational culture, it is necessary to examine the use of these concepts within the peer-reviewed literature. The literature review is presented in three sections. It starts with a description of TM, and secondly with a description of professional organizational culture and their key practices. The third section discusses the relationship between TM and a professional organizational culture.
2.1 Talent management
Although the term “TM” does not appear in the peer-reviewed literature until 2005, there is a significant body of research that has examined the link between HR investments and practices and organizational outcomes. The benefits of HRM have been empirically demonstrated in a line of research that is well established and highly regarded (Gerhart, 2005). This field is broadly known as strategic human resource management (SHRM) (Lewis & Heckman, 2006). HRM is the science and the practice that deals with the nature of the employment relationship and all the decisions, actions, and issues that relate to that relationship. In practice, it involves an organization‟s acquisition, development, and utilization of employees, as well as the employees‟ relationship with an organization and its performance (Ferris, Rosen & Barnum, 1995). To be strategic, HRM needs to demonstrate a two-way link to strategy. Therefore, HRM is informed by organizational strategy as well as helping to shape the nature of that strategy (Purcell, 2001). This idea of strategic integration is a key concept in definitions of HRM (Storey, 2007; Wright & McMahan, 1992).
seen as the sum of a person‟s abilities, while often remaining elusive to measurement (Micheals, Handfield-Jones & Axelrod, 2001). Professor and HR guru David Ulrich takes a holistic view with his definition: talent is competence commitment contribution (Ulrich, 2006). In his formulation, competence means that individuals have the knowledge, skills and values that are required for today and tomorrow. Commitment means that employees work hard, put in the time to do what they are asked to do, and give their discretionary energy to the firm‟s success. Contribution means that they are making a real contribution through their work – finding meaning and purpose in their work (Ulrich, 2006). In this paper we will use this concept of talent.
Since 2005, the peer-reviewed literature has addressed the topic of TM. Mellahi and Collings (2009) define strategic TM as activities and processes that involve the systematic identification of key positions which differentially contribute to the organization‟s sustainable competitive advantage, the development of a talent pool of high potential and high performing incumbents to fill these roles, and the development of a differentiated human resource architecture to facilitate filing these positions with competent incumbents and to ensure their continued commitment to the organization. Sistonen (2005) argues, in line with Mellahi and Collings (2009), that TM is the integrated set of processes, programmes and technologies designed to develop, deploy and connect key talent and critical skill sets to drive business priorities; it is the means of identifying, nurturing and using high-potential/high-performing people for strategic benefit.
direction of the organization. These practices are designed to attract, retain, and develop the talent required to achieve organizational goals, which links TM to SHRM.
Despite the differences in these definitions of TM, practices of TM models put forward by different authors are quite similar and often not very different from what many organizations were doing before TM became fashionable (Storey, 2007). Morton (2006) identifies eight categories, based on the experiences of 30 organizations: recruitment, retention, professional leadership, development, performance management, feedback/measurement, attending to workforce planning, and culture; while Fitz-enz (2005) argues that TM encompasses six HR services: staffing, leadership development, succession planning, performance management, training and education, and retention. Iles et al. (2006) argue that comprehensive TM involves attracting talent (recruitment and selection), retaining talent, developing talent and transitioning talent. Johnson (2005) argues that TM can be achieved by recruiting and developing employees who share the same values, attitudes and beliefs that the organization‟s success is built on; developing those employees so that they have true commitment and a sense of belonging; ensuring that talented individuals achieve a sense of fulfilment and accomplishment in their employment; and fostering relationships via mentoring/coaching while encouraging networking between business departments (Johnson 2005). Ulrich and Brockbank (2005) argue that effective people processes and practices operationalize TM by (a) attracting the best talent; (b) releasing talent through professional development; (c) contracting talent through consultants, interns, and other type of partnerships; (d) cutting back labour to appropriate size and skills; (e) retaining talent at all levels; and (f) promoting talented employees. Recruitment and retention are key people processes that form the foundation of an organization‟s TM structure.
The different practices and strategies of TM are summarized in Table 1. The table shows that all the practices correspond or complement each other; they all belong in the field of SHRM. The overall practices are summarized in the last column. We will use these main practices in our further investigation.
activities and processes that involve the systematic identification of key positions which differentially contribute to the organization‟s sustainable competitive advantage, the development of a talent pool of high potential and high performing incumbents to fill these roles, and the development of a differentiated HR architecture to facilitate filling these positions with competent incumbents and to ensure their continued commitment to the organization. Their definition of strategic TM emphasises the identification of pivotal positions as the point of departure for strategic TM strategies. Besides, according to Schweyer (2004), the first step in TM is to gain a solid understanding of the internal workforce. Because the approaches of talent pools are often quite close to what is typically known as succession planning/management or HR planning (Jackson & Schuler, 1990; Rothwell, 1994), this definition of strategic TM covers the whole field of TM (cf. Table 1). We can conclude that TM concerns a specific strategy within the HR-field, and has the same goal as HR. The goal of TM is gaining sustainable competitive advantage (Mellahi & Collings, 2009), strengthen organizational capability (Storey, 2007) and gaining strategic benefit (Sistonen, 2005). Dedicated strategies of TM are a major determinant of companies becoming – and remaining – talent-rich (Williams, 2005).
