“ANALYSIS OF TALENT MANAGEMENT PRACTICES ADOPT BY

COVANENT CONSULTANS”

INTRODUCTION TO THE STUDY:

TalentManagement, is also referred to as Human Capital

Management, is the process recruiting, managing, assessing,

developing and maintaining an organization’s most important

resource-it’s people.

In present talent-hungry marketplace, one of the

greatest challenges that organizations are facing is to

successfully attract, assess, train and retain talented

employees. Talent Management is the end-to-end process of,

Planning

Recruiting

Developing

Managing

Compensating employees

Throughout the organization.

The 4 pillars of talent management are:

Recruiting

Performance management

Learning management

Compensation management.

Talent management relieves the stress of writing

employee performance reviews by automating the task and using our

exact workflow. Organizations can establish and communicate

critical corporate goals, measure employee performance

improvement, and ensure that all levels of the organization are

aligned – all working towards the same goals.

Talent Management enables organizations to rapidly align,

develop, motivate, and maintain a high-performance labour force.

They also alleviate the hassle of writing performance reviews by

automating the task and ensuring quality of reviews and reviewed

on time. Organizations can establish and communicate critical

corporate goals, measure performance improvement, and ensure that

all levels of the organization are aligned to attain critical

business objectives.

This term is usually associated with competency-based human

resource management practices. Talent management decisions are

often driven by a set of organizational core competencies as well

as position-specific competencies. The competency set may include

knowledge, skills, experience, and personal traits (demonstrated

through defined behaviours). Older competency models might also

contain attributes that rarely predict success (e.g. education,

tenure, and diversity factors that are illegal to consider in

many countries).

Managing the most important assetsMore and more companies today are taking a holistic approach to

talent management – from attracting and selecting wisely, to

retaining and developing leaders, to helping employees transition

out of the company.

Talent management is viewed as a strategic approach to

managing human capital throughout the career cycle: planning,

developing, retaining and acquiring your most important assets.

Planning

Developing

Retaining

Acquiring

Need for Talent Management

Dramatic shifts in the make – up of the workforce can

influence the way organizations recruit, develop and retain

employees in the future. They include:

An increasing global labour market

An increasing virtual workplace

A vastly diverse workforce, in terms of age, race and

culture

A workforce independent views about their own lifestyle and

access to information about career opportunities

Factors influencing talent management

There are certain factors which influence the importance and need

of talent management. They include the following:

Globalization: Now for any jobseeker the whole world is the

potential place to find employment. One can know the

opportunities available in any part of the world easily and the

number of talent seekers has also increased.

Increased Competition: Increased competition in the market place

has necessitated the need for consistently good performance on

the side of organizations. These have made the companies to put

in all efforts to hire and retain the best talent in the

respective field of operation.

Increasing Knowledge: The knowledge era has necessitated the

retaining of those talents which have the ability to assimilate

new technologies and knowledge, which are growing at a pace never

seen before.

Strategies for talent management:

Talent Management, usually referred as Human Capital Management,

is the process recruiting, managing, assessing, developing and

maintaining an organization's most important resource—it's

people!

The typical strategies include:-

Merge talent management data by having incorporated exceptional

capabilities in learning, performance, and compensation

management software

1. Automate the talent management process into an online

solution there by reducing time and costs of

performance reviews.

2. Recognize and close employee performance gaps by

instantly turning automated performances appraisals

into training development plans.

3. Align training demand with performance needs and

strategic goals directly there by reducing time and

money spent on non-strategic training activities.

4. Eliminate conflicting evaluation criteria by applying a

standardized solution that impose consistent language,

feedback, and evaluation criteria .

5. Use reliable, fair pay-for-performance initiatives.

6. Talent Management processes is typically found in

numerous parts of an organization. Thus, many

organizations struggle to align their talent management

under one consistent strategy.

Importance of talent managementLike human capital, talent management is gaining increased

attention. Talent management (TM) brings together a number of

important human resources (HR) and management initiatives.

Organizations that formally decide to "manage their

talent" undertake a strategic analysis of their current HR

processes. This is to ensure that a co-ordinated, performance

oriented approach is adopted.

Quite often, organisations adopting a TM approach will

focus on co-ordinating and integrating:

Recruitment - ensuring the right people are attracted

to the organisation.

