Scholarly literature on talent management usually takes a mainstream approach to understanding how and why organizations pursue talent initiatives and to rationalizing their presumed benefits. Indeed, the basic logic of identifying and supporting an organization's most talented employees is, on the surface, quite seductive. Recent conceptual and empirical research, however, shows that talent management brings with it a range of issues that should trouble both academics and practitioners. In response to these concerns, Managing Talent: A Critical Appreciation takes a more critical view of the organizational talent project, to understanding the motives for talent management and to the identification, development and placement of high potential employees.

This edited text brings together and explores a range of concerns arising from theory and practice and offers both practical recommendations and implications for further research.

The issues and questions examined include:

• the rhetoric, politics and reality of talent management


• leadership derailment


• the social construction of talent


• gender bias in talent recognition


• the relevance of research in talent management


• inclusive talent management


• the role of line managers and leadership in implementing talent management

While stressing academic rigour, each chapter is accessible to both scholars and practitioners who are looking for alternative ways of thinking about talent and alternative perspectives on the often problematic issues arising from managing talent in practice.