Abstract
The paper provides the draft purpose statement that is formulated to describe the talent development effort in the National Institutes of Health. The focus is on the analysis of the specific rationale that is behind the initiative currently used in the discussed organization. The talent development effort in the National Institutes of Health can be regarded as aiming to guarantee that all employees who work in the organization have the required high qualifications, as well as opportunities to improve their knowledge and skills.
This approach is correlated with the organization’s philosophy and strategy to meet the employees’ learning needs and respond to the health issues in the community. The paper also presents the discussion of the alignment between the organization’s current business, the HRM strategies used in the National Institutes of Health, and the talent development effort.
Purpose Statement
The National Institutes of Health has implemented the talent development program that is followed in the organization to improve the human resource management (HRM) strategies and contribute to the employees’ professional growth (Office of Human Resources at the National Institutes of Health, 2015). Nevertheless, it is important to concentrate on formulating the purpose statement that is related to the talent development effort in the organization.
This paper presents the draft purpose statement proposed for the talent development effort in the National Institutes of Health, the analysis of the rationale that is behind the current initiative used in the organization, and the discussion of the alignment between the organization’s current business, the used HRM strategies, and the applied talent development effort.
Purpose Statement and the Rationale
A Draft Purpose Statement for the Talent Development Effort
The purpose statement for the talent development effort in the National Institutes of Health can be formulated the following way: In the National Institutes of Health, the talent development effort aims at guaranteeing that all employees working in the organization have the high qualifications and opportunities to improve their knowledge, develop skills, and apply innovation in the daily practice while supporting the organization’s philosophy and strategy, meeting employees’ learning needs, and addressing the health issues.
This purpose statement is based on the guidelines proposed by Rothwell and Kazanas (2003) in their work. Therefore, the development of talents in the National Institutes of Health is the necessity that is associated with the specifics of the organization’s work-oriented to conducting the biomedical research and involving the high-quality employees, as well as using the latest technologies (Office of Human Resources at the National Institutes of Health, 2015).
Analyzing the Rationale behind a Current Initiative or the Purpose for Creating a New One
The current approach to organizing the talent development in the National Institutes of Health is based on the idea that talented employees need to receive all resources for their personal and professional growth to perform according to the organization’s standards. Therefore, the organization pays much attention to developing its professionals, researchers, technicians, and specialists who work in laboratories (Office of Human Resources at the National Institutes of Health, 2015).
It is important to state that the development of talents supports the organization’s philosophy to promote health and address illnesses in the community. As a result, the talent development effort is directly connected with initiatives that guarantee the development of employees’ knowledge, their promotion, and the cooperation with stakeholders.
Identifying the Alignment or Lack of Alignment between Current Business, HR Strategies, and Talent Development
While evaluating the talent development initiative applied in the National Institutes of Health, it is important to focus on analyzing how the talent development effort is correlated with the business strategy and HRM strategies followed in the organization. First, it is important to state that the top-down approach is followed in the National Institutes of Health, and the talent development practices are directly associated with the HRM strategies developed to recruit and retain the talented employees (Office of Human Resources at the National Institutes of Health, 2015; Rothwell & Kazanas, 2003).
The reason is in setting the high selection criteria and guaranteeing the constant training and development for employees (Cohn, Khurana, & Reeves, 2005). As a result, the talent development initiative not only depends on but also determines HRM practices. Furthermore, the organization uses the talent development practices to identify the employees’ learning needs and address them (Collings, 2014; Howarth, 2011).
HRM strategies related to the training and promotion are connected with the talent development effort in the National Institutes of Health directly. Managers choose to promote those professionals who have completed all proposed training programs and who have the potential to develop while taking the new position (Martin & Schmidt, 2010; Office of Human Resources at the National Institutes of Health, 2015). However, the organization should pay more attention to orienting employees in identifying their learning needs to determine the areas to improve most efficiently.
The alignment between the HRM strategies and the talent development effort in the National Institutes of Health is obvious. However, there is a need for improvements in the sphere of connecting the organizational strategy and the talent development initiative (Office of Human Resources at the National Institutes of Health, 2015). On the one hand, the organizational philosophy and strategy determine the approach to talent development followed in the organization because of the necessity to support and train high-quality specialists who can contribute to the research, adoption of new medical practices, and implementation of innovative technologies.
Moreover, talent development initiatives are proposed regarding predictions made regarding possible changes in the industry (Oppong, 2013). On the other hand, there is no clear alignment between the implementation of talent development programs and educating employees to use the principles of strategic thinking in their work (Collings, 2014). This aspect can be explained regarding the fact that the National Institutes of Health is the governmental organization, and the principles of marketing and business are not applied to this sector directly. However, more improvements are necessary for this sphere because the strategic development of the National Institutes of Health depends on the talent development effort.
Conclusion
The goals of the paper were achieved regarding formulating the draft purpose statement that is related to the talent development effort in the National Institutes of Health. Also, the proposed purpose statement was supported by the rationale behind the current initiative that is used in the target organization. Finally, the alignment between the organization’s current business, the specific HRM strategies used in the National Institutes of Health, and the applied talent development effort were assessed with the focus on relationships that exist in the organization and relationships that need to be developed. Managers should focus on developing these specific relationships to improve the approach to using the talent development effort in the context of the organization’s strategy.
References
Cohn, J. M., Khurana, R., & Reeves, L. (2005). Growing talent as if your business depended on it. Harvard Business Review, 83(10), 62-70.
Collings, D. G. (2014). Toward mature talent management: Beyond shareholder value. Human Resource Development Quarterly, 25(3), 301-319.
Howarth, R. (2011). Deep dive: The proven method for building strategy, focusing your resources, and taking smart action. Austin, TX: Greenleaf Book Group Press.
Martin, J., & Schmidt, C. (2010). How to keep your top talent. Harvard Business Review, 88(5), 54-61.
Office of Human Resources at the National Institutes of Health. (2015). Professional development.
Oppong, N. Y. (2013). Talent management: A bundle of hurdles. Public Policy and Administrative Research, 3(8), 63-73.
Rothwell, W. J., & Kazanas, H. C. (2003). The strategic development of talent. Amherst, MA: HRD Press.