The status of talent management in the South African consulting civil engineering industry : a survey

Abstract

Talent management, an integrated system of recruitment, development and retention of the required human capital at all organisational levels, is at the forefront of business agendas. Given the skills shortage in South Africa, talent management is expected to remain a business imperative especially in the science, engineering/technology arena. The importance of talent management stems from its role in achieving competitive advantage in order to realise the strategy of the organisation. In this article the perceptions of persons responsible for talent management in their respective organisations are presented to identify the status of talent management in the South African consulting civil engineering industry in 2008. The findings show that the majority of respondents (94%) indicated that talent management was a priority. However, only 57% of the respondents had some talent management initiative in place. The primary concern experienced by the majority of respondents (55%) in connection with talent management was to create a deep reservoir of successors at all hierarchical levels of the organisation. The inability to create a deep reservoir of successors at all levels of the organisation not only threatens the continuity of the organisation per se, but the wealth-creating capacity of the country as a whole, since civil engineers play a primary role in creating and maintaining infrastructure.