This report is focused on exploring the dimensions of talent management, which could help the Ministry of Education improve its performance through recruiting and retaining top talent in the long term. The research questions specified in the study emphasise the need for implementing appropriate talent management practices at the respective Ministry. One of the important arguments presented in the study is that talent management can significantly enhance employees’ creative and leadership skills. By recognising the potential of employees, the organisation can move towards the future in the sense of becoming a highly agile, transparent, and adaptive institution focused on anticipating the needs of its stakeholders. The methodology used in the study is identified as qualitative research, which allows for an in-depth investigation of the participants’ distinct views on the implementation of optimal talent management practices in the Ministry of Education. It can be concluded that top officials in the Ministry should ensure a holistic understanding of talent management as a successful philosophy adopted by many contemporary organisations.

The implementation of proper talent management practices is believed to have a rather positive impact on the development of optimal leadership skills of employees. It is important to note that talent management represents a flexible and holistic approach to unlock the potential of workers in the sense of providing them various opportunities for professional development and growth. The most extensively trained and skillful individuals can be perceived as one of the greatest assets of contemporary organisations (Lubitch, Devine, Orbea, & Glanfield, 2007, p. 87). Therefore, refining the overall concept of talent management is important in understanding how employees should be adequately supported in the dynamic workplace. In this way, they could significantly improve their performance, which would reflect in optimal outcomes for both workers and organisations. The use of certain policies and external resources can facilitate the process of training employees to manifest the utmost of their capacity in organisations.

In relation to the situation observed in the Ministry of Education, it can be stated that the respective institution has significant problems pertaining to the management of talent internally (Yarnall, 2007, p. 16). This can be explained with the fact that the Ministry of Education lacks an effective talent management procedure for identifying the most talented employees and helping them progress further. In this way, employees working in the Ministry tend to encounter various problems, such as high turnover, employee dissatisfaction, and lack of motivation and creativity. The performance appraisal procedures followed by the Ministry seem improperly devised to address the emerging concerns of employees. For instance, the failure of the Ministry to provide specific benefits for creative individuals has been translated in greater employee dissatisfaction. This implies that such creative people feel inadequately appreciated for their extensive efforts to make a meaningful change within the respective educational institution.

As illustrated in research, the lack of appropriate talent management practices and programmes prevents organisational growth and innovation (Lubitch, Devine, Orbea, & Glanfield, 2007, p. 48). It is apparent that corporations have solely focused on survival recently, considering the economic uncertainties prevailing in the modern business environment. In this way, human capital development, which represents the most substantial part of talent management, has been ignored. As a result of the gradual improvement of the global economy, talent management has emerged as a quite important issue for many organisations around the world. One of the most persistent problems, as illustrated in the Ministry of Education, is related to overlooking succession planning (Yarnall, 2007, p. 31). Yet, it should be emphasised that managers at organisations should consider that a succession plan may not be the optimal solution to all problems. In fact, corporations are expected to provide sufficient development opportunities, not only training programmes. From the perspective of the Ministry of Education, it would be a relevant step to establish a solid, internal culture that values the continuous development of employees.

Global business experts tend to argue that human capital and talent management are extremely important to facilitate organisational performance in the long term. The current knowledge economy should be adequately supported with the provision of relevant, innovative ideas that could be used to enhance the professional development of employees in the Ministry. It should be persistently stressed out that the management of human capital should be similar to the management of financial capital (CIPD, 2006, p. 10). Thus, modern organisations need to have appropriate information about their people to support the implementation of the most effective strategies in relation to talent management.

The importance of having talented and skillful employees should be adequately communicated to professionals working in the Ministry of Education. They should be informed about the benefits of presenting a comprehensive talent management programme that can properly align professional development goals with objectives of organisational growth. Teachers’ role should be clearly recognised in this context, as they are those employees whose potential should be developed to address constantly evolving trends in the field of education. Both teachers and managers can collaborate on finding optimal strategies to enhance the role of talent management in the Ministry (Lubitch, Devine, Orbea, & Glanfield, 2007, p. 53). As a result, it can be expected that the respective educational institution will function at its full capacity. The workforce of the Ministry is among the country’s priorities, considering the importance of communicating the national vision as efficiently as possible. In order to achieve such relevant, strategic objectives, employees in the Ministry should be properly motivated and appreciated for the efforts they manifest on a daily basis.

