Key Challenges and Obstacles Facing Talent Management: Pearson Report

This report provides a comprehensive analysis of the challenges and obstacles associated with talent management across various business sectors, using Pearson Plc as a case study. The report begins with a project plan, outlining the aims, objectives, and methodology employed, including a literature review that explores the value of talent management and identifies key challenges such as encouraging passion, effective communication, and making the right hiring decisions. The research utilizes a positivism philosophy and a deductive approach, incorporating quantitative methods and data from both primary and secondary sources. The report further details strategies to overcome these challenges, such as consistent employee reviews, recognizing top performers, developing talent management programs, and fostering a healthy work environment. The research methodology, including research philosophy, approach, and data collection methods, is thoroughly described. The report concludes with recommendations and a reflection on the research process.

The key challenges and obstacles
facing different business sectors in
terms of talent management

Table of Contents
Part 1: Project Plan and Execution.............................................................................................3
Introduction................................................................................................................................3
Project Management Plan..........................................................................................................3
Literature Review.......................................................................................................................5
To understand the value of talent management in different business sectors........................5
To identify the challenges face by top management in order to sustain talent management
within organisation.................................................................................................................5
To develop different strategies which used to solve the challenges of talent management...6
Gantt chart and WBS.................................................................................................................7
Research Methodology...............................................................................................................8
Questionnaire...........................................................................................................................10
Analysis and interpretation..................................................................................................10
Recommendation......................................................................................................................14
Conclusion................................................................................................................................14
Part 2: Project report and reflection.........................................................................................15
References................................................................................................................................16

Part 1: Project Plan and Execution
Introduction
In today’s world, it is important to sustain their valuable employees, within organisation for
the long time until they are able to give their best in the suitable organisation. For completing
this the talent management is an important and essential factor which are compulsory to
achieve successfully in every type of business sector. This is the main role of the managers
and leader to retain their employees in such a way that all employees are feel happy and
motivated (Collings, Mellahi and Cascio, 2017). Talent management is the constant process
that may be involve and attract the employees through providing some valuable techniques
and performance. The main purpose of talent management is to feel motivated workforce
who will ready to stay in the organisation for the long period of time. For completing this
project the chosen organisation is Pearson Plc. It is a British multinational publishing and
education company and headquarter is in London, England. This organisation is founded in
1844 by Samuel Pearson. This report is particularly in two parts; part one is project execution
and project two is a self-reflection about the approaches and practices which are gain by
researcher to conduct this business research.
Aim: To identify the challenges and obstacles which are facing by different business sectors
in terms of talent management. A case study on Pearson.
Objectives:
 To understand the value of talent management in different business sectors.
 To identify the challenges face by top management in order to sustain talent
management within organisation.
 To develop different strategies which used to solve the challenges of talent
management.
Project Management Plan
This is the plan which is used and make by the management team who are conducting a
research on business plan. This plan is somehow important for all the project management
member or even the other stakeholders (Collings, Scullion and Caligiuri, 2018). As it provide
some basic details about the project in the form of short summary:
Aim: Aim of the project means, what are the reason to conduct this project and why all
the things are collected. The aim of this project is to enhance the knowledge of challenge and

obstacle in company while working on talent management. To conducting business research,
the investigation and plan which are helpful for conducting the business research on the topic
of talent management.
Time Scale: To complete that project the chosen time frame is approximately for three
months. In this all the milestone all covers and activities which are schedule within the fix
time so that the plan is completed on time. While working on the starting date of the project
till the end of the project of last step.
Activities Time durations
Developing aims and objectives 10 days
Literature Review 15 days
Research Methodology 25 days
Data collection 15 days
Data analysis 20 days
Conclusion and recommendation 5 days
Submission of project 3 days
Quality: In this section the quality of the research the resources and material are used
and implement for conducting the research. Quality of the research are chosen and quality is
with some of the ethical and standard relationship. To complete this project the chosen
quality complete all the standard which are followed in order to comply with all the
objectives. The standard quality of the project will be very helpful to analysis the result of
talent management’s objective which are designed above.
Communication: This is the part of management and leaders of the organisation are they are
working for the compliance of the project (Dimitrov, 2018). In order to complete the project
details, it is important to complete all the procedure and communicate that information in all
over the organisation’s member who make an impact on the related research outcome.

