Talent Management Practices and Strategies

This assignment provides a comprehensive review of talent management practices and strategies used in different countries. It includes an analysis of literature on the topic, covering issues related to human resource management, leadership potential, and succession planning. The document also discusses the importance of talent management for organizational success and provides recommendations for HR professionals.

Resource and Talent
Planning

Table of Contents
INTRODUCTION...........................................................................................................................3
TASK 1............................................................................................................................................3
P1 Current labour market trends that influence talent management and workforce planning3
P2 Different types of legal requirements for workforce planning.........................................5
TASK 2............................................................................................................................................6
P3 Skill requirements for HR professional.............................................................................6
TASK 3............................................................................................................................................7
P4 Job description and person specification...........................................................................7
P5 Different recruitment and selection method.....................................................................9
TASK 4..........................................................................................................................................11
P6 Stages of HR life cycle....................................................................................................11
P7 Stages of the HR life-cycle are integrated within organisational HR strategy................13
CONCLUSION..............................................................................................................................14
REFERENCES..............................................................................................................................16
.........................................................................................................................................................1

INTRODUCTION
Resource and talent planning is an essential function that includes coordination among
recruitment department as well as businesses in order to identify best talented employee who can
contribute in achieving targeted goals and objectives of the company. This report is based on
Argos, which is a British catalogue retailer introduced by Richard Tompkins in 1972. Argos is
subsidiary company of Sainsbury which was headquartered in England (Armstrong and Taylor,
2014). This report is going current labour market trend that are influenced by talent management
team organisation. It also describes about different kind of legal requirement at the time of
workforce planning. It also includes job description and person specification documents for
effective recruitment and selection method. The description elaborates about different type of
recruitment and selection method. And at last, it describes about HR life cycle and various
strategies that can be used by an HR manager so that it can be implemented effectively in the
company.
TASK 1
P1 Current labour market trends that influence talent management and workforce planning
Workforce planning is a an effective approach which is adopted by organisation's in order
to meet needed requirement of organisational goals and objectives. This approach is used by
organisation at regular basis need of human resource can be fulfilled in the given time frame.
Workforce planning: It is a continual process used to align the needs of the organisation
with its workforce to create a balance between them. Also it ensures a proper balance between its
basic requirements such as regulatory, service and production etc. and the objectives of the
organisation (Briscoe, Tarique and Schuler, 2012). It is the duty of the HR in this to ensure that
right people are hired for the right position thereby minimizing the risks associated with
executing business strategy.
Current labour trend
Business organisation are updating their operational activities as well as other decision
making process in order to enhance their growth rate. For this, company requires huge number of
employees who can contribute in business activities for achieving their targeted objective. In
relation to HR manager of Argos, this initially analysis recent labour market trend for the
purpose of using best suitable one for their company. This trend helps organisation finding out
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employees who can be hired by the company on the basis of their needs. Some of important
market labour trend are described as below:
Part time Job: The main focus of human resource managers of Argos Ltd. is to retain
most of their employees for a longer run as much as possible and to fill vacant positions by
recruiting more employee's in the organisation. It is necessary for Argos Ltd. to recruit and
utilise the strength of part time employee's also so that it will bring more efficiency in their
working environment (Sparrow, Hird and Cooper, 2015). There are many people who are unable
to do a full time job so it is the responsibility if human resource to recruit them as a part timers
and utilise their talents in a favour to increase productivity of an organisation
Work from home: As per the recent trend of labour market, work from home is
considered as the best suitable option which preferred by employees. Because, it allows
employee to perform their job responsibility from their home only. In relation to the HR manager
of Argos, the team can avail this facility to its accounts department as they can receive their
relevant detailed data from the company. These employees can do their work in best suitable
hours and also coordinate with the office employees in their working hours.
Flexible working hour: Now a days, organisation also increases level of flexibility for
employees. Here, flexibility means working time, it can be said that management department of
Argos, can give this liberty to its employees in at least 4 times a month as every employee has
their own responsibility in their personal life which which gets affected by their working life.