The aim of this research is to develop an effective strategy to implement optimal talent management practices in the Ministry of Education. The utmost goal is to produce substantial changes in the educational system in the sense of making it open and flexible to withstand the challenges of modernity.

Objectives

The objectives outlined in this research are presented below:

• To understand the need of implementing talent management practices;
• To emphasise the important role of talent in the dynamic educational field;
• To specify the challenges that prevented the development of proper talent management practices in the past;
• To develop an optimal strategy of implementing talent management practices in the Ministry of Education

The current research is guided by several research questions presented below:

1. Why does the Ministry of Education need appropriate talent management practices?
2. How can talent management contribute to enhancing employees’ creative and leadership skills?
3. What are the challenges encountered by the Ministry of Education in its efforts to manage talent in the past?
4. What is the most suitable strategy that can be implemented by the Ministry of Education to facilitate the development of talent management practices?

As repeatedly emphasised in research, human capital has emerged as one of the key drivers of successfully performing organisations (CIPD, 2006, p. 77). Therefore, modern companies are focused on integrating talent management to facilitate the performance of creative and skillful employees. The process of attracting and retaining talented employees represents the responsibility of all organisational members, which illustrates the comprehensive nature of the entire talent management system. It has been observed that an effective strategy of talent management is related to the constant sharing of information about talented and highly motivated employees who are ready to display their potential irrespective of numerous organisational challenges (Lubitch, Devine, Orbea, & Glanfield, 2007, p. 130). In this context, talent management has turned out a growing concern for HR managers, considering that employees are the greatest asset of contemporary organisations. It has been argued that a holistic approach to talent management is needed in identifying and attracting the best talent in certain fields. The major reason why talent management is important is that it leads to optimal employee satisfaction, which in turn results in improved organisational performance. This means that an existing talent management programme can lead to the development of a learning organisation, which openly supports learning and job advancement opportunities provided to creative employees (Yarnall, 2007, p. 22). Moreover, companies that place importance on talent management tend to achieve greater return on investments in training and development options presented to their most talented employees.

Figure 1: Talent Management as a Process (Bersin, 2007)

Poor talent management apparently affects organisations in a negative manner. For instance, untrained employees are more likely to make various errors that impact the quality of the tasks they do at their job. However, it should be noted that training can be beneficial only in cases where the right skills needs can be properly identified (Lubitch, Devine, Orbea, & Glanfield, 2007, p. 135). The option of learning on the job can be further introduced to improve employees’ engagement. Therefore, another essential reason to indicate why talent management is important is associated with high levels of engagement of workers. Their motivation and commitment can increase their productivity over time.

The fact that human capital can be termed one of the drivers of a successful organisation is indicative why HR managers focus on presenting adequate opportunities for employee professional development. Although many acknowledge this fact, few government organisations and agencies have established formal programming to support talent among their employees (Kouzes, 2017, p. 14). The talent shortage is being experienced in these areas of government, especially because the skills that its current workforce possess do not match the rapidly developing and increasingly complex skills required to run the educational system to provide contemporary education to learners across the country (Munir, Aida & Shukran, 2013, p. 18).

Figure 2: Importance of Talent Management (Infogram, n. d.)

Few studies aim at investigating the management of talent in government facilities. Kouzes (2017, p. 20) confirms the limited amount of information and research done on the subject and notes that because talent management is not popular in government ministries and agencies, they miss the development programmes and growth opportunities available. Anyone could expect that in a knowledgeable economy, the heads and producers of knowledge would put more emphasis on talent management, and even have a competitive edge in that sector, but that is not the case.

When dealing with human resources, the first theory that is considered is Maslow’s hierarchy of needs theory. In this case, talent is classified as a social need, because talent promotes self-esteem. People want to work for an employer who allows them to grow and increase their potential, thereby allowing them to realise their self-actualisation needs. Talent retention also receives support from the equity theory of motivation (Munir, Aida & Shukran, 2013, p. 28). Equity balance is a major principle of the theory. According to this theory, the justice, fairness, and equity of management, determines the level of motivation an individual exhibits. It has been illustrated that if managers show higher motivation, this increases the motivational levels of employees themselves.