Having looked at how organizations might focus their TM strategy, it is necessary to describe how to identify which TM strategies from Table 1 are the right fit for an organization seeking to support and develop its people to meet its business needs. For a TM strategy to fit, it must be appropriate to the organization, which means it must not clash with the organization‟s culture and it must meet the needs of the workforce. It is important for organizations to find a fit, which is finding a way to meet the objectives of TM by activities that mirror or complement the activities the organization does in terms of HRM (Garrow & Hirsch, 2008).
TABLE 1
Practices and strategies of TM
Mellahi & Collings (2009) Sistonen (2007) Storey (2007) Davis, et al. (2007) Williams (2005) Morton (2006) Fitz-enz (2005) Iles, et al. (2006) Johnson (2005) Ulrich & Brockbank (2005) In conclusion Key positions Deploy and connect key talent Strategic goals integration Work force planning Transitioning talent Key positions
Talent Pool Key talent development Career and individual development Individual development
Development Development Leadership development
Developing Development Development Development Training and education Mentoring and coaching Talent Pool Performance enhancement Performance management Performance management Performance management Succession planning Succession planning Succession planning HR-architecture Processes, programmes and technologies Recruitment Recruitment & selection
Recruitment Staffing Attracting talent
Recruiting Attracting talent
Recruitment Retention Retention Retention Retention Retention Retention Retention
Culture Culture Culture Culture
Professional leadership
Networking Promotion Professional leadership Job defining
2.2 Professional organizational culture
We want to examine the extent to which TM is applicable within a professional organization. We already know that the TM strategy must fit with the organizational culture. Despite this consensus, ideas are missing how this fit can be realized. In this part we will focus on organizational culture and specifically on professional organizational culture.
In general, organizational culture represents the pattern of values, beliefs, and assumptions shared by members in an organization (Sigler & Pearson, 2000; Schein, 1985). Specifically, organizational culture is defined as “a pattern of basic assumptions – invented, discovered, or developed by a given group as it learns to cope with its problems of external adoption and internal integration – that has worked well enough to be considered valid and, therefore, to be taught to new members as the correct way to perceive, think, and feel in relation to those problems” (Schein, 1985, p. 9). The values, beliefs, and assumptions underlying an organization‟s culture bind its employees together and become the manner or strategies through which the organization achieves its goals (Marcoulides & Heck, 1993). As the organization‟s cultural values shape the character of an organization and enable the employees to define their understanding of reality, it drives the way things are done in the organization (Nahm, Vonderembse & Koufteros, 2004). Organizational culture may be viewed as an explanatory variable that distinguishes one organization from another (Schein, 1985) and affects the way the organization operates and consequently plays an important role in many facets of the organization (Denison & Mishra, 1995; McDermott & Stock, 1999; Zu, Robbins & Fredendall, 2010).
autonomy and discretion in the application and acquisition of knowledge within their own specialist areas” but there is little sharing of knowledge across boundaries within the organization (Lam, 2000, p. 495). The professional organization relies on the balance between standardisation of skills, training and indoctrination. It hires duly trained specialists and professionals for the operating core and emphasizes authority of a professional nature – the power of expertise. Thus, professionals work relatively independently of their colleagues, but closely with their clients. Coordination between these professionals takes place through the standardisation of skills and knowledge – by what they have learned to expect from colleagues. The technical system cannot be highly regulating nor highly automated because this would represent a rationalisation of skills and a loss of autonomy (Kothari & Handscombe, 2007).
One of the approaches most frequently used in the assessment of organizational culture has been the model of competing values developed by Quinn and McGrath (1985). This model makes use of two bi-polar axes to define four types of organizational culture; clan, adhocracy, hierarchy and market orientation. The bi-polar axes are:
internal orientation, integration, unity – external orientation, differentiation, rivalry and
flexibility, discretion, dynamism – control, stability, order.
A professional organization can be characterized by an adhocracy culture. As is shown in Figure 1, the adhocracy culture lies in the quadrant defined by the poles of externality and flexibility and is a culture that uses ad hoc approaches to solving externally imposed problems; it is characterized by willingness to take risks, the use of pioneering strategies in turbulent environments, creativity and innovation (Ferreira & Hill, 2008).
that can be expected by the public, which, in turn, lends professionals prestige and privilege (Kam, 2004). Examples are the Hippocratic Oath for doctors and the Code of Journalism for journalists.
FIGURE 1
Competing values model, adopted from Quinn and McGrath (1985).
Professionals crave a high level of autonomy, but this autonomy is two-sided. On the one hand, possessing a command over esoteric knowledge and accompanying skills, professionals have discretionary control of the work, the outcome and the methods of control. Yet, since more and more professionals are employed by organizations, their traditional autonomy is lost when they submit to a bureaucratic system of managerial control in formal organizations (Murphy, 1990). The issue is centred on the concern that professionals will lose their autonomy in a bureaucratic and systematic environment. Professional responsibilities, part of the manifestation of their professionalism, are not necessarily in line with organizational goals (Torstendahl, 1990).
2.3 Relationship between TM and a professional organizational culture
Fit between TM and culture. For a TM strategy to fit, it must be appropriate to the organization (Garrow & Hirsch, 2008), and the TM strategy will have to co-exist with the prevailing corporate culture (Davis et al., 2007). We can assume this is common knowledge, because it is not profitable to implement a strategy that does not have a fit with the organization‟s strategy and culture. So for a TM strategy to fit, it is important that there is a need for talent development and succession planning within an organization.
