Assignment Set- 2 Q.1 Explain the characteristics and categories of competency.

Ans: - A competency is a reliably measurable, relatively stable characteristic of a person, team or an organization that causes and statistically predicts a measurable level of performance. One of the first competencies for most of the people is in securing employment with a new organization. Organizations that are decisively using new methods to choose talent for positions or project roles are engaging in what is called competency-based interviewing and selection. Technical and behavioral are the two basic levels of competencies. Technical Competencies deal with the acquired knowledge and technical abilities and skills. These competencies are easier to check, train and develop. Some of the examples of technical competencies include knowledge of applicable legislation and case law, knowledge of assessment methods. Behavioral competencies are harder to see and develop but are the key indicators to show how an individual approaches his/her work, such as communication skills or team member skills. Competency characteristics A competency is a reasonably profound and long-term part of a persons personality and can forecast behavior in a wide range of situations and job tasks. It also causes or forecasts behavior and performance of an individual. The competency forecasts who has performed well or poorly, which is evaluated on a specific criterion or standard. Motives: The things a person constantly thinks about or needs that cause action. Motivation drives, directs, and selects an individuals behavior toward certain actions or goals and away from others. E.g.: Achievement-motivated people consistently set challenging goals for themselves and use feedback to do better. Traits: They are the physical characteristics of a person and consistent response to a particular situation or information. E.g. instant reaction time and good eyesight are physical trait competencies of combat pilots.

Self-concept and values: A persons attitude, ethics, or character. E.g. Selfconfidence, a persons belief that he can be effective in any situation is a part of that persons concept of self. Knowledge: Information a person has in certain specific areas Skill: The ability to perform a certain level of physical or mental task. Many organizations in India and abroad are putting their efforts in mapping competencies and implementing assessment and development centers. Categories of competencies: Competencies can be categorized into following groups: 1. Generic competencies Generic Competencies are important for all employees, regardless of their function or level are communication skills, teamwork, result oriented approach, and interpersonal skills. 2. Managerial competencies Managerial Competencies are considered necessary for employees with managerial or administrative responsibility in any serviceable area including directors and senior positions are communication skills, Management skills, team player, and people handling skills. 3. Technical/Functional competencies These are the Specific Competencies which are crucial to perform any job in the organization within a definite technical or functional area of work. They are Business knowledge/domain knowledge, presentation skills, analytical thinking, problem solving, strategic thinker, listening skills, business writing, leadership & credibility, planning & organizing, initiative & creativity. 4. Differentiating competencies These Competencies mainly differentiate the superior performers from ordinary performers which results in orientation, influence, and initiative. 5. Threshold competencies

These Competencies require a minimum level of expertise in a particular field for job success, but a higher level of proficiency is not desirable as it is not necessarily related with superior performance. Threshold competencies however do not distinguish superior from average performers. 6. Transformation competencies Generally the managers and employees are found weak in these competencies, which if improved will most likely to result in improved performance. Competency model The development of competency models depends on the goals and objectives of the organization, and the business that the organization is in. In a broader sense the competencies are categorized into two types: Core competency. Role specific competency. The core competencies are those that are required by all employees. For example, initiative and drive might be a core competency for each employee in the organization. The key stakeholders are particularly invited to take part in brainstorming sessions while performing a competency modeling for an organization. Typically the human resources department takes the step to define competencies. The strategic marketing team and the delivery team provide inputs on the competencies and on the gaps they experience during project execution respectively that would provide the organization a competitive edge. The brainstorming and debate session helps in enlightening the competencies that the stakeholders perceive to be important. Q.2 Elaborate the concept of talent acquisition in detail. Ans: - Talent acquisition [1] is an influential software tool used to administer all the sub-processes that are involved in recognizing, attracting, and finally employing highly-talented and skilled people who are more productive for the company. The main advantage of the talent acquisition software is that it reorganizes the complete hiring process and significantly decreases the overall recruitment expenses. It also facilitates the managers and recruiters in a single

