Examining Talent Management Strategies for Cultural Change: A Study on Sainsbury

This research aims to examine the extent of talent management strategies used within an organization as a lever for cultural change. The study focuses on Sainsbury, a UK-based supermarket chain. The research includes literature review, methodology, findings, and recommendations. The research questions include the basic concepts of cultural change and talent management, the role of talent management in leveling cultural change, and the extent of talent management strategies used in Sainsbury as a lever of cultural change.

Research Project
1

Table of Contents
TOPIC : To examine the extent of talent management strategies used within an organization as a
lever for cultural change. A study on Sainsbury. ............................................................................3
Chapter One: Introduction ..............................................................................................................3
Chapter Two: Literature Review.....................................................................................................5
Examine the basic concepts related with cultural change and talent management within an
organisation.................................................................................................................................5
Role of talent management in levelling cultural change in Sainsbury........................................5
Discern extent of talent management strategies used in Sainsbury as a lever of cultural change
.....................................................................................................................................................6
Chapter Three: Methodology...........................................................................................................7
Chapter Four: Findings (Data Analysis and Presentation)..............................................................9
Chapter Five: Discussion (Data Interpretation).............................................................................10
Chapter Six: Conclusion, Recommendations and Implications for Further Research...................17
References......................................................................................................................................18
Books and journals....................................................................................................................18
Appendices.....................................................................................................................................19
2

TOPIC : To examine the extent of talent management strategies used within
an organization as a lever for cultural change. A study on Sainsbury.
Chapter One: Introduction
Talent management is a process for attracting highly skilled workforce in order to
enhance the productivity and performance of business. They mainly focus on preparing future
ready and skilled workforce that can contribute their best efforts in accomplishing the business
goals and objectives (Tafti, Mahmoudsalehi and Amiri, 2017). Talent management also
strengthen the structure of organisation by building strong human capital (Borisova and et. al.,
2017). The research is based on talent management strategies which can be used by organisation
as a lever of change. Through these strategies company can protect the business from sudden and
unexpected change. It also helps in preserving brand integrity and reputation due to which
organisation can gain competitive advantage in market. The chosen organisation for
accomplishing this research is Sainsbury, it is a supermarket chain which deals in various
products including hypermarket, supermarket, convenience shop and forecourt shop. It is a
public limited company which was founded in 1869 in London, United Kingdom.
Research aim:
“To examine the extent of talent management strategies used within an organisation as a
lever for cultural change. A study on Sainsbury.”
Research objective:
 To examine the basic concepts related with cultural change and talent management within
an organisation.
 To investigate the role of talent management in leveling cultural change in Sainsbury.
 To discern extent of talent management strategies used in Sainsbury as a lever of cultural
change.
Research questions
 What is the basic concepts of cultural change and talent management in an organisation?
 What is the role of talent management in leveling cultural change in Sainsbury?
 What is the extent of talent management strategies used in Sainsbury as a lever of cultural
change?
3

Rationale:
Research plays an important role for organisation, students and researcher as it helps in
gaining knowledge and skills. It plays a vital role for organisation in order to remain competitive
in market. The main function of research is to supply for business so that they can determine its
customer. Research also helps in understanding the issues and enhance public awareness. It
enable organization to disprove lies and support truths. The main of research for company is to
get succeed in business and find opportunities to gain competitive advantage in market. Research
also helps student to restore, enhance memory and problem solving skills so that they can
understand the theories and concepts in better manner. Students learning capacity is also get
enhanced due to which they can perform better as compare to others. Through having detailed
research, an individual can develop their effective analytical, critical thinking, communication
skills and research skills. Research also help researcher as they can easily understand what
makes people feel, think and act in certain ways. Researcher also gain accurate and timely
information on the attitudes, needs and motivations.
Significance of research:
Talent management main goal is to improve the productivity and performance of business
due to which they can gain competitive edge and get succeed in market. They focus on long term
talent planning and retention and also promote training and development in organisation which
helps in improving the knowledge and skills of employees (Narayanan, Rajithakumar, and
Menon, 2019).
4

