New Initiatives and Innovative Ways for Strategic Talent Management in ASDA

This project focuses on the importance and benefits of innovative ways and new initiatives of working organizations use for achieving a strategic approach to talent management. The project explores ASDA's talent management strategies and initiatives for retaining employees. It also provides insights into the benefits of these initiatives for ASDA. The findings and recommendations are based on a survey of 12 managers. The document type is a research project and the type of assignment is a business project.

MANAGING A
SUCCESFUL BUSINESS
PROJECT
(What are the types of new initiatives and
innovative ways of working do companies put
in place to achieve a strategic approach to
talent management)

Table of Contents
SECTION 1- INTRODUCTION.....................................................................................................3
SECTION 2- PROJECT PLAN.......................................................................................................3
SECTION 3- RESEARCH..............................................................................................................5
SECTION 4- FINDINGS AND RECOMMENDATIONS.............................................................7
SECTION 5- EVALUATION.......................................................................................................15
SECTION 6- CONCLUSION........................................................................................................16
REFERENCES..............................................................................................................................17
APPENDICES...............................................................................................................................19

SECTION 1- INTRODUCTION
Talent management is defined as the important procedure of human resources for
attracting, developing, motivating and retaining high performing workforce. It is considered as
significant aspect in the organization because it focuses on managing and organizing every
employee in the workplace (Gallardo-Gallardo, Thunnissen and Scullion, 2020). The present
project is dependent upon innovative ways used by organisation to achieve approaches to talent
management, as it is the aspect that is constantly growing in every type of organization because
employees are essential resource. The chosen company in the current project is ASDA as it is a
British supermarket chain and the headquarters is situated in Leeds, England.
Aim of the project
“To study the importance and benefits of innovative ways and new initiatives of working
organizations use for achieving a strategic approach to talent management.” A study on ASDA
Objectives of the project
 To identify the concept of talent management for retaining best talent within the
organization
 To determine the various new initiatives and innovative ways to retain employees in the
workplace within ASDA
 To highlight the different benefits of initiatives adopted by ASDA to achieve strategic
approach to talent management
Questions of the project
 Define the concept of talent management for retaining best talent within the organization?
 What are the various new initiatives and innovative ways to retain employees in the
workplace within ASDA?
 What are the different benefits of initiatives adopted by ASDA for achieving strategic
approach to talent management?
SECTION 2- PROJECT PLAN
Project management plan is referred as plan used for planning, organising and directing
activities towards achievement of objectives of project. It is the plan that focuses on arranging
resources in such a way so that every activity and task could be done with great efficiency and
effectiveness.

Some of the components that are used in current project are given below:
Time:
Time is referred as one of the needed component in the project management plan because
every activity could be completed if it is done in specified time period. It is significant for
researcher to set appropriate and valid to complete every activity and task. The time needed for
achieving objectives of present project is 5 months.
Cost:
Cost is described as amount required by researcher to carry out activity and task in
systematic and proper manner. Investigator has focused on forming budget by allocating
activities so that appropriate work could be done without any chaos and shortage of funds. For
carrying out activities $300 is needed by investigation for the successful completion of project.
Resources:
Resources are referred as needed things or factors to conduct activities for achieving
specified objectives in proper way. The current research has used sources of secondary data such
articles, books, journals, websites of business etc. The other significant resources are
communication tools so that at right time information could be transferred.
Risk:
Risk is referred as one of the components that is predicted by investigator so that any
identified difficulty could be prevented at right time. There are some risks that could not be
prevented and are sudden so researcher makes back up plans. If one plan fails then researcher
could easily use another plan without any confusion.
Work breakdown structure:
Work breakdown structure is referred as structure considered by investigator for dividing
activities into smaller tasks in a proper manner. This is the structure that focuses on simplifying
activities of project for better achievement of objectives. So, in simple words it breakdowns the
activities of project into small components (Brčić and Mlinarić, 2018).

Gantt chart:
Gantt chart is described as project management plan that helps in systematic planning and
proper scheduling of projects. Generally, it is used to simplify projects that are complex. It is
used so that every activity could be graphically represented as it simply shows beginning and
finishing dates about the different elements of proposed project such as tasks, resources,
dependencies and milestones (Rianty, Latief and Riantini, 2018).

