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Talent Management and Business Development in Retail Industry:

I J M T P : 7(1-2) January-December 2015 65

TALENT MANAGEMENT AND BUSINESSDEVELOPMENT IN RETAIL INDUSTRY:

INTEGRATED QUALITATIVE ANDQUANTITATIVE RESEARCH

Dileep Kumar M.Professor, HR and Strategic Management, Othman Yeop Abdullah Graduate

School of Business (OYA-GSB), University Utara Malaysia 06010 UUM Sintok,Kedah, Malaysia, (E-mail: [email protected], [email protected])

Abstract: One of the super performers in Indian economy today isthe retail industry. India is one of the top five global destinations forretail investment, with more than 21 million people employed in asector that contributes 13% to the nation’s GDP. The transformationof Indian retailing is noticed especially with Indian economy playinga crucial role globally. From mandi’s to malls, Indian retailing hascome a long way. The retail industry has highlighted India’s potentialas a consumer economy and demonstrated the sheer consumer powerof the urban Indian populace. With the growth in organized retail,both in metros and second-level cities/towns there is an increase inneed for talented people to plan for merchandise, in logistics, and tomanage the supply chain, information and stores. Retailing in theorganized sector is now being the next biggest employment vehicleafter BPO (business process outsourcing). Industry-specific challengesinclude high annual employee turnover, the need to create a compellingtalent brand for job-seekers, and the difficulty of aligning managersand employees in highly distributed store operations and customercentric operations affect the retails operations across states. The talentissue is serious. The gap between supply and demand is resulting inhigh levels of attrition, skewed salaries and increased costs of doingbusiness for the industry. The largest, and most successful, retailcompanies are achieving their business objectives by relentlesslyfocusing on customer-centric process execution. Greater process clarityand consistency through right workforce allows these companies tofoster and establish long term, loyal and profitable customerrelationships more effectively. Here talented pool of workforce is very

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66 I J M T P : 7(1-2) January-December 2015

important aspect that to be given prime consideration. Since there islot of retail players presence in the competitive arena is observed withcompanies will not only need experienced leaders at senior levels, butalso the right talent on the shop floor. Despite the very threat of aneconomic slowdown, the demand for people with exceptional abilitiesand skills are applicable in retail organizations, as well. To fill thesignificant gaps in workers and skill sets, executives and HRprofessionals in the retail industry should focus on implementingstrategic talent-management initiatives that attract, identify, develop,reward, and retain the next generation of business leaders. Talentmanagement is thus the way to business excellence. This particularstudy tries to have integrated approach of qualitative and quantitativeto analyze the influence of talent management factors on businessdevelopment.

1. INTRODUCTION

Retailing is one of the pillars of the economy in India and accountsfor about 15% of its GDP (McKinsey 2007). India is one of the fivelargest retail markets in the world in economic value.India’s growingmarket for consumer goods, already in the top ten could reach $400billion by 2010—making it one of the five largest in the world(Bharadwaj, Gautam M. Swaroop, IreenaVittal (2005). Indianretail industry is divided into organized and unorganized sectors.Organized retailing, absent in most rural and small towns of Indiain 2010, refers to trading activities undertaken by licensed retailers,that is, those who are registered for sales tax, income tax, etc. Theseinclude the publicly-traded supermarkets, corporate-backedhypermarkets and retail chains, and also the privately owned largeretail businesses. According Unorganized retailing, on the otherhand, refers to the traditional formats of low-cost retailing, forexample, the local kinara (corner) shops, owner manned generalstores, paan/beedi shops, convenience stores, hand cart andpavement vendors, etc (Indian Retail News (2011). Recognizing theshort-term and long-term growth of retail in India, a number ofdomestic business giants have entered the retail industry or areplanning to do so in the near future. Some like Pantaloon Retail,Shopper’s Stop and Pyramid Retail have been in the industry for adecade. Others like Reliance Retail Ltd. (RRL) have just entered and



opened up a number of stores across the country. Still other domesticplayers like Birla and Bharti are planning their foray into this sector.In fact retail in India has also attracted global giants like Wal-Martwho have also indicated their interest in the sector by forming aJoint Venture with Bharti. Each of these domestic and internationalretail giants have or will introduce a number of modern retail formatslike malls, hypermarkets and supermarkets. Initial consumerresponse to these novelties in the retail sector has been verypromising and as the middle-class continues to grow, organizedretail in India is sure to see large returns. In fact, organized retail isgrowing at a staggering 35% per year.

SonamVij (2006) pointed out that India is changing very fastand by 2025, the per capita income will increase to $ 1200. Addinganother $ 200-300 and with incomes going higher people will startconsuming more. In 20 years 60 pc of India’s population will bebelow 23 years of age, which means that two thirds of the populacewould not have any concept of what a ration shop was and wouldonly know of shopping malls. The retail business needs to evolvevery fast to keep up with that. Sanjay Jog (2005) pointed out furtherthat Retail sector has opened the floodgates of employmentopportunities to the Indian youth. Statistics reveal that the organizedretail sector has increasing employee base burgeoning from 5.4 lakhto an awesome 16 lakh over the last couple of years. About 11.5lakh jobs in the organized retail sector and 2 million jobs in theunorganized retail sector will be thrown open by 2010 what withthe likes of key players in including Pantaloon India, RPG Retail,Lifestyle, Wills lifestyle, Shoppers shop, Trent Ltd, CrosswordsBookstores Ltd., Ebony Retail Ltd. and Reliance Retail Ltd. And theretail sector has abundant opportunities for part time positions aswell due to the long working hours.