Therefore, it can be said that if this trend is used by the company (Cooke, Saini and Wang,
2014). It will help them in influencing number of candidates at market place so that they can be
Education and training outlook: The recent trend of education and training among
labour influences every organisation to adopt this strategy. The human resource department of
Argos Ltd. are currently recruiting more employee's in the firm and providing them appropriate
training in accordance with their job profile. They also guides and motivate their employee's in
terms of their education course which they want to pursue while doing a job in a organisation. It
will help a firm to create a positive relation between a company and it's employee's that will
simultaneously led to the overall development of both employee's and a firm.
On the basis of above stated different current trends, it has been analysed that there are
number of current market trends which directly influences workforce planning. It can be said that
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business, HR manager of Argos can use different use these trends for hiring required staff in the
company for vacant job positions.
P2 Different types of legal requirements for workforce planning
Workforce planning is a strategy used by an organisation to identify labour needs and
deploy workers efficiently by human resource technology. It is essential for organisation to
identify all legal requirement before workforce planning as it is plays vital role in analysis of
labour demand, trend analysis and supply forecasting.
In context to Argos Ltd. can use trend analysis to collect data and information that affect
the future state of the firm. It will help the HR managers of Argos Ltd. in anticipating the
employment data and anticipate the changes to develop an appropriate strategy for a business
entity to meet market needs of dynamic business environment (Church and Silzer, 2013). It
helps business entity to predict future events and also use to estimate uncertain events that
occurred in past. It helps a business entity to move with the trend not against them. It has been
observed that there are certain type of legal requirements which are required by an organisation
to consider while planning for workforce in the company. Some of them are described as below:
Unfair Dismissal act
This act is made especially for employees in order to avoid certain activities that might be
impact negatively on the employee. This act protects employees so from instant termination
which can be given by the company without notice. In relation to Argos, this act should be
considered by its management team while hiring its employees. Along with this, it is their
responsibility to conduct any unethical activity which might harm them in future as every
employees is aware about (Guerci and Solari, 2012). This act also warn organisation to remain
loyal with their employees and not terminate them without any notice. As might become big
problem for them in future.
Anti-discrimination act, 1994
This act was created by the authorities to manage that an employee should not be
discriminated regarding their age, gender, connections and other tactics. It will help Argos Ltd.
to retain their staff members for a longer period to increase it's productivity. In this present report
Argos Ltd. treat all their employees on a merit basis.
Equality Act, 2010
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The main motive behind this act is to eradicate all gender inequalities and to have a
culture in a firm in which work is assigned to all employees according to their skills and
knowledge. Argos Ltd. Also require to compensate their employees in accordance with their
performances and outcomes. It is measure that a company should take for smooth functioning of
an organisation.
On the basis of above discussed different legal requirements for workforce planning, it
has been further analysed that all of these legal acts are followed by the HR manager of Argos,
so that effective functioning of the organisational work can be done in appropriate manner. All of
these acts will contribute in completion of organisational work in free and fair manner without
being partial to anyone.
TASK 2
P3 Skill requirements for HR professional
HR manager in every organisation requires certain skills which helps them in performing
their job responsibility effectively in the company. As per the above stated current labour
market trend and legal requirements at the time of workforce planning and talent manager, it
required by an HR manager of Argos to have certain specific skills which help them in
implementing similar kind of activity effectively. It has been analysed that currently Argos is
good enough in using communication skills and conflict management skills. But, both of these
skills are not good enough for the employees of this company. Therefore, after analysing
requirement of most skills, it has been identified that this company further requires below
described skills for their long term growth.:
Discrete and ethical: This skills shows knowledge and ethical responsibility of HR
manager which required being consider by them while implementing their job responsibility. It
reflects that as being HR manager of Argos, it is their responsibility to update themselves about
legal laws which might influences their job responsibility. Along with this, it is mandatory for
them to follow every legal law in order to remain loyal with the employees. This skill be helpful
in securing organisation from government as they follow each and every law which is related to
employees welfare.
Change management skill: Here, change management skill refers to the adaptability as
labour market trend is changing day by day. It has been observed that employees now a day’s
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prefers to work comfortable working condition like flexible working hours, part time job extra.
For this, it essential for HR manager to analyse these trend and avail similar working condition
to its employees in order to retain them for long term (Ulrich and et. al., 2012).
