Talent Management Strategies for Employee Retention at Apple

This report provides an in-depth analysis of Apple's talent management strategies, focusing on employee retention and attraction within the competitive electronic sector. The study begins with an overview of talent management, its significance, and the background of Apple as a multinational technology company. It aims to identify effective strategies for attracting and retaining skilled employees, examining the roles of leaders and managers in fostering a productive work environment. The research explores the effectiveness of strategic talent management, emphasizing the importance of leadership styles, employee motivation, and creating a supportive work culture. The literature review covers various strategies for managing and retaining talent, including rewards, safe working environments, and employee-focused cultures. The methodology section outlines the research approach, which is qualitative, employing an inductive approach and secondary data through literature review, with primary data collection via questionnaires. The report utilizes thematic analysis for data analysis and adheres to ethical considerations. The discussion and analysis sections delve into the findings, offering insights into Apple's current practices and potential improvements. The report concludes with recommendations for enhancing talent management strategies, addressing limitations, and suggesting areas for future research. This comprehensive analysis aims to provide valuable insights into Apple's talent management practices and strategies for optimizing employee retention and attraction.

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Table of Contents
Title: To evaluate talent management strategies that contributes in employee retention and
attraction within electronic sector. A study on Apple.....................................................................1
CHAPTER 1: INTRODUCTION....................................................................................................1
1. Overview of the research.........................................................................................................1
2 Background information of organization..................................................................................1
3. Aim and objectives..................................................................................................................1
4. Research questions...................................................................................................................2
5. Project management plan.........................................................................................................2
CHAPTER 2: LITERATURE REVIEW.........................................................................................4
Effectiveness of strategic talent management..............................................................................4
Roles of leaders and manager in developing and managing talent within an organization.........5
Strategy for managing and retaining talent..................................................................................5
CHAPTER 3: RESEARCH METHODOLOGY.............................................................................6
CHAPTER 4: DISCUSSION AND ANALYSIS............................................................................7
Chapter 5: Reflection.....................................................................................................................11
Chapter 6: Conclusion, Recommendations and limitations...........................................................12
CONCLUSION..............................................................................................................................12
LIMITATIONS..............................................................................................................................12
RECOMMENDATIONS...............................................................................................................13
REFERENCES..............................................................................................................................15
Appendix........................................................................................................................................16

Title: To evaluate talent management strategies that contributes in employee
retention and attraction within electronic sector. A study on Apple
CHAPTER 1: INTRODUCTION
1. Overview of the research
Talent management is a process of attracting as well as retaining skilled employees and
motivating them for improving their performance. Talent management plays an important role as
it helps company in accomplishing their goals and brining innovation within an organization.
Managing talent is not an easy task as companies have to perform several functions and making
plan regarding needs of company, employees and appropriate strategy for motivating them
(Krishnan and Scullion, 2017). This present study will discuss roles played by leaders and
managers in attracting and retaining their quality people. It will also show one of the best
strategy which Apple can use for better talent management and improving its brand as well.
2 Background information of organization
This present study is based on Apple, an American multinational technology company. It
is highly well-known firm as provide customers with attractive and innovative electronic
devices. Its headquarter is in California, US, founded by Steve Jobs in 1976. It sells and produces
varieties of electronic products such as: iPod, iPhone, Apple watch, Apple TV, watchOS etc. In
the context of revenue, it is the world's best and the largest technology company, having skilled
workforce but wants to identify the best strategy for retaining them (NARAYAN and RAMU,
2018).
3. Aim and objectives
Aim: The aim behind initiating current study is to identify the best strategy for attracting
and retaining talented people within Apple.
Objectives
 To develop understanding about effectiveness of talent management and its significance.
 To evaluate role that leaders and managers play within an organization with regards to
talent management.
 To assess strategies that helps in people attraction and retention within Apple.
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4. Research questions
1. What is effectiveness of talent management?
2. What is the role of leaders and managers in relation to managing talent within firm?
3. What are some strategies which can help companies in attracting and retaining
employees?
5. Project management plan
It is a plan on which basis, project manager can control, monitor and execute the whole
project in an effective manner. Some important aspects of this plan include:
 Cost: It is one of the main elements which can help company in deciding success and
failure of project. There will be requirement of around £1000 for identifying and
implementing the best talent management strategy.
 Time: It denotes a period in which project can be completed and for this project it will
require around 10- weeks (Antwi, 2020).