online setting to create and post applications, look for the talent acquisition pool, screen candidates, carry out background checks, and choose the best candidates for the job position. The talent acquisition software provides many options to the recruiting team which include: Creating and revising online job applications. Planning for interviews and entering online interview results. Combining billing and tracking recruitment expenses. Examining all references related to a given candidate. Talent acquisition software allows unsolicited candidates who are willing to change their jobs to promote their targets within some timeframe of deciding and receiving inquiries about their talents within hours. Talent acquisition also resolves some business issues and ready accessibility of work capability or in other terms, the workforce, and primarily, quality of the new workforce. Concept of talent acquisition Talent acquisition is a method in which all the sub-processes including recognizing, attracting, and recruiting highly talented candidates are carried out. Traditional recruitment process is considered to be a broader talent acquisition concept which plays a crucial role in talent management. Primarily, talent acquisition is an element of broader planned approach in corporate environment. This helps in acquiring and sustaining a competitive benefit at present marketplace. Other features include talent growth, maintenance, and evolution. Generally, recruitment is required when a person either resigns from his position or is promoted to another task. If there is no appropriate internal solution then it may result in a panicking situation. Hence, a strong relationship building or networking skills play a very important role here. Talent acquisition involves implementation of a distinctive way to tap the top performers who are not in need of another job. These performers are not interested in reading the traditional job ads or visiting the company websites. Instigating or provoking companys own top player to recognize external top players is a very powerful approach that is used very frequently. Many

companies are offering rewards in order to get these names and then act on them. After the identification of talent, the next stage is to focus on relationships that are in progress and search for that vague 'trigger point' in someones career which would get them to change jobs. Assembling intelligence from their 'friends' and from earlier market survey will assist in revealing exactly what motivates the top performers. One of the major success factors is educating the company officials that talent acquisition is an everyday task. Managers feel the need of hiring only when there is a position vacant on the basis of business dealings. At present, top talent has a very short span of life; hence there must be a sense of urgency in getting them on board, a job opening or no job opening. Some managers consider this approach as unsafe, but ultimately there is a great chance of losing the top performers in job market. The top performers are greatly influenced when a top management including CEO, CFO, COO, so on are involved in the relationship building process. The most commonly asked question is "What is the difference between recruiting and planned talent acquisition?" Defining recruiting is the simplest part of the answer whereas defining planned talent acquisition is a complex part of the answer. Recruiting is the process of filling the vacant positions and it is a completely strategic event. Planned talent acquisition is a process of identifying and recruiting highly-skilled candidates into the organization. Significance of talent acquisition The significant factors involved in talent acquisition include: Knowing the existing and future workforce demographics. Recognizing the financial concerns affecting organizational sustainability. Recognizing the organizational and cultural issues affecting talent acquisition. Understanding the industry trends and emerging issues. Design and execution phase of a talent acquisition strategy This phase includes the following aspects:

Defining the Employer of Choice. Exposing the generational allegations on recruitment. Reassessing the base elements of a talent acquisition strategy. Employing talent acquisition tools and models. Recognizing consideration when executing a talent acquisition strategy. Learning from best practices. Examining performance metrics, for example, business impacts, financial considerations, so on. Defining Strategic Talent Acquisition. Understanding how HR schemes, policies, and practices support and help corporate strategies. Requiring key design elements in an HR talent acquisition strategy. Applying talent acquisition strategy practically. Understanding emerging trends and best practices in attracting and maintaining talent.

Q.3 Discuss the benefits of corporate reconstruction. Ans: - Corporate restructuring is the process of reforming one or more facets of a company. Factors such as placing the company so as to be more competitive, surviving a hostile economic environment or enabling the organization to enter new avenues can be considered as reasons for reorganizing a company. Shareholder value maximization is the fundamental goal in restructuring the organization according to changes in the environment. This is one of the key tasks to be performed by a manager. Failure to achieve this goal, leads to not only losses of the organization but also for the manager. Managers need to ensure the following to establish shareholder value: Productivity and efficiency of all assets need to be maintained at its highest level. Building a set of intangible assets (such as new product development, brands, distribution networks, and so on) which cannot be copied. Implementing a set of plans and programs that will increase the cash flow (plans and programs such as expanding the capacity and distribution networks, brand building and so on) Working on ambitious research projects which if proven to be successful will provide the organization with long term competitive advantage. There should be effective communication between the shareholders and the firm. Corporate restructuring provides the benefits to the shareholder. Restructuring the corporation enables the corporation to face changes in the market environment. Internal and foreign competition can be successfully eliminated by proper restructuring. There can be no more emphasis on the fact that shareholders need to be updated and informed on the firms progress. Lack of communication between the shareholders and firm can result in showing no signs of improvement in the share value even after taking necessary steps. We need to understand that a company can not boast on uncertain terms. Shareholders are completely aware that changes in the business environment provide both opportunities and threats at the same time. The organization needs to review its value creation process in accordance with the changed context. Managements need to consciously work on improving current efficiency and productivity, by investing in brands and future competencies, strengthening the distribution network and developing intellectual