Figure 3: Talent Management Consulting (ALM Intelligence, 2015)

Lyria (2014, p. 29) has developed essential tools that the Ministry can use to manage its talent. According to Riccio (2010, p. 16), it all begins with workforce planning. This is the intentional goal to access talented individuals, both from outside and inside the organisation. The candidates should possess the skills, knowledge, and behaviours needed, to achieve the objectives and demands of the Ministry. The second step is to recruit effectively by identifying, attracting, and hiring talented people, who have the potential to help the Ministry accomplish its objectives (Riccio, 2010, p. 7). Executive coaching helps to build a relationship that encourages inspiration and motivation, to help transform employees to that they can provide optimal performance. Leadership development is an essential element because it helps to enhance leadership abilities and attitudes. Other strategies include engagement, retention, running recognition programs, and maintaining diversity, be it in skills, culture, or ethnicity.

The Ministry of Education can benefit from the achievements that talent management can have on the institutions of learning it administers (Hamidi, Saberi & Safari, 2014, p. 34). Despite the notion that the government should be different from the ‘business world,’ it is important to realize that growing talent from within the Ministry will entail considerable benefits, especially given the importance of education and the increased enrollment in Dubai’s educational institutions (Óskarsdóttir, 2015, p. 15). There is also increased competition among schools and government sectors, which increases the need for accountability. Therefore, when schools and government sectors need to innovate, it will only be met by developing talent.

The importance of talent management in the educational sector is also evident in the mission statement and strategic plans of learning institutions across the country (Davies & Davies, 2011, p. 20). In all these cases, teachers and lecturers are viewed as important assets to achieve success. Despite this, it is amazing that talent management is practiced so infrequently, yet it is not that the Ministry lacks planning skills (Manning, Agere & Commonwealth Secretariat, 2002, p. 34). Since every learning institution in the Ministry administers and operates using strategic planning, it makes sense that the Ministry itself should take up the practice. Part of the exercise includes creating a succession plan that will facilitate the transitioning of authority and power.

Just as other organisations face challenges, the Ministry of Education finds it difficult to manage its administrative talent. There has been increased turnover, burnout, and retirements among workers (Yarnall, 2007, p. 93). With an aging population in many countries, Dubai in the UAE has become a source of labour and workforce for many sectors in the world, and organisations and institutions in Dubai have to compete for the available labour to prevent a shortage in is various sectors (Davies & Davies, 2011, p. 21). The significant increase in retirements that institutions of learning expect in the future, and those vacancies that already exist, lead to questions regarding the Ministry of Education’s preparedness to replace administrative leaders. This has had the Ministry dealing with one of the most significant workforce dilemmas yet, mainly because of the increased competition for employees (Manning, Agere & Commonwealth Secretariat, 2002, p. 28). The educational sectors suffer more because many trained teachers are now absorbed into other professions, and there is already a shortage. Because of the increasing importance of a talented workforce, talent management has become one of the Ministry’s imperatives.

Despite the importance attached to talent management programmes, the education sector experiences certain challenges resulting from the lack of such practices. Few institutions in the field of higher education have developed formal programmes to support existing talent in the educational workforce (Lubitch, Devine, Orbea, & Glanfield, 2007, p. 148). Higher education tends to be slow in adopting certain corporate management processes. This means that the overall concept of talent management seems largely unexplored in the respective sector. Apart from leadership training, a few studies have been conducted on individual professional development. Thus, the need for attention should be emphasised in the field of education, considering that the aim of the study is to provide an effective strategy to implement talent management practices in the Ministry of Education (CIPD, 2006, p. 79). The educational environment usually stresses the importance of continuous learning and forward-thinking patterns. Therefore, it is paradoxical that talent management is inadequately developed in this sector. The fact that talent management is an extensively used strategy in the business field is indicative of the benefits implied with such practices.

It has been argued that educational institutions experience the challenge of managing their administrative talent in an efficient manner. This has led to an increasing turnover rate, along with employee burnout and growing dissatisfaction (Lubitch, Devine, Orbea, & Glanfield, 2007, p. 127). Considering the unique characteristics of each educational institution, it is important to uncover the most optimal approach to talent management in the sense of finding the best fit to organisational culture, values, and principles. A specific model of talent management should be customised to the environment in which educational institutions operate, as shown in research.

