RESEARCH PAPER

ON
STUDY OF
TALENT MANAGEMENT
STRATEGIES

SUBMITTED TO: SUBMITTED BY:

Ms. RADHIKA BHUTANI GAURAV KUMAR

LECTURER, BPIT MBA IIND SEMESTER
ENROLL. NO: 00920803909
 Table of Contents
Particulars Page
No.
1. Background 1
2. Introduction 2
2.1 Definition 2
2.2 From Personnel to Strategic HR to Talent Management 3
3. TM in Present Scenario 4
3.1 TM Initiatives 4
3.2 TALENT in Present Context 5
3.2.1 Identify the Employees 5
3.2.2 Measure and Monitor Talent 5
4. How to Effectively Manage Talent 6
4.1 How does an organisation effectively manage Talent? 6
4.2 Ways to Keep hold of Talent 7
4.3 Talent Retention Map 7
5. Talent Management Strategies 7
5.1 Attract Talent 7
5.2 Keep Talent 8
5.3 Manage Talent 8
5.4 Identify Talent 8
6. Eight Steps of Talent Management Process 8
6.1 Workforce Planning 8
6.2 Recruiting 8
6.3 Onboarding 8
6.4 Performance Management 9
6.5 Training and Performance Support 9
6.6 Succession Planning 9
6.7 Compensation and Benefits 9
6.8 Critical Skills Gap Analysis 9
7. Areas of Talent Management 9
7.1 Talent Appreciation 9
7.2 Potential Enhancement 10
7.3 Acquisition of Talent 10
7.4 Knowledge Management 10
8. Advantages of Talent Management 11
9. Disadvantages of Talent Management 11
10. Recommendations 12
11. Conclusions 13
12. Bibliography 14
Human Resource Management: Research Paper Gaurav Kumar (009)

RESEARCH PAPER TITLE: STUDY OF TALENT MANAGEMENT STRATEGIES

NAME: GAURAV KUMAR
ENROLLMENT NO: 00920803909
EMAIL ID: [email protected]

1. Background
• Managing and defining competitive
Talent management is a process that emerged in
salaries
the 1990s and continues to be adopted, as more
companies come to realize that their employees’ • Training and development opportunities
talents and skills drive their business success.
• Performance management processes
Companies that have put into practice talent
• Retention programs
management have done so to solve an employee
retention problem. The issue with many • Promotion and transitioning
companies today is that their organizations put Talent management can also be known as HCM
tremendous effort into attracting employees to (Human Capital Management), HRIS (HR
their company, but spend little time into retaining Information Systems) or HRMS (HR
and developing talent. A talent management Management Systems), and HR Modules.
system must be worked into the business strategy
Human capital management
and implemented in daily processes throughout
the company as a whole. It cannot be left solely Companies that engage in talent management
to the human resources department to attract and (Human Capital Management) are strategic and
retain employees, but rather must be practiced at deliberate in how they source, attract, select,
all levels of the organization. The business train, develop, retain, promote, and move
strategy must include responsibilities for line employees through the organization. Since the
managers to develop the skills of their immediate initial hiring process is so expensive to a
subordinates. Divisions within the company company, it is important to place the individual
should be openly sharing information with other in a position where his skills are being
departments in order for employees to gain extensively utilized.
knowledge of the overall organizational The term "talent management" means different
objectives. Companies that focus on developing things to different organizations. To some it is
their talent integrate plans and processes to track about the management of high-worth individuals
and manage their employee talent, including the or "the talented" whilst to others it is about how
following: talent is managed generally - i.e. on the
• Sourcing, attracting and recruiting assumption that all people have talent which
qualified candidates with competitive should be identified and liberated. From a talent
backgrounds management standpoint, employee evaluations

