Talent Management in India
Talent Management in India: A Journey from the past to the future
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With Talent Management emerging as a new terminology in the field of HR it inspires us to remember our old Indian Mythology which is full of such examples where the concept of talent management was used. It can be said that it is an old wine in a new bottle. Our old philosophers and thinkers have given ample thoughts on this idea and helped the kings and emperors of those times to rule better. This paper tries to depict how the concept used by our great thinkers can be related to the recently used terminology of Talent Management.
The word "talent ' is finding its use & reference in majority of HR and academic discussions, though the word is not that new. It finds its reference back in the year 893 and is derived from the Greek word ‘talanton ', which means "balance, sum, weight." It was a unit of weight, in gold and silver, which was used as a legal tender in the trading transactions of that era. In the recent times the word ‘Talent ' has become the buzz word. Any HR intellectual discourse is incomplete without the reference of the word ‘Talent’. The concept of Talent Management is not new to India. Talent is found in abundance and is the strength of this country. Indian history is full of examples of talented people who have spread wisdom all over the world. The teachings of various gurus are of excessive significance today in this field. Talent is innate in the people of India and it has been properly nurtured from the past and is gaining momentum with the increasing popularity of the term.
Definition of Talent: The Conference board (2005) research report defines talent management as ‘any individuals who have the capability to make a difference to the current and future performance of the company’. Merely occupying a senior position does not make a person talented he has to prove his worth. Chanakya has said that a man attains
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With Talent Management emerging as a new terminology in the field of HR it inspires us to remember our old Indian Mythology which is full of such examples where the concept of talent management was used. It can be said that it is an old wine in a new bottle. Our old philosophers and thinkers have given ample thoughts on this idea and helped the kings and emperors of those times to rule better. This paper tries to depict how the concept used by our great thinkers can be related to the recently used terminology of Talent Management.
The word "talent ' is finding its use & reference in majority of HR and academic discussions, though the word is not that new. It finds its reference back in the year 893 and is derived from the Greek word ‘talanton ', which means "balance, sum, weight." It was a unit of weight, in gold and silver, which was used as a legal tender in the trading transactions of that era. In the recent times the word ‘Talent ' has become the buzz word. Any HR intellectual discourse is incomplete without the reference of the word ‘Talent’. The concept of Talent Management is not new to India. Talent is found in abundance and is the strength of this country. Indian history is full of examples of talented people who have spread wisdom all over the world. The teachings of various gurus are of excessive significance today in this field. Talent is innate in the people of India and it has been properly nurtured from the past and is gaining momentum with the increasing popularity of the term.
Definition of Talent: The Conference board (2005) research report defines talent management as ‘any individuals who have the capability to make a difference to the current and future performance of the company’. Merely occupying a senior position does not make a person talented he has to prove his worth. Chanakya has said that a man attains
References: Chambers Elizabeth G, Foulon M, Jones H, Hankin S M, Michaels III Edward G. “ The War For Talent” Human Resources The Mc. Kinsey Quarterly No. 3 (1998) pp. 44-57 Lockwood Nancy R Parvathi Kumar, K., Wisdom Teachings of Vidura, 1997, Dhanishta Ready Douglas A, Hill Linda A, Conger Jay A Sullivan John, Burnett M. “To Build Buy or Trade Talent: That is the question behind Talent Management” 21 Mar (2005) The chemistry of talent (New ways to think about people and work), Deloitte Development LLC (2008) Axelrod Elizabeth L, Jones Helen H, Welsh Timothy A. “War for Talent part two” The Mc. Kinsey Quarterly No. 2 (2001) pp. 9-11 Gladwell M Talent Management Value Imperatives: Strategies for Successful Execution. The Conference Board, USA (2005). O’Neal Sandra, Gebauer Julie, “Talent Management in the 21st century: Attracting, Retaining and Engaging Employees of Choice” World at Work Journal First quarter (2006) online.sfsu.edu/~rone/Buddhism/footsteps.htm