International Journal of Business

Management & Research (IJBMR)

ISSN(P): 2249-6920; ISSN(E): 2249-8036
Vol. 4, Issue 5, Oct 2014, 21-30
TJPRC Pvt. Ltd.

A STUDY OF TALENT MANAGEMENT STRATEGIES IN INFORMATION

TECHNOLOGY INDUSTRY AT BANGALORE CITY
G. SIVANESAN
Assistant Professor, Jamal Institute of Management, Jamal Mohamed College, Trichy, Tamil Nadu, India

ABSTRACT
"Talent Management" has become one of the most significant buzzwords in Corporate HR and Training today.
Talent Management is an excursion from Personnel to Strategic HR to Talent Management. To realize why Talent
Management has become so important needs the need to gaze at the evolution of business HR:
It was identified that majority of the employee quit the job, happens in first six months period after joining the
organization. It causes serious problem and very high expenses for the organization, especially in IT industries.
The Team leaders/Head and Managers are directly responsible for this turnover. To overcome this problem first the Team
leaders/Head and Managers should be capable of handling Talent Management Competencies effectively, which in turn
develop the organization commitment and job satisfaction which will reduce the turnover intentions. Thus an attempt is
made to study about the Team Leaders/ Head and Managers Talent Management Competencies level.
The organizations considered for the study are large IT companies. In order to remain market leaders in the field,
their employees need to be competent to cope with continual specialized technological updates and rapidly increasing
customer base. Due to the organizations heightened awareness of the limited availability of experienced talented
employees, an integrated Talent Management process has been introduced. The intention within this organization is for the
managers to understand the impact of such a strategy and to take accountability for their involvement in the process.
The universe of the study constitutes to leading and large IT companies in Bangalore. Top 5 IT Companies that adopted
talent management practices were considered as the population of the study.

KEYWORDS: Talent Management, Organizational Commitment, Job Satisfaction, Bangalore

INTRODUCTION
Talent administration has gained prime acceptance as a key management issue (Boston conferring Group
[BCG], 2008; 2010) in the practitioner community. This was further motivated by McKinsey advisors who coined the
saying the conflict for talent in the late 1990s. Several researchers have pointed out the value of talents that lead to
organizational success, Silzer & Dowell, (2010), view talent as a resource that has to be organised not only to accomplish
actual strategic objectives, but furthermore to meet future enterprise desires. Subsequently, organizations built talent pools,
and employees are classified based on their performance-level groups, where organizations talent administrators often
focus on a particular group of employees, for instance on high potential, in the sense of an elite sub-group of future
leaders. Classification of workforce helped employers to allocate the resources where they are most efficient.
Supreme talent is progressively recognized as the major source of sustainable competitive benefit in high
performance organisations. The proficiency to appeal and keep talents is rapidly becoming one of the key matters for
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G. Sivanesan

human assets managers and their organisations over the globe (Hiltrop, 1999). As an outcome of a highly comparable
market, businesses are finding out that, not only is it evolving increasingly difficult to employ top talents, but that they are
running the constant risk of leaving behind the ones they have to compete.
Several researchers exhibit various researches showing that organisations are increasingly focusing on Talent
Management. The Society for Human Resource Managements Talent Management Survey Report (SHRM, 2006),
provides that 53% of organisations had explicit Talent Management programmes in place and this increased to 86% for
large organisations with increase in HR employees from 50% to 99%. Of these companies, 76% consider Talent
administration to be a peak priority. As competition increases for a restricted group of talented employees, organisations
have started to invest more in Talent Management strategies. Business and HR professionals measure the progress of these
strategies in terms of key Talent Management outcomes such as retention, hiring of top talent, bench strength and diversity.
Talent management is one term which still is in search of a definite meaning. For some, it means as an identical
succession planning; for some others, it means seamlessly -integrated efforts to appeal, evolve and retain the best people;
and, for some persons, it means efforts designed to integrate all constituents of an organizations human resources scheme
to appeal, choose, evolve, appraise, pay, and retain the best persons. Many of the authors arrive up with delineation for
Talent management as the one that meets the organizations unique needs.
"Talent Management" has become one of the most significant buzzwords in Corporate HR and Training today.
Talent Management is an excursion from Personnel to Strategic HR to Talent Management. To realize why Talent
Management has become so important needs the need to gaze at the evolution of business HR:

SIGNIFICANCE OF THE STUDY

Know-how, innovation, knowledge and experience constitute the main advantages that organizations can have
over their competitors. The most talented employees drive these advantages. Therefore it is essential that talent
management should focus on the organization's talent: the most skilled and experienced individuals. Attracting, developing
and retaining talent is fundamental to a company remaining ahead of its competition.