Relating the Indian retail scenario to effective employeeengagement, “Talent Management” has become one of the mostimportant catchphrases in Corporate HR today. In the volatilebusiness scenarioone who supports an organisation by formulatingand executing efficient plan or strategy is part of talented human

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resource. Few key words circle around talent management is theright recruitment right way of development and right appraisal ofperformance which lead an organisation towards fidelity andaccuracy. The primary goal of an HR department is there by toimprove the decisions that organizations make about people. It isassumed in this study that effective ‘technology base’ and itsapplication in recruitment, training and development andperformance management system, can support the Human Resourcewing to have better grip on this buzzword talent management. Thisparticular study concentrates on the application of technology inHR functional level that support to business excellence.

2. RESEARCH QUESTIONS

The study orient towards the taken management approaches ofindustries. In order to explore the relationship the research posedseveral research questions.

1. How talent management technology relates to functionalefficiency?

2. How Strategic leadership influence the functionalperformance?

This study should prove to be valuable and benefit scholars interms of talent management concept expansion in Indian businesscontext and also assist and illustrate human resource practitionersand managers at all levels how to establish and implement talentmanagement system effectively in order to gain competitiveadvantage in fierce global competition.

3. RATIONALE OF THE STUDY

Success of organization is based upon the talent management intoday’s competitive marketplace. Talent management is about theprocesses, systems and strategies and their implementation of thoseunified strategies which are designed to enhance the productivityof the workplace by developing the improved processes forattracting, development, utilization and retention of skilled people



matches with the current and upcoming business needs. It is widelyaccepted that human resources adds value to the organizations. Themost suitable way to attain competitive advantage for organizationis to keep human resource as a strategic business partner in such away that it improves the business performance. It is possible bymanaging the talent effectively, associates it with the changemanagement and adaptability of employees that how they respondto change. It not only considers the influencing strategy of theorganization but at the same time contributes with some valueaddition which impacts effectiveness (Lawler, 2008).

4. OBJECTIVES OF THE STUDY

1. To understand the talent management effort of Human ResourceDepartment in retail firms in India;

2. To investigate relationship between talent managementandbusiness development in retail firms in India.

3. To analysis the influence of talent management and businessdevelopment in retail firms in India.

5. METHODOLOGY

Qualitative method an in-depth interview was employed in orderto achieve the objectives of the study. Key informants were HR

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practitioners in 12 leading retail malls in Bangalore India. Theauthors experience that it is necessary to adopt an interpretivistmethodology to discover what Remenyi et al. (1998) called ‘the detailsof the situation to understand the reality or perhaps a reality workingbehind them’ – the social constructionism. Based on this argument,it is necessary to explore the subjective meanings motivatingcompanies’ actions in their actual working environment. Two typesof triangulations which were data and methodology were employedfor investigating some hidden data. Data triangulation was used tomake a distinction between time, space and persons concerning thephenomenon at different dates and palaces and from differentpersons, whilst at the same time, methodological triangulation interms of documentary analysis and in-depth interview wereemployed to cross check data derived from the field (Denzin andLincoln, 2000, 2003).

6. TALENT MANAGEMENT

Goffee and Jones (2007) define talent as handful of employee whoseideas, knowledge and skills give them the potential to produce thedisproportionate vale from the resource they have available fromthem. Tansley et al. (2006) point out that talent can be considered asa complex amalgam of employees’ skills, knowledge, cognitiveability and potential. Employees’ values and work preferences arealso of major importance. Whilst, Ingham (2006) considers peoplewho are in the key position, the leader team, the individual whohas the scarce capability or make particular contribution to theorganization is talent.

Aston and Morton (2005) indicates that there “...isn’t a singleconsistent or concise definition” of talent management.Notwithstanding this criticism, talent management is becoming acritical area for an organization’s success in the recent weak economy(The Conference Board, 2003). Newhouse, Lewis, and Jones (2004)define talent management as: “ensuring that a sufficient supply oftalent is available across the organization to achieve competitiveadvantage, enhanced corporate performance, and maximizing the



productivity of an organization’s talent pool. It involves processconsulting which includes forecasting openings and needed resources,using assessments for selection and development, placing employeesonto appropriate projects, planning for and measuring the return oninvestment of personnel programs, utilizing technologyadvancements, and more. Talent management spans the entire talentlife cycle from entry to exit, from placement to promotion.

According to Schweyer (2004: 22), talent management can bedefined as the sourcing (finding talent); screening (sorting ofqualified and unqualified applicants); selection (assessment/testing,interviewing, reference/background checking etc. of applicants); onboarding (offer generation/acceptance); retention (measures to keepthe talent that contributes to the success of the organisation);development (training, growth, assignments, etc.); deployment(optimal assignment of staff to projects, lateral opportunities,promotions etc.) and renewal of the workforce, with analyses andplanning as the adhesive, overarching ingredient.

