Resourcing & Talent Management Assignment: Case Analysis of Amazon

Question

Task: For your talent management assignment, you are required to build on your research findings and discussions on Resourcing and Talent Management in Amazon,
1) critically discuss relevant resourcing and talent management theories with regard to employee turnover, and the impact it can have on an organisation’s strategic goals.
2) Demonstrate and critically evaluate the practice of ensuring people are managed lawfully and ethically within an organisation, and explain the case for incorporating such practices in an organisation’s resourcing and talent management strategy.

Answer

Introduction
In today’s competitive and challenging workspace, there is a huge demand for talent. The organizations are looking for talented people who could be long term assets for the organization. This talent management assignmentwill deal with resourcing and talent management. As per Harsch and Festing(2020), resourcing and talent management is a very crucial function which involves the coordination of the recruitment team as well as the different aspects of the business. The aspects involved here include networking, forecasting and analysing the required resources, selecting the proper channel for hiring, resources delivery on schedule, maintenance of the talent pool for recruitment in future, etc. The theories on talent management and resourcing will be discussed in the report. The aspect of employee turnover will be considered to analyse the impact it can have on the strategic goals of the organization. The lawful and ethical management of workforce will also be highlighted in the report.

Background
In this report, the resourcing and talent management with reference to Amazon will be analysed. In this context, the relevant theories will be discussed. The organization, Amazon, implements the peer reviewed hiring method and Amazon’s Mechanical Turk (AMT) for recruitment. However, only effective recruitment is not sufficient. Recruitment needs to be followed by effective and efficient employee retention strategy so that employee turnover can be minimised or controlled. As stated by Leeet al (2017), employee turnover refers to number of employees who leave their job at an organization during a particular period of time. The employee turnover could be for various reasons. The employees could be seeking better salary, better facilities and incentives, greater job satisfaction, more work flexibility, etc. High employee turnover creates negative reputation of an organization in the market. In case of Amazon, they implement the pay quit strategy for employee retention. According to this strategy, the employees who are choosing to quit Amazon can never get a job in any of the subsidiaries or facilities of Amazon in their life. This strategy or employee retention program has been developed with the purpose of employee commitment enhancement and also timely termination of the disengaged staff. This boycotting approach which Amazon has applied for controlling employee turnover has been highly criticised as it is viewed as a regressive holding back technique (Covella et al, 2017).

Main Discussion
Employee turnover could be highly devastating for an organization’s market reputation. The adverse effect of employee turnover and low employee retention of an organization could prevent the talent inflow. There are various theories on talent management which could facilitate attracting talented employees (Ogbari et al, 2018). The built-to-change theory states that talent management initiatives should be a part of the integrated business strategy. This will facilitate aligning the business goals with the recruitment goals. The other theory on talent management is the inclusive or egalitarian theory also referred to as the strength-based approach. As per this theory, talent management refers to managing the talent of all the employees working in an organization. It is believed by the proponents of this theory that every employee has the potential of demonstrating talent. Besides, the exclusive theory or elitist approach on talent management stresses on the management of the talent of the high performing employees or the high potential employees. The employees are valued or differentiated based on their contribution towards the organization. The employees who add more value to the organization are highly valued by the organization. Their talent management is prioritised. There is another theory known as the person-organization fit theory. This theory involves resourcing, talent managementand employee retention and is highly work-centric. This is a money-oriented approach towards talent management (YENER, Gurbuz and Pinar, 2017). This is meant for the collectivistic job seekers, who are more attracted towards the high paying companies. Here comes the framework of attraction, selection and attrition. The theory of referent cognitions is an approach in which the procedures are considered to be fair. The employees would find it challenging to be in situations better than the present one. There is a self-interest theory where the employees aim at maximising the outcomes. The procedures which are unfair are perceived to be unpredictable and arbitrary. This increases the uncertainty among the employees about their future outcomes. The social capital perspective is a talent management theory where the effect of the work is considered over the individuals. The leadership, teamwork, etc. are prioritised over individual potentials. Finally, the organizational support theory is based on the reaction of the employees to their beliefs pertaining to the way their organization cares for and values their contribution towards the organization (Berk and Gundogmus, 2018).

