Sticks and Stones: The Naming of Global Talent

Abstract

In the workplace, demand for globally mobile workers continues to grow. This article examines the consequences for the individual of being named as global talent. Findings from a qualitative study within a large, multinational organisation, reveal the identity struggles these individuals engage in as they seek to reconcile the tensions inherent in such challenging careers. By combining and building on extant literature in naming, identity and global talent, the article offers a greater understanding of the lived experiences of global talent, as they construct and re-construct their identities in an on-going cycle. By drawing on the emerging field of socio-onomastics, a greater understanding of the meaning and connotations of being named as global talent is offered. By highlighting how names do not merely mirror identities, but are negotiated and resisted through a process of identity work, a contribution is made to the fields of identity studies and global talent management.

Tensions in talent: A micro practice perspective on the implementation of high potential talent development programs in multinational corporations

“…Built upon a range of academic and applied perspectives, the body of literature on talent management has grown substantially in recent years. Much has been achieved regarding the lenses and the levels through which the phenomenon has been observed, assessed, and evaluated (Abeuova & Muratbekova‐Touron, 2019; Collings & Mellahi, 2009; Collings, Mellahi, & Cascio, 2019; Farndale, Scullion, & Sparrow, 2010; Gallardo‐Gallardo, Thunnissen, & Scullion, 2020; King & Vaiman, 2019; Kirk, 2020; Tarique & Schuler, 2010; Vaiman, Scullion, & Collings, 2012). That said, there have been calls for more empirical studies because of the “limited robust evidence on effectiveness” (Powell, Duberley, Exworthy, Macfarlane, & Moss, 2013, p. 292), resulting in some of the literature having a “foundational quality” (Farndale, Morley, & Valverde, 2020, p. 155).…”

Home sweet home: Creating a sense of place in globally mobile working lives

“…In this article, we are interested in how GMWs navigate the intersection of identity, meaningfulness and place. Data used in this article are drawn from two previous studies by the authors (see Kirk, 2020; Ridgway & Robson, 2018), in which similar qualitative, interpretivist methods were adopted, utilizing similar sampling strategies and comparative interview guides which enabled data sets to be combined for this article.…”

“…Over the past 25 years the range of forms of international work has become more diverse (Kirk, 2016, 2020), ranging from international migrants to local elites (Beaverstock, 2018). In this article, we explore the experiences of corporate‐assigned and self‐initiated expatriates, assignees who return to their home country after completing a short assignment which may be days or up to one year in duration, individuals who engage in frequent business travel and global commuters who cross national borders to work in a different country on a daily, weekly, or in some rare cases as discovered in this project, monthly basis (Dickmann & Baruch, 2011).…”

Towards liminality competence: a migrant's talent identity narratives for re-imagining global talent management

“…There have been several studies on the adjustment and transition of migrants from the home country to a host country, focusing mainly on migrants' challenges, adaptability and adjustment at work (Conrad andMeyer-Ohle, 2020, Anthias, 2002;Ramsey andLorenz, 2020 andKirk, 2020), adjustment at work and their identity struggles. (Harrison and Michailova, 2012;Ridgway andKirk, 2021 andPio, 2005), as well as the need for social support (Jiang and Korczynski, 2016).…”

“…There are few studies on the concept of talent identity work (Tansley and Teitze, 2013;Kirk, 2020). Like work identity, talent identity relates to a person's sense of who they are, is a synthesis of 'various identities, including the person's organisational, professional and social identities' (Saayman and Crafford, 2011;p1) and is constituted through their 'positioning within the particular relations of power in the workplace' (Wallace, 2002, p2).…”