Talent Management: The Good, the Bad, and the Possible

Date01 March 2019
Published date01 March 2019
DOIhttp://doi.org/10.1111/emre.12171
AuthorCarole Tansley,Susan Kirk,Ghislain Deslandes,Mollie Painter‐Morland
Talent Management: The Good, the Bad, and
the Possible
MOLLIE PAINTER-MORLAND,
1
SUSAN KIRK,
1
GHISLAIN DESLANDES
2
and CAROLE TANSLEY
1
1
Nottingham BusinessSchool, Nottingham, UK
2
ESCP Europe, Paris, France
In this essay we offer a critical investigation of talent management practices (TMP), which is an increasingly
influentialconcept in contemporaryorganisations.We try to show howthese organisationalpractices could have both
a negative and a positive ethical impact on those identified as talentwithin organisations.A critical analysis of how
talent is defined, and how this impacts on individualscapacities for ethical reflection, allows us to highlight the
ethical ambiguity inherent in talent management (TM). We then highlight examples of some badconsequences of
TM, and explore some goodcounter-examples. To highlight what may be possiblein talent management, we
propose a more constructive relationship between talent management and ethics based on two dimensions: (1) the
acceptance of ambiguity and personal struggle and (2) the development of more qualitative approaches to
performance that could enable a better understanding of and sensitivity towards the broader context within which
organisations function.
Keywords: talent management discourse; ethical reflection; ethical freedom; self-reflection; Foucault
Introduction
Talent management(TM) is a corporate buzzwordthat has
become a priorityof boards of directors,HR managers and
recruitment agencies alike. We believe that amidst all of
the noise and activity some critical questioning regarding
the ethical implications of all the buzz around talentis
much needed. Management scholars have suggested that
a closer look at tal ent management practices, whe rein
the need for an ethical analysis of these practices lies
latent. For instance, in this very journal, Van den Brink
et al. (2013) called for a reflexive practice-based
assessment of talent management. Dries (2013: 282)
suggestedthat discourse and narrative areimportant future
areas of talent management research. Holden and Vaiman
(2013: 142) also call for studies into contrasting ways of
transferring talent management concepts and practices.
The ethical dimension of the TM discourse however
remains largely unexplored. The existence of this
elephantin the roomis not surprising, giventhat the term
talent managementhas been described as a euphemismfor
the useof elite humanresources, thus failing to conform
to the basic ethical principle of not using people as a
means to an end (Greenwood, 2002: 261). An exception
to the silence around the ethics of TM is in the work of
Swailes (2013), who identified ways in which the
establishment of managerial elites in organisational
initiatives, such as talent management, clearly raises
concerns in relation to class, gender, power and ethics.
In this essay, we therefore take up the challenge to offer
new insights on talent management as an important
management issue(Jardat, 2015), taking an explicitly
ethical perspective. Ethical questioning involves
considering wheth er certain norms and values may be
violated in and through TM practices, and whether
someone may be harmed in the process (Painter-Morland
and ten Bos, 2011). Our ethical analysis of TM practices
will therefore focus on the possibility that it may
undermine indiv idualscapacitytoconsidernormsand
values, and the effects their actions may have on others.
To avoid this, supporting talents critical self-reflection
and ethical judgment is crucial. This involves the practice
of considering o nes perceptions and actions from a
normative perspective, that is, taking norms and values
and the interests of others and the broader society into
account.
Correspondence: Ghislain Deslandes, ESCP Europe, 79 Avenue de la
République , 75011 Paris, France, Tel: +33149232063; Fax:
+33149232069. E-mail gdeslandes@hotmail.com
[Correctionadded on 21 February 2018 afterfirst online publication: The
order of the second and fourth authors has been updated in this current
version.]
European Management Review, Vol. 16, 135146, (2019)
DOI: 10.1111/emre.12171
©2018 European Academy of Management

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