Factors of talent management in a company: A contextual approach

Abstract

This article is based on the review and analysis of 147 academic publications of Russian and foreign authors which discuss the impact of various factors on talent management in organizations. Talent management is seen as the ability of an organization to attract, select, deploy, develop, and retain employees who make the most important contribution to a company’s performance. The article includes the classifications of groups of factors and analysis of relationships between factors at various levels (global, national, industry, organisational, individual) and the elements of a talent management system. Conducting a content analysis of the selected publications the authors apply a system approach to talent in its contextual version. The results of an analysis demonstrate a state of art in the knowledge of talent management context. External factors have a greater impact on the strategic components and practices of managing the “entrance” of talents into the organization. The most frequently mentioned organizational factor is corporate culture and corporate values that influence philosophy, attraction and selection, evaluation and retention of talents. Values of talent have turned out to be an important individual factor influencing the definition of talent in the company and all practices of talent management. The perception of these practices by the talents themselves and other employees of the organization could be of the same significant for all practices of talent management. The aspects of a contextual approach to talent management, which have not received yet the expanded coverage in the literature have been identified. They are considered as the directions for future research.