ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS

It is a matter of inordinate gratification and declaration for me to express my

thankfulness to Professor (Dr.) Raj Kumar, Institute of Management Studies and
Research, Maharshi Dayanand University, Rohtak for his adroit teachings and unceasing
motivation. Whatsoever, appears in this research work is the reflection of his vivacious
involvement and critique frame of mind. I am highly beholden for his direction, advice
and help extended to me spontaneously and decidedly beyond the call of supervision. I
can never adequately express my gratitude for him as without his able, learned and
impulsive guidance, the present work would not have seen conclusion. I am also very
thankful to the Head of the Department Professor (Dr.) A.S. Boora, for his motivation. I
would also like to thank Dr. Seema Rathi for her great support and encouragement,
without which the completion of this research would not have been possible.

Similarly, I am under an obligation to Dr. Neelam Jain, Dr. Pradeep Ahlawat and other
faculty members of the Institute of Management Studies and Research for their
continuous support and warm cooperation at every stage of the completion of the present
research study.

I also wish to thank the leadership and respondents of ten selected organizations Emmar
MGF, DLF Ltd., Max Healthcare Ltd, Kalyani Hospital, Paras Hospital, Infosys, IBM,
Hero Motor Corporation, IBMR, Delhi Technical Campus, KIIT, and in specific the
members; Mr. Arman Chaudhary, Mr. Kunal Bansal, Mr. Devender Singh, Dr. Anjela
Aneja, Mr. Pawan Jain, Mr. Ravinder Kataria, Dr. Namit Gupta, Mr. Anil Sharma, who
supported me in successful collection of primary and secondary data from their respective
organizations.

I do not know how to acknowledge the significant contribution of my parents and in

specific my mother Dr. Swaran Lata for her guidance and support this research work
would have been way more strenuous. I am thankful to my father Mr. Dhare Singh, my
brother Arman Chaudhary, and my husband Shajat Kataria.

I am equally grateful to the family of Professor (Dr.) Raj Kumar for bearing the

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inconvenience caused to them as a consequential to the involvement of her husband Prof.
Raj Kumar, my supervisor and mentor, for a long time in this research project.

At this moment of pleasure, I am indebted to my soul mate and my husband Shajat for his
continuous encouragement which kept me going and without his altruistic support, this
work would not have been possible.

Last but not the least Sh. Sanjay Rathee, deserves the recognition for the dexterous typing
of the thesis.

(AKANKSHA CHAUDHARY)

(ii)
 PREFACE

The guiding force behind successful companies of present day is to retain the best and
build the best, rightly so because with ever growing focus on the value of human capital,
the need for management of talent is becoming essential for a company’s growth. Unlike
in the past, where Talent Management was once in a few months phenomenon, it is now
believed that a CEO has to handle Talent Management on a daily basis. The reason
behind this focus is also because the brand image of a company is now being determined
by its ‘people’ and if you haven’t got the right stock, probably nothing’s going to work
right for the company. Within Talent Management, the stress is being exerted upon better
Performance Management Systems, institutionalization of processes like talent
Acquisition, Retention and Development. These parameters will ultimately be
responsible for increasing growth rate of the business. Although many early theorists
have suggested many models and framework for Talent Management, but it appears from
the research that none of the models can be fully employed as it is in any organization.
Hence the uniqueness of Talent Management is in itself its core quality of excellence.

The objective behind this research is to decipher several strategies that are actively being
used by Indian companies to manage their talent proactively. An effort to add to these
strategies has also been made from the feedback received in the questionnaires. The
present study is exploratory cum descriptive in its nature. The survey sample consists of
10 organizations covering the spread of Real Estate, Hospitality, Education and
Information Technology. The data was collected using self-administered standardized
questionnaires from 464 respondents in all. Descriptive as well as standard statistical
tools were used for the analysis of data.