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Human Resource Management: Research Paper Gaurav Kumar (009)

concern two major areas of measurement: is expected to identify potential talent and also
performance and potential. Current employee comprehend, conceptualize and implement
performance within a specific job has always relevant strategies to contribute effectively to
been a standard evaluation measurement tool of achieve organizational objectives. Hence a
the profitability of an employee. However, talent serious concern of every HR manager in order to
management also seeks to focus on an survive this ‘War for Talent’, is to fight against a
employee’s potential, meaning an employee’s limited and diminishing pool of qualified
future performance, if given the proper available candidates to replace valuable
development of skills and increased employees when they leave, dramatically
responsibility. underscoring the difficulty to attract, motivate
and retain the best employees in an organization.
The major aspects of talent management
practiced within an organization must
consistently include:
2.1 Definition
• performance management
Talent management refers to the process of
• leadership development developing and integrating new workers,

• workforce planning/identifying talent developing and retaining current workers, and

gaps attracting highly skilled workers to work for a

company. The process of attracting and retaining
• recruiting
profitable employees, as it is increasingly more
This term "talent management" is usually competitive between firms and of strategic
associated with competency-based human importance, has come to be known as "the war
resource management practices. Talent for talent."
management decisions are often driven by a set
Despite intense competition being the key to
of organizational core competencies as well as
market development and success, organisations
position-specific competencies. The competency
have failed to identify some of the major reasons
set may include knowledge, skills, experience,
which highlight why ‘good performers’ leave. In
and personal traits (demonstrated through defined
his study, Branham clearly states that one major
behaviors).
reason why people leave their organisation is
because of the organisation’s failure to bring
about a correlation between pay and
2. INTRODUCTION
performance. Human Resource experts in the
This new age economy, with its attendant industry believe matching the right blend of
paradigm shifts in relation to the human capital, talent with the right job profile can lead to
in terms of its acquisition, utilization, superior performance.
development and retention, has placed a heavy
demand on today’s HR professionals. Today HR

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Human Resource Management: Research Paper Gaurav Kumar (009)

2.2 From Personnel to Strategic HR to management systems. In this role, the HR

Talent Management department now became more than a business
function: it is a business partner,
partner reaching out to
To understand why Talent Management has
support lines of business.
become so important, we must first look at the
evolution of corporate HR:

Stage 1: Personnel Department:

In the 1970s and 1980s the business function

which was responsible for people was called
"The Personnel Department." The role of this
group was to hire people, pay them, and make
sure they had the
he necessary benefits. The
systems which grew up to support this function
were batch payroll systems. In this role, the
personnel department was a well understood
business function. Stage 3: Talent Management:

Stage 2: Strategic HR: We are now entering

ering a new era: the emergence
of "Talent Management." While strategic HR
In the 1980s and 1990s organizations realized
continues to be a major focus, HR and L&D
that the HR function was in fact more important -
organizations are now focused on a new set of
and the concepts of "Strategic HR" emerged.
strategic issues:
During this period organizations realized that the
VP of HR had a much larger role: recruiting the
How can we make our recruiting process
right people, training
raining them, helping the business more efficient and effective by using
us
design job roles and organization structures "competency-based"
based" recruiting instead of
(organization design), develop "total sorting through resumes, one at a time?
compensation" packages which include benefits,
How can we better develop managers
stock options and bonuses, and serving as a and leaders to reinforce culture, instill
central point of communication for employee values, and create a sustainable
health
lth and happiness. "leadership pipeline?"

How do we quickly identify competency

The "Head of Personnel" became the "VP of HR"
gaps so we can deliver training, e-
e
and had a much more important role in business
learning, or development programs to fill
strategy and execution. The systems which were
these gaps? How can we use these gaps
built up to support this new role include
to hire just the right people?
recruiting and applicant tracking (ATS), portals,
total
otal compensation systems, and learning

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Human Resource Management: Research Paper Gaurav Kumar (009)

How do we manage people in a • Retention - developing and

consistent and measurable way so that implementing practices that reward and
everyone is aligned, held accountable, support employees.
and paid fairly?
• Employee development - ensuring

How do we identify high performers and continuous informal and formal learning
successors to key positions throughout and development.
the organization to make sure we have a
• Leadership and "high potential
highly flexible, responsive organization?
employee" development - specific

