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This article investigates which definitions, indicators and instruments are used by the companies to identify and assess talented employee potential with successful performance on future pivotal positions.

Empirical data were collected in 2020–2021 in 45 local and multinational companies in Russia with well-established talent management functions using in-depth interviews with human resource (HR) managers and consultants.

The study found a diversity of approaches to identifying and assessing talent potential with a predominantly contextual approach but so far with little focus on company’s strategic objectives. It was also found that companies assessed cultural (values) fit, social intelligence and impact, engagement and commitment as predictors of managerial and leadership potential of talented employees for future strategic jobs, in addition to characteristics of personal resources. The search for new complex and validated tools and methods of potential assessment under budget constraints show that companies have taken the path of experimentation.

The results of this research can inform talent and human resource managers how to identify and assess potential of talented employees for future needs of their organizations.

The paper contributes to the existing research in three ways. First, it offers a classification of approaches to potential assessment and explores the underlying dimensions of high-potential talent for future needs of a company. Second, it provides an overview of the current state of potential assessment in the companies in a non-western context. Third, it points out the challenges HR professionals face in implementing potential assessment for identifying talents in a new situation of unprecedented changes and uncertain future.

In this chapter, I propose an integrative framework for theorizing and empiricizing about talent management, based on the notion of “talent philosophies.” I believe that current debates about whether talent management should be inclusive or exclusive create the risk that our field will become fragmented, thereby undermining its social-scientific legitimacy. Nonetheless, this debate is absolutely correct in identifying the tensions between inclusive and exclusive approaches to talent management as a phenomenon. This, however, creates issues for talent management as a construct for scientific inquiry, as we need clear definitions and measures to create a cumulative body of research as a community. I propose that the solution lies in an expansion of our vocabulary as talent management researchers and identify four constructs that can help us structure and categorize our collective work: giftedness, talent, potential, and strength. Each of these constructs map logically onto different talent philosophies and talent management practices. In establishing “unity in diversity,” I believe talent management could finally make the transition into a more mature field of academic inquiry – although clearly phenomenon driven – characterized in equal parts by construct clarity, rigor, and relevance.

Despite considerable development in our understanding of potential over the past two decades, we argue that the failure to adequately conceptualize and manage “potential” in the context of talent management has significantly limited the ability of organizations to meet their talent needs. In this chapter, we begin by defining the concept of potential, calling attention to the need to separate it from performance. We also address the need to specify the target for judgments of potential (e.g., management level, specific roles), along with the identification of constructs to measure. The chapter highlights two contextual variables – gender and culture, including translations of language that describe relevant constructs – that may impact judgments of potential. This chapter concludes by summarizing what we know and by identifying a variety of future directions for research on the important construct of potential.

The purpose of this paper is to examine the potential implications of selecting and developing discrete pools of talent within organizations and to answer the question “If talent is singled out as a separate group of high‐potential individuals in organizations, what measures could be put in place to help ensure their effectiveness?”

The paper reviews the literature on talent pools and examines existing case study research, drawing on an analysis of over 50 companies. This analysis was used to draw out aspects which impact the effectiveness of talent pools at particular points in time; from the initial establishment of pool members through to the ongoing maintenance of an established talent pool.

Findings indicate that during the establishment phase, ensuring appropriate segmentation of the pool and limiting bias in the nomination process were particularly significant. The ongoing maintenance of a successful talent pool was also found to be a challenge from both an organizational and an individual perspective. Specific factors that were identified were dealing with changing business needs; changing individual circumstances; providing development opportunities; maintaining senior commitment; and defining success measures.

The research identifies a number of critical factors that practitioners may need to address in the process of establishing and maintaining talent pools, such as pool segmentation, work‐life balance and the impact on the psychological contract.

The ongoing maintenance of talent pools is rarely discussed in the literature and the recommendations for practice will be relevant for all human resource and organizational development practitioners.

Talent management (TM) is widely seen as a key organizational challenge necessary to sustain competitive advantage. While academia has mostly focused on HRM practices associated with exclusive TM targeting organizational high performers at higher managerial levels, there are reasons why organizations should consider a more inclusive talent management (ITM) approach. They include the growing diversification of organizations and the global workforce caused by demographic changes and mobility across borders, overall talent scarcity and hard to predict market dynamics which all make future talent needs hard to anticipate. Issues such as employee perceptions of organizational justice and fairness are also important. Moreover, existing HRM orthodoxy concerned with investing in the company’s human resource and the wellbeing of employees pushes companies to invest in ITM as a path to a better working environment characterized by openness, trust and overall well-being. Few TM researchers, however, pay sufficient attention to the problems of organizational inequality and social segregation that exclusive TM might occasion and thus disregard how social exclusion and economic inequality continue to characterize many organizations. The ambition of this chapter therefore is to contribute to the development of an inclusive approach to TM. We add to the notion of ITM by bringing in literature on inclusive organizations which is absent from current theoretical development. Building on current conceptualizations in particular by Swailes et al. (2014) and Meyers and Woerkom (2014), we ask: How can literature on organizational inclusion contribute to developing more fair and equal organizations through inclusive TM practices?