The key finding of the study is that the there is an unmissable impact of having a
Proactive Talent Management system in an organization and more proactively the
managers plan, more the organization’s talent pool is broadened. It was also found that
Proactive Talent Management directly affects the other independent variables like
Performance Management, Learning and Development, Employee Engagement,
Workplace management etc. Though, especially in Hospitality sector, a Proactive Talent

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Management cycle ensures better Performance Management system and also better
Workplace Management. But in a sector like Real Estate, still the role of Talent
Management is a bit understated. The focus is increasing on people policies but there is a
long way before the centre of focus falls solely upon Talent Management. The most
dynamic role of Proactive Talent Management can be best seen in IT firms where there is
almost 61% employee satisfaction rate as a great deal of effort is put on retaining the best
performers.

The suggestions related to the lacunae’s in Proactive Talent Management mainly revolves
around the fact that there can be no standard model for Talent Management as it solely
depends upon nature of a company’s business and their dedication to spend time and
capital on human development. Many Indian firms still struggle to deliver services to
customers and hence focus on internal management of their talent pool. The ever growing
competition in the market and easy availability of qualified human capital are two main
reasons for negligence of Talent in Indian companies. But by far, IT sector has been fully
focusing on Proactive Talent Management and believes that with right people, the
company grows the best. Therefore encouraging and supporting the motive behind this
study that Proactive Talent Management directly affects independent performance based
activities in an organization.

The analysis from the study shall be of interest to the academicians and researchers in the
field of Human Resources as well as to the corporate managements of organizations. To
academicians, it would highlight the role of Proactive Talent Management for business
managers and will also strengthen the existing literature relevant to the various elements
of Talent Management for further researches on the subject. Also, the management of
organizations can use the observations of the study to strengthen the Talent Management
system by providing ample opportunities of development to their employees for the
success of their organizations.

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 TABLE OF CONTENTS

List of Tables

List of Figures

CHAPTER DESCRIPTION PAGE NO.

1 : INTRODUCTION 1-54
1.1 Introduction 1
1.2 Talent Management as a Learning Organization 7
1.3 Factors Driving the Current Emphasis on Talent 10
Management
1.4 Processes that are a part of Talent Management 13
System
1.5 Silicon Valley principles of talent management 18
1.6 Theories of Talent Management 19
1.7 Talent Management Models 22
1.8 Proactive Talent Management 38
1.9 Critical Elements in Proactive Talent 43
Management Strategy
1.10 HR Department shifts from being a Reactive 45
Process to being a Proactive Business Service
1.11 Future of Proactive Talent Management 48

2 : REVIEW OF LITERATURE 55-82

2.1 Review of Literature 55
2.2 Strategic Talent Management 60
61
2.3 Talent Management and Performance
Management
2.4 Employee Engagement and Talent Management 65

2.5 Learning & Development and Talent 69

Management

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 2.6 Workplace Management and Talent 73
Management
2.7 Infrastructure, Retention and Talent 76
Management

3. : RESEARCH METHODOLOGY 83-103

3.1 Introduction 83
3.2 Justification of Study 84
85
3.3 Objectives of the Study
3.4 Operationalization of the Objectives 86

3.5 Hypotheses to be tested 87

3.6 Research Methodology of Present Study 88

3.7 Data Collection 92

3.8 Questionnaire Development and its re-structuring 93

3.9 Features used in the Questionnaire 94

3.10 Reliability and Validity 96
3.11 Tools and Techniques Used 98
4. : DATA ANALYSIS AND INTERPRETATION 104-193

4.1 Analysis 104

4.2 Hypothesis wise Analysis 171

5. : SUMMARY, CONCLUSIONS AND 194-209

RECOMMENDATIONS
5.1 Summary 194
5.2 Best practices for Proactive Talent Management 197
5.3 Findings of the study 198
5.4 Implementation of the Study 202
5.5 Key challenges faced by companies 204
implementing talent management include

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 5.6 Need for Talent Management 205
5.7 Limitations of Study 207
5.8 Scope for Future Research 207

BIBLIOGRAPHY 205-218

Annexure 1. Questionnaire

2. Article on “Gender-Related Differences in Social

and Ethical Values of Management Employees :
Implications for Talent Management in 21st Century”

3. Article on “ The Role of Social Networks in Talent

Management : A Review of Latest Trends in Indian
Companies”

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 LIST OF TABLES
Table No. Table Description Page No.
1.1 Provides a strategic perspective on TREADs allocation by 29-30
employee classification.