Chapter Two: Literature Review
Examine the basic concepts related with cultural change and talent management within an
organisation
As per the viewpoint of Pandita (2021), talent management is a concept of attracting,
retaining and selecting the suitable employees for the job vacancy. Talent management generally
includes learning and development, Onboarding, employee engagement, performance
management, workforce planning, recruiting, successions and retention. The main role of talent
management in Sainsbury is to onboard, motivate, develop, recruit and retain expertise employee
who contributes their best efforts in accomplishing the goals and objective of business. There are
few key elements of talent management they are recruitment, corporate learning, performance
management and compensation management. Talent management is important for Sainsbury as it
helps employees to feel engaged, motivated and skilled by following the direction of company's
goal and objective. They focus on creating motivated workforce so that they can stay for long
run in company. Cultural change generally occurs due to innovation, discovery and invention in
the products and services of Sainsbury. The cultural change mainly supports strategic objectives
and also increase the value of people within firm. It means when something new opens up and
bring new ways of living. Cultural change mainly used on public policy making that influence
cultural capital on community behaviour and individual. If in Sainsbury, there is cultural change
it helps in increasing the value of people within company as employee become more
knowledgeable, develop greater leadership capacity and acquire new skills. Through having
cultural change, the productivity of company also increases as they focus on improving
motivation and greater satisfaction in workplace. It provide greater flexibility within company as
employees adapt to change and strove for continual improvement. Cultural change within
Sainsbury also improve attraction, customer service and retention of talented people.
Role of talent management in levelling cultural change in Sainsbury
According to Taylor (2018), there are various role which is played by talent management
in levelling the cultural change. The main role of talent management is to enhance business
performance by focusing on increasing employee productivity. In order to manage the cultural
change, talent management mainly observe and understand the organisation culture and
determine which value will best align with structure and strategy.
5

Attracting top talent is one of the role which is played by talent management they
generally focus on attracting highly skilled workforce who can contribute their best efforts in
achieving the target. It is important for talent manager to hire the right talent who are passionate
and dedicated towards their goals. Talent manager hire different people from different culture so
it is important to create cultural environment in organisation so that all employees get work
together and achieve business goals (Latukha, 2015). It is important for talent manager to
provide knowledge of cultural change to employees so that they get aware about the change and
work accordingly.
Increasing employees performance is another role which is played by talent manager in
leveling cultural change in Sainsbury. The manager mainly focus on increasing the employees
performance so that they can contribute and perform better in company. In order to improve the
performance of workers, it is essential to provide training and development opportunities to
employees so that their knowledge and skill get enhanced. Sainsbury have different people with
different religion and culture. So, it is the responsibility of talent manager to select the one
common language in order to provide training and development opportunity to workers.
Retaining top talents is also a role which is played by talent manager on leveling
cultural change in company. The main motive of talent manager is to retain top talent in order to
improve the performance and productivity of business. By retaining highly skilled workforce,
company can gain success and also enhance the profitability of business. Generally, due to
cultural change people get retain so, it is necessary to bring innovation in products and services
in order to retain talented employees in organisation.
Discern extent of talent management strategies used in Sainsbury as a lever of cultural change
As per the opinion of Sparrow, Hird and Cooper (2015), there are various talent
management strategies which can be used by Sainsbury as lever of cultural change. Through
these strategy manager can deal with the lever of cultural change.
Invest in employer brand is one of the strategy which can be used by talent manager in
order to lever the cultural change. If company invest in employer brand they focus on improving
three essential hiring metrics such as cost per hire, quality of hire and time to hire. Employer
branding helps in attracting new and talented employees and also reduce the cost of hire.
Through employer branding, company can also cope up with cultural change. If employees get
satisfied with the change, it helps in increasing the performance and productivity of Sainsbury.
6

Be smart about job advertising is another strategy through which company can lever
the cultural change. Sainsbury must focus on implementing smart job advertising that attracts
right talent with different religion and culture. By attracting highly skilled employees, Sainsbury
can implement cultural change and also ensure that they work with new business environment.
Continuously invest in employee engagement is also a strategy which can be used by
talent manager in order to lever the cultural change in Sainsbury. By investing in employee
engagement, company can engage and motivate employees to adapt cultural change and focus on
achieving the target in effective and efficient manner. It is important for the talent manager to
invest in employee engagement by conducting activities that engage employees to work together
and achieve the target together.
Chapter Three: Methodology
 Research philosophy : Research philosophies is consisting of two methods. These are
positivism and interpretivism. It is such a assumption which is undertaken by the
investigator in order to enhance their knowledge about a particular topic (Rezaei, 2021).
Within this research, researcher is using Positivism philosophies because it helps in
analysis in all information in effective manner. It makes use of quantitative method.
 Research approach : There are some of the approach which helps in analyzing data and
information in most effective manner. It includes two types of approaches these are
deductive and inductive approach. In this research, deductive approach is used to
analyses data and findings because it includes quantitative method in order to develop
true and reliable information. This helps in achievement of research aim and objectives.
 Research strategy : There are different types of research strategies such as case studies,
survey, literature review, observations and action research etc. these helps in collecting
true and reliable information about a given topic. In this research, researcher is using
literature review and survey method to collect data and findings. Further, literature
review is analyses through books and articles and different newspapers. Further, survey is
collected through questionnaire which consist of close ended questions (Tsai, Kim, and
Cheong, 2021). It helps in achieving research aim and objectives and collecting data and
findings in effective manner.
 Research method : Research method consisting of two types. These are quantitative and
qualitative method. These both method helps in achieving reliable information and data.
7

