Talent Management, Succession Planning, Reward and Recognition

Welcome to Topic 6: Talent Management, Succession Planning, Reward and Recognition. The current trend is such that it is often difficult for an employer to hold on to good employees. This is due to the competition between organisations for recruitment. During this topic we will look at some of the methods of keeping the employees loyal to the organisations.

In this topic you will learn about:

• Talent management
• Successon planning
• Goals and objectives
• Characteristics of effective goals and objectives
• Using goals and objectives in employee performance evaluation
• Integrating goals and objectives with corporate social responsibility.

These relate to the Subject Learning Outcomes:

1. Assess the key principles and theories underlying strategic people management and explain how their application enhances organisational and individual performance.
2. Evaluate the effectiveness of different approaches of leadership and the relationships between effective people management and organisational performance.
3. Demonstrate effective communication and practical problem-solving skills to effectively manage people in a range of organisational contexts.
4. Reflect on the roles and functions that managers perform in the context of the challenges and risks they experience in the changing environment.

Welcome to your pre-seminar learning tasks for this week. Please ensure you complete these prior to attending your scheduled seminar with your lecturer.

Click on each of the following headings to read more about what is required for each of your pre-seminar learning tasks.

Talent management

Recent years have seen the emergence of the concept of talent management as a strategic approach to competitive advantage. Through recruitment and selection, performance management, training and development, succession planning, and employee engagement, managers can facilitate this process. Mullins (2016) states that talent management is the systematic attraction, identification, development, engagement, retention, and deployment of those employees (and managers) with high potential and who may be of particular value to the organisation. Competitive advantage can be achieved through improved retention, increased diversity and becoming known as an 'employer of choice'.

Sucession planning

In the previous topic we took a look into talent management, which is essential for attracting the best candidates for a job. This all ties into a bigger plan, which is to build a high-performing workplace and add value to the organisation (Bullivant n.d.). Attracting, identifying, development, deployment, engagement and retention are necessary to the process of acquiring talent. This talent then needs to be retained, which is often the responsibility of leaders. Have you ever had a conversation with your management about where you see yourself in the next 5-10 years? It is likely they are scoping your succession plan. Succession management enables organisation to create a plan for the future that align with the organisations goals and objectives. Let’s take a broader look at how talent management, succession planning and reward and recognition link to organisational goals and objectives.

Succession Planning is a process through which senior-level openings are planned for and eventually filled, and accomplished through the following strategies:

• Anticipate management needs
• Review firm’s management skills inventory
• Create replacement charts
• Begin management development.

Goals and objectives

Goals and objectives are the foundation for the measurement of success. Goals are statements that portray what an organisation wants to achieve. Goals are a collection of programs that reflect on actions taken by the organisation. For example, Wal-Mart might state that they have a goal of growing the international parts of its empire and to enhance its revenue by 20 %. Try to think of each goal as a large umbrella with several spikes coming out from the centre. The umbrella itself is a goal.

Objectives, on the other hand, are time-based, measurable actions that support an organisation or individual to complete a goal. Objectives typically must:

• Be related directly to the goal
• Be clear, concise and understandable
• Be stated in terms of results
• Begin with a verb
• Specify a date for accomplishment
• Be measurable (University of Minnesota 2015).

Let us look at how goals and objectives have implications for planning, organising, leading, and controlling.

Planning commences with a vision and mission for each organisation. The managers develop a strategy for realising the vision and mission; their success and progress in achieving vision and mission will be indicated by how well the underlying goals and objectives are achieved.

The role of goals and objectives does not stop in the planning stage. If goals and objectives are to be achieved and improve the competitive position of the firm, then the organising, leading, and controlling stages must address goals and objectives as well. The Executive Management who would set the goals and objective for the overall organisation. Goals and objectives also are a basis for reward systems and can align interests and accountability within and across business units (Ittner & Larcker 2003).

Characteristics of effective goals and objectives

There are eight (8) main characteristics of effective goals and objectives. These include:

1. Less is more
2. Tie measures to drivers
3. Do not just measure the past
4. Take stakeholders into account
5. Cascade goals into objectives
6. Simplify
7. Adapt
8. Base objectives on facts.

In the following video, we will take a closer look at each of the eight (8) characteristics of goals and objectives.

Goals and objectives are part of the bigger picture of an organisation and the employees work together to achieve them, and management is the guiding hand to make this achievable. There are several ways in which they do this, and it starts from the recruitment and hiring and all the way through managing motivations and succession planning.

Using goals and objectives in employee performance evaluation

A performance evaluation is a constructive process to acknowledge an employee’s performance. Performance evaluations are essential to the organisation (University of Minnesota 2015). Performance management is used to support process of succession planning and employees that demonstrate an interest in their succession planning are more involved in their performance evaluations and achieving outcomes and goals (SHRM n.d.). Performance management is used to support process of succession planning and employees that demonstrate an interest in their succession planning are more involved in their performance evaluations and achieving outcomes and goals (SHRM n.d.). According to previous research, individual and organisational performance increases 16 % when an evaluation system based on specific goals and objectives is implemented (Rynes et al. 2002).

There is no right or wrong way to do a performance evaluation. However, there are several collective actions conducted by organisations that are believed to be best practice for conducting a performance evaluation. These are:

1. Decide what you are hoping to achieve from the system.
2. Develop goals and objectives that contribute towards enhancing employees' capabilities.
3. Ensure that from the beginning the senior-most employees are involved in the performance management phase.
4. Make sure that employees are fully aware if the performance management system is/ or is not linked to salary.
5. Conduct and provide additional training and workshops for employees in the middle management on how to conduct the midyear and year-end performance reviews.
6. According to the changing needs of the organisation ensure to plan and modify the performance management system over time (Rynes et al. 2002).

