Talent Management Strategies Of The Watershed Group, Essay.

• Working in your designated predetermined group:
  • Select onestrategic human resource management (SHRM) topic
  • Research and critique the selected topic as a group (3,500 words)
  • Prepare and deliver the findings as part of a group presentation
• On an individual basis:
  • Apply the findings of the previously critiqued SHRM topic to a specific organisational context

• Choose from any of the topics denoted in the semester plan (e.g. globalised labour markets, SHRM models, HR planning, talent management, succession planning, employee resourcing, employer branding, recruitment methods, selection methods, employee performance and reward, learning and development, learning organisation, knowledge management, international human resource management)
  
  
• Consideration could also be given to allied and tangential SHRM topics (e.g. change management, dignity and respect, employee relations, employee exit, diversity management, management and leadership development, work design, work-life balance)

The Watershed Group

The purpose of this report is to enlighten the reader about the strategic human resource management practices. The topic chose from the strategic human resource process is talent management. Talent management refers to the commitment of the organization to recruit, retain, hire and develop the most capable and talented people present in the job. It refers to the anticipation of the human resource of the company and the planning of the management to meet those requirements. Further talentship refers to the effort of the organization to allocate the talent for the organization as a decision science (Berger, and Berger 2011). The below mentioned report enlighten the reader about talent management strategies of the company Watershed Group. The company is situated in different parts across Europe and manufactures their product in Europe only. Further, the report evaluates details about the practice and implementation of talent management in the company. It also discusses the training of talent management in the company along with various issues faced by them. The reports end with the discussion of various recommendations that can help the company to grow. Further, more details about the report are discussed below:

Watershed Label Centre was originated in the year 1992 by Tom Waters with a vision to create a Watershed Group as an Irish and International supplier of self-adhesive labels and packaging. In the current environment, the company has grown from a single manufacturing plant at Dublin, Ireland to a worldwide-expanded print packaging company. CEO of the company Liz Waters helped the management to grow and expand its business in the whole of Europe. The company believes that innovation and expansion is the key to growth in any business. They believe that they need to offer something extra to the customers so as to maintain their competence in the target market. The company is located at Dublin, UK, Germany, Tipperary and Poland. Watershed Group provides the best and most efficient labelling, manufacturing and packaging services across Europe. The company is based in an industry where innovation is very important as such innovation only will help them to provide a greater level of satisfaction to the customers in the target market. The company provides the best labelling solutions for beverages, food, retail and consumer goods in the market. The management of the company is time efficient as they successfully make use of all the available resources and provide the services on time to the customers (Watershed Group 2018). The company holds experience of almost 30 years in providing qualitative, self-adhesive labels and packaging services to many innovative and multinational brands. The company also provides end to end solution that makes the customers more satisfied in the market.

Talent Management in SHRM

Talent refers to something that is worthy for the management to develop the business process. Further, talent management is the first step towards strategic human resource planning. It is the process of management under which the business initiate human resource management practices to improve the business value, also make it possible for the management to reach their goals as well. A talent management strategy appropriately links the business strategy with the functions of the company in an organized and more appropriate manner. McKinsey and Company coined the term talent management in strategic human resource in the year 1997. The system of talent management is used in business by delegating the responsibilities to line managers to deal with the employees their retaining facilities (Collings, and Mellahi 2009). In the implementation process of talent management in an organization, the management needs to openly share information with the employees so as to provide them knowledge about the overall objectives of the company. Talent management is the ability of the organization to retain, produce and recruit most talented people for the organization and train them to increase the efficiency of the company (Scullion, and Collings 2011).

The fact should be noted that it is important for the business process to find, attract and retain talent in the target market as it is one of the most important drivers of success for the company. If an organization has adequate talent with them along with highly efficient training team then the business will never fall down. People are the most important resource for any business as they are the men who work behind the machines and bring productivity from such machines. It is a most crucial task for the business to identify the right type of talent who will match to the business profile (Al Ariss, Cascio, and Paauwe 2014). Further, the talent management techniques in the 21^st century have been changed as companies have now started considering various factors in the strategic human resource management process. Talent professional in the current environment has become more flexible towards various job roles. The definition of talent varies from person to person as for some it is about high performance and potential of people to run an organization while for others it is an inclusive term that refers all the employees. There are four talent loops present in the process of talent management that are an attraction, identification, managing and evaluating the talent (Sparrow, et. al., 2018). Talent management in the process of strategic human resource management is used to hire talented employees and make use of such talent to increase the productivity of the company. Talent management is important for the organizations as it helps the business to expand its functions on the basis of productivity delivered by the employees. Further, talent management along helps the human resource management inefficient finding the right type of employee for the right type of job. It also aligns the organizational strategy with the skills of the employees. Lastly, the fact should be noted that talent management is a crucial part of the business that helps them to effectively make use of the resources and grow (Cappelli, and Keller 2014).