Qualitative method involves non numeric informational and on the other hand
quantitative method involves numeric information which results in gaining accurate
information about a particular topic. Within this research investigator is using
quantitative method which is resulting in getting numerical data and information. It
makes use of graphs and charts. Within this research, researcher is using questionnaire
survey in order to collect true information because this resulting in achieving true
information. In the next hand qualitative method is not used because it requires
theoretical data and information which is not needed in this research. There is a need of
numerical information in order to collect reliable data.
 Data collection method : Data is collected through two different methods (Haua, Wolf
and Aspden, 2021). These are primary and secondary data collection method. Primary
data is that data which brings reliable information as compared to the secondary method.
It makes sue of charts and graphs as well. Further secondary data is that which brings
theoretical data and informational and collected through analyzing different books and
journals. Within this study, investigation is using primary and secondary both of the data
collection method. Primary data is collected through questionnaire survey which
consisting of 7 close ended questions and these are to be filled by respondents. There are
various types of other method these are secondary method is collected through analyzing
different books and journals. It is presented in the form of literature review. This helps in
getting in depth knowledge about a specific topic. It provides true and reliable
information as compared to the secondary method.
 Time horizon : The time horizon is consisting of two types of methods these are
longitudinal and cross sectional. In this present research, cross sectional time horizon is
used because it covers multi dimensions aspect at the once and it will be useful for
completion of his project in a most shorter time period (Fox, and Alldred, 2021). This
helps in using of gantt chart which resulting in completing research on a specific time
period.
 Sampling : Sampling is consisting of two types of methods. These are probabilistic and
non probabilistic sampling. Within this research probabilistic sampling is used to select a
sample and in this random sampling is used because it provides equal chance to every
employees to be selected in the sample. The sample size taken in this research is 40
8

employees who are the employees of Sainsbury which helps in getting accurate
information about a specific topic of talent management strategies for lever of cultural
change.
Chapter Four: Findings (Data Analysis and Presentation)
Questionnaire
Q1. According to you, what did you understand about cultural change in
talent management?
Frequency
a. Preserving healthy teams 10
b. Building positive working environment 20
c. Developing employees and retain them for longer duration 10
Q2. According to you, what is the strategies used in Sainsbury in order
to retain employees for longer duration?
Frequency
a. Performance management 15
b. Training and on boarding programmed 15
c. Involving in decision making process 10
Q3. What is the role of talent management in leveling cultural change in
Sainsbury?
Frequency
a. Attracting top talent 15
b. Increasing employees performance 10
c. Retaining top talents 15
Q4. According to you, what is the benefits of talent management within
working environment?
Frequency
a. Reducing employees turnover 10
b. Enhancing employees engagement 10
c. Developing employees productivity 20
9

Q5. According to you, did you think, company is changing towards
positive working environment through talent management strategies?
Frequency
a. yes 25
b. no 5
c. Can't say 10
Q6. What challenges are being faced by managers of Sainsbury in
implementing of talent management strategies as a lever of change?
Frequency
a. Lack of leadership 20
b. High employees turnover 10
c. Offering impressive salaries 10
Q7. What recommendations will be given to the managers while using of
talent management strategies to change a culture of organization?
Frequency
a. Invest in your employer brand 15
b. Be smart about job advertising 15
c. Continuously invest in employee engagement. 10
Chapter Five: Discussion (Data Interpretation)
Question 1 Understand about cultural change in talent management
Q1. According to you, what did you understand about cultural change in
talent management?
Frequency
a. Preserving healthy teams 10
b. Building positive working environment 20
c. Developing employees and retain them for longer duration 10
10