One of the dimensions explored in the literature with regards to talent management is associated with the concept of retirement. The lack of a sufficient number of skilled employees to occupy important positions in the educational field tends to create significant challenges. Researchers have recognised the importance of talent management as a fundamental organisational imperative due to the emphasis on effective leadership (Lubitch, Devine, Orbea, & Glanfield, 2007, p. 155). The field of higher education has experienced a quite high rate of retirements, which obviously impacts the performance of the respective institutions. In this way, educational institutions may not have the necessary talent to replace leaders at important administrative positions. Such an institutional challenge should be properly addressed, as indicated in the literature.

Talent Management Used to Advance Workers’ Skills

With the dynamic and modern organisational setting, talent management has become a driver for corporate success. Managing talents allows organisations to accomplish business demands, which are crucial for the international business environment and corporate policies. Talent management stresses on organisational prospects and is aimed to highlight the competency of each employee and acknowledge the significance of preserving individuals with mandatory skills in a dynamic labour market (CIPD, 2006, p. 143). All academics, consultants, and experts are aware of the complications encountered by organisations in an exertion to remain competitive in the universal corporate markets. HR strategies have primarily transferred the focus on talent management programmes in the last decade, particularly with the advent of a strategic talent management strategy (Yarnall, 2007, p. 21). There is a substantial variation between the prospects of new employees or providing orientation to existing employees. Talent management is well established and accredited and its importance is growing.

The recruitment of well-educated employee with the competencies and skills will provide beneficial conditions for the organisation: many HR aspects reflect the idea of implementing a well-defined talent management approach. The relationship between the adequacy of talents, managerial practices, employee and organisation relationship, and employee and the suitability of task/occupation has been assessed before (Lubitch, Devine, Orbea, & Glanfield, 2007, p. 213). It has been theorised talent management initiatives help HR managers examine the skills of employees and assist employees to advance their skills by participating in talent management programmes. In contemporary organisations, it is essential that strategic HR issues such as talent management can be resolved due to the growing problems evolving from varying internal and external setting, which has made it difficult for organisations to recognise that talent management has now become the major source of competitive advantage.

Most businesses as a result of internationalisation activities, such as mergers, outsourcing, business growth and cross-cultural communication, have introduced ideas to try new methodologies in the development of talents, as talent management has been measured to play a vital role in resolving issues linked to the varying internal and external settings of organisations (CIPD, 2006, p. 13). Talent development and preservation issues have to be resolved at the executive level of the organisation and management of business decisions and processes need to emphasise on the outcomes, which should exhibit new HR ideas and activities. Talent management is a business strategy, which has contributed substantially to enhance personnel productivity and profitability, as the core objective of talent management is to boost productivity and administrative performance which allows the organisation to recruit the talented people, to perform the duties and acquire the right occupations empowering businesses to succeed and avoid job disparity (Lubitch, Devine, Orbea, & Glanfield, 2007, p. 41). Talent management also allows organisations to attain their goals and satisfy the clients by delivery of quality goods and services by qualified employees. Talent management also plays a key role in incorporating employee attitudes and behaviour with the organisational needs. The following aspects have been thoroughly considered in the literature on talent management:

Personnel Behaviour: The employee behaviour is critically determined by talent development practices and worker characteristics (knowledge, principles, skills, competencies, and abilities) in the sense that talents can transform an employee’s personal existing abilities and beliefs. The talent management programme inspire the recruitment of employees and formation of collaborative environment, which is categorised by improved employee contribution and participation to drive corporate success (Yarnall, 2007, p. 40).

Assess Potentialities and Skills: The role of HR practices such as human resource planning is to predict the kind of skills to be exhibited by workers in the future by evaluating the presently available skills manifested by existing workers in the organisation. The process can be executed by introducing performance evaluation programmes to measure the possible skill gaps to envisage the capacities needed by the organisation in the future, especially in terms of possible recruitment.

Diverse Organisational Environment: A cross-cultural setting is the other goal for giving significance to talent management programmes and behavioural trainings. Dealing with the changes associated with the colleagues is very essential for the employees. Diverse talent management programmes tend to facilitate employees to comprehend the ethnic or cultural variation in employees from the same region or other countries, assisting them to collaborate with them without difficulty.

Stress: Well-being is the other vital cause for providing talent development training to workers. There are numerous reasons of anxiety at the workplace, which can be linked from senior management to subordinates’ atttude to no clarity in task and sometimes private life. Talent management permits employees to know how to cope with the issues and boost their well-being and commitment.

