Effective Talent Management Strategy & Its impact on firm’s productivity: A case study on UNILEVER (2021)

This research project focuses on the effective talent management strategy and its impact on firm’s productivity. It is a case study on UNILEVER (2021). The report includes literature review, talent management model, project management plan, case study methodology, research strategy, data analysis, conclusion, recommendations, and references.

Effective Talent Management Strategy &Its impact on
firm’s productivity
A case study on UNILEVER (2021)

Executive Summary.........................................................................................................................3
INTRODUCTION...........................................................................................................................4
Limitations of the Report.................................................................................................................4
Hypotheses.......................................................................................................................................5
Literature Review.............................................................................................................................5
Talent Management Model..............................................................................................................7
Project management plan.................................................................................................................9
Case Study Methodology:......................................................................................................9
Research Strategy:..................................................................................................................9
Case Study 9
Methodology..................................................................................................................................10
Questionnaire techniques...................................................................................................11
Data Analysis.................................................................................................................................12
 Thematic Analysis of collected data......................................................................................13
 Recognizing Importance................................................................................................13
 Unfamiliar Concept........................................................................................................13
 Traditionalist Tendency.................................................................................................13
 Positive Outcome...........................................................................................................13
CONCLUSION..............................................................................................................................15
Recommendations..........................................................................................................................15
Reflective Statement......................................................................................................................16
Alternative research methodologies...............................................................................................17
REFERENCES..............................................................................................................................18

Executive Summary
The project highlights about Effective Talent Management Strategy & its impact on
firm’s productivity. Different strategies of talent management helps ion improving the
performance & growth of business due to which company can gain competitive advantage in
market. The chosen organization for accomplishing this project is Unilever which is one of the
recognized brands in world. Through formal &informal processes, I surveyed this corporation to
obtain primary data to back that up of my paper, which would be Talent Management Approach
&Its Consequences on Firm Efficiency. The corporation employs 155,000 people worldwide
&operates 400 brands in far more than 190 countries. This company, in both the business
&service sectors, is implementing new ideas to boost efficiency. One of them is responsible for
this activity. This document was compiled using primary data that I gathered on the topic. At the
conclusion of this report, I've included my observations &even some ideas that I believe might
help enhance the management even further.

INTRODUCTION
The HND BUSINESS Degree includes a group project as a requirement. Every learner is
expected to produce such a report after completing all semesters, depending on a topic provided
by the recognized supervisor & focused on an organization pertaining to the student's discipline.
For the purpose of writing this report, my valued manager, Raziur Chowdhury, has assigned me
to work on the subject "Integrated Talent Management Strategy & Its Consequences on
Company Efficiency."
In compiling this research, I have chosen UNILEVER UK & IRL as my primary emphasis.
This organization was picked since it comes strongly advisable &has a good reputation.
This paper is based on the recognized organization UNILEVER's Integrated Talent
Management Strategy practices. To create this study, I gathered information from the renowned
corporation's top management & perhaps some general employees, as well as material from the
internet. The goal of an Integrated Talent Management Policy is to maximize the performance of
the company.
Research Aims
The study was conducted to highlight the role of talent management in HR general
purpose strategies to retain talent, start reducing UNILEVER profit margin, but also accomplish
perceptions HR consequences of an organization by effective &efficient manner instituting long
term planning, corporate branding, encouragement, &development strategies.
Research Objective:
 To know about the Talent Management Policies of the UNILEVER.
 To analyze the UNILEVER Effective Talent Management Strategy to improve firm’s
productivity.
 To determine the affects of Talent Management Strategy practices on a firm’s
productivity.

Limitations of the Report
Human resource management plays a vital role in improving the performance &productivity of
business by identifying the right candidate &managing the overall life cycle of staff. They
generally play various types of activities within workplace but also face various challenges such
as:
 High Compensation Demands
 Tightening Talent Markets
 Unappealing company culture
 High Employee Turnover
 Lack of Leadership
There is huge competition for expertise &skilled employees, it is important for organisations to
attract &retain top talents in order to increase the profitability &gain competitive advantage over
its competitors. Through the high demand of skilled labors, it becomes difficult for companies to
attract & fulfill their demand accordingly.
Hypotheses
The following hypotheses will help for future research work.
H1: Implementation of talent management strategies along with HR practices helps in retaining
employees
H2: Talent management strategies decreases employee turnover
Literature Review
Talent retention is one of the important aspects of organization, it is essential for business
to retain their highly skilled employees by fulfilling their needs &expectation within workplace.
Organisation must ensure that their staff may not face any difficulty while working. Through
talent retention strategies, firm can encourage people to stay with business for long term. There
are mainly two ways through which company can retain their employees such as intrinsic
incentives &extrinsic incentives. Intrinsic incentive mainly includes non-monetary rewards for
fulfilling the needs of staff whereas extrinsic incentive includes monetary rewards for meeting
the requirement of employees such as bonus. The right pool of talents can surely be the prime
factor in distinguishing any business; this paper will detail these aspects of talent management.

