Talent Management as a Strategic Priority

Research Proposal Form
Student Name: ______________________ Student ID: ____________
Centre Name: _____________________
Tutor: ________________ Date: ___________________
Unit: ____________________
Proposed Title: _Talent management as a strategic priority
Section One: Title, objective, responsibilities
Title or working title of the research project (in the form of a question, objective or hypothesis)
Talent management as a strategic priority
Research objectives (e.g what is the question you want to answer? What do you want to learn how to
do? What do you want to find out?):
Aim:
To examine the significance of talent management strategies in increasing employee performance. A study
on River Island.
Objectives:
 To enhance the understanding about the talent management in context to business.
 To study the different talent management strategies implemented by River Island to improvise the
performance of employees a workplace.
 To identify the different issues faced by River Island regarding managing the talent at workplace.
 To access various ways implemented through River Island to get over from talent management
issues.
Questions
 What is talent management in context to business?
 What are the different talent management strategies implemented by River Island to improvise the
performance of employees a workplace?
 Which different issues are faced by River Island regarding managing the talent at workplace?

 What are different ways implemented through River Island to get over from talent management
issues?
Section Two: Reasons for choosing this research project
Reasons for choosing the project (e.g links to other subjects you are studying, personal interest, future
plans, knowledge/skills you want to improve, why the topic is important):
The talent management is main concern in present business era that requires suitable study to increase
individual skills and knowledge. Present research is based on the significance of talent management
strategies in increasing employee performance. The talent management is related to attracting and retaining
talented employees so they can able to work in significant manner and attaining set business objectives in
significant period of time. Reason behind conducting the present investigation assists in enhancing the
information about the strategies related talent management. This research is mainly conducted in personal
and professional context. In the personal context, information regarding the talent management in detailed
manner and also its related strategies. Other than this, in professional context, research skills and abilities of
learner can be effectively increased for in- depth analysis regarding the issues faced by staff members at
workplace regarding talent management. This will help to an investigator in conduct similar kind of
investigation in the future.
Section Three: Literature sources searched
Use of key literature sources to support your research question, objective or hypothesis:
Understanding about the talent management in context to business
According to the views of Gallardo-Gallardo, Thunnissen and Scullion (2020), it has been executed that
attraction and retaining of talent is a crucial concern for an organisation globally. It has been found that
many organisations are struggling to attract the talent, thus Talent Management is human resource
development strategies for growth and development of employees. It has been executed that talent
management is a process that consists of attracting, identification of hidden skills, exploring, and developing
the skills and retention to achieve strategic sustainable development.
As contrary to this, Scullion and Mullholland (2020), have argued that Talent Management model is helpful
in reducing the attrition rate of an organisation this is because when an organisation is committed to
employee growth and development, this will motivate them and they felt self-incentive. It has been
proposed that Talent Management is not restricted to acquiring high-quality talent by recruiting but to
develop and explore the hidden skills.
Different talent management strategies implemented by River Island to improvise the performance of
employees a workplace
According to the viewpoint of Narayanan, Rajithakumar and Menon (2019), it has been found that Talent
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Management strategies are the plans and steps executed for optimising employee’s performance. The first
step that River Island adopts in its Talent Management strategy is to deliver a detailed job description, it
has been found that a good job description is more helpful in attracting the right candidate. Good job
description will result to acquire the right fit candidate for an organisation culture. Candidate who doesn't
fit in organisation culture will be less happy and less sustainable productive, thus River Island would
access the candidate whether he/she fit in-person organisation culture as this will have an impact upon their
performance. Acquiring the right candidate is not a solo goal of talent management strategy, but to develop
the hidden skills, River Island would plan to deliver a culture of coaching and training for exploring the
hidden talent of the candidate.