7. WHY TALENT MANAGEMENT IS IMPORTANT?

The question of talent management is of attention to a wide rangeof stakeholders beyond human resource (HR) academics andprofessionals. Indeed, the Economist Intelligence Unit (2006) foundthat most CEOs explicitly argued that talent management was tooimportant to be left to HR alone, while a Boston Consulting Group(2007) report identified talent management as one of five criticalchallenges for HR in the European context. The BCG findings werebased not only on those capabilities that executives expect to bemost important in managing human capital, but tellingly are alsothose they perceive their organisations to be weakest at. Thus, thearea is likely to be relevant, inter alia for scholars and practitionersin the fields of strategic management, human resources andorganizational behaviour.

In fact, a number of surveys reveal that many large organizationsare already suffering a chronic shortage of talented employees.

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To consider the recent survey based on 33,000 employers from 23countries, 40% of them had difficulty in searching and hiring thedesired talent (Manpower Inc., 2006) and roughly 90% of nearly7,000 managers revealed that talent acquisition and retention werebecoming more difficult (Axelrod et al., 2001). McKinsey (2007a) alsorevealed the global survey concerning the organizational challengesof global trends by asking executives from 93 countries in all mainregions of the world, to choose the three trends that will most affecttheir companies over the next five years. The results reveal that themost significant trend cited by 47% of the executives is theintensifying battle for talented people. Executives in the developedcountries of the Asia-Pacific region such as Australia, Hong Kong,Japan, New Zealand, the Philippines, Singapore, South Korea,Taiwan, and in developing countries are even more concerned aboutthe completion for talent that their counterparts in North Americaand Europe are (McKinsey, 2007b). Ramadevi (2005), states that thereseems to be a high level of attrition in the retail sector which is almost40% according to a recent study. Front end jobs are facing an attritionrate as high as even 80%. Under the present circumstances, retentionand motivation of personnel has become the major concern of HR.

Success can no longer be measured alone by the amount ofmoney a company has. The talent it possesses in the form of itsemployees’ skills and competencies, leading to organizationalcapability, has become the key to success in today’s highlycompetitive business environment (Lockwood 2006: 2; Lawler III:2008: VII). So why is talent so important? According to Cheese (2008:39-40), the following reasons can be identified:

1. Talent generates high performance, which in turn attractsnew talent and creates the means to reward it.

2. Talent drives improvements in productivity, quality,innovation and customer satisfaction, which in turn feedinto the bottom-line results.

Without talent, the industry is thus doomed. While the industryoffers well qualified individuals such as graduates exciting and



rewarding career opportunities, it also needs a vast number ofoperational staff. Low entry barriers and high turnover poseparticular HR challenges to management in this area (Haven-Tang& Jones 2006: 91).

8. PROCUREMENT AND TALENT MANAGEMENT

Despite a tough economic climate, labor remains a retailer’s second-largest cost after merchandise. Yet, Gartner (2008) sees continuedand steady investment in workforce management technologies. Inspite of the tendency to slash staff budgets first during tougheconomic times, customer-centric retailers are using technology toimprove store processes and provide a strong foundation to buildand scale their businesses from when the economy turns around.

Gartner (2008) research on e recruitment in retail sector indicatesthat the best functionality and flexibility that can support thebusiness process requirements for store staffing are coming fromniche e-recruitment vendors. These applications improve recruitingand hiring efficiency by:

• Standardizing the job application process for cross-channelconsistency across retail enterprises

• Reducing the time to process and screen applicants throughuse of electronic forms

• Reducing the time to fill vacancies/length of vacancies

• Reducing sourcing costs (advertising, job boards, careerfairs) by identifying best sources for attracting qualifiedapplicants

• Improving manager productivity by screening andprioritizing applicants, thus reducing time spent reviewingand interviewing candidates

• Minimizing screening costs associated with backgroundchecks (such as criminal records, tax issues, drug tests,certifications and so on) until needed in the hiring process.

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Most importantly, e-recruiting applications help retailersimprove the effectiveness of management through the use ofscreening and assessment tools that can rank candidates and canpredict a candidate’s expected success as well as longevity beforehiring. Better matching of applicant skills, availabilities andpreferences improves efficiency and reduces churn for retailers.

HR Interactive (2009) while substantiating the benefits ofe-recruitment process indicates that online recruitment facilitatesjust-in-time hiring. When an organisation needs a candidate it canaccess the database of job portals, screen resumes and send a massmail. It can also shortlist people based on skills, location, salary andavailability and move on to the interview stage.

• The Web knows no geographical boundaries. The entireglobe is your audience. The Internet is specially useful ifyou are sourcing overseas talent and that too from multiplecountries.

• The Internet is a 24 x 7 medium; positions can be uploadedinstantaneously. Response time is phenomenallycompressed.

• Compared to traditional recruiting methods such asnewspaper Ads, or career fairs, the cost of advertising onthe Net is almost 1/10 of offline cost.

• You save a lot on indirect costs such as courier, phone calls,especially, long distance calls and stationery. In most cases,the Internet can effectively substitute costly traditionalcommunication media.

• Reduce your Manpower Recruitment cost.

A conceptual paper on Managerial challenges of e-recruitment:extending the life cycle of new economy employees by Smith andRupp (2004), examined the application of technology to recruitingand retaining knowledge workers in an e-commerce, informationintensive environment. The authors reported that e-recruitment asa general process is job specific and offers computer-assisted



screening interviews and statistical prediction to aid in reducingrecruiting costs, time-to-hire and employee turnover [96].

