Strategic Talent Management at Apple: An Individual Project Report

This individual project report provides a comprehensive analysis of talent management strategies, with a specific focus on Apple Inc. The report begins with an overview of Apple and the business case for strategic talent management, highlighting its importance in optimizing employee performance and maintaining a competitive edge. It outlines research objectives including studying the concept of talent management, examining its benefits, identifying strategies used by Apple's competitors, and evaluating Apple's current approach. The literature review covers key themes such as the definition of talent management, its benefits (including employee retention and improved organizational performance), competitor strategies (like Motorola's standardized talent review and LG's performance measurement), and Apple's current talent management practices (competitive packages, stock grants, and performance-based incentives). The research methodology employs a quantitative approach using surveys to gather data and deductive reasoning to analyze the findings. The results and findings section presents data on employee perceptions of talent management practices at Apple, focusing on areas like training and development, performance management, and employee engagement. The report concludes with recommendations for improving Apple's talent management strategy and a personal reflection on the project.

Individual Project Report

TABLE OF CONTENTS
CHAPTER 1- INTRODUCTION....................................................................................................1
Overview of the company......................................................................................................1
Project backgammon and business case.................................................................................1
CHAPTER 2- RESEARCH PROJECT OBJECTIVES...................................................................2
Research objectives...............................................................................................................2
Research Rationale................................................................................................................2
CHAPTER 3- LITERATURE REVIEW.........................................................................................3
CHAPTER 4: RESEARCH METHODOLOGY.............................................................................6
CHAPTER 5- PROJECT RESULTS AND FINDINGS...............................................................12
CHAPTER 6- CONCLUSION AND RECOMMENDATION.....................................................32
Recommendations................................................................................................................32
CHAPTER 7- REFLECTION........................................................................................................33
REFERENCES..............................................................................................................................35
APPENDIX....................................................................................................................................37

CHAPTER 1- INTRODUCTION
Overview of the company
Apple is one of the successful organization that is one of the multinational technology company having specialization in the
consumer electronics, software and online services. In the current era, technology sector is growing with the rapid speed which is
offering number of opportunities to organizations. It is one of the most valuable firm that is referred as the second largest
manufacturing enterprise in world. It is established by Steve Jobs, Ronald Wayne and Steve Wozniak in the year 1976 which is found
to be one of higher revenue generating firm in the specified sector. There are different types of the actions which are taken into the
consideration by the organization for coordinating with the changing circumstance via enabling customer to get updated version of
technology. In the year 2021, the particular firm is gaining the competitive edge in the market due to its significant adoption of the
changing circumstances in turn accomplishing the organization the objective such as higher share, profitability, sustainability has
become possible. For this purpose Apple has given emphasis on launching memorable advertising campaigns, acquiring number of
companies, possessing positive working culture, higher employee engagement, etc. There is higher level of focus is provided on
gaining the significant innovation in turn accomplishing leading in sector has enabled.
Project backgammon and business case
Strategic talent management is concerned with having the plan of action which can contribute in optimizing the employee
performance. In the current era, it is highly important for the company to pay attention on having strategic talent management in turn
accomplishing the objective of gaining full potential of employees can become possible. There is higher level of competition in the
particular sector as the customer trends keeps on changing which require firm to focus on having reliable talent management in turn
coordinating with this requirement can become possible. Apple is one of the successful firm whose market share is increasing as
compared to the previous year which require firm to pay attention on talent management as it play crucial role in affecting the
organizational performance. Talent management is related with procedure of selection, engagement & culture, employer branding,
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learning & development, succession planning, retention & performance management, sourcing & attracting talent, etc so that reliable
processing can be derived. The current study will pay attention on assessing benefits of talent management and identifying strategies
used by specified organization as compared to competitors. In addition to this, the study will focus on examining Apple's current
talent management strategies and significance of making it priority. For this purpose the particular study will emphasize on using the
quantitative research so that significant information regarding the selected subject matter in structured manner will be conducted. The
current study will focus on having the reliable research aim and objectives in turn accomplishing the reliable & relevant data to
ascertain its impact on the organizational performance. This will emphasis on shading light on deductive approach and positivism
philosophy in turn attaining the appropriate information can become possible.
