Marion Festing

Talent management in medium-sized German companies: an explorative study and agenda for future research

This study seeks to make a contribution to our conceptual and empirical understanding into the nature of talent management (TM) in German small and medium-sized enterprises (SMEs), an under-researched area in the field. The approach of this investigation recognizes that TM may vary significantly between different types of companies and national contexts. The findings are based on data collected from 700 SMEs in Germany. Three distinct clusters of TM intensity profiles are identified (highly engaged talent managers, reactive talent managers and retention-based talent managers), which vary according to annual sales volumes, industry affiliations, cooperative behavior with respect to human resource (HR) and TM networks, the long-term focus of TM and future HR and TM budgets. In summary, most of the investigated companies place a high importance on TM reflecting a developmental approach which fits well with the German business system. One key finding of the study was the preference of most German SMEs to choose a more inclusive approach to TM and target all or most employees, in contrast to large multinational enterprises where a more elitist approach is favored. Another major finding was that TM cooperation with other firms and institutions was used as a strategy to cope with the war for talent in a country, which despite the Global Financial Crisis is characterized by strong economic growth and important demographic challenges. Based on these findings and the contextual approach to TM, a comprehensive agenda for future research areas in TM is outlined.

Financial Participation in Europe-Determinants and Outcomes

This articles objective is to analyse determinants and outcomes of financial participation in Europe. It starts off with a definition of the instruments, a review of the literature in the field of financial participation and a discussion on the relevance of financial participation in selected European countries. Choosing a rather inductive approach, the authors develop a model for financial participation. Based on the Cranfield data, the significance of the variables used in the model is tested. Union density, number of employees, public limited company status, geographical market and policy regarding pay and benefits came out as significant determinants for financial participation at company level. The environment, however, also bears influence. Organizations in Germany, France, Great Britain and Sweden show significantly different practices. Employee share ownership and profit sharing cannot only increase financial performance but also allow for efficient human resource management. Profit sharing increases profits and decreases absenteeism as well as staff turnover. The findings for employee share ownership are not that straightforward.

Think talent – think male? A comparative case study analysis of gender inclusion in talent management practices in the German media industry

This paper contributes to our knowledge on talent management (TM) by conceptually and empirically investigating the peculiarities of TM and gender inclusion in talent development in the German context, as well as by analyzing whether TM is an inclusive HRM practice with respect to gender. Thus, we add an interdisciplinary perspective to the study of TM by linking it to important findings of gender and HRM studies with a specific focus on inclusion. A conceptualization of inclusive TM is suggested, and as a result of a comprehensive literature review, we identify five TM elements (talent definition, underlying career orientation, the content of talent development programs, the TM approach, and the talent selection process) which – depending on their design and characteristics – have an impact on the degree of gender bias and the discriminatory risk of TM. Respective propositions are suggested, and based on a qualitative comparative case study analysis, this paper provides empirical evidence from the German media industry, which shows important differences between cases in the identified TM elements and indicators concerning the gender inclusion of TM practices.

Strategisches Internationales Personalmanagement

Das schon mehrfach angesprochene Konzept von Heenan/Perlmutter1 steht trotz seines Alters und vielfaltiger Kritik bei der Betrachtung und Systematisierung internationaler Personalmanagementaktivitaten immer noch im Vordergrund. Das Konzept wird insbesondere dann angesprochen, wenn Stellenbesetzungsstrategien betrachtet werden.2 Von grosem Nutzen ist vor allem der systematisierende Charakter dieses Konzeptes.3 Zudem war Perlmutter einer der ersten Forscher,4 der die Grundeinstellung des Managements zu internationalen Aktivitaten in den Mittelpunkt der Betrachtung von Fuhrungskonzeptionen stellte. Er brachte somit eine wichtige Einflusgrose bei der Identifikation der Bestimmungsfaktoren fur die Gestaltung der internationalen Aktivitaten einer Unternehmung in die Diskussion ein.5

Determinants of Share-Based Compensation Plans in Central and Eastern European Public Companies: An Institutional Analysis*

This paper discusses the adoption of share-based compensation plans among Central and Eastern European (CEE) public companies composing major national stock exchange indices in Poland (WIG 20), the Czech Republic (PX) and Hungary (BUX). The analysis shows that the spread of such pay practices depends on the characteristics of major shareholders of the company, the state and foreign parent companies being the most prominent influencing factors. The results are discussed in the light of the legal environment in respective countries.

Proposing processes of global performance management: an analysis of the literature

Purpose - – Global performance management (GPM) systems are a central element of measuring the efficacy of an increasingly complex array of global mobility activities – an element that has developed rapidly in the last ten years or so. This conceptual review of GPM consists of four major sections. First, three approaches to international human resource management are presented. Second, the paper discusses three models of performance management, one some 24 years old and grounded in a long tradition of formalized, explicit universalistic US-based performance management theory and two more recent conceptual reviews particular to global issues of performance management. Third, the paper presents a four-stage process model of GPM. Each of the four stages will be discussed in turn, and the various perspectives of recent empirical and conceptual publications on GPM will be mapped onto the four stage model. The purpose of this paper is to conclude with a discussion of recommendations for how this process model can speed the development of research in this new topic domain. The paper also suggests that practitioners may use a modified version of this four step process model to initiate a more systematic global audit of the nature and effectiveness of their array of global assignments. Design/methodology/approach - – This conceptual review paper consists of a proposed framework for understanding how issues of global standardization and local customization may be understood while examples of issues applied to the framework are presented from a review of articles from 2002 until 2013. The concentrated review going back some ten years was an effort to find a sample large and relevant enough to capture a rapidly developing field, while being small enough to allow a meaningful analysis of results. Findings - – Whereas there are a number of articles in the recent literature reviewing local applications of extant GPM systems, there is very little empirical research on how these systems are designed or how they are evaluated and the results applied on a micro (individual expatriate or local employee) level or on a macro (firm) level. Originality/value - – The paper concludes with a series of observations on the results of the analysis and suggestions for future research, so that the academic and professional communities may move forward in this topic domain in a more efficient, complete and coordinated fashion.

