A Framework for Categorizing Talent Management System Benefits

The talent management systems (TMS) represent an integrated set of analytical tools for the creation and management of talent knowledge in organizations. Several such systems, available from various vendors, aims to support the strategic imperatives of organizations by providing a number of benefits. Backtracking into the available evidence, however, suggests that such benefits from TMS are often stated in a generic way, presented in an unstructured manner, and are at different levels of abstractions thereby making an assessment of such benefits difficult. The study, based on an analysis of practitioners’ interviews, offers a categorization of the TMS benefits in five dimensions along with possible benefit indicators and select example metrics. The categorization is expected to assist practitioners in developing a basis for planning for TMS implementation, establishing benchmarks for effective TMS implementation, and facilitating comparisons between expected and realized benefits. Some theoretical contributions are also possible which are also delineated.