SECTION 3- RESEARCH
Research Methods
Research methods are very important in carrying out activities of project by collecting
and analysing appropriate information in an effective manner. In the current project also
researcher has used various kinds of research methodologies that are clearly defined below:
Research Philosophy:
Research philosophy is classified in two parts that are positivism and interpretivism
philosophy. For the evaluation of gathered data that is numeric information about the topic,
investigator is selecting positivism philosophy. It is useful as it is only concerned about
evaluation of statistical data in a very short time duration (Nayak and Singh, 2021).
Research Approach:
Research approach is the one of the important approaches for measuring collected
information to attain objectives. The two parts of approaches are: inductive and deductive
approach. Deductive is chosen approach in the project as it is about measuring relevancy of
numeric data to attain pre-defined aim and objectives.
Research Strategy:
There are different kinds of research strategies such as action research, archival research,
survey, grounded theory etc. These are the strategies used in the project as per its requirements
but in the present project, investigator is using survey strategy because it is effective in gathering
number data to meet objectives. In survey, questionnaire is used to gather information in
statistical manner (Babii, 2020).
Research Choice:
Qualitative and quantitative are two types of research choice. The current project is based
upon quantitative research choice because it is believed that this kind of information is more
reliable and accurate. Quantitative research choice is about collecting and analysing numeric
information about the strategic approaches to talent management (Bairagi and Munot, 2019).
Data Collection:
Primary and secondary are the two kinds of data collection. Investigator has chosen both
primary and secondary data collection method as it is necessary in collecting relevant
information. Primary is used by researcher for carrying out first-hand data from the method like

questionnaire and secondary is used for taking existing data from studies that have already taken
out by other people for different purposes.
Sampling:
Sampling is defined as the research method to choose participants for gathering
information to attain objectives. Probability and non-probability are two kinds of sampling,
researcher has selected probability sampling because it facilitates in choosing respondents
randomly. 12 managers are chosen as participants to gather data (Ragab and Arisha, 2018).
Secondary information
Define the concept of talent management for retaining best talent within the organization?
According to Anlesinya and Amponsah-Tawiah, 2020 talent management is referred as
method and process to get the appropriate workforce and assist them in growing their capabilities
to keep objectives of organisation in mind. This is the process that focuses on determining gaps
in talent and positions that are vacant. The talent management in organisation is focused towards
future so that skill of employees could be developed by providing at right time. Every
organization focuses on model of talent management process in which proper plan is made and
different strategies are also identified so that employees could be retained in the organisation for
a longer period of time.
What are the various new initiatives and innovative ways to retain employees in the
workplace within ASDA?
According to Painter‐Morland and et. al., (2019), efficient new initiatives and innovative
ways of talent management because it is not just good for workforce but it assists in growing
business. It assists organisation to outperform as compared to competitors. Some of the new
initiatives of retaining employees in the workplace within ASDA are:
Employee reskilling and training: ASDA provides employee training and reskilling to their
existing employees so that new position could be filled by existing employees only. This assists
in increasing motivation among existing employees as their work is given importance. This way
employees stay in the organisation for the longer time period as they are being promoted time to
time.
Recognition and rewards: ASDA offers recognition and rewards as one of the new initiatives to
attain strategic approaches to talent management. Employees are provided with different kinds
of rewards in terms of monetary and non-monetary that assist in increasing the living standard of

