Strategic Human Resource Management

This report discusses the talent management strategies of Watershed Group in the context of Strategic Human Resource Management. It covers the implementation of talent management, talent development and training, and SHRM issues. The report also provides recommendations for the company's growth.

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Strategic Human Resource Management
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Strategic Human Resource Management 1
Contents
Introduction......................................................................................................................................1
The Watershed Group......................................................................................................................1
Talent Management in SHRM.........................................................................................................2
Implementation of Talent Management in Watershed Group.........................................................3
Organization’s Need of Talent Management...............................................................................3
Talent Management Framework..................................................................................................4
Talent Development and Training...............................................................................................5
Leadership Development.............................................................................................................7
SHRM Issues...............................................................................................................................7
Conclusion.......................................................................................................................................8
Recommendation.............................................................................................................................8
References........................................................................................................................................9

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Introduction
The purpose of this report is to enlighten the reader about the strategic human resource
management practices. The topic chose from the strategic human resource process is talent
management. Talent management refers to the commitment of the organization to recruit, retain,
hire and develop the most capable and talented people present in the job. It refers to the
anticipation of the human resource of the company and the planning of the management to meet
those requirements. Further talentship refers to the effort of the organization to allocate the talent
for the organization as a decision science (Berger, and Berger 2011). The below mentioned
report enlighten the reader about talent management strategies of the company Watershed Group.
The company is situated in different parts across Europe and manufactures their product in
Europe only. Further, the report evaluates details about the practice and implementation of talent
management in the company. It also discusses the training of talent management in the company
along with various issues faced by them. The reports end with the discussion of various
recommendations that can help the company to grow. Further, more details about the report are
discussed below:
The Watershed Group
Watershed Label Centre was originated in the year 1992 by Tom Waters with a vision to create a
Watershed Group as an Irish and International supplier of self-adhesive labels and packaging. In
the current environment, the company has grown from a single manufacturing plant at Dublin,
Ireland to a worldwide-expanded print packaging company. CEO of the company Liz Waters
helped the management to grow and expand its business in the whole of Europe. The company
believes that innovation and expansion is the key to growth in any business. They believe that
they need to offer something extra to the customers so as to maintain their competence in the
target market. The company is located at Dublin, UK, Germany, Tipperary and Poland.
Watershed Group provides the best and most efficient labelling, manufacturing and packaging
services across Europe. The company is based in an industry where innovation is very important
as such innovation only will help them to provide a greater level of satisfaction to the customers
in the target market. The company provides the best labelling solutions for beverages, food, retail

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and consumer goods in the market. The management of the company is time efficient as they
successfully make use of all the available resources and provide the services on time to the
customers (Watershed Group 2018). The company holds experience of almost 30 years in
providing qualitative, self-adhesive labels and packaging services to many innovative and
multinational brands. The company also provides end to end solution that makes the customers
more satisfied in the market.
Talent Management in SHRM
Talent refers to something that is worthy for the management to develop the business process.
Further, talent management is the first step towards strategic human resource planning. It is the
process of management under which the business initiate human resource management practices
to improve the business value, also make it possible for the management to reach their goals as
well. A talent management strategy appropriately links the business strategy with the functions
of the company in an organized and more appropriate manner. McKinsey and Company coined
the term talent management in strategic human resource in the year 1997. The system of talent
management is used in business by delegating the responsibilities to line managers to deal with
the employees their retaining facilities (Collings, and Mellahi 2009). In the implementation
process of talent management in an organization, the management needs to openly share
information with the employees so as to provide them knowledge about the overall objectives of
the company. Talent management is the ability of the organization to retain, produce and recruit
most talented people for the organization and train them to increase the efficiency of the
company (Scullion, and Collings 2011).
The fact should be noted that it is important for the business process to find, attract and retain
talent in the target market as it is one of the most important drivers of success for the company. If
an organization has adequate talent with them along with highly efficient training team then the
business will never fall down. People are the most important resource for any business as they
are the men who work behind the machines and bring productivity from such machines. It is a
most crucial task for the business to identify the right type of talent who will match to the
business profile (Al Ariss, Cascio, and Paauwe 2014). Further, the talent management techniques
in the 21st century have been changed as companies have now started considering various factors