capital by undertaking restructuring initiatives. The outcome of the above restructuring initiative would be an increase in share prices, which reflects the markets expectation in terms of the firms future growth opportunities. What is the consequence of not being able to uphold the shareholder value. The share price will fall leading to the loss of investors confidence. The ability to raise the required capital will be reduced and more shares will have to be issued to raise the required capital. Another drawback of not enhancing the shareholder value is that banks hesitate to lend money to such firms. This is because the share price is a true indicator of how well an organization is managed and if the future prospects seem to be sound. A major threat faced by companies is the possibility of takeover attempts by other firms if they have failed to enhance shareholder value especially when there is a steady emergence of market for corporate control and relaxation of regulatory constraints on M&A activities. A bidder aims at obtaining a company or division at a marginally higher price than the value but which is still less than the profit he intends to make out of the takeover. He tends to employee a new set of strategy for the improvement of the firm. An effective management always has an insight about the market capital with respect to the performance of the company which has a major impact on shareholder value. In order to boost this value managements take all the required actions for the well being of the company, which includes restructuring the organization. Corporate restructuring can be considered as one of the key routes to increase the shareholder value. Q.4 Explain the process of Talent Management. Ans: - Talent management is used by HR managers to identify and select the right candidates with the required talent, and to provide further training to develop their talents and to retain them by conducting employment retention programs. Talent management is the systematic attraction, identification, development, engagement/retention and deployment of those individuals who are of particular value to an organization, either in view of their high potential for the future or because they are fulfilling business/operation-critical roles1. The process of talent management can be divided into four steps as given below:

1. Key roles need to be identified: Analyze the talent life cycle (recruit, develop, retain, and engage) and the key steps in each part, then map the roles and responsibilities to the key players for each stage. Identify the presence of gaps in responsibility, i.e. key activities that no one is accountable for. Check if responsibility is overlapping, i.e. number of people being responsible for the same activity. Identify if the right talent is employed in the right roles. Analyze if dependable and efficient processes, guidelines and tools are provided to line managers for effective management of talent. 2. Make a list of your talent management skills. Associate the skills needed to play the key roles in the talent life cycle. Determine the activities that can be outsourced and thereby provide better performance. Also determine the operations that can be performed in-house instead of being outsourced. 3. Evaluate the right things: Examine if the measures used to evaluate the performance of employees at each stage of the talent life cycle is adequate. Understand the information captured and reported. Analyze if it is directly associated with the talent enterprise scorecard. Also, ensure that the measures are in alignment with the overall talent management strategy. 4. A process-wide feedback loop needs to be set up: For people to connect their roles and responsibilities to the overall objective of the process, people managing talent must have an understanding the big picture. Determine the procedure for data capture and communication in each stage of talent life cycle. Understand how knowledge and experiences shared across the process. Identify the information gaps and missed communications. Determine the amount of formal and informal communication between staff. Implement new methods to improve feedback mechanism. Q.5 Discuss organizational issues in Talent Management. Ans: - The concept of talent management seems to be attractive. Talent management is considered to be the process of developing the workforce for the future. The entire idea of talent management has a positive attitude. It is associated with doing things for your best people and developing their strengths. The needs of the organanisations and the individual can be met by talent management.

Organizational issues could be of because of focus and fit. The different types of focus are: Step by step focus. Leadership focus. Functional level or workforce level focus. Specific critical posts. Now let us explain each focus in detail: In the step by step focus, managers look for employees with potential to take one step ahead in their career. Talent management needs to have a proactive approach to both skill and career. The most important talent management function is to produce future leaders. Organizations need to work on the required talent to equip them to become future leaders. The process of talent management need not always include the entire workforce or selected candidates for senior leadership positions. Parts of the organization can also be considered for talent management. Talent management can be associated with the recruiting and training of functional or professional groups. One of the difficult tasks to be performed by talent management is to focus on individuals posts that are difficult to be filled and are a risk to business. Finding the right fit: Having considered on what the organization strategy might focus on; now let us consider how we can find this talent. Talent management practices must not clash with the organizations culture and it must meet the needs of the workforce. Talent management can require high investment or be cost effective. External programs and on the job coaching and corporate projects are the range of activities included in talent management. There are several dimensions to getting the fit right. These include: Fit to focus: How will the process achieve the strategic objectives?