How do we provide learning that is development programs for existing and
relevant, flexible, convenient, and future leaders.
timely?
• Performance management - specific
These new, more challenging problems require processes that nurture and support
new processes and systems. They require tighter performance, including
integration between the different HR silos -- and feedback/measurement.
direct integration into line of business
• Workforce planning - planning for
management processes. Today organizations are
business and general changes, including
starting to buy, build, and stitch together
the older workforce and current/future
performance management systems, succession
skills shortages.
planning systems, and competency management
• Culture - development of a positive,
systems. The HR function is becoming
progressive and high performance "way
integrated with the business in a real-time
of operating".
fashion.
An important step is to identify the staff or
employees (people and positions) that are critical
3. Talent Management in
to the organization. They do not necessarily have
Present Scenario
to be senior staff members. Many organizations
3.1 TM Initiatives lost a lot of "organizational knowledge" in the
downsizing exercises of a few years ago. The
Talent management (TM) brings together a
impact of the loss was not immediately apparent.
number of important human resources (HR) and
management initiatives. However, it did not take long for many
companies to realize their mistake when they did
Quite often, organizations adopting a TM
not have people with the knowledge and skills to
approach will focus on coordinating and
either anticipate or solve problems that arose.
integrating:

• Recruitment - ensuring the right people

are attracted to the organization.

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Human Resource Management: Research Paper Gaurav Kumar (009)

3.2 “TALENT” in Present Context  Keepers

• Those who exceed employee
expectations
Talent = Competence × Commitment

× Contribution
 Solid Citizens
• Meet organisational expectations
C = COMPETENCE

• ABLE TO DO THE WORK

 Misfits
MEANS THE KNOWLEDGE, SKILLS,
• Those who fall below organisational
AND VALUES THAT INDIVIDUALS
expectations
REQUIRE FOR TODAY’S AND
TOMORROW’S JOBS.
3.2.2 Measure and Monitor Talent
C= COMMITMENT

• MEANS THE LEVEL OF EMPLOYEE Self-Management

ENGAGEMENT.
• Progress monitoring
IS WHEN EMPLOYEES WORK ON
TIME, WORK HARD AND DO WHAT • Self assessment
IS EXPECTED OF THEM. • Competencies update

Employee Management
C = CONTRIBUTION
• Appraisals
• FINDING MEANING & PURPOSE IN
• Project reviews
WORK.
• Performance reviews
• Progress monitoring

3.2.1 Identify the Employees Career Progression Metrics

• Training completion & success rates

 Super keepers • Skills improvement rates
• A very small group of individuals who • On-the-Job Proficiencies
have demonstrated superior
accomplishments, and who embody the
core competencies and values of the
organisation.

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Human Resource Management: Research Paper Gaurav Kumar (009)

4. HOW TO EFFECTIVELY
RECOGNISE
MANAGE TALENT? TALENT

CHANGE
ATTRACT-
ORGANI-
ING
SATION
Talent management implies recognising a TALENT
CULTURE
person's inherent skills, traits, personality and WAYS TO
MANAGE
offering him a matching job.. Every person has a TALENT

unique talent that suits a particular job profile

profi and
MANAGING SELECTING
any other position will cause discomfort. SUCCESION TALENT

Talent Management is beneficial to both the

RETAINING
organisation and the employees. TALENT

2. Attracting Talent:: Good companies create a

• Build a winning environment that people
strong brand identity with their customers
want to belong to
and then deliver on that promise. Great
• Establish a talent management mindset,
employment brands do the same, with
which embeds ownership and
quantifiable and qualitative results. As a
accountability for optimising talent and
result, the right people choose to join the
potential
organisation.
• Create tangible means to identify, select
and deploy people of outstanding talent 3. Selecting Talent:: Management should
• Fully engage talent, use it and manage it implement proven talent selection systems
intelligently and tools to create profiles of the right people
based on the com
competencies of high
performers. It's not simply a matter of finding
4.1 So, how does an organisation
the "best and the brightest," it's about
effectively manage talent? creating the right fit - both for today and
tomorrow.
1. Recognise Talent:: Notice what do
4. Retaining Talent:: In the current climate of
employees do in their free time and find out
change, it's critical to hold onto the key
their interests. Try to discover their strengths
people. These are the people who will lead
and interests. Also, encourage them to
the organisation to future success, and you
discover their own latent talents. For
can't afford to lose them.
instance, if an employee in the operations
department
nt convincingly explains why he The cost of replacing a valued employee is
enormous. Organisations need to promote
thinks he's right even when he's wrong,
diversity and design strategies to retain
consider moving him to sales!