Retention - developing and implementing practices that

reward and support employees.

Employee development - ensuring continuous informal and

formal learning and development.

Leadership and "high potential employee" development -

specific development programs for existing and future

leaders.

Performance management - specific processes that

nurture and support performance, including

feedback/measurement.

Workforce planning - planning for business and general

changes, including the older workforce and

current/future skills shortages.

Culture - development of a positive, progressive and

high performance "way of operating".

The six dimensions of talent management are,

Talent management dimensions

Description

Develop strategy Establishing the optimum long term strategy for attracting, developing, connecting and deploying the workforce

Attract and Retain Sourcing ,recruiting and holding onto the appropriate skills and capitalize, according to business needs

Motivate and Develop Verifying that people's capabilities are understood and developed to match business requirements, while also meeting people's needs for motivation, development and job satisfaction

Transform and Achieving clear measurable and

sustain sustainable change within the organization, while maintaining day to day continuity of operations

Deploy and manage Providing effective resources deployment, scheduling and work management that match skills and experience with organizational needs

Connect and enable Identifying individuals with relevant skills , collaborating and sharing knowledge and working effectively in virtual settings

Benefits of talent management to organisation

There are many benefits of creating an integrated talent

management and workforce planning structure.

Predictability of performance

Higher customer satisfaction rates

Lower employee turn-over

Increased profits as a result of right people/right

time

Increased revenue as a result of efficiencies

Increased employee engagement

Assurance of stable management team today and in future

The future is now for talent management technologies

The worldwide market for talent management technologies is

thriving. A number of factors are fueling the exponential growth:

a dynamic geo-economic climate that increases focus on the

workforce; a changing global labor market; and the need for

organizations to transform their workforce and build a climate

and culture of performance and innovation.

The impact of organizational brain drain and the fear of a global

talent shortage due to an increasingly aging workforce have

caused companies to focus on finding, developing and retaining

superior, talented employees. That makes talent management

technologies must-haves for organizations committed to developing

a competitive human capital advantage. Demand for talent

management solutions is pervasive throughout North America,

Europe and Asia, where interest is high and adoption is brisk.

The talent management market includes HR process functionality

for recruitment, performance, compensation, succession planning,

learning and other capabilities around self-service, analytics

and reporting. Many vendors have pursued a suite approach in an

effort to leverage the data and intelligence across the various

modular capabilities while others have chosen to go deep in

distinct modular functionality.

The growth of talent management technologies will nearly double

by 2009 and will exceed US$4.0 billion, a compound annual growth

rate of more than 26 percent in the next four years. Based on the

heavy influence of the on-demand, software-as-a-service

subscription model, many organizations are attracted toward

talent management solutions based on low upfront costs, limited

deployment risks, and predictable pricing model. Over 2300

companies worldwide adopted some form of talent management

technology in 2005. Of those companies, approximately 65 percent

of those companies deployed their talent management solution in

an on-demand model.

Recruitment and learning categories will fuel growth because of

an increasing talent shortage and focus on training and career

development. Asia-Pacific will invest and spend.

Growing trend in talent management

There is a growing trend of choice HR jobs being

awarded to non-HR professionals following years of senior

management dissatisfaction with HR in general. Talent management

is seen as a strategic task by senior leaders, but the perception

is that HR professionals are generally incapable of executing

talent strategies.” While most senior managers may believe that

HR lacks the skill set to effectively run a talent management

programme, most senior management has not determined how to

create a fully integrated talent management strategy.

Data, reporting, analysis and forecasting will monitor

performance and model scenarios will aid management in their

decision making processes.

OBJECTIVES OF THE STUDY:

1.To identify various upcoming challenges of talent management in

Covenant technology solutions.

2.To create a pool of candidate to acquire, develop and retain

the best talented employees in the organization.

3. To improve workforce effectiveness through integrated talent

management in Covenant technology solutions.

4.To establish upcoming trends in talent management.

5. To suggest the ways to retain the best talent employees in

Covenant technology solutions.

REVIEW OF LITERATURE:

Talent management definition:

Aconscious, deliberate approach undertaken to attract, develop

and retain people with the aptitude and abilities to meet current

and future organisational needs.

Talent management involves individual and organisational

development in response to a changing and complex operating

environment. It includes the creation and maintenance of a

supportive, people oriented organisation culture.

