Framing the usefulness of eHRM in talent management: A case study of talent identification in a professional services firm

• DOI: http://doi.org/10.1002/cjas.1378
• Date: 01 June 2016
• Published date: 01 June 2016
• Author: Sharna Wiblen

Framing the usefulness of eHRM in talent

management: A case study of talent identification

in a professional services firm

Sharna Wiblen*

University of Sydney

Abstract

As talent management evolves from intuitive to evidence-

based decision-making, the role of electronic Human

Resource Management (eHRM) to gather, distribute, and

analyze data becomes more critical. However, surprisingly

few academic studies investigate the role of technology in

talent management. Drawing on a qualitative case study of

talent management in a large professional services f‌irm, this

paper critically examines how eHRM information technolo-

gies are framed as useful within talent identif‌ication

discourses. The f‌indings reveal two distinct but interrelated

sets of processes employed to identify talent and suggest that

the perceived usefulness and centrality of eHRM are

inf‌luenced by how stakeholders shape their understanding

of effective talent management. Copyright © 2016 ASAC.

Published by John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.

Keywords: talent management, electronic Human Resource

Management (eHRM), discourse analysis, talent identif‌ica-

tion, qualitative case study

Résumé

Au fur et à mesure que la prise de décision informée par les

faits remplace la prise de décision basée sur l’intuition en

gestion des talents, le rôle que la gestion électronique des

ressources humaines (GERH) joue dans l’assemblage, la

distribution et l’analyse des données devient de plus en plus

crucial. Curieusement, il existe peu de travaux scientif‌iques

consacrés au rôle de la technologie dans la gestion des tal-

ents. Dans cet article, nous nous appuyons sur une étude

qualitative de cas de la gestion des talents dans une grande

f‌irme de services professionnels pour examiner, de façon

critique, la manière dont on présente l’utilité des technolo-

gies de l’information en GERH dans les discours portant

sur le recensement des talents. Les résultats mettent en évi-

dence deux ensembles de procédés interconnectés utilisés

pour recenser les talents. Ils suggèrent aussi que l’utilité

perçue et la centralité de la GERH sont inf‌luencées par la

manière dont les parties prenantes construisent leur com-

préhension de la gestion eff‌icace des talents. Copyright ©

2016 ASAC. Published by John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.

Mots-clés : gestion des talents, gestion électronique des

ressources humaines (GERH), analyse du discours,

recensement des talents, étude qualitative de cas

As talent management evolves from intuitive to evi-

dence-based decision-making, the role of electronic Human

Resource Management (eHRM) to gather, distribute, and an-

alyze data is becoming more important. Advocates of eHRM

posit that information systems, and the data they generate,

will increase an organization’s ability to select, retain, and

manage its talent more effectively (Lawler, Levenson, &

Boudreau, 2004; Williams, 2009). As organizations increas-

ingly recognize the value of data and analytics (Davenport,

Harris, & Shapiro, 2010), the need to understand the role

of information technology in talent management becomes

more pertinent. Whilst many assert that talent management

can benef‌it from the technological capabilities that support

and enable human resource management activities (Marler

& Fisher, 2013), we know little of how organizations em-

ploy eHRM capabilities in talent management.

I use discourse analysis as the theoretical and methodo-

logical approach to understand how an organization uses

eHRM capabilities in the processes of identifying talent.

The view of discourse adopted is inf‌luenced by the assump-

tion that discourses inf‌luence an individual’s experience or

subjectivity and that their ability to think, speak, and act

has implications for practices and interactions within organi-

zations (Hardy & Phillips, 2004). Within the context of this

study, discourses refer to a “system of statements which

*Please address correspondence to: Sharna Wiblen, University of Sydney,

Work and Organisational Studies, Room 203, Institute Building H03, The

University of Sydney, Sydney, New South Wales 2006, Australia. Email:

sharna.wiblen@sydney.edu.au

Canadian Journal of Administrative Sciences

Revue canadienne des sciences de l’administration

33:95–107 (2016)

Published online 14 April 2016 in Wiley Online Library (wileyonlinelibrary.com) DOI: 10.1002/CJAS.1378

Can J Adm Sci

33(2), 95–107 (2016)Copyright © 2016 ASAC. Published by John Wiley & Sons, Ltd. 95