Hadass (2004) in his research on the effect of internet recruitingon the matching of workers and HR Managers developed a modelof recruitment in which job seekers have private information abouttheir qualification for different jobs and firms possess imperfectscreening technologies. The implications of the model wereempirically examined using personnel data from US-basedmultinational manufacturing firm with more than 15000 employees.The adoption of e-recruitment was modeled as reducing applicationcosts to workers and improving screening technology for firms. Heconcluded that firms may adopt e-recruitment strategies because ofthe direct reduction in recruiting costs and because of competitionamong HR Managers for qualified hires [41].

While substantiating the above research findings on e- recruitmentDhruvakanth B Shenoy, (2009) indicates that the traditionalboundaries that separated print media, job boards, recruitmentadvertising agencies, recruitment consultancies and technologycompanies are breaking down. Resume databases have beenincreasing manifold and the availability of a database (number ofcandidates) is much higher than what manual recruitment modescan offer. The growth in the e-recruitment industry has been fuelledwith the adoption of technology by prospective employers andInternet penetration. Organizations have cut costs by almost 80 percent over traditional recruitment modes by moving over to the onlinerecruitment process.” Manual recruitment process has its ownlimitation in terms of time, cost, technology, wider platform andease of applications.

RaghuveerSakuru, (2009) further states that the costs involvedin manual recruiting process include advertising costs, the cost ofhiring a placement agency, administrative expenses and the cost oftime. Recruiting online would ideally be more focused, fast paced,effective and give higher RoI (Return on Investment) on theadministrative expense.” By breaking geographical boundaries,

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online recruitment gives maximum reach. On the contrary, to getsimilar benefits through the manual recruitment process one has todevote more resources.

9. PERFORMANCE MANAGEMENT AND TALENTMANAGEMENT

Christine Mullie, Russ Hill (1998) a performance managementsystem is the process of using information to achieve superiorcorporate performance. For retailers it means having the informationto monitor corporate and store performance, quickly take action,and improve operational efficiency. By implementing an integratedperformance management system, retailers can ensure the managersacross the various functional business units have real-time accessto the information they need, to make effective decisions. Anintegrated performance management system can also help seniorexecutives ensure that functional, departmental, and employeeobjectives are in alignment, and that corporate priorities arecontinually reflected throughout the organization.

Kaplan and Doctor David Norton (1993) indicate thatCross-organizational integration is the toughest and mostfundamental requirement of a performance management system.Because managers scattered across departments and within varyinglevels of an organization may be working from personalizedscorecards, dashboards, and reports, it is necessary to have a systemin place that can integrate all of this to ensure all departmental andregional objectives are in synch with the overall corporate objectives.By enabling managers to see the breadth and totality of companyoperations, and by allowing the linkage of top-level business metricsdown through to the employees in the stores, and to site-specificoperations, an integrated performance management system can helpretailers accomplish this monumental task.

Vasundhra Singh (2007) Evaluating employee performancerequires a systematic approach and a streamlined process. With theadvent of technology, performance appraisal software’s are



becoming common in organisations. Performance managementsoftware is also helping to dramatically improve HR’s ability to carryout effective people relationship management (PRM), and improvetheir organization’s employer brand. It enables companies to moveaway from subjective people management to objective and efficientpeople management to the great benefit of the employee/candidate.The performance appraisal softwares are used to:

• Integrate organisational goal and competency management

• Professional and career development strategy

• Employee evaluation form

• Automated performance management workflow

• E-mail reminders

• Report generation and compatibility with the HR systemand software’s.

Mayasoman (2007) further argues that technology has becomesynonymous with information technology, as hardly any othertechnological development of the past would have impacted allspectrum of business as information technology has impacted.Irrespective of the kind of business you are in deployment ofinformation technology in one form or the other is a foregoneconclusion. To manage and deploy technology in an effective way,all business organizations would need knowledge workers.Managing of these knowledge workers is the responsibility of HRfunction. Hence the integration of technology and HR is an absolutemust. Integration of technology and HR would not only meanharmonious co-existing but would also mean one enhancing andcomplementing the other i.e., technology is used to enhanceeffectiveness of HR and HR functions helps in adopting andmanaging change which technology deployment brings in.

Research conducted by John Bersin of Bersin& Associates (2011)showed that the involvement of top executives in driving or activelyparticipating in the talent management strategy is critical to its

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success. In the context of Asian culture, proactive role or rolemodeling and demonstrated commitment of top executive andsenior leadership in the organization are utmost importance toensure snowballing effect for a successful implementation of thetalent and competency based human capital managementthroughout the organization.

Effective retail store management depends on satisfied,motivated, and loyal employees who will be productive, maintainassigned work schedules, and develop tenure with the firm. In orderto attract and keep satisfied and productive employees, retail storemanagers must know which dimensions of management andbehaviour that more taken into consideration. Lindsay EdmondsWickman (2008) here in this context indicates that glitzy storewindows and snappy marketing campaigns make retail jobs seemsimple: stock, smile and sell. But beneath the surface there’s a webof factors that influence retailing and make accurate employeeperformance measurement a real challenge. When there is adownpour, customers stay home. When the economy dips, they holdon tighter to their wallets. And when oil prices rise, they don’t travelas far from home. All of these external factors affect the retail industryand make performance management improvements elusive.However, if organizations understand these factors, they can assessemployee performance based on realistic sales targets and the totalcustomer experience. Then talent managers can make whateverbehavior suggestions or corrections are necessary for improvement.Retailers who do this will have a competitive edge becauseemployees will feel invested in their work, turnover will decreaseand, ultimately, sales will rise.