TASK 3
P4 Job description and person specification
Currently, Argos has faced various problems in keeping records of business transaction at
its various stores. Due to mismanagement at workplace, in this regard, HR managers have
suggested to hire some accountants. For this purpose, they have prepared some job
documentation as shown below:-
Job analysis: Under this process, HR analyses how many staff are required for resolving
above mentioned issues. Further, they give job description on company's websites and some
newspapers to invite interested participations for interviews.
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Job description
Organisation name
Argos
Job profile
Assistant Manager in Accounts
Location
England, United Kingdom
Report to
Senior Manager of Accounts department
Roles and Responsibilities
 Excellent in handling accounts
 Knowledge of different accounts based software
 Train new employees about usage of accounting software
 Knowledge about taxation policies
Required Qualification
Master degree in Finance Management(MBA, M.com)
Experience required
8 to 10 years
Salary
10 to 15 lac per annum.
After preparing a suitable job description, further, they give a personal specification also
on job portal. It will help candidates to match their resume as per specific job roles and
responsibilities. For this assistance, a sample of CV is given below:-
Curriculum Vitae (CV)
Name:
Address:
Contact number:
Email Id:
Career objectives:
To work with the well known company so that maximum learning can be gained by them that
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are helpful in becoming successful person in life by achieving the set business goals and
objectives.
Qualification:
MBA (Master in Business Administration)
Experience:
10 years of experience in Accounts field.
Personal skills:
 Strong communication skills
 Problem solving techniques
 Decision-making abilities
 Effective Leadership skills
 Effective analytical skills
 Proficiency in IT
 High level of numeracy
 Team working skills
Declaration:
I hear by declare that information given above is true as per my experience and knowledge.
P5 Different recruitment and selection method
RECRUITMENT METHODS:
Recruitment methods refer to the various techniques that any organisation undertakes for
the labour or manpower hiring. Different organisations use different types of recruitment
methods as per their requirements. The various methods or techniques of recruitment which can
be used by an organisation so that they can identify best suitable candidate for them. Out of the
many recruitment options the basic 2 techniques of recruitment used by ARGOS are:
Web Advertising:
Nowadays the Internet has become a very major part of each and every person's life.
Advertising over internet websites is quick easy and less time consuming process, also the costs
incurred by the organisation is very low, also a larger section can be reached through internet.
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Argos is a UK based company so people there are more technologically advanced and have
better access to internet unlike INDIA (Rothwell and et. al., 2015). Web advertisements also
helps business organisation in effective talent resourcing and planning as with the help of
recruitment method, executives of Argos can easily approach huge number of candidates within
less period of time. With this, they can easily find out best suitable employees for the vacant
positioning in Argos.
Internal Recruitment:
In a company like Argos, it is the most extensively used form of recruitment because it
helps to promote the growth of the existing employees thereby creating a sense of belongingness
in them. It helps as a motivation factor and helps in boosting the morale of employees thereby
improving the quality of their working. The candidates in internal recruitment do not require an
entire interview with the managers as their track record is easily available with the organisation
and also they are well aware of the culture of the company and its working environment. Also
the internally hired staff takes less time to adjust to the new role and new working conditions as
compared to the externally hired ones. Also when the promotions are done from inside the
organisation it provides better opportunities for employees to develop professionally and also set
an example for the junior staff. It creates a sense of trust and positivity in the people. In addition
to this, it has been later analysed that internal recruitment also helps business organisation like
Argos in fulfilling their vacant job positions according to the skills and knowledge of existing
employees.
SELECTION METHODS:
Selection is the process of picking up individuals with requisite qualifications and
competence to fill jobs in the organisation.
“Selection is the process of differentiating between applicants in order to identify and hire those
with a greater likelihood of success of a job.''
The various methods of selection are:
Interview:
It is the most important part of the selection. Under this method or process, the higher
management of Argos takes a face to face interview of the applicant. It is basically an in-depth
conversation of the applicant with the employer (Sparrow, Hird and Cooper, 2015). It can be of
various types for example one on one panel interview, medical tests etc. It becomes an important
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part of the selection of an applicants they help the experts or management to judge the
knowledge of the applicant and find out whether they are suitable or not. This selection method
helps HR manager of Argos in understanding actual skills and knowledge of candidates
according to the vacant job role.