According to Agatha Gilmore talent management ,

With an aging workforce, a growing talent shortage and an

uncertain economy, a lot of emphasis has been put on developing

new and exciting tools to help organizations navigate their

talent needs. But while technologies might be revolutionary, the

best practices behind them aren't groundbreaking.

According to Business Guru LarryHochman,

Gives a clear message that the war for talent will only become a

bigger challenge in the years ahead. Demographic changes are

intensifying the demand for high-potential individualsand are

among the tensions and opportunities facing human resource

professionals.

According to Warner,director of people and property atHertfordshire country council,

Warner says that he will be trying to break the mould

once more in his new role.He is trying to establish a way forward

that is practical and changes the way people look at public

sector organisation . We want employers to identify talented

people working in organisations and help lead them up through

the organisation.

According to Peter Cappelli, professor of management atthe WhartonSchool and author of Talent on Demand,

With all the aspect of a talent war, companies might be

overshooting their needs when it comes to hiring. This is more

expensive than underestimating because retention costs -

especially when it comes to idle, likely-to-leave employees- far

outweigh the higher cost per hire. Companies should undershoot

their estimates and plan to hire from outside to compensate for

any deficits.

Investing in employee training and development is

crucial for any organization, but talent managers are aware that

workers easily can take their new skills elsewhere. Thus,

organizations should get employees to help cover the investment.

While it's illegal to charge employees for training required for

their jobs, companies can take advantage of their newly honed

skills by offering them experience-rich stretch assignments on a

volunteer basis.

According to Heidi Sprigi, president of KnowledgeInfusion defines talent management as:

The process of managing the supply and demand of talent to

achieve optimal business performance in alignment with

organisational goals.

A survey conducted in 2008 by Knowledge Infusion in

conjunction with the International Association for Human Resource

Information Management (IHRIM) found that approximately half of

all respondents said their companies had no integration between

systems and talent management processes, and only fair to poor

organisational alignment of the workforce to business goals.

According to Kevin Wheeler, internationally knownexpert in talent acquisition and management,

Traditional talent management systems have clearly defined

components including:

Training and development

skill inventories

performance management

recruiting

Succession management. According to Kevin Wheeler, traditional approach is that,

“Most companies perform two or three components of a talent

management system well, but the total system seems to be elusive

without executive level involvement.”The complexities of human

capital and how it impacts organisational performance, the senior

executives across the organisation should be the sponsors and

owners of talent management.

According to a article by Dr John Sullivan called’Talent Management Road Kill, Part 2’

Approaching talent management from a comprehensive view point,

companies will be able to analyse, plan, forecast and execute

business plans based on accurate workforce and market data. Roles

and responsibilities will be well defined and performance

measures are designed to reward employees that contribute to the

overall well being of the company. Employees are trained or hired

for competencies determined by workforce analytics and gap

analysis. Training and development complementary to succession

planning are aligned to current and future organisational demands

and goals. Data, reporting, analysis and forecasting will monitor

performance and model scenarios will aid management in their

decision making processes.

According to a Journal on human capital management byICFAI on gaining competent advantage by talentmanagement,

The onset of liberalisation, privatization and

globalisation has put tremendous pressure on the Indian

Corporations to augment their competitiveness. Different

organisations have tried various methods to stay alive in this

era of cut-throat competition but only some have been able to do

so. Organisations are facing tremendous pressure to be both

effective and efficient and to become a sustained value creator.

In order to improve competitiveness, the role played by and

contribution of different functions has come under a scanner.

Production, sales, finance and marketing all have been

considered.

According to Towers Perrin's 11th Annual HR ServiceDelivery Survey,

After a decade of upgrades, many companies are shifting

priorities. Talent management has snagged the top slot this year

in HR service delivery issues, and organizations are turning

their upgraded systems into tools to leverage their people

agendas. Organizations are now putting the people dimension first

and viewing their existing technology platforms as the foundation

for — and the means of — better enabling their people agenda to

deliver on business needs and goals."

The research also found that, despite the current

economic downturn, large organizations continue to invest in

their HR technology platforms. Specifically, 30% have increased

their investment in HR-related technologies, and 55% are

maintaining their technology budgets at 2007 levels. Only 15%

planned budget cuts for 2008.

