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  • Published: 1 January 2018
  • ISBN: 9781523082506
  • Imprint: Berrett-Koehler
  • Format: Hardback
  • Pages: 144
  • RRP: $69.99

Reinventing Talent Management

Principles and Practices for the New World of Work



In this book, preeminent organizational scholar Edward Lawler identifies a comprehensive and integrated set of talent management practices that fit today’s rapidly evolving workplace.

The world of work has changed dramatically, says Lawler. Organizations now operate in a global environment. New technologies continue to disrupt how, when, and where work is done and should be managed. The workforce is becoming more diverse. Sustainability has joined profitability as a key business goal. All of this has dramatically accelerated the pace of change, making recruiting the best talent—not simply filling positions—an overriding concern.

But too many organizations still use a job-based, bureaucratic talent management approach that doesn’t take into account how the world has changed. Indeed, a recent study showed that from 1995 to 2016, there was no significant change in the way HR spends its time.

Lawler says that talent management has to be reinvented. It needs to be closely linked to the organization’s overall strategy. Recruitment and talent management should be driven by the skills and competencies the organization needs for long-term growth. This means talent management requires agile systems that can respond quickly to changing conditions and that take a more individualized approach to evaluating and rewarding performance. And everything talent management does has to be based on evidence, not tradition.

Lawler looks at attracting, selecting, developing, rewarding, managing, and organizing talent through this new lens. In today’s world, organizations have to constantly reinvent themselves—and talent management must do the same.

  • Published: 1 January 2018
  • ISBN: 9781523082506
  • Imprint: Berrett-Koehler
  • Format: Hardback
  • Pages: 144
  • RRP: $69.99

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Praise for Reinventing Talent Management

“Ed Lawler continues to be the iconic thinker in the HR field. This book offers both a synthesis of what has happened in talent and a forward-looking preview to what is next. Ed has a unique knack for identifying future trends and offering advice on how to deal with them. What a marvelous contribution that shapes both theory and practice. Touché!” —Dave Ulrich, Rensis Likert Professor, Ross School of Business, University of Michigan, and Partner, The RBL Group “At a time of significant change, many of the traditional assumptions of talent management no longer hold. But what are the new assumptions? Who better to help us understand this than Professor Lawler? In this fine and meticulously researched book, he shows the path forward. An absolute must-read for talent management executives.”  —Lynda Gratton, Professor of Management Practice, London Business School “Ed Lawler has once again taken conventional wisdom and rethought, reshaped, and reinvented it. Reinventing Talent Management helps operations and HR leaders utilize talent management as a competitive strategic weapon, with a bias toward agility, differentiation, and analytics-based decision making. It reflects where the changing world of work is heading and also leads us there. —Ian Ziskin, President, EXec EXcel Group LLC “It’s the age-old question: how do managers and organizations find and retain talent? Ed Lawler’s three-pronged prescription is timeless: link talent management closely to the organization’s overall strategy; develop agile approaches to recruitment, staffing, performance management, and rewards that can respond quickly to changing conditions; and base everything you do on evidence, not tradition. Ed shows the way through his meticulous research and engaging writing style.” —Wayne Cascio, Distinguished Professor, University of Colorado “This is an incredibly timely arrival for organizations looking to update their talent management practices and update their culture—which is to say, all managers in organizations need to read this book.”  —Steven Milovich, Senior Vice President, Global Human Resources, Talent and Workforce Diversity, Disney/ABC Television Group “An incisive exploration into talent management practices that clearly identifies outdated systems in place and how to move beyond. It’s exceptionally difficult to keep up with today’s rapidly changing workplace, yet Lawler’s data-driven methodology and action-based solutions lead readers through the fray.” —Gary Latham, Secretary of State Professor of Organizational Effectiveness, Rotman School of Management, University of Toronto