1.2 Illustrates a list of nine representative core competencies 31-33

and their definitions. The list has undergone little change
since the first edition of this book.

3.1 Reliability statistics of the questionnaire 97

4.1 Age of the Employee 105

4.2 Gender 106

4.3 Designation in Organization 107

4.4 Time period of working in organization 108

4.5 Reason for leaving 109

4.6 Type of Work the organization provides to its customers 110

4.7 Type of work done by the individual 111

4.8 F1 (My organisation uses Talent Management Strategies as 112

career development tools for engaging the employees)

4.9 F2 (My organization has a clear definition of the term 113

Talent Management)

4.10 F3 (My organisation uses Talent Management strategies for 114

improving weak areas of the employees)

4.11 F4 (My organisation uses non-traditional acquisition 115

philosophy)

4.12 F5 (My organization defines Talent Management as a 116

process of Employee Career Development)
4.13 F6 (My organization uses Talent Management for 117
identifying human capital needs)
4.14 F7 (My organization considers Talent management as the 118

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 main priority of the Management)

4.15 F8 (Talent Management Strategy is used for engaging 119

employee’s creativity in the organisation)

4.16 F9 (My organisation uses Talent Management strategies for 120

catering individual growth needs)

4.17 F10 (My organisation uses Talent Management programs to 121

develop core competencies of employees)

4.18 F11 (My organization regularly communicates key 122

performance indicators KPIs to its employees)

4.19 F12 (My organization identifies critical roles for 123

organizational success as part of its Talent Management
Strategy)

4.20 F13 (My organization has a formal career development 124

policy)

4.21 F14 (My organization incorporates cross-functional learning 125

for Talent Management)

4.22 F15 (My organization encourages e-learning for Talent 126

Development)

4.23 F16 (My organization uses Individual Development Plans 127

(IDPs) for key performers)

4.24 F17 (My organization uses goal-alignment metrics for 128

Strategic Talent Management)

4.25 F18 (My organization has a strategic plan for Talent 129
Management)

4.26 F19 (My organization develops its talent pool for Strategic 130
Talent Management)

4.27 F20 (My organization shifts the right workforce in right 131
places as per business demands)

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4.28 F21 (My organization uses the term Talent mainly for 132
leaders who drive the business forward)

4.29 F22 (My organisation uses Succession Planning for Talent 133
Management)

4.30 F23 (My organisation uses Talent Management strategies to 134

develop QRT’s (Quick Reaction Teams) for Crisis
Management)

4.31 F24 (My organization has a Pay-for-Performance Culture) 135

4.32 F25 (My organization conducts employee assessments 136

throughout the year for Performance Management)

4.33 F26 (My organization believes in ensuring a sustained 137

organizational performance)

4.34 F27 (My organization achieves organizational performance 138

by constantly developing its workforce)

4.35 F28 (My organization believes in maximising the 139

performance of talented employees)

4.36 F29 (My organization uses positive feedback to increase 140

productivity at work)

4.37 F30 (My organization uses the Performance Management 141

System to identify employees of high potential)

4.38 F31 (My organisation uses Succession Planning as a part of 142

Strategic Talent Management)
4.39 F32 (My organization believes that Performance 143
management fosters teamwork)
4.40 F33 (My organization imparts classroom training to 144
improve the weak areas of an employee)
4.41 F34 (My organization believes that Corporate Training 145
increases employee’s efficiency in the organization)

4.42 F35 (My organization uses international transfers & 146

(x)
 postings as a part of the Career Development Process)

4.43 F36 (My organization uses mentoring for Leadership and 147
Skill Development)

4.44 F37 (My organization uses Job shadowing as a technique of 148

training)