Garrow and Hirsch (2008) argued that the degree of openness in an organization, such as transparency of pay scales and succession plans and opportunities for employee involvement in decision making, is an important contextual factor for getting the TM strategy fit right. First, the degree of openness needs to be reflected in the TM process, as it is difficult to introduce a transparent process in a secretive organization, and vice versa. Second, the degree of openness will dictate the degree of involvement that individual employees have in the TM program, determining whether they are able to self-nominate, whether managers nominate them anonymously, or, indeed, whether they are spotted by the HR staff or by senior managers. Third, it will inform how a new TM program is communicated inside the organization and how people relate to the program (Garrow & Hirsch, 2008). Other than this, there has been no research about the influence of cultural characteristics on the success of TM strategies.
opportunities and resources to the best people as they emerge in mid- and later career. We can conclude that professional organizations distinguish themselves from other organizational archetypes, by hiring duly trained professionals for the operating core, by their external focus, and by differentiation and organizational flexibility, which confirms that a specific TM strategy is necessary for this type of organizations. Within a professional organization the application of TM practices can be expanded to the entire operating core. Besides, TM practices do not have to focus only on key positions but also broader development practices are needed, but theories are missing about this interpretation of TM.
Study overview. Earlier we defined the TM practices applicable for a certain talented group within an organization. We assume that talent, and therefore TM, is highly important within professional organizations. However, when implementing TM practices on a large scale within a professional organization, one does not focus anymore on a selected talented group to fulfil the key positions. Although it is possible to focus on broader development practices and also have a key position strategy, rather than a single focus on key position strategy, the main goal of TM will be expanded, and the differences between TM and HRM become diffused. The tension is on the one side about implementing TM for a broader group within professional organizations. On the other hand there is, according to the definition of TM, a focus on the fulfilment of key positions and therefore a focus on a specific group. This tension between the relevance of TM within professional organizations and the TM definition is remarkable. Besides this remarkable tension, we also know that professional organizations have a specific organizational culture. However, we do not know what good TM strategies for this specific cultural type are.
3. METHODS
The purpose of this research is to explore to what extent and in which form it is possible to have talent management (TM) in a professional SME organization and to explore the relationship between TM practices and strategies, and organizational culture. In order to generate data of appropriate range and depth, we conducted a series of semi-structured interviews within one professional medium sized organization. Due to the complexity surrounding cultural aspects and TM practices, interviews are the most appropriate tool to gather information. Semi-structured interviews allowed key stakeholders within the organization to reflect on TM strategies that they would see as useful, and about specific problems that may arise when implementing them. In addition, many of the questions are related to the individuals‟ perception and values (for example, what kind of culture is needed?), and cannot easily be scaled. Finally, the aim of this research is to explore the possibilities of TM within a professional organization, rather than testing specific hypotheses, and qualitative research is more suited to this goal.
The case study concerns a media organization, and has a small occupancy which fluctuates around 80 full time employees. 89,5% of the employees has a bachelor or master degree. The organization hires trained specialist for the operating core, and then gives them considerable control over their work. This means that these professionals work relatively independently of their colleagues and coordination is handled by the standardization of skills and knowledge.
3.1 Participants
We conducted the interviews with a diverse group of managing director, managers, middle managers, and employees within the organization. All interviewees were experienced employees of the organization. From every organizational level, except the managing director, we used at least two interviewees to obtain meaningful results.
replacement for the middle management, and one thirty-seven year old male from advertisement who is a member from the work council.
Middle managers. We interviewed two out of four middle managers. They are operating within the operating core, are both male, between forty and forty-eight years old, they manage five to fourteen employees and have both two years of management experience on this position, but have been active longer in this organization.
Managers. The governing board structure consists of a management team. Five out of seven managers were interviewed. These were managers from operating core, advertisement, technocratic staff and HR. For the research it was needed that the managers were aware of the performance and development of the employees especially within the operating core. Therefore one extra manager was consulted in the operating core. One interviewee was female, all managers had seven to twenty years of managerial experience and they were all between the age of thirty-eight and fifty-one. Except from HR, all managers direct between eleven and thirty-five employees and have been at least four to fifteen years in this position.
Managing director. The managing director is responsible for the policies made by the management team, is accountable to a Supervisory Board which controls the proper conduct of affairs and has the official responsibility. The managing director is fifty-five, male, has twenty-six years managerial experience and has been active within the organization, for one year.
3.2 Semi-structured interviews
We conducted the interviews in a personal, one-on-one setting, lasting between 50 and 75 minutes each and they were tape recorded and later transcribed. We used a semi-structured interview guide in order to ensure that all essential topics were covered, without limiting the flexibility to focus on issues of particular interest (Richter, Dickmann & Graubner, 2008). Because the interviews were held in Dutch, the quotations had been translated in English. The core areas covered were the following two sub-questions:
2. What is the role of organizational culture when implementing TM in a professional SME organization?
To answer these sub-questions an interview schedule was designed, and used for every interviewee, which can be found in Appendix 1. Preziosi (2008) presents a format for auditing an organization‟s TM efforts. Preziosi‟s (2008) format was followed, but because there were too many questions and we wanted respondents to have the possibility to elaborate the most important questions about the several TM practices and strategies, some questions were left out. For example, Preziosi (2008) developed several questions about TM practices (“Does the organization use tools to help people manage their careers?”, “Does the organization have a mentoring program to help talent grow” and “Does the organization tie training to personal career development and business results?”), but we combined these questions into one: “What kind of TM practices are now in use?”.
4. RESULTS
4.1 Is it useful and relevant to implement TM within a professional organization, and which specific TM practices might be fruitfully implemented?