Conflict Management Skills: Workers need to comprehend the meaning of conflict, as they dhould be equipped with methods to identify when they are getting into conflict disagreement to cope their behaviour more efficiently in those problematic situations. They can implement different tools to assist themselves and colleagues in conflict to resolve the issue fairly and beneficially (CIPD, 2006, p. 12). Through talent development programmes and behavioural training, employees can learn about conflict management.

Leadership: Only technical insight cannot make someone a leader of people; human resource knowledge is something needed to every business manager. Now all businesses do not want only technical professionals but employees with the interactive and communicative qualities, who can be exhibited as great leaders at the operational level (Lubitch, Devine, Orbea, & Glanfield, 2007, p. 133). As firms have given significance to the emotional intelligence for producing new generation leaders, firms are also stressing on introducing talent management programmes to promoting leadership skills among existing employees.

The study aimed at seeking responses from three respondents. The three are top officials in the Ministry of Education. The first respondent is identified as the Employee Relations Manager for the Ministry; the second respondent is the HR consultant while the third is a Strategic Specialist. The three are thought to have the needed insight regarding the conditions in the Ministry and how they can be rectified. The three are also suitable candidates because they are the primary decision-makers in matters related to human resources in the Education Ministry.

Participants have been chosen based on their experience and knowledge on the implementation of different talent management programmes.

The study deployed qualitative research methods due to the nature of responses required.

a. Interviews

Interviews have been conducted using a guided questionnaire, and the responses given were recorded using a speech dictation device and later transcribed, to ease the analysis of the information given (Manning, Agere & Commonwealth Secretariat, 2002, p.28). The fact that the researcher might intend to keep the original formulation of the respondents, the need to utilize certain transactions was considered urgent. In this way, the researcher would avoid premature and unconscious interpretation of answers provided by the respondents. Transcription is important because the researcher also hopes to keep the original formulations of the respondents, to prevent unconscious and premature interpretations of the answers the respondents provide. The interviews may last for approximately an hour each, one interviewee at a time.

b. Informative conversations

The study tends to encourage informative conversations outside the confines of the interview questions. These were used to obtain a greater understanding and clarity of the issues in the Ministry of Education, investigating what procedures support or discourage talent management, and what the interviewee thinks can be done to rectify the issue.

c. Ministry documents and other publications

The research demonstrated the importance to examine any documents and publications released concerning trends in its workforce, to take note of factors such as turnover rates, the retiring population, hires, appraisals, and any other important information regarding the workforce and talent management activities (Kouzes, 2017, p. 28)

d. International HR and talent management publications

These publications have become a relevant source of information on HR strategies that have been tried before in corporations and ministries from other countries. These studies provided sufficient information on which strategies would best suit the Education Ministry, and the results expected from their use.

The interviewees have been adequately informed of the purpose of the study so that they can be fully aware of the impact of their responses. They were also requested to give consent to being recorded in the course of the interview, for the purpose of transcription only. In this way, the researcher complied with major rules of conducting a qualitative research.

The researcher expected to determine the reasons for the Ministry not running a talent management sector before and how this has affected the Ministry’s workers. The study aimed at determining the specific challenges that the Ministry has faced in its effort to manage talent without a talent management’s sector, as well as determining the gap that this sector will fill upon its establishment. Lastly, the study hopes to develop a type of formula to help the Ministry implement a talent management programme, one that will be consistent and dependable.

Talent management seeks to develop employees who are suited for future leadership positions and to establish the continuous development of all employees, in such a way that the organisation attracts highly qualified external resources while making sure that the current workforce remains significantly able. Talent management has not been practiced in the MoE, except for few projects whose reach does not affect the entire MoE workforce. This has caused a high turnover rate, employee dissatisfaction, lack of creativity and innovation, performance appraisal that is not satisfactory, lack of benefits for creative people, lack of competencies, and lack of succession planning, among other problems. This study seeks to come up with a programme that will see the Ministry’s administration manage talent for all its employees in an easy and continuous process.

