Talent management

Talent Management for public servants

‘’Talent management” means different things to different people. When many managers today say ‘’talent management,” they simply mean managing in such a way as to acquire, improve, and retain their best employees. For instance, ‘’let’s make sure we have retention practices in place so we don’t lose valued talent.” Furthermore, in addition, it can be define as “Talent management is the use of an integrated set of activities to ensure that the organization attracts, retains, motivates and develop the talented people it needs now and in the future.”  (Armstrong, 2010,390, p.)

A talent was defined by Michaels et al (2001, xii) as ‘the sum of a person’s abilities... his or her intrinsic gifts, skills, knowledge, experience, intelligence, judgment, attitude, character and drive. It also includes his or her ability to learn and grow.’ Talent is what people must have in order to perform well in their roles. They make a difference to organizational performance through their immediate efforts and they have the potential to make an important contribution in the future. Talent management aims to identify, obtain, keep, and develop those talented people. (ARMSTRONG’S HANDBOOK OF HUMAN RESOURCE MANAGEMENT PRACTICE., 265, p)

 

 

Talent management is now an important HRM practice. Earlier it only attached to recruitment. But now it covers multiple areas.

 

Talent Management in the Public Sector in Sri Lanka

When it comes to Sri Lankan public sector, it is a system oriented which has implemented government, although it is generally accepted that talent management creates an important source of competitiveness for organizations, the Government of Sri Lanka has not recognized it as a competitive advantage. No proper implemented talent management system in the Sri Lankan state sector, Also, proper methods have not been established to identify talents.

Identifying the training requirements of employees and provide the proper training to them. For that SLIDA and MILODA Premier public sector training organization in Sri Lanka is done the development of knowledge and improvement of managerial skills about Public Administration.

Suggestion to Improve the Talent Management in the Public Sector in Sri Lanka

• Effective institution will positively contribute to the economy of the nation. Since Talent Management is a “forward-looking” function, talent management not only should improve the organization’s flexibility and performance, it should provide the information and tools to plan for growth, change, acquisitions, and critical new product and service initiatives.
• The government should establish an exemplary public service and are gradually changing the importance attributed to HRM in public sector management.
• As well as realizing that managing staff in the public sector is one of the most powerful yet least appreciated ways to achieve their political and strategic objectives.
• Some are also becoming more mindful of their special responsibility to act as a “model employer” in society. Governments are generally the largest employer in the labor market, which adds to their responsibility of being a reliable employer.

 

For example, the promoting measures such as the following:
 

• Optimizing conditions for staff to develop
• Preserving the dignity of employees, particularly their right to participate in decisions that affect them
• Ensuring that the talents of all the groups from which the public workforce is drawn, both women and men, members of various ethnic groups, and so on, are effectively joined.

Fail to obtain an adequate return on investments in training and capacity development since the skills that staff have acquired at public expense are not used to the fullest extent in many instances.

At the same time, managers are sometimes frustrated that staff does not contribute fully to the work of their agencies.

These divergent views highlight the need to strengthen dialogue between management and staff on both performance expectations and capacity development strategies in the public sector.

 

conclusion
 

Harvard Business Review points out that, in the best of talent management programs, organizations “integrated talent management, succession planning, and leadership development into the company’s strategic business processes. effective talent management is the key to organizations' success and sustainable growth as it allows organizations to retain top talent while increasing productivity. The right talent is the greatest asset for any enterprise. In fact, one of the most important roles of HR is to make sure employees with the right skills stick with the organizations for a long time. It is important that the talent management system is integrated across all aspects of human resource management, this will help in recruiting and retaining essential talent that will work towards achieving organizational success and sustainable growth. There are clear inter-dependencies between talent management and recruitment, development, diversity, retention , and succession planning practices. Effective talent management ensures that organizations can successfully acquire and retain essential talent.

 

 

References

Armstrong 10^th edition and 13^th edition.

Garydessler & Bijuvarkkey, Human resource management.84,85,p