Before we can see if the key stakeholders find it useful and relevant to implement TM, we first need to know what kind of TM practices are in use in the organization, how these practices are used and the effectiveness of these practices. We used the summarized TM practices from Table 1, but excluding the culture. Because our second sub-question is about culture, we will go into this in the second paragraph of this chapter. Using this table we will cover the whole field of TM.
Key positions. Within the organization no specific TM practices were implemented which focussed on the fulfilment of key positions. Besides, the key positions were not identified within the organization. Different impressions were given when asked about the possibilities of implementing a TM strategy that will have a focus on the identification and the facilitation of fulfilling these key positions. Seven out of ten interviewees thought that there were few key positions in the organization. Besides, there were a few opportunities for career development, and therefore they did not think this was a proper strategy for the organization. “Our organization is too small to have a key position strategy, it would cost too much for the few key positions we have in the organization”. The other three interviewees thought that the identification of key position would lead to advantage on the long term, which comes from the following comment: “I think that key positions are present within two organizational levels. Therefore I think it is preferable to develop activities and processes that involve identification and fulfilment of key positions”. We can conclude that there were two ways of thinking about potential key position focus. Despite these different opinions, we can state that for now that there was no focus at all on this practice.
who thought that a focus on key positions was not necessary, also were sceptical about talent pools: “Because we only have a few key positions, starting a talent pool is also too expensive. Therefore I think that it is not necessary”. Although this opinion was given, five out of these seven interviewees viewed the way how employees will be developed within a talent pool attractive for their own department: “I think developing talent in a special group would motivate and stimulate employees, what will lead to competitive advantage. I would like to have my own talent pool within my department”. The three interviewees, who preferred a focus on key positions fulfilment, were also in favour of the talent pool practice. “When you identified the key positions, I think it is important to develop a talent pool to fill these roles”. As expected, key position fulfilment and talent pools were closely connected. Interviewees thought that if you don‟t have a focus on key positions a talent pool is not necessary or if you do have a focus on key positions a talent pool is necessary. The organization currently did not have a focus on key positions and did not have a talent pool. Five interviewees were surprisingly arguing to use talent pool practices in a different way: not only use a talent pool for fulfilment of key positions but to use talent pools in a broader perspective for their own departments.
Performance management. Performance management was unanimously seen as a potential practice for the organization to develop. At the moment there was a traditional appraisal system, there were clear job descriptions, appropriate people were selected with an appropriate selection process and exit interviews were held to understand why valued employees leave the organization. But all interviewees thought that more was possible in performance stimulation, by using for example training or providing feedback. Performance management could potentially be further developed, which was clearly explained in the following quotation of a manager:
“We should create a work environment or setting in which people are enabled to perform to the best of their abilities. I think we can achieve this by using more stimulating practices, starting with education, training, coaching and feedback. But in the long term we could develop this further by providing career development opportunities and design effective compensation systems that reward people for their contributions.”
employee development within the organization, there was a diverse set of responses ranging from just sending employees on courses and training to mentoring and coaching of employees. Some typical comments are below; the first two quotations come from managers and the last two from employees:
“Our employees can get some kind of training. We have a needs analysis every year during the functioning interview, whatever they need they get.”
“I‟m coaching my employees to develop their skills and abilities, we work in my department with personal goals and development plans. But this is my own effort, not because there is a policy.”
“Some employees have more coaching possibilities due to their manager‟s effort.”
“Employees are always looking for better solutions and new possibilities to develop their own work.” Three interviewees thought that there was not enough money available for development and eight interviewees thought that policies and practices are missing. All interviewees thought that more development practices were needed and therefore there was a high need to develop the TM practices: their opinions were that TM practices should be applied to all HRM practices, according to a manager: “For example performance appraisal and competence management need to be developed and applied to other HR and TM practices. At the moment a fit between HR practices, policies and culture is missing.” Mentoring and coaching were mentioned as dependent on the manager and training or other development practices were occasionally offered. For example, some middle managers argued that they did not have the time to focus on coaching their employees and some managers did focus on coaching their employees. Every interviewee agreed that the right training possibilities, development practices and education were missing, and they all agreed that a focus on these practices could provide big payoffs for the employer in increased productivity, knowledge, loyalty and contribution.
positions, a third selection method, the assessment method. Despite there were no comments on the selection process, remarkable was that they could have mention that key positions received a different approach. When asked about these specific key positions, they mentioned that it concerned the middle managers, managers and managing director.
Retention. Like the selection process, also retention was already mentioned earlier. Within the organization there were exit interviews to understand why valued employees leave the organization. These interviews were also used to make progress on developmental points for the organization, so a prevention policy could be made how to retain valuable employees. The turnover rate fluctuates around 3%. Four of the interviewees mentioned that with a focus on retaining employees, it would be important to take a look at underperforming employees and the reasons why these employees were underperforming. This was not the case at the moment. Eight out of the ten interviewees thought that for retaining valuable employees, a performance development approach for providing job expectations and feedback will assist the retention process. Like one of the managers expressed:
“At the moment we are not celebrating success often enough or we could involve employees more often in the decision making process, especially when the decisions affect their jobs or the overall direction of the organization. But most importantly would be respect for employees at all times, using their ideas, offer performance feedback and praise good efforts and results. All of these factors are influencing the commitment and motivation of employees and therefore the retention of employees, especially the valuable ones.”
style is defined. However, no one told me why, how and when this new style is necessary to use. I have my own style, and I‟m not sure how to direct in a facilitating, controlling and supportive way.”