Interpretation
From the above graph, it is analysed that out of 40 members, 10 said preserving healthy
team is the meaning of cultural change in talent management. Further, 20 people said building
positive working environment is the meaning of cultural change in talent management. The rest
of 10 people said developing employees and retaining for longer duration is the meaning of
cultural change in talent management
Question 2 Strategies used in Sainsbury in order to retain employees for longer duration
Q2. According to you, what is the strategies used in Sainsbury in order
to retain employees for longer duration?
Frequency
a. Performance management 15
b. Training and on boarding programmed 15
c. Involving in decision making process 10
11
0
5
10
15
20
25
Frequency

Interpretation
From the above, it is analysed that out of 40 respondents, 15 said performance
management is the strategy used in Sainsbury in order to retain employees for longer duration.
The other 15 people said training and on boarding programmes is the strategies used in
Sainsbury in order to retain employees for longer duration. The other 10 people said involving in
decision making process is the strategies used in Sainsbury in order to retain employees for
longer duration.
Question 3 Role of talent management in leveling cultural change in Sainsbury
Q3. What is the role of talent management in leveling cultural change in
Sainsbury?
Frequency
a. Attracting top talent 15
b. Increasing employees performance 10
c. Retaining top talents 15
12
a. Performance management
b. Training and on boarding programmed
c. Involving in decision making process
0
2
4
6
8
10
12
14
16
Frequency

Interpretation
From the above table, it is said that out of 40 respondents, 15 said attracting top talent is
the role of talent management in leveling cultural change in Sainsbury. The other 10 people said
increasing employees performance is the role of talent management in leveling cultural change in
Sainsbury. Rest of 15 people said retaining top talents is the role of talent management in
leveling cultural change in Sainsbury.
Question 4 Benefits of talent management within working environment
Q4. According to you, what is the benefits of talent management within
working environment?
Frequency
a. Reducing employees turnover 10
b. Enhancing employees engagement 10
c. Developing employees productivity 20
13
a. Attracting top talent
b. Increasing employees performance
c. Retaining top talents
0
2
4
6
8
10
12
14
16
Frequency

Interpretation
From the above, it is said that out of 40 respondents, 10 said reducing employees
turnover is the benefits of talent management within working environment. The other 10 people
said enhancing employees engagement is the benefits of talent management within working
environment. Rest of 20 people said developing employees productivity is the benefits of talent
management within working environment.
Question 5 Company is changing towards positive working environment through talent
management strategies
Q5. According to you, did you think, company is changing towards
positive working environment through talent management strategies?
Frequency
a. yes 25
b. no 5
c. Can't say 10
14
a. Reducing employees turnover
b. Enhancing employees engagement
c. Developing employees productivity
0
5
10
15
20
25
Frequency

Interpretation
It is being identified from the above table that out of 40 respondents, 25 thinks that
company is changing towards positive working environment through talent management
strategies whereas 5 thinks that company is not changing towards positive working environment
through talent management strategies. Talent management mainly focus on creating positive
working environment so that employees can contribute their best in achieving the goals and
objective of business. The remaining respondent are not saying about anything, they don't have
any perspective.
Question 6 Challenges are being faced by managers of Sainsbury in implementing of talent
management strategies as a lever of change
Q6. What challenges are being faced by managers of Sainsbury in
implementing of talent management strategies as a lever of change?
Frequency
a. Lack of leadership 20
b. High employees turnover 10
c. Offering impressive salaries 10
15
a. yes b. no c. Can't say
0
5
10
15
20
25
30
Frequency

Interpretation
From the above table, it is being identified that out of 40 respondent, it is being
determined that 20 respondent thinks that lack of leadership is one of the challenge which is
faced by managers if Sainsbury in implementing of talent management strategies as a lever of
change whereas 10 thinks that high employees turnover is challenge which is faced by talent
manager. The remaining 10 respondent says that offering impressive salaries is challenge which
is faced by managers of Sainsbury in implementing of talent management strategies as lever of
change.
Question 7 Recommendations will be given to the managers while using of talent
management strategies to change a culture of organization
Q7. What recommendations will be given to the managers while using of
talent management strategies to change a culture of organization?
Frequency
a. Invest in your employer brand 15
b. Be smart about job advertising 15
c. Continuously invest in employee engagement. 10
16

