| dc.description.abstract | An organization human resource capacity is an important source of competitiveness especially if the talent they possess is strategic in nature, inimitable and is rare. Hence in the present day competitive business environment, it is important for a firm to appreciate the critical role this resource can offer in being a source of competitive advantage to the firm and at the same time take actions to manage it. The study sought to establish the role of talent management as a source of competitive advantage at Kenya Data Networks. A case study research design was adopted whereby the researcher interviewed seven senior managers at KDN who were involved in the strategic process of managing organizational talent. Data was collected through the use of the interview guide and content analysis was used to analyze the data. The findings of the study were that effective talent management affects the financial performance of a firm and this was reflected increased sales revenue over the years since adoption of the strategy, productivity and increased market share. In addition, the product development and innovation registered improvements over the period due to the resultant collaboration in the organization. Inter-department communication has also been enhanced due to the bi-annual meetings on the organization strategy evaluation and adjustment review and this has resulted to increased rate of strategy implementation. Some of the challenges faced in the management of talent in the organization include lack of adequate resources allocated to the process and also coming up with a talent management strategy that is not in conformity with the overall organization strategy. The paper sheds light on the newly emerging and yet under-researched concept of “talent management”, connecting this idea with existing debates on organization, institutional change and reproduction. Key recommendations to effectively gain a competitive advantage with high performance through talent management is by employee engagement i.e. explore the levels of employee engagement worldwide, the factors that motivate workers and the strategies organizations use to assess and improve engagement, Learning and development i.e. examine learning and development trends - including how and on whom training finance are being spent and review best practices in learning, Performance management i.e. explore organizational systems that are focused on evaluating and maximizing individual performance and looks at the most effective collection of practices, recruitment and selection i.e. investigate recruiting trends, the factors that influence the trends and the methods organizations use to find, attract and select talent, Integrated talent management i.e. describe the field of talent management, which allows the organization to identify, attract and develop the talent they need to meet their strategic goals, skill level of the workforce i.e. describe the current skill levels of workers, explores whether or not those skills meet the requirements of business, and examine ways in which business can raise the skill sets of their communities and employees and relocation i.e. examine the cost, effectiveness and limitations of various employee relocation approaches and finally retention i.e. track perspectives on employee retention, examine causes and costs of turnover and explore strategies to maximize retention of key organizational talent. | en |