CHAPTER 2- RESEARCH PROJECT OBJECTIVES
Research objectives
 To study the concept of talent management
 To examine the benefits of talent management
 To identify talent management strategies used by Apple's competitors
 To identify the current talent management strategy
 To concluding on the importance of making talent management a strategic priority
Research Rationale
The main purpose of the current investigation is to ascertain how talent management can improve organizational l
performance. In the current era, employees are considered to be one of the crucial factor of the success so having reliable procedure of
talent management can become possible. In order to gain the success in effective manner via having reliable application of the talent
management so that attracting, retaining and controlling employees in effectual pattern can be exerted. There are distinct form of the
benefits which can be derived by applying the talent management as it leads to improve the organizational performance. This
advantages comprise strategic hiring procedure, improved on boarding process, retaining higher experience possessing talent,
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employee development, positive staff experience and greater engagement. Apple is one of the successful company in the particular
sector which uses talent management strategy in turn accomplishing the organizational objective such as higher profitability
sustainability, etc. The particular study will enable the Apple to get the significant understanding about the concept & its significance.
This will permit to get the information regarding the strategies used, current approach and concluding on importance on of making
talent management a strategic as priority so that significant depth understanding can be derived to coordinate with prevailing
circumstances in business environment.
CHAPTER 3- LITERATURE REVIEW
Theme 1: The concept of talent management
According to Claus (2019) Talent Management (TM) is the procedure related with HR process which includes attainting,
onboarding, developing, motivation and retaining higher performance providing employees. It is usually taken into the consideration
by the organization for having the relabel level of effectiveness in enhancing productiveness of its performance. There are four areas
of TM which comprises recruiting, having corporate learning and development, performance and compensation management. On the
other side, Gallardo-Gallardo, Thunnissen and Scullion (2020) depicted that talent management is implemented for the purpose of
accomplishing the organizational objective of increasing performance so that greater outcomes via enabling the employees to get the
different traits and tactics can become possible. There are basically two types of the talent manageable activities such as
unidimensional and multidimensional in turn meeting the organizational objective of higher profitability can be attained.
In the views of Ansar and Baloch (2018) TM is the activity which is related with having the people specific trends so that
reliable so that strategic planning and controlling can be done to get the greater organizational objectives. This is concerned with
having strategic and organized pattern so that having corrective form of employees at the right position can be attained. This pay
attention on having acquiring, assessing, developing and deploying approaches in turn meeting the objective of higher positive results
can be attained. On the other side, Shahi and et.al., (2020) depicted that talent management is the process of attracting and retaining
the staff for the longer duration in turn skills and attributes required for the organizational growth can be derived. This offers various
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competitive attributes and strategy formulation for the organization to gain the better working procedure which is helpful in receiving
better processing.
Theme 2: the benefits of talent management
In the views of Jayaraman, Talib and Khan (2018) there are various benefits which can be received by the organization
through applying the talent management procedure into the consideration. This provides the benefits like sharing the data via
establishing the connection between the management and the organization. It is helpful for the firm to get the profitability and
sustainability in turn accomplishing the organizational objectives can become possible. Retaining top talent via ensuring that
employees are getting the significant information from the company in respect to get the higher clarity for conducting the operational
practices. This helps in getting the feeling of belongingness in turn accomplishing the goal of retaining employees for longer duration
can be done. On the contrast to this, Ali and Jawad (2022) depicted that talent management is related with having the effective hiring
procedure in to the organization which is helpful for the business to get the corrective employees at the right position in turn gaining
the competitive scenario can become m possible. This tends to offer the higher ROI to the company processes which allows to have
strategic goals that enhances business performance.
According to Sindhura (2022) there are various aspects which can be accomplished by the firm through having the reliable
procedure into the business. Increased diversity, equity and inclusion offers the strategic businesses and financial advantage and
becomes possible to have higher productiveness so that coordinating with the changing circumstances can become possible. In
addition to this, such practice in the firm is helpful in gaining the greater employee engagement which provides the ability to get the
higher ideas and views which are helpful in achieving the greater information so that better working procedure to overcome prevailing
competition can become possible. In the contrast to this, Abu-Darwish, Al-Kasasbeh and Al-Khasawneh (2021) that there are number
of benefits which can be attained by the firm through having effectual talent management process that involve good brand image,
higher efficiency & effectiveness, eliminating irrelevant components, good employee experience, etc. which gives the ability to the
firm to cope up with prevailing circumstance to possess desirable position.
