Talent management in private universities: the case of a private university in the United Kingdom

Abstract

PurposeIn an uncertain and competitive higher educational landscape, expedient management of professional capital could increase knowledge capital by ensuring the recruitment and retention of experienced and highly qualified academic staff. In this paper, a case study of a private university aims to evaluate the talent management of academic staff.Design/methodology/approachPrimary datum amongst academic staff was collected using an online survey questionnaire and semi-structured interviews. Thematic analysis of interviews and descriptive analysis of three forms of survey were triangulated for richer data.FindingsMost of the academic staff in this private university were intrinsically motivated and there was a low expectation to be active in research and publication. However, bibliometrics was a priority amongst senior academics interviewed. The lack of talent management in bibliometric profiles expressed by senior academics hamper academic progression and could contribute to high turnover intentions as push factors. Overall, there were no explicit talent management strategies by management identified.Research limitations/implicationsThis is a small-scale research project.Practical implicationsManagement should explore various options for structuring career paths within the organisational structure to secure career commitment of the employees. Within private universities, this could take the form of secondments to industry as part of work-based learning projects which could then also result in research and publication.Social implicationsPrivate universities widen the access to higher education and as such are an important research focus for improvements in quality and the retention of staff.Originality/valueResearch of staff talent management in a UK private university.

Measuring the teachers’ talent management

“…TTM can be considered a success factor in educational organizations development (Aytaç, 2015;Davies and Davies, 2011;Genesi and Suarez, 2010;Tran, 2022) and leads to positive changes in teachers' leadership development at schools (Harun et al, 2020). TTM is considered as a driver of excellence (Tabancalı et al, 2017), performance (Ramaditya et al, 2022), knowledge management (Tejada, 2003), school's knowledge capital increase (Gerhardt and Karsan, 2022) and institutional learning (Cheng, 2013a). It is becoming a strategic priority in terms of innovation (Majad, 2016;Picazo, 2004), institutional engagement (Cabrera, 2015;Vallejo and Portalanza, 2017) and academic outcomes improvement (Tabancalı et al, 2017).…”

“…In addition, TM practices are predicted by whether teachers perceive them as elements of the school’s organizational culture (Volkova et al ., 2021). In this respect, managing talent and knowledge are advised as essential resources for organizational transformation to maximize performance (Celep and Çetin, 2005; Ramaditya et al ., 2022) and to promote school’s knowledge capital increase by ensuring the recruitment and retention of experienced and highly qualified academic staff (Gerhardt and Karsan, 2022; Romiani et al ., 2021). To achieve this, school leaders (or what we could consider as Teacher’s Talent Leadership) have a key role by setting directions, creating inspirational learning environments, supporting teachers in their development, accounting for the impact of the school on learners and by creating favorable conditions for learning cultures for all and schools as learning organizations (Clemson et al ., 2020).…”

Preparing for the future: understanding collective grief through the lens of the Kubler-Ross crisis cycle

“…Blau (2006) argues that intrinsic motivation and a core Understanding collective grief self-evaluation is needed to positively progress through the crisis. Gerhardt and Karsan (2022) had already identified that most staff at the College were intrinsically motivated. Staff ability to "hold up" during the closure process is dependent upon strain, work incivility, interpersonal deviance, organisational deviance and transactional and relational obligations (Blau, 2006).…”

“…The aim is to gain and apply insight to future crises in collective grief such as what occurred during Covid 19. The Case ("the College") was one of the United Kingdom's largest private Higher Educational providers which went into administration (bankruptcy) in July 2019 very suddenly and unexpectedly (Gerhardt and Karsan, 2022). As a form of action research intervention, the Kubler-Ross grief cycle was introduced in EVRE and CAPP modules to help manage expectations and as such became a focal point in the review of the literature as it was applied in context as a change model.…”

“…The Case, the private for -profit UK Business and Law College, established in 1973, differentiated itself from many other providers in Higher Education (HE) by embracing the opportunities of diversity and inclusion, among other similar providers. About 80% of the 7,000 students lived within 10 miles of the campus, 90% were Black, Asian and Minority Ethnic, 80% were mature (an average age of 30) and 16.6% were drawn from Participation Of Local Areas (POLAR) 1 and 2 postcodes (low educational achievement and aspiration); the largest percentage of any Higher Educational Institution (HEI) in London (Gerhardt, 2019a, b; Gerhardt and Karsan, 2022). The crisis, plunging staff and students into a crisis overnight, is an opportunity to understand how an educational institution copes collectively with a crisis, such as what all HEIs had to cope with during Covid 19.…”