 Scope: It refers the extent to which project on this topic can help company and other
people. Due to increasing competition and ability to imitate of human resource,
companies find problem in retaining employees. So, identification of the best technique
of talent management can help Apple in solving this problem and taking competitive
advantages (McDonnell and et.al., 2017).
 Quality: It is the main elements on which success is mainly dependent. Internal audit and
continuous monitoring can help Apple in maintaining quality.
 Resources: There is requirement of several resources for making project successful such
as: HR resources including technical staff, financial resources and other tools (Chen,
Kang and Lee, 2017).
 Communication: It refers some modes via which internal and external stakeholders can
communicate and exchange important information related to the project. For better
communication, Apple will use e-mail and telephone communication.
 Risk: Identification of risk is also important for making project qualitative and improving
brand. Here one of the main risks is increasing competition and changes in external
business environmental factors (Keshk, Maarouf and Annany, 2018).
Gantt chart
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Activitie
s
1st
wee
k
2nd
week
3rd
week
4th
week
5th
week
6th
week
7th
week
8th
week
9th
week
10th
week
Identific
ation of
research
problem
Drafting
aims
and
objectiv
es
Stating
PMP
Conduct
ing
literatur
e
Identifyi
ng
research
methodo
logy
Data
Collecti
on
Data
Analysis
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Conclusi
on,
reflectio
n and
Recom
mendati
ons
Submiss
ion
CHAPTER 2: LITERATURE REVIEW
A literature is a kind of survey of scholarly sources in which researcher gather information
relevant to the research topic by finding appropriate books and journals. There are some
objectives that researcher wants to achieve and by making use of books and journals and
appropriate literature, objectives cab be gathered.
Effectiveness of strategic talent management
According to the Saling and Do (2020) leaders play an important role in retaining as well
as attracting talented employees as they make use of effective leadership style. One of the main
role and responsibility of leader is to inspire people and guide them. Talent management refers to
the anticipation of required human capital for an organization and an effective plan which can
help them out in meeting goals. When employees get right direction, encouragement and
motivation by their leaders then it makes them feel valued and motivated. Motivated employees
are more likely to stay with the company, no matter what they help companies in accomplishing
their goals. An effective leader focus on creating an effective working environment because it
plays a vital role in increasing staff retention rate.
In addition, in the regards to manager Mensah (2019) said that manager also focus on
retaining and attracting employees because they believe that employees are one of the most
important resource of the company, and they only can help company in accomplishing goals. For
motivating employees, manager provides rewards and promotional opportunities to them. When
employees receive all those things for which they work, then it increases loyalty and trust among
them. Manager also identify needs of employees, listen to their queries and solve them in a
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timely manner for making them feel valued. For attracting skilled workforce, manager practices
pay and benefits benchmarking in which they evaluate pay scale, benefits given to employees,
paid time off and other perks. All these benefits help them out in making a pool of skilled
workforce.
Roles of leaders and manager in developing and managing talent within an organization.
Strategic talent management is all about defining future needs for talent in an
organization and taking appropriate actions and strategies for meeting that needs. For sustainable
growth of companies, manager requires to grow a net flow of talent (Ali, Bashir and Mehreen,
2019). Companies often face problems in identifying enough talent and the main root cause may
be inadequate talent protection, lack of strategic recruitment etc. All these problems affect image
as well as productivity. So, one of the main effectiveness and importance of managing talent
within an organization is to improve overall productivity. As per the Yassin and Jaradat (2020)
an effective talent management strategy allow companies to attract potential talent and creating
an employer brand which leads to improvement of the organization's overall business
performance and results.
Potential talent retention also makes companies able to stand apart in the market from
others and taking competitive advantages. Skilled workforce is more likely to bring innovation
within an organization and this innovation in ways of working and products help companies in
increasing customers' experience. So, overall it can be said that higher client satisfaction and
improved business performance are main effectiveness of strategic talent management
(Importance of Talent Management, 2020).
Strategy for managing and retaining talent
According to the Glaister and et.al., (2018) one of the best strategy or ways of retaining
talent workforce is rewards. Employees prefer to work with those companies who provide them
attractive perks or rewards as per their needs. So, by providing financial as well as non-financial
rewards like bonus, incentive, celebration of success, appreciation, promotional opportunities
and others, companies can retain talent. For more supporting this view, it is also stated that safe
and effective working environment also plays an important role. When employees feel safe and
valued by managers where they work then they are more likely to stay with the company.
