MBA Dissertation

Achieving the Organizational sustainable competitive advantage through Learning & Talent Development

Abstract

The knowledgeable talent people becomes the most organizational competitive

advantage so to be differentiate in the competitive market it is essential to have

learning strategy throughout the organization to ensure talent development and

retention so business enhancement can be achieved by the Capable Human Capital.

This research conducted to examine the Learning and talent development process in

the different sector in the kingdom of Bahrain and how learning and development

supporting on maximizing the potential of the Human Capital, retaining talent and

strengthen the business performance.

The research used three questionnaires addressed to three categories: the senior

managers, the line managers and Talent staff in different sectors: Public sector, Global

/ Multinational companies are based in the kingdom of Bahrain and local companies.

The study concludes that the key organizational success is to have a capable

knowledgeable Human capital by continues learning and developing to ensure

achieving the sustainable competitive advantage.

It conclude by making recommendation to the Top management on having a strategy

to have learning culture, develop organizational human capital, motivate, Engage and

retain them to achieve sustainable competitive advantage.

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Chapter One

Introduction

1.1 Background

Learning and Development is crucial to the ongoing development of the people may

employed and their retention and success, According to the CIPD 2009 Learning is an

environment where individuals 'learn to learn ' and obtain the capabilities that enable

them to build their skills and help their organization retain competitive advantage,

CIPD 2009.

It is the Learning edge that gives companies the advantage today. "An organization

that relies on learning to enhance its workers' abilities to contribute, produce results,

and lead will create a competitive advantage for itself", Calhoun and Lu (1993).

As operating in a competitive climate the organizations need to think on the best way

to achieve the competitive advantage or they could not survive on this market. The

business in usual cases is a piece of cake either to know how to get some of those

pieces or some body else will get them.

To compete you need to have a "Talent" Human capital can understand the business

and compete to boost business opportunities to increase and develop business.

There are various factors leads to achieve the organizational sustainable competitive

advantage, the studies and research proof that Developing Talent Human capital is the

key factor for organizational success.

The author strongly believes that investing on human capital by learning and

developmental opportunities is the key factor to achieve its sustainable competitive

advantage.

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1.2 Dissertation Aims:

This Dissertation will aim to examine the Importance of Learning and Talent

Development in different sectors and how Learning and Development supporting on

maximizing the potential of the Human Capital, retaining Talent and strengthen the

business performance.

It will point out the Learning Organization and Learning Management concepts and

how both enhance the organizational performance by develop learning culture and

knowledge transfer.

This Dissertation will highlight the Learning and Talent development challenges

facing the organizations and how to address those Challenges and prepare to tackle

them.

This study will be beneficial to both Human Resources professionals and the

company's top management to allowing them to get better insight on how develops

and retains talent in the companies to ensure organizational development.

The Objectives of this dissertation is to:

1. Examine the Importance of Learning organization and Knowledge

Management In the organizational development.

2. Explore the role of Learning in the organization and how Learning enhances

the individuals and business performance.

3. Determine the factors of high turnover level and measure the alternatives to

reduce this turnover, i.e. cost of new hires, cost of trainings.

4. Consider the Learning and Talent Developmental challenges facing the

organizations and how to prepare to tackle them.

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1.3 Structure of dissertation

The research will include six chapters. Starting with the introduction and moving to

the literature review chapter, then the methodology chapter, as well as the finding

from the research method and the discussion chapter discussing the finding in contrast

with the literature review chapter, ending by the conclusion with the recommendation

from this research.

After the Introduction, the second chapter is the Literature review which explore,

contrast and critic the previous researches and studies in this topic.

The Third Chapter is the Methodology chapter which the author will introduce the

strategy in conducting this research with highlighting of other strategies/approaches

and will point out strengthens of the selected approach; the chapter will include the

data collection methods used in this study and the administrating approach. This

chapter will extract the result of the pilot testing, the research ethics and the

restrictions limitation of this research.

On the third chapter the author will introduce the finding as the outcome from the data

collection methods used as primary data for this study. Followed by the fifth Chapter

"the Discussion Chapter" which is the author here will discuss and contrast the

finding from this study with the previous researches and studies pointed out in the

Literature Review chapter.

Finally, the Sixth chapter which is the conclusion followed by recommendation from

this study.

This dissertation will include the appendixes which contains the questionnaire used on

this study and some other documents.

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Chapter Two

Literature Review

2.1 Preparing for Learning:

Individual Learning in organizations has been seen as critical to the capacity of the

organizations to change and survive (Crossan, 1999; Marsick and Watkins, 1996;

Nonaka, 1994; Senge, 1990).

An organization's capacity to learn as per Rowden (2001) may be the only true source

of competitive advantage, Rowden (2001, p. 12). To develop the capacity to learn,

Senge advise that organizations would turn and develop into learning organizations

(LO), Senge (1994).

The most widely accepted definition for a learning Organization proposed by Peter

Senge, he defines the Learning organizations as an organizations where people can

continually expand their capacity to create the results they truly desire, where new

ideas are encourages and nurtured, where collective aspiration is set free, and where

people are continually learning to see the whole together, Senge (1994, p.3)

He believes that 'Organizations learn only through individuals who learn'. Individual

learning does not guarantee organizational learning, but without it no organizational

learning occurs, Senge (1990, P. 139).

Senge identifies the dimension that distinguishes learning from traditional

Organization as the mastery of certain basic disciplines or 'component technologies'.

The five disciplines that Senge identifies are said to be converging to innovate

learning Organizations, They are: System thinking; Personal mastery; mental

models; Building shared vision and Team learning. He argues that the organization

cannot learn unless teams learn in the organization and suggests that whilst

Organizational Learning is about superior performance, it also impacts on

commitment and contribution, Senge (1999, P. 33)

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The collective learning from team level to the organizational level as a whole has

been more interesting recently, so learning at all levels seen as essential for

organizations to adapt to major internal and external environmental shifts and

challenges, Hayes and Allinson (1998), Hedberg (1981), Schwandt (1997).

A view strongly maintained by Pedler and Boydell that The Learning Company is

could happen as a result of learning on all organizational levels not only by training

individuals, so the Learning organization is an organization that provide and facilitate

learning for all organizational members and make sure that its continuously

transforms itself, Pedler and Boydell (1991, p. 1).

Furthermore, Wick & Lu note that the employees when they work for a Learning

Organization they have a big responsibility to learn how to do things better and how

to improve what they are doing as well, Wick & Lu (1993)

On the contrary, Belasco believes that there is no "Learning Organization", People

only learn and you can have a group of learners in an organization since you can't

have a group of organizations learn, so no need for spending money and waste time,

Belasco (1998, p. 17). On the other hand Garvin strongly believed that the Learning

Organization play an important role on sharing knowledge since as an organization

obtains and transfer knowledge, and then based on the knowledge this will reflect on

the change of its behavior, Garvin (1993).

Watkins and Marsick provide an integrative model of a learning organization. They

originally defined the concept of the learning organization as “one that learns

continuously and transforms itself, Learning is a continuous, strategically used

process—integrated with and running parallel to work”, Watkins and Marsick (1996,

p. 4).

Yang, Watkins and Marsick pointed out that at the operational level people are

aligned and work together on a common vision and strategy, when Learning concerns

as an organizational approach to deliver its business strategy, so people here

understand and interpret their changing environment and they innovate and create

new knowledge, Yang, Watkins and Marsick (2004).

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They have identified seven necessary actions describes companies working to achieve

these goals, their model confirm three key components: (1) systems-level, continuous

learning (2) that is created in order to create and manage knowledge outcomes (3)

which lead to improvement in the organization’s performance, and ultimately its

value, as measured through both financial assets and non financial intellectual capital.

Learning helps people to create and manage knowledge that builds a system’s

intellectual capital. Their proposed learning organization model integrates two main

organizational constituents: people and structure. These two constituents are also

viewed as interactive components of organizational change and development,

Yang,Watkins and Marsick (2004).

Many authors argue that employers should facilitate and support learning for their

employees because it will benefit both parties. "That is, a more-highly skilled

workforce offers rewards and greater satisfaction for employees while providing the

capacity for organizations to compete rapidly in a global, knowledge" (Hill et al.,

1998; OECD, 2005, p. 1; Senge, 1990; Pedlar et al., 1997).

Watkins and Marsick (1996) identified seven dimensions of a learning organization at

all levels of individual, team, and organizational levels. These dimensions and their

definitions are described as follows:

1. Continuous Learning: The effort of the organization’s to create

continuous learning opportunities for all of its employees.

2. Inquiry and dialogue: The effort by the organization’s in creating a

culture of questioning, feedback, and communication.

3. Team learning: The team spirit by collaboration and put skills together

by effective use of teams, Watkins & Marsick (1996, p. 6).

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4. Empowerment: The process by the organization's to develop and share a

collective vision and get feedback from its members on their view on the

current situation and the new situation.

5. Embedded system: The efforts to establish systems to capture and share

learning.

6. System connection: reflects global thinking and actions to connect the

organization to its internal and external environment.

7. Strategic leadership: the extent to which leaders “think strategically

about how to use learning to create change and to move the organization

in new directions or new markets” ,Watkins & Marsick (1996, p. 6-7).

Argyris and Schon point out, organizations are social constructions. People are

appointed by followers, to act on behalf of a system. Under the right conditions, when

they learn, they take their learning back to the system. Systems learning cannot occur

unless the system as a whole is adequately prepared to absorb and use this learning so

that it becomes shared, easily accessed, and productively employed in the service of

the system’s agreed upon vision. People have no reason to collaborate unless they

share a common purpose, which may be more or less explicit, that ties them together

in a relatively committed and permanent fashion for the sake of common goals, and

that enables them to develop shared rules for organizational life, Argyris and Schon

(1996)

Ultimately the prime purpose of business was to make a profit from a product or

service, as products and services become increasingly knowledge intensive,

Becoming an effective Learning organization will enable making profits and

competing in the marketplace, the only continuous learning that enables growth of

business. Owen (1991) concludes that " the business of business is Learning and al

else will follow.

Continuous learning is essential for surviving in a dynamic and competitive

environments ( De Geus, 1988; Garvin, 1993; Nonaka,1991; Schein, 1990;

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Senge,1990), this strongly emphasized by Carol Gorelick that in the learning

organization everybody continuously engages in new process to acquire, capture, and

store disseminate and reuse of knowledge, Learning is a result of well performance

since learning is transfer process to the individuals, groups and teams to improve and

enhance the organizational performance. knowledge management always support

organizational learning, there is a relationship between individual's learning and the

collective learning of the organization since the Collective learning is the only

required producing the systematic knowledge required for organizational survival and

growth, Carol Gorelick (2005).

Teece et al, argues that learning organization is a “dynamic capability”, it’s a unique

learning process internally that differentiates a firm from its competitors. They extract

that if the organizations has the capability to learn better than others in the same

industry, then the Learning Organization can accelerates others in its performance,

Teece et al (1997).

Organizational leaders and theorists increasingly emphasized that learning is a key

factor in enhancing and maintaining competitive advantage, Armstrong and Foley

(2003).