4.45 F38 (My organization believes in catering to an employee’s 149

individual growth needs)

4.46 F39 (My organization increases work engagement as a 150

tactic for retaining employees)

4.47 F40 (My organization uses Career Development as a tool 151

for Employee Engagement)

4.48 F41 (My organization believes that facilities and benefits 152
help increase employee engagement)

4.49 F42 (My organization believes that Employee Engagement 153

is a crucial factor for the retention of Talent)

4.50 F43 (My organization believes in providing an appropriate 154

workplace environment for its employees)

4.51 F44 (My organization believes that Workplace Management 155

affects the performance of employees)

4.52 F45 (My organization is a great place to work) 156

4.53 F46 (My organization adapts easily to the changes in the 157
external environment)

4.54 F47 (My organization’s workplace environment influences 158

employee’s performances)

4.55 F48 (My organization provides a flexible working schedule) 159

4.56 F49 (My organization believes in work-life balance to boost 160

creativity among employees)

4.57 F50 (My organization believes that ‘recruiting ahead of the 161

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 curve’ is better than vacancy lead recruitment)

4.58 F51 (My organization believes that an employee’s 162

uniqueness contributes to its strategic objectives)

4.59 F52 (My organization caters to the learning and 163

development needs of its ambitious employees)

4.60 F53 (My organization prompts employees to engage their 164

creativity to increase organization’s talent offering)

4.61 F54 (My organization uses ‘Promotion-from-within policy’ 165

for key positions)

4.62 F55 (My organization uses a Talent Management Model for 166
Talent Management)

4.63 F56 (My organization employs Talent Managers specially 167

for Talent Management Process)

4.64 F57 (My organisation uses Talent Management strategy of 168

Inside Moonlighting)

4.65 F58 (My organization continuously monitors its attrition 169

rates)

4.66 F59 (My organization believes that Talent Management is 170

most essential for survival of an organization)

4.67 KMO and Bartlett's Test 171

4.68 Descriptive Statistics 172

4.69 Pearson Correlations 178-179

4.70 Model Summarye 180

4.71 ANOVAe 181

4.72 Coefficientsa 182-183

4.73 Collinearity Diagnosticsa 185

4.74 Residuals Statisticsa 185

4.75 Multivariate Tests 187

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4.76 Levene’s Test of Equality 189

4.77 Test of Between-Subjects Effects 190-191

4.78 Correlations 193

(xiii)
 LIST OF FIGURES
Table No. Figure Description Page No.
4.1 Age of the Employee 105

4.2 Gender 106

4.3 Designation in Organization 107

4.4 Time period of working in organization 108

4.5 Reason for leaving 109

4.6 Type of Work the organization provides to its customers 110

4.7 Type of work done by the individual 111

4.8 F1 (My organisation uses Talent Management Strategies as 112

career development tools for engaging the employees)

4.9 F2 (My organization has a clear definition of the term 113

Talent Management)

4.10 F3 (My organisation uses Talent Management strategies for 114

improving weak areas of the employees)

4.11 F4 (My organisation uses non-traditional acquisition 115

philosophy)

4.12 F5 (My organization defines Talent Management as a 116

process of Employee Career Development)
4.13 F6 (My organization uses Talent Management for 117
identifying human capital needs)
4.14 F7 (My organization considers Talent management as the 118
main priority of the Management)

4.15 F8 (Talent Management Strategy is used for engaging 119

employee’s creativity in the organisation)

4.16 F9 (My organisation uses Talent Management strategies for 120

catering individual growth needs)

4.17 F10 (My organisation uses Talent Management programs to 121

(xiv)
 develop core competencies of employees)

4.18 F11 (My organization regularly communicates key 122

performance indicators KPIs to its employees)

4.19 F12 (My organization identifies critical roles for 123

organizational success as part of its Talent Management
Strategy)

4.20 F13 (My organization has a formal career development 124

policy)

4.21 F14 (My organization incorporates cross-functional learning 125

for Talent Management)

