Competency Mapping - A Strategic Approach in Talent Management

Human Resource Management is undergoing a major transformation in today’s organizations. The present globalization of economy necessitates innovative approaches in managing the talent in an organization through competency based HR practices. Talent management is a modern and effective way of implementing the personnel policy enabling the organization to achieve strategic goals through the proper usage of the potential inherent in human resources. Competency mapping is a strategic HR framework for monitoring the performance and development of human assets in organizations. Competency based talent management can improve both productivity and performance by identifying key characteristics of top performers and how those traits differ from average employees. Competency based Human Resource Management is being increasingly recognized as an effective way of talent management over the previously adopted job-description related approach. It involves a transition from the traditional way of managing human resources based on what people have (e.g. Skills and abilities) to what people can do (performance). The aim of this paper is to provide a critical review of the academic literature on talent management in search of alternative perspectives. This study examines how competency mapping leads to talent management which in turn enhances the organizational effectiveness.