This paper examines antecedents to perceived injustice in exclusive talent identification practices.

31 in-depth interviews with individuals working in for-profit organizations in France were conducted and analyzed. Interviewees represented a variety of sectors such as transportation, aerospace, energy and telecommunications.

The use of exclusivity in talent identification influences perceived organizational justice through ambiguous advancement policies, support from hidden networks, lack of diversity in the talent identification process, frequent gender discrimination, and premature labeling of talent. These practices suggest breaches in procedural, distributive and interactional justice by allocating advantages to some employees over others. Exclusivity yielded frustration, jealousy and potential retaliatory behavior against those individuals deemed to be unfairly identified as talent.

The challenge of ensuring fair and equitable talent identification is a growing issue for organizations. For managers, it requires paying close attention to how some forms of exclusivity in talent identification may create unfair treatment of employees.

While organizational justice research focuses on the background and practices that promote justice, our research finds its originality in examining the sentiments of injustice that remain contextual, subjective and comparative.

The purpose of this paper is to identify what attention science pays to CSR communication for the process of career orientation and employer decision-making by the critical sought after top talent.

The review is structured as a systematic literature review of the CSR–HRM intersection. In 11 EBSCO online databases one of several “CSR-terms” was combined with one of several “HRM-terms”.

Although CSR has long been recognized as a relevant factor for organizational attractiveness (Greening and Turban, 2000) and talent attraction and its importance is reflected in the ongoing “war for talent” (Chambers et al., 1998) in which (prospective) leaders are considered a critical human resource for corporate success (Ansoff, 1965), few contributions are focusing on successfully recruited future leaders/high potentials.

There is a knowledge gap about the importance of CSR in high potential recruiting, which influences both resource-strong decisions on the company side and the communication behavior of applicants. Companies only know about a general CSR relevance for employees and applicants. Accordingly, no attention-optimized CSR communication can take place. In the highly competitive battle for the attention of high potentials, this leads to undifferentiated communication formats. At the same time, high potentials may not receive the CSR information of interest to them from an employer at the relevant time and therefore cannot present an optimal fit in the cover letters and thus cannot prove themselves as ideal candidates.

CSR is not only an obligatory field of communication for companies, but also a special opportunity in recruiting the young value-oriented generations Y and Z. The research on CSR communication in the course of their career decision has not been covered in a review so far, the research situation is thus explicitly addressed for the first time and practical implications for the post COVID-19 employer brand and recruiting communication are addressed.

Talent management (TM) is underdeveloped and TM recognition is unclear in the context of Chinese private‐owned enterprises (POEs). As talent definition is the basis of TM practices, the purpose of this paper is to explore talent definition and TM recognition in the context of Chinese real estate POEs, in order to explore how Chinese cultural context and POEs' characteristics influence talent definition and TM recognition.

In total, 27 semi‐structured interviews were conducted in three case study companies.

Based on qualitative analysis, the paper finds talent definition is influenced by the important Chinese cultural factor “guanxi” and is quite different from existing Western TM literature. TM recognition is also influenced by the Chinese POEs' operation characteristics.

The paper finds a new talent definition criterion, “guanxi”, and identifies TM recognition in the context of Chinese POEs. The paper thus contributes to TM literature in China.

The purpose of this paper is to provide practical how-to information for those looking to develop high-potential employees within their organizations or for their clients.

The paper is based on a combination of recent surveys and studies of what is happening with the development (or lack thereof) of high-potential employees as well as recommendations of key components for high-potential programs based on the author’s direct experience.

Though not a research paper, this work finds that while some organizations have programs in place to develop high potentials, many still do not, despite it being viewed as helpful in recruiting and retaining top talent.

The information provided can be used by both internal practitioners and external consultants to implement high-potential employee development programs for any size of organization.

High-potential employees represent future leaders. Without developing them, organizations run the risk of high attrition costs along with a lack of qualified talent to fill leadership pipelines.

The value of this paper is twofold: it offers detailed information to set the tone with stakeholders when it comes to talking about and developing high-potential talent, and it provides a starting point with first steps for successful program implementation.