ABSTRACT

  The study sought to determine the effect of talent management on organizational performance in the Cameroon Development Cooperation (CDC). The specific objectives of the study comprised of the following:  to determine the effect of talent development on organizational performance, to assess the effect of talent retention practices on organizational performance, and  to find out the effect of talent attraction on organizational performance: theory, general system theory. A descriptive and inferential research was used A sample size of 38 respondents was selected from the different departments using the Israel sampling formulae. Questionnaires were the main instruments of data collection. Data was analyzed using SPSS version 22. Correlation coefficient was used to test for the strength of the relationship between variables. Research findings were presented in form of graphs, tables, mean, frequencies and charts. The findings of the study revealed that there is a positive and a significant relationship between talent development, talent retention, and talent attraction and organizational performance in Cameroon Development Cooperation. The study recommends that Cameroon Development Cooperation should enhance its talent development practices since the practices leads to improved employee performances. The Co-operation should also focus on improving its talent attraction strategies since the practice positively and significantly affect the performance of the organization. finally, the study recommends CDC should focus on improving its talent retention, strategies since the practice positively and significantly has effect performance of organization.

Keyword: Talent Attraction, Talent Retention, Talent Development, and Organizational Performance.

CHAPTER ONE

GENERAL INTRODUCTION

1.1 Introduction

This piece of work is structured into five chapters which proceed as follows. Chapter one deals with introduction, background of the study, statement of the problem, research question, research objective, hypothesis, scope of study, significance of the study and operational definition of terms. Chapter two is concerned with literature review which focuses on conceptual, theoretical and empirical review and also the research gap. Chapter three is concerned with research design, area of study, population, sampling size and sampling procedures, instruments, data collection, method of data analyses. Chapter four is concerned with data analyses and presentation of data. Chapter five is concerned with discussion, conclusion and recommendation.

1.2  Background to the Study

The agricultural sectors in Cameroon play an important role, considering that more than 40% of its workforce depends on agriculture. Based on data from the International Labour Organization (ILO), around 1.3 million people work in agriculture throughout the world. From these data, 60% of them work in developing countries (Forastieri, 2001). The agricultural sector is one of the main priorities of development in Cameroon for instance the Cameroon Development Corporation (CDC), who is the second employer after the state. This sector has a strategic role in efforts to fulfill the basic needs of Cameroon and the world at large. The passion of farming, despite all the hassles, requires the sector to do something right in managing job stress. Stress that is not recognized and not managed properly can lead to an environment of job stress. When stress levels are high, farmers tend to make poor agriculture decisions, resulting to poor employee performance.

Talent Management Practices (TMP) refers to the anticipation of required human capital the organization needs at the time and then setting a plan to meet those needs (Vance, 2012). Talent management in this context does not refer to the management of entertainers. It is the science of using Strategic Human Resources to improve business value and make it possible for companies and organizations to reach their goals. Everything that is done to recruit, retain, develop, reward and make people perform is part of talent management as well as strategic workforce planning (Cascio, 2013). Talent consists of those individuals who can make a difference to organizational performance either through their immediate contribution or, in the longer-term, by demonstrating the highest levels of potential. Talent management is therefore the systematic attraction, identification, development, engagement, retention and deployment of those individuals who are of particular value to an organization, either in view of their ‘high potential’ for the future or because they are fulfilling business/operation-critical roles, (Klein & Miles, 2009).  Hiring the right talent for the right job is one of the biggest challenges before every organization today, both big and small. Effective TM does not stem from one policy or from one smart attempt, rather it is a process which involves an inclusive and systematic analysis of the capabilities needed to achieve desired performance levels. It is all about developing processes that ensure a continuous flow of talented people to the organization. It encompasses having right processes and methods in place during all stages of employment including recruitment, training, development programs etc. It also includes devising career growth opportunities and offering promotion opportunities at the right stages of the career of an individual. It is more a personalized and inclusive human resource management approach. These interpretations underline the importance of recognizing that it is not sufficient simply to attract individuals with high potential; developing, managing and retaining those individuals as part of a planned strategy for talent are equally important, as well as adopting systems to measure the return on this investment (Gardner, 2012). Despite the importance of TM in organizations, managing talent is a challenge to all organizations in the context of globalization irrespective of the country (Gardner, 2012). Moreover, the concern about the scarcity of talent is almost universal. Organizations around the world are competing for the same pool of talents.

