Tools and Software

 Globalization, competition and technological trends, and changes in the workforce make finding and retaining talented employees a major priority for any organization. In this highly demanding business environment, Human Resources departments are starting to move away from the traditional HR role to a more strategic position that unites the management of human capital with organizational goals. Organizations would overcome such a bottleneck through Talent Management.  Talent Management is the implementation of integrated strategies or systems designed to increase workplace productivity by developing improved processes for attracting, developing, retaining and utilizing people with the required skills and aptitude to meet current and future business needs. Talent Management has moved away from being an administrative process to a continuous organizational practice with a strategic focus that drives organization outcomes. The broad range of talent management efforts that use software applications to help you Director to make an educated decision  Talent management software is a set of applications used by the human resource managers or professionals to manage maintain and cultivate human capital in the organization. According to DeTuncq, T. H., & Schmidt, L. (2013), some of the talent management efforts that use software applications to help directors and managers to make an educated decision include the following:

 Developing clear and concise job descriptions so that a human resource manager will know the abilities, skills and experience that are expected of the new employees in the organization.  Designing effective recognition and compensation systems that are used to reward employees for their immense contribution to the organization through commitment in their duties assigned.  Established a good Selection process that will ensure that the new employees that are hired in the organization fits the organizational culture and have superior potential to steer the organization to financial success.  Providing an effective employee ongoing and on-boarding training and development opportunities that are in tandem with both the organizational needs and employees’ needs.  Conducting performance development training discussions in a quarterly basis that are focused on the interest of employees for career development.  Providing mentorship, feedback and on-going coaching so that the employees will feel motivated, important and valued in the organization. Give some examples of firms that have successfully used these applications.  According to Berger, L. A., & Berger, D. R. (2004), there are some of the organizations that have successfully used the talent management software in order to help them develop procedures and policies for managing and enhancing their human capital.

These firms include the following: 1. First Merit Bank.  This firm has successfully used different innovative approaches and structures in ensuring that they manage talents through the use of a good recruitment process that ensures the selection of the best employees to fit a give job description. Schweyer, A. (2013) argued that this organization adopt successful approaches that include data mining, competitive intelligence, customer relationship management, niche market targeting and assessment metrics from various business functions.  2. General Electric.  It is an organization that is well-known for building a culture of excellent performance through the extensive use of talent management software to select the best fit employees and also maintain them. They do this by prioritizing jobs and focusing on game changers that will steer the organization to achieve its esteemed goals and objectives.  3. Microsoft Corporation.  De, L. D. W., & Trautman, S. (2011) argued that Microsoft Corporation has excelled well in workforce planning, utilizing analytics and redeployment. It is also a world class organization when it comes to the effectiveness of the use of contingent workers. In its global business strategy, it has succeeded in implementing talent management strategy by selecting foreign employees who are competent enough to fit the job descriptions and steer the organization towards to attainment of its global business strategy goals and objectives.

 4. Wachovia Corporation.  Wachovia Corporation is rated world class in its recruitment strategy using talent management software. This organization runs a fee-for-service recruiting model that has the capacity of generating revenue from selling the excess recruiting capacity to other interested organization. Its recruitment strategy has enabled it to achieve stability of human capital.  5. Starbucks.  This coffee giant is ranked among the best organizations to work in America. It employs the talent management strategies in building a strong human resource and capital in the organization. It has excelled in high-volume employee hiring and recruitment. It has embraced the extensive use of talent management models in ensuring that they get employees that will be agents of positive organizational change. Describe how these efforts are useful in terms of strategic human capital management.  The talent management efforts that have been discussed above are useful in terms of strategic capital management. This can be deduced from the following descriptions:  Developing clear and concise job descriptions is useful in terms of strategic capital management as it enables the human resource managers to know the abilities, skills and experience that are expected of the new employees in the organization.  Silzer, R., & Dowell, B. E. (2009) stated that designing effective recognition and compensation systems are useful in terms of strategic capital management as it enables managers and other professionals to reward employees for their immense contribution to the organization through commitment in their duties assigned.

 Established a good Selection process is useful in terms of strategic capital management as it will enable the managers to ensure that the new employees that are hired in the organization fits the organizational culture and have superior potential to steer the organization to financial success.  Providing an effective employee ongoing and on-boarding training and development opportunities is useful in terms of strategic capital management because they are in tandem with both the organizational needs and employees’ needs.  Conducting performance development training discussions in a quarterly basis is also useful in terms of strategic capital management as it help managers to focus on the interest of employees for career development.  Providing mentorship, feedback and on-going coaching is useful in terms of strategic capital management because it will ensure that the employees feel motivated, important and valued in the organization. Conclusion  As a primary owner of talent management, HR has many roles – one of the most important is that of facilitator of the talent mindset. HR leads the way for the organization to own, as an entity, the role of talent management for organizational success. In the role of business partner, HR works closely with senior management to ensure that they are committed to talent management work. As talent management facilitator, HR also pays close attention to how the organization’s culture supports talent. Broadly speaking, HR’s role encompasses communicating the talent management philosophy companywide. In addition, HR needs to develop an integrated and proactive strategic approach to talent management – the big picture – as well as managing critical information, such as tracking turnover and knowing what factors contribute to retention.

 Berger, L. A., & Berger, D. R. (2004). The talent management handbook: Creating organizational excellence by identifying, developing, and promoting your best people. New York: McGraw-Hill.  De, L. D. W., & Trautman, S. (2011). The executive guide to high- impact talent management: Powerful tools for leveraging a changing workforce. New York: McGraw-Hill.  DeTuncq, T. H., & Schmidt, L. (2013). Integrated talent management scorecards: Insights from world-class organizations on demonstrating value. Alexandria, VA: ASTD Press.  Schweyer, A. (2013). Talent management systems: Best practices in technology solutions for recruitment, retention and workforce planning. Hoboken, N.J: Wiley.  Silzer, R., & Dowell, B. E. (2009). Strategy-Driven Talent Management: A Leadership Imperative. New York, NY: John Wiley & Sons.