Risk: This section include the basic and detail risk management which are related to the
issues and complete hurdles which must be ready to face and complete all duration of the
project. With the help of risk management, most of the risk is reduce and its impact on the
research will be reduce (Evans, Arnold and Rothwell, 2019).
Resources: In order to complete the project, different type of resources are needed such
as primary and secondary sources, questionnaire, tabular form of data, different type of books
and online access portals which provide different type of information regarding the concept
of talent management.
Literature Review
To understand the value of talent management in different business sectors
According to Barriere, M., (2020); getting the best people within the organisation is
one of the most important role for the top management. This is the job which is not happened
by chance, the required things are the most discipline strategies that actually create the value
and how top talent contributes. This is very important for the organisation to understand the
concept of talent management and deal with their employees in order to make successful
approach. This is very important for the organisations, to make a connection in between the
values and talent that are actually helpful for gaining different kind of understanding related
to talent management within organisation (Dobrian, 2017). There is always a better job
position are available for the employees, so providing them best knowledge and satisfaction
level is become important for the growth of organisation and helpful in retain their
employees. Organisation are needed to make rules for the particular job positions and
distribute the responsibilities which are follow by the employees of the organisation.
According to Mr Barriere, this is never ending process within organisation. So this is
important to understand the value of talent management in different business sector either in
education, public, private or NGO type businesses. Talent management is the most needed
part for today’s business world. To give the high competition in market this is an important
aspect for the companies at different scale (Linking talent to value, 2021).
To identify the challenges face by top management in order to sustain talent management
within organisation
As per the view point of Andre., (2021); the market of different organisation sector are
somehow become the battle ground for the search of talent management. Talent is the short
term supply of the management, and as per the supply of the talented people are limited, the

demand of them are increasing day by day. For this there are lots of challenges which are
faced by the companies to sustain and retain their talented people within organisation (6
CHALLENGES OF TALENT MANAGEMENT, 2021). Some of the challenges which are
face by the Pearson organisation are explain below:
Fail in encouraging passion: The most important and overcoming challenge within
organisation is to fail to encourage their employees. Talented people are want to work in the
organisation which are shown some of the supportive side in their talent and passion. But
most of the organisation are fail to complete this objective of an employee (Jose, LaPort and
Trippe, 2016).
Not to communicate effectively: another obstacle of challenge which are face by the
manager and leaders is to not communicate properly with their peer members and lower level
staff. It is important for them to communicate with all employee within organisation and
provide knowledge related to the any change which are happening in the organisation and
may be affect the progress of any organisation.
Choosing right hiring decision: there are so many candidates which are carry some
high quality experience from different organisation. This is important for the HR team to
adopt right hiring policy or procedure in order to accomplish the goal and achieve the
objectives of the organisation (Khoreva, Vaiman and Kostanek, 2019). Wrong decision in the
hiring process are sonly make an impact on the organisation.
To develop different strategies which used to solve the challenges of talent management
According to Tankersley, J., (2018), there are different type of solutions and strategies which
must be overcome by the organisation in order to sustain their talented staff within
organisation. For the growth of company, it is helpful to use approaches which are applicable
within organisation (4 Effective Talent Management Strategies, 2018). Some of the strategies
are described below:
Make a consistent employee’s review: this is important for the organisation, to make
a review and collect daily updates about the performance of the employee it is important for
the organisation to work in an effective manner. For this they should monitor the
performance of an employee.

Recognize the top employee: after monitoring the performance, it is suitable if they
can recognize their employees with some awards which are suitable for the growth of an
employee. This recognition can be in the form of appreciation or some rewards money.
Develop some talent management process: This is best approach which are used
and evaluate by the organisation, this is helpful for the employees and their team
management also. With the help of talent management programme, employee’s skills and
growth can be achieved and this will enhance their power for completing the objective of
organisation (Maghdomi and Keikha, 2017).
Developed a healthy work environment: This is important to developing a healthy
work environment in the organisation, and perform their activities according to them. This is
very essential to provide a healthy work environment for the company and it will be suitable
for employees and helpful in their growth.
Gantt chart and WBS
Gantt chart

WBS
Research Methodology
Research methodology is the concept show the concept and theories adopted by the
researcher in order to conduct the research in an ethical and effective manner. To complete
the objectives of the organisation, it is important to understand the concept of talent
management. Which are described below:
Research Philosophy – The procedure of gathering the data and analysing it in respect
of a particular phenomenon is known as research philosophy. It helps in attain the appropriate
results for the research (Wikström, 2020). The research philosophies are of two types namely
positivism and interpretivism. For conducting the respective research, positivism philosophy
has been selected.

