Effectiveness of Talent Management in NHS England

This research paper evaluates the effectiveness of Talent Management in NHS England from 2012 to 2018. It analyzes the TM process, improvement opportunities, impact on performance, and talent pool management.

Running Head: CAPSTONE DISSERTATION PROJECT
Topic- How effective is Talent Management in NHS England?
A study of NHS England document from 2012 to 2018
Student name
University name
Author notes

2EFFECTIVENESS OF TALENT MANAGEMENT IN NHS ENGLAND
ABSTRACT
The underlying principle of Talent Management is to recognize the talent in others and
develop it holistically. Hiring the right talent at the right time is the key to success of TM.
Change is evident in organizations and so are the process within it. In this regard TM in NHS
need to be constantly upgraded so that slowdown due to stagnation in the process does not affect
the overall performance of the organization. Talent management is a vast area of concern and it
starts from recruitment and ends at employee termination. The complexity of the strategies
increases due to increased area of concerns. The research paper thus, tries to analyze and
evaluate the effectiveness of the TM in NHS England (Lewisham and Greenwich Trust) from the
time period of 2012 to 2018. The major research questions include areas of how effective is the
TM process in NHS, what improvement can be made to support strategic TM implementation,
whether there is any past TM strategy in NHS, impact of TM in NHS knowledge economy,
presence of any specific TM strategy and last but not the least how talent pool is managed and
operated in the organization. The research method sued for the paper is thematic analysis of
qualitative data. Keeping the aims and research questions in line four main themes are developed
that incudes talent retention, talent development, talent attraction and talent acquisition. These
areas are categorized based on the responses provided by the managers in the discussion
interview session. Enhanced thematic analysis support that fact that TM in NHS need to be more
effective to support its recent issues of leadership and succession planning, staff crisis and
reduced operational productivity.
KEYWORDS: Talent Management, National health Service (NHS), Employee Retention,
employee development, training, coaching, succession planning, leadership, motivation,
remuneration, Change model, strategic HRM, talent attraction and talent acquisition.

3EFFECTIVENESS OF TALENT MANAGEMENT IN NHS ENGLAND
TABLE OF CONTENTS
CHAPTER 1: INTRODUCTION....................................................................................................5
1.1Research background..............................................................................................................5
1.2 Problem statement..................................................................................................................5
1.3 Research objectives................................................................................................................6
1.4 Research questions.................................................................................................................6
1.5 Research rationale..................................................................................................................7
1.6 Research structure..................................................................................................................8
1.7 Potential impact on future research........................................................................................9
CHAPTER 2: LITERATURE REVIEW.......................................................................................10
2.1 Introduction..........................................................................................................................10
2.2 Talent management strategies and their implementation procedure....................................10
2.3 Potential benefits of TM......................................................................................................14
2.4 Issues with talent management............................................................................................15
2.5 Best practices of TM from literature....................................................................................18
2.6 Talent management within NHS..........................................................................................19
2.7 Summary..............................................................................................................................23
CHAPTER 3: RESEARCH METHODOLOGY...........................................................................26
3.1 Introduction..........................................................................................................................26
3.2 Research philosophy............................................................................................................26
3.3 Research approach...............................................................................................................27
3.4 Research design....................................................................................................................27
3.5 Type of investigation...........................................................................................................28
3.6 Methods of data collection...................................................................................................28
3.7 Data analysis........................................................................................................................29
3.8 Ethical considerations..........................................................................................................29
3.9 Limitations of the research...................................................................................................30
CHAPTER 4: RESEARCH FINDINGS AND ANALYSIS.........................................................31
4.1 Introduction..........................................................................................................................31
4.2 Critical analysis....................................................................................................................32

4EFFECTIVENESS OF TALENT MANAGEMENT IN NHS ENGLAND
4.3 Summary..............................................................................................................................37
CHAPTER 5: CONCLUSION AND RECOMMENDATION.....................................................39
REFERENCES..............................................................................................................................41
APPENDICES...............................................................................................................................49
Appendix 1: Strategic framework of Talent in NHS.................................................................49
Appendix 2: The 4 operational interventions of talent management.........................................49
Appendix 3: The key areas of line manager’s role in TM in NHS............................................50
Appendix 4: Consent letter........................................................................................................51

5EFFECTIVENESS OF TALENT MANAGEMENT IN NHS ENGLAND
CHAPTER 1: INTRODUCTION
1.1 Research background
The dissertation project is prepared to provide an understanding and critical evaluation of
the effectiveness of Talent Management (TM) in National Health Service England (simply NHS
England) within the time frame 2012 to 2018. Change is inevitable to every organization and for
this the Human Resource support is mandatorily required. NHS has been considered as one of
the English society’s most precious resource. But in recent times the organization is facing a lot
of challenges in areas of its social, economic and political circumstances (Anandaciva et al.
2018). Internal talent management in NHS has also been a common topic of discussion among
researchers. So, it is important to remain up-to-dated about the current issues focusing on how
HR talent management tool is effectively helping the organization to cope up well with all the
difficulties.
1.2 Problem statement
Some key challenges faced by NHS England in recent times that are directly related to its
success are growing and aging English population, healthcare need evolution (increased cases of
obesity and diabetes), medical advancements, closure of local services resulting from
centralization and increased reliance of the people on privatized health sectors and most of all
non-equilibrium of the number of doctors and staff nurses required and the need for health care
support (Powell, Durose and Fewtrell 2012). Other noteworthy NHS issues are its mental health
services, impact of Brexit, contract of Junior Doctors and government funding issues
(Anandaciva et al. 2018). All these mentioned factors add up to form the core problem of talent

6EFFECTIVENESS OF TALENT MANAGEMENT IN NHS ENGLAND
management and so on the part of this research paper the effectiveness of the talent management
process will be evaluated.
1.3 Research objectives
Every research work has some predefined objectives that help in increasing the focus on
the research paper. According to Al Ariss, Cascio and Paauwe (2014) SMART objectives help in
better evaluation of contexts where set up objectives are specific, measurable, attainable, reliable
and time bound. In this context, this paper has also a number of SMART objectives and the main
considerations are
 identification of the talent management strategies and talent management
approaches in NHS England from 2012 to 2018
 analysis of the degree to which the talent management strategies are effective in
meeting the needs of NHS England and
 lastly finding out of the constraints and challenges faced in implementation of the
strategies.
Recommendations for improved talent management are also provided so that Lewisham and
Greenwich NHS Trust could effectively support and motivate the staffs in the organization. To
have better reliability NHS organizational data is considered so that this help in better
understanding of the topic of discussion (Bloom, Sadun and Van Reenen 2014). The ultimate
aim of the research is to critically evaluate the effectiveness of Talent Management in NHS
England from the period 2012 to 2018.
1.4 Research questions

