Talent Development

Talent Development, part of human resource development, is the process of changing an organization, its employees, its stakeholders, and groups of people within it, using planned and unplanned learning, in order to achieve and maintain a competitive advantage for the organization. Rothwell notes that the name may well be a term in search of a meaning, like so much in management, and suggests that it be thought of as selective attention paid to the top 10% of employees, either by potential or performance. [cite book|title=The Strategic Development of Talent|author=William J. Rothwell and H. C. Kazanas|pages=4|date=2004|publisher=Human Resource Development Press|id=ISBN 0874257522] [cite book|title=Effective Succession Planning|pages=xviii|author=William J. Rothwell|date=2005|publisher=AMACOM Div American Mgmt|id=ISBN 0814408427]

While "Talent Development" is reserved for the top management it is becoming increasingly clear that "Career Development" is necessary for the retention of any employee, no matter what their level in the company. Research has shown that some type of career path is necessary for job satisfaction and hence job retention. Perhaps organizations need to include this area in their overview of employee satisfaction.

The term "Talent Development" is becoming increasingly popular in several organizations, as companies are now moving from the traditional term "Training and Development". Talent Development encompasses a variety of components such as training, career development, career management, and organizational development, and training and development. As we proceed through the 21st century more companies will begin to use more integrated terms such as "Talent Development"

Washington Group International, in their paper "The Nuclear Renaissance, A Life Cycle Perspective" [http://www.gnr2.org/html/2007/4-19.pdf] defined two logical laws of Talent Development:
* First Law of Talent Development: "The beginnings of any technology-rich business are all characterized by a shortage of large numbers of technically trained people needed to support ultimate growth"
* Second Law of Talent Development: "The resources will come when the business becomes attractive to the and brightest who adapt skills to become part of an exciting opportunity"

Talent Development refers to an organization's ability to align strategic training and career opportunities for employees.

References

Further reading

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External links

* [http://www.ahrd.org/ Academy of Human Resource Development (AHRD)]
* [http://www.astd.org/astd American Society for Training and Development (ASTD)]
* [http://www.ispi.org/ International Society for Performance Improvement (ISPI)]
* [http://www.shrm.org/ Society for Human Resource Management (SHRM)]
* [http://www.odnetwork.org/ Organization Development Network (ODN)]