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in the strategic human resource management process. Talent professional in the current
environment has become more flexible towards various job roles. The definition of talent varies
from person to person as for some it is about high performance and potential of people to run an
organization while for others it is an inclusive term that refers all the employees. There are four
talent loops present in the process of talent management that are an attraction, identification,
managing and evaluating the talent (Sparrow, et. al., 2018). Talent management in the process of
strategic human resource management is used to hire talented employees and make use of such
talent to increase the productivity of the company. Talent management is important for the
organizations as it helps the business to expand its functions on the basis of productivity
delivered by the employees. Further, talent management along helps the human resource
management inefficient finding the right type of employee for the right type of job. It also aligns
the organizational strategy with the skills of the employees. Lastly, the fact should be noted that
talent management is a crucial part of the business that helps them to effectively make use of the
resources and grow (Cappelli, and Keller 2014).
Implementation of Talent Management in Watershed Group
Organization’s Need for Talent Management
In the current environment, all organizations require talent management strategies on a regular
basis so as to improve the collection efficiency of the company. It is also a business strategy that
enables the organization to retain the employees and make optimum use of resources as well.
Talent management strategy is a business strategy that organizes human resource management
activities in such a way that the company successfully attains growth in the market. Further,
talent management is important to business because it attracts the top talent and then initiates
activities to retain them as well. Inaccurate word, the process of talent management successfully
indulges the employees in activities so that they can earn profitability by retaining the employees
at the same time (Glaister, et. al., 2018). This process will help the Watershed Group in
motivating the employees to the maximum extent. If management of an organization is facing
employee related issues, then they can successfully eliminate such issues by explaining to the
employees that they are dedicated to talent management strategy of the company. As with the
help of this process, the employees of Watershed will develop the sense of belongingness with

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the company that will motivate them to work efficiently for the company (Bailey, et. al., 2018).
Further, talent management is also important as it helps the watershed business as it covers
critical roles in the business. Talent management activity equips companies with tasks that
require tough skills to initiate. This strategy also addresses highly specialized and important roles
in the workforce so as to deliver the right type of work to the right type of employee as well.
Lastly, it should be noted that the talent management process helps the organization to retain the
top talents and increase the client satisfaction as well. Using this strategy, the company will form
strategies to provide work to the employees along with recognition. Thus, because of such
requirement, the company Watershed Group need to initiate a talent management program in the
business (Kramar 2014).
Talent Management Framework
The talent management framework includes four aspects that are workforce planning, talent pool,
employee engagement and lastly learning and development. This model helps the business in
portraying various elements that are successful in managing talent in an organization. In the
Watershed organization, it is important for the management to successfully initiate the talent
management program so as to organize the human resource management activities of the
company (Jackson, Schuler, and Jiang 2014). Further, the talent management framework applies
in the business from attracting the talent and ends at retaining them in the organization. As the
company is aiming to expand the scope of business in external international market so it is
important for them to effectively make use of talent management framework in the business.
This framework will work in the organization in the following way:
Attracting: It is the ability of the human resource management of the company to recruit bright
talent for the organization. The management of Watershed Group attempts to recruit the highly
efficient talent for the business however, they lack in matching the talent of the employees with
the job specification of the company (Brewster 2017). The talent of a person is recognized only
when the talent is used in business activities. So, the initiation of the talent management process
in the business will help the company to effectively hire the talented people who match the job
specification of the company.
Selecting: The talent management process will help the company eliminate the traditional hiring
practice initiate new and innovative hiring process for the business. While selecting an employee

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for the organization, the company initiates several tests to pass such as knowledge and aptitude
test, behavioural test, English test etc. Through this type of selection, the management serves
valuable selection for the business (Albrecht, et. al., 2015).
Engaging: post attracting and selecting the prospective employee for the business, the company
pays benefits and start to engage the employees in simpler activities of the company as well.
Engagement of employees automatically satisfies them with the actions of the business. Through
the talent management process, the Watershed Company can also increase the retention of the
employees. Engagement in decision-making helps the employees to recognize their values in the
business (Guerci, et. al., 2015).
Developing: This process of developing works in such a way so as to increase the satisfaction of
the employees along with the company Watershed as well. The process of developing helps the
employees to develop their skills and capabilities and work on a greater scale for the company.
Further, this process helps the company by helping the employees learn about work-life balance
by providing them with adequate training in the market. Employees at all jobs value learning, so
the developing process helps them learn and grow within a same organization.
Retaining Employees: Lastly, the retaining employees' aspect is closely related to the
organization's performance management. Apart from the pay, the employees are retained in an
organization in various ways. However, it is difficult for the management to find ways with the
help of which they can successfully retain the employees. The process of talent management
helps the Watershed group to find out various ways with the help of which they can initiate
retention process in the company. The requirement of the Watershed business is to hire and
retain innovative and creative that can successfully help them to develop attractive packaging for
the clients. For that purpose, the framework helps the company to identify the deviations present
in the performance management system used by the company. This system identifies the most
important factors considered by the employees and uses them to retain the employees in the
organization (Brewster, Chung, and Sparrow 2016).
Talent Development and Training
The process of talent management suits the volatile and transformational business landscape of
companies like Watershed Group. Learning and development process plays the lead role in