7EFFECTIVENESS OF TALENT MANAGEMENT IN NHS ENGLAND
The research area is quite broad in its approach as talent management incorporates processes
of recruitment, hiring and development of the most talented employees within the job market. It
is the reflection of the organization’s commitment right from recruitment to final development
and retention of the most talented employee (Bolander, Werr and Asplund 2017). Based on these
aspects, the present research has the following areas of discussions incorporated under the
research questions headline.
 What improvements can be made within the organization to support effective talent
management strategy implementation?
 Is there any current Talent Management strategy within NHS England?
 What is the impact of Talent management on performance?
 Is there any specific Talent management strategy in NHS?
 How is the talent pool is managed and operated in NHS?
Based on the following questions the dissertation paper will be structured and the data analysis
section will try to find out the solutions to all these mentioned questions.
1.5 Research rationale
The research can have several in-depth implications in the working of NHS in future
times. NHS can use the recommendations to help itself saved from facing increased challenges in
near future. A trend of TM approach can be effectively used by other healthcare organizations as
well to have better effectiveness of services and human resource management (Cappelli and
Keller 2014). The country could find out its limitations in areas of social, political and economic
conditions and could develop more successful strategies to support population needs. Previous
research on NHS shows its increasing challenges being faced in recent times and how it is

8EFFECTIVENESS OF TALENT MANAGEMENT IN NHS ENGLAND
continually changing to support its operations effectively (Cascio and Boudreau 2016). In this
regard an in-depth study of its talent management strategies and their effectiveness could support
in the development of new and efficient strategies that will have increased long-term
sustainability (Collings 2014). And above all, NHS could rise back from its phoenix stage.
1.6 Research structure
The research is structured in six separate chapters framed in order of requirement, where
each chapter has their own importance and significance in the paper.
The first chapter of Introduction provides a background of the study and prepares the
platform for the next chapter of Literature review.
The second chapter of Literature review focuses on the basic theoretical literary support
where, what exactly is talent management, various strategies of talent management, challenges in
talent management and future position of TM in organizations is discussed. Also, TM in NHS is
also discussed to find the relevance of the topic to reality. And a final summary of the theoretical
background is also provided to enable better understanding of the chapter.
The third chapter includes various research methodologies used for the paper that
includes sub-headings like research philosophy, research approach, research design, type of
investigation, method of data collection, data analysis and interpretation methods, ethical
considerations and finally limitations of the research.
Next chapter includes research analysis where the main critical analysis of the research
questions is done and the most effective results evaluated are discussed.

9EFFECTIVENESS OF TALENT MANAGEMENT IN NHS ENGLAND
Fifth chapter include conclusion and recommendations. A self-reflection at the end
provides better interpretation of the understanding of the researcher to the readers.
1.7 Potential impact on future research
The paper is framed in such a manner that the research approach considered will widen
scope for future research on Talent Management in HR. It will also provide the NHS England
some new solutions to support better TM in the organization and thus will provide new
directions to sectoral approaches on TM. Health care is a very complex sector and thus need for
TM is of utmost importance (Collings, Scullion and Vaiman 2015). The survey results will be
comprehensible for both healthcare sector as well as the HR management system in an
organization.

10EFFECTIVENESS OF TALENT MANAGEMENT IN NHS ENGLAND
CHAPTER 2: LITERATURE REVIEW
2.1 Introduction
In order to understand the effectiveness of the TM strategies first and foremost the
meaning of TM need to be understood. Talent management is not only retention of the best
talents but is a much wider approach and it starts from recruitment and ends in retention of the
most superior talents in an organization (Collings, Scullion and Vaiman 2015). The Chartered
Institute of Personnel and Development, UK defined TM as “systematic attraction,
identification, development, engagement, retention and deployment of those individuals who are
of particular value to an organization, either in view of their ‘high potential’ for the future or
because they are fulfilling business/ operation- critical roles”. It is an important business
strategy adopted by business for their long-term successes. Talent management has seven basic
components namely strategic employee planning, talent acquisition and retention, performance
management, learning and employee motivation, compensation management, career
development and last but not the least the phase of succession planning (Davis et al. 2016).
Talent management has rightly been opined by De Vos and Dries (2013) as the most important
business strategy as it manages one of the most vital assets of the organization- the people.
Through TM the skills and capabilities of the employees are enhanced and retention becomes
easier. The various strategies, benefits and issues with talent management are explained below.
2.2 Talent management strategies and their implementation procedure
As Deery and Jago (2015) rightly opined that TM strategies help in the creation of a high-
performing workforce. Davis et al. (2016) also supported the opinions of Deery and Jago (2015)
by mentioning that company executives constantly emphasis on the three forces of TM that are

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acquiring, hiring and retaining the talented employees. In this regard Dries (2013) also
mentioned that, company objectives and leadership are very crucial in defining the actual TM
strategy to be developed. Employee competencies in areas of education, area of expertise,
analytical knowhow, practicability, knowledge of statutory rules and regulations and cultural
competencies are considered for TM strategy development. According to Downs and Swailes
(2013) the higher is the global recognition of the organization the more will be competition and
market volatility. Supporting their views Festing and Schäfer (2014) also opined that increased
flexibility in adaptation to the change trends help organizations in avoiding failure and help in
better anticipation of a strategic TM development plan. Dries (2013), Majeed (2013) and King
(2015) mentioned that in order to be strategically sound the organization should learn to align
individual goals with corporate strategies, create high skilled talent pool of employees, should
break down individual information silos and focus on collaboration, create a culture based on
pay-for-performance and should implement Human Resource Information System (HRIS) for
better employee management. Supporting their views Farndale et al. (2014) has aptly suggested
that TM deserves equal focus as Financial Capital Management in organizations irrespective of
the sector being served. The development and implementation of an effective plan for strategic
TM is based on five simple step processes shown in the flow diagram below.

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In relation to the above steps the organization need to focus on the following strategies so
that right people are recruited in the right position. First and foremost, the power of job
descriptions needs to be understood. According to Festing and Schäfer (2014) it is a simple yet
important strategy that defines the organization’s representatives and thereafter defines ultimate
organizational success. A well-framed and concise JD will help candidates in better
understanding of what the company actually needs from them. Gallardo-Gallardo and
Thunnissen (2016) and Farndale et al. (2014) both opined that a compact Job Description should
have the following specifications namely job title, overall duties to be performed, skill required,
work relationships, tools and equipment to be used and expertise in and finally salaries, perks
and other benefits to be provided. Then comes cultural fit assessment of the candidate which
emphasis on the organizational cultural fitness of the candidate. However, according to Dries
(2013) defining actual culture of the company is difficult and tricky. To back up, Gelens et al.
Step1:Identification of organizatioanl goals and objectives
Step2: Identification of organziational drivers and challenges
Step3: Gap identification and analysis
Step4: Define HR priorities and Goals
Step5: Inventory support to talent management process, result
measurement and success communciation