As per the Borisova and et.al., (2017) building of employee-focused culture can be the
best strategy to attract as well as retain skilled workforce. As per this culture, companies require
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allowing flexibility, several other perks to employees and all other motivation as per their needs.
Offering attractiveness like appropriate wage, paid off, family insurance, part-time job
opportunities, training and development, companies can not only attract employees but can also
make them able to stay with the brand for the long run.
CHAPTER 3: RESEARCH METHODOLOGY
Research type: Qualitative and quantitative are main two research type which refers a
form in which data are being collected. All data which are being gathered in non-numerical form
or in the form of feelings and words are known as qualitative (Connelly, 2016). Whereas, those
informations which are being gathered in numbers form are known as quantitative. For this study
researcher has selected qualitative research or collected data in non-numerical form.
Research approach: As like research type, research approaches are also being divided
into 2 types which is inductive and deductive. In inductive research approach, scholar generates a
brand-new theory via observation and it is being proposed at the end of the research. Whereas, in
deductive research, scholar develop an existing theory by testing hypotheses them. For this
research, scholar has selected inductive research approach because it is associated with
qualitative research (Liu, 2016).
Research philosophy: This element of research methodology allows researcher in
understanding the scope of the research and knowledge which they have. It also allows them in
understanding appropriate ways in which data should be collected, analysed and used.
Interpretivism and positivism are main 2 research philosophies. In interpretivism, researcher take
human interest into consideration and according to them they interpret important study elements.
Data collection: Data collection is integral element of research methodology because for
accomplishing goals, researcher requires having appropriate information relevant to the research
topic. Primary and secondary are types of data collection. According to primary data, researcher
creates observations, questionnaire, survey and interview for gathering brand new or primary
data which never being used before. On the other hand, in secondary type, researcher can make
use of books and journals, articles, literature reviews, blogs and others in which data related to
topic has already been published and that is why such data are known as second hand data. For
this research, scholar has made use of secondary data via literature. It will also collect primary or
brand new data by conducting questionnaire. 20 employees of Apple company have also been
taken as sample
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Data analysis: After collecting appropriate data, researcher analyse them in order to
make them reliable, accurate and understandable. Qualitative and quantitative are 2 data analysis
tools. For analysing non-numerical or qualitative data, researcher uses qualitative data analysis
tools or thematic analysis (Elliott, 2018). For analysing or making numerical data accurate,
researcher uses quantitative data analysis tools. As this is qualitative research so, scholar has
used thematic analysis as qualitative data analysis tool.
Ethical consideration: For making research study successful and effective, there is
requirement for researcher to follow some moral principles. Ethics help researcher in identifying
the difference between the right and the wrong. Some ethical consideration related to research is:
not to force people to participate in research, to give equal and fair chance to participants to share
their views. To maintain confidentiality by keeping personal and professional data safe and
secure.
CHAPTER 4: DISCUSSION AND ANALYSIS
Theme 1. main importance of talent
management
Frequency
Improves brand 7
Increase staff retention rate 5
Increase productivity 8
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Interpretation: It can be said that on the basis of above data that that talent management plays a
vital role for both employees and employers. Out of 20 employees of Apple, 7 employees said
that they believe strategic talent management improves brand of the company or improve image
in the eyes of stakeholders. In addition, 5 employees said in regards to importance of talent
management that when company motivates and use effective strategy for recruitment and
satisfying needs of employees then employees are less likely to leave organization which
increases staff retention rate. It also increases customers’ satisfaction and experience rate (Bali
and Dixit, 2016). Whereas, majority of employees believe that it helps company out in increasing
overall productivity. For justifying their answers they also said that motivated employees and
skilled workforce when they are being selected with appropriate strategy then they are more
likely to focus on their work which reduces errors and lead qualitative products. They also try to
bring innovation and creativity within an organization and when customers receive innovative
products then they are less likely to switch brand that increases productivity of the company. So,
overall it can be said that there are several importance’s of strategic talent management.