This has resulted to some unethical practices such as poaching of talents. Organizations have lost some of their best talents to their competitors and have been left to recruit and train new ones (Brewster, Sparrow & Vernon, 2010). Trend of global integration shows organizations’ standardizations in talent recruitment, development and management, to ensure their competitive position and consistency. Therefore organizations have to adapt global best practices of TM and at the same time adapt the local requirements and local labour market (Stahl, Bjorkman, Fomdale, Morris, Stiles, Trevor & Wright, 2007). The organizations that are very successful worldwide tend to maintain local recruitment strategies, but they combine this local strategy with a more global transfer of information and best practices (Brewster et ‘al., 2014). TM has been found to influence the performance of employees in an organization. When an organization gets to know who its high potential is, it becomes easier to invest in their professional development. Since development calls for investment decisions towards learning, training and development of the individual either for growth, succession planning and performance management, an organization remains bothered where to make this  investment and TM just makes this easier for them (Phillips, 2001). Managing talent has become a salient issue in today’s dynamic and competitive business environment. The ability to effectively manage top talents in organizations is therefore central to employee performance and forms a strong association with employee loyalty. As senior managers struggle to find a talented pool, they are equally faced with the dilemma of how to retain knowledgeable workers and replace the aging workforce who will be retiring (Frank, Finnegan, & Taylor, 2009). TM is premised on the fact that employees are now every organization’s most expensive and valuable assets, given that, contemporary organizations are expected to do more with less resources. TM is a systematic process and an organization’s commitment to attract, engage, develop, and retain top performers in an organization. It comprises all of the work processes, activities, strategies, practices and systems that are geared toward developing and retaining a superior workforce.

Talent management is about having the right people matched to the right jobs at the right time; and doing the right things and in the right place (Devine & Powell, 2008).

It was observed in West African Ceramics Nigeria Limited and BN Ceramics Nigeria Limited that they are grappling with problem of holding on to their best brains in the organizations. The rate of employee turnover seems very high as employees leave their jobs, unusually. This is probably as a result of poor talent management culture in the focused firms. Little seem to be done in areas of improving employees skills through training and learning, the progression in employees career seem very slow. This affects employees moral, competence, loyalty and satisfaction leading to reduced effort by the employees which affects general organizational performance. It is against this backdrop that the study was initiated.

Performance may be evaluated in terms of the output of an employee in a specific period of time. Much of the success of any organization relies upon the performance of its workforce; employee performance is an important consideration for business. Work today is “result oriented” rather than “people oriented”. It is only the performance that matters. Performance is a multidimensional construct which forms organizational goals, directed behaviours and actions (Mccloy, 1994).

1.4 Research Questions

From this problematic, the following questions were raised;

1.4.1 Main Research Question

The main research question of this study is how does talent management practices influence organizational performance of CDC?

1.4.2 Specific Research Questions

• What is the effect of talent attraction on organizational performance?
• To what extent does talent retention affect the organisational performance?
• What is the influence of talent development on organisational performance?

1.5 Research Objective of the Study:

1.5.1 Main Research Objective

The main objective of the study is to examine the effect of talent management pactices on organizational performance in CDC.

1.5.2 Specific Research Objective

Specifically, the study seeks to:

• To evaluate the effect of talent attraction on the organizational performance.
• To examine the extent to which talent retention influences the organizational performance.
• To assess the effect of talent development on the organisational performance.

1.6 Research Hypotheses:

The following research (null) hypotheses will be formulated for testing:

H0₁: Talent attraction has no effect on organizational performance.

H0₂: Talent retention has no influence on organizational performance.

H0₃: Talent development has no effect on organizational performance.