Human Resources Mid Term Essay
The aim of employers has always been to maximize the return values of every investment they make. This is because the primary aim of a business is to make profit. To ensure that their business entities are profitable, employers have identified the need to attract, keep and motivate a reliable team of employees (Randhawa, 260). This was the start of Human Resource Management. Employees need to feel valued and appreciated. This is the only way that workers can perform at the best of their abilities. Moreover, there is increasing competition in all industries; and organizations are always seeking to attract new talent from rival firms. Due to this, talent management has become an essential function of Human Resource Management. Talent management is crucial in attracting, hiring, developing, managing and retaining talent from various sources in the industry. Companies can embrace different approaches to talent management. The most common approaches are the inclusive and exclusive approaches.
Inclusive Approach
The inclusive approach to talent management is focused on the empowerment of all employees in a bid to enhance their skills, talents and abilities (Swailes & Yvonne, pp.4-5). An organization that employs the inclusive approach avails a platform and resources requisite for the development of talent in equal proportions. This implies that every member of the organization has an equal ability to increase and/or improve their abilities and usefulness to the firm. This is usually done by adding equal value to the employees’ tasks and focusing on the need to complete tasks efficiently and towards the development of the brand. It is worth noting that an inclusive approach may be an expensive endeavor for many firms.
An inclusive approach to talent management gives equal chances to employees of all ages, races, sex and education level. Normally, organizations may focus on giving better chances to the youthful employees to develop their abilities and skills and prove their worth to the firm (Silzer & Ben, 220). This may be counterproductive as employees who are aged and nearing retirement may have exhausted their abilities to improve on their already internalized skills. Additionally, this is disadvantageous in light of the technological changes happening continuously. Aged employees may be unable to utilize them to the maximum benefit of the firm despite being afforded equal technological resources as the youthful workers in an inclusive approach.
Another way that an inclusive approach may be erroneous is with regard to the difference in educational levels between various employees. This difference may be due to age or due to the academic abilities of employees. An inclusive approach gives equal chances to all the employees; making this a relatively wasteful endeavor. Different employees may have undergone different education systems, a factor that undoubtedly influences their abilities to develop talents.
Although an inclusive approach has these drawbacks, it also provides several merits. A common advantage is that it enhances the morale of employees in the workplace as it indiscriminatingly offers equal opportunities to all employees (Silzer & Ben, 220). This may be interpreted as an absence of favoritism in the workplace. Additionally, an inclusive approach presents the possibility of a surprise package presenting itself. A person that may be written off in an exclusive approach may prove his/her worth when given the resources and the platform.
Exclusive Approach
Some organizations may choose to pursue an exclusive approach towards talent management. In this approach, a firm decides to focus on a particular category of employees. The organization’s management may identify the most promising, the most hardworking, the youngest or the best performers (Haigh, n.d.). Either way, the organization offers training, resources and a better platform for the chosen employees to improve their talents, skills and abilities. At the same time, the management disregards a larger portion of the organization’s workforce since those employees are seen as unpromising or past their prime. An organization, motivated by the need for improved performance, chooses to boost the development of a few people who are potentially the most beneficial to the firm.
Compared to an inclusive approach, exclusive approaches are more cost friendly as they involve the allocation of resources on the promising employees; hence avoiding possible wastage of resources (Buttiens & Annie, pp.61-85). Exclusive approaches are suitable for small organizations that do not have access to sufficient resources to foster talent development of each employee in the organization. Moreover, organizations find it easier to depend on a chosen category of efficient and promising employees than on the design of systems of communication between the management and the subordinates.
Despite the merits mentioned above, an exclusive approach has various demerits. For instance, extended use of exclusive approaches may make a firm develop more hierarchal systems, thus creating insufferable gaps between the management and the subordinates (Haigh, n.d.). There are also high chances for an organization to develop a culture of unhealthy competition due to the discriminative selection of employees to foster. Unlike inclusive approaches to talent management, exclusive approaches lead to a loss of motivation and engagement among employees. This is primarily due to the favoritism exhibited in the organization. In extreme cases, organizations that take the exclusive approach may suffer from an inability to replace turnovers and sustain knowledge within the firm.
