Getting the measure of talent management: A discourse analysis approach to e-talent

Despite the assertion that talent management can benefit from e - HRM , studies that explore the intersection of these two social phenomena are nominal. This is perplexing given the inherent assumption that organisations will need to appropriate and exploit the functionality of e - HRM, or their ‘talent management system’ to generate analytics and data in order to make evidence - based decisions about talent. Drawing on a qualitative case study of talent management, we examine the discursive processes through which certain employees come to the identified as “ talent ” and the role of e - HRM in this specific talent management practice . By providing evidence of two approaches to talent identification, offered through either a “measurement” or an “ observing” discourse , the study indicates that executives prefer to identify valuable employees through intuition and executive experience, rather than analytics and data generated through e - HRM.