According to Sandra Kerka (1995) most conceptualizations of the learning

organizations seem to work on the assumption that ‘learning is valuable, continuous,

and most effective when shared and that every experience is an opportunity to learn’

(Kerka 1995). The following characteristics appear in some form in the more popular

conceptions. Learning organizations:

Provide continuous learning opportunities.

• Use learning to reach their goals.

• Link individual performance with organizational performance.

• Foster inquiry and dialogue, making it safe for people to share openly

and take risks.

• Embrace creative tension as a source of energy and renewal.

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• Are continuously aware of and interact with their environment. (Kerka

1995)

A failure on the learning of groups and individuals in the organization will lead to the

disaster in this context, Leadbeater (2000, P. 70) has argued that companies need to

invest not just in new machinery to make production more efficient, but in the

Learning that will sustain their business. Organizations need to be good at knowledge

generation.

Leadbeater differentiate between the visible explicit knowledge and the intangible

tacit knowledge, he suggest that the explicit visible Knowledge could be teachable so

it easy of the competitors to duplicate, while on the other hand intangible tacit

Knowledge which is less teachable, less observable, is more complex but more

difficult to separate from the person who created it or utilize it, so he thoughts that

"Knowledge carried by an individual only realizes its commercial potential when it is

replicated by an organization and becomes organizational knowledge", Leadbeater

(2000, P. 70-71).

There is a growing awareness that productivity, quality, innovation and therefore,

sustainable competitive advantage are directly linked to the organizational learning,

because knowledge is the only of sustainable competitive advantage, Johannessen,

Olaisen (1999)

Gilley & Maycunich defines learning as "the crucial component in the transformation

from the traditional organization to the development organization", Gilley &

Maycunich (2000).

Masick and Watkins added that in the learning organization the individuals identify

the needed skills to develop further in their job for future, give time to support

learning, help individuals to learn and give open feedback to each other, and build a

respect environment, so there will be a reward system for learning to support and

encourage learning, Masick and Watkins (2003).

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2.2 Knowledge Management :

While Knowledge is vital to Knowledge Management for many reasons, the main

focus here is on the issues of employee recruitment, development and retention, Wong

(2005).

Employee development is seen as a way to improve and enhance the personal value of

individuals. The skills and competences of knowledge workers need to be

continuously developed in order for them to produce valuable contributions to a

company. If not, as with other tangible assets, their value will depreciate. Hence,

companies have to provide appropriate professional development activities to their

employees, Wong (2005).

As per Wong (2005) there is a central issue in Knowledge Management is how to

retain knowledge from being lost. This is where the function of employee retention

gains its significance in Knowledge Management. So Brelande and Harman extract

that in order to retain employees to work for a company, it is important to provide

opportunities for them to grow and to advance their career, HR policies and practices

need to be designed to allow them to meet their personal aspirations, Brelade and

Harman (2000), importantly is to offer a conducive working environment in which

employees feel comfortable and to foster job satisfaction among them.

Horak (2001) suggested that for effective KM, skills development should occur in the

following areas: communication, soft networking, peer learning, team building,

collaboration and creative thinking. Likewise, Yahya and Goh (2002) showed that

training related to creativity, team building, documentation skills and problem solving

had a positive impact on the overall KM process.

Besides this, there is a need to foster an innovative culture in which individuals are

constantly encouraged to generate new ideas, knowledge and solutions. Likewise,

Goh (2002) suggested a culture which emphasizes problem seeking and solving.

Stonehouse and Pemberton (1999) emphasized that Empowerment of individuals

should also be permitted to query existing practice and to take actions. This is

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supported by Wong (2005) empowering individuals will give them more freedom and

opportunities to be creative and to explore new possibilities and approaches. The

element of openness is highly important as well whereby mistakes are openly shared

without the fear of punishment. Therefore the reasonable mistakes and failures are not

only tolerated but allowed and forgiven. Wong have very interesting literature that

"Making mistakes should be viewed as an investment process in individuals because

it can be a key source of learning", Wong, K.Y. (2005).

Knowledge an important factor for competitive advantage, the future challenge

depends on the involvement of the speed, quality, innovation, customer-focus and

productivity, Stewart (1997). This is supported by Thurow views that the only

sources of comparative advantage today are Knowledge and Skills, Thurow (1996).

Choo (1999) points out that the Knowledge Management is a framework for

designing an organization's goals, structures, and processes so that the organization

can use what it knows to learn and to create value for its customers and communities.

Drucker (1993) extracts that the crucial different today is that knowledge is not

applied to the physical world or the organizational management or to Knowledge

itself, but to create systematic innovation.

"Innovation, is the application of knowledge to produce new knowledge, its required

systematic efforts, and a high degree of organization" Drucker (1993, p. 173).

The knowledge and innovation is the competitive strength required for successful

companies, Nonaka & Takeuchi (1995)

Similarly with Reid & Crisp view that innovation helps to retain the talent people so

their managers is listening to them and they can add value to the business and he

extract that the talent employees who gives the leadership roles as young leaders are

encouraged to learn how to manage up constructively to use the authority, create and

innovate to improve decision making so they are given the opportunity to manage

change and innovation, Reid & Crisp (2007).

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A view strongly maintained by Thurow "this is an era of man-made brainpower

industries it could be located anywhere in the world", he believes that knowledge is

clearly the new resource and Human capital development is the key for development

and success, the opportunity for development will be for the people who have a

particular knowledge and the people without knowledge will be left behind. Since one

of the most important tasks in organizations today is knowledge Management as

workers are forced to learn new ways and innovate to apply knowledge to knowledge,

Thurow (1996)

Another different view in the Knowledge Management introduced by McElroy, he

and a community of KM practitioners has emerged "second –Generation KM" also

known as "the new Knowledge Management". They describe this processes at an

organizational level as the Knowledge Life Cycle or KLC this is most important

foundation of this new view, its designed to have impact on the KLC and if doesn’t

have any impact then its not Knowledge Management, McElroy(2003).

In addition his view shows that the importance distinction between first and second

generation thinking is the supply side versus demand side. The first KM generation

has concentrated on the supply of existing knowledge and information through out the

organization since the second generation strategies focus on satisfying organizational

demand for new knowledge. There view is that the supply side schemes take the best

organizational thinking, the practical knowledge and supporting information, McElroy

(2000).

Knowledge Management as business Discipline reflects the increasing demand of

knowledge as a corporate asset, Yu (1999).

Davenport and Prusak (1998:5) define knowledge as “a fluid mix of framed

experience, values, contextual information, and expert insight that provides a

framework for evaluating and incorporating new experiences and information. It

originates and is applied in the minds of knower".

Knowledge Management is a systematic approach to capture structure Management

and dissemination of knowledge throughout an organization in order to work faster,

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reuse best practices, and reduce costly rework from project to project ( Nonaka &

Takeuchi, 1995; pasternack & viscio, 1998; Pfeiffer and Sutton, 1999; Ruggles and

Holtshouse, 1999).

As emphasized by O'Dell and Grayson, The goal of Knowledge Management is to

support employees share, utilize and put knowledge and information into action for to

create value and improve organizational performance, O'Dell and Grayson (1998),

Since the increasing performance and creating a competitive advantage through

learning this will lead us to know the relationship to the Knowledge management,

Knowledge Management is recently known since people in the organizations should

learn and share the knowledge together.

According to (Hill et al., 1998; OECD, 2005, P.1; Senge, 1990; Pedlar et al., 1997)

Facilitates Learning for the employees make them highly skilled workforce and offer

them reward and greater satisfaction, in the same time it’s a mutual benefits since

providing the capacity for the companies to compete more readily in a global that can

respond to the competitive challenges of global markets.

Talcottt Parsons (1951) developed an Organizational Learning model, integrating

performance and learning that we use as the basis for our organizational learning

model and Knowledge Management system, to allow an organization to survive in a

changing environment Parsons describes the General Theory of Social Action as a

combination of performance and learning process that both performance and learning

processes can produce changes in a social system.

Organizations are entities for information processing that can interpret information

through a network of inter subjectively shard meanings that are sustained through the

development and use of a common language and daily social interactions, Walsh and

Ungson (1991, P. 60), so these meanings are also assumed to be linked to

organizational learning and performance and to the organizational change which

resulting from learning and performance (Schwandt, 1997).

Zack (1999) emphasized the importance of concentrating on the unique capabilities

not only focusing in production of goods or services, This concentration on

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capabilities and not on goods and services is also supported by Long and Vickers-

Koch (1995) who argue that organizations who wish to improve their performance

need to understand and then develop underlying skills and know-how and channel this

into process improvements.

Schumpeter (1934) urged that focusing on goods and services can provide short term

advantages only because the organizations who engage in innovation in a continual

cycle which render current products and services.

According to Quinn (1992) the usual keys to building up these skills and know-how

will come from looking at areas like superior employee selection, training and

retraining, culture, networking, motivation, empowerment, incentives, flexibility,

short deadlines and good databases and the building up of these internal human

capital related capabilities will result in competitive advantage which will be

sustainable, because of the difficulty in copying competencies based on knowledge,

skills and attitudes, built into processes and developed over time into working

combinations in a particular organizational context, Long and Vickers-Koch (1995).

The more unobservable these competitive advantages are the more sustainable they

will be and this particularly applies to competitive advantages which are based on

developing and exchanging information and knowledge through the firm’s human

capital, McEvily and Zaheer (1999).

The human capital approach analyze the cost-benefit of investment in learning and its

efficiency in the amount of investment to maximize the return on investment, HRD

views humans as resources to be trained, educated, and developed within the system

of an organization for the purpose of enhancing the productivity of the organization

through the expertise of its workforce, Zidan (2001).

As Cunningham summarize this view that there is a correlation between Learning and

development with organizational development and he believes that Learning and

Development and organizational development both are about change – individual

change and organization change as well, furthermore that they may going together,

Ian Cunningham (2008).

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The Learning and Development is the key role of line managers and supervisors as

per the CIPD 2008 survey, it's highlighted that they are as a key stakeholder in the

Learning and Development process in organizations, CIPD survey (2008).

As per CIPD's 2007 and 2008 Learning and Development surveys reflects in some

ways more positives situations, the introduction of new programmes to develop the

roles on line managers was the most significant change reported in the 2008 survey,

which also show that internal knowledge sharing events were being used in more than

40% of respondent's organizations. Thus job rotation, secondments and shadowing –

all important methods of informal learning and knowledge development.

Evidently companies that managing knowledge most effectively – motivate its people

to continuously share and apply their knowledge in ways practically help the business,

are those where their knowledge Management programs are an intrinsic part of their

overall business strategy, their Human Resources and Information Technology

policies support information sharing but work to an organization knowledge, their

management policies are clear and regularly shared and well communicated to all

employees, and they have a corporate culture that encourages people to share what

they know, Skapinker (2002 p. 3)

Ultimately, the organization’s success depends on the speed of generating and

capturing knowledge and then use this knowledge to develop capabilities that cannot

easily be copied by competitors. This ability to create knowledge and to continue to

learn from it can become a competitive advantage because innovative knowledge

developed today will become the core knowledge of tomorrow, Zack (1999).

