Key Determinants of Attracting and Retaining Managerial Talents: An Empirical Study

Attracting and retaining talents especially at the managerial level will be a big challenge for the modern business organizations. The central purpose of this study is to measure and assess the key determinants of attracting and retaining managerial talents in respect of selected industrial units in Karnataka. In this research paper, which is a part of larger research study, an attempt is made to identify the major factors responsible for attracting and retaining managerial talents at junior, middle and senior management levels. The key results and discussions presented in this paper are based on the primary data and information extracted through a sample survey of 247 industrial units.

A conducive and congenial working environment has been perceived as a key driving force for attracting talented people to junior manager and middle manager positions, whereas executive compensation was figured out as a dominant factor for attracting promising people to the senior-level management positions.

Lack of career growth was perceived to be the main reason for junior and middle level managers leaving their respective organizations, but in case of senior level managers it was lack of timely and appropriate recognition for the job well-done. Most of the industrial units responding to the sample survey adopted innovative benefit schemes for retaining executive talents such as sign-on bonus, retention bonus, stock option, skill-based bonuses and overseas assignments.

Compensation package and innovative benefit schemes might vary from situation to situation within a firm (situation-specific), company to company within industry (company-specific), industry to industry (industry-specific), and from one country to another (country–specific). It is precisely due to the fact that management of human resources is context-specific, and accordingly, its impact on attraction and retention of managerial talents is bound to be the 'child of circumstances and the prevailing context'. In the fitness of things, a host of factors individually and collectively may be responsible for attracting and retaining executives at junior, middle and senior levels.