And although companies will continue to upgrade and

streamline their technology systems to create a better employee

experience, a more significant slice of their budgets is now

earmarked for:

internal and external recruitment and staffing

succession planning

workforce analytics

other talent management-related technologies.

According to a Journal on human capital management byICFAI on integrated talent management,Many organizations believe that effective talent management

practices can be a critical source of differentiation in today's

highly competitive, globally integrated economy. At the same

time, industries face their own set of unique challenges - a

situation that has led enterprises to focus on different pieces

of the talent management service-intensive industries tend to

spend significant time and attention on talent management

activities, while not-for-profit organizations appear to struggle

to make the most of their workforce.

According to a Book written by A. Radha, professor ofuniversity of Kozhikode Management: An IntegratedModelTalent management is a set of competency-based human resource

management practices aimed at getting the best out of its high-

value people and ensuring that right people are in place to do a

particular job. A recent research by Success Factors and human

capital expert Dr. Jack Fitz-enz has shown that smarter talent

management leads to better financial performance of the company1.

This paper looks at the influence of several variables on Talent

Management Strategy so as to fine tune it in accordance with the

conditions that a firm is faced with. The macro-level variables

considered are the environmental factors and the industry factors

while the micro-level variables are the organizational factors. A

Talent Management process model has been developed, which

outlines the sequence of steps to be followed in effectively

implementing the talent management strategy.

According to Adielendunuju, 09/02/2009, Human Resource, In simple but concise terms, Talent Management(TM) is

the harmonization and the management of the talents in a firm,

company or organization. Talents here comprise employee

educational qualifications, Skills, Strength, trainings acquired,

traits, habits, motive, knowledge, abilities, potentials etc. It

is very true that all activities carried out in an organization

revolve around Talent Management.

Every organization practices TM in one-way or the other. The

difference between an organization and another is mostly in the

area of the degree of involvement. In so far as a firm is

involved in Recruitment, Selection, Placement, Training and

Development, Performance Management, Reward/Compensation/Benefit

handling, then Talent Management is practiced. TM should not be

solely the work of the HR department alone, all Middle and the

Line Managers have roles to play in the every successful TM in an

organization.

According to Tony Davis, Product Line Director with

Skills Edge Limited,

Talented and ambitious people will only stay with their

current employer if they are offered positive development,

motivation and nurturing to ensure they are given every chance

of realizing their potential.

According to Craing Donaldson,

A recent US white paper found that by 2010, there could be as

many as 10 million more jobs available in the country than there

are employees. Further, there is growing evidence of worker

dissatisfaction, primarily as a result of layoffs, lack of career

growth, and minimal pay increases over the past several years.

Additionally, some employers have become ruthless in order to

survive over the past decade, creating aggressive cultures that

may not be comfortable for many workers.

The Responding to the mega-billion-dollar retention crisis white paper, produced

by The Ken Blanchard Companies, detailed 10 steps for building

retention within organisations:

1. Show genuine interest and appreciation. Continue to be or

become genuinely interested in each person whom you support

and depend on.

2. Make work meaningful. Help people see the connection between

what they do and what difference it makes, to the company,

the internal or external customers, and society.

3. Ask courageous questions. Don’t shy away from asking why

people stay and what it will take to retain them.

4. Grow competencies, situation ally. Look for opportunities to

put people into challenging situations where their skills

and competencies will grow.

5. Meet one-on-one, routinely. Conduct regular, but brief one-

on-one meetings between manager/leaders and direct reports.

Begin by asking, “What’s on your mind?”– then listen and

act.

6. Make retention everyone’s responsibility. Encourage all

members of the work group to feel responsible for the

retention of their peers and to be alert to problems that

can be fixed.

7. Be a career builder. Talk to people about their long-term

career aspirations and help them use or build the skills and

competencies they need for the future.

8. Help people get an “A “level. Give the gift of being clear

about what an “A “level performance looks like.

9. Manage the meaning of change. Move toward people in

uncertain times, including personal and organisational

change. Be there and be open. Check in with people often.

10. Walk your talk. Be aware that people are always

watching and assessing you and your actions as a leader.

According to Dr.Jac Fitz-enz, researcher in Success

factor and Human Capital expert,

Talent management is a set of competency-based human resource

management practices aimed at getting the best out of its high-

value people and ensuring that right people are in place to do a

particular job.