The two middle managers were facing the problem that they did not have enough time to combine the HR-role and management role at the same time and had certain problems with motivating their own employees. There seemed to be a lack of expertise within the management, according to the following statement of a middle manager: “I am having problems combining these two roles and I do not think I can combine a coaching role with my daily work as a manager. Besides, I doubt if I have the right capabilities to be a coach or a mentor for my employees.” Four out of the ten interviewees did not know if the mentioned leadership style would be appropriate for the organization. The other six thought this style would be appropriate for the organization and would see a possible fit with the TM practices. But before this style can be implemented, they think it would be important to give training and coaching to the managers, so they could learn how to lead in this style. We can conclude that an ideal leadership style was defined, but that this style had not yet been implemented. Besides, there was a lack of knowledge and expertise about this leadership style within the organization.
Conclusion. A key position strategy has not been implemented within the organization. The majority of the interviewees did not think that a focus on a special talented group was necessary because they thought that there were too few key positions. Although talent pools were also not in use within the organization, half of the interviewees thought that this practice could be used for a broader group of employees. Performance management, development, recruitment, retention and leadership practices were minimally used within this organization. Despite these TM practices have not been fully implemented, seven out of ten interviewees thought that these TM practices do seem to fit within this type of organization. All of these practices were seen as potential practices for the organization to develop. The interviewees found it most important that these practices complement each other, that there will be clear policies and that there will be a continuous focus on developing talent. This conclusion is supported by one of the managers:
4.2 What is the role of organizational culture when implementing TM in a professional SME organization?
During the interviews we found significant differences between the desired culture and the current culture within the organization. We first will explore these differences before we go into the role of organizational culture when implementing TM.
Desired culture. Within the organization there was a mission statement, in which there was a description of the desired organizational culture. This specific culture had not yet been implemented; therefore we call this the desired culture. The desired culture is one in which transparency, professionalism, communication and a business-like character is combined. That means an organizational culture which was looking for the balance between learning and performing. In the view of the interviewees, this clearly formulated desired culture could help in achieving the organizational goals, through several (cultural) mechanisms like cooperation, open communication, social climate, facilitating and professional style of leadership, team spirit, focus on quality improvement and therefore stimulating employees to develop. But according to eight of the interviewees, until now this culture had not been achieved, like described in the following statement from a manager: “If you don‟t know where you have to move on to, you can never achieve [cultural aspects]. Now there is a desirable culture, but we are not using this culture. Implementation of this culture is missing; therefore I think we are not using this culture. Besides, I have the feeling that with our HR policies we cannot achieve our desirable culture.” Although the clearly formulated culture had not yet been implemented, this culture could be seen as a direction for managers and middle managers: “If our desired culture is implemented, than you also know how and in which direction you should develop your employees.”
Cooperation and communication. According to the desired culture, cooperation and communication must stand on a high level. But surprisingly, nine out of ten interviewees agreed that the level of communication was low, which was leading to a low level of cooperation. The interviewees clearly expressed a shared view that there was some kind of separation between the different departments within the organization, and a lack of harmony within the organization. Like mentioned by one of the middle managers:
“Within the organization there is no harmony. I think that is the result of having no confidence in each others‟ knowledge, employees or department and having inferior communication. We are one organization, but it does not feel like one.”
Social climate. According to the desired culture, the managers need to create a social climate within their department and employees must have pleasure in their work. Although the organization was striving towards a social climate with a focus on communication and cooperation, this was certainly not the case at the moment of the interviews. The current social climate was called hostile by six of the interviewees, also due to the low level of communication and trust. This social climate did not create involvement of employees with the organization. Besides, according to five out of seven managers and middle managers, it was important to take into account that there was a resistance to management ideas and strategies. “With implementing new ideas, policies or strategies, employees have a high resistance to change. I always get the feeling that they have the feeling that they seem to know better than us (the managers).” All interviewees advocate the desired social climate, but they struggled how to make the switch towards this desired social climate. We could conclude that despite the appeal of the desired social climate, the opposite was the reality, because the climate was not social but hostile. However, it still could be seen as the possible future social climate.
Team spirit and focus on quality improvement. Due to the competition within the organization among departments and employees, in which feedback was rather an exception than the rule, creativity and employee development was low. But also the feeling that there was no harmony within the organization interfered with the team spirit between departments and quality improvement was hindered. Nevertheless, every interviewee views the team spirit within departments very optimistically. They thought that the harmony within every department was high. Therefore we could conclude that the desired culture on these two points has not been optimally established.
The role of organizational culture when implementing TM. The desired culture would perhaps fit the TM strategies and practices. However, the current culture is quite different and does not fit because the leadership style was not supportive for employees, communication did not involve employees and there was a low level of feedback which did not stimulate employees to develop themselves. These cultural characteristics would have a negative influence on TM practices, especially because there was no overall focus on development. Positive and frequent feedback or supportive leadership could stimulate development of employees, but this was not the reality within the organization. If the desired culture were implemented, than it would also be possible to implement and extend the TM practices. Indeed, in the desired culture this positive focus on development was present. This statement was confirmed by six out of the ten interviewees, they thought that there was a fit between the desired culture and TM practices. However, they saw also opportunities towards a greater focus on development within the desired culture which could stimulate the TM practices even more and therefore provide more profitable results. Which for example was quoted by one of the managers: “Now the desired culture aims at a leadership style that supports development of employees through a facilitating and professional leadership style, and emphasises the need for a balance between learning and performing. But this could be expanded towards a leadership styles that is for example more focussed on coaching.”
focus on development, for example there was no development policy, no room for feedback within the organization and a lack of team spirit and cooperation. Therefore it would seem that there would be considerable room for improvement in implementing the desired culture, expanding the desired culture with a bigger focus on development and possibly implementing a TM strategy.