NEED FOR THE STUDY

It was identified that majority of the employee quit the job, happens in first six months period after joining the
organization. It causes serious problem and very high expenses for the organization, especially in IT industries.
The Team leaders/Head and Managers are directly responsible for this turnover. To overcome this problem first the Team
leaders/Head and Managers should be capable of handling Talent Management Competencies effectively, which in turn
develop the organization commitment and job satisfaction which will reduce the turnover intentions. Thus an attempt is
made to study about the Team Leaders/ Head and Managers Talent Management Competencies level.

OBJECTIVES OF THE STUDY

To identify the Talent management Competencies in IT Sector.

To know the relationship between Talent Management Competencies with organization commitment and job
satisfaction.

To study the effect of Talent Management Competencies on the employees intention to remain with the
organization.

Impact Factor (JCC): 4.9926

Index Copernicus Value (ICV): 3.0

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A Study of Talent Management Strategies in Information Technology Industry at Bangalore City

CONCEPTUAL DEVELOPMENT - Talent Management Competency Dimensions, Descriptions

Table 1

Sl.
No

Dimensions

1.

Talent
Management
Mindset

2.

Attracts and
recruit Talent

3.

Identify and
differentiates
talented
employees

Descriptions

Source

Attract and recruits competent and committed

employees. Ensures that employees have the
correct technical expertise and are achievement
orientated and motivated.
Identifies and differentiates different levels of
employees according to performance, with the
purpose of adjusting management decisions
and actions according to this evaluation.

Antonucci (2005); Boudreau and

Ramstad (2005); Byham (2001);
Chambers, Foulon, et al. (1998);
Chambers, Handfield-Jones, et al.
(1998); Cohn, Khurana and Reeves
(2005);
Bozell (2002); Buckingham and
Coffman (1999); Byham (2001);
Chowanec and Newstrom (1991);
Fegley (2006);
Buckingham and Vosburgh (2001);
Byham (2001); Chambers, Foulon, et
al. (1998); Cohn, Khurana and Reeves
(2005);
Garger (1999); Griffen (2003); Hiltrop
(1995); Hiltrop (1999); Jacobs (2005);
Kesler (2002); SHL (2000); Spencer
and Spencer, (1993); Stallworth (2003);

Persistently and continuously displays a belief

that having better talent at all levels provides
the means to outperform other organizations.
Regularly emphasizes this view to others.

4.

Develop Others

Accurately assesses peoples development

needs, provides opportunities and ensures that
needs are met in order to fully develop the
potential of all employees.

5.

Builds and
Maintain
Positive
relationships

Understands the importance of interpersonal

awareness and has the ability to establish and
maintain relationships with employees.

6.

Provides
meaningful and
challenging
work

Ensures that subordinates are able to link their

individual contribution to organizational and
divisional strategic direction. Actively created
opportunities for employees to be engaged in
work that is challenging.

7.

Remunerates
and reward
fairly

Recognizes the achievements of employees and

provides rewards and recognition accordingly.

8.

Manages Work
Life Balance

Controls work factors which might have a

negative impact on the employees personal or
family life.

Job Satisfaction

Hiltrop (1999);Kaye and Jordan-Evans

(2002); Kinicki et al (2002); Levin and
Rosse (2001); Martel (2002); Meyer
and Allen (1991);
Kaye and Jordan-Evans (2002); Kinicki
et al. (2002); Levin and Rosse (2001);
Martel (2002); Michaels, HandfieldJones and Axelrood (2001); Sutherland
and Jordan (2004); Taylor (2002);
Wellins (2001).
Marquez (2006); Martel (2002); Rayton
(2006); Scott et al. (2006); Spector
(1985); Spencer and Spencer, (1993);
Sutherland and Jordan (2004);
Chambers, Foulon, et al. (1998);
Chambers, Handfield-Jones, et al.
(1998); Garger (1999); Gaylard, et al.
(2005);

Job satisfaction was measured using the abridged version of the Job Descriptive Index (JDI) developed by Smith,
Kendall & Hulin (as cited by Kinicki, et al., 2002). The abridged JDI (AJDI) measures five facets of job satisfaction,
namely work itself, pay, promotion, supervision and co-workers.

