Talent management in turbulent times: Selection, negotiation, and exploration strategies for talent management in the aeronautics and space industries

Abstract

Talent Management (TM) is traditionally analyzed as a set of interrelated processes that firms use to develop their human capital in accordance with their needs. Turbulent environmental conditions are pushing TM to evolve in order to cope with change and uncertainty and is prompting talent managers to attempt to change the nature of TM. We investigate how talent managers are conducting this change through a framework based on social agency. We present exploratory research conducted on 20 companies in the aeronautics and space sectors, a set of industries facing turbulence. On the basis of 35 formal and 27 informal interviews, we outline three strategies being used by talent managers that are enabling TM to evolve: selection, negotiation, and exploration strategies. Our research reveals that TM is a flexible construct within companies facing turbulence, which gives TM a role as a method of planning and a vehicle for change.

Keywords:

• Talent management
• temporal orientations
• environmentalturbulence
• Aerospace industries

Disclosure statement

No potential conflict of interest was reported by the author(s).

Appendix 1.  Additional data from interviews. (Between brackets are the terms used in, “Data structure”, for 1^st order themes).

Table

Notes

1 The names of the companies are not divulged here: instead, they are numbered, 1 to 20. The interviewees are also anonymized and given pseudonyms. We do, however, mention the interviewees’ management level and industry.