Theme 2. Roles of leaders in people
management
Frequency
Encourage and motivate employees 5
Provides rewards 9
Implement democratic style 6
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Interpretation
It is also found from above discussion that leaders play an integral role in talent
management, and they have the main responsibility for retaining skilled workforce within an
organization. In this regard, 5 employees stated that leaders encourages, motivate and support
employees in their work that makes employees feel valued and it is one of the best way of
managing talent. In this context, other 9 employees or majority of employees said that financial
and non-financial rewards play an important role, given by the leader to employees because they
believe that both types of rewards motivate employees towards accomplishing goals and also
increase trust among them (Borisova and et.al., 2017). On the other hand, 6 employees said that
styles chosen by leaders as per the current situation is the best way of leaders of talent
management. In this regard they said that their leader mainly focuses on democratic leadership
style and according to this style they provide opportunity to all employees in decisions making
process. It boosts their confidence and makes them loyal towards company and they stay with the
company for the long run.
Theme 3. Recruitment and selection
strategies play a vital role in better people
Frequency
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management?
Yes 16
No 4
Interpretation: On the basis of above data it can clearly be said that recruitment and selection
process of chosen strategy is one of the best way or strategy of talent management. In this
context, out of 20 employees, 16 employees believe that it plays a vital role as they said yes.
Whereas, 4 employees denied and said that according to them recruitment and selection cannot
help company in managing people in a better way.
Theme 4. Strategy used by company for
retaining skilled workforce and better talent
management?
Frequency
10

Safe and effective working environment 6
Flexibility 10
Diversity 4
Interpretation: In the context of strategy used by Apple for talent management it is found that
Apple uses several effective strategies. In the regards to the best or appropriate strategy of talent
management 6 employees said that their company uses providing safe and effective working
environment to employees and it plays a vital role. For justifying this answer they also said that
employees seek to work at place that use safety tools because it increases their concentration and
makes them healthy. Whereas, 10 employees said that their company provides flexible working
hours to employees and according to this employees can make a balance between their
professional and social life. All these attractiveness and perks like flexibility in working hours,
part-time working, and remote working motivate employees towards accomplishing goals. On
the other hand, 4 employees said that their company makes use of effective policies like equality,
diversity as it increases value.
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Chapter 5: Reflection
While conducting research, I learned several new things and one of the main things
which I got to know that effective ways of attracting and retaining employees as I got to know
that rewards play a vital role for motivating employees. I found that conducting secondary
research is not a difficult task but researcher has to analyse them more because as compare to
primary there is a lack of accuracy and reliability. I got to know about the importance of talent
management as how it helps companies in improving their brand and allow them to meet pre-
determined goals.
Chapter 6: Conclusion, Recommendations and limitations
CONCLUSION
It has been summarized that project management plan plays an important role as it helps
researcher in completing the research in a systematic and effective manner. It allows researcher
in identifying the time, cost and resources by which they can complete the whole research.
Further, it has discussed some importances or effectiveness of managing talent within an
organization as how it helps companies in accomplishing their goals. There are several strategies
and ways of attracting and retaining talented employees but for becoming differ than competitors
and making employees able to stay with the company, this study has shown the best strategy for
talent management. It has also shown some effective roles of leaders and managers which they
play for supporting companies in improving brand by using effective style of attracting and
retaining employees. Lastly, it has discussed effectiveness of all elements of research
methodology like data collection, research philosophy and others as it helps researcher in
collecting information relevant to the topic.
LIMITATIONS
Conducting research is not an easy task because researcher has to play several functions
in a systematic manner which can be time-consuming. One of the main pressure on researcher is
to complete al tasks or project in estimated time and cost. Resources also have been allotted to
researcher but some times' researcher more resources, time and cost than estimated. One of the
research limitation was lack of technical staff. Techniques play an important role in making work
easier but due to lack of technical staff, it created problems as most of the word will be done by
internal stakeholders which took some extra time. Other main limitation and problem faced by
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researcher was to select accurate and reliable literatures and taking better decision regarding
selection of research. Discussion was completely based on literature which sometimes can lead
to lack of accuracy but it is a time saving process as compare to primary data collection. Due to
current situation of Covid-19, researcher focused on secondary data which was also one of the
main limitation because it is believed that primary data collection give effective outcomes but
still with the help of decision-making skill, researcher made use of the best literature.