Issues Influencing Selection of Approach to Talent Management
Due to the difference in the nature of inclusive and exclusive approaches to talent management, organizations should consider various factors before selecting an approach. One of these factors is the economic environments and the organization’s budget (Silzer & Ben, 405). As studied before, an intensive approach is usually more expensive to apply than an extensive approach. This is primarily due to the difference in the number of employees that will be availed resources to advance their talents. A firm that chooses an inclusive approach should be economically able to sponsor the exertion. On the other hand, an exclusive approach is more cost friendlier to employ.
An organization should also consider the existing social climate before selecting an approach to talent management (Crawley, Stephen & David, pp.127-128).This is because societies are perpetually changing. Consequently, there are changes in the quality, size and content of the talent pool dealt with by an organization. Social factors also influence the economics and financial factors surrounding an organization. Issues such as ethics and corporate social responsibility also arise with social changes, thus influencing a firm’s choice of an approach to talent management. The sector an organization operates within is also contributive to decision making since different industries are affected differently by globalization, diversity and consumer expectations.
Another factor that affects the approach chosen to manage talent is organizational culture and leadership (Silzer & Ben, 405). An organization may have an established and accepted means of handling talent and the workforce, meaning that changes to that culture may be hostilely received. The leadership of the firm is also contributive to these choices especially through policymaking and establishment of communication and reward systems. These systems influence the morale of the employees and the selection of an approach to talent management.
Talent Management Approach Taken by Facebook
In 2004, Mark Zuckerberg, in collaboration with a few colleagues, founded Facebook, which is arguably the most popular social networking platform (Kirkpatrick, 19). The company is famed for its distinct and excellent talent management strategies. Facebook takes the inclusive approach to talent management. All employees in the company are afforded equal opportunities, resources and platforms to increase their skills and abilities. Due to this, Facebook was ranked the best employer brand in the world (Sullivan, n.d.).
The major reason why Facebook can practice an inclusive approach is due to its shrewd, rigorous, well-coordinated recruitment strategies. Facebook employs the distinct acqui-hiring system. The acqui-hiring system is one that a big company acquires a smaller company not for its customers or products, but for its talented workforce. Relevant examples are the 2007 acquisition of Parakey, 2010 acquisition of Octazen and the 2011 acquisition of Rel8tion (Shontell, n.d.). Moreover, Facebook runs a contest-based recruiting strategy that hires the winners of internet-based technological contests. Similar contests are also organized in colleges. This implies that Facebook only recruits and hires the best talents, thus no need for exclusive approach to talent management once they join the company.
Facebook also regards its employees as high-value corporate assets. This is due to the high costs the company incurs in its thorough recruitment systems. The company’s prestigious treatment of its employees implies that they are highly satisfied with their jobs and immensely motivated to work for the company. Moreover, the company encourages healthy competition among its employees and provides equal platform to bring out the best in its workforce.
Due to the nature of the technology and social media industry, companies in the industry would find it detrimental to embrace an exclusive approach to talent management. This is because there is the need for innovation, creativity and competition both inside the company and in the industry (Keengwe, 75). Inhibiting some of the company’s employees would be the worst approach to gain competitive advantage over rival companies. Facebook recognizes this requirement and affords its talented workforce equal opportunities to advance their talents to the benefit of the company.
Facebook also offers various incentives to its employees to keep them motivated. An example is its six-week boot camp and Happy Hour on Fridays (Sullivan, n.d.). The company also offers all employees a global range of foods so that they stay within the company compound during mealtimes. For instance, employees are offered free ice cream and barbecues that are prepared by some of the best chefs in the world. This improves teamwork and discussions thus enhancing innovation. It is worth noting that Facebook’s inclusive approach to talent management has been successful.
Conclusion
Human Resources Management is evidently one of the most important departments in every organization. Businesses have a role to take care of their employees, who are almost always in direct contact with customers. Talent management also rises as an important aspect of HR management especially due to the competition for talent that organizations have within their respective industries. Therefore, firms have, to make shrewd and informed decisions when choosing the most suitable approaches to talent management. This process should be in consideration of the various factors that influence selection of either inclusive or exclusive approach. Inclusive approach, as studied, has significant advantages over exclusive approach, albeit it is costlier. In contemporary times, some organizations are trying to adopt a hybrid system that incorporates the best aspects of both inclusive and exclusive approaches. Nonetheless, every organization needs to select an approach that best suits the firm, its needs, social factors and more importantly, the workforce and talent under contract.
Works Cited
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Silzer, Rob, and Ben E. Dowell. Strategy-driven Talent Management: A Leadership Imperative. New York: Wiley, 2009. Print.
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