It has been indicated in this study, after conducting interviews and informative conversations with top officials in the Ministry of Education, that the respective institution needs appropriate talent management practices considering the importance of recognising and retaining talented employees. In terms of creativity and leadership, those officials expressed their firm belief that the presence of talent management programmes can facilitate employees’ commitment. It has been illustrated in the interview findings that the integration of talent management should be done fully in the respective Ministry. The interviewed specialists also claimed that appropriate information about talented employees should be extensively shared across different institutional departments, which would increase transparency and flexibility in reporting. The Ministry of Education should focus on the priority of training the best talent, so that creative employees can assume to occupy relevant positions in their career path development (Yarnall, 2007, p. 62).

From the perspective of the interviewees, talent management has been largely considered a tool for enabling a successful business environment within the Ministry of Education. It has been pointed out that the Ministry of Education encountered significant challenges in its efforts to manage talent in the past. Those challenges were mostly related to the improperly functioning human resources department within the Ministry. For instance, this department fail to perform diverse functions, such as hiring, retaining and training. Yet specialists working within the department have realised the importance of strategic human resources in the sense of becoming actively involved in the overall corporate strategy of the institution. In this way, more emphasis has been given to training, more effective compensation systems, and transparent corporate communications (Lubitch, Devine, Orbea, & Glanfield, 2007, p. 29). The focus of the HR department on such strategic objectives implies the emergence of a relevant shift towards talent management.

The interviewees emphasised that the implementation of the employee lifecycle model has been considered optimal in streamlining various hiring and leadership processes. As a result, it can be expected that employees can be properly guided through different stages of their career development. At each phase of employee development and professional growth, it can be indicated that employee performance is optimally measured and managed to reflect important organisational goals. The top officials in the Ministry of Education argued that the dimensions of ongoing training, feedback, and support played an important role in helping the Ministry realise its gaps in relation to talent management initiatives (CIPD, 2006, p. 119). Therefore, professionals in the Ministry should reevaluate the potential of the respective institution in implementing an optimal strategy to develop effective talent management practices. It has been indicated that the process of building and maintaining a talent pipeline can be rather beneficial to the Ministry, as officials in the institutions can review talent management best practices and apply relevant principles of effective talent management. Nurturing talent has become an integral part of the corporate culture at the organisation, as in this way, the emphasis has been upon addressing key elements from the philosophy behind talent management practices.

The first participant responded that the concept of talent management is prominent for numerous reasons because multinational corporations and SMEs should emphasise more on recruiting and developing people for the future, and ‘alent management is expected to attain this objective. The concept about talent management can also include occupational development, which has been complicated to utilise in organisations for a short-time, since employees were left out to restructure their own personal characteristics. Competency-based management is about positive ideas – taking sustainable initiatives for the best employees, investing in HR programmes to develop them, creating potential skillful workers and hence about people’s competencies. Moreover, the concept of talent management has the probability to achieve both the objectives of the organisation and helping the individual, which is habituated with the existing policy of what HR should be attempting to do.

Diverse organisations have diverse resourcing issues, adopt to diverse labour markets and function on cross-cultural regions. Therefore, they are required to have diverse types of focus for their talent management initiatives. There are numerous conditions in which companies target proficient and highly skilled recruits who can develop equitably and naturally into more senior management positions with appropriate selection and training and development as they advance. In such examples, scholars suggest the entire organisational development of talent management, but this may not enhance competitive value to what companies are already doing. On the other side, the second interviewee specified that organisations where professional paths are promoted to provide more executive or more administrative jobs, a light element of talent management can comprise all HR managers looking for workers with potential for another occupational stage and what scholars might refer to ‘step‐by‐step’ advancement to prepare employees for their next professional move.

In many businesses, for instance, organisational supervisors are prepared in this mode by giving individual advancement training to the most talented individuals within their group, if those employees are stimulated to become supervisors. Talent management as a dynamic approach to both competency and professional growth, and this has been mostly provided when there are more detailed types of responsibilities/jobs which are complicated to fill, either because hiring is difficult and/or because occupational paths require very diverse competencies and skills at different levels in the workplace. In such examples, scholars observe numerous kinds of HR consideration within the organisation. The most widespread consideration of HR strategy tackles the future supply of managers, frequently called the strategies policies to consider cautiously in which stage to act and with what results. If organisations disregard the issue of future leaders, it is difficult to provide employees the set of managerial experiences which might prepare them efficiently. Talent management is not about the whole organisation or senior management. In many business, there are specific internal elements in the workforce which require positive consideration to exploit them well.