10. DEVELOPMENT AND TALENT MANAGEMENT

Lamoureux, Kim. (2007) states that leadership and managementtraining and executive education account for the single largestspending area in corporate training today (35%). While it is notsurprising that executives, senior managers and high-potentials aretop recipients of that training, there is a trend underway that is



pushing leadership training down the ranks. Businesses that arecurrently facing talent shortages realize that to remain competitivethey must focus on developing and retaining talent at all levels.A recent study on high impact leadership development focused onidentifying best practices and trends in leadership developmentprocesses reports: “Organizations are clearly feeling the pinch ofour changing demographics and see leadership development as acritical function to keep the (talent) pipeline filled. Furthermore, thereis now a widespread understanding that “leadership” plays a criticalrole at all levels of the organization.”

For the retail sector, during the last half-century there have beenmajor economic and structural changes, with the key driversincluding; technology, globalization, international competition,productivity growth, dramatic shifts in patterns of expenditure andchanging life styles (Wilson, et al 2004). In the human resourcessetting, talent development refers to managing employees withinan organization and planning for their training, development,performance management, and succession planning. Giving dueimportance to talent development Warhurst et al, (2003) report thatretail sector is reporting serious skills shortages, particularlycustomer handling and communication skills, there are also reporteddeficits in the personal attributes, however conceived, of jobapplicants. Many firms report recruitment difficulties and theretention of some types of staff is also an issue.

Dench, et al (1997) indicates that increasing emphasis is beingplaced on the quality of customer service offered and this hasimpacted upon the skills and qualities demanded of sales assistants.They argue that whilst sales assistants’ jobs were traditionallyregarded as low skilled occupations, these roles are now becomingincreasingly complex and there are a wider range of tasks to perform.

Substantiating the above discussion Skillsmart, (2002) states thatas retailers strive to delight their customers and to reduce their costbases, a knowledgeable, skilled change oriented and highlyproductive workforce will be key to future success.’ It should be

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noted that the shortage of such skills is not retail sector specific butis a general concern within many sectors. However, within the retailsector it is particularly acute because the industry is highlydependent upon communication and customer service skills.

The main skills and abilities required of sales assistants arereported as:

1. Customer service skills;

2. Basic literacy and numeracy;

3. Selling skills and product knowledge;

4. Computer literacy and IT skills;

5. A knowledge of consumer law and other regulations suchas those relating to health and safety;

6. Taking reasonability and initiative; Personal characteristics:the right attitude, a desire to work with and serve the public.(London West, 2001: 2).

Talent management needs to continue to train and develop highperformers for potential new roles, identify their knowledge gaps,and implement initiatives to enhance their competencies and ensuretheir retention (Cairns, 2009). Hills (2009) suggest five strategies foreffective succession planning: (1) aligning succession planning withbusiness strategy; (2) assessing leadership potential based on the3Cs of fit – competence, connection and culture; (3) involving talentin the succession planning process; (4) using a mix of experience,outside or executive coaching and formal learning experiences intalent development and; (5) drawing from a wider net of potentialsuccessors.

O’Leonard, Karen. (2008) indicates that most organizationsprovide some form of tactical training on the policies and proceduresside of performance management. This includes employeeperformance appraisals, compensation and reward systems, HRpolicies and other areas of employee health, safety and welfare.While these are important, many companies overlook the more



strategic people management skills that have been proven to yieldhigher benefits and result in business impact. Three of these areasinclude the manager’s role in: (a) bringing HR policies to life,(b) facilitating employee learning and development; and(c) coaching, mentoring and on-the-job training.

Bersin & Associates (2008) indicates that as a result of theincreased focus on growing competitive advantage and drivingorganizational performance, many companies have turned to a“talent-driven” learning approach. This approach focuses onbuilding longer-term competitive advantage by providing targetedor prescribed learning programs that are organized around job rolesand career paths and focus on developing “deep rootedcompetencies, behaviors and culture.

11. RESULTS AND DISCUSSION

The Human Resources functional area provides a critical componentto any retail organization: well trained and skilled associates toprovide excellent customer service, both internally and externally.While sometimes one of the last areas addressed in processimprovement initiatives, often it is found that root causes ofproblems that occur could be addressed through Human Resourcesactivities. The following results of the study are according to thequalitative data’s analysis which is generated from the ten IndianRetail companies in India. Findings on the key issues explored inthis study are presented below.

12. TALENT MANAGEMENT AND PROCUREMENT

The present qualitative analysis indicates that the technology drivenrecruitment and selection process can bring better output to thebusiness development.

One of the functions of HR department of in any industry is tohire skilled labor force specific functional role. For example, in theretail sector, the company has to hire good sales executiveswith salespitch necessary for the success of the retail sales operations. If one

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employee shows good records in a particular region, indicates thefitness of a person in that specific location. The role of front linemanagers needs to be specially emphasized here. The entire processof retailing can be made successful through the services of the frontline employees who meet the customer and convince the customerabout the product and services. In this occasion the company reapsthe real benefit through talent management policies and procedures.Confronting with theacute competition and growing need fortalented managers, it is extremely important that HR managers needsto identify and attract potential high performers, starts from therecruitment and selection process itself. The talent managementeffort calls for the HR managers to play a more proactive andprominent role in order to get the high skilled employees. In thiscontext the role of technology in the recruitment and selection ofemployees need to be analyzed into.