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Human Resource Management: Research Paper Gaurav Kumar (009)

people, reward high performance and provide – Individual growth

opportunities for development. – Compelling future
– Pay
5. Managing Succession:: Effective
– Positive workplace
organisations anticipate the leadership and
talent requirement to succeed in the future.
Leaders understand that it's critical to 4.3 Talent Retention Map
strengthen their talent
lent pool through
succession planning, professional
development, job rotation and workforce
planning. They need to identify potential
talent and groom it.

6. Change Organisation Culture

Culture: Ask
yourself, "Why would a talented person
choose to work here?" If the organisation
wishes to substantially strengthen its talent
pool, it should be prepared to change things
as fundamental as the business strategy, the • Appreciate the contribution of all the
organisation structure, the culture and even employees
the caliber of leaders in the organisation.
The woods would be very silent if no
A rightly managedd talent turns out to be a birds sang there except those that sang
Gold Mine. It's inexhaustible and priceless. It best
will keep supplying wealth and value to the
organisation.
5. Talent management Strategies
In turn, Management needs to realise its
worth, extract it, polish it and utilise it. Don't
hoard Talent- spend it lavishly,
lavishl like a TMS
millionaire flashing his luxuries, because
Talent is Wealth! Attract Keep Manage Identify
Talent Talent Talent talent

4.2 Ways to keep hold of talent 5.1 Attract Talent

• Build a path that enables the employees 1. Design a talent management system
to utilise their full potential 2. Unbiased reward and recognition
• Invest in building the psychological 3. Flexible work environment and positive
contract culture
4. Proper training
Study of Talent Management Strategies 7
Human Resource Management: Research Paper Gaurav Kumar (009)

5. Effective and meaning appraisal system 6. Eight steps of Talent

6. Design job for talented people
Management Process
7. Proactive visionary management and
leadership
8. Provide proper research facility
Organizations are made up of people: people
creating value through proven business
5.2 Keep Talent processes, innovation, customer service, sales,
1. Compensate talents as suppliers and many other important activities. As an
2. Right location to attract and retain organization strives to meet its business
bu goals, it
Talents must make sure that it has a continuous and
3. Assign right job to right talent integrated process for recruiting, training,
4. Career and succession plan managing, supporting, and compensating these
5. Balance age, race, gender, color people. The following chart shows the complete
6. Create challenging environment process:
7. Create social bond through adventure,
ad
sports, party, contest etc
8. Compensation and Profit sharing plan
9. Eliminate non working people

5.3 Manage Talent

1. Establish effective communication and

cooperation
2. Allow talent to create and apply
knowledge
3. Build trust on talents
4. Set positive & constructive challenge 6.1 Workforce Planning: Integrated with the
5. Performing XYZ analysis business plan,, this process establishes workforce
6. Monitor talent as assets plans, hiring plans, compensation budgets, and
7. Set challenging business goal hiring targets for the year.
8. Take corrective action if necessary 6.2 Recruiting: Through an integrated process
of recruiting, assessment, evaluation, and hiring
5.4 Identify Talent the business brings people into the
t organization.
1. Identify own talent before hiring talent 6.3 Onboarding: The organization must train
2. Performance based talent tool and enable employees to become productive and
3. Test based integrated into the company more quickly.
4. Scorecard entries

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Human Resource Management: Research Paper Gaurav Kumar (009)