Fit to culture: Will the process reflect the organizations values, purpose, and underpinning philosophy? Fit to workforce and the psychological contract: What do employees want talent management to do for them, and how far will the psychological contract have to shift to work for both the employees and the organization? Fit to other HR practices and policies: How will talent management integrate and be supported by other HR practices? Fit to management capability and roles in managing people: Does the current workforce and management have the capability and capacity to make talent management work? Fit to focus: Focus of fit is associated with involving both senior managers and the workforce for the talent management program. The talent management program needs to be aligned with the organizations strategy in order to be efficient. Linking the talent management program with the strategy ensures that the program is never static and remains future oriented. In the presence of a dynamic environment it is highly essential to have a talent management program, to be flexible. The advantage of linking talent management and strategic goals is that it enables organizations to measure employee development. Fit to culture: Fit to Culture is the other organizational issue associated with talent management. The structure of the corporation is a major reason for the cultural challenges within the organization. The structure could be centralized or decentralized. Organizational culture can also be affected by the decision making process or transparency of organization and so on. The talent program can fit right by certain degree of openness in the organization, transparency, employee involvement and so on. Cultural fit is highly essential for the success of the organization. Fit to workforce: Fit to workforce can be achieved by ensuring that the talent management processes understands the psychological contracts between organization and employees. The talent management process needs to be well targeted and

communicated. The talent management process must be in alignment with the needs of the individuals. Talent management generally brings about changes in the needs of individuals and requirements of organizations. Fit to other HR policies: Other than HR department, business partners or learning and development can be responsible for talent management. Talent management programs generally owned by line managers and supported by HR managers. The talent management processes need to fit with other HR policies and processes. HR processes that need to be considered along with talent management are: Planning of workforce. Recruitment and assessment processes. Performance management. Training and development. Reward and recognition Promotion Fit to management capability: Talent management processes require commitment and capability for the process to work. A talent mind-set needs to be established throughout the organization. Senior managers need to support the talent management process. Line managers need to spot, develop talent and manage performance and provide feedback. Line managers can successfully fulfill their role as talent managers by support from HR department. They need to clearly know what they are looking for and where to look. Line managers need to be careful if the talent approach will change any of established people management practices. In conclusion we can say that having a clear idea about talent management can transform an abstract idea to something practical. A real difference is made to the organization by proactive attention to attracting and developing talent. There may be several areas of focus in a talent management initiative. The talent pool should be of sufficient size and there should be adequate time for developing talent.

The definition of the outcome expected by developing high-potential employees helps in determining the right focus of the organization. This will enable HR managers to identify specifically which skills and experiences people in a talent pool will need to have so they are equipped to assume high-level positions in the organization in the future. It is very important for the whole organization to develop a talent mind-set. The introduction of talent management could be because of a dynamic environment or to create a new work culture but they need to fit and support core values and purpose of the organization. Q.6 Discuss the purpose of Talent Management Acquisition System. Ans: - Concept of talent acquisition Talent acquisition is a method in which all the sub-processes including recognizing, attracting, and recruiting highly talented candidates are carried out. Traditional recruitment process is considered to be a broader talent acquisition concept which plays a crucial role in talent management. Primarily, talent acquisition is an element of broader planned approach in corporate environment. This helps in acquiring and sustaining a competitive benefit at present marketplace. Other features include talent growth, maintenance, and evolution. Generally, recruitment is required when a person either resigns from his position or is promoted to another task. If there is no appropriate internal solution then it may result in a panicking situation. Hence, a strong relationship building or networking skills play a very important role here. Talent acquisition involves implementation of a distinctive way to tap the top performers who are not in need of another job. These performers are not interested in reading the traditional job ads or visiting the company websites. Instigating or provoking companys own top player to recognize external top players is a very powerful approach that is used very frequently. Many companies are offering rewards in order to get these names and then act on them. After the identification of talent, the next stage is to focus on relationships that are in progress and search for that vague 'trigger point' in someones career which would get them to change jobs. Assembling intelligence from their 'friends'

and from earlier market survey will assist in revealing exactly what motivates the top performers. One of the major success factors is educating the company officials that talent acquisition is an everyday task. Managers feel the need of hiring only when there is a position vacant on the basis of business dealings. At present, top talent has a very short span of life; hence there must be a sense of urgency in getting them on board, a job opening or no job opening. Some managers consider this approach as unsafe, but ultimately there is a great chance of losing the top performers in job market. The top performers are greatly influenced when a top management including CEO, CFO, COO, so on are involved in the relationship building process. The most commonly asked question is "What is the difference between recruiting and planned talent acquisition?" Defining recruiting is the simplest part of the answer whereas defining planned talent acquisition is a complex part of the answer. Recruiting is the process of filling the vacant positions and it is a completely strategic event. Planned talent acquisition is a process of identifying and recruiting highly-skilled candidates into the organization. Significance of talent acquisition The significant factors involved in talent acquisition include: Knowing the existing and future workforce demographics. Recognizing the financial concerns affecting organizational sustainability. Recognizing the organizational and cultural issues affecting talent acquisition. Understanding the industry trends and emerging issues. Design and execution phase of a talent acquisition strategy This phase includes the following aspects: Defining the Employer of Choice. Exposing the generational allegations on recruitment. Reassessing the base elements of a talent acquisition strategy.

