Book review: Post-Pandemic talent management

Citation

Hasan, H.A., Tushar, H., Khan, S.A., Lamagna, C.Z. and Talukdar, M.R.I. (2022), "Book review: Post-Pandemic talent management", LBS Journal of Management & Research, Vol. 20 No. 1/2, pp. 86-91. https://doi.org/10.1108/LBSJMR-12-2022-048

Post-Pandemic Talent Management Models in Knowledge Organizations

by Mohammad Rafiqul Islam Talukdar, Carmen Z. Lamagna, Charles Carillo Villanueva, Rezbin Nahar and Farheen Hassan

IGI Global

Hershey, USA

2022

330 pp.

ISBN13: 9781668438947

ISBN10: 1668438941

EISBN13: 9781668438961

ISBN13 Softcover: 9781668438954

Review DOI

Introduction

The theoretical perspectives on talent management are built on the development of the concept of human capital. It connects the human capital concept with the conceptions of strategic human resource management, sustained competitive advantage-based organizational development, impact-focused leadership and sustainable development, new institutionalism and the open system.

A business needs motivated and trained personnel to achieve its common operating goals. Nonetheless, it also needs a committed and highly competent talent pool to create winning strategies, frame a robust business model and take the company to new heights. The strength of an organization rests on the shoulders of its talented leaders and their capacity to foster a climate of dedication, agility, cooperation, engagement, learning and talent appreciation, termed “robust culture.”

Organizations can increase employee value with the help of talent management (VALAMIS, 2021). Influential firms define and measure the value of their “ends” and “means” business partners and emphasize sustainable enterprise growth. The means-business partners are the talented, dedicated people in the organization and the successful human resource (HR) business partners, while the end-business partners are the customers (Talukdar et al., 2022a, b).

The edited monograph “Post-Pandemic Talent Management Models in Knowledge Organizations” is a worthwhile product. The current round review of this monograph informs readers of the concept and purpose of the book and its value addition to the literature stream of strategic human resource management, human capital theory, organizational development, leadership and talent management. It analyses each of the book's chapters. The review applauds how the book framed the top organizational development priorities, leveraging people management and impact-focused leadership with improved agility, digitalization, branding emphasis and future orientation.

About the book

The monograph discusses critical issues in strategic human resource management: the strategic aspects of people management, the essence and implications of human capital theory and notions and models of talent management in postmodern knowledge-based organizations during the COVID-19 pandemic and postpandemic paradigm. This major reference work covers critical topics such as creative work behavior, leveraging talent management and impact-focused leadership, enhancing brand image and concern about the future orientation of organizations.

This applied academic work is ideal for managers, business owners, entrepreneurs, academicians, researchers, scholars, policymakers, instructors and students. The main academic areas covered in this publication include agile leadership, competitive advantage, creative work behavior, human capital theory, human capital development, strategic human resource management, knowledge organizations, leadership theory, organization performance, talent management, virtual intelligence, organizational digitalization and cyber security of organizations.

This advanced monograph has been published by IGI Global, Hershey, US. The release date of the book is May 2022. Copyright: ©2022 |Pages: 330|DOI: 10.4018/978-1-6684-3894-7| ISBN13: 9781668438947| ISBN10: 1668438941|EISBN13: 9781668438961| ISBN13 Softcover: 9781668438954. The monograph is edited by a panel of distinguished scholars from a renowned business school – the “Faculty of Business Administration” at American International University - Bangladesh, Bangladesh.

Insights of the chapters

The monograph includes ten chapters, an “Introduction” and a “Conclusion.” Dr. Mohammad Rafiqul Islam Talukdar, the book's chief editor, has authored the “Introduction,” while editors Dr. Rezbin Nahar and Dr. Farheen Hassan, along with a guest editor, Sultana Parvin, have contributed the “Conclusion.” Chapter one, “Modern Talent Management: Theoretical Framework,” authored by Dr. Mohammad Rafiqul Islam Talukdar, Dr. Carmen Z. Lamagna and Dulce Corazon Z. Lamagna, has focused on the theoretical framework and conceptual understanding of modern talent management.

It explains the fundamental link between talent management and human capital theory and answers three featured questions. Why is talent management so crucial in 21st century organizations? How can talent strategy be reinvented to support digitalization? Furthermore, what are the changing landscape and evolving concerns of talent management and their implications for knowledge organizations in the post-pandemic paradigm? (Talukdar et al., 2022a, b: Abstract).