The interview participants further responded that practical or specialised groups are frequently difficult to hire and preserve. Talent shortages can be observed for such groups, for instance accountants, IT specialists, engineers, etc. At present, companies may be contemplating about a practical talent channel giving a worker an initial occupational development through to a senior management role or a middle role. A less widespread HR strategy is to emphasise on individual roles, which are difficult to cope and exhibit a risk to the organisation if they cannot be occupied/preserved. Comprehending how organisations stress on their talent management policy, the participants argued that HR managers also need to consider at how to discover the right fit to develop and preserve people for the corporate need recognised, in a way that is suitable to the firm, its organisational culture and its labour force.

The initial step in acknowledging and prospering high-potential employees is to describe the meaning of high-potential. High-potential workers can be recognised as individuals who have the competency, determination, enthusiasm, and aspiration to hold senior management roles in an organisation. Once these employees have been recognised, they can be facilitated by HR managers in preparing for future leadership roles. These advancement initiatives permit high-potentials to develop and enhance within an organisation instead of using their competencies and experience elsewhere. In some examples, it is unchallenging to select an employee full of potential, but appropriately recognising those with high-skilled workers in a formal mode can assist building integrity and reliability throughout an organisation. One of the participants answered that to find high-potential workers, the organisation needs take into consideration the significance of the future in developing adequate talent management opportunies. Companies should have a strong grasp about the long-term needs of an organisation when measuring what type of senior management that should be developed from existing employees. Anticipated roles and responsibilities should be clearly described, strategies should be presented to fill each occupation and role, and timeframes should be developed. Once this framework is prepared, the norms to recognise high-potentials must be described.

The standards also must be assessable to assist or limit the organisation’s competency pool. Of the numerous evaluation procedures utilised to measure high-potentials, the sophisticated methodology is the standard-based approach, as indicated in this study. This methodology establishes what an organisation is searching for in its high-capable workers and these qualities and skills can be evaluated using mechanisms, such as evaluation centers, role-plays, presentation, and scenarios. Once the standards are described in a way that can be assessed, the highly-potential employees can be selected, monitored, and judged based on the standards and their job performance. Well-described standards also assist in measuring the difference between an employee’s potential and willingness.

Each firm needs to measure whether to inform a worker of his or her recognised potential. There is an existing discussion whether the recognised high-potential workers should be informed. There is a debate for each side, but companies are advised to progress with attentiveness if specifying such a plan to employees. Personnel may have the right to recognise that they are outperforming and their job performance is attaining higher standards with the potential for development, but in some examples, this can lead to exaggerated self-esteem and augmented expectations. If the decision to inform workers that they have been recognised as high-capable workers, it is vital to develop programmes for their advancement as swift as possible in order to preserve their morale and efficiency high. Executing and communicating a comprehensive recognition plan will enhance the high-potential selection process, boost the insight of equality within an organisation, and decrease high-capable drop-out rates.

One of the participants in the interview specified that international talent needs advancement and change, as multinational corporations will need to develop a new norm for areas, such as gender roles, equality, cross-cultural communication, modernisation, and loyalty. These issues have a considerably diverse meaning around the globe, and organisations are required to distinctly define each norm and its significance, holding their labour force responsible for preserving those new standards. As for the long-term, current leaders believed that it would be progressively vital for organisations to be established in a way that permits both the business operations and the workforce the capability to adapt to a changeable global world, and function in an emerging world market while staying competitive. In this modern competitive environment, corporate strategy and talent advancement will need to be linked in a substantial manner.

Talent advancement will need to be integrated with HR strategy to guarantee that business objectives are achieved and social international technology can be entrenched in business strategy. While many companies are currently looking at talent development as a just-in-time (JIT) system or a bonus for highly performed employees, this contemporary world will boost the need for talent advancement to be truly international. This is a strategic tool for achieving long-term organisational needs, all to ensure that they are building global talent advancement initiatives that are filling long-term talent gaps. Developing methodologies for engaging newly recruited workers, which could be through providing diverse roles, meeting employees where they are based, or other initiatives to participate with everyone (not just top-performing employees), as this will become progressively vital for organisations. As worker choice continues to grow, organisations will need to understand how to be an employer of choice to a gradually inconsistent labour market.