5. DISCUSSION
This study aimed to provide more insight into what extent and in which form it is possible to have talent management (TM) in a professional SME organization and to explore the relationship between TM practices and strategies, and organizational culture. Results of this study should lead to a better insight in the usefulness and relevance to implement TM within a professional organization and the role of organizational culture when implementing TM. In this section the main findings from the semi-structured interviews will be presented. Secondly, practical and theoretical implications will be given and thirdly strengths, limitations and suggestions for further research will be given after which an overall conclusion is formulated.
5.1 Main findings
seven interviewees viewed the way how employees would be developed within a talent pool attractive for their own department. The three interviewees, who preferred a focus on key positions, were also in favour of the talent pool practice.
Performance management, recruitment and retention were practices that were minimally developed and regulated by policies. Besides, development and leadership style were dependent on the managers and clear policies were missing or, in case of the management style, not used. The desired management style was defined in the mission statement, but this style was not used. Therefore employees were developed, coached and supported in the way their manager thought was best. However performance management, development, recruitment, retention and leadership practices were minimally used within this organization, the majority of the interviewees thought that all of these TM practices do seem to fit within this organization. All of these TM practices were seen as potential practices for the organization to develop because a fit among these practices was missing at the moment. The interviewees found it most important that these practices complement each other, that there will be clear policies and that there will be a continuous focus on developing talent.
5.2 Practical and theoretical implications
Practical implications. The results of the current study have important practical implications. Within the case-study a desirable culture had been defined which had not yet been implemented. The organization wanted to implement this culture, but they had failed. This raises the question if it is realistic for professional organizations to achieve this desired culture, with a focus on transparency, professionalism, communication and a balance between learning and performing. This is an important question because if it is difficult to implement this culture, it will definitely be difficult to implement a TM strategy. Weggeman (1998) characterizes the professional culture as a lack of combined purposefulness, a disconnection with management, a lot of informal organizing, a work set-up according to personal- and learning preferences, honesty, openness, integrity and consistency. These characteristics imply that professionals have a resistance to management ideas and that they think they can manage their own work. Therefore we can recognise the difficulties an organization can face when implementing strategies or in this case a culture. But professionals also crave consistency, openness and integrity. To reach these factors and to overcome the lack of combined purposefulness we think they do need guidelines and proper strategies. Therefore it is possible to implement strategies, but when implementing for example TM practices it is important to overcome the resistance by using good arguments, involvement of employees and to take into account these characteristics of professional organizational cultures.
exist with organizational culture, HR, policies, organizational strategy and TM practices. In this case-study it is important before implementing TM strategies, that the desired organizational culture is implemented.
We concluded that a fit between culture and TM is necessary. But we did not define what type of culture is necessary within a professional organization and what type of culture has the best fit with TM. A professional organization can be characterized by a learning culture, and a provocative work and management style that facilitates the development of a professional (De Groot, 2005). These characteristics are in line with the TM practices. The concept of a learning culture is introduced by Senge (1990), and defined as a place where people are continually discovering how they create their reality and how they can change it. This is an important cultural aspect, which focuses on continuous development of employees and the organization. Provocative work is important for professionals, which motivates and opens development possibilities. The management style needs to be facilitating, otherwise development of employees would not take place and TM practices will not effectively be used. It is thus recommended to implement a learning culture which will complement and support the TM strategy, because all employees will be stimulated and motivated by this organizational culture which supports the fit between culture and TM.
Theoretical implications. The present study can add significant meaning to the literature on the subject of TM implementation for professional organizations, because there is a lack of literature on this subject. During the research we explored the relevance and usefulness of implementing TM within a professional organization. We can conclude that the key position strategy within professional organizations is less relevant, because professional organizations have relatively flat hierarchical organizational structures. Flat structures often have few key positions; therefore a specific focus on key positions is irrelevant. This conclusion is also applicable for SMEs, because these organizational types also have small occupancies with few key positions. Because talent pools are in line with a key position strategy, also this practice is less useful for professional organizations and SMEs.
5.3 Strengths, limitations and suggestions for further research
The present study is a qualitative study, this has several advantages. We could take a good look in one specific and very dynamic organization, therefore we received a complete picture of this organization and it was possible to discover much details. Nevertheless, some remarks have to be made about the way the research has been conducted. First, a limitation of this study is the fact that the semi-structured interviews only were conducted within one organization. The reason for this was the limited amount of time available to conduct this study. However the main goal of this research was to investigate one organization, it would be desirable for further research to conduct this research with several professional organizations in different branches. Therefore this research is useful for idea development, but we cannot draw firm conclusion about other organizations.
Moreover, another limitation of this study is the use of TM in a case study. Within this case study, no TM strategy had been developed. For further research it would be interesting and important to investigate how TM strategies work in professional organizations after these TM practices have been implemented. From this starting point, it would be possible to draw valid conclusions about how to implement TM. Third, it is important to note the representativeness of a part of the research sample. For the interviews with the employees, only two out of eighty fulltime employees were involved. For further research, involving more employees would be desirable to draw firmer conclusions.
