The Meaning of Competence, Commitment, and Contribution in Talent Definition

Abstract

Despite the growing amount of academic and practitioner literature in the field of talent management, ‘talent’ is not defined in organizations in a consistent manner. This is arguably one of the factors leading to the variable success of talent management. A way to define talent, introduced in this chapter, uses a formula comprising three components: competence, commitment, and contribution. The components are multiplicative not additive such that if one of them is small, then the overall product will also be small. Furthermore, the three components are divided into two time dimensions (present/future) to allow the inclusion of, for example, the future business needs of the organization and the notion of ‘potential’.