Current Issues in International HRM: Alternative Forms of Assignments, Careers and Talent Management in a Global Context

This special issue is dedicated to examining some current issues in international HRM; it contributes mainly to the field of HRM in the multinational enterprise. However, it clearly also draws on knowledge from cross-cultural IHRM. The guest editors have identified three topics that have gained tremendous importance due to the increasing globalisation of the world economy and the war for internationally qualified talent. This not only applies to multinational enterprises, but also to small and medium-sized enterprises, as senior managers are challenged to attract, retain, and motivate global talent: global assignments, global careers and global talent management. While all fields are not new and have partly been subject to prominent publications (e.g., Scullion & Collings, 2011; Cascio, 2013) new and highly relevant research questions continue to emerge and there is still a lack of empirical research in these areas.

Vertikale Arbeitsmarktsegmentation nach dem Geschlecht - Ein neoinstitutionalistischer Erklaerungsversuch am Beispiel Deutschlands und Schwedens

Auf dem deutschen Arbeitsmarkt lassen sich trotz gestiegener Erwerbsneigung und erhöhtem Bildungsniveau von Frauen nach wie vor vertikale Segmentationsmuster nach dem Geschlecht beobachten. Dies ist in anderen Ländern wie beispielsweise Schweden nur in einem geringeren Ausmaß der Fall. Der vorliegende Beitrag verdeutlicht die Situation anhand vergleichender empirischer Untersuchungen im deutschen und skandinavischen Bankensektor. Um den Ursachen der festgestellten länderspezifischen Unterschiede nachzugehen, wird als theoretische Basis der Neoinstitutionalismus mit seinem Fokus auf die jeweiligen institutionellen Rahmenbedingungen und deren Einfluss auf Unternehmen herangezogen. Beispielhaft erfolgt ein Vergleich der für geschlechtsspezifische Segmentationsmuster relevanten gesetzlichen Rahmenbedingungen und deren mögliche Auswirkungen in Deutschland und Schweden. Im Ergebnis lässt sich ein Zusammenhang zwischen den analysierten institutionellen Rahmenbedingungen und dem länderspezifisch unterschiedlichen Umgang der Unternehmen mit geschlechtsspezifischer Arbeitsmarktsegmentation postulieren. Dies hat Implikationen für die Wissenschaft und Praxis.

Internationales Personalmanagement Stand der Forschung, offene Fragen, weitere Entwicklung: Konturen eines Arbeitsgebietes

Das Internationale Personalmanagement hat sich als wichtiges praxisrelevantes und wissenschaftliches Arbeitsgebiet erst in den letzten Jahrzehnten als Folge der Internationalisierung der Wirtschaft mit weltweiten wirtschaftlichen Aktivitaten eines grossen und wachsenden Anteils der Unternehmungen entwickelt. Erste vereinzelte Forschungsergebnisse finden sich bereits in den sechziger Jahren. Beispielhaft seien die Arbeiten von Perlmutter (1965; 1969) fur den franzosisch- bzw. englischsprachigen Raum oder Borrmann (1968) in der deutschen Fachliteratur genannt. Seitdem hat die Zahl der Veroffentlichungen, insbesondere in den achtziger und neunziger Jahren, erheblich zugenommen.1 Mitte der achtziger Jahre stellte Andre Laurent fest, das das Internationale Personalmanagement noch in den Kinderschuhen stekke. Herausforderungen, denen die Disziplin gegenubersteht, umreist er wie folgt: “The challenge faced by the infant field of international human resource management is to solve a multidimensional puzzle located at the crossroad of national and organizational cultures.”2

International human resource management in the Arab Gulf States – an institutional perspective

Abstract This paper seeks to explore the increasingly dominant role of International Human Resource Management (IHRM) policies and practices of Multinational Enterprises (MNEs) operating in the emerging economies of the Arab Gulf States and, more specifically, in the United Arab Emirates (UAE). The existing literature on institutions suggest that MNEs are under influence and pressure to adopt HR practices that are viewed as being appropriate for the context and situation. However, distinctive institutions in the Arab Gulf States such as the UAE, and their impacts on MNEs’ people management have been largely overlooked in prior work. Hence, with a particular focus on institutional theory, this work explores the effects of home-country institutional factors on IHRM in foreign subsidiaries. Furthermore, the paper aims to examine how regulative, cognitive and normative institutional dimensions affect the IHRM choices of MNEs. In-depth interviews with 26 Human Resource (HR) managers located in the head offices of the participating MNEs were conducted, revealing that IHRM practices in this institutional setting are built upon fragile, dependent and uncertain conditions, and they are not grounded in the sort of deep and stable institutional foundations prevalent in most developed economies. As a result, we propose a more nuanced institutional framework that captures the peculiar aspects of the Arab Gulf States.