As contrary to it, Narayanan, Rajithakumar and Menon (2019), have pointed out that reward and
recognition are the strong sources of employee motivation; River Island has recognised the importance of
this and adopted this strategy of R&R for motivating and appreciating. This can be a great way for an
organisation to present courtesy to employees and express how much River Island cares about its
employees. The last step in Talent Management is cultivating an honest opportunity for growth, River
Island Talent Management has a strategic carrier path, that makes much honest sense to their employees.
Different issues faced by River Island regarding managing the talent at workplace
According to the views of Jain, (2017) there are different issues which are there in managing the
talent management which are associated with the brand River Island. There is whole responsibility on the
human resource management which are there to responsible for each and every activity which are there by
the employee from the recruitment to the all the working time period. HR should need to make effort in
managing the talent in the workplace which is there in the River Island. There are number of issues there
like poor hiring strategies, employee turnover, smart hiring strategies, experience with technology. In
context to River Island there is need to have some of the training related with the latest technology which
can make them able to get talent in such field. In this, there is need to talented employee which are there
from the technical field (Rachel, Pavithra and Imran, 2016). So, there is need to hire some of the technical
specified candidates who can get the use of the latest technology in better way than others. This can help in
getting more benefit in relation to training which takes less time period in learning means less cost in
training. For this, there is need to use the smart hiring strategies which involves the technical round during
the hiring procedure along with this, there is need to hire some of good talent who are having some of the
experience in the technical field.
Various ways implemented through River Island to get over from talent management issues.
According to Okebaram, (2019) there are many of the ways through which River Island can get over
from the talent management issues. Some of them are discussed further.
Full fill the reasonable compensation demands- There is need to full fill the demand of the
employee which is related with the compensation. In this there is need listen the demand of the employee
which is one of the main reason to get conflict with the employee in relation to talent management.
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Unappealing company culture- This is the one which is there need to have the information about
the interest of the employee working conditions. In this, River Island need to change the workplace
environment which is according to the demand. This means younger talent are not there to work on the
working time by just sitting on the desk and work. They need to have some perk, flexible hours etc. in their
work environment. Full filling and adjusting with such demand can help in getting better talent there in the
workplace (Rastgoo, 2016).
Employee retention- There is need to control the employee turnover ratio which is there in the
River island. HR should need to use such strategies which are there to hold their employee for longer period
of time. This can help in getting higher number of employee who are there having experience in the
company. There is high cost for replacing the employee, which is generally the negative connotation there.
Sometimes it good to when poor performer is leaving the company. So, there is need to implement the
strategy to retain the old talent to get better performance with quality work in the company.
REFERENCES
Books & Journals
Rachel, D. L., Pavithra, N. R. and Imran, S. M., 2016. Impact of talent management on organisation culture.
The International Journal of Business & Management. 4(2). p.98.
Rastgoo, P., 2016. The relationship of talent management and organizational development with job
motivation of employees. Acta Universitatis Agriculturae et Silviculturae Mendelianae Brunensis.
64(2). pp.653-662.
Rowe, L. and et. al., 2017. The challenges of managing degree apprentices in the workplace. Journal of
Work-Applied Management.
Serrat, O., 2017. A primer on talent management. In Knowledge Solutions (pp. 385-393). Springer,
Singapore.
Taylor, S., 2018. Resourcing and talent management. Kogan Page Publishers.
Online
BIGGEST TALENT MANAGEMENT CHALLENGES FOR HR. 2017. [online].
https://www.randstad.com/workforce-insights/talent-management/5-biggest-talent-management-challenges-
hr-2017.
Valamis. 2021. What Is Talent Management? Model, Strategy, Process. [online] Available at:
https://www.valamis.com/hub/talent-management.
Section Four: Activities and timescales
Activities to be carried out during the research project
(e.g research, development and analysis of ideas, writing,
data collection, numerical analysis, tutor meetings,
production of final outcome, evaluation, writing the
report):
Activities Time Duration
Aim and objectives
Literature review
How long this will take:
6 days
13 days
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