MSG Team's other articles

9185 Entrepreneurship in Emerging Economies: Boom and Bust and Business Models

A New Haven for Western Capital Ever since the opening up of the global economy in the 1990s, several hitherto Third World countries in Asia and Africa began to liberalize and integrate themselves into the global economic system. This meant that there were more chances for entrepreneurs in these countries and from abroad to flourish […]

10168 Leveraging and Transferring Organizational Knowledge

Pockets of Knowledge and Synergies A learning organization has to ensure that it not only generates knowledge but puts in place mechanisms to ensure that such knowledge is transferred and leveraged for competitive advantage. Often, it is the case that organizations have pockets of individuals possessing knowledge as well as specific teams that are better […]

10185 Linking Training Programs with Organizational Goals

It is the practice in many organizations to conduct training programs periodically for their employees. Often, these training programs are conducted to enhance on the job skills and to enable the employees to pick up valuable soft skills. Further, the training programs can be technical/job oriented or human resource skills oriented. For instance, it is […]

11441 Student Loans and the Rising Cost of Useless Degrees

The baby boomers were the first generation to truly experience affluence. However, they were also the first generation to truly experience stress and burnout. The boredom of working at the same jobs year after year had taken a toll on these people. They had a dream to give their children better lives than they got. […]

11074 Role of Communication in Knowing Employees

It is essential for managers to know their employees well to expect loyalty and commitment in return. Employees need to feel comfortable at the workplace for them to deliver their level best. It is completely unprofessional to address your employees as “Mr”,“Ms”” or “hey”. There is absolutely no need to address them as “Sir“ or […]

Search with tags

  • No tags available.

Having good talented people in your organization was important yesterday, today it is critical! Organizations world over have realized the importance of having talented people. McKinsey was the first to coin this term ‘war for talent’ in the year 1997. They named this for their research for talent management practices and beliefs. This became a phenomenon soon.

Not many organizations barring a few like IBM, PepsiCo and McKinsey knew the importance of talent management until recent years. It is not a big surprise that nearly two thirds of senior leaders quit an organization within three years of their hiring. Add to it there is also the problem of an aging population in the west and unemployable graduates in the east. This opened up the eyes of major corporations globally. A substantial amount of pressure has developed on corporations that are global or multinational in presence, hiring and nurturing the right talent globally is an area of major concern.

Global leadership is now aware to the chaos and disruption this can bring within their clients/customers and with other stakeholders. Strategies and plans for sales, production, expansion, and diversification are of no use unless you have the right people to execute them.

The talent market is more than competitive presently than it was and could be in the next decades. In an economy that is knowledge driven the demand for highly skilled workers is on the rise incessantly. Though the demand may decline at times due to the changes economic cycle but in the longer run the rising trend will remain the same more or less. In a survey conducted by McKinsey in 2001, 72 % of the managers they interviewed were of the opinion that winning the war for talent is critical and only 3 % were confident that their actions would create a strong talent pool in the next 3 years.

Apart from the talent constraint, it was also found out that people at executive ranks (in the age group of 35 - 40) will also decrease by 14 % in the next 15 years. This can be countered for a few more years by replacing these positions with older baby boomers, but it is not long before these older baby boomers retire and management ranks turn lean.

It is also of interest to mention here that individual expectations of rewards (developmental, psychological and financial) have increased! These are challenges and the most disconcerting element is that not many organizations are prepared to face them.

The Solution

Organizations need to act, and act now! The following is the five point solution suggested by McKinsey

  • Develop a talent mindset at all levels in the organization.
  • Create a winning Employee Value Proposition.
  • Recruit great talent continuously.
  • Grow leaders
  • Differentiate and affirm.

This means that a talent mindset is to be developed at levels in the organization preferably at the top. An employee value proposition is to be developed for employees just like the one that is created for its customers. Most important change the way you differentiate; make it on the basis of how much you invest in your top and low performers.

Article Written by

MSG Team

An insightful writer passionate about sharing expertise, trends, and tips, dedicated to inspiring and informing readers through engaging and thoughtful content.

Leave a reply

Your email address will not be published. Required fields are marked *

Related Articles

Current Trends in Talent Management

MSG Team

Achieving Competitive Advantage through Talent Management

MSG Team

Benefits of Talent Management

MSG Team