Talent Management in a Different Light.

Abstract: Abstract: Talent Management (TM) is a widely used concept with several diverse meanings assigned by scholars and organizations. As a response to the absence of thorough case studies of TM in practice as well as widely spread assumptions in the TM literature, we will in this paper present a study of how TM is practiced by a multinational corporation. We approached the study, combining elements of different practice-based theories, in the framework of a qualitative case study. Major findings included the existence of gaps between the intentions of TM and how it is used in practice, but also that TM has causally positive effects for the organization. Further, we have found that TM has become a way to enhance a top-down control mechanism. The study also shows that TM is composed of some ineffective tools and that cost and benefit analyses are made in non-translatable denominations. The main implication of the results is that the financial sustainability of TM can be undermined by arbitrary assumptions.