5.4 Conclusions
We can conclude that professional organizations distinguish themselves from other organizational archetypes, and that consequently a specific TM strategy is necessary for this type of organizations. It is typical for professional organizations to have problems with implementing new strategies, because professionals have a high resistance to management ideas. Therefore for a successful implementation of a TM strategy it is important to take a few boundary conditions into account. A fit of the TM strategy and practices needs to exist with organizational culture, HR, other policies, and organizational strategy. Within the organization a focus on a learning culture is necessary which will influence the entire workforce and will promote the implementation of a TM strategy. Besides, employees should be carefully selected, an understanding of the psychological contracts between the organization and its employees in terms of career paths and their contribution to the organization is necessary, and well-targeted and –communicated TM strategies may help build stronger employer-employee relationships and promote greater engagement among professional employees.
REFERENCES
Arthur, D. 1995, Managing human resources in small and mid-size companies. New York: American Management Association.
Beechler, S., & Woodward I.C. 2009. The global “war for talent”. Journal of international management, vol. 15 pp 273-285.
Boston Consulting Group 2007. The future of HR: key challenges through 2015. Dusseldorf: Boston Consulting Group.
Davis, T., Cutt, M., Flynn, N., Mowl, P., & Orme, S. 2007. Talent management: a new strategy for talent management. Gower publishing, ltd.
Denison, D.R., & Mishra, A. 1995. Toward a theory of organizational culture and effectiveness. Organization science, 6(2): 204-223.
Ferreira, A.I., & Hill, M.M. 2008. Organizational cultures in public and private Portuguese universities: a case study. High education, 55: 637-650.
Ferris, G. R., Rosen, S. D., & Barnum, D. T. 1995. Handbook of HRM. Cambridge: Blackwell publishers.
Fitz-enz, J. 2005. The 8 practices of exceptional companies: how great organizations make the most of their human assets. Amacom.
Garrow, V., & Hirsch, W. 2008. Talent management: issues of focus and fit. Public personnel management, 37(4): 389- 402.
Gerhart, B. 2005. Human resources and business performance: findings, unanswered questions, and an alternative approach. Management revue, 16(2): 174-185.
Greening, D., Barringer, W., & Macy, G. A. 1996, Qualitative study of managerial challenges facing small business geographic expansion. Journal of business venturing, 13: 233-256.
Heneman, R.L., Tansky, J. W., & Camp, S.M. 2000). Human resource management practices in small and medium-sized enterprises: unanswered questions and future research perspectives. Entrepreneurship theory and practice, 25: 11-26.
Hirschman, C. 2000. For PEO‟s business is booming. HR Magazine, 42: 1-6.
Huber, G.P., & McDaniel, R.R. 1986. The decision-making paradigm of organizational design. Managerial science, 32(1): 5572-589.
Huselid, M.A., Jackson, S.E., & Schuler, R.S. 1997. Technical and strategic human resource management effectiveness determinates of firm performance. Academy of management journal, 40: 171-188.
Iles, P. A., Preece, D. & Xin, C. 2006. ‘Talent management and succession planning – a comparison study between the UK and China’. Paper presented to KSSS Conference, Beijing, September. Jackson, S.E., & Schuler R.S 1990. Human resource planning: challenges for industrial/organizational
psychologists. American psychologists, 45(2): 223-239. Johnson, M. 2004. New Rules of Engagement. London, CIPD.
Kam, J. 2004. Selling professionalism? Image making in the management consulting industry. In: Buono, A.F., Creative consulting: innovative perspectives on management consulting. Information age publishing Inc., Greenwich, 51-72.
Kothari, S., & Handscombe, R.D 2007. Sweep or seep? Structure, culture, enterprise and universities. Management decision, 45(2): 43-61.
Kyrö, P. 1994. The professionalization in management consulting. Helsinki: Helsinki Kauppakorkeakoulu Kirjasto.
Lam, A. 2000. Tacit knowledge, organizational learning and societal institutions: an integrated framework. Organizational studies, 21(3): 487.
Lewis, R. E., & Heckman, R. J. 2006, Talent management: a critical review. Human resource management review, 16: 139-154.
McCauly, C., & Wakefield, M. 2006. Talent management in the 21st century: help you company find, develop: and keep its strongest workers. The journal for quality and participation, 19: 4-10. McDermott, C.M., & Stock, G.N. 1999. Organizational culture and advanced manufacturing
technology implantation. Journal of operations management, 12: 521-533.
Mellahi, K. & Collings, D. 2009. Strategic Talent Management: A review and research agenda, Human Resource Management Review, 19(4): 304-313.
Micheals, E., Handfield-Jones, H. & Axelrod, B. 2001. The war for talent. Boston, MA, Harvard Business School Press.
Mintzberg, H. 1983. Structure in fives: designing effective organizations. Engelwood Cliffs, NJ: Prentice-Hall.
Morton, L. 2006. Talent management: a critical way to integrate and embed diversity. Available at www.workinfo.com.
Murphy, R. 1990. Proletarianization or bureaucratization: the fall of the professional? In: R. Torstendahl & M. Burrage, The formation of professions: knowledge, state and strategy. London: Sage, 71-96.
Nahm, A., Vonderembse, M. & Koufteros, X. 2004. The impact of organizational culture on time-based manufacturing and performance. Decision sciences, 35(4): 579-607.
Preziosi, R.C. (2008). Using talent management audits can improve HR‟s results. Employment relations today, 35(3): 17-24.
Purcell, J., & Hubbard, N. 2001. Engaging employee expectations during acquisitions. Human resource management journal, 11(2): 17-33.