4.22 F15 (My organization encourages e-learning for Talent 126

Development)

4.23 F16 (My organization uses Individual Development Plans 127

(IDPs) for key performers)

4.24 F17 (My organization uses goal-alignment metrics for 128

Strategic Talent Management)

4.25 F18 (My organization has a strategic plan for Talent 129
Management)

4.26 F19 (My organization develops its talent pool for Strategic 130
Talent Management)

4.27 F20 (My organization shifts the right workforce in right 131
places as per business demands)

4.28 F21 (My organization uses the term Talent mainly for 132
leaders who drive the business forward)

4.29 F22 (My organisation uses Succession Planning for Talent 133
Management)

4.30 F23 (My organisation uses Talent Management strategies to 134

develop QRT’s (Quick Reaction Teams) for Crisis

(xv)
 Management)

4.31 F24 (My organization has a Pay-for-Performance Culture) 135

4.32 F25 (My organization conducts employee assessments 136

throughout the year for Performance Management)

4.33 F26 (My organization believes in ensuring a sustained 137

organizational performance)

4.34 F27 (My organization achieves organizational performance 138

by constantly developing its workforce)

4.35 F28 (My organization believes in maximising the 139

performance of talented employees)

4.36 F29 (My organization uses positive feedback to increase 140

productivity at work)

4.37 F30 (My organization uses the Performance Management 141

System to identify employees of high potential)

4.38 F31 (My organisation uses Succession Planning as a part of 142

Strategic Talent Management)
4.39 F32 (My organization believes that Performance 143
management fosters teamwork)
4.40 F33 (My organization imparts classroom training to 144
improve the weak areas of an employee)
4.41 F34 (My organization believes that Corporate Training 145
increases employee’s efficiency in the organization)

4.42 F35 (My organization uses international transfers & 146

postings as a part of the Career Development Process)

4.43 F36 (My organization uses mentoring for Leadership and 147
Skill Development)

4.44 F37 (My organization uses Job shadowing as a technique of 148

training)

4.45 F38 (My organization believes in catering to an employee’s 149

(xvi)
 individual growth needs)

4.46 F39 (My organization increases work engagement as a 150

tactic for retaining employees)

4.47 F40 (My organization uses Career Development as a tool 151

for Employee Engagement)

4.48 F41 (My organization believes that facilities and benefits 152
help increase employee engagement)

4.49 F42 (My organization believes that Employee Engagement 153

is a crucial factor for the retention of Talent)

4.50 F43 (My organization believes in providing an appropriate 154

workplace environment for its employees)

4.51 F44 (My organization believes that Workplace Management 155

affects the performance of employees)

4.52 F45 (My organization is a great place to work) 156

4.53 F46 (My organization adapts easily to the changes in the 157
external environment)

4.54 F47 (My organization’s workplace environment influences 158

employee’s performances)

4.55 F48 (My organization provides a flexible working schedule) 159

4.56 F49 (My organization believes in work-life balance to boost 160

creativity among employees)

4.57 F50 (My organization believes that ‘recruiting ahead of the 161
curve’ is better than vacancy lead recruitment)

4.58 F51 (My organization believes that an employee’s 162

uniqueness contributes to its strategic objectives)

4.59 F52 (My organization caters to the learning and 163

development needs of its ambitious employees)

4.60 F53 (My organization prompts employees to engage their 164

(xvii)
 creativity to increase organization’s talent offering)

4.61 F54 (My organization uses ‘Promotion-from-within policy’ 165

for key positions)

4.62 F55 (My organization uses a Talent Management Model for 166
Talent Management)

4.63 F56 (My organization employs Talent Managers specially 167

for Talent Management Process)

4.64 F57 (My organization uses Talent Management strategy of 168

Inside Moonlighting)

4.65 F58 (My organization continuously monitors its attrition 169

rates)

4.66 F59 (My organization believes that Talent Management is 170

most essential for survival of an organization)

4.67 Descriptive Statistics 172

(xviii)