13EFFECTIVENESS OF TALENT MANAGEMENT IN NHS ENGLAND
(2013) mentioned that this cultural competency can be a reflection of your own expertise and
experiences and a candidate can be screened based on their voice tone, passion for work,
language, emotional intelligence and personal value system. Now the question arises on training
and coaching needs of employees. Which one is more fatal to the organizational success, training
an employee and he left or not training an employee and he remained? Well, this dilemma is
never-ending but providing employee feedback and having the same from them is important in
this context. King (2015) truly mentioned that employee training, coaching and mentoring help
employees to be happy and engaged in their work fields. To support his viewpoint Downs and
Swailes (2013) opined that fit-offer appreciation and constructive feedback help in greater
employee motivation. Majeed (2013) also opined that creating the culture of trust is very
important where mutual dependency will increase creativity and long run success of the business
will be attained effectively. Potential development in employees help in reducing their job
boredom and underused valuation of theirs. Learning and development in this regard can be in
the forms of blended learning, on-the-job training, formal educational course support,
workshops, external conferences and other e-learning courses. In this regard, Meyers and Van
Woerkom (2014) opined that continuous training and development will increase employee
engagement and regular meeting and effective communication will help in achieving the end
results in a more comprehensive manner. Reward and recognition play crucial role in talent
retention and in order to make employees feel recognized and appreciated, the system of reward
and recognition will help a lot. Both intrinsic and extrinsic recognition will boost up employee
confidence and they will not look for other job opportunities. According to Meyers, Van
Woerkom and Dries (2013) rewards may have no direct connection to TM but they catalyze the
employee retention process of TM. And lastly, cultivation of an honest career path is very vital

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for both employees and the organization. Montgomery and Oladapo (2014) provided their
viewpoint in support of honest career paths and opined that a genuine career path free from any
kind of coercion and false promise help employees have better faith on the organization and they
will rely more on their instincts instead. Noe et al. (2017) mentioned that career advancement
guarantee should never be ensured by the organization and employees should depend on their
own skill sets for career advancement opportunities. In supporting this Meyers, Van Woerkom
and Dries (2013) added some other areas that need strategic TM support and those are
development of teamworking skills, communication skills, change management, conflict
handling and emotional intelligence development.
2.3 Potential benefits of TM
The importance of TM is varied and manifold. Noe et al. (2017) opined that management
of various HR functions is mainly a juggling act. To support their views Meyers, Van Woerkom
and Dries (2013) also stated that right system of TM help in systematic streamlining of all HR
functions and help the organization reduce chaos of people management. In this regard Ross
(2013) and Montgomery and Oladapo (2014) provided some potential benefits of the TM system
that are connection and sharing of data and information, support to strategic HR processes,
providence of improved on-boarding experiences, retention of top talents, improved employee
development and experiences, increased employer-employee engagement and thus good
relationship management. At present maximum data and information sharing in HR in an
organization is done by an effective HRIS system. Oladapo (2014) rightly mentioned that most
information stored in silos is difficult to extract and access but an integrated TM system will help
in centralized data sharing that allows easy access opportunity for all. This in turn add value to
informed and strategic decision-making as rightly opined by Noe et al. (2017). TM also catalyzes

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the strategic hiring process where tasks of job description postings and applicants tracking are
streamlined with the process and helps in time management and increased focus on the right
talent. Ross (2013) supported this viewpoint by mentioning that onboarding experience greatly
improves, where TM tools help in creation of an automated employee profile to keep all relevant
data and information of the candidate collected during the hiring process. Ruona (2014) also
argued that online TM platform provides a well-structured track of performance review, skills,
goals and career paths related to the employees and thereby help in having a clear understanding
of employee satisfaction levels. TM provides a well-balanced reporting of development needs of
the employees which add effectiveness to the monitoring process in turn. A good TM system has
employee learning and development options where skill development is emphasized the most.
Satiani et al. (2014) and Meyers and Van Woerkom (2014) mentioned that when the TM system
is integrated with the payroll system helps employees access their pay slips, leaves and other
relevant information which improve overall employee experience in the job. Last but not the
least, an effective TM process help in relationship development between the manger and sub-
ordinates. The profile included in the TM system empowers the employees in their job role and
increase their engagement by providing support to both professional and personal goals.
2.4 Issues with talent management
However, managing talent in an organization is not at all an easy job and requires
detailed process understanding on part of both employees and employer. As previously
mentioned, TM starts with hiring and ends with employment termination. In between these two
steps there are planning, sourcing, reviewing, screening and interviewing, job offer providence,
onboarding, training, relationship development, changing status of employment and final
termination where the employee leaves the organization. Schiemann (2014) and Ruona (2014) in

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this regard opined that process complexity is mandatory in every step of TM and thus carrying
out the process effectively is not that easy. Some common TM challenges faced by both
employees and employers in an organization are poor hiring strategies, technological
inexperience, ineffective leadership, higher compensation demands, increased employment
opportunity-tightened talent market, unappealing organizational culture, increased diversity and
cultural inclusion, norm of short tenure and part-time job concepts, imbalance of knowledge and
relationships, global talent need and increased competition, unfitted organizational policies, and
increased employee turnover (Smith 2015). Starting with the hiring process of TM where a
strong staffing management plan could only save the rest of the talent management process. In
this regard Montgomery and Oladapo (2014) and Dries (2013) share the same opinion and
mentioned, if the organizations fail to identify from where to start then candidate sourcing, talent
attracting and overall business will be in a difficult state. Ineffective hiring strategy will fail to
attract the best talent and time plays a crucial role in TM success strategy. According to
Sonnenberg, van Zijderveld and Brinks (2014) one of the top reasons for candidates turning
down job offers are the increased time required in the process of hiring. Supporting the above
views Dries (2013) also opined that present day organizations rely mostly on process automation
to support daily business operations. The implementation of Applicant Tracking System (ATS)
will save time on one hand and on the other will help in faster growth of the business by
reducing talent wastage (Montgomery and Oladapo 2014). ATS help in recruitment, job posting
by hiring managers, sending multiple emails at the same time and better organizes resume of
candidates. Tracking system help in better information collection of suitable employees. Other
payroll and accounting software support help in better process automation and supports TM in a
more proficient manner. Sparrow, Hird and Cooper (2015) has opined that without a strong