Affective Commitment
The Affective Commitment subscale has been found to be the single best predictor of intentions to leave.

Affective commitment was measured using the Affective Commitment Scale (ACS), a subscale of Meyer and Allens
(1991, 1997)

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G. Sivanesan

Intention to Quit
Intention to quit the organization was measured by means of a modified version of Arnold and Feldmans (1982)

scale. Responses to each item were on a 5-point frequency scale ranging from Strongly agree to Strongly disagree.
Employees responded to each of the following items: 1) Intend to quit the job, 2) Intent a genuine effort to find another job,
3) Often thinking about quitting the job, and 4) Intend to shift to other sector from IT. This scale takes into consideration
intention to quit and intention to search for alternatives, both of which are final cognitive variables immediately preceding
(and having a causal effect on) intention to quit.

RESEARCH DESIGN

Population, Sample Size and Technique

The universe of the study constitutes to leading and large IT companies in Bangalore. Top 5 IT Companies that

adopted talent management practices were considered as the population of the study.
From the above mentioned top 5 talent management practicing companies a total of 376 employees, who have
been identified as talented employees with management potential and who had enrolled in leadership development
programme was considered as the sample size. Most of the employees were in the upper middle position
(Team Leaders, Team Head and Managers. Majority of the employees have subordinate who report to them.
Thus purposive sampling technique (Homogeneous) will be appropriate for the above mentioned sampling technique.

Measurement Instrument
Talent management Competencies, Job satisfaction, Affective Commitment and Intention to Quit was measured

by means of the questionnaire developed for this study. Responses to the items were based on a five point
Likert Frequency scale ranging from (1 = strongly disagree, 2 = disagree, 3 = Moderate 4 = agree, and 5 = strongly agree).

Development of Questionnaire
The questionnaire consists of Four Parts. The first part consists of personal details related to the employees

(respondents) in IT industries, Bangalore.

The Second part of the questionnaire consists of 8 dimensions to measure Talent Management Competencies.
The Dimensions are Talent Management Mindset, Attracts and recruit Talent, Identify and differentiates talented
employees, Develop Others, Builds and Maintain Positive relationships, Provides meaningful and challenging work,
Remunerates and reward fairly and Manages Work Life Balance. The third part of the questionnaire consists of 2
dimensions to measure Affective Commitment and Job Satisfaction. The Fourth part of the questionnaire consists of one
dimension to measure the output variable intention to quit.

Statistical Tools Used

The structural equation modelling (SEM) were used to analyze the hypothesis framed for the study.

The statistical analyses were made with the help of SPSS, PLS and AMOS packages.

Source of Data
The study is descriptive and quantitative in Nature. Both primary and secondary data were used for the study.

Impact Factor (JCC): 4.9926

Index Copernicus Value (ICV): 3.0

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A Study of Talent Management Strategies in Information Technology Industry at Bangalore City

The primary data were collected from the structured questionnaire. The secondary data were obtained from Journal,
Magazines, Books, Research Journals and articles published by the organization.

Limitation

The Study concentrates only Top 5 Leading, Branded and Large IT Industries in Bangalore which practices
Talent Management.

Only the Upper middle level employee (Team Leader, Team Head and Managers) were considered as
population of the study.

Only selected important Talent Management Competencies suitable for IT industries were considered for the
Study.

RESULTS
Quality Criteria
Table 2
AVE
TM Mind Set
Identifies and differentiates
Attracts & Recruits Talent
Develops Others
Builds & Maintains Positive Relations
Provides meaningful & Challenging work
Remunerates & Rewards Fairly
Manages Work-life Balance
Job Satisfaction
Affective commitment
Intention to Quit

0.563888
0.650390
0.627818
0.575975
0.505888
0.606752
0.471966
0.706198
0.644950
0.515593
0.759783

Composite
Reliability
0.835066
0.917534
0.893621
0.841787
0.795944
0.884101
0.841660
0.921850
0.951767
0.863242
0.926651

R Square
Nil
Nil
0.469557
0.294582
0.437185
0.896606
0.454239
0.863606
0.994773
0.846160
0.519802