Although Talent management enhances the makeup &function of a company, the concept of
human capital management as a major consideration is still in the process of being fully
appreciated &developed. On the other hand, major companies &some national governments have
already progressed to the level of undertaking &innovating talent management to the
technological &global levels. (Talent management - Wikipedia Feb. 2013). Researchers have
found out some basic steps to count while implying Talent Management strategies. They are-
 Hiring suitable candidate: Companies need to be careful while hiring people. Through
hiring suitable candidate for the vacant job position, company can increase their
performance &also achieve competitive advantage over its competitors. The right
employee can give their productive outcomes in achieving the goals &objective of
business.
 Keep commitments: Organizations should instill a sense of duty in your personnel by
following through on promises that were made throughout the hiring process. Unmet
assumptions can result in physical unhappiness and, as a result, worse work performance.
 Protecting against severe workplace stress: Organizations need to understand that a
concerned thinking could never offer its all to its task. As a result, rather of adding job
stress on people, companies should consider lowering tension in their heads. HRM must
devise methods that allow personnel to unwind, keep energized, &pleasant while
performing their duties (Freidberg &Kao 2008).
 Merit recognition: Everyone demands respect for their abilities. As a result, businesses
should review their employees' progress regularly &recognize those who have
exceptional abilities.
 Pleasant working atmosphere: The company must recognize that exceptionally
accomplished individuals like to work according to their own set of standards. As a
result, employees will be provided sufficient freedom to act in a flexible manner.
Employment rules should really be created in such a way that workers have a comfortable
work environment.

 Providing learning experiences: Every individual should really have opportunities for
all learners in order to further enhance their skills. Employees that are emboldened have a
greater sense of confidence in their job &hence attempt to offer more to the firm. HR
should set up a variety of training programmers to provide workers with opportunity to
learn.
Talent Management Model
Talent Management procedures vary per organization & are connected with
organizational needs &objectives. The majority of them are custom-made to fit the needs of the
business. As an outcome, there is really no one-size-fits-all method regarding Talent
Management. However, there are also several characteristics that are included in each Talent
Management approach. The model below is a simplified Talent Management specific process
that aims of common Talent Management methods used by most businesses.
Figure 1: Talent Management Process Model (Business Jargons, 2019)

There are five factors are involved in the Talent management model which are discussed below-
1. Planning
2. Attracting
3. Selecting
4. Developing
5. Retaining
These five stages are followed by human resource departments when it comes to
controlling talent in their businesses. The methodology begins with the design phase, in which
HR calculates the expertise standards &criteria for specific available jobs, as well as appropriate
compensation packages, &so on. The second step, going to attract, follows. Organizations use
this method to recruit people for specific job openings. This may be accomplished by providing
appealing perks to workers, such as a competitive wage, a pleasant work conditions, a positive
corporate image, paid time off, additional benefits, &so on.
The third stage is the selection stage. HR works through with a range of internal activities
at this point to choose acceptable individuals for those roles, taking into account its skill,
qualities, temperament, enthusiasm, &desire, among other factors. The fourth step is the
Development phase, during which HR attempts to establish recently recruited staff. HR organises
a variety of training &development opportunities for workers to assist them improve their
abilities &skills while also ensuring that they are properly suited to their given duties. When
executing their tasks, such employees feel powerful &competent. Individuals develop a sense of
loyalty as a result of this.
Retaining is the last &last stage. This is, without a doubt, the most essential period. HR
develops rules &tactics to help employees stay with the company for as long as feasible. This
involves establishing a pleasant job atmosphere, paying them competitive wages, offering added
benefits, &maintaining paid time off, among other things (HRMS 28/03/2019).
An Integrative Talent Management model that is more complicated than a simple Talent
Management model & more successful, is another type of Talent Development model. The

diagram below depicts the primary &secondary components of an Integrated Talent
Development strategy (HRMS 28/03/2019).
Project management plan
Case Study Methodology:
There is different conception of talent management such as sourcing, developing
&rewarding talented staff, collecting typical human resource department practices &flow of
human resources across company. The few components of talent attraction are employer
branding, recruitment &selection, employer of choice &employee value proposition.