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leadership support TM cannot succeed. Managers when takes leadership roles the TM becomes
more effective. The rate of employee turnover is higher where TM is inappropriate and
ineffective. TM focuses on employee development and it can make employees feel valued,
motivated, satisfied or in many cases challenged. Employees when face job stagnation or are
demotivated to work generally opt for job changes and as a result employee turnover increase.
Same job role for years will surely be frustrating which employees prefer to change. According
to Sparrow and Makram (2015) and Ruona (2014) employees want to grow their capabilities,
abilities and expertise, want to get promoted, and like to take on new roles and responsibilities.
In case when an employee leaves the organization again needs to start the TM process again.
And difficulties in this regard can be in areas of rising costs and finding quick replacements. As
argued by Swailes (2013) it is evident that compensation specially pay, is the most important
factor that contribute to overall job satisfaction and employee motivation. If pay scale is not
updated as per market standards employees look for another job having the current market pay
trends. when unemployment rate was high back in 2000s then it was easy for the employers to
find the best talent for their jobs, but now globalization has increased employment opportunities
manifold and so organizations find it really tough to have the best talent (Schiemann 2014).
Along with compensation other perks being offered are to be appealing that includes flexi-work
hours and international postings if any. Todays’ young millennials are not in support of the
traditional work culture where they have to sit in desk from 9-5 and work whole day. Instead
they are looking for jobs that are much flexible like jobs having relaxed and open
communication policy, flexi-work schedule and job tasks that are meaningful and have clear task
roles. Diversity and inclusion are major drawbacks in the success of TM. Thunnissen (2016) and
Ruona (2014) strongly argued that women are being discriminated at work in many areas and the

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phrase ‘glass ceiling’ supports the claim holistically. Women have better abilities to strengthen
the relationships among clients and organizations because they are more empathetic towards
decision-making and their cultural intelligence is much better. Thunnissen, Boselie and Fruytier
(2013) also opined that in wider contexts diversity may be in areas of race, ethnicity, gender,
disability and religious belief. Organizational policies may also be responsible for ineffective
TM where strict policies and autocratic managers will reduce the effectiveness of the TM
strategies (Ruona 2014). The organizational hierarchy is also responsible for ineffective TM
where if there is no synchronization between each level of hierarchy, namely strategic, tactical
and operational then the TM will be a failure. The trend of part-time job and short-tenure jobs
have increased where TM is less effective because in this regard talents cannot be managed for
long period of time (Vaiman and Collings 2013). And lastly, global trend of increased
competition and talent need has created difficulties in having the best talent for effective TM
process.
2.5 Best practices of TM from literature
Now, the obvious question that arises is that, is TM a real priority or is an act of window
dressing? Because in most cases it lacks it depth and is shown from a superficial point of view.
To clarify the point more, it can be said that when CEOs are asked about their priorities for the
coming year, they readily mention TM because it is an easy and safe choice. According to
Wiblen (2016) and Ruona (2014) no one will argue on the fact that TM is not important. Most
strategic managers include TM in the long-term bucket of organizational to-do list, and there lies
its paradox. TM is something that cannot be kept hold for future and needs urgent attention. It
revolves around today, not tomorrow or some other day. The standardization approach when
shifted to individualistic approach the success of TM increased manifold. When external and

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internal boundaries are blurred then the TM becomes free from payroll limitations and larger
talent pool can be targeted (Thunnissen, Boselie and Fruytier 2013). The talent experience plays
the role of role differentiator. An organic approach to TM advocates the employees to ‘go with
the flow’ and will help in higher innovations in productivity. Talent Analytics is what present-
day organizations are relying on profoundly. According to Vaiman and Collings (2013) and
Sparrow and Makram (2015) the effectiveness of the TM is closely linked to rapid allocation of
talents, employee experiences and strategic HR leaders. Thunnissen (2016) has also rightly
pointed out that talent match solution is another effective deployment of talent based on required
skills. The global competitive landscape has added complexity in the continuously changing
environment. In this context two things matter the most, one is operational excellence and the
other is leadership and talent in place to support strategic execution of HR functions. Supporting
this, Swailes (2013) has rightly opined that when TM is looked from strategic perspectives it is
linked to organizational mission, vision, values and goals. Now a days the idea of TM review
meeting has emerged globally which is effectively used by the organization to magnify impacts
of people management strategies. Wiblen (2016) mentioned that present day organizations seek
to quantify the ROI on their talents. TM is directly related to business performances. A review
done by IBM establishes the fact that public companies that are effective in talent management
have greater percentage of financial outperformance than similar sized groups of companies
having less effective TM. Also, Sparrow, Hird and Cooper (2015) pointed out that value-driven
TM is focused in present day business dynamics where employee expectations have also greatly
changed. Changing workforce demographics have fueled the ‘war for talent’ in present day
organizations (Al Ariss, Cascio and Paauwe 2014). Thus, to sum up, it could be said that

20EFFECTIVENESS OF TALENT MANAGEMENT IN NHS ENGLAND
business world is evolving and so are the management practices inside it. TM, in this regard, will
be a boon both for the organization and for the employees in it.
2.6 Talent management within NHS
Before considering TM in NHS, a brief introduction to NHS is necessary to understand
the importance of TM in the organization. NHS England is an executive non-departmental public
institution of the Department of Health and Social Care (Anandaciva et al. 2018). In this regard
Lewisham and Greenwich Trust, the NHS trust formed on 1 October 2013 by merger of
Lewisham Healthcare NHS Trust and Queen Elizabeth Hospital is considered for evaluation of
the pre-mentioned research area. One of NHS’s core principle is to provide quality healthcare to
all irrespective of wealth conditions (Bloom, Sadun and Van Reenen 2014). Excluding
prescriptions, dental services and optical services all other services in NHS are available free of
cost. The NHS has a total of more than 1.5 million employees and is world’s largest top five
workforces. It caters support to a population of around 54.3 million and is rated the best system
in terms of effective care providence, efficiency, safe-care, patient-centered care, coordinated
care and cost effectiveness (Janjua 2014). A statistic of its staff and talent support will help in
better evaluation of the TM process in NHS. Its clinically qualified staff number includes 150273
doctors, 40584 GPs, 314966 health visitors and nurses, 18862 ambulance staffs and 111127
community health service staffs and hospital medical and dental staffs (Janjua 2014). Funding
for NHS operations comes directly from public taxation and after its transformation in 2013 the
payment system has been underpinned by legislation (Janjua 2014). A shared pricing
responsibility to NHS England has been moved by the Health and Social Care Act 2012.
The implementation of Change Model in 2012 has been a crucial milestone in the history
of NHS where transformational and sustainable change achievement for improved quality care

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were focused upon (Powell et al. 2013). The eight-component change model was developed by
extensive research of hundreds of strategic leaders, clinicians, improvement activists,
commissioners and health providers. According to Powell, Durose and Fewtrell (2012) and
(Janjua 2014) the change model in NHS has eight shared purposes namely leadership by all,
spread and adaptation, improvement tools, project and performance management, measurement,
system drivers and motivate and mobilize. The focus of Change model is developing people-
improving care. The timeline 2012 to 2018 marks the new system approach to TM in NHS- from
competition to collaboration. In this regard Bloom, Sadun and Van Reenen (2014) mentioned
that the triple track approach of whole system TM is for all level participation including
organizational, local, regional and national levels. The whole system has three framework
support that includes addressing immediate challenges, innovative TM and future-proofed NHS
TM approach (Lawrence and Richardson 2014). The need for change was based on mainly
leadership issues, sub-standardized TM approach and poor national and organizational
collaboration. ‘One NHS’ approach in TM has been included after the Change Model
implementation and a wider talent pool creation is emphasized. Ross (2013) and Bloom, Sadun
and Van Reenen (2014) both opined that this is for the very first time, NHS has taken a proactive
and systematic developmental approach. The four major operational interventions of TM in NHS
are shown in appendix 2. The NHS strategic framework of Talent is provided in appendix 1. The
new TM assessment process incorporates the following stages.