Performance evaluation is not about pointing out what the employee is doing wrong, it is about recognising the work they have done, identifying areas of improvement and discussing the future.

Integrating goals and objectives with corporate social responsibility

Corporate social responsibility (CSR) is not new and has been gathering momentum for well over a decade (Crawford & Scaletta 2005). CSR is about how companies manage their business processes to produce an overall positive effect on society.

The Dow Jones Sustainability Index has a well-known definition for CSR. CSR is a business approach that creates long-term shareholder value by embracing opportunities and managing risks deriving from economic, environmental and social developments (Muntean 2018).

There are five (5) main areas of the Dow Jones Sustainability Index. These include:

1. Strategy
2. Financial
3. Customer and product
4. Governance and stakeholder
5. Human. 

Let us examine the five (5) main areas of the Dow Jones Sustainability Index.

Strategy

Integrating long-term economic, environmental, and social aspects in their business strategies while maintaining global competitiveness and brand reputation.

Financial

Meeting shareholders’ demands for sound financial returns, long-term economic growth, open communication, and transparent financial accounting.

Customer and Product

Fostering loyalty by investing in customer relationship management, and product and service innovation that focuses on technologies and systems, which use financial, natural, and social resources in an efficient, effective, and economic manner over the long term.

Governance and Stakeholder

Setting the highest standards of corporate governance and stakeholder engagement, including corporate codes of conduct and public reporting.

Human

Managing human resources to maintain workforce capabilities and employee satisfaction through best-in-class organisational learning and knowledge management practices and remuneration and benefit programs (University of Minnesota 2015).

Bringing it all together

Now we have explored talent management, succession planning, and reward and recognition, we can better identify how they are interconnected. First, we need to select the best talent for the role and organisation, and then we need to hold onto that talent through succession planning and recognising and rewarding our employees. So let’s put your knowledge to the test.

To conclude this topic, we identified that it is often difficult to find and hold onto good employees. This is due to high competition between organisations for recruitment, but there are several strategies that can be used to recruit good employees and monitor their performance. Implementing and managing these strategies will assist the organisation to achieve its goals and objectives.

Welcome to your seminar for this topic. Your lecturer will start a video stream during your scheduled class time. You can access your scheduled class by clicking on ‘Live Sessions’ found within your navigation bar and locating the relevant day/class or by clicking on the following link and then clicking 'Join' to enter the class.

Click here to access your seminar.

The learning tasks are listed below. These will be completed during the seminar with your lecturer. Should you be unable to attend, you will be able to watch the recording, which can be found via the following link or by navigating to the class through ‘Live Sessions’ via your navigation bar.

Click here to access the recording. (Please note: this will be available shortly after the live session has ended.)

In-seminar learning tasks

The in-seminar learning tasks identified below will be completed during the scheduled seminar. Your lecturer will guide you through these tasks. Click on each of the following headings to read more about the requirements for each of your in-seminar learning tasks.

Welcome to your post-seminar learning tasks for this week. Please ensure you complete these after attending your scheduled seminar with your lecturer. Your lecturer will advise you if any of these are to be completed during your consultation session.

Each week you will have a consultation session, which will be facilitated by your lecturer. You can join in and work with your peers on activities relating to this subject. These session times and activities will be communicated to you by your lecturer each week. Your lecturer will start a video stream during your scheduled class time. You can access your scheduled class by clicking on ‘Live Sessions’ found within your navigation bar and locating the relevant day/class or by clicking on the following link and then clicking 'Join' to enter the class.

Click here to access your consultation session.

Should you be unable to attend, you will be able to watch the recording, which can be found via the following link or by navigating to the class through ‘Live Sessions’ via your navigation bar.

Click here to access the recording. (Please note: this will be available shortly after the live session has ended.)

• Australian HR Institute n.d., AHRI, Australian HR Institute.
• Lewis, RE & Heckman, RJ 2006, ‘Talent management: A critical review’, Human Resource Management Review, 16(2):139-154.

References

• Bullivant, G n.d., The future of reward & talent management, Gemma Bullivant, https://gemmabullivant.co.uk/blog/the-future-of-reward-talent-management/
• Crawford, D & Scaletta, T 2005, The balanced scorecard and corporate social responsibility: Aligning values for profit, GreenBiz, https://www.greenbiz.com/article/balanced-scorecard-and-corporate-social-responsibility-aligning-values-profit
• Ittner, CD & Larcker, D 2003, 'Coming up short on nonfinancial performance measurement', Harvard Business Review, 1-8.
• Muntean, M 2018, ‘Business intelligence issues for sustainability projects’, Sustainability, 10(2):335.
• Rynes, SL, Brown, KG & Colbert, AE 2002, ‘Seven common misconceptions about human resource practices: Research findings versus practitioner beliefs’, Academy of Management Executive, 16(3):92-103.
• University of Minnesota, 2015, Principles of management, University of Minnesota Libraries Publishing Edition, http://open.lib.umn.edu/principlesmanagement/
• SHRM n.d., Engaging in succession planning, SHRM, https://www.shrm.org/resourcesandtools/tools-and-samples/toolkits/pages/engaginginsuccessionplanning.aspx