The role of talent management in strategic renewal
| Published date | 06 January 2020 |
| Date | 06 January 2020 |
| DOI | https://doi.org/10.1108/ER-02-2018-0064 |
| Pages | 75-89 |
| Author | Kati Järvi,Violetta Khoreva |
| Subject Matter | HR & organizational behaviour,Industrial/labour relations,Employment law |
The role of talent management
in strategic renewal
Kati Järvi
Department of Management and Organization, Hanken School of Economics,
Helsinki, Finland and
Talent Vectia, Helsinki, Finland, and
Violetta Khoreva
Department of Management and Organization, Hanken School of Economics,
Helsinki, Finland
Abstract
Purpose –The purpose of this paper is to emphasize the role of talent management (TM) in strategic
renewal. Furthermore, the authors extend the existing knowledge on the process of TM implementation by
underlining particular activities, which are involved in this process during strategic renewal.
Design/methodology/approach –The authors report a qualitative study of a TM program in a
Finnish–Swedish Multinational corporation undergoing major strategic renewal. The data consist of 46
semi-structured interviews and secondary data.
Findings –The role of TM in the context of strategic renewal is to provide the conditions for the
self-initiation and identification of potential change agents and for the development of the talented employees
to perform in their roles of change agent. In the context of strategic renewal, TM process consists of
identification of key projects to address critical business opportunities and challenges, the identification of
talented employees to execute them, and the identification and creation of key positions.
Research limitations/implications –The authors encourage scholars to explore the empirical settings
characterized by change and unpredictability in more detail, and thus examine the role of talented employees
and TM in other specific contexts. Future studies are also encouraged to study other cultural settings and
examine to what degree the process of TM implementation may positively influence attitudes andbehaviors
of talented employees and, consequently, the overall organizational performance.
Practical implications –This study offers practical advice for top management and HR managers.
First, the process of TM implementation during strategic renewal should start with the identification of
“must-win-battles”that can have a more profound impact on change. Furthermore, top management should
allow and enable motivated potential talented employees to volunteer for the job of aiding company-wide
changes. Next, top management should provide the talented employees with the space to come up with novel
ideas and conceive new business opportunities. Finally, the importance of transparent and spot-on evaluation
criteria should be emphasized.
Originality/value –The study contributes to advancing our understanding of TM and strategic
management in practice.
Keywords Employee behaviour, Europe, Multinational companies, Employees, Organizational change,
Qualitative methods
Paper type Research paper
Introduction
The research field of talent management (TM) has received a remarkable degree of academic
and practitioner interest (Collings et al., 2019; Collings and Isichei, 2018; De Boeck et al., 2018;
Krishnan and Scullion, 2017; McDonnell et al., 2017; Meyers et al., 2019; Vaiman et al., 2017;
Van den Broek et al., 2018). TM has become a vital component of the world’s most influential
academic and practitioner-oriented conferences (i.e. Academy of Management Conference;
Employee Relations: The
International Journal
Vol. 42 No. 1, 2020
pp. 75-89
Emerald Publishing Limited
0142-5455
DOI 10.1108/ER-02-2018-0064
Received 26 February 2018
Revised 23 May 2019
Accepted 28 May 2019
The current issue and full text archive of this journal is available on Emerald Insight at:
www.emeraldinsight.com/0142-5455.htm
© Kati Järvi and Violetta Khoreva. Published by Emerald Group Publishing Limited. This article is
published under the Creative Commons Attribution (CC BY 4.0) licence. Anyone may reproduce,
distribute,translate and create derivative worksof this article (for both commercial andnon-commercial
purposes), subject to full attribution to the original publication and authors. The full terms of this licence
may be seen at http://creativecommons.org/licences/by/4.0/legalcode
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Role of talent
management
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