2.3 The Organizational Challenges on Retaining Talent:

There are big challenges facing the companies and they need to think seriously about

and be a well prepared for them. It should be a rigorous, strategic and objective target

not a big surprise. The attraction and retention of high quality employees is more

important nowadays than any time before. Since the following trends are came up, the

globalization, increase in knowledge work, accelerating rate of technological

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advancement. Make the organization think seriously on attract and retain the human

capital, Hinkin and Tracey (2000).

According to a new survey from the Chartered Institute of Personnel and

Development (CIPD), 40% of employers are reducing the number of new recruits

hired in 2009 compared with 2008, and 56% of organizations are preferring to focus

more on retaining than recruiting talent.

Another challenge you will face is that the certain kinds of executives experience

talent in emerging markets not easy to attract, so maybe the best solution is to have a

proper development plan to your internal talent, Hay's report (2002)

According to Hay report (2002) the only one way to nurture good people is to

recognize that high achievers require a job that stretches their talents. New job

assignments are a great means to develop people. Having a strategic talent plan

important to complement companies impressive business plan, establishing a sound

recruitment process is to pair in mind that the top executive's pool is insufficient; with

the management top efforts you can't stop talent to leave the company to pursue other

opportunities, Hay's report (2002).

Arguably, Pfeffer Jeffrey is extracts that companies can win the talent retention game

by treating its people the best not by paying the best. He believes that organizational

performance is essentially the contribution of bunch of individual performances it is

not the individual performance that make you win in the competitive market. The

fighting war for talent can create issues with the other large portion of the employees

so they will be de-motivated and maybe will decide to quit and will produce arrogant

attitude that make it hard to learn or listen. Fighting for the war of talent will cause

the company to focus on getting better people from outside instead of fixing the

culture and system in the organization, this is mainly will be hazardous to an

organization's health, he also argues that people who join company for money is

leaving for money as well and the money is the most available of all rewards and any

organization can offer it, Pfeffer Jeffrey (2001)

Ultimately, Reid & Crisp highlight very important literature on the talent retention

that it is quid pro quo is: the organizations want innovation, productive and business

07220146 17


result. On the other hand employees want to develop and get the opportunity to

contribute to the success of the business and to have a life, so paying attention to

engage and retain talent people as a mutual benefits and will reflect mutual value.

And deciding on the career development for the talent should be clear link to the

compensation and promotions, Reid & Crisp (2007)

2.4 Managing Talent Turnover:

When turnover occurs, HR professionals can share the knowledge and experience

accumulated of the departing employees, during the exit interview a skilled

interviewers can record a departing employee's knowledge. Thus, exit interviews can

be used to capture a departing knowledge base before walks out the door, Ralph

Berndt (2000).

Hewitt Survey indicates that majority of the firms still focusing on top talent, with

nearly half the companies planning to sustain or increase learning and development

expenditures, Hewitt Survey (2008).

Developing talent internally is still makes more sense because it always cheaper that new hire and it is less disruptive, Cappelli (2008)

Hay’s 2002, report shows that employees are most likely to leave when their skills or

talents are not properly developed or when managers fail to take an interest in their

career development and the report identified that pay is not the major factor

underlying employee dissatisfaction.

Mitchell (2000) has point out that lack of recognition scheme for doing a good job

seems to be an endemic problem for many organizations. This is supported by

Griffeth view that low pay triggers turnover, Griffeth et al., when the employee's

efforts are not rewarded so the employees be will be remaining dissatisfied.

Boudreau & Ramstad (2005) Point out that Talent is a strategic business challenge

and a critical driver for organizational performance.

Ready & Conger (2007) found that organizations generally emphasized the

importance of obtaining and maintain the best people as a business priority.

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Bux and Tay found that engaging talent employees is noted as a initiative of retain

talent employees, the concept of Engagement use as a concern of senior leaders who

drive high performers by engaging employees, retaining the right people as a long-

term business strategy. The key to enhance employee's productivity and achieving the

business objectives is the Talent Engagement by engagement and retention of the best

employees, Bux and Tay (2010).

Rutledge (2005) identified engaged employees as future competitive advantage and

the engine of this power should be within every employee. His opinions supported

Hamilton and Norrie (2003) views on his statement “People are attracted to

possibilities. They commit to committed leaders. And when I have freedom to

perform at my best, authority commensurate with my responsibilities, and when I’m

trusted to be capable professional, then I’ll be fascinated with my work.”, Hamilton

and Norrie (2003).

Wasmuth and Davis (1993) found that most managers understood that turnover is

costly but because the Managers are not in place to determine the turnover impact on

the bottom line therefore there is no clear strategy to manage turnover.

2.5 The cost of Turnover:

Holtom, Mitchell, Lee & Inderrieden (2005), they conclude that the voluntary

employee's turnover is very expensive and the companies that successfully planned to

retain its talent and the best employees save money.

To calculate the cost of Turnover Hinkin and Tracey (2000) emphasized a major challenge

in many human resources departments is the difficulty in measuring the impact of an

intervention or program, which then makes it harder to convince upper management

of their value.

Based on the work of Hinkin & Tracey (2000) create a model consisting of five major

cost categories as follows:

1. Separation cost (Exit interviewer, Employee exit interview, Paperwork

processing, Severance pay).

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2. Recruiting/Attracting Costs; (correspondence, telephone, FedEx), HR pre-

employment administrative functions.

3. Selection Costs; (HR interview, Managerial interview, Applicant travel,

Background/Reference checks, Medical exam, HR administrative

functions, Managerial administrative functions.

4. Hiring Costs; (HR administrative functions, Managerial administrative

functions, Relocation costs, signing bonus, Orientation, Formal Training,

On-the-job training, Uniforms, Security, Informational literature.

5. And Productivity loss cost; each category comprised of formulas that when

combined would make a total cost of turnover.

Ultimately Yarnall point out that reducing turnover is one of the most financial

benefits by career strategy management. He shows us in Sum the following example:

A company pays high potentials in the acceleration pool 55000 bounds p.a on an

average, there are 100 people in the career pool and it takes 6 months to train

someone new to fill a position if 5 people (5%) choose to stay with the company

rather than leave in any given year, they will have saved 5 x 2750 bounds = 137500

bounds plus any selection cost which will be higher if the company needs to go to the

external market, Yarnall (2008).

2.6 Managing Talent and Career Development:

In 2008 the Boston Consulting Group and World Federation of Personnel

Management Association conducted a survey to find out the top future people

challenges and how they expected to tackle them. Managing Talent appears as the

most important, involving the development and retention of the best employees and

using techniques of talent management that included improved leadership

development and managing work-life balance, Strack and Krincks (2008).

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Talent consists of those individuals who able to make a difference to organizational

performance, by their direct contribution to the business or in longer term through

their high potential, Tansley et al (2007: xi), and he extract the "Talent Management

is the systematic attraction, identification, development, engagement/retention and

deployment of those individuals with high potential who are of particular value to an

organization".

The corporate business level talent and career Management should be part of business

strategy and planning and it’s the direct role of all management team. By this way will

be a full commitment to developing integrated policy to implement throughout the

organization, Harrison (2009).

A new research by CIPD has recommended that Embedded a culture of career

management within organizations can retain the best employees, Stevens (2010). The

CIPD's Career Management guide draws on HR research the important role of the

career management system that can play in enhancing organizational performance

through improving levels of employee trust, retention and engagement with the

organization's purpose and goals, CIPD (2009).

In addition, there is a challenges facing the talent management as Bersin and

Associates (2007) emphasized from their recent high impact talent management

industry study of HR executives and managers indicates that there are two challenges

the companies are face, firstly the need to fill gaps in the leadership pipeline caused

by a lack of mid – managers to be available for and prepared to assume leadership

positions. Secondly the talent challenge, it’s the need to create a "performance driven

culture" because of the need to stay ahead of competition in growing markets, Bersin

and Associates (2007)

It is very clear that if human resources practices influence the organizational

profitability, so it's also impact on human assets retention. Therefore the most

important reason for employee's retention effective human resources practices and the

supportive work environment provide all development opportunities to the talent

people, this is one example. Yet many managers are unconvinced, unwilling or unable

to view employees as an asset to the organization, Hinkin and Tracey (2000).

07220146 21


Participating in developmental activities will enhance the participant's job satisfaction

level and commitment; there is a correlation between employee's participation in

training and development activities and their job satisfaction and organizational

commitment, Birdi, Allan and Warr (1997).

The successful talent management requires good leaders and good managers. The

roles and responsibilities, for the leader's in Talent Management are critical but

ensuring succession of people looking to move forward is the key to success, Dave

Bullock, Managing Director, Private Client Group, Russell Investments Canada

highlight that they have close to zero turnover because their compensation and

benefits combination qualifies them as a top 100 employer for two factors their

compensation and benefits combination qualifiers them as a top 100 employer and on

the other hand they try to give people project responsibility out side the scope of their

day to day jobs projects initiated by them or by the management, to move both them

and the business forward, Reid & Crisp (2007).

2.7 The Government's Projects on supporting Learning and Development:

For economic development, any developing country will need to develop, educate,

and train its human resources, Zidan (2001).

Zidan (2001) All the countries around the world, both developed and developing,

seem to realize that the road to economic growth and development is tied to the skill

formation of their human capital; they must improve the productivity of the labor

force, thus raising the living standards of the population. Further, Thurow (1996)

posits that countries wishing to develop and succeed in the future must begin to make

long-term plans and commit major resources as investments in the education and the

high skill formation of their society.

Marshal and Tucker (1992) extracts that the future belongs to organizations who

organize themselves for learning. What we know and can do holds the key to

economic progress just as command of natural resources once did. . . . The prize will

go to those countries that are organized as national learning systems, and where all

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institutions are organized to learn and to act on what they learn, Marshal and Tucker

(1992, p. xiii).

The Kingdome of Bahrain Economic vision 2030 is aspiring to shift from an economy

built on oil wealth to a productive, globally competitive economy, shaped by the

government and driven by a pioneering private sector.

The labour fund has launched the Career Progression program (CPP), a program

created to support human capital development of the national workforce of the private

sector in the kingdom of Bahrain.

The Career Progression Program designed and fully funded by the Labour Fund. The

CPP is specifically designed to address underemployment or skills deficiencies that

hinder career progression opportunities for Bahraini workers in the private sector.

The Chairman of the Labour Fund H.E. Dr. Nazar Al Baharna said: “This program

comes as an interpretation of the vision of His Highness the Crown Prince Shaikh

Salman bin Hamad Al Khalifa, in developing human resources and the belief that the

tripartite equation consisting of training and development, the appropriate working

environment and financial reward will lead to achieving higher productivity rates that

would benefit both sides, the employee and the employer.

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CHAPTER THREE

RESEARCH METHODOLOGY

3.1 Introduction:

The author in this chapter would be ready to think about planning the overall

approach of collecting data through secondary or primary data collection. the author

on this stage has to understand all the various ways of collecting data so would be

decide which methods to be use either to use quantitative data which is numbers and

statistics or qualitative data which is usually words or text and the researcher need to

be able to justify and evaluate the methods used so it’s a good idea to put efforts on

planning this chapter very carefully.