Research Strategy:
Case Study
 Research Approach- Induction: Inductive approach, also known as inductive reasoning
begins with theories &observations which are anticipated towards the end of the research
process as a result of observations . This research “involves the search for pattern from
observation &the development of explanations – theories – for those patterns through
series of hypotheses”.
 Research Process &Exploration: Research process mainly includes the steps which are
required for accomplishing or conducting the research work. Exploration research is an
activity of investigating the issues that has not been thoroughly investigated in past. It
generally helps researcher to get familiarize with the topic.
 Data Analysis-Thematic Analysis: Through thematic analysis, company can analyse
qualitative data but it also includes interpretation in the processes of selecting codes
&constructing themes .
 Data Collection: Data collection refers to collecting necessary data for research
completion through various sources. Here I have collected data through the following
sources-
1. Top Management Interview: Interviewing the senior executives of the
organizations.
2. Archival Research: Going through archived data gathered by primary
&secondary sources.
3. Policy Paper Analysis: Analyzing the Human Resource policies of the
organizations.
Methodology
To conduct this research, I have chosen the Interview method, to specify Non-standardized,
one to one interview (senior executives). I have also interviewed a focus group (general
employees).

Figure 2: Types of Interviews (Saunders et al., 2012)
To clarify, the reason behind choosing a non-standardized or qualitative interview
method; the purpose of the research; the significance of establishing personal contact; the nature
of the data collection questions; length of time required &completeness of the process.
For this research I have chosen semi-structured open ended questions as it helps in
encouraging two way communications &also enable open-ended responses from people. It is
important when interpretive epistemology is adopted as it helps in understanding the meanings
that candidate assign to various phenomena.
Questionnaire techniques
I chose UNILEVER as my target since it is a well-known &respected food company in
the United Kingdom.
I attempted to obtain knowledge into the recognized UNILEVER's Talent Management
procedures. I collected information through top leaders with in recognized food business,
&perhaps some regular employees, &relevant material out from website to conduct my research.

I designed a questionnaire with five tractor trailer outstanding questions that I used to
examine top executives as well as a controlled group of normal workers. As stated in the
"Restrictions" section.
The questionnaire consisted of the following questions:
1. Do you think that Talent Management is significant to improve a firm’s productivity?
2. According to you, what are the advantages of using Talent Management?
3. According to you, what are the disadvantages of using Talent Management?
4. What is the Talent Management procedure in your company?
5. How did Talent Management affect your firm’s productivity?
I gathered the information through a face-to-face interview. To mention, the replies were
quite consistent, with minor differences.
First &foremost, they all acknowledged the importance of Talent Management in
increasing a company's efficiency when answering that question. Second, they've found a
number of benefits to using Talent Management techniques in their company. Increased worker
production &competence, a greater relationship amongst individual performances &corporate
goals, dedication of valuable personnel, decreased churn, &so on are some of the benefits.
Finally, they addressed several frequent drawbacks of employing Talent Management
techniques. They are—such methods are frequently expensive, & top management is generally
hesitant to engage in anything that does not yield instant results. Because Talent Development
expenditures are long-term, the advantages might be realized over time rather than
instantaneously. Many people have also been seen to move careers after learning &developing
themselves at their current employment. Employees believe that changing jobs will result in a
better position &greater income. This is also an issue that discourages senior executives from
investment in talent management. Finally, when questioned about their respective firms' Talent
Management methods, their responses differed slightly.
Then there is a viva, which is mostly focused on academics. They do not however care if
their personnel learn different abilities or improve themselves more; alternatively, they prefer
that they keep doing their regular jobs &be advanced based on seniority. Candidates are
screening using various procedures, such as discussion groups, case studies, &so on, in order to

acquire a deeper understanding of the individuals personal basic properties, &then an assessment
is conducted to determine their fit with the preferred role. This firm spends a good chunk of
money on staff development. New &elderly staff are given training sessions on a regular basis.
Workers are required to participate in outdoor training courses. Seniors frequently serve
as mentors, guiding &teaching juniors though their initial experiences. HR seeks to maintain
employees by creating a pleasant organizational climate, responding to their unspoken demands,
following through on commitments, offering special perks, allowing for work flexibility, &so on.
Data Analysis
As mentioned earlier, I have chosen Thematic Analysis process to analyze the data I have
collected through archival research, face to face interviews &policy paper analysis.
Thematic analysis is one of the methods for analyzing qualitative data, it is mainly used to
identify the themes &implement it to address the research. The analysis is similar to literature
review as it helps in conducting critical survey &also assess existing research n particular topic.
Thematic analysis is a flexible method that allows for wide range of analytical options. It is one
of the easy &quick methods to learn. There are several approaches which can be used by
organisation for conducting thematic analysis such as familiarization, coding, reviewing themes,
writing up, generating themes, defining &naming themes &writing up.
So, when doing Thematic Analysis of my acquired data, I used an Inferential & Semantic
technique.
Thematic Analysis of collected data
Based on the information I gathered, I came up with the following four themes:
• Recognizing importance
• Unfamiliar aspect
• Socially conservative Tendency
• Positive Outcomes

