Your purpose in this paper is to apply the best practices you have studied in this course to an analysis of the HR practices at a real company by completing a talent management practice analysis. You will begin by identifying a company and a human resource professional to interview, either in person or remotely. Your interview should focus on how the company administers each of the following areas of talent management:

• Recruiting

• Selection

• Compensation and Benefits

• Performance Management

• Succession Management

• Training and Development

• Retention

After conducting the interview, you will compare the company’s talent management processes to best practices in the field. In your paper, you should identify where the company’s practices are consistent with best practices and make recommendations for improvement for the areas that are not consistent with best practices.

Course objectives covered in this paper/project include CO 2, CO 3, CO 4, CO 5, CO 6, CO 7

PROCESS

The project includes three parts: (1) your choice of the company and interviewee, (2) creation of the interview questions, and (3) writing of the paper.

Part 1 (Weeks 1 to 2)

Tasks

• Scan the textbook and readings to preliminarily identify important talent management topics and practices.

• Identify an organization with well-established talent management practices. Contact a human resources professional who is responsible for talent management or human resources practices in that organization to request an interview.

• Your interviewee should be a talent management professional who is responsible for human resources/talent management. Do not select an operational manager or executive who does not work specifically in human resource management.

Submission 1 (Week 2)

Submit information to your mentor about the company and professional chosen for the course project. Provide clear rationales for your choices.

Part 2 (Weeks 3 to 4)

Tasks

• Compose the interview questionnaire you will use to identify the processes for each area of talent management at the company you have selected.

• Write clear questions that will help you identify how the selected company conducts each area of talent management.

• Briefly explain how you plan to use the questionnaire.

Submission 2 (Week 4)

Submit to your mentor the set of questions you have developed. Provide a rationale for your choices.

Part 3 (Weeks 5 to 8)

Part 3A Tasks

During wWeeks 5 to 6, interview the HR professional about the organization and its talent management practices based on your interview questionnaire. The interview can be either tightly structured (where you ask only questions listed in your questionnaire) or semi-structured (where you ask questions beyond the list in your questionnaire, as led by the conversation).

Part 3B Tasks

During Weeks 7 and 8, write your paper, analyzing the information from the interview based on your resources. You will use both course resources and independent research resources of your own. Consult the Final Project Requirements below for paper details and requirements. Your overall goal is to analyze the information from the interview and write a paper conveying your analysis as well as recommendations for improvements to the human resources and talent management practices of the organization.

Submission 3 (Week 8)

Students will submit their final project by the end of Week 8. Consult the Course Calendar for the due date.

FINAL PROJECT REQUIREMENTS

Requirements

Your final project paper should include the following elements:

• A brief introduction, not exceeding 1 paragraph (100 to 200 words).

• A summary of the company and its operations. This should not exceed 1 page of your project submission (300 words).

• A paragraph detailing who you interviewed and the scope of their responsibilities.

• A review of the interview that documents the current talent management processes at the company. You may provide the transcription of the interview in the appendix of the paper, if desired.

• Your evaluation of the practices identified in the previous section, using the principles covered in the course texts, assigned readings, and additional resources (see below) as criteria. Make recommendations about how to improve the talent management practices, explaining your rationale. Your recommendations should be supported with research that validates your approach as a best practice. Provide examples of where your recommendations have been applied with successful results. Place yourself in the role of consultant for the organization. Try to be innovative in your suggestions.

Attach your interview questionnaire to your report as an appendix. You may, if desired, also attach a transcript of your interview.

Guidance

• Your paper should be between 2500 and 3400 words in length (10 to 12 pags exclusive of title page, table of contents, abstract, appendices, and references).

• Double-space your paper with 1-inch margins. Use one of the following fonts: Time New Roman or Arial.

• Use the course readings as your foundation for talent management best practices. Research will be required, however, to expand on these best practices, provide evidence of their effectiveness at other companies, or to thoroughly support a different approach from that recommended in the course readings. Thus your work should be supported with at least 10 references in addition to the course readings. These references must be styled properly in APA. In-text citations must be used to show where you drew your information from in the analysis.

• Your interviewee must work in talent management or human resources. Do not select operations managers or executives who would only carry out human resources policies. Select a generalist in human resources rather than a human resources professional who is only responsible for one aspect of human resources (like a recruiting manager) at the company.

• Your interview time will likely be limited. Be sure to focus your interview guide on understanding each talent management process at the company you selected. Conduct your own research to understand the company’s background and operations. Do not use valuable interview time to uncover information that is available to you through research.

• The majority of your paper should focus on your analysis and recommendations for each area of talent management.

• Use the best practices in your course readings to develop your questions. You may not necessarily ask all the questions you develop, but you should be prepared to conduct a deep dive into each talent management practice. For example, you might ask the interviewee to tell you about their employee selection process. After learning about this process, you might have questions like the following:

• Can you tell me about the interview process? Is there a standard form and set of questions asked during the interview? If so, how are these questions developed?

• Are behavioral questions used in the interview process? If so, how are these developed and how are the candidate responses evaluated?

• Are assessments used as part of the hiring process? If so, what assessments are used and what process did you apply to determine if these assessments predict on-the-job performance?

• Do you conduct a job analysis for open positions? If so, how is this applied in the hiring process?

• From your course readings, you can identify other questions that you might be prepared to ask regarding the selection process. You should follow this same approach for each area of talent management.

• If you have questions about the requirements of the paper, be sure to discuss them with your mentor well in advance of the final submission. Consult the Course Calendar for the project due date.