“It’s our experience is that e-recruiting tools support our firm to save alot of time and money and energy in the talent search leaving theoutmoded recruiting channels like print media. The situation in retail isthat we are getting huge number of application for various verticals. Itis humanly impossible to sort out each resume and screen out the besttalent. Application of e-recruitment methods supports us to get best ofthe talent within few minutes. So tell us, do we go with traditional resumeanalysis or without saving time, energy and cost, adopt technology driventalent management system?” (Interview with HR Head).

When a company is looking for new employees, they tend touse different channels in order to find the most suitable personnel.The channels could be educational institution, TV/magazineadvertising, agency or any other channels which etc., to find theright personnel. The requirement of the retail firm varies since itrequires personnel at various levels (entry level or middle level).The company may consider various recruitment sources to fill thepositions. For example, in a retail company, when they are lookingfor entry level sales personnel, they tend to reply on educationalinstitutions, advertisements and employee recommendations.Moreover, when a retail company is looking for middle-management



positions, they are likely to use employment agencies, competitors,advertisements and current employees. These recruitment processescan be very costly. It takes a great deal of time to set up an effectiverecruitment process. Therefore, the company has to carry out thisjob out in an unconventional way. Most importantly, e-recruitingapplications help retail HR managers to improve the effectivenessof management through the use of screening and assessment toolsthat can rank and predict candidates with expected success as wellas longevity before hiring. Better matching of applicant skills,availabilities and preferences improves efficiency and reduces churnfor retailers. Through e-recruitment tools the resumes can beformatted and received in a standard format. Resume summariesas per the desired fields can be arranged and printed within shortspan.Further with the tools of e-recruitment, the applicant trackingis simple and more efficient. The firms which follow traditionalselection process can be very costly because they have to pay for thepostage of sending out application forms to candidates and theymay also have to pay for the travel expenses for candidates’ journeyto interview. The e-recruitment strategy makes the preliminaryautomated screening process of the applied candidates and reducesthe cost of selection process by calling only eligible employees forfurther process.

“The retail skector, especially in India, is facing acute competition fromlocal companies and even from global companies. We carefully see thatour firm should always be in competitive edge to capture the businessopportunities in market. We would adopt best of the technology whetheris local or global, whatever the software of hardware, considering thelong term advantage it may give to the firm in talent acquisition andperformance.” (Interview with HR Head).

Especially, calculating the cost of turnover in retail varies bybusiness model, scope of operations, geography and type of positionenvisages importance of e-recruitment strategy to improvethe recruitment and hiring efficiency for business excellence.E-recruitment solutions for hourly, field-based workforces aredifferent from salaried recruiting solutions typically offered by HR

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management system (HRMS) or ERP vendors. Adopting the rightapproach will result in massive savings and increased productivity.

13. TRAINING AND TALENT MANAGEMENT

The present qualitative analysis indicates that the training anddevelopment process can bring better output to the businessdevelopment.

Training is one of the most important activities business firmshave to engage with for sustainable performance and productivityfrom employees. Providing employees with training anddevelopmental opportunities encourages good performance,strengthens job-related skills and competencies, and helpsemployees keep up with changes in the workplace. In the salesdepartment training is extremely important since the salesexecutives’ faces variety of customer-interactive situations.Effectively handling the customers required problem solving, criticalthinking, innovative approach, and people skills. Especially, theretail sectors is concerned sales executives are in the front lines andtheir abilities to take care of the customer’s needs and wants oftenmakes the difference between success and failure. Sales executiveswhom offer differentiated customer experience, by deliveringexcellent customer relationship during the sales process are the assetsto any organization. Successful retailers must ensure their employeesare held to certain standards of behavior. Retaining employeesthrough great training programs guarantees high yield return oninvestment. In order to get right result the HR managers needs toadopt continuous learning and development programs. To whatextent the retail firms are adamant in extending right kind of learningand development programs and investing in employeeempowerment, which decides the human resource effectiveness.

“Strong talent management leads to greater workforce productivity andother benefits. The companies across the sectors are realizing that theycannot be successful unless they have a good strategy for developingtalent. The managers in Human Recourse Division keep track of the



fluctuations happening in the external and internal environment, conductjob analysis and feedbacks from the front end to the back end, and evaluatethe current skill and expertise to handle the customers and businessstakeholder, provide them with proper training and development activitiesto reach the desired destination. It’s not fussy game but a strategy throughdevelopment”. (Interview with HR Head).