In this chapter the author will highlight the primary methods selected and the

justification of using these methods.

The author would be describing the methodology that has guided the dissertation

which attempts to explore the Learning and Development and the extent to which

Learning Enhance the individual's and business performance.

3.2 Research Philosophy / Approach:

The research philosophy adopted contains important assumptions about the way in

which you view the world. This assumption will support your research strategy and

the selected methods as well as part of that strategy (Saunders, Lewis, and Thornhill

2009, p.108).

As business and management researcher we need to understand the philosophical

commitment on our choice of research strategy since this has significant impact not

only on what we do but on understanding what we are investigating as well (Johnson

and Clark , 2006)

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There are two major ways of thinking about research philosophy: Ontology and

epistemology. Each contains important differences which will influence the way in

which you think about the research process (Saunders, Lewis, and Thornhill 2009,

p.109).

Epistemology is a branch of philosophy concerned with the theory of knowledge. It

aims to provide answers to the question, can we know how and what?' it about

involves thinking of the nature of knowledge itself, about its scope and about the

validity and reliability of claims to knowledge. Research methods provide the

researcher with ways of approaching, and would be answering our research questions.

Research methods can be described as 'the way to the goal (Kvale, 1996a:278).

Indeed we need to identify our research goal and be able to justify our decision on the

research method. Having a clear objectives of our research and we need to have a

sense of what kinds of things it is possible for us to find out. So we need to adopt an

epistemological position (Willig, 2001).

The author in this study would need to be clear about the theory from the beginning of

the research project whether using the deductive approach which is needed to develop

theory and hypothesis and design a research strategy from that or the inductive

approach which is would collect data first and from the analysis of collected data

would be the formulation of a theory.

The emergence of the social sciences in the 20th Century led social science researchers

to be wary of deduction. They were critical of an approach that enabled a cause –

effect link to be made between particular variables without an understanding of the

way in which humans interpreted their social world. Developing such an

understanding is of course the strength of an inductive approach (Saunders, Lewis,

and Thornhill 2009, p.126).

Thus the author on this study decided to use a quantitative study by induction

approach in which collect data through questionnaire which from analysis of the data

collected will develop theory of the research.

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3.2.1 The strength of the induction approach:

1. To understand better the nature of the problem.

2. Enable the cause – effect link to be made between particular variables

without understanding of the way in which human interpreted their social

world.

Since on the other hand the followers of the induction approach would criticize the

deduction approach because of the following:

1. It tends to construct a rigid methodology which is not allowed alternative

explanations of what is going on.

2. The study of a small sample of subjects is likely to be more convenient

than a large number as with the deductive approach, it would be

particularly concerned with the context in which such events were taking

place.

Here the differences between qualitative and quantitative data developed from Dey

(1993); Healey and Rawlinson ( 1994); authors' experience.

Quantitative Data Qualitative Data • Based on meanings derived from

numbers

• Based on Meanings expressed

through words. • Collection results in numerical and

standardized data

• Collection result in non-standardized

data requiring classification into

categories • Analysis conducted through the use

of diagrams and statistics

• Analysis conducted through the use

of conceptualizationSources: developed from Dey (1993);Healey and Rawlinson ( 1994)

3.3 Selecting Research Methods:

There is a different between 'method' and 'methodology'. Indeed, refer to different

aspects of doing research Silverman (1993:1) suggests that methodology identifies a

general approach to studying research topics, since on the other hand 'method' refers

to 'a specific research techniques'. (A further distinction can then be made between

07220146 26


methods of data collection and methods of data analysis; it is useful to differentiate

between a general approach to studying research topics and specific research

techniques).

Many researchers used a questionnaire to collect data without considering other

methods such as examination of secondary sources, observation, and semi-structured

or unstructured interviews (Lewis, Thronhill, 2009). "They work best with

standardized questions that you can be confident will be interpreted the same way by

all respondents" (Robeson, 2002).

Therefore the questionnaire used for descriptive or explanatory research. Descriptive

research, i.e. using attitude and opinion questionnaires and questionnaires of

organizational practices, will give the opportunity to identify and describe the

variability in different phenomena. In the other hand the explanatory or analytical

research will allow examining and explaining the relationships between variables, the

cause and effect relationships. "These two purposes have different research design

requirements", Gill and Johnson (2002).

Furthermore questionnaires if worded correctly normally required less skill and

sensitivity to administer than semi-structure or in-depth interviews (Jankowicz, 2005).

The author is more interested in action research so it's useful to select a questionnaire

as a data collection method. As identified what want to find out from the

questionnaire and accordingly decided the best way to obtain information.

The proposed method of data collection will be starting with primary method by

Human Resources Managers, the functional line managers in the selected companies

and the Talent staff. The twelve (12) selected organizations in the Kingdom of

Bahrain are from different sectors and fields which would add value to this research

more to have a full view of the process of Learning and Talent development and their

assessment of this process in term of Return on Investment. Therefore considering a

qualitative methodology by using questionnaire as a primary data collection methods

as part of this study through internet – mediated questionnaire.

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This will give a clear view of how the effective Learning Planning support on

maximizing the potential of individuals and talent retention. Generally the study will

mainly focus on use of a Questionnaire with over 36 respondents as HR / Training

Managers from different sectors, Regional Functions line managers and Talent staff

by internet – mediated questionnaires through emailing the target group. This will

give the opportunity to possibly investigate what organizations doing in term of

developing and retain talent people as well and how this practice is supporting and

developing business.

3.4 Administrating the questionnaire:

It is important to have a clear timetable that mentioned the list of people needs to be

emailed and the tasks to be done. The response expected is always depends on the

recipient being motivated to answer the questionnaire and to forward it back to the

sender. The covering email and the design of the questionnaire will reflect on the

response received from the participants (Dillman, 2007). Internet – and intranet

Mediated questionnaires are usually administrated in one of two ways: via email or

via a website (Hewson et al. 2003). So the author decided to use the email to

distribute the questionnaire to the participants and the response was via email as well.

The following are the steps followed by the researcher on distributing the

questionnaire:

1. Emailed the questionnaire to the all contact people in the field to get their

participation each individual with an attachment letter by their names.

2. Received two responses from 63 emails after one week so thanking email

send to the respondents and the second reminder are arranged to the

remaining participants.

3. Another 6 responses received after two weeks so the researcher send the

third reminder to the participants since the response rate is low.

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4. By the fourth week 36 responses fully answered questionnaire obtained

from 12 organizations after several reminders by emails and some of them

by Telephone calls.

3.4 The relationship between philosophy, theory and research methods:

The relationship between research philosophy and research method is an important

one, as highlighted by Easterby-smith et al, (2002), as give the opportunity for the

following:

1. Allow the researcher to take a more informed decision about the research

approach;

2. Decides on the more useful methods for the research;

3. To think about restrictions which may hit on the research.

The relationship between philosophy and methods can be described according to

Mutch 2004 "if one thinks that the social world is constructed by narrative and that

there is no means of discriminating either between story and reality or between

different stories, then one can't (logically) employ methods that assume an external

reality. There would be no point, as one does not believe there is such a reality to be

counted or categorized. The only outcome of this would be to write narratives that

appear more persuasive.

3.5 Pilot testing and assessing validity:

Testing questionnaire before you administration will help find out if participant will

understand the questions, if the questions mean the same thing to all participants, if it

provides you with the data you need, and how long it takes to complete. Testing the

questionnaire could be with a small group who are similar to the intended participants.

As part of the pilot testing should check each completed pilot questionnaire to ensure

that respondents have had no issue understanding or answering questions and

following all instructions correctly (Fink 2003b)

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For any research project there is a temptation to skip the pilot testing. We would

endorse Bell's (2005:147) advise, however pressed for time you are, do your vest to

give the questionnaire a trail run', as without a trail run, you have no way of knowing

whether your questionnaire a trial run' as, without train run, you have no way of

knowing whether your questionnaire will succeed.

Prior to using the questionnaire to collect data the researcher pilot tested the

questionnaire on 25th January 2010 and the feedback received on 27th January 2010.

Some feedback received on unclear and ambiguous questions and amended

accordingly since the purpose of the pilot testing is to refine the questionnaire so that

respondent will have no problem in answering the questions and there will be no

problem in recording the data.

3.6 Assessing the validity and reliability of the data:

3.6.1 Validity:

According to Cooper and Schindler (2008) discussing the validity of a questionnaire

is often refers to content validity, criterion-related validity and construct validity.

Assessing the questionnaires internal validity refer to the questionnaire ability to

measure what as a researcher aim to measure (Saunders, et.al, 2009, p.373).

Therefore Considering validity is refers to the researcher up to what extent would the

researcher have access to the participant's knowledge and experience, the high level of

validity that is possible in relation to non-standardized qualitative interviews that are

conducted carefully is due to the questions being able to be clarified (Saunders, et.al,

2009, p.327).

Assessing the validity of the questionnaire is usually refers to the ability of the

questionnaire to measure what as a researcher trying to measure on by this method. So

the main concerned as the output from the questionnaire is represent of what you are

measuring and this guide to a problem as if you knew what as a researcher were

measuring here. Therefore would be no use of using a questionnaire as a primary

07220146 30


method to collect data. The fact is that the researcher trying to look for other relevant

evidence that supports the answers found using the questionnaire, relevance being

determined by the nature of their research questions and their own judgment

(Saunders, et.al, 2009, p.372 - 373).

3.6.2 Reliability:

The findings as an outcome from using non-standardized research methods are not

necessarily intended to be repeatable since they reflect reality at the time of collection,

in a situation which maybe subject to change (Marchall and Rossman, 1999) Since the

circumstances as a researcher intended to be explored are complex and dynamic so

decided to be used this type of research method, so the flexibility of the value of

using non- standardized interviews is extract from the flexibility that you may use to

explore the complexity of the topic (Saunders, et.al, 2009, p.327 - 328).

The reliability is concerned with the strengths of the questionnaire and the process of

producing consistent findings at different conditions such as with different samples or

in the case of interviewers – administrated questionnaire with different interviewers.

The reliability of the questionnaire is to be valid it must be reliable, so the respondents

may consistently interpret a question in your questionnaire in one way (Saunders,

et.al, 2009, p.373).

3.7 The Research Ethics:

Ethical concerns would come up as you plan your research, pursue access to

organizations and individual, collect, analyze and report the collected data. In the

context of research, Ethics refers to the appropriateness of your behavior in relation to

the rights of those who become the subject of your work, or are affected by it. Cooper

and Schindler (2008:34) define ethics as the 'norms or standard of behavior that guide

moral choices about our behavior and our relationships with others'.

Research Ethics relates to the questions about how we formulate and clarify our

research topics, research design; gain access, data collection, data processing and

07220146 31


storing, data analysis and writing up our research findings in a moral and responsible

way.