Implementation of Talent Management in Watershed Group

Organization’s Need for Talent Management

In the current environment, all organizations require talent management strategies on a regular basis so as to improve the collection efficiency of the company. It is also a business strategy that enables the organization to retain the employees and make optimum use of resources as well. Talent management strategy is a business strategy that organizes human resource management activities in such a way that the company successfully attains growth in the market. Further, talent management is important to business because it attracts the top talent and then initiates activities to retain them as well. Inaccurate word, the process of talent management successfully indulges the employees in activities so that they can earn profitability by retaining the employees at the same time (Glaister, et. al., 2018). This process will help the Watershed Group in motivating the employees to the maximum extent. If management of an organization is facing employee related issues, then they can successfully eliminate such issues by explaining to the employees that they are dedicated to talent management strategy of the company. As with the help of this process, the employees of Watershed will develop the sense of belongingness with the company that will motivate them to work efficiently for the company (Bailey, et. al., 2018). Further, talent management is also important as it helps the watershed business as it covers critical roles in the business. Talent management activity equips companies with tasks that require tough skills to initiate. This strategy also addresses highly specialized and important roles in the workforce so as to deliver the right type of work to the right type of employee as well. Lastly, it should be noted that the talent management process helps the organization to retain the top talents and increase the client satisfaction as well. Using this strategy, the company will form strategies to provide work to the employees along with recognition. Thus, because of such requirement, the company Watershed Group need to initiate a talent management program in the business (Kramar 2014).

The talent management framework includes four aspects that are workforce planning, talent pool, employee engagement and lastly learning and development. This model helps the business in portraying various elements that are successful in managing talent in an organization. In the Watershed organization, it is important for the management to successfully initiate the talent management program so as to organize the human resource management activities of the company (Jackson, Schuler, and Jiang 2014). Further, the talent management framework applies in the business from attracting the talent and ends at retaining them in the organization. As the company is aiming to expand the scope of business in external international market so it is important for them to effectively make use of talent management framework in the business. This framework will work in the organization in the following way:

Attracting: It is the ability of the human resource management of the company to recruit bright talent for the organization. The management of Watershed Group attempts to recruit the highly efficient talent for the business however, they lack in matching the talent of the employees with the job specification of the company (Brewster 2017). The talent of a person is recognized only when the talent is used in business activities. So, the initiation of the talent management process in the business will help the company to effectively hire the talented people who match the job specification of the company.

Selecting: The talent management process will help the company eliminate the traditional hiring practice initiate new and innovative hiring process for the business. While selecting an employee for the organization, the company initiates several tests to pass such as knowledge and aptitude test, behavioural test, English test etc. Through this type of selection, the management serves valuable selection for the business (Albrecht, et. al., 2015).  

Engaging: post attracting and selecting the prospective employee for the business, the company pays benefits and start to engage the employees in simpler activities of the company as well. Engagement of employees automatically satisfies them with the actions of the business. Through the talent management process, the Watershed Company can also increase the retention of the employees. Engagement in decision-making helps the employees to recognize their values in the business (Guerci, et. al., 2015).

Developing: This process of developing works in such a way so as to increase the satisfaction of the employees along with the company Watershed as well. The process of developing helps the employees to develop their skills and capabilities and work on a greater scale for the company. Further, this process helps the company by helping the employees learn about work-life balance by providing them with adequate training in the market. Employees at all jobs value learning, so the developing process helps them learn and grow within a same organization.

Retaining Employees: Lastly, the retaining employees' aspect is closely related to the organization's performance management. Apart from the pay, the employees are retained in an organization in various ways. However, it is difficult for the management to find ways with the help of which they can successfully retain the employees. The process of talent management helps the Watershed group to find out various ways with the help of which they can initiate retention process in the company. The requirement of the Watershed business is to hire and retain innovative and creative that can successfully help them to develop attractive packaging for the clients. For that purpose, the framework helps the company to identify the deviations present in the performance management system used by the company. This system identifies the most important factors considered by the employees and uses them to retain the employees in the organization (Brewster, Chung, and Sparrow 2016).