RECOMMENDATIONS
There are some areas on which Apple should focus the more for taking advantages of
competition by using the best strategy of retaining and attracting employees. Company should
focus on time to time training provision because it is also one of the effective strategy of
retaining employees because training increases knowledge of employees which increases their
performance and boost confidence. For attracting skilled workforce they can focus on integrating
equality in recruitment strategy it can make employees feel valued and motivate towards
accomplishing goals of the company. It can help Apple in getting right and skilled candidates
within an organization. In addition, it can also be suggested to Apple that it should implement
inclusion strategy and embracing all kinds of differences is inclusion strategy such as: Creating
an effective working culture or environment, implementing equality policy that values
differences between people. It can surely help company in managing talent. In regard to
recommendations some employees said that according to them in this competitive era, if
company wants to retain skilled workforce then they should provide some benefits and perks like
family leave, paid leaves, flexibility, part time working hours and others. By identifying type of
requirements and needs, employer can provide them and can make them able to not to leave
company and become loyal towards company. Some other employees said that there are some
other ways of motivating employees with non financial rewards such as promotional
opportunities, self-esteem needs, appreciation along with bonus and salary hike. It makes
employees feel valued. If employers give training to all employees then also it can improves their
performance that boost their confidence and can motivate them towards accomplishment of
goals.
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REFERENCES
Books and Journals
Ali, Z., Bashir, M. and Mehreen, A., 2019. Managing organizational effectiveness through talent
management and career development: The mediating role of employee
engagement. Journal of Management Sciences. 6(1). pp.62-78.
Bali, M. and Dixit, S., 2016. Employer brand building for effective talent
management. International journal of applied sciences and management, 2(1), pp.183-
191.
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.
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.
Connelly, L. M., 2016. Trustworthiness in qualitative research. Medsurg Nursing. 25(6). pp.435-
437.
Elliott, V., 2018. Thinking about the coding process in qualitative data analysis. The Qualitative
Report. 23(11). pp.2850-2861.
Fatol, D. and et.al., 2020. Talent Management-Present and Future. Management, 20, p.22.
Glaister, A. J. and et.al., 2018. HRM and performance—The role of talent management as a
transmission mechanism in an emerging market context. Human Resource Management
Journal. 28(1). pp.148-166.
Krishnan, T. N. and Scullion, H., 2017. Talent management and dynamic view of talent in small
and medium enterprises. Human Resource Management Review. 27(3). pp.431-441.
Liu, L., 2016. Using Generic Inductive Approach in Qualitative Educational Research: A Case
Study Analysis. Journal of Education and Learning. 5(2). pp.129-135.
McDonnell, A. and et.al., 2017. Talent management: a systematic review and future
prospects. European Journal of International Management. 11(1). pp.86-128.
Mensah, J. K., 2019. Talent management and talented employees’ attitudes: mediating role of
perceived organisational support. International Review of Administrative
Sciences. 85(3). pp.527-543.
Saling, K. C. and Do, M. D., 2020. Leveraging People Analytics for an Adaptive Complex
Talent Management System. Procedia Computer Science. 168. pp.105-111.
Yassin, H. and Jaradat, M., 2020. The Impact of Talent Management on Organizational
Effectiveness in Healthcare Sector. Journal of Social Sciences (COES&RJ-JSS). 9(2).
pp.535-572.
NARAYAN, S.V. and RAMU, M., 2018. A STUDY ON ORGANISATION CULTURE OF
APPLE COMPANY. International Journal of Pure and Applied Mathematics. 120(5).
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Antwi, S., 2020. Project Management Plan for “GH Buy”: A Proposed Online Shopping
Platform.
Chen, H.H., Kang, H.Y. and Lee, A.H., 2017. A project management plan to reach sustainable
competitive advantage for a photovoltaic (PV) manufacturer. Sustainability. 9(9).
p.1496.
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Keshk, A.M., Maarouf, I. and Annany, Y., 2018. Special studies in management of construction
project risks, risk concept, plan building, risk quantitative and qualitative analysis, risk
response strategies. Alexandria engineering journal. 57(4). pp.3179-3187.
Importance of Talent Management. 2020. Online Available through: <
https://expert360.com/resources/articles/talent-management-important>
Appendix
Questionnaire
1. According to you what is the main importance of talent management?
 Improves brand
 Increase staff retention rate
 Improves overall productivity
2. How leaders play an effective role in people management or increasing staff
retention.
 Motivate and encourage employees
 Provides financial and non financial rewards
 Use democratic leadership style
3. Do you believe that recruitment and selection strategies play a vital role in better
people management?
 Yes
 No
4. Which strategy does your company use for retaining skilled workforce and better talent
management?
 Provides safe and effective working environment
 Promote diversity
 Provide flexibility
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