Merely the author would have to make sure that the research design in both

methodologically sound and morally defensible to all those who are involved. So

what is morally defensible behavior as author will be affected by broader social norms

of behavior (Zikmund, 2000).

A study is unethical if it is scientifically unsound, causes undue offence or trauma,

breaches confidentiality, or wastes people's time or money.

3.8 Restriction Limitation of the research:

The limitation of this research is mainly on the response of the questionnaire, Its

challenging to get three responses from each selected company, for the senior

mangers preferably in HR, line managers and Talent staff. As the main challenge that

the researcher faced is the Senior managers responses since the Seniors feel that they

do not have time and when they had glance them they give the impression that its time

consuming and this will not work. Since on the other hand the HR professional who

believe on the Learning and Development they are really glad to have this kind of

research in the Kingdom markets.

The other limitation is the time available on conducting the research is very limited

and following up and chasing the participant to fill the questionnaire is not an easy

task. But in general was very interesting experience to the researcher to understand

the different people mentalities and the cooperatives of each participant.

Finally that the questionnaire conducted in English and gets the government sector

participation was very hard since the communication skills a barrier here.

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Chapter Four

The Research Findings

4.1 Introduction:

In this chapter the author represents the findings from the primary research method by

questionnaire and will analysis the findings from the Questionnaires. The findings

approves that the used approach was the best fit for this research study.

4.2. Findings from the Questionnaires Data:

The author has used three types of questionnaires to the three categories on each

selected company. To go back to the main aim of the dissertation is to examine how

important is the Learning and Development to each selected organization and how

this process are support to achieve the organizational objectives and to improve the

individuals / Talents in maximize their potentials and on the other hand to explore and

assess the importance of nurturing talent and develop their potential to strengthen the

business performance.

The author selected a variety of sectors to contrast the process in each sector and to

explore the importance of development and retention of their talent employees and its

impact on business development.

The main focus will be on three sectors: A. the government sector, B. the

Multinational – Global companies and C. the Local companies. This questionnaires

address to three categories in different sectors, the categories are as follows: 1. The

Senior Managers, 2. The Line Managers, 3. The Talent Staff.

4.2.1 The first Category questionnaire is directed to the Senior Managers / Training

and HR Managers, the following is the findings:

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A. The Government sector Senior Manager's believe on the importance of

Learning and Talent Development as it is part of their organizational

objectives since without people development the organization can't reach

its master objectives.

The senior manager in the participated ministry is strongly agrees that

the Learning consider as investment since knowledge means power and

to be strong you should be a knowledgeable.

The senior managers are highly involved in the formulation of the

Learning and people development budget through workshops, seminars

and conferences. They considers the people with exceptional

achievements are talents and the turnover of the talent in the government

sector are high because they think that lack of Learning and

Development opportunities for the talent is a major cause of the

turnover.

Through performance indicators the senior managers can convince the

top management on the benefit of retaining talent within the organization

as they don’t have record for the new hire costs of replacing talent that

leave their organization.

They strongly agree that the talent is the most competitive advantage and

the most challenge they are facing to retain talent is the incentive system

in the government sector.

B. The Multinational / Global companies Senior Manager's

believe that the Learning and Development is a high priority for their

organizations and the people development is part of their organizational

Objectives because their companies globally believes on investing on

their people to develop them to their full potential.

One of the firms participated in this questionnaire is a global Audit firm,

the senior management considered the Learning and Development as an

07220146 34


investment by investing in their people as the firm can get the maximum

commitment from them and it is viewed as one of the most essential

areas for an employer of choice.

It is the Head of Learning and development duty to ensure that every

employee in the firm receives a minimum of 42 hours per annum as part

of the firm global requirements so they have their online training plan,

on the job training and external training as well in light of this a training

calendar is prepared, approved by the senior management and offered to

the staff.

They believe that Learning can enhance both organizational and

individual performance so they have learning and development team

manages the function and is involved in the facilitation of the trainings

for all staff. They have regular meetings with the senior management to

keep them updated on the training hours that their staff has accrued for

each quarter and whether all the staff meets the minimum target or not.

Talent means to them is people who have skills to perform their duties in

the organization, they believe that all their staff comprise of the

organization's talent, every one who is employed by them has a special

role to play in the day to day activities of the organization's operations

and success.

The development is the main cause of turnover so they have just

implemented a Learning and Development framework effective October

2009 therefore its very early to assess whether they have met the

expectations of the talent people or not.

It would be good to record the cost of replacing talent that leave their

organization however they are at present not conducting any such

exercise and they will be looking into putting a framework for the same

as it would be useful to demonstrate to their senior management that

retention is a cost effective method of retaining the talent.

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At the end of the year, as a Head of the Learning and Development

would provide the senior management the total cost of recruitment per

functional level against the training provided during the year and the

number of people who are still in the organization including the new

joiners so that a direct comparison can be made.

They believe that the talent are the company's most competitive

advantage as people normally speak to their friends when they have

returned from a specialized training related to their career growth and it

helps in retaining them as well as help to reduce the recruitment cost.

One more example, for technical insurance Management point of view

that because they are operate a business that relies in skilled/ experienced

and decision making by individuals so they need to hire, develop and

motivate talented people to perform at their best. They think the

Learning and Development as a cost and investment because it's very

easy to measure the cost but very difficult to objectively measure the

benefit.

The participant here is a senior manager and he thinks there are mixed

views on this around the company. At the moment it is probably viewed

as an expense which has a level of investment linked to it. The

technical training for example is clearly viewed as an investment as the

knowledge is required to do the core element of a job. The skills and

behavior development is not viewed in quite the same way as they have

not articulated clearly how this can be viewed as investment and this has

not stopped them delivering development in this area but has probably

acted as a constraint on the amount of development undertaken. Also

when expense pressures have been particularly strong the training budget

has been cut.

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There is an underlying belief that the learning can enhance both

organizational and individual performance by identification of needs,

prioritizations, cost estimation and submission on to the annual

budgeting process. They have several Learning methods, on line

Learning, Training programs internally and externally, coaching,

mentoring, on the job training, assignments to projects, conferences

internally and externally and peer review.

In reality the amount of resource and budget available to implement

enhancements is limited. This can lead to enhanced creativity in the

approach and means that there is clear prioritization. Development is

linked to needs in the current job or targeted at people with potential to

go further.

As the company has a lot of experienced people in its technical areas so

the internal expertise is utilized a lot in either developing course content

or in delivering presentations to other employees. This helps to ensure

relevance for the organization. Regions are able to operate with a lot of

autonomy so that the local needs are met there is no strong dictate from

the centre.

The participant defines talent as both potential and putting that potential

into action. People who are skilled and looking to learn / do more (in

whatever filed) are the key drivers of organizational success.

Currently they do not break out the turnover rate for people identified as

talent in a rigorous way, they have made a start on this and it would

appear that where they have invested in the development of the talented

people, the turnover rate is lower than the general turnover rate. As the

participant senior Manager in Human resources think that the more

talented employees recognize the need to have development to be able to

progress in a company and therefore if they do not receive this in a

timely manner they are more likely to look for opportunities elsewhere.

07220146 37


They are recording all new hire costs but have not separated out the costs

linked to people identified on their Talent Radar. However they would

estimate the costs of replacement as higher than the investment made to

date in learning and development linked to these individuals. The

participant recommends that it would be useful to have both data

available and will start work on this!

By show the top management the figures we can convince them of the

benefits of retaining talent, the people is doing business therefore we

have to do as much as possible to retain our talented people – they

provide the basis for a competitive advantage. In terms of retaining

talent they have pressures from a compensation perspective in parts of

their business and the ability to meet career expectations as the company

operates a flat structure so there are not incremental steps on a regular

basis but big leaps occasionally! As the company has a good reputation

their talents are always targeted by other companies to recruit their staff.

The main challenge they are facing to retain the talent is to develop a

positive culture so people feel they are valued and growing with the

business as Learning and Development is a key elements of this.

From a view of a Global Bank in the kingdom of Bahrain the participant

senior manager believe that the People are a company defining asset and

one that is hardest to replace especially in the finance industry, the

product / services are essentially the same. Whilst companies may have

a technological or distribution advantage, these are advantages which

can be eroded over time as competitors grow and expand. What

competitors will find very difficult to replicate is the amount and quality

of human capital.

They believe that Learning and Development is an investment in

people's future and up skilling and considered a necessary outlay.

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Learning and Development is implemented through a team of trained

professionals which come from both a professional training background

and practical business background. Numerous learning academies are

being run globally to ensure a consistent quality and up skilling of

learning and development across the company so they have a wide

variety of depth of e-learning courses, Internal classroom based courses,

external classroom based courses ran by third party providers, Online

internal resource library available and on the job training.

Talent defines in their views as top performers who are seen as leaders of

an organization and will driving change and adding value. They make a

concerted effort to ensure top performers as there are many programs

aimed at top performers to drive their development both in terms of

skills and from a leadership perspective so they believe that the Learning

and development are not the major cause of the turnover in the bank.

They think it would be good to have figure and quantify as it reinforce

the importance of retaining people and how incremental investment

could save more money in the long term, however the costs would need

to be viewed with perspective as I don not believe many employees

choose to leave a company purely based on a lack of Learning and

Development activities therefore using the cost metric mentioned

includes qualitative impacts with associated costs in terms of lost

opportunities, knowledge.

Surprisingly, the author have found very strange situation in a

multination firm which the participants Senior Managers believe that the

people development is part of the organizational objectives but as

strategic plan only and unfortunately the people development in this firm

is considered as a overhead spending, as their annual Learning budget is

very limited to the government levy scheme as the Ministry of Labour is

charging all companies 4% of total expat employees income to utilize for

the Training purpose for the Local Bahrainis employees only so the

budget for Learning is very limited.

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In term of the Learning Methods utilize in this firm is limited as well by

external learning and coaching methods and its limited as well to the

operation department only.

The senior managers theoretically believe that the learning can enhance

both organizational and individual performance but unfortunately not

implemented in a systematic way.

Talent means to them outstanding skills that raise up during a task, a

talented staff is considered as an assets to the organization, staff who are

directly involved with the customer and those who are directly involving

in achieving the business objectives.

They believe that the lack of systematic Learning and Development

procedures and the lack of motivations are major cause of a high

turnover rate of the talent people which is annoying the Operations

departments.

This firm unfortunately has no system to record the cost of Learning and

development of exit talent that left the organization and no record for the

new hire cost of replacement talent that left them so they think that it is

very useful to have both data for the Learning and Development strategic

planning and maintaining such record will be as initial stage to be a self

explanatory to represented the fact in figures "Cost Rate", Hence the

participant Senior Manager here believe that the talent is company's most

competitive advantage and the Market demand for the talent staff plus

the healthy work environment, career development planning with

financial reward as well the most challenges they are facing to retain

their talent employees.

C. The Local organizations senior Managers participate in this

questionnaire believed that the learning and development is high priority

for their organizations and its part of their organizational objectives.

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The Learning and Development Head of one of the biggest local groups

with branches and presents in varies countries in the Middle East with

5800 employees within the group given a big priority on the Learning

and Development of its employees and they are considers the Learning

and development a compulsory obligation commitments towards the

local capital and believes that it’s part of the community developments.