The process of talent management suits the volatile and transformational business landscape of companies like Watershed Group. Learning and development process plays the lead role in helping the organization to initiate the process of talent management. The high-impact talent management framework explains that learning and development is the foundation for all processes. Further, below mentioned are key areas where the learning and development process of talent management focuses on:

Development of competency model for talent management: All the organization need four tiers of competencies in the current environment to provide successful actions to the employees in the target market. The HR employees who participate in the recruitment and staffing process use core competencies, while managers make use of job level competencies (Marchington, et. al., 2016). And leadership competencies define and develop leadership capabilities among people. These competencies initially help the manager to recruit talented people and then identify their role and competencies to work in society. Lastly, the professional using leadership competencies identify the employees possessing leadership capabilities within them (Konrad, Yang, and Maurer 2016).

Creation of demand for talent-driven learning: Another role of the learning and development process of talent management strategy is a creation of development programs and talent-driven learning activities as well. Performance driven programs are good but they do not completely satisfy the need of the company. So, the company like Watershed so adopt the talent-driven program to help the employees successfully lead the company (Northouse 2018). These programs are complex and long but they provide training to the employees according to the need present. Not only in leadership, through this type of training the employees are being excelled at a different level and different subjects.

Designing a career development process: Development planning process includes a combination of individual career goals and the organization's business objectives. Under this process, the management develops a growth plan that trains the employees to grow on a personal level by adhering the business objectives as well (Shamir, and Eilam-Shamir 2018). Initiation of the career development process in the organization Watershed will help them to sustain in the organization with a longer period of time. This type of training will help the employees to lead in the organization and help them to grow while achieving personal objectives as well (Tourish 2014).

Coaching: people present in the talent management process attain a broad base of responsibilities. So, the talent management professionals need to have skills to convince the employees and identify the talent present within them. Communication and change management are other two resources of the professional so they need to themselves attain training and then initiate training for other employees (Sandal, Van De Vijver, and Bye 2016).

Leadership is one of the most important components present in the process of talent management. The process of leadership development expands the capacities of the individuals to initiate leadership activities in the business. The leadership role in Watershed Company will help the management to facilitate the execution of work and initiate authentic decisions in the environment as well. Leadership development plays one of the most significant roles in the talent management process as it helps the professionals to train the employees and help the employees deliver results using their leadership skills (Skinner, Smith, and Swanson 2018). This type of development helps the employees to recognize their talent and promote the company in future growth as well.

Below mentioned are the talent management issues that the company Watershed group might face in the current environment:

Lack of experience in technology: technology plays a vital role in helping the management to train the employees using technology. If the professional of the company is inefficient in using technology then they will several issues in the external environment. Technology helps the business in successfully initiating activities and reducing the manual efforts and time as well. Lack of technical understanding can cause various problems for the company (Baesu, and Bejinaru 2014).

Employee Turnover: Employee turnover is also an important aspect. Many times the talent management process initiates several changes in the business. These changes many times lead to confusion and dissatisfaction among the employees that can increase employee turnover rate of the company. Thus, talent management strategies can many times act as an issue for the company as well.

Ineffective Leadership: talent management process is successful only when the management initiates adequate leadership decisions in the environment. If the employees of the company Watershed do not possess adequate leadership skills within them, then the company might face several issues in initiate talent management process n the company as well (Silzer, and Dowell 2009).  

Conclusion

Thus, in the limelight of the above-mentioned events, the fact should be noted that the report evaluates talent management procedure within the company Watershed group. The above-mentioned report evaluated various aspects present within the talent management framework and how they can assist the company in successfully growing in the target market. The need of the organization to initiate talent management is analysed along with talent development and leadership development activities of the company. lastly, the report also evaluates SHRM issues that the company might go through while initiating talent management in the business.

It is should recommend to the company Watershed that they should initially develop leadership capabilities among the officials so that the company do not face any problem in future. Further, the company should strictly follow the talent management framework so that in case of issues they can refer to the framework and solve them.

Further, according to my perspective, SHRM issues mentioned above can severely hamper the functions of the company Watershed. However, the company can still manage to succeed by proactively creating a framework to implement in the organization. In this way, I believe that the company can eliminate the SHRM issues in the business and expand in the international market as well.

References

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Watershed Group., (2018) Watershed Group [online]. Available from < https://www.watershedgroup.com/> [Accessed on 10 December 2018].