Skill based and experience based evaluation:
Skills and experience are the assets of a good workforce in an organisation like Argos.
Skills are the most important as they help the employee to mater tasks given and improve his
ability and day to day work performance. Job specific skills are understood as the best quality
skills a person can possess as they provide him experience with the day to day working and
improving his quality of work. It can be said that with the help of this method HR manager of
Argos can easily resource their company with higher skilled employees as their selection criteria
is completely based on experience of candidate.
As per the above stated recruitment method, HR manager of Argos is maximum
preferring internal recruitment method in order to motivate its existing employees. Rest of the
time company also prefers external method like web advertisement in order to bring new talent
to the company. Along with this, for selecting employees Interview is considered as best suitable
method to hire appropriate candidate for organisation.
TASK 4
P6 Stages of HR life cycle
HR Life Cycle:
Like other life cycles that are present in the different areas of working, human resource in
business also has its own business cycle or life cycle. It involves the different stages that an
employee goes through in an organisation and the role of HR manager of the organisation.
There are 5 essential steps of the HR life cycle which are described as below:
Stage 1: Recruitment and selection:
Recruitment is the process of hiring new applicants to the job. Hiring is a very crucial an
important part because keeping or employing the correct person for the correct job is very
important part of HR life cycle (Thunnissen, Boselie and Fruytier, 2013). The HR department of
Argos needs to understand the job profile of every position and accordingly hire people who are
well suited to the organisation. It is important for an HR manager to become an active listener so
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that the employees can easily convey their problems. The Selection is a process of picking the
right candidate with prerequisite qualifications and capabilities to fill the jobs in the organisation.
It is a very lengthy process as it involves a series of steps that need to follow by HR of Argos
before making the final selection. The selection process of every company differs from company
to company as the selection depends on the working procedures of the organisation. The HR
manager of Argos is selecting candidates on the basis of their interview performance.
Stage 2: Education
At this stage, it is very important for HR manager of Argos to create awareness and
education in the employees about their job role, working conditions, expectations of the
company. It also includes proper communication of the company's policies and procedures so
that the newly joining employees are well aware about the rules, regulations and working culture.
Further HR manager of Argos also conducts an effective induction and introduction session for
the newly joined staff members so that they get know each and every staff member properly.
Stage 3: Motivation
The main aid of fourth stage is to motivate employees of the company at time to time so
that they can sustain longer in the company. In this, the HR manager of Argos appreciate
performance of employees at time to time in order to realise them that they are valuable for the
company.
Stage 4: Evaluation:
This is the fourth stage of the HR life cycle in which the evaluation of employee's overall
performance is done. With the help of this review they analyse whether a certain person is
suitable for the job or not. It is the duty of the HR manager of Argos to continuously challenge
support and evaluate employees and give them a true feedback of their performance. For this,
HR manager also provides time to time training and development to the employees so that they
can function better and promote growth (Tansley, Kirk and Tietze, 2013).
Stage 5: Celebration
It is the last stage of overall HR life cycle in which HR manager gives opportunity to
employees by which they can easily reenergize performance of their employees. This can be
done effectively by providing them additional facilities such as gift cards, flexible working
hours, additional paid leaves etc.
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P7 Stages of the HR life-cycle are integrated within organisational HR strategy
According to above mentioned HR life cycle it has been observed that life of an
HR is all about changes which took place in the overall process of organisation. It has been seen
that HR manager adopts certain strategies which helps them in performing their Job
responsibility effectively which contributes in attaining goals and objective of the company.
Understanding an HR life cycle is not enough for HR manager but it is important for them to
execute all of them in regular based activities of the company (Meyers, Van Woerkom, and
Dries, 2013). Therefore, it helps the company in attaining its targeted goals and objectives.