Employing talent acquisition tools and models. Recognizing consideration when executing a talent acquisition strategy. Learning from best practices. Examining performance metrics, for example, business impacts, financial considerations, so on. Defining Strategic Talent Acquisition. Understanding how HR schemes, policies, and practices support and help corporate strategies. Requiring key design elements in an HR talent acquisition strategy. Applying talent acquisition strategy practically. Understanding emerging trends and best practices in attracting and maintaining talent. Talent acquisition employed as a strategy Previously, organizations did not consider the recruitment process as one of strategic significance, but recently they have realized that the world has changed considerably. It is impossible for any organization to select among many talented candidates for a single position. Presently, many changes are occurring in this competitive world, which is in favor of the highly talented people who are in search of a new opportunity. The first option would be the Internet which is considered to be an enabling technology in the history of civilization. Candidates can now promote their wish to change jobs within some period of time of decision making and then request information about their talents. Figure 8.1 illustrates the Job Hunting Process through internet.

Figure 8.1: Job Hunting Process through Internet Internet has made the job hunting process easy for people. It is possible that employees get their final performance review which can be either positive or negative, for example, poor appraisal, improper negative reaction from boss, additional workload strain so on. They can post their CV/Resume up on a job website at midday today. Later, they can receive interested replies from third party recruiters and then be interviewed for a desired position within some period of time. Finally, they get an offer letter the next day and quit the job within 3 days. All these things look very scary, but the fact is that the Internet has not only made this process easy for the candidates, but it has also brought major advantages for organizations. Talent acquisition strategies Given below are some of the requirements for staffing, recruiting, talent management and as human resources professionals: Work harder to identify high quality performers: There is a necessity for establishing success indicators for each position recruited along with high quality performers themselves. For example, number of sales a performer has made in a month, number of reports written resulting in consulting tasks, amount of income a performers group has produced, and so on. There are no many standards to go by, but still it is evident about who the major contributor in an organization is and

what are the job of the organization and the higher authorities of that organization and here, job of the HR professional is to measure those contributions. Work with managers to develop high performers profiles in each group: The commonalities and the things recognized during the screening process are identified which predict success. For example, competencies, activities those high performers do, working techniques or processes. There are many organizations that assist in determining crucial success factors and also help in developing tests to discover them in candidates. Identify potential high performers and their working strategy: This step helps to aim at advertising towards high performers and make a decision on the events that are worth attending and help to get the kind of people that an organization is looking for. This step requires attention on competitive intelligence (CI). Competitive intelligence is a process of identifying, collecting, evaluating, and distributing intelligence about the products, competitors, customers, and other features of the environment. This is required to help executives and managers in strategic decision making for an organization. CI is very familiar in most of the organizations; and hence, many companies use CI professionals to search for information about production competency and equipment installation. The same approach is applicable to recruiting. The details about the location of good and talented people are collected from competitors, sellers, and suppliers. Employee referral program can be used for the same purpose. Gather and capture important information about candidates: The information gathered is precious and it must be shared with other recruiters by storing it in some database. The place where such kind of information is stored is referred to as Blog A Blog is a personal online magazine or a journal that is often updated and planned for public use. Blog helps both internal and external community of recruiters to exchange information gathered. When blogs are properly used then lots of working hours and bunches of money is saved. Identify the significance of developing people: The recruiting function has to be more like a talent agency which has not happened in the past. Talent agencies help in identifying talent and also developing it for planned purposes. Talent acquisition strategies for 21st century Given below are the different mindsets of people about "Talent Acquisition": Old talent mindset

The old talent mindset includes: Unclear idea that "People are our Most Important Asset." HR is accountable for managing people. A two-day Success Planning Exercise annually. I work with the people I inherit. New talent mindset The new talent mindset includes: A deep belief that talent leads to better corporate performance. Managers are responsible for supporting their talent pool. Talent manager is an essential part of how the company is developed and managed. Taking bold actions to build the talent pool required.