As much as invests on learning and people development this will reflect

on the individual's performance and business development as well

through allocating a big budget for Learning and development of all

employees Locals and expat in different functions by on job training,

internal and external training, coaching, delegation by line managers.

The author impressed on real examples of two local's employees has

started their career with this group from very joiner level and now both

are in a supervisory level.

The first real example is for a Bahraini cashier who started her career in

1996 with secondary school certificates and she is now a supervisor with

Bachelor degree which she is managing team and identifying her team's

learning and developments needs and of course still looking for more

development opportunities for her as well.

One more real example is for a Bahraini who started his career with the

same group before 14 years ago as a driver and now he is an outlet

supervisor. The company provides them with a learning opportunities

and a great career development as the company usually announce for any

internal vacancies so always they will get a good promotions within the

group. Apart of that, the innovative environment provided in the

workplace and the freedom to generate ideas plus the delegation and

empowerment are all key factors lead to the people development and

enhance their productivity.

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Both are real talent example as they have a potential to grow and

develop, they are both adding value to the business, they are loyal to the

company as they are always targeted by the competitors but they feel

that they like the environment in their work which is the most important

factor even if they are looking for more pay which may the competitor

try to attract them.

The top management in this local group of companies believes that their

talent people is the most competitive advantage and the competitor can

offer them maybe better packages but they can't provide them with the

healthy environment and a learning and development opportunities and

from the experience that there is some employees has decided to leave

the group for better pay but latter they have decided to come back mainly

that the elements of satisfaction is not there.

4.2.2 The second Category directed to the Line managers on each selected

organization, the following is the findings:

A. The line Managers in the Government Sector emphasize on the

importance of the Learning to improve the work efficiency and quality.

Learning and development opportunities given to all employees, the

participants believes that talent people are the high performers and the

line managers support and develop them through nominate them for

training and recommend higher paid for them as well.

The participant line managers believed that the talent people in the

Government sector are not satisfied because of the Learning and

development opportunities offered to them and the financial reward as

well not up to their expectations.

The line managers here are not in a position to identify the challenge

faced them to retain the talent people and even they don't know how to

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convince the senior management of the benefits of talent retention and

they think that the Talent are not the most competitive advantage to them

so its not a big deal to retain them.

B. In the Multinational / Global companies the Line Managers

participated on this questionnaire, the following are their views:

The line managers in the Global Audit firm revealed that the people

development is part of their Performance objectives as they are involving

in their Learning and developments planning by identifying the training

and on-the-job exposure required by individuals. They recommend

learning opportunities to all employees based on their requirements as

they exhibited that every body has talent and its line manager's

responsibility to utilize this talent and try to provide them with career

enhancing opportunities.

The line manager here in this case is not very sure that his team are

satisfied with the exist plan for the Learning and career development and

not sure as well about their loyalty as they faced challenge to manage the

employee's expectations in term of compensation and career progression

so they believe that the management need to consider this factors or

other wise they will loose the talent people as they believes that the

talent are the company's most competitive advantage but on the other

hand as line managers they don't know how to convince the top

management on the importance of talent retention.

From insurance Global company view the line managers can see that the

people development is part of their performance objectives as a team in

order to achieve the departmental objectives as a whole, there are various

deliverables that need to be completed in a timely and accurately

manner. Without having well trained people it is not possible to achieve

these objectives. The line managers are involve in their team's Learning

and Development planning by the assessment of the areas and skills need

improvements.

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The line manager emphasize that the team's Learning and career

development important to him in order to achieve an organizational short

and long term goals so possess a good human resources can be well

developed through continuous learning.

He believes that the God has gifted all human beings with a talent and

the key point is to find it out and use it accordingly so can see that every

individual is talented in their organization. The line manager in this case

trying to keep himself well informed about his team members financially

and about their social needs and try to resolve any issues.

As a company they are trying to provide equal learning opportunities to

all employees and he believes that if the employees social and financial

needs are fulfilled the talent employees remain loyal to the organization.

In term of challenges facing them to retain talent people the line

managers revealed that its sometimes difficult to manage their

compensation expectations due to the organizational policies and other

factors so this cause dissatisfaction among the employees and their

loyalty is questioned.

The line managers in the selected global bank emphasized that the

people Development is part of their performance objectives as a team

leader and it is mandatory in their job description, however the

development of the people is key in every department since it will

increase the knowledge and will give the person more ability in handling

day to day activities.

Since they are involved in their people's Learning and development

planning by providing opportunities to the staff to be involved in

meetings, projects, and even by liaising with the HR department to

nominate the best courses and training available.

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The Learning and Development of their teams it really important to them

as they considered to be an important tool to run the unit, since it will

remove a burden from the line mangers and the more people learn the

development of the organization will be more recognized so they have to

provide the Learning and Career development to all employees as it is

important to have a consistent treatment among the team members and to

give opportunity to every one since the full team are involved to reach

the unit goal.

Talent means to the line manager a positive behavior and outstanding

work quality and of course they have a talent people in their team and as

line manager it is easily noticed the talent people because of the work

quality and willingness to do an extra miles in order to get the job done,

and to get customer satisfaction.

The line manager here is playing a big role in supporting their retention

by given them more opportunities to explore their talent, involve them

more in projects and recognize them in management meetings.

Talent People are not really satisfied with the Learning and career

development opportunities as the talent staff are always needs more,

however the issue that all are facing work pressure which makes

sometimes the Learning opportunities are limited.

The level of loyalty is higher with the people who received a regular

positive feedback from the management and they are recognized

financially, since on the other hand the people who have a standard work

level and are not very much recognized by the management their loyalty

level is lower.

The most challenges facing the line managers here in identifying and

retaining talent is the availability of the development opportunities

within the department and the banks as well.

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The line managers can convince the top management on the benefits of

retaining talent by proves the outcome that can affect the bank as they

believe that the talent is the bank's most competitive advantage so it is

not an easy task to retain them however if the staff was recognized and a

proper plan of carrier development was set up and shared for this

talented staff so this will assist in retaining the talent staff.

The author has explore on the earlier part of this chapter on the senior

managers findings in the Global and Multinational firms about the

strange situation in a multinational firm who are not series in Learning

and career development so here is the line manager view and on the last

finding of the talent staff part will include the finding of the talent staff

as well.

So the line managers here as an operations manager can see that the

people development is part of their performance objectives and one of

his objective is to continuously develop his people, therefore in order to

be able to identify the areas of development in his department he

normally conducting a training need analysis or due to lack of resources

he and the supervisors collect feedback from the team leaders on the

requirements of their teams which normally pin points the gaps and need

for training.

In addition to that as part of the on going people development process

they have implemented the monthly one to one coaching and feedback

sessions between team leaders, supervisors and managers and their direct

subordinates.

The line manager is highly involved in the team's Learning and

Development planning by conducting on the job training and one to one

coaching sessions, so he emphasize that his team's Learning and

Development is important to him as it will enable him to identify the

good and ambitious people who want to establish a career for themselves

07220146 46


in the company and therefore as a line manager can provide them with

the necessary training skills that will help them develop to the next level.

The learning and career development opportunities are provided to all

people as he believed that the personal and professional development of

staff is an investment in their future. On going education is crucial in

today's long term care environment where the unique and ever changing

needs of customers are becoming increasingly complex so learning is

important to enhancing care, service and quality of life for both

customers and staff.

Talent can be seen as recurring pattern of thought, feeling or behavior

that can be productively applied so all the middle managers in his

organization are the people who comprise the organization's talent. In

supporting the retention of the organization talent people his role is to let

them make an impact and develop their skills, help to plan their careers,

show them trust and trust them, keep them in the loop and motivate

them.

Unfortunately his talent people are not satisfied with the Learning and

career development opportunities and they are loyal to the organization

up to certain degree due to the recent world financial crisis and the job

redundancies in the market, it has become very difficult for anyone to

leave their job without securing themselves somewhere else, and as a

result he believe that this is the main factor that secures their loyalty.

When identifying talent as a line manager normally faced with the

challenge of creating the time to develop that talent. In most cases when

any of his team members is offered another/ better job opportunity he is

unable to retain them due to the limited job opportunities and slow

growth in the company so he believe by doing a small calculation of cost

between retaining talent within the organization and the cost of new hires

he will be able to convince the senior managers that keeping talent is

07220146 47


cost effective but unfortunately they are unable to retain their talent staff

due to lack of opportunities within the company.

C. The line managers in the selected Local organizations believes

that people development is part of their performance objectives so as a

line manager needs to make sure that the team members are up to the

standards and developing people will develop the business so developing

them will get better result.

The line managers are total involved in their people's learning and

development to acquire plus helping them to be more productive and

efficient as their team's learning and career development is important to

them because developing a creative and motivated team is a competitive

advantage for the organization.

The Learning and development is provided to all staff because

everybody should get the opportunity to learn more and develop

themselves.

The talent means to the line manager in the selected local group is being

creative in their performance and everybody should be talented in a way

so the line manager is supporting talent retention by brainstorming

sessions to encourage them and motivate their creativity.

Here the line manager mentioned that the talent people among his team

are not the same as some of them are satisfied but some of them believe

that increments and bonuses are the only recognitions they seek as a

result of this some of them are loyal and some are believes that financial

support is always the key to retain them.

Consequently, the line manager is facing a financial challenge to retain

talent people especially the salaries in the market compared to the

investments market as emphasized that it is a bit difficult to convince the

07220146 48


top management on the benefits of retaining talent as the line manager

believe that the talent is the company's competitive advantage so the

main challenge they are facing to retain them is the compensation and

financial reward.

4.2.3 The Third Category directed to the talented staff on each selected

organization:

A. The talent staff in the Government organizations are aware of

the key organizational objectives and they have their own performance

objectives and as a talent staff involved to some extent to own

objectives.

The direct supervisor is responsible of setting the employees personal

Development planning since the talent here are participating in the

identifying their Learning and Development needs.

The talent of staff has developed further by talent themselves and the

direct manager so the talent believes that the learning can enhance their

performance to some extent but it not only depends on learning.

When it comes to the organizational performance in the public sector as

per the talents that many professionals and talent people are leaving the

public sector to the private sector because of the financial incentives and

this will reflect on the organizational performance.

The Career Planning development in the public sector is not clear as

none of the talent participated on this questionnaire have an idea about

their career planning.

In term of satisfaction of the organization's reward and recognition they

are not satisfied in comparison with the private sector so the talent staffs

are not loyal as they are trying to get more professional qualification to

07220146 49


enhance their curriculum vitae to get better opportunities in the private

sector.

B. The Talent staff in the Multinational / Global Companies

participated on the questionnaire of this research, will start with the

talent staff in the insurance company, they are aware of their own

performance objectives and targets and they know the key business

objectives as the talent employee in this example is able to identify own

performance objectives by sharing the idea with the direct line manager

and after fair discussion will set objectives by direct recommendation

and suggestion, therefore the talent staff here feels that have been fairly

involved in setting those objectives.