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Theme 3: Talent management strategies used by Apple's competitors
In the view of Al Jawali and et.al., (2021) in the current era having reliable functioning is highly via gaining the
competitiveness so that ability to overcome the competition. It is important for the firm to pay attention on developing understanding
of the tactics used by organization for achieving competitiveness through using effectual talent management approach. For example-
Motorola is international firm that uses the technique that uses standardized talent review and on boarding processes so that achieving
the important functioning via effective job description, etc activities so that attaining the greater capability to retain employees.
On the contrast to this, Gerhardt and Karsan (2022) tracking and measuring performance is the highly used technique which
tends to offer the motivation to the staff to get the chance to grow via eliminating the lacking areas. For instance - LG is the
multinational company offering the competition to the Apple bu using the tactic of measuring performance in turn accomplishing the
goal of accomplishing the eliminating lacking areas via making improvements actions.
In the contrast to Mujtaba, Mubarik and Soomro (2022) there are different types of the talent management which tends to
offer the crucial information to the organization so that effective culture building, retention of employees, recognizing & rewarding to
performer, offering career development paths, establishing the crucial objectives so that achieving the higher profitability can become
possible. For essence- Dell is one of the significant company that is highly covering the market share through ensuring that employees
are contributing in respect to get the success so that having higher profitability by using employee relationship strategy.
Theme 4: The current talent management strategy
According to d’Armagnac, Al Ariss and N’Cho (2021) there are distinct types of the objectives which are basically
predetermined buy the firm for having the higher profitability and sustainability. For this purpose talent management plays crucial role
in turn getting greater effectiveness can become possible. The actions which are taken into the process of managing & retaining staff
the actions which are taken into procedure includes competitive package, flex benefits, periodical stock grants for their contribution to
the company. On the other side, Anlesinya, Dartey-Baah and Amponsah-Tawiah (2019) stated that the major course of the action
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which is executed for the mentioned subject matter is to have strategic plan to optimize employee performance so that achieving
effective performance to build brand image.
As per the views of Neri and Wilkins (2019) there are different form of the activities which are basically taken into the
process by the firm for gaining the goal of profitability & stability. This includes having the iPhone interview, an assessment test and
final interview, keeping timely meetings, etc so that greater innovative processes to get higher performance can become possible. In
contrast to this, Mujtaba and Mubarik, (2021) performance based cash incentive re offered by the organization to motivate
subordinates so that effectiveness to build good position in market via having strategic management. This is helpful in accomplishing
objective of higher productiveness and stability in the market.
From the above information it can be concluded that strategic talent management is related with having the effective
procedure so that accomplishing the objective to have the higher profitability is important. Strategic talent management is one of the
highly effective process that provides number of benefits such as attracting and retaining employees for the longer duration, gaining
good brand image, etc which positively influences overall performance of company. This tends to give the greater competitiveness to
deal with organization, having appropriate consistency, quality performance, better working activities, enhanced employee motivation,
etc. which tend to offer the positive results.
CHAPTER 4: RESEARCH METHODOLOGY
Research type
There are three types of the research such as qualitative, quantitative and mixed. The in the current study quantitative type
of the research has been taken into consideration as it pay attention on gathering the data that is numerical and fact based. This tends
to give proper structure and reliable information so that accomplishing the objectives of the research can become possible. The reason
behind the selection of the quantitative research is to get the proper ability to accomplish the objective such as understanding of talent
management, its significance, strategies, etc.
Research approach and philosophy
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There are two types of the approaches which are taken into the consideration so that significant information regarding the
procedure to be followed can be taken into the consideration. This includes inductive and deductive that are respectively focused for
the qualitative and quantitative research. For the current study, the researcher has give emphasis on using deductive approach so that
theory for having hypothesis, observation and confirmation so that significant insights can be derived. In addition to this, philosophy
for the quantitative research include positivism that tend to focus on having scientific testing of hypothesis and findings logical proof.
