{"id":7908,"date":"2022-06-21T12:12:08","date_gmt":"2022-06-21T10:12:08","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/escp.eu\/thechoice\/?p=7908"},"modified":"2024-10-17T12:29:40","modified_gmt":"2024-10-17T10:29:40","slug":"global-management-programmes-can-help-win-the-escalating-talent-war","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/escp.eu\/thechoice\/choose-to-lead\/global-management-programmes-can-help-win-the-escalating-talent-war\/","title":{"rendered":"Global management programmes can help win the escalating \u2018talent war\u2019"},"content":{"rendered":"\n

As global talent is a key success factor for multinational corporations, investments made to attract and retain talent are large. <\/em>Domitille Bonneton<\/strong>, Stephanie Katja Schworm<\/strong>, Marion Festing<\/strong> and Maral Muratbekova-Touron<\/strong> show how talent management practices can help retain high performers and high potential, who like other commodities have become even more scarce in these times of economic crisis.<\/em><\/p>\n\n\n\n

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Domitille Bonneton<\/span>
ESCP Business School PhD graduate and associate professor at ESC Clermont Business School<\/p>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n\n\n\n

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Stephanie Katja Schworm<\/span>
ESCP Business School PhD graduate and academic programme developer at Steinbeis School of Management and Innovation<\/p>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n\n\n\n

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\"Professor<\/figure>\n<\/div>\n\n\n\n
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Marion Festing<\/span>
Professor of HRM and Intercultural Leadership at ESCP Business School<\/p>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n\n\n\n

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\"Maral<\/figure>\n<\/div>\n\n\n\n
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Maral Muratbekova-Touron<\/span>
Professor of management at ESCP Business School<\/p>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n\n\n\n

Attracting and retaining the right talent in the right places is one of the key success factors for companies in the competitive landscape of a global economy.<\/mark> With good reason: these high-achieving individuals are up to eight times more productive<\/a>.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

However, qualified talent is scarce and many employers have to cope with the so-called \u201cwar for talent\u201d,<\/strong> a term initially coined by a group of McKinsey consultants, based on the research and the eponym book<\/a> they published. \u201cThe war for talent shows no signs of letting up, even in sectors experiencing modest growth,\u201d Claudio Fernandez Araoz, Boris Groysberg and Nitin Nohria wrote in the Harvard Business Review<\/a> in 2011. According to a global study they conducted, only 15 per cent of companies in North America and Asia felt they had enough qualified potential successors to fill their top jobs, and the picture was only slightly better in Europe. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

Despite \u201cthe economic carnage wrought by the pandemic,\u201d it has only intensified this phenomenon, expected by some to continue through 2031, with a potential shift in power away from companies toward the workers.<\/p><\/blockquote>\n\n\n\n

McKinsey is still riding that wave, painting a similar picture in a 2017 article<\/a> and talking about a new (data-driven) war for talent<\/a>. \u201cGlobalization and the rise of artificial intelligence, paired with a new generation of consumers who desire more personal, intuitive brand experiences, are forcing companies to rethink their approach to talent management (TM) and acquisition. But today\u2019s employers are struggling to keep them on board,\u201d<\/strong> Margaret Rogers confirmed more recently<\/a> in the Harvard Business Review. Despite \u201cthe economic carnage wrought by the pandemic,\u201d it has only intensified this phenomenon,<\/a> expected by some to continue through 2031<\/a>, with a potential shift in power away from companies toward the workers<\/a>.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Figure 1. Predicted shortage of talent by 2020 <\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n

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Failure to attract and retain top talent\u201d was the number-one issue in the Conference Board\u2019s CEO Challenge 2016.<\/em> <\/figcaption><\/figure><\/div>\n\n\n

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Companies and economies in many parts of the world have identified<\/a> TM as one of the major challenges and consequently invest huge sums in it. This is especially important for multinational corporations (MNCs), which are faced simultaneously with strong global competition and local labour market challenges when filling their key strategic positions with future leaders. Economic expectations with respect to TM activities are high. For example, the Boston Consulting Group states that<\/a> firms with strong TM are characterized by faster revenue and profit growth. More recently, a McKinsey Global survey<\/a> confirmed the positive effects of talent management on business outcomes.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Figure 2. Performance of organisations against talent management effectiveness <\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n

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The first explanatory framework of its kind<\/h4>\n\n\n\n

However, the discussion around TM has thus far been driven mainly by the US context<\/strong> and research regarding MNCs\u2019 return on investment in terms of talent management activities, which were as scarce as qualified talent.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

This is why in the course of our research published<\/a> in The International Journal of Human Resource Management, we developed a conceptual framework explaining the complex relationship between TM programmes and talent retention as a key performance indicator from a career perspective. We suggested a career perspective because career-related practices are at the heart of TM. They have been studied very little in previous research within the frame of TM. Yet in this specific context, career management is crucial as individual careers have significant potential to serve the strategic purposes of organizations as investment in organizational career management is beneficial not only for the individual, but also for organizational performance.<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n

Talent management practices have a positive effect on talent\u2019s intention to stay, and career-related aspects are key factors in retaining this talent on a global scale.<\/p><\/blockquote>\n\n\n\n

The framework we developed to explain the underlying mechanisms that contribute to the influence of the perceived intensity of talent management practices on the intention to stay in an organization, is the first of its kind. We tested it in one MNC and thus provided first-hand empirical evidence from Europe on how <\/em>global TM actually influences talents\u2019 intention to stay based on several sources of information. Sources included 141 questionnaires completed by talent and a comparable control group, as well as information coming from several interviews with HR managers (highly valuable to conceptualize talent), and insights taken from written material.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

We showed that talent management practices have a positive effect on talent\u2019s intention to stay, and career-related aspects are key factors in retaining this talent on a global scale. This is in line with the findings of the McKinsey Global survey<\/a>, which claims that \u201cemployee experience\u2014specifically, the HR function\u2019s role in ensuring a positive experience across the employee life cycle\u201d is a driver of effective talent management (and thus of company performance).<\/mark> As well as with with some talent management practices: Jean Martin and Conrad Schmidt, from the Corporate Executive Board\u2019s Corporate Leadership Council (now a subsidiary of Gartner), cite examples<\/a> of MNCs \u201cregularly taking the temperature\u201d of their top talent and \u201cpaying careful attention to their satisfaction\u201d (Shell with \u201ccareer stewards\u201d, Novartis a dedicated checklist) in China, \u201cwhere finding and retaining talent is especially challenging.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Managerial implications<\/h4>\n\n\n\n

The results of our study lead us to propose the following recommendations for TM programmes in MNCs:<\/p>\n\n\n\n