Talent management for NHS managers: human resources or resourceful humans?

Abstract

The need for effective leadership in the UK public sector has been a prominent discourse in recent years. One aspect of this is a growing interest in talent management. This article examines the evolution of processes used for managing talent and developing leaders in the UK's National Health Service (NHS) by applying human resource management theory to an empirical case study. Our aim was to provide a constructive, but critical, analysis of the current role of managerial talent management and to comment on the suitability of the adopted approach in the NHS. Over the past three decades the NHS has come to adopt an increasingly ‘hard’ approach to talent management, i.e. rationalistic, managerial and narrowly focused on leadership competencies and senior management roles. This parallels a more general shift in the NHS from its traditional public sector ethos and humanistic values to more business-oriented values and ways of working.

Keywords:

• HRM
• leadership
• NHS
• talent management
• workforce planning

Acknowledgements

Our project was funded by the National Institute for Health Research Service Delivery and Organisation (NIHR SDO) programme. The views and opinions expressed in this article are those of the authors and do not necessarily reflect those of the SDO programme, NIHR, NHS or the DH.

Additional information

Notes on contributors

Fraser Macfarlane

Fraser Macfarlane is Senior Research Fellow, Barts and the London School of Medicine and Dentistry, Queen Mary College, UK.

Joanne Duberley

Joanne Duberley is Professor of Organisational Studies, University of Birmingham, UK.

Chris Fewtrell

Chris Fewtrell is an associate of the University of Birmingham and was a former NHS trust chief executive.

Martin Powell

Martin Powell is Professor of Health and Social Policy, University of Birmingham, UK.