22EFFECTIVENESS OF TALENT MANAGEMENT IN NHS ENGLAND
Powell, Durose and Fewtrell (2012) has rightly opined that for talent management for
NHS Managers- is its human resources or resourceful human? The need for an effective
leadership framework in NHS has been one of the most prominent area of discussion in recent
times. One major aspect in this consideration is talent management. The evaluation of processes
in TM in NHS has been studied here by applying various HRM theories and knowledge areas. In
consideration to the past three decades NHS has adopted a hard TM approach that is rationalistic
and managerial (Gale et al. 2013). The focus on leadership competency development and
strategic management role support was narrower. And this approach has supported a major shift
of NHS from traditional and humanistic public health sector to a more business-oriented work
place. According to Janjua (2014) and Ross (2013) the ethos and values of NHS have been
replaced by profits and cost margins. TM in context to NHS is related to both staffs and patients.
King (2015) has rightly opined that in context to socio-economic conditions in which NHS
currently operates there is an increased need to adopt more coordinated and systematic approach
Hybrid nomination
(self and manager)
Candiidate
prioritization based on
diversity and demand
NOMINATION
ready now approach
gateway for talent pool
ASSESSMENT NHS Executive search
regional and
individual vacancies
career coaching
TALENT POOL
OFFER
Ogranization
specific
SPECIFIC JOB
APPLICATION Appoinment and
onboarding
managed by
organization itself
APPOINTMENT

23EFFECTIVENESS OF TALENT MANAGEMENT IN NHS ENGLAND
of TM in the organization. The review by Janjua (2014) and Ross (2013) identifies lack of clear
and visible leadership pipeline as the major problem area of TM. The short work tenure and high
vacancy rate of top leaders is negatively impacting the culture and performance of the staffs in
NHS. The role of line managers in talent management cannot be neglected and the important
roles of a line manager in TM in NHS is shown in appendix 3. But NHS is less bothered and is
still focusing on its operational issues instead of improving services by improving staff
engagement. Increased pressure in recruitment in recent times has caused difficulties for
recruiting agencies as well and the future recruitment in NHS will not be that robust. In this
regard Majeed (2013) has argued that the collective leadership approach by the new generation
NHS chiefs should be replaced by systematic leadership to have a more positive outcome. His
argument is supported by Ross (2013) where he mentioned that there is need to have a leadership
style that is inclusive and full of compassion. The changing environment in health and social care
sector emphasis the need of taking up senior roles by exuberant team of young leaders. The
recent White Paper, equity and excellence, clinical plan support of the coalition government will
widen difficulties for general management in NHS (Janjua 2014). A number of issues regarding
nurse support in NHS has created increased difficulty in TM process. At present NHS is on the
verge of its staffing crisis where number of nurses leaving the organization is much higher than
the number of nurses those joined last year (Janjua 2014). Now the big question is, in this austere
period, will NHS England be able to manage its TM and cope up with all challenges? Only time
will tell.
2.7 Summary
Every HR department would ideally include TM as one of their strategic functions. But
there are also some organizations who are highly transactional along with transformational and

24EFFECTIVENESS OF TALENT MANAGEMENT IN NHS ENGLAND
strategic. Their people need are effectively addressed by TM consultants. TM helps in building
high performance workplace that is enriched with high level of diversity as well. According to
Gelens et al. (2013) and Ross (2013) TM helps in attracting and retention of top talents,
increased employee engagement, better work environment support and motivation, coverage of
critical roles on continuous basis, increased performance levels of employees, increased levels of
business performances. And the most important of all TM catalyzes higher client need
satisfaction which help the business in its long run sustainability. The role of HR professionals
cannot be denied in regard to support and guidance providence for designing and developing TM
strategies. The key challenges faced by the organization need to be understood and thereafter
employee potential is to be unleased based on the area of need (Festing and Schäfer 2014). In
this section various approaches, strategies, implementation methods, benefits and limitations of
TM is been discussed and after that the TM issues at NHS England is being analyzed. NHS
England is one of the topmost organizations having global recognition. But in recent times a
number of HR issues have cropped up and ineffective TM is one of the top issues that need to be
considered to the earliest. Advent of Brexit will impact the NHS harshly and there will be huge
talent drain that will directly affect TM in NHS (Anandaciva et al. 2018). In recent times, the
number of staff turnover has increased considerably and there is also discrepancy in overall
leadership structure. The top strategic leaders like Chief Executives have a median tenure of 3
years in NHS and this is hampering the process of succession planning at large. Recently, there is
also the culture of blaming leaders for failure in NHS. Asa result, the organization is
experiencing higher level leadership churn and is not able to effectively tackle this ‘inverse
leadership law’ (Anandaciva et al. 2018). Also, NHS career paths are not mapped out which is
causing difficulty in identification of talents. The line managers even didn’t know what talent

25EFFECTIVENESS OF TALENT MANAGEMENT IN NHS ENGLAND
their team needs, so how can they be able to appraise employees fairly? And this is causing huge
toll on employee retention. The element of Altruism needs to be incorporated where the greater
good of the system should be focused proactively (Collings, Scullion and Vaiman 2015).
Therefore, implementation of a systematic TM policy is required that will address the top
leadership issues in NHS including succession planning, development of diverse and inclusive
leadership which will focus on ‘NHS of all the talents’ and gaining competitive advantage
through people.

26EFFECTIVENESS OF TALENT MANAGEMENT IN NHS ENGLAND
CHAPTER 3: RESEARCH METHODOLOGY
3.1 Introduction
Research methodology is the backbone of the research. It defines how the research will
be conducted in consideration to all relevant tools, techniques and methods of a typical
dissertation research. (Gale et al. 2013) mentioned that the outline and direction of methodology
are set for the research by incorporating a standard structural framework of research philosophy,
research approach, research design and methods of data collection and analysis. Gale et al.
(2013) argued that there may be slight changes in the framework like type of investigation,
ethical considerations and limitations can also be added to increase comprehensiveness of the
methodology. Here qualitative research methodology is used for the research based on thematic
approach. Taylor, Bogdan and DeVault (2015) mentioned that social interaction is one of the
critical components of a qualitative research. Secondary research using thematic data analysis is
used for the study. Each structural component of the methodology is explained below.
3.2 Research philosophy
Research philosophy is a belief outlining the ways of collecting, analyzing and using data
about an event or a phenomenon. According to Flick (2015) the type of research and method of
data collection help in selecting the best research philosophy. Research philosophies are mainly
positivism philosophy, interpretivism philosophy and philosophy of pragmatism. The philosophy
of positivism basically focuses on facts and figures, observations, numerical and opinions. It is
evidence-based and does not rely on assumptions. Interpretivism, on the other hand, focuses on
differentiation between the various human behavior as social actors. Here, research is conducted