The responsibility for Personal Development Planning is indeed upon

talent staff that there are four entities that are responsible for the

Personal Development Planning, are the staff and direct manager who

are directly responsible for the same, the HR Manager and the Managing

Director who are indirectly interfering in the final stage, so these four

entities are all coordinating together for a successful personal

Development planning.

In identifying the Learning and Development plan this is shared between

the direct manager and the staff, the talent staff could identify the same

upon experience and the manager setting the plan for current and future

needs. Although the talent could point out some areas where need

further development as general needs but the manager was strictly

focusing on the talents needs that directly relates to the talent role.

Each and every employee of this company as per the participated talent

staff are contributing to the organizational business objectives, therefore

setting own performance objectives on annual basis would serve meeting

the key business objectives.

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The talent staff believes that his talent is being developed further by

himself in the first place and there would be some other contributors

such as the direct manager who is working with the staff to pass

knowledge and Learning experience through day to day operation, and

on the other hand the online based training provided by company along

with the external professional training provided in coordination with the

HR manager.

The suitable learning will lead to individual outstanding performance

and that will positively affect the organizational general performance.

And as a talent employee would contribute to the organizational well

performance as any other individual contributor in the organization staff.

Upon setting the development needs the talent staff here have been

offered from the management to pursue Learning development through

professional certification with fully sponsorship by the company and

promised to be rewarded after successfully completion the certificate as

per company policy.

The participant talent staff in this example is fully satisfied with the

organizational reward and recognition and feel that it is a great deal as

the employee know exactly what is the career plan for him and what is

his objectives so the map is clear and on the other hand the financial

reward is great. Because reward means appreciation and as human

nature any employee would seek the rewards whether it is in term of

financial increments or promotion.

In the Global bank the participated talent staff aware on their

performance objectives and the bank key business objectives so the

management are set the objectives and cascade them to the staff for

action during the year and rarely have one to one meeting with the

mangers to discuss and agree on the objectives.

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Surprisingly, that they do not have a Personal Development Plan for the

staff and the talent staff here are not involved in the identification of

their Learning and Development plan so the only way they are linked to

the organizational key business objectives is during the annual review

where they have to comment on the year's performance by comparing

them to the objectives and targets set by the management.

They are providing them with specific in house training and external

training by the local banking institute.

The talent staff believe that their learning will enhance their performance

as the talent staff has the confident on their performance and productivity

and with the Learning this capability, knowledge and experience in the

task working on will increase, so the talent staff is feeling that their

talent is not developed further by the bank and as a result they are not

fully satisfied and loyal to the bank.

The last example for the talent staff with the international firm where the

talent staff knows the organization's business objectives but they do not

have their own performance objectives and targets, they are aware for an

example the one of the main business objectives is to achieve customer's

satisfaction.

The line managers here are developing the talent people through

government schemes to develop people through Career progression plan

conducted by Tamkeen, but in general there is no systematic reward or

fair recognition to the successfully completion of learning therefore you

can see that talent people are not satisfied and not loyal and this will

impact their decision to got better opportunities.

C. The participated talent staff in the local group is aware of their

organizational key business objectives and they are fully understood

their own performance objectives and targets.

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The line managers here are responsible for the Personal Development

planning and to draw a map for their career within the group as they are

continuously provides the opportunities to innovate and develop

especially if there is any development internal opportunity, so they feel

that their talent is being developed further.

Talent staff here believes that their learning will enhance their

performance and this will reflect of course to the development of the

organizational performance by increasing customer satisfaction and

increasing sales figures.

The organization here gives the opportunity for the talent staff to move

from department to another to enhance their on job learning and to gain

more knowledge furthermore the environment of innovation and

openness is increasing the loyalty and the satisfaction because they are

strongly believe that the empowerment and the freedom to innovate and

explore new ideas are main factors for satisfaction.

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Chapter Five

Discussion

Introduction:

This study examined and assesses the importance and of Learning organization and

Knowledge Management for the organizational Development and explore the

importance of Learning in enhancement of individuals and organizational

performance. Furthermore, determine if lack of Learning and development

opportunities cause of turnover so highlight the awareness of the cost of new hire

compare with the talent turnover cost and consider the challenges facing the

management on developing talent.

With referring to the literature review in chapter two to contrast the findings of this

research with the previous studies and researches in Learning and Talent

Development are highlighted in the literature review chapter are as follows:

5.1 Preparing for Learning:

The author assess and examine the priority of learning in the different sectors for each

target of the three categories in the selected population and point out of the role and

the extent of involvement of each selected member and their reflection on the learning

cycle of the individuals and organizational performance, and on the other hand how

the talent people involve on this learning cycle.

The result of this study revealed that Learning and development is a high priority to

the most senior managers in almost all sectors, they believes that Learning is

important to develop their individual performance and to accelerate organizational

growth through various learning methods by On the job training, professional group

meeting, in house and external training, coaching, mentoring and on line training.

07220146 54


This is usually provided to all employees so they can perform at their best and can

deliver the current and future organizational objectives.

Combined with the available literature on Learning Organization by Rowden (2001)

and Senge (1994), so we move very closer to confirm their literature that the learning

is the only source for competitive advantage and to confirm Pedler et al. (1990) and

Watkins and Marsick (1993, 1996) on their literature that Learning organization is

provide and facilitate learning to all its members and to make sure the sustainable

transformation of the learning to all its members, which is the case with the majority

of our participants through coaching, mentoring and professional meetings.

The senior managers consider the learning as investment and as a power to be strong

in this business climate, as much as you invests on learning and people development

this will reflect on their performance and the organizational performance,

By several Learning methods using on the selected organizations their will be a

sharing and transfer learning, so this is confirms Kerka (1995) literatures that every

experience is an opportunity to learn.

The majority of the participants Talent staff are not involved on identification of their

learning needs and they are not involved on the setting their performance objectives

but they are aware of the organization objectives and they fully aware how to link

their own set objectives to the organizational strategy. The finding here are in line

with Yang, B., Watkins, K. E., & Marsick, V. J. (2004) views that people working

together towards the organizational vision and strategy.

5.2 Knowledge Management:

Most importantly found on the study findings is Knowledge Management process by

support employees to share knowledge and utilize it to improve organizational

performance as pointed out by O'Dell and Grayson (1998) literature, from the finding

of the learning and development implantation in the participants organization's they

have agreed that sharing knowledge from experts and knowledgeable people in the

07220146 55




technical areas are utilized a lot in either developing courses content or in delivering

presentations to other employees.

From the participants talent staff on this questionnaire found that talent staff who

provided with learning opportunities and include them on the learning internal and

external events to get and share knowledge are more satisfied and motivated, this is in

agreement with skapinker (2002) literature that Managing knowledge effectively is

motivate people to share and apply their knowledge continuously, on the other hand

there is some other talent people who did not provided with a good learning

opportunities from their organizations and they are not involved on knowledge events

they are de-motivated and not satisfied on their current organizations, this emphasized

(Hill et al., 1998; OECD, 2005, P.1; Senge, 1990; Pedlar et al., 1997) literature which

clearly mentioned that facilitates Learning for the employees make them highly

skilled workforce and offer them reward and greater satisfaction, in the same time it’s

a mutual benefits since providing the capacity for the companies to compete more

readily in a global that can respond to the competitive challenges of global markets.

Surprisingly that the satisfied talent people are believed that the innovation and

empowerment are both very important factors for the career development and for

satisfaction and the great example for that the two talent people in the local group

which I have started their career on a very joiner positions and the are in a supervisory

level so they have got the environment to learn and innovate and on the other hand

they develop on their career in the group so they are contribution the organizational

development through achieving there objectives which is part of the group objectives.

the findings here are much related to literatures of (Stonehouse and Pembarton

(1999), Wong (2005), Drucker (1993), Nonaka & Takuchi (1995) and Reid & Crisp

(2007), so they are extracting that the Learning and Innovation are competitive

strength required for successful companies, so the empowerment of individuals and

the let the employees learn form their mistakes can be a key source for the learning.

The knowledge retention is another important aspects in the knowledge management

so from the finding of this study the only motivated talent staff are feeling that it’s a

great deal continued working with their current organizations as they are provided

07220146 56


with the knowledge and development opportunities so they are loyal to them and feel

that their talent have been developed further. On this aspects will refer to Wong

(2005) on his literature on retain knowledge from being lost, in order to retain

employees to work for a company, it is important to provide opportunities for them to

grow and to advance their career.

The line managers here is providing the opportunities of learning and development for

all employees, it is important to have a consistent treatment among the team members

and to give opportunity to all members, form the literature review chapter has found

that development opportunities is provide to the knowledgeable people and the rest

left behind according to Thurow (1996).

The findings chapter highlighted the role of line managers on their team's

development and their involvement on the Personal Development Plan, the line

managers believe that in order to achieve the organizational short and long term goals

needs good human resource as good human resources can be well developed through

continuous learning and sharing knowledge. Part of their objectives to, this is the

result of finding from the CIPD 2008 survey the key role of line managers and

supervisors as key stakeholder in the Learning and Development process in

organizations is to uutilize internal knowledge sharing events by job rotation,

secondments and shadowing – all important methods of informal learning and

knowledge development.

5.3 The Organizational Challenges on retaining talent:

The finding of this study explore from most senior management on various sectors

that the talent is the company's most competitive advantage and they are facing a big

challenges on retaining talents, firstly is the market demand for talent staff plus

proving them with healthy work environment, career development plan and

compensation factors. From this study findings the public sector faced a pressure on

retaining talent as they feel that they are not motivated in term of compensation

scheme and on the other hand the participated companies in the private sector faced a

pressure as well from a compensation perspective in parts business and the ability to

meet career expectations as the talent people who working with a big global

07220146 57


companies are targeted from competitors. The talent staff participated in this study are

looking for a job that stretches their talents by giving more responsibilities and

develop their talent further and this is supported by Hinkin & Tracey (2000) literature

and Hay report (2002).

The author found the challenge on retaining talent is an interesting part since found

that the compensation and the career development are both the main factors to retain

talent people so if will analyses the finding from every sector, the talent people has

the potential to handle more responsibilities and to achieve business objectives but the

compensation and reward is another important factor to keep them satisfied and to

retain them. This is supported by Reid & Crisp (2007) as he extract that the talent

people who are able to do their jobs and they have a good career future with the

organization they need to see clear linkages to the compensation and promotions as

well. So Reid & Crisp highlighted a very valid point link to the findings from this

study that to achieve mutual benefits to both parties.

The author found that Pfeffer Jeffrey argument on the war talent is not match with the

research findings as the reward for performance is important from all participants

views, the author is agree with this literature on some extent that the team

performance is important to achieve business result.

5.4 Managing Talent Turnover:

Capturing turnover knowledge through a record for the talent turnover will give the

opportunity to know the factors for the voluntary turnover, the author found that non

of the participants capture the specifically talent turnover as some of them record the

turnover and the reason for this turnover. There is one good examples for this in our

literature for a global insurance company participate on this research that they have a

Talent Radar Screening the talent and on the other hand they have a record of all

leavers with the reason behind this but they don’t have a separate record for the talent

turnover and majority of the participants are believing that having such record is very

useful to convince the top management to improve on the turnover cause. This

supported by Ralph Berndt (2000) as he is mentioned here that capturing the exit data

by exit interview as a first stage and indeed the practice with our participants that after

07220146 58


having the exit interview information record it on the turnover record with briefly

stated the reason for this turnover.