As per McDonnell and Guo (2017), the employee turnover can be reduced or controlled by effective strategic implementation of employee empowerment approach. Amazon or any other organization can control their employee turnover by hiring the right people for the right job. This reduces the chance of voluntary or involuntary employee turnover. The people who do not fit into the organisational structure or organizational culture should be fired right in the beginning instead of allowing them time to spoil the work environment. The organization should consider the benefits and compensation for the employees so that the retention is enhanced. The organization should encourage gratitude and generosity among the employees. This will increase employee-employee and employee-employer relationship. As opined by Najiah (2020), the efforts and hard work of the employees should be recognised and rewarded. This will retain the employees in the organization. The organization should provide flexibility to its employees so that they can work freely and conformably. When the employees get the chance to work at flexible timings, they tend to retain their jobs. This will leave them in the least need of quitting their jobs. The employee engagement with the organization has to be increased. The organisation needs to prioritize the happiness of the employees. A happy work culture retains the employees.

Analysis & Findings
The talent has to be first identified. Further, the talented ones need to be recruited. Eventually, the talent has to be retained. The effective talent management and employee retention policies will facilitate controlling employee turnover. It is important that the organization lawfully and ethically manages its employees. In order to ensure that talent management and resourcing is done effectively, the organisation needs to incorporate the lawful and ethical practices within their organisational culture. As per Tian et al (2020), the ethical management of the employees would mean being honest with them and also being virtuous. The managers need to be leaders and not boss. The managers need to have thorough management training so that they can handle the responsibilities of their job roles. There are some ethical obligations of the managers towards their employees. They need to be impartial, unbiased and just in their approach towards the workforce. The managers need to be fair to all. Each employee should be held in same standard, without any distinction. The expectations of the organization and managers should be clear right from the beginning. This would prevent dissatisfaction with employee performance. The managers should be lawful in their approach. The employees should not be deprived of the employees’ rights. They should be ensured all security schemes and facilities. The violation of employees’ rights should be subject to legal justice (Khalid and Nawab, 2018).

Conclusion & Recommendations
It can be concluded that the high performing and high potential talented employees should be recruited by organizations. After the recruitment, the talent management is important. To reduce the turnover of employees and retain them in the organization, the employer or managers need to put in efforts.

It can be recommended that:
• Employee turnover can be reduced through effective talent management
• Rewarding the high achievers
• Encouraging autonomy and independent decision making
• Ensuring lawful justice to the employees
• Management should be ethical towards each employee and prevent discrimination

References
Berk, C. and Gundogmus, F., 2018. The effect of work-life balance on organizational commitment of accountants. Management, 13(2), pp.137-159.
Covella, G., McCarthy, V., Kaifi, B. and Cocoran, D., 2017. Leadership’s role in employee retention. Business Management Dynamics, 7(5), pp.1-15.
Harsch, K. and Festing, M., 2020. Dynamic talent management capabilities and organizational agility—A qualitative exploration. Human Resource Management, 59(1), pp.43-61. Khalid, K. and Nawab, S., 2018. Employee participation and employee retention in view of compensation. SAGE Open, 8(4), p.2158244018810067.
Lee, T.W., Hom, P.W., Eberly, M.B., Junchao (Jason) Li and Mitchell, T.R., 2017. On the next decade of research in voluntary employee turnover. Talent management assignmentAcademy of management perspectives, 31(3), pp.201-221.
McDonnell, A. and Guo, Y., 2017. Human Capital Flows and Talent Management in Asia. In Routledge Handbook of Human Resource Management in Asia (pp. 222-239). Routledge.
Najiah, E.F., 2020. Analysis of Time Commitment and Performance of Management Towards Patient Services in The KaranggenengLamonganSahabat Health Clinic. JurnalMantik, 4(1), pp.975-980. Ogbari, M.E., Onasanya, Y.A., Ogunnaike, O.O. and Kehinde, O.J., 2018. Talent management as a determinant of firm performance: A conceptual approach. Business & Social Sciences Journal, 3(1), pp.21-32.

Tian, H., Iqbal, S., Akhtar, S., Qalati, S.A., Anwar, F. and Khan, M.A.S., 2020. The impact of transformational leadership on employee retention: mediation and moderation through organizational citizenship behavior and communication. Frontiers in Psychology, 11, p.314.

YENER, M., Gurbuz, F.G. and Pinar, A.C.A.R., 2017. Development and validation of a talent management measurement instrument. Journal of Business Economics and Finance, 6(3), pp.233-245.