workforce. This encourages employees to continuously work in same organisation for the longer
time period.
Speeding process of talent management: ASDA focuses on speeding up the process of talent
management at right time. In this organization makes plan and development about the strategies
of talent management so that employees could be hired and provided training at right time.
What are the different benefits of initiatives adopted by ASDA for achieving strategic
approach to talent management?
According to Meyers and et. al., (2020), various kinds of talent management ASDA
experiences benefits because their employees are retained in the organisation for longer time
period. Some of the benefits experienced by ASDA with the assistance of new initiatives are:
Higher productivity: ASDA has increased productivity in terms of sales as well as profits. With
the help of new initiative like time to time training employees get great training to upgrade their
knowledge in doing certain tasks and activities. Employees clearly know about activities and
way of doing their duty in an effective manner.
Decreased labour turnover: With the help of new initiatives like developmental opportunities
employees stay in the company for longer time as they are being promoted to higher position
according to their performance. This ultimately assists in reducing labour turnover in the
organization.
Great brand image: Another benefit that ASDA has experienced with the help of new
initiatives of talent management is great brand image because workforce spreads great word of
mouth about company in the market.
SECTION 4- FINDINGS AND RECOMMENDATIONS
Questionnaire
Q1) As per your knowledge, do you find talent management necessary in the organization?
a) Yes
b) No
Q2) According to you, what is talent management in the workplace of ASDA?
a) Attracting best candidate
b) Providing learning opportunities
c) Retention of best talent

d) Offering career development opportunity
Q3) What are the new initiatives adopted by ASDA to gain strategic approaches to talent
management?
a) Employee reskilling and training
b) Experience of employees
c) Speeding process of talent management
d) Integrated practices of hiring
Q4) What are the benefits of new initiatives of talent management to ASDA ?
a) Higher productivity
b) Decreased labour turnover
c) Great brand image
d) Talented employees
Q5) Do you have any suggestions for ASDA to improve talent management activities in the the
workplace?
a) Succession Planning
b) Job rotation
c) Employee engagement
Q1) As per your knowledge, do you find talent management necessary in
the organization?
Frequency
a) Yes 10
b) No 2
Q2) According to you, what is talent management in the workplace of
ASDA?
Frequency
a) Attracting best candidate 4
b) Providing learning opportunities 3
c) Retention of best talent 3
d) Offering career development opportunity 2

Q3) What are the new initiatives adopted by ASDA to gain strategic
approaches to talent management?
Frequency
a) Employee reskilling and training 3
b) Experience of employees 4
c) Speeding process of talent management 2
d) Integrated practices of hiring 3
Q4) What are the benefits of new initiatives of talent management to
ASDA ?
Frequency
a) Higher productivity 3
b) Decreased labour turnover 2
c) Great brand image 4
d) Talented employees 3
Q5) Do you have any suggestions for ASDA to improve talent
management activities in the the workplace?
Frequency
a) Succession Planning 3
b) Job rotation 5
c) Employee engagement 4
Question 1: Talent management necessary in the organization
Q1) As per your knowledge, do you find talent management necessary in
the organization?
Frequency
a) Yes 10
b) No 2

a) Yes b) No
0
1
2
3
4
5
6
7
8
9
10
10
2
Interpretation: From the above given data, it is interpreted that talent management is
necessary in the organisation.
Question 2: Talent management in the workplace of ASDA
Q2) According to you, what is talent management in the workplace of
ASDA?
Frequency
a) Attracting best candidate 4
b) Providing learning opportunities 3
c) Retention of best talent 3
d) Offering career development opportunity 2

a) Attracting best candidate
c) Retention of best talent
0
0.5
1
1.5
2
2.5
3
3.5
4
4
3 3
2
Frequency
Interpretation: With the provided information, it is analysed that talent management is
attracting best candidates, providing learning opportunities, retaining best talent etc. in the
workplace.
Question 3: New initiatives adopted by ASDA to gain strategic approaches to talent
management
Q3) What are the new initiatives adopted by ASDA to gain strategic
approaches to talent management?
Frequency
a) Employee reskilling and training 3
b) Experience of employees 4
c) Speeding process of talent management 2
d) Integrated practices of hiring 3

a) Employee reskilling and training
c) Speeding process of talent management
0
0.5
1
1.5
2
2.5
3
3.5
4
3
4
2
3
Frequency
Interpretation: From the shown information it is interpreted that employee training and
reskilling, integrated practices of hiring and recruiting are some of the new initiatives that could
be adopted by ASDA.
Question 4: Benefits of new initiatives of talent management to ASDA
Q4) What are the benefits of new initiatives of talent management to
ASDA ?
Frequency
a) Higher productivity 3
b) Decreased labour turnover 2
c) Great brand image 4
d) Talented employees 3