Research Approach – It is the main strategy used by the researchers to conduct the
effective research. The two main types of the research approaches are namely inductive and
deductive (McCowan, 202). It is a crucial step as this helps in gathering authentic and reliable
date. In this research, deductive approached is being used so that the collected data may be
analysed appropriately.
Quantitative Methods – Quantitative method of research involves the data in
numerical terms and make it more accurate, comparable and make it easy to analyse. It
enhances the generalization of the results. It provide the general and basic information of the
data which are easy to access and understand for the others. This method is used in this
research in order to evaluate the concept of talent management and its challenges.
Primary and secondary sources – The data for the research may be collected from
either the primary and secondary sources. The primary source of the data provides the raw
information that has its own merits and demerits. Merits includes the more reliability,
accuracy, easy to interpret but on the other hand demerits are costly, time consuming, not
suitable for large population. The secondary source of the data provides the already collected
data and it is not directly obtained from participants.
Sampling – Another important component of the research is to collect the desired
information/data from the sampling. Sampling is more suitable in the case of large population
when surveying all the individuals is not rational and time consuming. Sampling may be on
random basis or on non-random basis (Sehhat and Afsharian, 2020). Random sampling most
of the time provides the more accurate result and provides the proper representation of the
whole population at comparative lesser time and resources. Non random sampling shows the
biasness in selecting the targeted population. It is generally used when a particular group is
target for providing the sample.
Questionnaire – A questionnaire is a type of research where the surveyor provides
the paper or e-paper to participants to fill it. It includes mostly the one word questions or in
some cases one liners also. It also includes the tick mark questions where participant has to
choose from the given options normally maximum 4-5 options are provided. A good
questionnaire has some objectives to fulfil such as gather all the relevant information, not to
offend the participant in any manner, provide proper analytical data etc.
All the above method discussed above have their own relevance as per the
requirement of the research. It is pertinent to mention that in this research Positivism

philosophy of research and Deductive approach have been used (Ternikov and Lapov, 2018).
Appropriate research strategies to complete the research in given time frame have been used.
Secondary source of the data has been given preference while collecting the data. The aim of
the researcher is not only to conduct the research in an effective manner but of to make sure
that the desired results are obtained with accuracy and reliability.
Questionnaire
Questionnaire
Ques1. Do you know the value of talent management within different organisation?
a) Yes
b) No
Ques2. What are the role of talent management team within organisation?
a) Planning in advance
b) development
c) selection procedure
d) retain their employees
Ques3. Do you know about the challenges which are facing by organisation?
a) Yes
b) No
Ques4. Choose one of the best strategies which are adopt by organisation, in order to
solve obstacles?
a) Identifying the issue
b) employee’s development
c) Make some priority for employee’s relation
d) employee’s growth
Ques5. Do you want to provide some suggestions which must be adopted by Pearson
Plc?
Ans.
Analysis and interpretation
Questionnaire Frequency
Ques1. Do you know the value of talent management within different
organisation?

a) Yes 15
b) No 5
Ques2. What are the role of talent management team within
organisation?
a) Planning in advance 8
b) development 5
c) selection procedure 4
d) retain their employees 3
Ques3. Do you know about the challenges which are facing by
organisation?
a) Yes 17
b) No 3
Ques4. Choose one of the best strategies which are adopt by
organisation, in order to solve obstacles?
a) Identifying the issue 5
b) employee’s development 7
c) Make some priority for employee’s relation 5
d) employee’s growth 3
Theme 1
Ques1. Do you know the
value of talent
management within
different organisation?
a) Yes b) No
0
2
4
6
8
10
12
14
16
Chart Title
Interpretation

From the above graph it is interpreted that among all the employee of Pearson
organisation, most of them are known about the concept and value of talent management.
From the 20 respondents 15 respondents are known about the concept of talent management.
And another 5 said, they are not aware about the talent management. Which is understandable
that talent management is a known concept.
Theme 2
0
2
4
6
8
Chart Title
Interpretation
After analysing the second graph, it is analysis that out of 20 respondents, 8 are said that
according to them talent management’s biggest role is planning. Whereas, 5 said that
development is the main role of talent management. 4 said that selection procedure is the role
of talent management. And 3 said that retain their employees within organisation is the
biggest role of talent management team.
Theme 3

Ques3. Do you know about the challenges which
are facing by organisation?
b) No
Interpretation
While talking about challenges within organisation due to inappropriate talent
management team, most of the respondent think that they are affect and make a stoppage
within organisation. Out of 20 respondents, 17 are agree with the statement that challenges
may affect the growth of organisation. Whereas, 3 are become disagree and said the
challenges and obstacle are the work for increasing the efficiency of their employees within
organisation.
Theme 4

Chart Title
Ques4. Choose one of the best strategies which are adopt by organisation, in order to solve
obstacles?
a) Identifying the issue
b) employee’s development
c) Make some priority for employee’s relation
d) employee’s growth
Interpretation
After evaluating the pie-chart it comes to know that employee of an organisation are
aware with the challenges and at the same time they are aware with their solutions also. Out
of 20 respondents, 5 said that identifying the issue is the best solution, 7 said make a
development within employees is the good strategies. Whereas 5 said make a good relation
with employees or 3 said that employee’s growth is the best way.
Theme 5
Interpretation
In the last result it is seems that among 20 respondent mainly react and provide different
kind of suggestions for overcome with the challenges of organisation due to talent
management. Some said it is important to hire new people time to time, some said they
should start some motivating programmes and many more.

