Exclusive Talent Management: Unveiling the Mechanisms of the Construction of an Elite Community

Abstract

This paper aims at contributing to the talent management (TM) and organisation research fields by investigating the mechanisms of elite construction through an exclusive TM programme in a multinational company (MNC). We conducted an exploratory single-case study in an MNC operating in more than 15 countries, by interviewing HR managers as representatives of top management and participants in a TM programme in seven countries. Other data sources included non-participant observation and the use of internal and external documents. Our results show that talents develop a common elite identity based on exclusiveness, and additionally they gain access to resources and privileges through the mechanisms of performing rituals, acculturation through symbols, preferential treatment, social networking and the acquisition of insider knowledge. Furthermore, those employees identified as talents organise themselves in a closed, elite community. These results are summarised in a theory-based framework explaining the building of an elite through exclusive TM.

Talent and identity: a hermeneutic exploration of employee perspectives

“…In particular, the work focuses on inclusive talent management (Al Ariss et al, 2014), which takes into account all or the majority of employees, and regards talents as strengths (Swailes, Downs & Orr, 2014). In doing so, it offers a more independent view of talent status (Bonneton et al, 2020;De Boeck et al, 2018;, which describes whether an individual is formally identified as talent or not by an organization (De Boeck et al, 2018).…”

“…Exclusive talent management is the dominating paradigm in the research area (Bonneton, Festing, Muratbekova-Touron, 2020) and especially focuses on talent practices of talent identification, talent development and employee retention of one to ten percent of employees (Swailes, Downs, & Orr, 2014). The degree of workforce segmentation describes the extent to which resources, for example training budget, are distributed unequally among employees.…”

“…De Boeck et al (2018) assign employee attitudes to be affective, cognitive or behavioral, which also mirrors the structure of the following paragraphs. With regards to positive affective employee reactions, existing research finds that talent management has positive effects on overall talent morale (De Boeck et al, 2018), talent commitment and satisfaction (Alvesson & Robertson, 2006;Bethke-Langenegger et al, 2011;Bonneton et al, 2020). Being flagged as special, unique or outstanding talent positively appeals to the emotions of individuals (Collings & Melahi, 2009) and provides external recognition (Bonneton et al, 2020).…”

“…With regards to positive affective employee reactions, existing research finds that talent management has positive effects on overall talent morale (De Boeck et al, 2018), talent commitment and satisfaction (Alvesson & Robertson, 2006;Bethke-Langenegger et al, 2011;Bonneton et al, 2020). Being flagged as special, unique or outstanding talent positively appeals to the emotions of individuals (Collings & Melahi, 2009) and provides external recognition (Bonneton et al, 2020). In other words, it makes an employee feel different from the not so talented individuals (Alvesson & Robertson, 2006;Dries, 2013a).…”

“…Through using specific company language, talents feel a sense of belonging and incorporate elitist values (Bonneton et al, 2020).…”