Talent Management and its impact on
employee engagement
Institute of Business Management
Term report
Human Resource Management – Shiraz Ahmed
Spring 2014
By: Shoaib Lalani

Abstract
The purpose of this research is to find out how important is the relationship between the talent
management strategies and employee engagement. This paper is based on the academic literature
review of the popular research studies therefore it is a conceptual paper. The paper also includes
perception and opinion of Head of the Human Resource Department regarding the topic.
Introduction
In today’s challenging and competitive business environment, the edge that organizations gets over
their competitors in benefits and profitability highly depends on their talent management strategies
and policies. According to CIPD’s definition talent management is the systematic attraction,
identification, development, engagement, retention and deployment of those individuals who are of
particular value to an organization. According to Talent Management Survey Report, around 53% of
the organizations have specific talent management department in place. Of these, 76% companies
consider talent management a top priority. Furthermore, 85% of HR professionals in these companies
working directly in implementing talent management strategies with the management. The extent to
which employee feels motivated in doing their job, level of commitment to organization and the extra
discretionary effort that they put in their work is called as employee engagement. Employee
engagement is very important for the organization. If employees love their work and the culture that
organization have created, they will innovate, treat customer better and will continuously put an effort
to improve the business. The Deloitte Global Human Capital Trend Research found out that 78% of
business leaders think retention and engagement is an important issue.
Literature Review – Talent Management
Talent management is concerned with the recruitment, selection, identification, retention,
management, and development of personnel who are considered of having the potential for high
performance; Stockley (2007). According to Goffee and Jones (2007), talent is handful of employee
whose knowledge, skills and ideas give them the potential to produce value from the resource they
have available for them. Lewis and Heckman (2006) describe talent management in three critical
steps. First, talent management is a collection of typical HR practices such as recruiting, selection,
development and career and succession management. Second, talent management is more
specifically focused on predicting the flow of human resources throughout the organization, based on
factors such as supply and demand, workforce skills and growth. Lastly, talent is defined as the
capability that individuals have, to make a significant impact on current and future performance of the
company. Talent is used as an encompassing term to HR that organizations want to acquire, retain
and develop in order to meet their business goals (Cheese et al., 2008). Talent management includes

complete set of process of recognizing and managing people for successful business strategy that
organization uses (Ballesteros, 2010). Talent Management strategies and policies are very important
for organization because it ensures that the organization is successfully acquiring and retaining the
essential talent. “Talent management is integral to engaging employees in the organization”. The
ability to effectively address both of these issues has become a primary determinant of organizational
success and in some cases, even survival (Morton, 2005).
Literature Review – Employee Engagement
Engaged employees are strong organizational assets for sustained
competitive advantage and a strategic asset. Employee engagement is
the energy and passion that employees have for their organizations.
Engaged employees take action to improve business results for their
organizations (Hewitt and Associates; 2004). Engaged employee say
positive things about their workplace, strive to go above and deliver
beyond the extraordinary work. There are three levels of employee
engagement in an organization; emotional, cognitive and physical
engagement. According to Gallup survey (2010) conducted on 67,000
employee over 120 countries indicate that only 11% of employee feel
engaged and this is very alarming statistic for organizations.
Literature Review – Talent Management and Employee Engagement
Better talent management policies have resulted in lower turnout and higher engaged employees in
an organization as compared to those who do not focus on their talent management policies.
Employee Engagement and Talent Management combined can make or break the bottom line
(Lockwood, 2006). According to Morton (2005) in order to effectively recruit and retain scarce labor,
organizations need to create and perpetually refine an employee value proposition. Organization
internal environment and culture also plays an important role in engaging employees. (Dell and
Hickey, 2002) Positive employer brands have been found to help employees internalize the
organization's mission, vision and values. Morton (2005) Talent management is integral to engaging
employees in the organization. A focused talent management practices not only increase employee
engagement but also increase employee satisfaction. According to 2012 Human Resource
Management’s Employee Job Satisfaction and Engagement Survey; “focusing talent management
efforts in these areas may yield significant return on investment.” Effective Talent Management
requires strong participatory Leadership, Organizational buy-in and Employee Engagement
(Lockwood, 2006). Organization needs to put efforts in talent management framework in which
employees and managers works together and establish measurable goals, competencies and their
career development activities must be align with their corporate objectives.

Opinion
Lizna Karim is a Senior Executive-Human Resource at Logicose. She has experience in Recruitment,
Payroll, Job Analysis, Procurement and Office Management. She is currently doing her MBA in HR
from Iqra University.
Lizna, what do you think about the future of talent management and employee engagement?
Now a day’s employee’s development, engagement, retention and deployment is playing very
important role in an organization’s success. Therefore, talent management has becoming significantly
important to an organization. Talent management helps in many factors like increased competition,
recruitment and retention; need to address future leadership, skills shortages, changes in
demographics and external labor market.
Employee engagement is defined as the relationship between an organization and its employees. An
engaged employee always takes positive action towards organization and always care about
organization’s reputation.
Do you believe that talent management strategies bring positive impact on employee
engagement?
Being an HR manager I have always been focused on talent management that is acquiring, hiring and
retaining talented employees because if you get wrong people at the wrong people it would be
disaster for everyone. I believe that talent management is very much linked with the employee
engagement. If you get a right person for the right job then it is easy to engage him with the
organization. However, if you hire a wrong person then whatever you do to retain and engage him it
won’t work. Talent Management strategies directly affects the employee engagement and overall
business performance. Right talent will not only bring value to your organization but it also creates
value for the customer. Satisfied and engaged customers always stay connected to your organization
and bring value to it.
Conclusion
Kossen (2002) found that employees rate having opportunities to learn and grow at work as one of
the most important factors for employee satisfaction, retention & engagement. The effective and great
organizations are those who engage and empower their employee, develop competencies and skills
at level, encourage creativity and build a trust among the teams and organizations. In 1999, Waldrop
conclude that the four top factors for Employee Engagement are exciting challenges and work, career
development, relationships with great people, supportive management and great mentor.

Reference:
 A study on “talent management as a strategy to influence employee engagement and its effect
on the organizational outcome - International Journal of Business and Administration Research
Review, Vol.2, Issue.4, Jan-March, 2014
 An investigation of the relationship between work motivation (intrinsic & extrinsic) and employee
engagement
 http://www.emeraldinsight.com/journals.htm?articleid=1634387
 http://www.shrm.org/research/articles/articles/documents/0606rquartpdf.pdf
 http://www.ipublishing.co.in/ajmrvol1no1/sped12011/AJMRSP1008.pdf