6.4 Performance Management: by using the facing large populations which are retiring. How
business plan,, the organization establishes do you identify the roles, individuals, and
processes to measure and manage employees. competencies which are leaving? What should
This is a complex process. you do to fill these gaps? We call this "Critical
Talent Management" and many organizations
6.5 Training and Performance Support: of
are going through this now.
course this is a critically important function.
Here we provide learning and development In the center of this process are important
programs to all levels of the organization. definitions and data: job roles,
roles job descriptions,
competency models,, and learning content.
6.6 Succession Planning: Succession Planning
ensures a company identifies and develops talent
in order to achieve its business strategy.
7. Areas of Talent Management
Developing internal talent can be a competitive
advantage,, thus leaders need to focus on all The service and consulting areas of talent
aspects of succession planning to ensure success. management that thus emerge are:
Succession planning, a very important function,
enables managers and individuals to identify the
right candidates for a position. This function also Areas
of TM
must be aligned with the business plan to
understand and meet requirements for key Talent Potential Acquisition Knowledge
Appreciation Enhancement of Talent Management
positions 3-5 years out. While this is often a
process reserved for managers and executives, it
is more commonly applied across the
7.1 Talent appreciation
organization.
TA services from Grow Talent are focused on
6.7 Compensation and Benefits: clearly this is
assessing the way individuals learn, think,
think relate
an integral part of people management. Here
to others, and act. TA is used to evaluate the
organizations try to tie the compensation
compensat plan
capacities, competencies and values of
directly to performance management so that
individuals for assessment of potential for career
compensation, incentives, and benefits align with
development and succession planning.
business goals and business execution.
This is intricately
tely linked to helping organizations
6.8 Critical Skills Gap Analysis: this is a
map their capacity and competency requirements
process we identify as an important, often
and then assessing talent to draw up individual
overlooked function in many industries and
development plans. The talent profiling thus done
organizations. While often done on a project
for organizations helps them identify critical
basis, it can be "business-critical."
critical." For example,
competencies to be developed
develope and capacities to
today industries like the Federal Government,
Utilities, Telecommunications, and Energy are

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be enhanced in order to meet future business • Enable organizations and individuals to

requirements and achieve plans. establish mutually acceptable contracts for
employment and lay the foundation of win-
7.2 Potential enhancement
win relationships
The focus of PEP is to create learning
experiences and solutions for individuals that will
help convert their talent into competence. It also
7.4 Knowledge Management

involves designing learning events and processes Knowledge management services from Grow
that enhance the potential of individuals. Talent are aimed at leveraging knowledge for

Two intrinsic components of Grow Talent PEP performance by creating an environment for

are: sharing by building trust. The focus of

knowledge management is to connect people and
• Capacity building modules - which focus on
technology to capture and harness the tacit
enhancing the four capacities of individuals
knowledge of the organization. By making trust
the bandwidth of communication, knowledge
• Competence building modules - which focus
management enhances sharing and thereby
on specific areas like consulting skills,
creates an appropriate environment for talent to
problem solving, and service quality,
translate into performance.
strategic selling, process designing,
With its comprehensive spectrum of services for
interviewing skills, etc.
talent management and unique methodology,
Grow Talent is strongly positioned to help
7.3 Acquisition of talent organizations gain a competitive and sustained
talent advantage.
Grow Talent’s approach to helping organizations
acquire talent is based on the following: In an organization, there is nothing more
crucial than fitting the right employee in the
• Helping organizations define roles for
right position. Or else you would be trying to fit
specific leadership positions based on
a square peg in a round hole. When people do
'preferred futures' and strategy
jobs that just don't suit their liking, inclination or
• Identifying the competencies required for
temperament, the results, or rather the lack of
each of these jobs
them will be disastrously obvious. Low
• Determining the levels of fundamental
productivity, dissatisfaction, low morale,
capacities of learning, thinking, relating and
absenteeism and other negative behavior will
acting needed to acquire these competencies
become typical till the employee is shown the
• Defining the values which are needed to
door. Or perhaps, there is another option – Talent
display the desired behaviors
Management:
• Identifying individuals who would fit into
these positions

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“A conscious, deliberate approach undertaken • Worker productivity

to attract, develop and retain people with the
• Learning effectiveness
aptitude and abilities to meet current and future
organizational need” • Service levels

Reducing

Organization need to have a vision and a well • Employee turnover

defined strategy on hiring for the future. India
• Time to ramp new hires
has become the outsourcing capital of the world
and this has created its own set of HR challenges.
India’s biggest problem is that qualified 9. Problems/Issues in Talent
graduates are becoming scarce. Despite the large
Management
population, the supply of engineers cannot keep
up with the sharply increased demand. So, do we
have the right talent within to attract and retain • Motivating the talent – Demotivating for
the best available talent? others;