Quinn, R.E., & McGrath, M. R. 1985. The transformation of organizational culture: a competing values perspective. In: P.J. Frost, L.F. Moore, M.R. Louis, C.C. Lundberg, & J. Martin (Eds.) Organizational culture. Beverly Hills: Sage publications, Inc, 315-334.
Richter, A., Dickmann, M., & Graubner M. 2008. Patterns of human resource management in consulting firms. Personnel review, 37(2): 184-202.
Schein, E.H., 1985. Organizational culture and leadership: a dynamic view. Jossey-Bass publishers, San Francisco, CA.
Schweyer, A. 2004. Talent management systems: best practices in technology solutions for recruitment, retention, and workforce planning. Canada: Wiley.
Scott, R. 1965. Reactions to supervision in a heteronymous professional organization. Administrative science, 10: 65-81.
Senge, P. 1990. The fifth discipline: the art & practice of the learning organization. Century Business, London.
Sigler, T., & Pearson, C. 2000. Creating and empowering culture: examining the relationship between organizational culture and perceptions of empowerment. Journal of quality management, 5: 27-52.
Sistonen, S. 2005. Talent management. New York, Deloitte & Touche Oy. Storey, J. 2007. Human resource management: a critical text.
Tansley, C., Turner, P., Foster, C., Harris, L., Stewert, J., & Sempik, A. 2007. Talent strategy, management and measurement, CIPD, London.
Torstendahl, R. 1990. Knowledge as a professional resource: case studies of architects and psychologist at work. In: R. Torstendahl & M. Burrage, The formation of professions: knowledge, state and strategy. London: Sage, 1-10.
Ulrich, D., & Brockbank, W. 2005. The HR value proposition. Boston: Havard business school press. Ulrich, D. 2006. The talent trifecta. Workforce management. 32-33 (September 10).
Weggeman, M.C.D.P. 1998. Leidinggeven aan professionals. Kluwer Bedrijfsinformatie.
Williams, 2005, The war for talent: getting the best from the best. Wappingers Falls, NY: Beekman Books.
APPENDIX 1
Interviewschema
Doel van het interview: Het in kaart brengen van de percepties van directeur, managers, lijn-managers en medewerkers met betrekking tot TM praktijken binnen de organisatie.
Duur interview: 50 tot 75 minuten
Context van interviewvragen: Bij aanvang van het interview wordt aan de te interviewen persoon duidelijk gemaakt dat de antwoorden betrekking moeten hebben op de context „de beïnvloeding van TM praktijken op het werk binnen de organisatie.‟
Gebruik geluidsopname: Met toestemming van de geïnterviewde wordt het interview opgenomen met een spraakrecorder.
Publicatie resultaten: Het interview zal uitsluitend gebruikt worden voor huidig onderzoek en zal als onderzoeksverslag verschijnen voor de organisatie en als scriptie voor de RUG.
Anonimiteit: Uitspraken uit dit interview zullen in de verslagen anoniem worden verwerkt en zullen niet te herleiden zijn naar een specifiek persoon.
Interviewvragen Waarden
1. Welke TM strategieën zijn er op dit moment in gebruik?
2. Hoe zien deze TM strategieën er uit, of hoe zouden ze eruit moeten zien? 3. Wat zijn de mogelijkheden om TM te implementeren binnen deze organisatie? 4. In hoeverre is TM afgestemd op de organisatie strategie?
5. Kan jij de cultuur beschrijven van de organisatie?
8. Vind jij ontwikkeling van medewerkers en performance management van belang?
Medewerkers
9. Hoe kan jij de ontwikkeling van je eigen medewerkers stimuleren. Stimuleer jij je medewerkers op dit moment op deze wijze?
10. Hoe kan de organisatie ervoor zorgen dat medewerkers zich continu blijven ontwikkelen en hoe kan dit meegroeien met de functiebehoeftes?
Ontwikkeling
11. Hoe wordt opleiding en ontwikkeling van medewerkers binnen de organisatie gestimuleerd? 12. Hoe kunnen medewerkers het beste ontwikkeld worden binnen de organisatie? Over wat voor
soorten ontwikkeling gaat het (loopbaanontwikkeling, coaching, leren op de werkvloer, leren buiten de werkvloer, training, etc.). Hoe zie je de verschillende vormen van ontwikkeling voor je?
Systemen
13. Wat voor soort TM praktijken zijn er in gebruik? 14. In hoeverre zijn deze TM praktijken in gebruik?
Processen
15. In hoeverre is er een focus op TM binnen werving, selectie en verloop?
16. In hoeverre worden medewerkers betrokken bij de organisatie, hoe wordt er gecommuniceerd tussen medewerkers, leidinggevenden en afdelingen?
17. Wat zou er verbeterd kunnen worden op het gebied van communicatie binnen de organisatie en jouw afdeling?
18. Hoe kan de communicatie bijdragen aan continue ontwikkeling van de medewerkers? 19. Hoe zou je jouw stijl van leidinggeven kunnen uitleggen?
21. Op welke manier wordt er binnen de organisatie en jouw afdeling samengewerkt? 22. Is de samenwerking optimaal?
23. Wanneer is de samenwerking optimaal?
24. Wat is teamgeest, wanneer is dit voelbaar en is dit voelbaar? 25. Hoe zien de loopbaanmogelijkheden er binnen de orgasatie uit?
26. Wat voor invloed heeft P&O op jouw werk, wat heb jij als leidinggevende voor taken op P&O gebied?