According to the authors, businesses should prioritize strategic considerations and change management and ideas for future development. Efficiently managing human resources and appreciating human capital are vital to achieving this goal.

Chapter two, titled “Talent Management: Conceptual and Theoretical Understanding,” is authored by Dr. Shraddha Purandare and Dr. Aditi Alijapurkar. This chapter emphasizes the conceptual and theoretical understanding of talent management, which means acquiring, retaining, developing and promoting talented people. According to the authors, companies employ several strategies to find talented candidates, and a company's success depends on attracting and retaining a talented workforce.

Chapter three, titled “Talent Management and Sustained Competitive Advantage,” authored by Dr. Emmanuel Imafidon, focuses on the relationship between efficient talent management and building a sustainable competitive advantage in businesses. Dr. Okechukwu Ethelbert Amah, in chapter four, “Strategic Human Resource Management: Shaping Human Capital Development and Creative Work Behavior,” describes how human resource management has evolved to position strategic human resource management, human capital development and employee behavior, such as creative work behavior, as necessary elements for organizations to survive in challenging environments.

Dr. Humayra Ferdous focuses on talent management for academic institutions in chapter five, “Talent Management for Academic Institutions During the Post-Pandemic Paradigm.” The author's point of view is that academic organizations constantly struggle to find suitable talented candidates at the right time, particularly in the postpandemic era. In chapter six, titled “TM Strategies, Panacea to KM Ills and Challenges: A Reference to COVID-19,” Dr. Sheikh Shamim Hasnain talked about the TM Strategies, Panacea to KM Ills and Challenges during COVID-19 and its aftereffects. According to the author, for the survival and growth of organizations, knowledge is an essential strategic resource, while employees' talents are skills, experience, behavior, knowledge and cognitive ability.

Chapter seven, titled “Virtual Intelligence in the Post-Pandemic Era: Human Communication Challenges and Best Practices,” authored by Dr. Leigh Thompson, focuses on virtual intelligence and human communication challenges in the postpandemic era. According to the author, in response to the COVID-19 crisis, organizations were bound to undergo the most substantial overnight organizational reforms in history. In chapter eight, titled “Penetration Testing and Cyber Security Studies in Bangladesh: Post-COVID-19 Managerial Issues,” Shahadat Hossain, Lamiya Rahman, Rafat Azad, Md. Manzurul Hasan, Mehenaj Jebin, Md. Siam Mahmud and Md. Sadman Sakib have shaped the linking context of talent management, penetration testing and cyber security studies in Bangladesh, considering the aspects of post-COVID-19. According to the authors, Bangladesh's information technology (IT) industry is becoming increasingly crucial for its economic development and progress, so cyber security is a key concern.

In chapter nine, titled “Contemporary Security Threats: Some Proposals for Banking Networks in Bangladesh,” Md. Manzurul Hasan, Shahadat Hossain, Prioty Saha Trisha, Md. Mohsin Hossain, Abu Saleh Mohammad Rajuwan and Md. Hasibur Rahman have explored some solution mechanisms for banking networks in Bangladesh, considering the contemporary security threats in the sector. Dr. Bülent Akkaya and Emine Sever, in chapter ten, “Agile Leadership and Organization Performance in Perspective of VUCA,” have appreciated four leadership agility abilities in leaders in emerging and disruptive environments: context-setting agility, stakeholder agility, creative agility and self-leadership agility. The authors believe companies need agile leadership and executives to sustain competitive advantages and achieve long-term goals.

In-depth review

The book ranked exceptionally high in terms of pragmatic aspects of the content, the authors' diversity level, gender, scholars' affiliations and their geographical locations around the globe. The preface of the book conveys the signature tune of the monograph.

The world's transformation from capitalism to a knowledge-based society took place in the early 21st century. Rapid digitalization has enabled organizations to re-engineer their work styles, workforces, and talent management. The global pandemic has inevitably intensified this process, radically altered the work and lifestyle, and heavily impacted knowledge and learning organizations. Despite the serious challenge and high cost, most individuals and organizations accept the changing reality of the COVID-19 paradigm shift. Yet the pandemic is fluctuating and going on, so the time for adaptation is outmoded. The focus of both individuals and organizations has shifted now to pandemic recovery, which is known as the post-pandemic paradigm shift (Talukdar et al., 2022a: Preface).