• Difficulties in selecting the right people to

8. Advantages of Talent
develop and making an accurate assessment
Management of their development needs;

• Having the skills and knowledge available • Costs of training, mentoring etc. that are

for emergency situations; inherent in Talent Management Strategies

• Strengthening the organisation's capabilities • Lack of follow through and follow up of

by developing the skills and knowledge the development initiatives;
organisation needs (now and in the future);
• Potential for grooming people for positions
• Having back-up staff with the knowledge and that may not exist in the future;
skills that will enable organization to meet its
• Possibility of staff being headhunted by other
objectives
organisations for their new skills and
knowledge;
Talent Management Helps in
• Potential for people to lose motivation or
Increasing
resign if they do not get the job they wanted
• Competitive advantage or feel 'passed over' by the organisation;

• Employee satisfaction

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• Difficulty in keeping staff members management elements can have the greatest
motivated and employed by the organisation impact on the business and therefore provide
when they have reached the potential for a a better basis for prioritization and
role but one does not yet exist or has not implementation.
become vacant;
• To create a sophisticated talent management
environment, organizations must:
10. RECOMMENDATIONS
o Define a clear vision for talent
• Organizations must have meaningful management
descriptions of the capabilities (skills, o Develop a roadmap for technology
behaviors, abilities and knowledge) required and process integration
throughout the organization. o Integrate and optimize processes
o Apply robust technology to enable
• Organizations must be able to relate those processes
skills and capabilities to a role or a center of o Prepare the workforce for changes
demand, such as a job position, project or associated with the new Environment
leadership role.

• Talent management processes must create a

comprehensive profile of their talent. They
must be able to track meaningful talent
related information about all of their people -
employees, contractors, or candidates.

• The working culture of the organization

should be improved and maintained to retain
talent in long run.

• More certified training should be given to the

employee to boost their effectiveness and
efficiency. It should be used as a tool of
motivation.

• The organization should identify the crucial

talent initiative to attract and retain the
employee. They should know which talent

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11. CONCLUSION

As organizations continue to pursue high

performance and improved results through TM
practices, they are taking a holistic approach to
talent management—from attracting and
selecting wisely, to retaining and developing
leaders, to placing employees in positions of
greatest impact.

The mandate is clear: for organizations to

succeed in today’s rapidly changing and
increasingly competitive marketplace, intense
focus must be applied to aligning human capital
with corporate strategy and objectives. It starts
with recruiting and retaining talented people and
continues by sustaining the knowledge and
competencies across the entire workforce. With
rapidly changing skill sets and job requirements,
this becomes an increasingly difficult challenge
for organizations. Meeting this organizational
supply and demand requires the right “Talent
DNA” and supporting technology solutions.

By implementing an effective talent management

strategy, including integrated data, processes, and
analytics, organizations can help ensure that the
right people are in the right place at the right
time, as well as organizational readiness for the
future.

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Bibliography

Books and Journals:

1. The Talent Management Pocketbook, By Cross, Andy - 2007

2. Best Practice in Talent management: How the world’s Leading Corporations Manage, Develop and
Retain Top Talent, By Goldsmith, Marshall and Carter, Louis
3. A handbook of Human Resource Management Practice, By Armstrong, Michael
4. Talent assessment: a new strategy for talent management, By Davis, Tony and Cutt, Maggie – 2007

News Paper:

5. The Hindu, Wednesday, July 28, 2004 on Talent Management

Websites:

6. www.scribd.com/doc/19347893/Talent-Management
7. http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Talent_management
8. www.scribd.com/doc/26150041/Talent-Management
9. www.ajoconnor.com/HCS8_1_TM_SucessPlan.html
10. www.sirim.my/techinfo/P3/Management/July-Aug05/july-aug05_article19.pdf
11. http://jobfunctions.bnet.com/abstract.aspx?docid=378211
12. http://blogs.payscale.com/compensation/2009/02/talent-management-strategy.html
13. www.hrexecutive.com/HRE/story.jsp?storyId=98598263&query=talent%20management
14. www.hinduonnet.com/jobs/0407/2004072800100100.htm
15. www.bpir.com/succession-planning-bpir.com/menu-id-71/expert-opinion.html

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