27EFFECTIVENESS OF TALENT MANAGEMENT IN NHS ENGLAND
on characteristics of human through interview and observations (Choy 2014). Whereas, in
pragmatic paradigm the interpretation takes varied approaches and multi-viewpoints is
considered to have a deeper analysis of the subject (Jamshed 2014). McCusker and Gunaydin
(2015) clearly stated that multi-dimensional problem-solving provides better understanding of
the problem area. The research study considered here is based on qualitative data analysis. In this
regard, pragmatism philosophy best suits the research area.
3.3 Research approach
Research approaches are either inductive or deductive. Deductive approach narrows from
general to specific with proper theoretical support. According to Wiek and Lang (2016) there is
theory explanation that help in formation of hypothesis, observation or confirmation of the topic
area. Result evaluation is also based on the set-up hypothesis. On the other hand, in Inductive
approach the reverse happens. Here first observations are noted followed by pattern
understanding in relation to the observation and finally a hypothesis is created and final
conclusion is drawn to complete the study. As this research topic is based on qualitative analysis
henceforth, inductive approach of study will be the best fit for it. the topic is being narrowed
down from general Talent Management to specific TM at NHS.
3.4 Research design
Research design provides a compact strategy of the study that defines how data will be
collected, analyzed and interpreted. Mainly there are three types of research designs-qualitative,
quantitative and mixed of both. In qualitative research design emphasis is given to development
of open-ended questions, focused group discussion and interview session with respondents
(Isaacs 2014). Respondents provide detail answers to the questions and the responses are

28EFFECTIVENESS OF TALENT MANAGEMENT IN NHS ENGLAND
gathered and analyzed by the help of thematic analysis tool of qualitative research. Data are
organized and responses are patterned to end the study (Gale et al. 2013). On the other hand,
quantitative design focus on the development of closed ended questions that are answered either
by yes/no approach or by using multiple choice options. In this regard the research design for
this topic is qualitative in nature.
3.5 Type of investigation
Type of investigation can be descriptive, exploratory or explanatory. In descriptive
research the characteristics of the participants are defined. Here why? and how? of different
people behavior is studied based on the phenomenon. Anney (2014) opined that exploratory
research is conducted on the problem that has not been studied before and is first time targeted. It
is thus, not a final research, it only creates the platform for more conducive research.
Explanatory type is conducted to problems that are not well-defined or are researched before in a
comprehensive manner (Jamshed 2014). It defines the problem and study aspects in a more
detailed form. Here explanatory research is used to have better research conclusions. The issue
related to management of TM in NHS is studied in a more compact manner with enhanced
theoretical support. Final conclusion drawing is facilitated in a better manner.
3.6 Methods of data collection
Data can be collected by either primary or secondary methods. Here secondary data thus
collected is based on historical data by another researcher and are collected from indirect sources
(Wiek and Lang 2016). Secondary data sources are mainly scholarly literary articles, official
NHS websites, Google Scholar and search engines, GSM Library resources, peer-reviewed
journals on TM, published news, HRM academic materials, public service reports and other

29EFFECTIVENESS OF TALENT MANAGEMENT IN NHS ENGLAND
HRM periodicals. Based on the qualitative research design the method of secondary data
collection is used in this paper. Thematic analysis is based on past papers of NHS. Also, data
collection is restricted to the time line mentioned in the paper that is from 2012 to 2018.
3.7 Data analysis
In most of the research cases, qualitative data is analyzed by the help of thematic or
content analysis tool. For quantitative data analysis, various statistical tools like descriptive
statistics, co-relation, and regression analysis are used. Here the use of thematic qualitative
analysis is focused upon. Thematic analysis is the process of encoding qualitative information. It
focuses on the followings, such as the problem, the solution, the backgrounds, used when and
used for. The process of thematic analysis includes the following steps namely data collection,
data coding, code validation, theme/framework identification, information consolidation,
finalizing theme names and finally thematic analysis (Flick 2015). A good thematic code
addresses the following areas, what am I going to call it? how am I going to define it? how am I
going to recognize it in the data? What do I want to exclude? And finally, an example to support.
3.8 Ethical considerations
The study is carried out keeping all ethical standards in mind and following them in every
stage of study. No data misuse is entertained and have been used after having consent for using
from the authentic sources. Various authors and literature experts were referenced throughout the
paper and are credited for their support. The confidentiality and anomality of NHS information
are maintained to a highest degree (Flick 2015). No name of NHS managers is used and their
identity is encrypted and are kept in password-protected files. A consent form is signed by the
NHS authority before conducting the survey. Their originality is not been hampered. Plagiarism

30EFFECTIVENESS OF TALENT MANAGEMENT IN NHS ENGLAND
policy is also strictly followed and other’s works have not been copied and are only used for
reference purposes only (Jamshed 2014). Moreover, no person’s or organizations’ sentiments
have been hurt intentionally. The data used are only for pure academic project purposes and have
no personal interest of data breaching.
3.9 Limitations of the research
No research paper is free from limitations. In this case also there is no scope of being
exceptional. The paper also has certain limitations that has affected the reliability and validity of
results to a considerable extent (Wiek and Lang 2016). The two main constraints are-limited data
and limited time. Since stratified sample group data is limited to 6-year NHS timeline accuracy
of data interpretation is hindered to a considerable extent. Data collection from NHS officials
was quite tough due to organizational policy and confidentiality issues. Also, the time limit was
limited and it also restricted collection and interpretation of a larger set of databases. In-spite of
all these limitations the study was conducted within the time frame of four months and results so
obtained meet level of satisfaction.

31EFFECTIVENESS OF TALENT MANAGEMENT IN NHS ENGLAND
CHAPTER 4: RESEARCH FINDINGS AND ANALYSIS
4.1 Introduction
The research is conducted with the main aim of critically analyzing and evaluation of the
effectiveness of TM in NHS England from 2012 to 2018, specially in Lewisham and Greenwich
Trust NHS. But due to lack of proper TM in L&G, overall NHS document is considered for the
thematic analysis. The tool of qualitative data analysis incorporating thematic analysis is
considered for data interpretation and analysis (Cloutier et al. 2015). The thematic analysis
revolves around the research questions and tries find best solution for them. The following points
of study are considered, what improvement can be made to support strategic TM
implementation, whether there is any current TM strategy in NHS, impact of TM in NHS
performance, presence of any specific TM strategy and last but not the least how talent pool is
managed and operated in the organization. The provided NHS documents and transcript notes are
used to develop the theme of the study. Documents are coded and differences in TM approach
are understood in a more enhanced manner (Deery and Jago 2015). The schedule of the process
is provided where the thematic research design process is based on the framework below.
Research
Literature
Research
questions
Theory
Data
Code
development Coding Analysis
New research
model