Cronbachs
Alpha
0.735440
0.893349
0.854823
0.776008
0.698144
0.834178
0.777788
0.889881
0.943120
0.809416
0.894421

To attain reliability and Convergent validity the study should attain CR > 0.7 (reliability), CR > (AVE) and AVE
> 0.5 (Convergent Validity). The Composite reliability in the study is above.7, and all the Composite reliability values
were higher than the average variance explained, the average variance explained were higher than. 5. The analysis
indicated that all dimensions were valid and reliable measures for their respective constructs. The convergent validity is
achieved.
Modeling Talent Management Competencies with Job Satisfaction, Affective Commitment and Intention to Quit

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G. Sivanesan

Figure 1

Path Co-Efficient: Inner Model

Table 3

Impact Factor (JCC): 4.9926

Index Copernicus Value (ICV): 3.0

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A Study of Talent Management Strategies in Information Technology Industry at Bangalore City

According to the proposed model, the Talent Management Competencies are depicted as the exogenous latent
variable, with Affective Commitment, Job Satisfaction and Intention to Quit depicted as the endogenous latent variables. It
is proposed that certain Talent Management competency dimensions will contribute to the development of Affective
Commitment and increased Job Satisfaction and this will result in reduced Intention to Quit.
In the exogenous latent variable (Talent Management Competencies) eight dimensions are considered. Each
dimension has individual statements to measure the dimensions of Talent Management Competencies. The dimensions of
Talent Management Competencies are Talent Management Mindset, Attracts and recruits talent, Identifies and
Differentiates talent employees, Develop Others, Builds and Maintain Positive relationships, Provides meaningful and
challenging Environment, Remunerates and Rewards Fairly, Manages Work-Life Balance.
A comprehensive Talent Management competency model was developed that defines and describes the Team
Leaders / Head and Managers behaviours required in order to successfully carry out the Talent Management strategies
within an organisation. These competencies were evaluated against the outcomes of Job Satisfaction, Affective
Commitment and Intention to quit that the Talent Management competencies are meant to affect.
Based on the intensive literature research, 23 hypotheses were framed and analyzed. Out of 23 hypotheses framed,
18 hypotheses were accepted and the remaining 5 hypotheses were rejected based on the path value and t value.
The dimensions R2 values were greater than the required rule of thumb.10.

MANAGERIAL IMPLICATIONS
The most important implication resulting from this study is the confirmation of the significant link between the
exogenous latent variable, Talent Management Mindset, and the endogenous latent variables of Attracts and Recruits
Talent, Develop others, Builds and Maintains Relationships, Provides Meaningful and Challenging Work, Remunerates
and Rewards Fairly and Manages Work-life Balance. The magnitude of these path coefficients indicates a substantial
influence of Talent Management Mindset on these Talent Management competency variables. The conclusion to be drawn
from this is that Team Leaders/Head and managers who display a Talent Management mindset, could also be expected to
be competent in management skills which include attracting and recruiting talented employees; building and maintaining
excellent relations with these employees; providing the employees with meaningful and challenging work; and managing
their work-life balance. The benefit to the organisation in each of these instances would be of great value.
The Top level management should believe that Talent Management competencies will increase job satisfaction
and affective commitment, which in turn will reduce the Team Leaders/Head and managers intentions to quit the job.
The intention of this research study was to provide the organisation with a method to constructively, rationally and
purposefully manage the Talent Management performance of Team Leaders/Head and managers. The study provided some
tentative evidence to warrant the use of this measure to establish the Talent Management development needs of the Team
Leaders/Head and managers to structure their training programmes accordingly.

CONCLUSIONS
This study was motivated by a need to empower the Human Resource function to rationally and purposefully
monitor and manage the determinants of turnover intention, and through that, the intention to quit of talented employees.
A partial talent management structural model was developed, mapping Team Leaders / Head and manager talent
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G. Sivanesan

management competencies on the outcomes of job satisfaction, affective commitment and intention to quit. The partial
talent management structural model was tested. 18 of the 23 stated hypotheses were confirmed. The study provides unique
insight into the manner in which the talent management competencies are causally related among themselves, and provides
support for studies which link affective commitment and intention to quit, as well as job satisfaction and intention to quit.

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A Study of Talent Management Strategies in Information Technology Industry at Bangalore City

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