A new set of working procedures, processes and mental framework are necessary for the evolving postpandemic paradigm. Keeping in mind the structural contingency theory, organizations must also change their design and structure to meet the new environmental essence. Businesses, especially knowledge enterprises and learning organizations, are more receptive to internal and external stakeholders' concerns and brand value (Talukdar et al., 2022a: Preface).

The book sets the lens for the highest priority for organizational development: leveraging talent management and impact-focused leadership with increased agility, digitalization, branding focus and future orientation. Leveraging talent management and impact-focused leadership to address new workforce engagement, attract, develop and retain talent to meet today's multifaceted organizational needs and navigate the organizations' future sustained growth through an integrated and technology enabled approach is imperative in the postpandemic world.

The book appreciates that human capital is the primary determinant of organizational performance in the contemporary business world and in knowledge-based institutional sectors. Effectively acquiring and managing talented employees provides businesses with a significant competitive advantage, and it is crucial to the growth and development of organizations and their brand values.

The book analyses the implications of talent management models for knowledge organizations in the postpandemic paradigm. It, however, raises some additional critical concerns that must be put forward for the next round of talent management studies. Talukdar et al. (2022a, b) mention some of such problems:

These include questions: How can knowledge organizations enable and empower a talented workforce in post-pandemic recovery? How could knowledge organizations prepare and retain a talented workforce to meet the challenges of the post-pandemic paradigm? How could knowledge-based firms identify cost-saving opportunities by appropriately using remote, contingent, and blended workforce? How can a transition from a role-based to a skills-based planning strategy improve workforce planning activities, broaden talent pools, and meet talent needs? Furthermore, how can knowledge organizations build a workforce equipped to address digital transformation and future needs? What kind of leadership matters most for knowledge organizations in the new context? What organizational culture is needed for knowledge organizations in the new paradigm? What are the gaps between theory, perceptions, and practices evident for contemporary talent management in knowledge-based firms? (Talukdar et al., 2022a, b: Evolving Concerns).

Review value addition

Talent management helps employers recruit, develop and retain an exceptionally competent workforce that is highly interactive, creative and productive and is likely to help build a high-performing organizational culture with band image and organizational vision and reputation in mind. It ensures that an organization remains competitive, creates a sustained competitive advantage and drives the organization to become a market champion or to make it an innovative, paradigm-shifting and impact-focused leader.

The book not only included implicit and explicit meanings of talent management and its essence but also highlighted its implications, talent strategy and talent management processes, planning and best practices, particularly in the context of knowledge-based organizations in the postpandemic era.

The book discusses organizational challenges, specifically some of the leadership and managerial challenges, as well as significant operational quandaries that knowledge organizations faced during a global crisis. The greatest issue posed by the COVID-19 epidemic appears to be the dynamic and unpredictable events that can be deciphered by professional experts and researchers. In this disruptive context, the main ideas of the book are the theory of human capital and talent management in the postpandemic world.

The literature on strategic human resource management is significantly enriched by this work, which focuses on talent management in contemporary knowledge-based enterprises during the COVID-19 pandemic phase and postpandemic situation. It demonstrates how theory and practice work together to advance a contemporary organization and provide it with a sustainable competitive advantage.

The book discusses how professionals who are talented and innovative can work together effectively to build a strong network that is connected to strategy, resources and competencies. It explained how organizations can make sure they have enough human capital during times of business uncertainty like COVID-19 by using different approaches (e.g. supply chain, virtual intelligence, various leadership styles and a few others). It also identified the types of management and leadership that are needed to manage these expert talents in a way that gives the company knowledge, expertise and a competitive edge.

Conclusion

To address the growing postpandemic paradigm's complex organizational needs and to attract, develop and retain talent to do so, an integrated and technology-enabled approach is required to combine agile, talent-focused and impact-focused leadership. This will also enable businesses to manage their long-term sustained growth (Talukdar et al., 2022a: Preface).

Like the abovementioned statement, the book dealt with many critical concerns and answered many important questions. Concerning the implications of talent management for knowledge organizations in the postpandemic paradigm, the book also raises additional concerns that must be put forward for the next round of talent management studies. In this context, the book “Post-Pandemic Talent Management Models in Knowledge Organizations” is worthwhile and valuable to advanced academic readers, learners and practitioners.

Book link

Post-Pandemic Talent Management Models in Knowledge Organizations

https://www.igi-global.com/book/handbook-research-post-pandemic-talent/286753