32EFFECTIVENESS OF TALENT MANAGEMENT IN NHS ENGLAND
4.2 Critical analysis
The discussion sessions can be broadly divided into four major themes namely talent
retention, talent development, talent attraction and talent acquisition. These four themes will be
able to answer all relevant research questions and thereby fulfilling the aim. Each theme is
divided into some sub-themes to support better data interpretation. All themes are discussed
below.
The first theme is talent retention. All documents collected agreed to the fact that NHS
desires to retain their talented staffs. They suppose retention will directly impact the achievement
of organizational growth and will help in gaining competitive advantage over other healthcare
organizations in England (Bryant and Allen 2013). The views can be further divided into three
sub-themes namely competitive compensation, employee motivation and employee
empowerment. One document supports that competitive compensation is an essential element of
successful retention but NHS is not that concerned with compensation benefits because of its
past reputation and global market positioning in healthcare industry. Moreover, the Change
Model so developed focus on people and quality are and remuneration was not an integral part of
the model. However, Das and Baruah (2013) in their theoretical support does not support this
and pointed out that competitive benchmarking is one of the best methods of staff retention
within a healthcare industry done by assessing current talent management strategic of the best
performing health organizations all across the globe and also in England. The second sub-theme
is employee motivation. Information from NHS demonstrate that fact that employees lack
motivation in working in NHS and remuneration is one key reason of it. Other major causes are
lack of career growth and development, lesser job enrichment and also lack of good leadership.
In this regard it is beneficial to retain the talented workforce by use of remuneration as a quick

33EFFECTIVENESS OF TALENT MANAGEMENT IN NHS ENGLAND
and effective form of extrinsic motivation. These findings are quite consistent with the works of
Terera and Ngirande 2014) where it is mentioned that in healthcare industries motivation plays
an important role in talented and valued staff retention. The final subtheme for the first theme is
employee empowerment. The documents support the opinion that employee empowerment is not
that strong in NHS and employees lack their attachment to NHS. They have also claimed that the
TM support should be increased in improving employee empowerment and it should be one of
the key practices in NHS. Because, they think employee empowerment will increase work
productivity, innovation, supporting staff behavior and improvised skill development. The
reviews are in align with the findings of Vasquez (2014) who state that employee empowerment
in healthcare will help in retention of talented staffs which will help in quality care delivery. It
also increases level of employee satisfaction by increasing their self-efficacy and effectiveness in
their works.
The second key theme is talent development. The majority of documents stated that NHS
is now motivated to support its talent development initiative. The information is divided into five
sub-themes namely coaching, training, development strategies, skill gap analysis and succession
planning. In this regard most information on NHS is of the same opinion about talent
development and mentioned that there is a proactive and systematic talent developmental
approach in NHS (Yam, Raybould and Gordon 2018). The documents when analyzed support
the fact that providing coaching to the talents is a common practice adopted in NHS. Wider
talent pool creation was also considered to support overall employee and organizational
development. Previously, annual performance appraisal tool was used to measure the
development need to the employee which is now done by TM. The results are in line with the
opinion made by Lu et al. (2016) who mentioned that the best way to develop and support skill

34EFFECTIVENESS OF TALENT MANAGEMENT IN NHS ENGLAND
enhancement is the method of coaching. The second sub-theme is training. The results show that
in-spite of extensive training provided staff retention is becoming difficult and for this reason
NHS should try to meet its training needs of the talented staffs with the development needs. In
this regard. Qazi, Khalid and Shafique (2015) identified that training need identification is very
crucial for talent development. Extensive discussion supports the fact that appropriate
development strategies are critical for developing talents, which is the third sub theme
considered here. The responses are in line with the opinions made by Cohen (2017), which
mentions that organizations should encourage their experienced and talented staffs to develop
their best traits. That is, staffs need to develop their overall performances in areas of identifiable
skills, self-motivation enhancement and career development advancements. The fourth element
of talent development is skill gap analysis. NHS tries to analyze the skill gaps efficiently and
provide timely training to meet the gaps. A new TM assessment approach is initiated that will
help in addressing the gaps in a more prominent manner. These priorities are confirmed by the
research works of Jehanzeb and Mohanty (2018) which states that a healthcare organization
should have a set of basic self-assessment system that will help employees to have a better
knowhow of their own caliber and the functional needs in the organization. This will help them
have an improvised goal in their job fields. The fifth and final sub-theme of talent development
is succession planning. NHS is suffering the most in terms of its strategic leadership and
succession planning approaches (Mäkikangas et al. 2016). Maximum documents support the fact
that succession planning in NHS is a deep-rooted problem and continuous change in its upper
level management is creating issue of succession planning and is thereby the whole
organizational culture is getting affected. Issues of identifying the right candidate is intense and
its upper managers are so dynamic that median tenure of theirs is 3 years which is not acceptable

35EFFECTIVENESS OF TALENT MANAGEMENT IN NHS ENGLAND
to support greater employee retention and talent management success in NHS. In this regard, the
triple track approach of whole system TM was also adopted that will also mitigate the staffing
crisis in coming years. The significance of the issue is supported by Sroufe and Gopalakrishna
Remani (2018) who mentioned the importance of a well-articulated succession planning in
contributing positive support to development of individual skills of the talented staff.
The third key theme is talent attraction. In this study four out of six documents pointed
out that attraction of talent is one of the main focus of NHS. NHS is one of the largest
organizations in terms of employee participation. In this regard NHS follows the policy of
attracting the right talent for the organization for supporting its final goal accomplishment,
achieving success and sustainable organizational growth (Cohen 2017). Increased pressure in
recruitment in recent times has lowered the scope of attracting the right talent. NHS has a
dynamic industry environment and so attracting right talent becomes easier but chances of
conflicts of interest also rose manifold (Lu et al. 2016). Based on the results talent attraction
can be categorized into two sub themes namely work conditions and career advancements. The
results of work conditions contradict the opinion of Jehanzeb and Mohanty (2018) who
emphasized that having an organization characterized by ideal work conditions like improved
health, autonomy, job security, stress reduction and satisfaction are considered to be motivating
factors both for employees and the organization. In healthcare organizations like NHS the focus
need to be wider and patient health and wellness need to be incorporated as well. The career
advancement outcomes are similar to the opinions of Awasthi and Sharma (2016) who
mentioned that every organization should cater equal opportunities to its talented employees in
developing their future career needs.

