Corporate Corruption and the HRM Function: Legal, Ethical, and Moral Perspectives
February 12, 2025
The term employee engagement has been defined by various researchers. A commonly agreed upon definition would be physical, psychological or emotional involvement of the employee while at work. Four things are important when we talk about employee engagement; commitment, motivation, loyalty and trust. Their level determines the quality of engagement of an employee. Each one […]
The Gloom and Doom over Job Losses and How Reskilling can Help It has now become routine to read about how automation would result in widespread job losses and how robots would soon replace factory workers, drivers, and even white collar professionals as the Age of Machines arrives. Indeed, the negative reports that regularly appear […]
A performance management process involves an assessment or an analysis of what has been achieved and forms a basis for career planning, potential development, performance agreements and development plans like Douglas Mc. Gregor suggested that emphasis should be on analysis and not on appraisal. Performance management process is forward looking. Performance assessments depend upon the […]
Why the West Faces the of Aging Boomers and Impatient Millennials and What to Do Every organization has a mix of employees belonging to different age groups in its workforce. Some of them are fresh recruits, some are middle aged, and a few are older and approaching retirement. While the junior and middle ranked personnel […]
The highly productive and the most reputed companies across the world have understood the fact that it was employee engagement that made them stand apart from all other companies. Different companies had taken different initiatives to enhance the level of engagement among employees towards their jobs and the organisation. Some offer custom-made incentives while some […]
There is a global race for talent wherein the best and the brightest of fresh graduates, experienced and lateral entry professionals, and the niche executives are all being wooed by the corporates world over.
Starting with the corporates thronging colleges and universities to recruit potential business leaders as well as the champions of science and technology, including the race to attract the lateral entry professionals from the floating pool of job changers, and the poaching of senior managers, and executives from rival firms, the corporates in the present times are not pulling punches in their quest for the rich talent pool that emerges periodically.
Indeed, sometimes the scramble for talent is so fast paced and so cutthroat that it resembles the wooing of princesses and princes in the historical eras.
Moreover, as the auctions for the IPL or the Indian Premier League show, the bidding and the rush for talent is not limited to the corporate world and one can go so far as to say that this is a phenomenon that spans the entire spectrum of business, sports, entertainment, and other fields.
So, how can corporates win the worldwide war for talent? At the same time, what can cause them to lose the same?
To answer these questions, one must look at the psychology of what makes everyone from fresh graduates to experienced professionals choose a particular corporate over others when they accept the recruitment offers.
While it is easy to say that money matters more than anything else, there are some who join start-ups and other niche firms for the job satisfaction and the chance to actualise what theories call the Intrinsic need to excel.
To continue, the Theories of Motivation explicitly talk about how people are motivated by external needs such as pay and perks, as well as motivated by their innate need for name and fame as well as the drive to excel and the urge to innovate.
Therefore, potential recruits have to be assesses as to what makes them tick and this is where the role of the HR (Human Resources) function comes into play as they need to map the psychology of the recruits with what they can offer to them.
In short, one sure way of attracting the best talent is to mix the intrinsic and the extrinsic needs to the overall offer terms that the corporates can provide.
Having said that, there are other factors at play as well when corporates engage in the war for talent.
The theories of HRM also speak about how people have three types of personalities mapped as per their needs.
Some are driven by nAch or the Need for Achievement, others by nAff, or the Need for Affection, and a few by nPow, or the Need for Power.
Therefore, what the HR managers need to do is to again map the personalities of the potential recruits to these motivational and needs types and then, target those institutes or those firms where such needs are there but not being addressed by others.
Of course, the discussion so far has been limited to how corporates can woo the best and brightest through these soft approaches.
Extending this discussion to other factors would mean that there are many fresh graduates as well as laterals who would prefer to base in certain locations or would like to avoid travelling or for matter, even commuting long distances.
Thus, there are other forces at play as well and this is where astute recruitment strategies help.
We have mentioned worldwide and global quite a few times. So, turning to how corporates can win the war for talent in the global arena, it would be useful to refer to the term, Brain Drain, which signifies how the best among the talent pool in developing and Third World countries flock to First World nations such as the United States and other European countries.
Indeed, much has been said about Brain Drain that has often been criticised and derided as well. No matter what, it is real and indeed, the global race for talent is often won Hands Down by Western firms simply because they have the advantage of being located in developed countries to which every global citizen aspires to migrate to.
Therefore, though tough to swallow, it is a fact that most corporates from non Western nations have to accept.
Having said that, in recent years, there has also been a movement in the opposite direction wherein many Westerners are choosing to be expatriates in the rapidly rising China and other Asian countries lured as they are by the prospect of leading and being in senior positions in emerging market corporates. There is a lesson for Indian firms here as well.
Last, given the multitude of forces at play as far as attracting the best talent is concerned, it would be worthwhile for the corporates to come up with a specific recruitment strategy well in advance, and then, tweak it and change it as per the feedback.
Indeed, the race for talent is won by those who are Agile and Nimble and lost by those who are slowing moving and rigid.
To conclude, with Human Resources becoming the true source of competitive advantage in the Digital Age, the very real global war for talent is won accordingly.
Your email address will not be published. Required fields are marked *