Interpretation
It is being analyzed from the above information that out of 40, it is being determined that
15 respondent thinks that managers must invest in employer brand and other t15 thinks that be
smart about job advertising is the talent management strategies in order to change a culture of
organization whereas remaining respondent thinks that continuously investing in employee
engagement is other strategies which helps to change a culture of organization.
Chapter Six: Conclusion, Recommendations and Implications for Further
Research
It is being concluded from the above information that talent management plays a vital
role in improving the business performance and productivity. Talent management improves team
productivity and employee satisfaction but also they focus on talent retention. The main
objective of talent management is to make business succeed over its competitors so that they can
establish strong presence in market and achieve their goals and objective. Cultural change also
plays an important role as it helps in supporting strategic objectives and also enhance the value
17
a. Invest in your employer brand
b. Be smart about job advertising
c. Continuously invest in employee engagement.
0
4
8
12
16
Frequency

of people within company. Through cultural change, company can improve learning and health,
increase opportunities and tolerance and also enhance the overall well-being of communities ad
individuals. Talent management plays a significant role in managing cultural change as they are
the one who provide guidance and support to employees to adapt cultural change in effective and
efficient manner. There are several strategies through which Sainsbury can use in order to retain
employees for longer duration such as performance management, training and on boarding
programmed and involving in decision making process. Talent management helps in improving
the performance of employees by offering them training and development opportunities so that
they can give their best efforts in enhancing the performance and productivity of business. The
main role of talent management in leveling the cultural change are attracting top talents,
increasing employee performance and retaining top talents. These role are played by talent
management in order to deal with cultural change and implementing the new change
management concept in organisation. There are various benefits of talent management within
working environment such as it helps in reducing employees turnover and also enhance
employee engagement.
18

References
Books and journals
Borisova, O. N and et. al., 2017. Talent management as an essential element in a corporate
personnel development strategy. Academy of strategic management journal, 16, p.31.
Fox, N.J. and Alldred, P., 2021. Doing new materialist data analysis: a Spinozo-Deleuzian
ethological toolkit. International Journal of Social Research Methodology, pp.1-14.
Haua, R., Wolf, A., Harrison, J. and Aspden, T., 2021. Q methodology: An underutilised tool in
pharmacy practice research. Research in Social and Administrative Pharmacy.
Latukha, M., 2015. Talent management in Russian companies: domestic challenges and
international experience. The International Journal of Human Resource
Management, 26(8), pp.1051-1075.
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.
Pandita, D., 2021. Innovation in talent management practices: creating an innovative employer
branding strategy to attract generation Z. International Journal of Innovation Science.
Rezaei, M., 2021. An Explanation of the Methodology of Inferential Research of Rational
Necessity in the Philosophy of the Islamic Education DOR: 20.1001. 1.22516972.
1399.28. 49.4. 5. Scientific Journal of Islamic Education, 28(49), pp.85-119.
Sparrow, P., Hird, M. and Cooper, C. L., 2015. Strategic talent management. In Do we need
HR? (pp. 177-212). Palgrave Macmillan, London.
Tafti, M. M., Mahmoudsalehi, M. and Amiri, M., 2017. Critical success factors, challenges and
obstacles in talent management. Industrial and Commercial Training.
Taylor, S., 2018. Resourcing and talent management. Kogan Page Publishers.
Tsai, C.Y., Kim, J., JIN, F., Jun, M.J. and Cheong, M., 2021. Polynomial Regression and
Response Surface Methodology in Leadership Research. In Academy of Management
Proceedings (Vol. 2021, No. 1, p. 14262). Briarcliff Manor, NY 10510: Academy of
Management.
19

Appendices
Questionnaire
Q1. According to you, what did you understand about cultural change in talent management?
a. Preserving healthy teams
b. Building positive working environment
c. Developing employees and retain them for longer duration
Q2. According to you, what is the strategies used in Sainsbury in order to retain employees for
longer duration?
a. Performance management
b. Training and on boarding programmed
c. Involving in decision making process
Q3. What is the role of talent management in leveling cultural change in Sainsbury?
a. Attracting top talent
b. Increasing employees performance
c. Retaining top talents
Q4. According to you, what is the benefits of talent management within working environment?
a. Reducing employees turnover
b. Enhancing employees engagement
c. Developing employees productivity
Q5. According to you, did you think, company is changing towards positive working
environment through talent management strategies?
a. yes
b. no
c. Can't say
Q6. What challenges are being faced by managers of Sainsbury in implementing of talent
20

management strategies as a lever of change?
a. Lack of leadership
b. High employees turnover
c. Offering impressive salaries
Q7. What recommendations will be given to the managers while using of talent management
strategies to change a culture of organization?
a. Invest in your employer brand
b. Be smart about job advertising
c. Continuously invest in employee engagement.
21