History of Talent Management

In order to gain a greater understanding of Talent Management (TM), exploring the historical context of how the NHS first began to adopt and develop this approach is essential. An informative article by Macfarlane et al (2012) is intertwined throughout this section as it provides a critical analysis of the role of managerial TM and the suitability of this approach, which was initially adopted by the NHS three decades ago, but has only recently become a high priority and is picking up impetus and significance.

Foundations of Talent Management - Human Resources

Firstly, in order to clarify where TM has historically been aligned with human resources (HR), it is important to visit human resource management (HRM) literature, which has been described as differentiating between ‘soft’ approaches based on ‘developmental humanism’ and ‘hard’ approaches based on ‘utilitarian instrumentalism’ (Storey 1987; Legge 2005 p66). Hard HRM is typically regarded as the management of human resources, with the emphasis being on the ‘resources’ of an organisation, whereas soft HRM emphasises the development of resourceful humans, with the concentration being on ‘humans’ (Macfarlane et al 2012 p446). Hard HRM is emphasised by Storey (1987 p6) to be the ‘quantitative, calculative, and business strategic aspects of managing the headcount resource in as rational a way as for any other factor’. In other words, individuals are considered more of a commodity and are not recognised fully as a whole person but as assets of the organisation; their skills and attributes that the organisation requires are of main concern (Storey 1987; Legge 2005). In contrast to this, soft HRM encompasses parallels to the high performance work systems approach (HPWS), which Becker and Huselid (1998 p54) described as reflecting a ‘new interest in people as a source of competitive advantage, rather than a cost to be minimised’. They defended that in order to ‘attract, develop and retain’ a motivated, skilled and highly performing workforce, the HPWS approach focuses not only on the organisational systems, but also values and develop the ‘intellectual assets’ (employees) of an organisation, as both are significant and essential in strategic decision making and optimal positioning of staff to meet internal and external needs. This older attitude is still strongly aligned to TM, which has been more recently considered to be a part of HR activity (Macfarlane et al 2012).

References

Becker, B.E., and Huselid, M.A., 1998. High Performance Work Systems and Firm Performance: A Synthesis of Research and Managerial Implications. Research in Personnel and Human Resource Management. 16, 53 – 101.

Legge, K., 2005. Human Resource Management: Rhetorics and Realities (Anniversary Edition). Basingstoke: Palgrave Macmillan.

Macfarlane, F., Duberley, J., Fewtrell, C., and Powell, M., 2012. Talent management for NHS managers: human resources or resourceful humans? Public Money & Management. (11), 445 – 452.

Storey, J., 1987. Developments in the management of human resources: an interim report. Warwick Papers in Industrial Relations. 17. IRRU School of Industrial and Business Studies: University of Warwick.