It is often said that the most important assets of any organisation is its employees. In many countries including South Africa, the Higher Education Sector is critical to train future employees for knowledge economy and serves as an employer to the variety of workforce. Skills and talent attraction, recruitment and development are both an art and a science, of which a few organisations are able to get the right blend. It is always a continuous endeavour for employers to manage staff to adapt to and cope with change. Talent management, through the corporate lens, endeavours to manage how organisations are able to achieve talent attraction, recruitment and development appropriate for the labour market.

This book unpacks, in the form of research-based chapters, various aspects of talent management in a dynamic workplace. For instance, the negative impact of Covid-19 on the economy is a daunting challenge for South Africa and many developing economies as it has exacerbated the already existing high unemployment rate, especially among youth. It is against this background that a thought-provoking chapter titled Enabling future workers to take up agency for their own talent, ability and skills development – a reformational perspective is rendered to the readers. The chapter proposes that the school programmes could be a game changer in a way if correctly adapted. The school curricula could be structured such that learners can become empowered to personally take agency for their life-task and for a future in the country’s workforce. While this is an elegant idea at face value, the proposal is too optimistic in the light of the continuous failures of the South African basic education system. Indeed, a separate chapter of Maslow’s Hierarchy of Needs Theory clearly articulates that one of the key persistent weaknesses of the South African education system is its inability to produce school finishers who possess the talents and abilities required for performing to the required standards in the South African economy, trade and commerce sector. Not even TVET colleges in South Africa are able to prepare the students for workplaces on their own satisfactorily. In some cases, the problem seems to be compounded by Educators who lack the necessary workplace experience. It is recommended that TVET colleges adopt a formal work-integrated learning policy to ensure a better preparation and outcome delivery.

A chapter titled Buy, Build, or Borrow a Talent offers how talent management can be practised depending on circumstances. To maintain a competitive advantage, organisations may choose to buy (new hiring), build (in-house development), or borrow (outsource) talent. At the core, the danger is not talent management per se, but rather ability to prepare the employees to embrace the change with little resistance. An exciting chapter deals with Investigating the process and readiness of employees to accept the implementation of new business processes. The term readiness to change is proposed for employees’ willingness, ability and preparedness to change. I like this chapter for two reasons. The first is that most organisations fail dismally on change management due to inability to communicate the new strategy, allay fears of the employees and identify trusted champions to lead and implement the changes. When readiness for change is present in the employees of an organisation, they will embrace change, and resistance to change is reduced significantly. The second reason is that employers do not often recognise the impact of effective training strategies in the development of talented employees, failing to introduce upskilling and reskilling programmes to grant employees an opportunity to adapt to and cope with change. For example, technological advances and digitisation in business processes due to the evolving Fourth Industrial Revolution (41R), while having shown to be highly successful and beneficial in the light of the Covid-19 pandemic, can unfortunately threaten job security of thousands of employees. 

The role of women as ‘nurturers’ of talent in the workplace, although often under-represented, cannot be underestimated. The primary reason for women being under-represented in many executive management sectors is that they face barriers in this masculine and western model of defining a successful career. We also know that where women are represented, they are often judged as having less experience than their male counterparts, leading to harassment, disrespect and bullying in their jobs. This emphasises a need for effective management of professional bullying in a workplace, not just for women. Nevertheless, these obstacles result in a limited presence of women in leadership and management positions, significantly hampering the role of women in knowledge and skills transfer as well as mentorship of the young and upcoming women.

Last but not least, the book highlights why it is important to maintain excellent performance at the workplace, promoting an organisational culture that enhances workforce skills, talents, and moral integrity. This is premised on the fact that no one can tolerate mediocre and dismal performance nor low levels of morality, be it in the public or private sector. This chapter reminds one of how to uphold moral integrity in a workplace, resist and denounce dishonesty and corruption, and continue to be responsible citizens.

In conclusion, talent management is critical to ‘produce skilled employees for the labour market, enabling higher incomes and enhanced living standards for the individual, and economic growth for all’. If anchored correctly on principles, talent management is a brilliant concept to enable organisations to thrive and flourish. If misaligned, talent management has a net negative impact towards change in the workplace.

Prof Jeffrey Mphahlele

Deputy Vice Chancellor for Research and Innovation; North-West University, Potchefstroom