a) Higher productivity
b) Decreased labour turnover
c) Great brand image
d) Talented employees
0
0.5
1
1.5
2
2.5
3
3.5
4
3
2
4
3
Frequency
Interpretation: From the provided information it is understood that there are different
benefits of new initiatives of talent management like great productivity, great brand image,
talented employees etc.
Question 5: Any suggestions for ASDA to improve talent management activities in the the
workplace
Q5) Do you have any suggestions for ASDA to improve talent
management activities in the the workplace?
Frequency
a) Succession Planning 3
b) Job rotation 5
c) Employee engagement 4

a) Succession Planning
b) Job rotation
c) Employee engagement
0
0.5
1
1.5
2
2.5
3
3.5
4
4.5
5
3
5
4
Frequency
Interpretation: Some of the suggestions that could be adopted by ASDA are: job
rotation, employee engagement and succession planning.
RECOMMENDATIONS
From the provided information it is understood that ASDA uses variety of initiative for
attaining strategic approach to talent management. There are some recommendations to Labour
& Wait Ltd that could be used by them for retaining and attracting right employees in the
workplace.
Job rotation: Labour & Wait Ltd must focus on the technique of job rotation because it
assists in rotating assigned jobs of employees by giving them more responsibility and
challenging work. This is the great method because it would assist in preventing chances of
boredom and burnout among employees regarding their work (Daubner-Siva and et. al., 2018).
Succession planning: It is another strategy that could be used by Labour & Wait Ltd
because it assists in passing roles of leadership to subordinates or other employees. This would
give outcome of smooth functioning of organisation with significant people by providing them
new developmental opportunities (Narayanan, Rajithakumar and Menon, 2019).
There are some barriers that Labour & Wait Ltd have to consider and mitigate for
achieving strategic approaches to talent management. The present time is about the global
pandemic so organisation must come up with policies and strategies so that they do not lay off

large number of employees. The organisation should also organise games and activities so that
pressure could be reduced among employees related to work.

SECTION 5- EVALUATION
In the present project that is based upon different initiative ways companies use to
achieve strategic approaches to talent management. With the motive of achieving objectives of
project research primary and secondary sources are used because these sources are great for
collecting information. With the help of questionnaire, statistical information is gathered so that
right information could be understood by the reader. The gathered data through questionnaire is
easier to understand because it is showed in tabular format.
With the assistance of secondary sources like journals, articles, newspapers, business
sites etc. researcher has focused on addressing existing gap in the published data. The project
management plan is also effective in assigning activities and resources at right time because it
has assisted in planning and organizing different resources at right time. Hence, different kinds
of research methodologies and project management helped in making activities and tasks easier
for achieving objectives. Gantt chart and work breakdown structure also hold a lot of
significance in achieving objectives of project because it clearly describes starting and ending
date of completing every activity and task.

SECTION 6- CONCLUSION
From the above collected information it is concluded that talent management is necessary
for organisation because it is concerned about planning, organising and monitoring employees in
such a way that could motivate and encourage them to stay in the organisation for longer time
period.

REFERENCES
Books and Journals
Gallardo-Gallardo, E., Thunnissen, M. and Scullion, H., 2020. Talent management: context
matters.
Anlesinya, A. and Amponsah-Tawiah, K., 2020. Towards a responsible talent management
model. European Journal of Training and Development.
Painter‐Morland and et. al., 2019. Talent management: The good, the bad, and the
possible. European Management Review, 16(1), pp.135-146.
Meyers and et. al., 2020. HR managers’ talent philosophies: prevalence and relationships with
perceived talent management practices. The International Journal of Human Resource
Management, 31(4), pp.562-588.
Daubner-Siva and et. al., 2018. The talent paradox: talent management as a mixed
blessing. Journal of organizational ethnography.
Narayanan, A., Rajithakumar, S. and Menon, M., 2019. Talent management and employee
retention: An integrative research framework. Human Resource Development
Review, 18(2), pp.228-247.
Nayak, J.K. and Singh, P., 2021. Fundamentals of Research Methodology Problems and
Prospects. SSDN Publishers & Distributors.
Babii, A., 2020. Important aspects of the experimental research methodology. Вісник
Тернопільського національного технічного університету, 97(1), pp.77-87.
Bairagi, V. and Munot, M.V. eds., 2019. Research methodology: A practical and scientific
approach. CRC Press.
Ragab, M.A. and Arisha, A., 2018. Research methodology in business: A starter’s
guide. Management and Organizational Studies, 5(1), pp.1-14.
Willmott, H., 2020. On research methodology. The Journal of Organization and Discourse, 1(1),
pp.1-4.
Brčić, M. and Mlinarić, D., 2018. Tracking predictive gantt chart for proactive rescheduling in
stochastic resource constrained project scheduling. Journal of Information and
Organizational Sciences, 42(2), pp.179-192.

