Talent Management and Career Management

Abstract

This chapter explores the assumptions about Talent Management (TM) held in the TM versus the career management literature, highlighting areas of overlap and contradiction, and their implications for research and practice. The historical evolution of the global economy, from being centered mostly around agriculture to the postmodern information era, has strongly shaped the framework and the boundaries within which individual careers can be enacted today. The dawning of the industrial economy was characterized by the appearance of large, bureaucratically structured organizations providing careers for life. Job security was all but guaranteed to employees, who reciprocated by offering their employers their loyalty and dedication. TM differs from career management in that it is believed to be less egalitarian and more elitist by definition. The careers literature might take lessons from the TM literature by acknowledging careers as an organizational concern that relates to its broader strategic human resource management practices.