Implementation of HR life cycle in Argos is stated as below:
Recruitment:
In this, at the first stage of HR- Life cycle manager mainly focuses on adopting effective
strategy while recruiting and selecting candidates in the organisation. With reference to Argos, it
has been analysed that its HR manager can develop an effective strategic staff plan. This plan
will include higher understanding of vacant job positions, right strategy for attracting employees
and other related hiring concerns. For this, talent management team (HR department) uses
effective marketing strategies that helps in increasing awareness about vacant position of
organisation. This marketing strategy attracts pool number of applicant towards company and
increases option ratio for organisation. It also contributes in hiring best suitable candidate among
lots of option as a result Argos, can fulfil its demand for vacant position in order to attain
targeted goals and objective of the company.
Education:
Second stage of this life cycle talks about on boarding and orientation. This stage states
that HR manager of Argos, is now required to implement high effective orientation program for
new employees as it helps them to get familiar with all the employees. At this, HR manager of
Argos uses effective strategy of providing training sessions to employees so that they can
improve their knowledge on work. The main strategy which can be used by HR manager of
Argos, includes introduction with other employees so that their functioning of work could be
done in effective manner. Along with this, HR manager of this company should select large
pictures at the time of orientation in order to clear employees about organisational culture,
places, activities like employee engagement etc. This helps organisation in making employees
aware about them (Dessler, 2013).
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Motivation:
In order to keep employees motivated. The HR manager of Argos provides additional
benefits to employees as its core strategy so that they can automatically feel motivated.
Evaluation:
At this stage, HR manager focuses on implementing performance management in the
organisation as it is a systematic process by which the overall performance of an organisation
can be improved or determined by improving the working of each individual employee within a
set framework and set guidelines. It is helpful for promoting performance by communicating the
expectations of the company, defining and explaining the roles of each employee so that he can
achieve successful results in the future. Similarly at Argos, the HR manager follows certain
similar techniques for the development of employees such as timely evaluation of the work and
performance of employee, giving proper corrective guidance for improvement, holding time to
time meetings and seminars for keeping them motivated and positively charged.
Celebration:
At this stage HR manager of Argos focuses on providing additional opportunities to
improve their performance so that they can sustain employees for longer period of time at
workplace. In this, HR manager gives gifts cards, additional monetary benefits and flexible
working timing employees which motivates them at higher level.
CONCLUSION
As per the above mentioned report, it has been concluded that resource and talent
planning is a most important department in the organisation as it helps them in increasing more
number of employees in the organisation. It has been analysed that among current labour market
trend part time job is an effect category which helpful for retail stores to increase its number
employees. It is important for HR department to consider various tools legal laws while planning
for the workforce. Different types of recruitment and selection methods have been used by
organisation for hiring best employee for company. It can be said that if an HR manager is using
effective strategy for implementing process of HR life cycle, then it will directly influence
growth of organisation.
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REFERENCES
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Briscoe, D., Tarique, I. and Schuler, R., 2012. International human resource management:
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HR? (pp. 177-212). Palgrave Macmillan, London.
Cooke, F. L., Saini, D. S. and Wang, J., 2014. Talent management in China and India: A
comparison of management perceptions and human resource practices. Journal of
World Business. 49(2). pp.225-235.
Church, A. H. and Silzer, R., 2013. Going behind the corporate curtain with a blueprint for
leadership potential: An integrated framework for identifying high-potential talent.
People & Strategy. 36(4). pp.50-59.
Guerci, M. and Solari, L., 2012. Talent management practices in Italy–implications for human
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Ulrich, D., and et. al., 2012. HR talent and the new HR competencies. Strategic HR Review.
11(4). pp.217-222.
Rothwell, W. J., and et. al., 2015. Career Planning and Succession Management: Developing
Your Organization's Talent—for Today and Tomorrow: Developing Your
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adolescence?’. The international journal of human resource management. 24(9).
pp.1744-1761.
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“talent management and the relevance of context: Towards a pluralistic approach”.
Human Resource Management Review. 23(4). pp.337-340.
Meyers, M. C., Van Woerkom, M. and Dries, N., 2013. Talent—Innate or acquired? Theoretical
considerations and their implications for talent management. Human Resource
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Dessler, G., 2013. Fundamentals of human resource management. Pearson.
Gold, J., and et. al., 2013. Human resource development: Theory and practice. Macmillan
International Higher Education.
Stredwick, J., 2013. An introduction to human resource management. Routledge.
Sparrow, P. R. and Makram, H., 2015. What is the value of talent management? Building value-
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