These initiatives will require additional capital and resources, and dealing with the outlays linked with having an entirely incorporated international talent advancement plan, finding fiscal support and developing return on investment (ROI) measures will be a core issue that many organisations may not be equipped for. Analytical mechanisms will need to be acquired and put into utilisation to guarantee that the massive investment in these initiatives is appropriately and practically tracked and described. The participants further discussed that global training and advancement initiatives will continue to progress to include not only the face-to-face seminar room, but a strong digital learning setting as well. Building effective virtual learning policies and programmes that are internationally flexible, easy to modernise, and reachable to learners all over the globe regardless of government limitations will become a new issue for companies who are still unable to understand a business-wide social media policy. As the corporate world becomes more international, firms will need to establish plans to deal with the fiscal and cultural instability they must cope.

Companies only need to assess the trends these days to observe how a transformation in one marketplace can influence the rest of the globe. This will become even more associated as companies compete internationally. Regardless of the industry, operations, size, or business strategy, international trends and challenges can have an impact on the business. The strategy will need to transform to guarantee that organisations are engaging all divisions and regions in this contemporary, global focus. Scholars recommended that developing tools to provide permanent learning journeys for employees will become dominant, as organisations work to stay competitive in this modern, fast-moving, international setting. It is moderately straightforward to recognise and evaluate specialists in specific business or technical fields, but much more complicated to measure whether those employees have the management skills, leadership competencies, business and global diversity insight needed for the nature of senior management today.

In recommending a suitable strategy that can be implemented by the Ministry of Education, with the purpose to facilitate the development of talent management practices, certain aspects should be thoroughly considered by the officials working at the Ministry. In this context, it is recommended to implement a talent management strategy that is adequately aligned with the business strategy of the institution (Lubitch, Devine, Orbea, & Glanfield, 2007, p. 55). The role of successful profiles is crucial in turning into an effective strategy of implementing talent management practices. It can be pointed out that if the Ministry improves its financial performance, this can positively reflect in its decision to use substantial competencies for succession management and inside promotions of employees who have a proven track of optimal performance. The design of the mentioned success profiles is done with the purpose to properly manage talent with regards to specific and realistic business objectives. The key plans and priorities of the Ministry of Education should be adequately reflected in those success profiles, which can be intended to provide an initial strategic direction for the further development of the Ministry’s goals pertaining to talent management initiatives.

It should be emphasised that talent management cannot be perceived as a democracy. Such a reminding note is important in realising the challenges related to the improper implementation of certain talent management strategies. For instance, the Ministry of Education should try its best to avoid the mistake of allocating limited resources for the equal development across employees. Instead, the respective institution should maintain a differential focus, implying that individuals with superior performance can obtain the maximum amount of benefits (Yarnall, 2007, p. 8). This means that high-potential leaders and those employees creating value for the organisation should obtain the greatest benefits. Additional development provided to those employees under the basic philosophy of talent management can further enhance their success in their career paths.

Therefore, the Ministry should place importance on training and development programmes that can extensively improve the strategic capacities of employees. Yet receiving more developmental attention should be properly maintained by the organisation, especially from the perspective of ensuring equity and social justice while dealing with diverse employees. The issues of employees potential, performance, and readiness should be adequately explored by the Ministry in order to find the optimal balance needed for the introduction of effective talent management practices. In this way, it should be emphasised to top officials working at the Ministry of Education that the paradigm of talent management is mostly about putting the right individuals in the right job positions. This can give them a chance to prove their potential in a flexible and transparent working environment that values effective two-way communication (Lubitch, Devine, Orbea, & Glanfield, 2007, p. 48). The Ministry of Education should aim at expanding its learning agility and adaptability, considering the constantly evolving character of education and the persistently emphasised need of lifelong learning opportunities.

The researcher in this project expected to experience problems accessing the interviewees, especially because this process related to visiting government offices dominated by bureaucracies and insufficient chains of command. It took a while before the researcher could book an appointment with the interviewees, which apparently slowered the entire study in terms of gathering and analysing data. Another research limitation that should be considered is related to the implementation of qualitative research methodology in the sense that it prevented the researcher from generalising the findings to the wider population. In this way, the degree of reliability and validity of research findings may be sufficiently compromised. Yet future research on the implementation of optimal talent management practices may focus on using mixed methods research, which combines the benefits of both qualitative and quantitative research for attaining a more thorough understanding of the research problem.

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