Abstract
Talent management is one of the most important human resource functions. In this study, the researcher focused on talent management and how it relates to other human resource functions within organizations in Saudi Arabia. The researcher will use both primary and secondary sources of data.
Introduction
In Saudi Arabia, many firms now face stiff market competition due to the open market policy that has been embraced by the government. This means that foreign firms from regional and international markets can enter the Saudi market and operate freely without meeting any form of intimidation. To remain competitive, Schweyer (2013) says that a firm is forced to have a pool of highly talented and loyal employees. Talent management has become a critical issue that an organization can no longer ignore in this country. According to Effron and Ort (2010), talent management involves identifying, developing, and maintaining special skills among the employees for better service delivery. The researcher is interested in investigating how organizations in Saudi Arabia are managing their talents for better service delivery.
Talent Management and Human Resource Functions
According to Tony (2007), talent management plays a crucial role in many areas of human resource management. In this section, the researcher will look at some of the areas of human resource management where talent management is very important. These areas will be reviewed critically when collecting the primary data from the field.
Training and Development
Training and development of the employees is a regular management task that takes place within a firm to help in improving the performance of the employees. Price (2011) says that most graduates currently leave colleges without the practical knowledge on how to handle various tasks. This means that their employers must take them through some form of training in order to orient them to the tasks that they are expected to undertake. The process of training the employees may take different approaches based on several factors. Newly recruited employees are taken through an orientation training to help them know the practical nature of what they are expected to do when they get to their workstation. The employees who have been working for a firm may also need a different form of training. The business world is changing, and this change requires the employees to adjust their knowledge to work within the expectation of the market. During such training programs, the trainers should be keen to identify talents among the employees and find a way of developing them. The employees also have a responsibility to identify the areas where they have special skills that can be developed for superior service delivery.
Recruitment
During recruitment, Schweyer (2013) says that the management should not overemphasize on the academic qualifications. Talent should also form part of the features an employer should be looking for when hiring an employee. This can be assessed by looking at the experience of an employee in a given area of interest.
Compensation & Benefit
Compensation plays an important role in talent management within an organization. Many firms are keen on hiring employees with special skills. That is why the pouching of employees has become a common practice in Saudi Arabia in the current days. An employer must find a way of protecting his employees from the poachers. One of the ways of maintaining a pool of loyal and highly talented employees is to develop a compensation scheme that is competitive compared to that of rival firms. Employees tend to prefer working for employers who pay high salaries. Other benefits may also be offered to the highest performing employees as a way of motivating them. These benefits may include allowances, bonuses, health care insurance, or end-year gifts.
Performance Management
Performance management is another area of human resource management where talents can be identified and managed for the benefit of an organization. According to Armstrong (2007), firms have come to realize that their overall performance is largely dependent on the performance of the individual employees. It is for this reason that many firms have focused on performance appraisal as an approach of determining the output of their employees. Through such human resource practices, it is easy to identify talents among the employees. Such talents should be developed and then retained to enable a firm to achieve success.
References
Armstrong, M. (2007). A handbook of human resource management practice. London: Kogan Page.
Effron, M. & Ort, M. (2010). One page talent management: Eliminating complexity, adding value. New York: Cengage.
Price, A. (2011). Human resource management. Andover: Cengage Learning.
Schweyer, A. (2013). Talent management systems: Best practices in technology solutions for recruitment, retention and workforce planning. Hoboken: Wiley.
Tony, D. (2007). Talent assessment: A new strategy for talent management. Aldershot: Gower.