36EFFECTIVENESS OF TALENT MANAGEMENT IN NHS ENGLAND
The last and the fourth key theme is talent acquisition. Two supporting documents
mentioned that acquiring highly qualified and skilled individuals is important in operationalizing
the strategic plans of NHS. NHS has a hard TM approach that is rationalistic and managerial
(Gale et al. 2013). The focus on leadership competency development and strategic management
role support is narrower. And this created a major shift of NHS from traditional and humanistic
public health sector to a more business-oriented work place. The outcomes are contradicted by
the works of Mäkikangas et al. (2016) who opined that or rather advised that an organization
need to build its highly qualified individual skills first in order to meet overall organizational
needs. Mechanistic approach needs to be replaced by humanistic approach. A brief preview of
the thematic analysis is provided in the table below.
Themes and sub-themes NHS document support for analysis
1 2 3 4 5 6
Talent retention
Competitive compensation
Employee motivation
Employee empowerment
Talent development
Coaching
Training
Appropriate development
strategies

37EFFECTIVENESS OF TALENT MANAGEMENT IN NHS ENGLAND
Skill gap analysis
Succession planning
Attracting talent
Work conditions
Career advancements
Talent acquisition
Building talent
4.3 Summary
Thus, to summarize the research analysis it could be said that the timeline 2012-2018 is
quite significant for NHS England and it has understood the need to TM in the healthcare system
quite well. The increased staff turnover, issue in leadership and succession planning has created
issues in its long-range sustainability (Jehanzeb and Mohanty 2018). Study of various NHS
documents clearly show that they are working on their TM strategies in a more comprehensive
manner. But it is also significant that changing the whole structure and way of functioning in a
day is not possible because of extensive workforce of NHS. Moreover, NHS being a healthcare
organization, things are even tougher because patient safety and wellness is associated directly
with the organization. In this respect, the thematic analysis support has increased awareness for
both the managers and management and the need for a more robust and quick solution is focused
upon (Cohen 2017). Talent management is directly linked to HR practices and as the process
starts with recruitment the HR department need to be more outward in relation to various
recruitment agencies so that the workforce gap is removed to the earliest. In this case mention of
the NHS Leadership Academy needs special mention because it is the current Talent

38EFFECTIVENESS OF TALENT MANAGEMENT IN NHS ENGLAND
Management hub of NHS (Yam, Raybould and Gordon 2018). Developing effective leadership
thus, will help in maximizing the quality of patient care and needs urgent action. In one line it
can be said that, talent building through TM strategy development is the key to effective TM in a
healthcare organization like NHS.
CHAPTER 5: CONCLUSION AND RECOMMENDATION
As an overall conclusion, it could be said that the problem faced by NHS in recent times
is not quite a common issue and other larger organizations like NHS also face issues of
leadership and staffing crisis where in spite of having a well-articulated framework the
effectiveness of TM reduces significantly. It the issue is generalized it could be said in this way,
that issue in delivery of an effective and efficient service with limited resource support (Qazi,
Khalid and Shafique 2015). But the major problem lies in the issue of implementation of the
change in the stipulated time frame. The study of various NHS documents provides a strong
feeling to the fact that in the past years NHS has only played a ‘Doing Leadership’ of not doing
anything (Cohen 2017). Effectiveness of the steps taken was not significant in supporting
changes. However, the years after 2012 marked a number of changes and Change model is one
such reform. In order to mitigate the issue of poor level of leadership development a new whole

39EFFECTIVENESS OF TALENT MANAGEMENT IN NHS ENGLAND
system approach is developed. It is true that good leadership have benefits while poor leadership
cause costs. Poor leadership also affect Total Shareholder Return (TSR) and market
capitalization that are in turn responsible for compensation remuneration for staffs (Jehanzeb and
Mohanty 2018). Poor remuneration is one major reason of increased staff turnover. So, it is quite
significant that all functions in an organization are interlinked and so is TM. Thus, in order to
have a good TM strategy and have effective results the whole organization need to be cohesive in
its approach. But in overall considerations, NHS has significantly reduced its loopholes in the
TM system and is really working hard to increase the effectiveness of the TM in the
organization.
As recommendations it could be suggested that NHS should learn from its failure and
should also consider other organizations who effectively manages their TM. Good examples of
top-quality leadership can be learned from British Army, UBS 2002-5 and leadership
development at general Electric. NHS should try to keep its top positions well organized and for
this it should try to develop a number of critical elements like having confidence in the
capability, positive culture of service and success, increased trust and communication and
courage (Vasquez 2014). Also, the use of ICT in operations will increase overall organizational
TM effectiveness in NHS. Evidences show that most top leaders in NHS has left because of the
previous trends of their predecessors and thought NHS not being the right place for their career
security just like others have done. They failed to understand their instincts and caliber.
Motivation and team support are highly significant in this respect. Roles and responsibilities
should be distinct and should not be overlapped causing difficulties in performance outputs
(Awasthi and Sharma 2016). In this regard it is highly recommended that, the leaders should be
the leaders of change and should initiate changes first. Trend is not a word applicable to

40EFFECTIVENESS OF TALENT MANAGEMENT IN NHS ENGLAND
leadership instead the leaders will start the trend to be followed by the subordinates not
themselves following other leaders’ paths. Keeping this in mind, NHS should try to develop
complete new strategic TM practices that best suit the organization and its people. Thus,
irrespective of NHS operating as coordinated service or independent trusts like L&G, quality
leadership should be there at all levels otherwise quality care providence will suffer. In regard to
overall TM talent identification and management are the key to successful and effective
workforce maintenances in NHS.

41EFFECTIVENESS OF TALENT MANAGEMENT IN NHS ENGLAND
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APPENDICES
Appendix 1: Strategic framework of Talent in NHS
(Janjua 2014)

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Appendix 2: The 4 operational interventions of talent management
(Janjua 2014)
Appendix 3: The key areas of line manager’s role in TM in NHS
(Janjua 2014)

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52EFFECTIVENESS OF TALENT MANAGEMENT IN NHS ENGLAND
Appendix 4: Consent letter
To: From
Fay Blackwood ([e-mail]),
Associate Director,
Education and Development,
Lewisham and Greenwich NHS Trust,
London.
SE13 6LH
GSM London.
Meridian House,
Royal Hill, Greenwich,
London,
SE10 8RD.
25.02.2019
Dear Fay,
My name is Chibuzor Precious Ujah, I am a final year student of GSM London studying
Human Resources and Management (University of Plymouth). I am writing my dissertation on
evaluation of the effectiveness of Talent Management in an NHS Trust. I would like to use
Lewisham and Greenwich NHS Trust as a case study since it is local.
This research project is based upon a review of documents for comparison with published
literature and will not involve interviews with staff. I am requesting for permission to have
access to update talent management policy, document of how talent management is being
implemented and any evaluation written on talent management for the past five years in your
organization.
The research will follow GDPR regulations; and strict confidentiality and anonymization and
will fully respect the ethics of the organization. No names will be revealed. Also, the name of

53EFFECTIVENESS OF TALENT MANAGEMENT IN NHS ENGLAND
the trust will not be mentioned unless it is approved to do so.
I will be very grateful if you can grant me the permission to undertake this study and to
provide me with the documents that you have.
Thank you.
Yours Faithfully,
Chibuzor Precious Ujah.