Effective Talent Management Strategies for Acquiring and Retaining Competent Workforce: A Study on Asda

Research Project

EXECUTIVE SUMMARY
Most of the organisations represent their faith in human capital in terms of referring towards
the talent to develop belief that will be for their people to help the company to accomplish their
goals and objectives. Talent management is the systematic process to analyse the vacant job post,
hiring deserving candidates, developing skills to match the post and also retain workforce for the
longer period of time to achieve business objectives. In regard of this, number of strategies are
used by organisations to retain their workforce as it helps them in achieving their desired goals
and objectives. These strategies can move the talent management of company beyond essential
activities such as talent acquisition and performance management to have proper growth, and
inclusive talent system. The aim of this report is to analyse the effective talent management
strategies which are useful for companies to retain and attract number of candidates.

Contents
EXECUTIVE SUMMARY.............................................................................................................2
INTRODUCTION...........................................................................................................................4
Background of the topic...............................................................................................................4
Background of the company........................................................................................................4
Rationale of the study..................................................................................................................4
Research aim................................................................................................................................5
Research Objectives.....................................................................................................................5
Research Questions......................................................................................................................5
LITERATURE REVIEW................................................................................................................5
Concept and importance of talent management...........................................................................5
Talent management strategies used by Asda to acquire and retain competent workforce within
the organization...........................................................................................................................6
Challenges faced by Asda while implementing talent management strategies at workplace......7
RESEARCH METHODOLOGY....................................................................................................7
DATA ANALYSIS.......................................................................................................................11
FINDINGS.....................................................................................................................................19
CONCLUSION..............................................................................................................................20
RECOMMENDATIONS...............................................................................................................21
REFERENCES..............................................................................................................................22

INTRODUCTION
Background of the topic
The concept of talent management is related with the dedication of company in order to attract,
retain and effectively develop the best employees and candidates with the market. It leads to
encompass by diverse organisational strategies which are being designed to help company to
enhance the potential of their workforce. At the time of hiring and retaining workforce,
organisation need to know about the best talent to get success in the hyper competitive and
increased critical global economy (Bratton, 2020). For this, the need to hire, develop and retain
talented individuals but for this, companies need to be aware regarding the management of talent
as it is the critical resource to accomplish the best possible outcome. Talent management is the
critical process that leads to make sure that company must have the quality and quantity of
people in order to meet the current and future priorities of business. This process is undertaken as
the key aspect of the life cycle of employees considering the selection, development, succession
and performance management.
Background of the company
For this research, Asda is considered which is a British supermarket chain and headquarter
in Leeds, England. Company was founded in 1949 and then merged their retail business with
associated dairies company of Yorkshire. Company was expanded into the southern England
during 1970s and 1980s and then sold the acquisitions during the 1990s to concentrate on
supermarkets. Asda was the second largest supermarket chain in United Kingdom among 2003
and 2014 sold by the market share at which point it fell into the third place.
Rationale of the study
The main objective of conducting this research is to effectively explore the actions which
are taken by business organisation to effectively understand the significance of talent
management and related strategies within an organisation. It is useful for the manager of
company to enhance their skills and knowledge on the grounds of suitable topic and related area.
Besides from this, after carry out the project activities, organisation can effectively achieve and
analyse the impact of equality and diversity in the business organisation. With the help of this,
the researcher and organisation can achieve positive and accurate outcomes in their project

activities at the same time and also make sure that the overall project achieve success with
authentic information.
Research aim
“To identify the effective talent management strategies used by an organization to acquire
and retain competent workforce”. A study on Asda
Research Objectives
 To understand the concept and importance of talent management.
 To analyze the talent management strategies used by Asda to acquire and retain
competent workforce within the organization.
 To examine the challenges faced by Asda while implementing talent management
strategies at workplace.
Research Questions
 What is the concept and importance of talent management?
 What are the talent management strategies used by Asda to acquire and retain competent
workforce within the organization?
 What are the challenges faced by Asda while implementing talent management strategies
at workplace?
LITERATURE REVIEW
Concept and importance of talent management
According to the viewpoint of Momtazaian, (2020), Talent management is the process of
attracting, motivating, retaining high quality and developing skills in the employees to improve
their performance. The main purpose of talent management is to create a flexible environment
for the employees to attract them towards the organisation in order to achieve long-term business
objectives. The process involves identifying the suitable candidates for the vacant positions and
train them by developing their skills. It helps in maximizing the value of employees. The process
includes the following key steps: Planning: It is the first step in the process of Talent Management. It helps in identifying
the requirement of human capital and in developing the roles and description of the job. Attracting: The next step in this process is deciding whether the candidate requirement
should be filled from within the organisation or from external source.

 Selecting: The process of selecting involves the testing and checking of the candidate
through written test and interviews to examine the most suitable candidate for the profile. Developing: According to this process a candidate is trained for the organisation through
orientation programme, counselling, mentoring and enhancing their skills according to
the requirement of job profile. Retaining: An organisation to become successful it must retain its employees through
providing promotions, increments, growth opportunities, rewards and role in decision
making.
 Transitioning: The growth of individual employee plays a vital role in transformation
and evolution of an organisation.
To achieve organisation's goal a company, need to have a right amount of employees with right
skills to perform their job timely (Monteiro and et. al., 2020). Talent management is an essential
part of an organisation. Workforce planning is essential at ASDA for its growth and determining
the demand and supply of the organisation and to build a strategy to close the gap. It will help
ASDA to respond better to the recession. Employees are the largest asset for the efficient
working of ASDA and that is what makes it a successful supermarket chain.
Talent management strategies used by Asda to acquire and retain competent workforce within
the organization
According to the viewpoint of Saraswat, (2019), ASDA is a British supermarket chain that
is the largest employer. Companies believe that Employees are the most powerful brand
ambassadors for them. They are very clear about their hiring strategies that they hire great talents
and train them for skills. They provide a similar profile for their customers and colleague. They
consider their employees as their customers. ASDA has provided a flexible working environment
for its employees.
ASDA engaged their colleagues in decision making which made it more successful retailer
organisation. It has provided an encouraging environment for their colleagues that makes them
confident to make decision for the customers in the moment. ASDA have an engagement survey
quarterly which contains a number of questions (Dom and Ahmad, 2020). They also have
leadership indices which helps them to comparing the working of different managers of various
stores and what they are doing in their stores to stand out different from others.