• Understanding the Importance
Organizations (HR) are increasingly understanding the value of implementing Talent
Management solutions to boost the productivity. Organizations now underst&that finding
&employing the appropriate staff is critical to the growth &profitability of their companies.
• A Concept That Isn't Easily Recognized
Because the U.K., is a third world country, it's understandable that principles that are widely
used in industrialized countries take time to fully integrate into the company structure here.
However, our world is currently advancing towards digitization, &our company culture is
evolving at a rapid speed as a result of globalization.
• Traditionalist Attitude
Despite the fact that HR departments in firms are well aware of & understand the value of Talent
Management approaches, Top Management continues to be an impediment to fully executing
such practises. Instead of adapting with the times, top management typically prefers to adhere to
their conservative beliefs on how to run a corporation.
• Positive Result
Companies are increasingly realizing the long-term benefits of employing Talent Management
strategies after recognizing the necessity &relevance of such methods. This is a good indicator
that Senior Leadership is willing to put additional money into such procedures.
Employee happiness is a regression coefficient that can enhance a company's productivity
&profitability. A linear analysis is used to determine the outcome of employees in an
organization. Professional happiness is based on five main criteria, as shown in the table above.
Other three criteria have an effect on organizational performance &completeness, according to
the preceding studies. When top management talent is engaged, comprehensiveness &leading
becomes secondary to other aspects. In multiple regression, a few variables that are exhibited in

situations of two - way interaction in Pearson correlation become ineffective. It has been
discovered that the bet value of predictor factors ranges between 0.255 &0.455, &that a rate of
78.7% describes the response variable of employee engagement.
The above table helps in determining the results of regression by indicating whether
rewarding &performance as dependent variables can influenced by five independent variables.
This analysis represents that system creation technique &advanced managemnent creates an
impact on dependent variable with 51.1% &1% level of significance. There are various factors
that influence the performance of employees such as ability to engage in strategic planning, high
communication levels, high levels of leadership talent &creation of vision. The employee
satisfaction can be affected by fairness of reward &performance system.
CONCLUSION
It is being concluded from the above information that talent management plays an important
role in improving the growth &productivity of business. It is important for talent manager to
attract &retain the top employees who give their better performance &productive outcomes in
achieving the goals &objective of business. In order to attract staff, it is important to increase
their engagement level by offering the opportunity to participate in decision making activities,
organizing specific social activities &also creating positive working environment so that workers
can interact with managers &co-employees. It is essential for the company to organize training

&development program for employees so that they can improve their skills &knowledge
&achieve the goals &objective of business.
Recommendations
Following the completion of this research, I have the following recommendations:
• HR leaders should make the necessity for &value of Succession Planning strategies
clearer to their businesses' top management.
• Top management should step forward &commit to increasing their investment in
Workforce Management initiatives.
• Businesses should have a consistent Positioning Strategy that is in line with their overall
business goals.
• When it comes to assessing &implementing Performance Management systems, HR
needs to be more cautious.
• Human resources should devise more long-term policies to keep employees in their
organizations for as long as feasible.
• Employees should be encouraged to engage in self-improvement initiatives.
• While developing Talent Management plans for their firm, companies might outsource
expertise. Companies should periodically evaluate performance measures to adjust their Talent
Management strategies according to their need.
Reflective Statement
Because the U.K. is an industrialized country, it is understandable that principles that are
widely used in developed countries take time to fully integrate into the corporate culture here.
However, our world is quickly advancing toward digitization, &our corporate culture is evolving
at an incredible pace as a result of globalization. This is true for initiatives or methods such as

Talent Management. Companies have started understanding the value of employing Human
Resource management practices to boost productivity. They now understand that finding
&employing the appropriate staff is critical to the growth & survival of their companies.
Recruiting the appropriate individuals with the right talents for such right position is what talent
management entails. It entails identifying an individual`s abilities, attributes, & temperament
&connecting him to a suitable profession.
It's critical for businesses to focus on acquiring &knowledge is developed that properly
matches their objectives. A poor match will result in filling the position, retraining, &other
wasteful measures there in future. In order to remain effective &retain the customers for the long
term, companies use a variety of talent management tactics. Talent acquisition expands training
&deskilling options while also improving industry performance administration.
Through implementing talent management strategies, company can improve employee
experience that creates direct impact on client satisfaction &higher rate of return. Talent
Management has now been proven to be critical in improving a company's efficiency.
Companies are increasingly focused on Performance Management &are willing to make
significant investments to design &implement such strategy in order to gain their organizational
plans (Kasar 2008-10).
Alternative research methodologies
In this research, validity, regression, reliability, correlation &factor analyses were
performed. Due to the comprehensive employed questionnaire, few additional analyses were also
performed by using SPSS17 program. The given table helps in determining the media, mode,
standard deviation &average of few components which are necessary while working in
organization.

REFERENCES
Books &Journals
Armstrong, M. (2006). A Handbook of Human Resource Management Practice. Kogan Page
Limited.