Recommendation
After completing the research on business proposal, there are different type of sources are
found which are valuable for getting the knowledge of talent management techniques. There
are different type of challenges and hurdles which are face by the organisation like Pearson.
Most of the organisation are found very easy to search talented people in the organisation, but
some of the companies like Pearson, had difficulties in finding the value of their talented
people in organisation (Tarigan and et.al., 2018). To solve that issue within organisation it is
important to find out the solutions for that. This is somehow very effective and impressive
approach for conducting the research. Some of the recommendation are provided for the
Pearson to recruit the company with having more and more employees. Some of the
programme should be launched in order to prevent the talented people and their skills. After
that trying to analysis the situation and conducting a feedback portal for access the reviews of
their employees.
Conclusion
From the above report, it is concluded that talent management is one of the important
aspect for managing the organisational behaviour of company. This is important to plan and
strategies according the need and objective of the company. Talent people are different and
their needs are different in different sectors of the organisation. This approach is somehow
very effective and appropriate for the growth of organisation. Most of the challenges and
obstacle are recover through the different and sustainable approaches which are used in order
to increase the employee’s retention period within organisation. The deep analysis of talent
management and different aspect of talent management are needed to make an effective
approach to stand strongly within market.
Part 2: Project report and reflection
While completing this business research, I understand that there are different aspect of
talent management which are think and understand by different people. I come to know more
about the need of talent management and the value which are increasing day by day. With the
help of different kind of approaches used for working on their talent management
programme. It is compulsory to use some of the best effective policies which make growth
within the organisation. In order to make high position within market with effective and
efficient work style, it is important to regulate and retain their valuable talent management.
For completing the need of customer’s in market it is important to complete the applicable

and needed workforce of human resource management. That human resource who are ready
to share their innovation and skills techniques with the company to obtain their long term
objectives. The different aspect of challenges and obstacle which are focused by the different
sector of organisations in order to complete the need of talent management.
While completing this research, I understand the different aspect and faces of
conducting a research. Different rules and regulation which are needed to comply with all the
rules and regulation within an organisation. I completed my business research on the Pearson
Plc. where the need of talent management is so high, and they are facing different type of
challenges. To complete this research and attain all the objectives, I choose primary and
secondary both type of research. To find out the answer of my objectives from different
authors point of view, I completed my literature review and then I conduct a primary research
in between 20 respondent, to understand the concept of talent management in between them. I
come to know that the need of talent management is essential and most of the companies are
facing same type of challenges.

References
Books and Journals
Collings, D.G., Mellahi, K. and Cascio, W.F. eds., 2017. The Oxford handbook of talent
management. Oxford University Press.
Collings, D.G., Scullion, H. and Caligiuri, P.M. eds., 2018. Global talent management.
Routledge.
Dimitrov, K., 2018. Talent management-an etymological study. arXiv preprint
arXiv:1810.02615.
Dobrian, J., 2017. Talent management: creating & maintaining a brand. Journal of Property
Management, 82(4), pp.12-17.
Evans, M., Arnold, J. and Rothwell, A., 2019. From Talent Management to Talent
Liberation: A Practical Guide for Professionals, Managers and Leaders. Routledge.
Jose, I., LaPort, K. and Trippe, D.M., 2016. Requisite attributes for cyber security personnel
and teams: Cyber risk mitigation through talent management.
Khoreva, V., Vaiman, V. and Kostanek, E., 2019. Talent identification transparency: an
alternative perspective. European Journal of International Management, 13(1),
pp.25-40.
Maghdomi, M. and Keikha, A., 2017. Talent Management System and Its Effect on the
Research Performance of Universities. International Journal of Economic
Perspectives, 11(3).
McCowan, J.D., 2020. Talent Management Leaders' Strategies for Millennial Senior
Leadership Roles: A Qualitative Exploratory Single Case Study (Doctoral
dissertation, University of Phoenix).
Sehhat, S. and Afsharian, M., 2020. A Talent Management Model for Active Knowledge-
Based Companies in the Agricultural Sector of Guilan Province (Case of Rasht
City). International Journal of Agricultural Management and Development, 10(2),
pp.189-206.
Tarigan, J. and et.al., 2018. Talent Management And Financial Performance: Does
Organization Learning Mediate That Relationship?. Asia-Pacific Management and
Business Application, 7(1), pp.1-16.
Ternikov, A.A. and Lapov, I.S., 2018. Global talent management challenges. Скиф.
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