Research Sample
it is basically related with having the group people from the total population in turn gaining the information regarding the
views and experience can be derived. For the current research regarding assessing how strategic talent management improve the
organizational performance, scholar has given emphasis on using the simple random sampling technique for selecting 10 HR
managers. This has allowed to get the appropriate information which is helpful in accomplishing the objective of recherche so that
reliable and relevant vies and experience can be derived to get ability to complete the research in effective manner. This tends to give
the significant information of Apple's talent management in turn accomplishing appropriate so that completion of research in effective
manner has become possible.
Data collection
it is important to have information in reliable and valid format so that accomplishing the purpose of having fair study can
become possible. This can be done by using two methods such as primary and secondary. Primary method is related with gathering the
information which is collected for solving the particular issue and have not been used previously. Secondary data collection is
collected from the articles, journals and books so that data which is saleslady published can be obtained. For the recent report, the
research has given emphasize on spreading questionnaire among the HRM mangers so that their views and experience that how
strategic talent management can improve the organizational performance.
Data analysis
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For evaluating the information it is important to focus on the two distinct method that includes thematic and SPSS. The
current report is based on quantitative research so scholar has paid attention on using the SPSS data analysis technique. This is helpful
in gaining the relevant data in turn accomplishing the objective of gaining the reliable data in the structured format so that depth study
can be exerted. This is helpful in assessing the significant information so that attaining the appropriate insights to attain the objective
such as understanding about the talent management, significance, current strategies of specified organization, etc. This is helpful in
meeting the significant data that has made possible to formulate reliable report.
Ethical consideration
It is highly crucial for the researcher to focus on having the significant focus on following the ethical requirements so that
ability to make reliable & valid report can become possible. There are different kinds of the aspects which has been focused that
includes providing benefits, mitigating risk and maintaining privacy. In the current study the researcher has given focus on having
taking the consent for the willing participation which indicates that proper information can be achieved. Reliable sources of
information has been used by using the references published after the 2017 and copy right sources has been taken into process. It is
ensured that data privacy is maintained by keeping personal information of samples private. On the basis of this it can be specified that
scholar has highly given focus on having compliance with the ethical requirements in turn completing the report in reliable manner
has become possible. This is indicating that scholar has paid attention on having reliable practices to get the significant report
formulation.
Gantt chart Schedule
S.no Task Name Duration Start Finish Predecessors
1 Initiation 5 days Tue 5/10/22 Mon 5/16/22
2 Providing overview and
background of the study 5 days Tue 5/10/22 Mon 5/16/22
3 Planning 5 days Tue 5/17/22 Mon 5/23/22
4 Defining Objectives & 5 days Tue 5/17/22 Mon 5/23/22 2
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Research Rationale
5 Execution 38 days Tue 5/24/22 Thu 7/14/22
6 Evaluating Literature Review 7 days Tue 5/24/22 Wed 6/1/22 4
7 Conducting Research
methodology 7 days Thu 6/2/22 Fri 6/10/22 6
8 Designing Questionnaire 2 days Mon 6/13/22 Tue 6/14/22 7
9 Data collection via survey
(Questionnaire) 10 days Wed 6/15/22 Tue 6/28/22 8
10 Arranging the Data in
structured format 7 days Wed 6/29/22 Thu 7/7/22 9
11 Data evaluation by referring
collected data and conducted
calculation
5 days Fri 7/8/22 Thu 7/14/22 10
12 Monitoring and controlling 8 days Fri 7/15/22 Tue 7/26/22
13 Concluding, findings 7 days Fri 7/15/22 Mon 7/25/22 11
14 Recommendation 1 day Tue 7/26/22 Tue 7/26/22 11,13
15 Closure 5 days Wed 7/27/22 Tue 8/2/22
16 conducting reflection 1 day Wed 7/27/22 Wed 7/27/22 14
17 Consulting with tutor to check
the study and outcome derived. 2 days Thu 7/28/22 Fri 7/29/22 14,16
18 Feedback 1 day Mon 8/1/22 Mon 8/1/22 17
19 Submission after feedback
modification 1 day Tue 8/2/22 Tue 8/2/22 18
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