Effectiveness of Talent Management in NHS England

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.