Challenges of Talent management at the International Livestock Research Institute (ILRI), Kenya

Abstract

Investing in talent management is necessary in order to improve employee motivation, have a continuous coverage of critical roles, increase employee performance, maintain engaged employees, retain top talent and offer higher client satisfaction and ultimately enhance organizational productivity. In the past 5 years, ILRI has recorded an increased rate of employees’ turnover, which has had a negative tall on organizational efficiency. Grounded on the human capital theory and social exchange theory, the study sought to explore the challenges of talent management at the International Livestock Research Institute (ILRI), Kenya. The researcher interviewed 5 human resources managers who had successfully implemented talent management practices at ILRI. Data was collected from interviews with the research participants, after which content analysis was used to analyze the data. The researcher established that the main talent attraction challenge facing the organization entails the problem of attracting the right candidates, especially scientists. Also, the cost of employee turnover is resource intensive, and thus, organizations that fail to implement proper employee retention strategies loose substantial revenues when attracting, recruiting, and training new staff. The findings indicated that although organizations could have put in place talent management strategies to enhance employee retention like in the case of ILRI, more needs to be done with regard to career development as well as learning and development. As such, human resources managers and executives should invest adequate monetary and non-monetary resources on each talent management practice to avert the challenges. Through the applications of the findings of this study, other human resources managers could be informed on the impact of effective talent management strategies and hence could incorporate the talent management strategies herein into their organization’s practices to enhance organizational success.