The factors influencing Talent Management Strategy are to be

dealt in such a way so as to fine tune it in accordance with the

conditions that a firm is faced with. The macro-level variables

are the environmental factors and the industry factors while the

micro-level variables are the organizational factors.

A Talent Management process model has been developed, which

outlines the sequence of steps to be followed in effectively

implementing the talent management strategy. In addition to

these, ways of aligning the HR practices of the organization with

the talent management initiatives have to be looked at.

Thus it is seen that an Integrated Talent Management approach by

the organization, with the talent management strategies and

processes perfectly aligned with the various HR processes and

with the overall organizational strategy, would help in getting

the best out of the talent and in achieving its objectives

1. Age:

A) 20-25 year B) 26-30 year C) 31-35 year D) 36-40 year E) Above

40 year

2. Gender:

3. Marital Status:

4. Education Qualification:

5. Department:

6. Years of experience:

A) 1-3 B) 3-5 C) 5-7 D) 7-9 E) above 10yrs

7. What attracted you initially to Covenant technology

solutions? (Please rank it)

Content of the job

Promotion opportunitySize and structure of the

organizationSalaryLocation

8. How did you acquire the knowledge and skills for your current

position?

(Please rank it)

9. Are your skills are recognized at the right time?

International exposurePerformanceExperienceMentoringQualification

( ) Strongly agree ( ) Agree ( ) Moderate ( ) Disagree ( )

strongly disagree

10. Does the organization give you training programs in

systematic manner to improve the productive?

( ) Strongly agree ( ) Agree ( ) Moderate ( ) Disagree ( )

strongly disagree

11. Organization encourages implementing the skills gained from

training __________

( ) Strongly agree ( ) Agree ( ) Moderate ( ) Disagree ( )

strongly disagree

12. Do you have freedom to use your own judgement in your jobs?

( ) Strongly agree ( ) Agree ( ) Moderate ( ) Disagree ( )

strongly disagree

13. Do you have more flexibility in doing your job?

( ) Strongly agree ( ) Agree ( ) Moderate ( ) Disagree ( )

strongly disagree

14. Is your individual development plan is based on your present

jobs?

( ) Strongly agree ( ) Agree ( ) Moderate ( ) Disagree ( )

strongly disagree

15. Is your individual development plan is based on your other

jobs?

( ) Strongly agree ( ) Agree ( ) Moderate ( ) Disagree ( )

strongly disagree

16. Is your compensation package is satisfactory?

( ) Extremely satisfied ( ) satisfied ( ) Moderate ( )

Dissatisfied ( ) Extremely dissatisfied

17. Is your organization individual development plan focuses on

your additional skills?

( ) Strongly agree ( ) Agree ( ) Moderate ( ) Disagree ( )

strongly disagree

18. Do you feel that organization change is required to maintain

equilibrium between various external and internal forces to

achieve organizational goals?

( ) Strongly agree ( ) Agree ( ) Moderate ( ) Disagree ( )

strongly disagree

19. You have developed more skills after joining in Covenant

technology solutions?

( ) Strongly agree ( ) Agree ( ) Moderate ( ) Disagree ( )

strongly disagree

20. You have been awarded when you do things which are for beyond

expectations?

( ) Strongly agree ( ) Agree ( ) Moderate ( ) Disagree ( )

strongly disagree

21. Are you satisfied with career development in Covenant

technology solutions?

( ) Extremely satisfied ( ) satisfied ( ) Moderate ( )

Dissatisfied ( ) Extremely dissatisfied

22. Career development workshops are been conducted in Covenant

technology solutions are useful and relevant?

( ) Strongly agree ( ) Agree ( ) Moderate ( ) Disagree ( )

strongly disagree

23. Whether your performance is evaluated after attending

training programme?

( ) Strongly agree ( ) Agree ( ) Moderate ( ) Disagree ( )

strongly disagree

24. The organization is providing the incentives or rewards to

you for bringing forward suggestions’ on improving productivity?

( ) Strongly agree ( ) Agree ( ) Moderate ( ) Disagree ( )

strongly disagree

25. Do you work according to your superior direction?

( ) Strongly agree ( ) Agree ( ) Moderate ( ) Disagree ( )

strongly disagree