Rianty, M., Latief, Y. and Riantini, L.S., 2018. Development of risk-based standardized WBS
(Work Breakdown Structure) for quality planning of high rise building architectural
works. In MATEC Web of Conferences (Vol. 159, p. 01019). EDP Sciences.

APPENDICES
PROJ
ECT
LOG
BOO
K
Name:
Project title:
Date:
Update on weekly research/tasks achieved
Points to consider: What have you completed?
I had accomplished a project with the aim “To study the importance and benefits of innovative
ways and new initiatives of working organizations use for achieving a strategic approach to talent
management.” A study on ASDA
Did you fulfil task requirements? Are you on track and within deadlines set?
Yes every task is focused towards fulfilling. Yes the project was on set deadlines.
Did you need to make any changes to your project management plan?
No, there was no requirement to make changes in project management plan.
Any risks and/or issues identified?
Points to consider: Did you identify risks/issues with a lack of skills required
for undertaking research/tasks?
Yes, lack of time management was one of the issues.
Did you identify any additional risks/issues that have an impact on the

project management plan?
Another risk was lack of interaction skill.
Problems encountered
Points to consider: What barriers did you face? How did you overcome them?
I faced barrier such as communication and time management skill.
New ideas and change of project direction
The project could be done by using interview method.
What have I learnt about myself this week?
I am good in solving problems and issues.
Points to consider: How did I feel when I had to deal with tasks/problems?
Did I find it useful to complete the tasks?
In the starting stage only I dealt with problems with more patience.
Yes, it was great way to complete tasks.
How well have I performed?
What did I contribute?
I contributed information about new initiatives of talent management.
What can I improve on next week? How might this learning apply in the
future?
I could improve my time management skill.
Tasks planned for next week
Points to consider: Which tasks are priority? Have you set aside sufficient
time for completion?
Research methodology and collection of secondary data.

Project plan status to date (on, ahead, behind)

Supervisor comments to address

Performance
Review
What was the project supposed to accomplish?
The project was concerned about accomplishing mentioned aim:
To study the importance and benefits of innovative ways and new initiatives of working
organizations use for achieving a strategic approach to talent management.” A study on ASDA
•Did the project succeed in its aims? How do you know?
Specifically, please outline any evaluation and assessment
undertaken.
Yes, the project has successfully achieved its aim and objectives because the project
has successfully conducted primary and secondary research. It has systematically used
books, journals, articles to address already published data.
•What things do you think worked well and why? Evaluate all aspects of
the project (e.g. initial inception, project activities and project outcomes)
from a range of perspectives.
In the current I have systematically made project management plan to take out various
activities and tasks.
•Secondary data is used to achieve project questions and objectives.
•After different research methodologies are used to to analyze appropriate information.
•What problems emerged during the project and how were they
tackled? Was there timely identification of issues and resolution
during the project process?
•The problem was not able to communicate properly with chosen respondents.

•What did you learn from undertaking the project?
•I had learn about the different strategies of talent management.
•How would you rate your performance as project manager?
•I would rate myself 7 out of 10 as project manager.
•What strengths and weaknesses of your performance did you identify?
•My strength is I am great in work in pressure and stressful situation.
•How will this inform and support your continuous professional development?
•It would help in my professional development as I would clearly know about different strategies of
talent management.