Retail is a highly competitive and dynamic environment.Effective talent management in retail form depends on the approachof the top level management on the learning and developmentopportunities that extended to their managerial and operationalmembers. A professional approach to learning and increasing skilllevels is vital for individuals, managers and business owners. Herethe training programs are inevitable. In general, retail training aimsto increase skills to deal with customers. Many retail chains andcompanies have formal training programs for management traineesthat include both classroom and on-site training. Training time mayrange from one week or may last more than one year, giving traineesexperience during all sales seasons. Retail training depends on acertain blend of counseling, continuing education about thenonprofit, and a focus on customer service. During the trainingscandidates are exposed to Simulated Environments in Selling, Roleplays and Theatrical activities, Language, Communication skills,Front end and Back end operations, Self Development & RealizationWorkshops, Grooming & Etiquette, Dining Skills and much more.The talent management programs which extend such modulesproduce better result in business growth and development. The retailindustry requires better skilled and more flexible workers and yetthe logistics of delivering training and providing for continuallearning in the retail environment present enormous challenges(Harris and Church, 2002). Retail industry is a mix of manyoperations. The executives of retail firm oversee people at work inmany functional area viz., sales related workers, cashiers, customerservice representatives, stock clerks and order fillers, sales engineers,and wholesale sales representatives. They prepare work schedulesand assign workers to specific duties etc. Training of workers and

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executives in a retail firm is required at different levels - Floor,Executive & Managerial. Effective management and maintenanceof talent of executives through training and development effortscan reduce the task of the shop foloor level supervisors and theemployees can handle their job without much direction and control.The HR function is here closely knit with the talent identificationand maintenance for efficiency and productivity.

14. PERFORMANCE MANAGEMENT AND TALENTMANAGEMENT

The present qualitative analysis shows that the adequateconcentration on performance management process can bring betteroutput to the business development. This indicates that thesignificance of performance appraisal, being a major and pivotalHR activity, is to be emphasized for the growth, development andsuccess of any organization.

The performance management process is intended to drive theachievement of key business results is typically designed to ensurethat individual, group and enterprise goals and expectations areclearly defined, focused on key priorities, and well connected to thedrivers of results. Performance management processes are criticalto the development of high performing enterprises. PerformanceManagement is one of the key processes that, when effectivelycarried out, helps employees know that their contributions arerecognized and acknowledged. High Performance Retail is aboutthe implementation and execution of proven best practices forbreakthroughs in performance on the front lines, wherebreakthroughs in performance are defined as: significant andsustainable increases in sales and bottom line profits; accompaniedby aligned, positive and committed people; and exceptionallysatisfied and loyal customers.

“Our organization always showed the correlation between high leadershipabilities of the executives and employees scores on our leadership scoringprocess,” “We don’t believe in any form of casual approach to build up



the leadership among executives and employees. Its performance related.Our ability to accomplish is a direct function of a performance culturethat we have in place. The initiatives are run with the supportof technology application. This approach is giving maximum return ofinvestment in the managerial decision making process in termsof productivity”. (Interview with HR Head).

The retail business environment is experiencing major shifts inthe competitive and economic landscape. The retail industry is oneof the most difficult of all sectors to manage high turnover, rapidproduct cycles, and low margins. Retail organizations face manyworkforce management challenges, including increased competition,spiraling labor costs, stable prices, high turnover, and heightenedexposure to labor law liability. Motivating employees to performwell and achieve goals is the constant challenge of every retailmanager. A performance management system linking with intrinsicand extrinsic factors of employees and employers, can successfullyincite action and inspirethem to work harder and achieve betterresults.

“We as one the retail leading firm believe that by recognizing andrewarding deserving candidates with promotions and other awards,companies can nurture an atmosphere in which talent flourishes. Weapply strategies like mentoring, coaching and objective feedbackcontinuously to achieve employee’s empowerment through talentmanagement initiatives”. (Interview with HR Head).

Effective retail store management depends on satisfied,motivated, and loyal employees who will be productive, maintainassigned work schedules, and develop tenure with the firm. Oneway to review the performance and potential of staff is through asystem of performance appraisal. It is important that members ofthe organization know exactly what is expected of them, and theyardsticks by which their performance and results will be measured.In order to attract and keep satisfied and productive employees,retail store managers must know which dimensions of managementand behaviour that more taken into consideration. The objectiveassessment and feedback through continuous performance

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assessment can guarantee better retail operations and businessdevelopment. Robert Kreitner, Angelo Kinicki, (2002) in this contextindicates that employees of present era need instructiveand supportive feedback and designed rewards if they are totranslate their knowledge into improved productivity and superiorquality.

15. QUANTITATIVE RESEARCH

15.1. Hypothesis

1. There may have significant relationship between talentmanagement and business development in retail firms in India.

2. The talent management practices may have significant influenceon retail firms in India.

This particular research was conducted to analyze theinfluence of three factors, recruitment, and development andperformance management on talent management effectiveness. Thequestionnaire was pilot tested with 50 HR executives from retailindustry. The sample collected from the metro cities like Delhi,Mumbai, Pune, Baroda, Kanpur, Lucknow, Nagpur, Bhubaneswar,Bangalore, Hyderabad, Chennai Cochin, and Calcutta, byensuring regional representation. Since the proportion of HRexecutives in the retail firms and region varied the study followedproportional probabilistic sample size. The study considered 120HR executives.

The study did content and construct analysis by making use ofextensive literature and previously validated constructs. Itestablishes further the incorporation of the representativeness ofthe items in the questionnaire for adequate data collection. CronbachStandardized Alpha was estimated to assess the reliability of theitems selected for the study. As the relationship varied from 0.80 to0.91 the reliability test passed. All the 3 factors and the items in thequestionnaire have secured a reliability score above .60 and thus allthe 3 items were considered for the study.