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helping the organization to initiate the process of talent management. The high-impact talent
management framework explains that learning and development is the foundation for all
processes. Further, below mentioned are key areas where the learning and development process
of talent management focuses on:
Development of competency model for talent management: All the organization need four tiers
of competencies in the current environment to provide successful actions to the employees in the
target market. The HR employees who participate in the recruitment and staffing process use
core competencies, while managers make use of job level competencies (Marchington, et. al.,
2016). And leadership competencies define and develop leadership capabilities among people.
These competencies initially help the manager to recruit talented people and then identify their
role and competencies to work in society. Lastly, the professional using leadership competencies
identify the employees possessing leadership capabilities within them (Konrad, Yang, and
Maurer 2016).
Creation of demand for talent-driven learning: Another role of the learning and development
process of talent management strategy is a creation of development programs and talent-driven
learning activities as well. Performance driven programs are good but they do not completely
satisfy the need of the company. So, the company like Watershed so adopt the talent-driven
program to help the employees successfully lead the company (Northouse 2018). These
programs are complex and long but they provide training to the employees according to the need
present. Not only in leadership, through this type of training the employees are being excelled at
a different level and different subjects.
Designing a career development process: Development planning process includes a combination
of individual career goals and the organization's business objectives. Under this process, the
management develops a growth plan that trains the employees to grow on a personal level by
adhering the business objectives as well (Shamir, and Eilam-Shamir 2018). Initiation of the
career development process in the organization Watershed will help them to sustain in the
organization with a longer period of time. This type of training will help the employees to lead in
the organization and help them to grow while achieving personal objectives as well (Tourish
2014).

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Coaching: people present in the talent management process attain a broad base of
responsibilities. So, the talent management professionals need to have skills to convince the
employees and identify the talent present within them. Communication and change management
are other two resources of the professional so they need to themselves attain training and then
initiate training for other employees (Sandal, Van De Vijver, and Bye 2016).
Leadership Development
Leadership is one of the most important components present in the process of talent
management. The process of leadership development expands the capacities of the individuals to
initiate leadership activities in the business. The leadership role in Watershed Company will help
the management to facilitate the execution of work and initiate authentic decisions in the
environment as well. Leadership development plays one of the most significant roles in the talent
management process as it helps the professionals to train the employees and help the employees
deliver results using their leadership skills (Skinner, Smith, and Swanson 2018). This type of
development helps the employees to recognize their talent and promote the company in future
growth as well.
SHRM Issues
Below mentioned are the talent management issues that the company Watershed group might
face in the current environment:
Lack of experience in technology: technology plays a vital role in helping the management to
train the employees using technology. If the professional of the company is inefficient in using
technology then they will several issues in the external environment. Technology helps the
business in successfully initiating activities and reducing the manual efforts and time as well.
Lack of technical understanding can cause various problems for the company (Baesu, and
Bejinaru 2014).
Employee Turnover: Employee turnover is also an important aspect. Many times the talent
management process initiates several changes in the business. These changes many times lead to
confusion and dissatisfaction among the employees that can increase employee turnover rate of
the company. Thus, talent management strategies can many times act as an issue for the
company as well.

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Ineffective Leadership: talent management process is successful only when the management
initiates adequate leadership decisions in the environment. If the employees of the company
Watershed do not possess adequate leadership skills within them, then the company might face
several issues in initiate talent management process n the company as well (Silzer, and Dowell
2009).
Conclusion
Thus, in the limelight of the above-mentioned events, the fact should be noted that the report
evaluates talent management procedure within the company Watershed group. The above-
mentioned report evaluated various aspects present within the talent management framework and
how they can assist the company in successfully growing in the target market. The need of the
organization to initiate talent management is analysed along with talent development and
leadership development activities of the company. lastly, the report also evaluates SHRM issues
that the company might go through while initiating talent management in the business.
Recommendation and Reflection
It is should recommend to the company Watershed that they should initially develop leadership
capabilities among the officials so that the company do not face any problem in future. Further,
the company should strictly follow the talent management framework so that in case of issues
they can refer to the framework and solve them.
Further, according to my perspective, SHRM issues mentioned above can severely hamper the
functions of the company Watershed. However, the company can still manage to succeed by
proactively creating a framework to implement in the organization. In this way, I believe that the
company can eliminate the SHRM issues in the business and expand in the international market
as well.

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Glaister, A.J., Karacay, G., Demirbag, M. and Tatoglu, E., 2018. HRM and performance—
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