The finding of the Hay report (2002), is very interesting as developed the employees

talent further and fail of the line managers to take the initiative of their team's career

development, the finding highlight that the pay is not a major factor for de-motivate

and dissatisfied talent people, this is not in constant with the author findings as the

participant's talents staff believes that having a proper career development should link

with a pay and compensation matching this growth. The talent in the public sector

found that they talent is developed further but the reward and pay is not satisfied them

especially if they will compare it with the private sector. Followed by Mitchell (2000)

and Griffeth et al. (2000) on their literature that the reward for a good job is important

and when employees not rewarded they will remain unsatisfied.

Managing talent is very hard and not an easy task as per the finding from the Senior

Managers participated in this research, the literature reach to a interesting part as a

initiative to retain talent employees by Engagement as extract by Bux & Tay (2010).

Unfortunately no one from the participants highlight this concept directly maybe

indirectly emphasized that retaining talent by giving them more responsibility,

empower them, give them freedom to innovate to keep them satisfied.

The Personal Development Planning is important for all of the participant's talent staff

but not all the line managers taking this responsibility to have this in place. The

personal development plan should be align with the company structure and future

planning needs as per the literature chapter views by Hay report (2002).

5.5 The cost of Turnover:

The talent turnover is very expensive as per the finding from this research and

retaining the best people of course will be much cheaper than pay more money on

new hire, so calculating the cost of talent turnover is indeed very important according

the finding from this research, the author found that most of the participated

companies have no record of talent turnover cost and only one of the participated

global insurance company found that they have a record but they do not break out the

07220146 59

http://www.sciencedirect.com.ergo.glam.ac.uk/science?_ob=ArticleURL&_udi=B6VBH-4V995X5-2&_user=477543&_coverDate=09%2F30%2F2009&_rdoc=6&_fmt=high&_orig=browse&_srch=doc-info(%23toc%235927%232009%23999719996%231040085%23FLA%23display%23Volume)&_cdi=5927&_sort=d&_docanchor=&_ct=23&_acct=C000022838&_version=1&_urlVersion=0&_userid=477543&md5=a41d499bafd6502cd2e056ee02c429b0#bib27%23bib27

http://www.sciencedirect.com.ergo.glam.ac.uk/science?_ob=ArticleURL&_udi=B6VBH-4V995X5-2&_user=477543&_coverDate=09%2F30%2F2009&_rdoc=6&_fmt=high&_orig=browse&_srch=doc-info(%23toc%235927%232009%23999719996%231040085%23FLA%23display%23Volume)&_cdi=5927&_sort=d&_docanchor=&_ct=23&_acct=C000022838&_version=1&_urlVersion=0&_userid=477543&md5=a41d499bafd6502cd2e056ee02c429b0#bib54%23bib54


turnover rate for people identified as talent in a rigorous way. This is what excluded

by Holtom, Mitchell, Lee & Inderrieden (2005) and Hinkin & Tracey (2000) their

literature is that the turnover is expensive and without having a record for the turnover

cost this will make it harder to convince the top management on the their value.

The author asked question on the questionnaire to know how they can convince the

top management on the value of the retaining talent people the majority agreed that by

having record of the new hire cost of replacing talent that are leaving their

organizations. Our example here is the global insurance company is recording all new

hire costs but have not separated out the costs linked to people identified n their

Talent Radar but they would estimate the costs of replacement as higher than the

investment made to date in learning and development link to the talent turnover.

In the literature chapter Wasmuth and Davis (1993) highlighted very important point

that the managers understand that the turnover is costly but because there is no way to

determine the impact of turnover on the bottom line, therefore there were few

strategies in place to manage the turnover. In contrast found from the managers here

that they most of them know why people are leaving so they can have a clear strategy

in place to retain talent people.

Unfortunately, the author found that the majority of the participants organizations

from different sector especially in the public sector they have refer that talent turnover

is not a big deal to the top management, so no need to have a strategy in place for that.

On the other hand big organizations either local or global / Multinational is do care

and its really critical to them to loose good people so managing talent turnover by

having a clear strategy to retain them is highly important.

5.6 Managing Talent and Career Development:

As author has seen from the finding chapter that the Talent Management is something

needs to be in spot as important factor for satisfied and retain talent. Managing talent

is something still practically brand new as examined from the participated

organizations. The senior mangers on the participants organizations are define talent

as top performers who are seen as leaders of an organization and will driving change

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and adding value, people with exceptional achievements with both potential and

putting that potential into action, People who are skilled and looking to learn / do

more (in whatever filed) are the key drivers of organizational success, top performers

who are seen as leaders of an organization and will driving change and adding

value ,outstanding skills that rise up during a task along with a positive behavior.

Their definition to their talent is almost part of the tansley (2007) definition as the

talent has the ability to contribute to the business and able to make a difference to

organizational performance.

Bersin and Associates (2007) have a good argument on the challenges facing the

talent management summaries on the lack of availability of the mid managers to be

prepared to assume leadership positions, and the need to create a performance driven

culture. The author here can

Hinkin & Tracey (2000) emphasized on their literature that the most important reason

for employees retention is the effective human resources practices and the supportive

work environment which provide all development opportunities to the talent people.

Which is emphasized as well from the talent people participated on this study that the

career development and the health environment is very important to satisfy people and

make them loyal to the organization.

The finding from this study on the talent job satisfaction is higher with people who

provided with development activities to attend professional internal meetings, external

seminars or any developmental activities so going back the Literature of Birdi, Allan

& Warr (1997) supporting this view that participating in developmental activities will

enhance the participants job satisfaction level and commitment, they believe that there

is a correlation between employee's participation in training and development

activities and their job satisfaction and organizational commitment.

The successful talent management requires good leaders and good managers to lead

this process for their team's, the author has found the talent people who got a good

opportunity to develop because they have a good managers have a personal

development plan in place for their talent align with the functional and organizational

objectives.

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Referring to the literature by Reid & Crisp (2007) on the successful talent

management he has highlight an excellent example of Private Client Group which

they have zero turnover because of two factors, their compensation and Benefits

combination are very competitive compare to the market and they are motivate and

engage their people by giving people project responsibility out side their scope of

daily work , the projects either initiated by them or by the management to move both

the employees and the business forward.

From the finding it is always the case the talent heat to do the same thing all the time

so they need to innovate and create so giving them projects to work with and on the

same time reward them with a compensation linked to their contribution to the

business is increasing the level of satisfaction and commitment which is very closer to

confirm Reid and Crisp (2007) literature as point out that the successful talent

management required a good leaders enable to lead this process and develop his own

team and the organization.

5.7 The Government's Projects on supporting Learning and

Development:

For any economic development need to develop its Human Resources by Learning

and career progression this is the vision of the Kingdome of Bahrain for 2030 which

developed projects with objectives aligned with the this vision.

The career program (CPP) is an exclusive program created to support human capital

development in term of skills by training to hinder career progression opportunities

for mid-income Bahraini workers in the private sector. So this program is offering the

requisite training opportunities to existing Bahraini workforce to help them progress

in their career hence progress in the organizational outcome.

This project is a governmental initiative supported and funded by Tamkeen and

implemented and managed by BDO Jawad Habib Consulting. From the finding of this

study the author has found that there is one participants company which its Bahraini

employees are benefiting from this project which it training budget are limited to the

levy scheme budget and the career progression is managed and funded by Tamkeen.

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This project is one of the big projects support many employees who unluckily not

provided with development opportunities by their employer so this project is a great

opportunity for them to pursue their professional training and progress on their career

as well.

The talent staff in this case are unsatisfied because there where no Learning and

development opportunities provided by the company and on the other hand their

compensation and benefits very low in compare to the market. So there was no

motivation to satisfy them and make them loyal to the company. Tamkeen project

played a good role here to support the employees to get the learning opportunities

funded fully by Tamkeen which motivate people and fill the gap on their skills to do

their job better or to move to a better position within the company and after fully

completion the program Tamkeen is provide them with increase of their salaries for

one year and upon agreement between the company and Tamkeen after one year the

company is fully responsible to handle this increase.

Tamkeen project indeed helps and support big proportion of people in the private

sector especially who works with the companies has no approach to develop their

people so the Tamkeen through their consultants is analyzing the training needs of the

employees and put the learning needs in practice.

The talent people in this example are provided with the skills to develop them but

without Tamkeen project will not get any opportunities from their organizations so

they don't have a loyalty to the current employer and once they have got better

opportunity outside they will quiet.

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Chapter Six

Conclusion and Recommendations

6.1 Conclusion:

The aim of this paper is to examine the importance and priority of the Learning and

Talent Development for the organizations and it's interlinked to the individuals and

organizational development.

The author has examine the important and priority of Learning in the different sectors

in the kingdom of Bahrain for the three main category in this process, the Senior

Managers as they are the decision maker, the line managers as they are responsible for

their people's development to ensure achievements of the organizational objectives,

and the talent staff which they are the performers who responsible to deliver and

achieve organizational objectives through their individual objectives.

Also the author explores the support has been provided through Governmental

projects by Tamkeen to the workers in the private sectors by providing a

developmental opportunities to the talent people who are willing to grow in the

private sector.

The author believes that the Human Capital are the most organizational competitive

advantage and by developing them and satisfied them the organization should reach

its objectives, hence by providing the developmental opportunities to all employees

the management should be able to inspect the talent people who should invest on them

more by career development planning and to ensure their retention and loyalty to the

organization.

It worth to point out the limitations and restrictions faced the author during this

research study as it is the first experience for the author to conduct such research

using questionnaire and gathering detailed information from people in different

positions, it was really painful to chase people to answer detailed questionnaire as

some people find it time consuming and they don’t have time to fill it and some other

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organizations worried to release some information outside their organization as they

consider it confidential details and they need to get preauthorization from the higher

level to enable them to fill it.

However the author was able to get all this done with big efforts chasing every single

participants.

6.2 Recommendations:

The author has recommends that the organizations should be ready to compete in this

competitive market and to be successful organizations should be focused on the

following:

• Encourage Learning culture and sharing knowledge within organization by

various learning activities: professional meetings, Internal and external

training, attending seminars and conferences, etc, to make every individual

knowledgeable.

• Motivate people by encourage innovation and self engagement to make

individuals responsible and dedicated to ensure successful individual and

organizational performance.

• Reward people and make sure that the compensation and benefit combinations

are competitive in the local market because studies and research emphasized

the interlinked between job satisfaction and competitive compensation.

• Recording the cost of new hire as replacing of talent that leaves the

organization so it would be useful to demonstrate to the top management that

retention is a cost effective method of retaining talent.

All of the above can define a strong strategy for Talent Human capital

Development and Retention.

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MBA Dissertation

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