Talent Management Practices in Sri Lankan Banking Sector: Case of a Leading Private Commercial Bank in Sri Lanka

Abstract

Initiating and effective utilization of Talent Management (TM) is increasingly becoming a prime necessity being a core tool in the strategic initiatives to any business entity in today’s dynamic and highly competitive corporate environment. Thus, the effective Talent Management Practices have become a productive methodology for such organizations to secure their competitive advantage over their competitors. Banks need to make certain institutional changes to adapt to the markets while targeting skilled employees to carry out multifarious activities. Therefore, to attract, develop and retain talent in the banking sector has become very much dominant compared to other sectors of non-banking or other financial institutions. Hence, this research mainly examines the existence of talent management practices in Sri Lankan banking sector and the issues identified when managing the talent and further the approaches to overcome said issues. Stratified sampling method was used and multiple data gathering methods were utilized in collecting data. Primary data was collected from employees by using a structured questionnaire and discussions carried out with Human Resource (HR) participants to validate the gathered data for further justifications. Direct observations and several documentary evidences were used as secondary data of the study. Results revealed, though the bank has significantly adopted Talent Management practices, some practices such as Personal and leadership Development, Recognition programmes and Compensation structure should be developed with optimistic additions to experience a well-managed talent in the bank. Organization culture, a healthy leadership channel, capabilities of experts in specific fields, employee attitudes, communication gaps, lack of resources, unstructured policies/procedures, lack of systems/processes, shortcomings in compensation and benefit scheme, lack of team work and innovative ideas are denoted as issues in managing talent in addition to constructive comments revealed by the study participants. Therefore, it is necessary to adopt Talent Management practices to a significant level and pay more attention in detail to the issues that had been occurring while managing talent and classify the precise approaches to overcome the issues while adding value to the future plans on Talent Management.