Figure 1: Framework to understand corporate talent management (ideal types)
The vertical dimension relates to the framing of jobs in terms of control over content, organisation and sequencing of work tasks. It relates to the framing of conception and execution, which determines how people do their jobs and the value attached to specific roles. Therefore, evidence of strong framing of job roles is where companies adopt a centralised model of organisation control where “permission to think” is restricted to people occupying strategically important positions in the organisation. Weak framing is where permission to think is extended through the organisation, where jobs are not framed in terms of the distinction between conception and execution. Framing is closely related to the question of high or low workplace discretion and the related idea of high and low trust organisations. Here, the ‘War for Talent’ is a low trust organisation because it does not trust the abilities of a large proportion of the workforce given the early identification and sponsoring of a narrow pool of talent to take on selected strategic job roles. Although the rest of the workforce may be valued within the organisation, they are not seen to be people that truly add value to the organisation or are capable of taking the business forward. Organisations that fall under the heading of ‘Contest Elite’ have a more generous view of the abilities of its workforce, eschewing early identification and sponsoring of talent. However, it similarly considers only a small group of individuals to be capable of taking the business forward through the strong framing of job roles. Those categorised as ‘Sponsored Talent’ have jobs that are weakly framed to provide a high level of workplace discretion, but where particular individuals may have preferential treatment creating a low-trust environment. ‘Wealth of Talent’ organisations take a generous view of the abilities of their workforce, offering both a high-trust environment with a limited classification of their workforce, and a high level of workplace discretion with limited stratification of job roles. In the interview data, the sole company demonstrating characteristics of a ‘Wealth of Talent’ organisation does not use the term “talent” at all, referring to its workforce as “its people” and entrusting them with significant job autonomy. As one of its employees highlighted, “it was easier to apologise than to ask for permission”.
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