Table 1

Validity and Reliability of Coping

Sl. Sub Variables Construct M % of Var. FactorNo. Talent explained Loading

ManagementFactors

1. Procurement Standardize job application 9.12 0.84 76.2 0.80processReduce time 0.81Reduce cost 0.86Improve efficiency 0.88More option for getting 0.90talented profileHigh strategic importance 0.80

2. Development Enhanced competitiveness 8.22 0.86 77.2 0.91Talent augmentation 0.86Better decision making 0.88High self confidence 0.85More involvement in workMore business orientation

3. Performance Better feedback 9.41 0.85 76.4 0.90Management Continuous improvement 0.88

Better Workflow 0.82Operational efficiency 0.81Competitive edge 0.80Target orientation 0.83Career orientation 0.81

Table 2

Regression Analysis: Procurement, Development and withFunctional Effectiveness

Dependent Variable Independent Variable:Talent Management Adjusted R2

Business Development

Procurement 0.070** 0.21Development 0.071** 0.20Performance management 0.079** 0.20

The major hypothesis stated includes “talent managementfactors may influence business development in retail industry”.Multiple regression analysis (Table 2) was used for examining

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whether each Business Development is influenced by 3 talentmanagement dimensions. All regression models are significant atthe 0.01 level. Here the finding is in line with talent managementfactors may influence business development in retail industry. Thusthe second hypothesis stated is well accepted.

16. RESULT AND DISCUSSION (QUANTITATIVE)

The major hypothesis stated includes (H1 and H2) “talentmanagement practices may have significant influence on retail firmsin India”. The findings have shown positive correlation betweentalent management factors and business development opportunityat 0.01 levels. The study substantiates many findings of pastresearches on the relationship between talent management andbusiness development in retail sector in specific. The study tries toexperiment with both qualitative and quantitative measurementsin order to analyse whether the findings make any difference, relatedto the influence of talent management factors on businessdevelopment. Both the approaches made it very clear that talentmanagement influence the business development opportunities inretail industry. The present study clearly indicates that the threedimensions selected for the study talent management viz., therecruitment (0.070**), development (0.071**) and performancemanagement (0.079**) is having high significance in the study(Table 2). The result obtained through the qualitative research onceagain proved through the application of quantitative research.

Talent Management - the process of optimizing the “talent” in anorganization — that is, the people who make any organizationfunction. Talent management is an integrated approach to assessing,selecting, developing, positioning and retaining key individuals inan organisation. It is an approach to the management of humancapital and knowledge as assets, in a dynamic manner that supportsbusiness strategyWhile the concepts behind talent management areas old as organizations themselves, new technologies canfundamentally alter the way we handle these ideas in practice. Talentmanagement consolidates all the strategic employee development



processes spanning the employees’ career with the company: fromhire to retire, including recruitment, education, career development,and performance management. It also encompasses the companyview of employee development, identifying and tracking highpotential employees to ensure future leaders can be effectivelypromoted from within and that successors are identified for keypositions. A strong Talent Management Strategy enables theorganization to find the best people, leverage their talent in the rightplace and right time, align employees and teams to corporate goals,maximize the impact of training, and retain and promote topperformers. It is specially emphasized in this discussion that theincorporation of technology in the HR process especially, in therecruitment and performance management system can supportbetter decision making among the HR functional level managers.

17. IMPLICATION

Talent management is the single biggest challenge faced by a high-growth industry. And, if a company is growing at double theindustry’s rate of growth, there’s the additional problem of gettinggood quality people in large numbers. Retail industry is one of thehigh growth industry which faces high challenge in talent acquisitionand management. The call is for HR practitioners to play a moreproactive and prominent role in order to retain the high skilledemployees who are constantly looking for greater gains and prospectsin their work. The three processes which identified in this researchpaper need more attention from the CEO level to have strategic peopleorientation. Organizations that formally decide to “manage theirtalent” undertake a strategic analysis of their current HR processes.This is to ensure that a co-ordinated, performance oriented approachis adopted. Or else, the development of business in a competitiveand volatile business scenario is a mirage to retail firms in India.

18. CONCLUSION

Today, many retail organizations are struggling with lack ofHR processes and technologies. In order to bring sustainable

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change in the business process the organization put clear cut HRprocess with the application of technology. The future of talentmanagement is lies in solutions premeditated from the groundup to provide business-centric functionality on a unified talentmanagement platform. Commencing a talent management plancan also be used to fascinate the types of employees that theorganization wants to join in organization. A best analysis ifthe organisational fit can be judged through talent managementinitiatives. Talent management steps will enable the organizationlearn what kinds of people work best and contribute best in theorganization; where developments can be made. Technologydriven recruitment process, Training and development,Performance Management System and Talent Management plan canwork hand in hand to improve the overall environment of theorganization.

19. RECOMMENDATION FOR FUTURE RESEARCH

The study limited to 120 HR executives and interviews whichconducted with limited number of top level executives. In order toarrive at better result and wider applicability, the studyenvisages more focus group discussions, and in-depth interviewsin the area of talent management in retail sector. Future studies tobe organized in to such firms where technology driven TalentManagement process are ongoing, so that the effectiveness ofsuch activities cam better compared with traditional firms. In thepresent research a satisfactory survey is insufficient becausesatisfying does not mean applying. A further evaluation willenhance knowledge of key success factors in talent management.The study envisages an integrated approach of both qualitativeand quantitative approaches with wider population should beconducted simultaneously for generalizability and transferabilityfindings.

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