This document discusses talent management and its implications for older workers. It outlines some of the core assumptions of talent management, such as a focus on individual performance and scarce, valuable people. It questions whether these assumptions and the exclusive approach are valid. The document also examines how population aging will impact the workforce and questions whether employers are adequately planning for an older workforce. It raises several key questions that need answers regarding what older workers want from work and how employers can best utilize their skills and talents.

1. Talent Management and the
Older Worker
Graeme Martin

2. Outline
Why the interest in talent management?
 How good are the underlying
theories/assumptions and evidence on
which talent management rests?
What are the implications for older
workers?
What practical questions remain to be
answered?

3. The War for Talent Revisited: Something
New?
(Martin & Hetrick, 2006; Economist, Oct 7th
, 2006, CIPD, 2007, etc)
Brainpower and talent in
knowledge-based
economies/organizations
Population changes
worldwide, international
labour markets and HR
supply chains
The rise of idiosyncratic
careers and the cult of
‘celebrity’
Employee loyalty and
trust fading: employers
reaping what they have
sown (CIPD, 2006)?
Talent drives reputations
and is attracted by
reputations, but
talent can also damage
reputations

4. The truth about markets: why some
nations are rich but most remain poor?
‘The distinction between the
role of shareholders and
employees was clear when
shareholders bought the
plant and employees
worked in it. But the
principal assets of the
modern company are
knowledge, brands and
reputations, which are in the
head and hands of
employees…’
(John Kay, 2004, p. 58)

5. Some Evidence
The ‘irrational’ search for the
Charismatic CEO and growing
inequality/returns to talent
Intangible assets now worth 70%
of value of companies (S&P index);
From 20% in 1980
By 2025, no of people of working
age to fall in Europe sharply
coupled with retirements –
the Tayside problem
83% of workers are likely to
search for new job;
1990s employability and
‘death of careers’
rebounding on employers
Three quarters of senior-human
resources managers said that
“attracting and retaining” talent
was their number-one priority
(Wooldridge, 2007)

6. So What’s the Solution?
Talent Management and its
assumptions?

7. A focus on human capital in a knowledge economy
 individual performance equals organizational performance
A focus on scarce and valuable people (the power curve) –
the exclusive rather than inclusive approach
A focus on buy rather than make
 Outsiders create innovation
 Easier to buy rather than make – we need to hit the deck
running and we can ‘talent spot’
A focus on potential rather than experience
 a ‘liquid modern’ or unknowable world – ‘in the face of
change, the experienced are helpless – an inch wide and a
mile deep’
Talent Management: Some Core
assumptions?

8. The Human Capital (or Talent)
Equation
HUMAN CAPITAL
INVESTMENT AND
DEPLETION
‘IQ’ OF EXTENDED
ENTERPRISE (ITS
INTELLECTUAL
CAPITAL)
INNOVATION AND
ENTERPRISING
PUBLIC SERVICES
Talented Individuals

9. The Human Capital/Talent
Delusion?
HUMAN CAPITAL
INVESTMENT AND
DEPLETION
‘IQ’ OF EXTENDED
ENTERPRISE (ITS
INTELLECTUAL
CAPITAL)
INNOVATION AND
ENTERPRISING
PUBLIC SERVICES
SOCIAL CAPITAL
INVESTMENT
(GOODWILL,
TRUST, BONDING
& BRIDGING)
ORGANIZATIONAL
CAPITAL
(DATABASES,
STRUCTURES,
ROUTINES AND
PROCESSES
Delusions 1 & 2
Delusion 3

10. A Talent-based Recipe for an Enterprising
Organizations and Public Services (based on
Dyer and Ericksen, 2007)
Workforce
Scalability –
Right numbers
Right types of
people
Right places
Doing right things
Workforce
fluidity
Workforce
alignment
Top-down plan
Bottom-up: shared mindset
Acquiring talent: pre-qualify source
Releasing employees: outplacement
Enrich talent pool: diversity, fit
and (serial in)competence
Facilitate interpersonal connectivity:
Increase absorptive capacity
Expand role orientations
Unleash talent pool
Align incentives

11. The ‘New (super) Capitalism’ and Social
Deficits (Richard Sennett, 2006; Robert Reich, 2007, Mark Moore, 2007)
 Liquid modern world of short term relationships
with ‘careerless’ organizations
 Potential (serial incompetence) celebrated and
craftsmanship devalued
Four social deficits
 Decline of loyalty, which depends on being valued
 Organizations need talented people more than talented
people need organizations: the identification problem
 Decline of trust in organizations and leadership
 Decline of organizationally-specific knowledge
 The tension between shareholder & consumers on the one
hand and citizens and public value on the other

12. Throwing babies out with the bathwater:
Dealing with the ‘Universal Paradox’ in Management –
integration and innovation
Can create reputations: talented
people with unique human capital
create difference and value
But also destroys them – the
Enron effect and legitimacy
Sometimes good for knowledge
acquisition and innovation
But not so good for sharing and
exploitation
Promotes aggressive competition
and dynamic organizations and an
/enterprising public sector
At the expense of
expressive/connected
organizations – the ruthless
organization
Focus on internal organization At expense of organizational
networks
Focus on potential and serial
incompetence
At the expense of experience and
craft

13. Some Key Questions for the Older
Workforce Agenda
What do they want from work?
How does this differ among different
groups
How can we best make use of what their
skills and talents?
To what extent are employers planning
now for the ageing workforce?
What will this mean for performance
management in organizations?

14. Thank you
g.martin@mgt.gla.ac.uk
www.managingpeoplebook.com
www.gla.ac.uk/crmp

15. CIPD (2006) Talent Management
Economist (Oct 7th
, 2006) A survey of talent, Economist Newspapers
Christensen, C., et al (2006) Seeing what’s next: using the theories of innovation to predict
industry change. Boston: Harvard Business School Press
Groysberg, B., Nanda, A. and Nohria, N (2004) The risky business of hiring stars. Harvard Business
Review, May, 92-100
Lepak, D., et al., (2007) Value creation and value capture. Academy of Management Review, 32:
180-194
Martin, G. and Hetrick, S (2006) Corporate Reputation, Branding and People Management. Oxford:
Elsevier Butterworth Heinemann
Michaels, E., Handfield-Jones, H. and Axelrod, B. (2001) The War for Talent. Boston, MA: Harvard
Business School Press
Pfeffer, J. & Sutton, R.E. (2006) Hard Facts, Dangerous Half-Truths and Total Nonsense: Profiting
from Evidence-based Management. Harvard Business Review Press
Rosenzweig, P. (2007) The Halo Effect…and Eight Other Business Delusions… New York: Free
Press.
Sennett, R. (2006) The Culture of the New Capitalism, New Haven, Ct: Yale University Press.
Spector, B (2003) HRM at Enron: the un-indicted co-conspirator. Organizational Dynamics 32, 207-
220
Subramaniam, M. & Youndt, M. A. (2005) The influence of intellectual capital on the types of
Innovative capabilities. Academy of Management Journal, 48: 450-463.
Selected References

16. CIPD Survey 2007
 At 65, 38% propose to carry on working, half full-time;
one-third undecided
 Different motivations for different socio-economic groups
 More flexible working arrangement
Opportunity to use existing skills
Worthwhile job
Flexible leave
Financial benefits they value
Participative and friendly culture
 Few employers considered the impact of ageing
workforce on their HR policies/rewards
 Rewarding loyalty and service can be appropriate
 Well-being a key issue