Competing institutional logics in talent management: talent identification at the HQ and a subsidiary

Abstract

Talent Management (TM) is a hot topic among both practitioners and scholars, but it still has to overcome some important limitations. Studies have been overly unitarist and managerialist in their orientation, and we still know little about how local contextual factors relate to TM, especially with regards to one of the most critical aspects of any TM system, i.e. talent identification. This research, which adopted a qualitative case study including data from interviews, observations and documents, studied how talent identification unfolded in practice at both the headquarters (HQ) and a subsidiary of a large Swedish organization. By drawing on the institutional logics perspective, we suggest that the way in which organizational actors conduct their talent identification is grounded in the logic they enact and make use of. Attention is thus focused on how the cultural norms, symbols and practices of different institutional orders are incorporated into the identification of talent. Having identified competing institutional logics at the HQ and the subsidiary, we also suggest that this is a credible explanation for the discrepancy between intended and actual HR practices. The findings are in contrast with previous research, which suggests that self-interest, ad hoc approaches, and a lack of skills nested in talent identification are underlying causes of differences in how talent identification is conducted. ARTICLE HISTORY

Coaction Interrupted: Logic Contestations in the Implementation of Inter‐organisational Collaboration around Talent Management in the Public Sector in Scotland

“…Our study findings reveal the agency of HR actors and their capacity to develop a much softer version of TM that better fitted their professional logics. The findings also shed light on the actual and intended gap in the context of TM practice implementation and the reality of significant gaps between intended and actual TM practices (Tyskbo, 2019). This is an important finding because it goes against a significant amount of the normative literature on TM emphasising the value of strategic approaches and their links with what happens on the ground (Collings et al ., 2017).…”

“…Our findings have a number of practical implications. First, the decision to establish inter‐organisational collaborations to deliver HR practices such as TM require careful analysis of the institutional logics that may facilitate or inhibit their establishment (see, Alvehus, 2018; Tyskbo, 2019). For example, we illustrate in Figure 2 the emergence of strong professional and bureaucratic logics often found within public sector organisations (cf.…”

“…Competing institutional logics therefore play an important role in how HR practices are understood and enacted in organisations day to day (Alvehus, 2018). In particular, TM practices such as those aimed at attracting, developing, deploying and retaining talent are often contentious and complex within the public sector (Boselie and Thunnissen, 2017), suggesting that competing logics are likely to play a significant role in facilitating or inhibiting the extent to which they are successful (Tyskbo, 2019). As new initiatives are introduced, well established ways of working and the institutional logics that underpin them may become contested and challenged, resulting in resistance to new ideas, conflict and outcomes that were not anticipated.…”

The unfolding rationales surrounding management accounting innovations: a balanced scorecard case

“…Specifically, management understood the organizational purpose primarily in terms of an engineering discourse, as the head of the accounting department noted: "Electra was eminently an engineering company" and, hence, Electra's staff had the cognitive pressure to behave and operate under the imperatives of the appropriate engineering standards of service. This belief system was based on the assumption that excellence in engineering was critical to achieve organizational success (i.e., the engineering logic 1 ) (Djelic and Ainamo, 2005;Tyskbo, 2021). Therefore, the company was driven by engineering rather than financial criteria, with the financial performance subservient to the engineering performance.…”

Mind the gap: line managers as effective or non‐effective talent spotters

“…(2018) propose a line managers’ talent identification model; Joos et al . (2019) study how the talent construct is operationalized and perceived by line managers; Tyskbo (2019) identifies the competing institutional logics in the talent identification process at headquarters and a subsidiary; Pantouvaki and Karakasnaki (2019) show the implications of the innate and exclusive talent philosophies on the identification tools; and finally, Cadigan et al . (2020) examine whether managers and Human Resources professionals show a preference for promotion for those with higher performance or those with higher potential.…”