Current status of talent management in Japan based on insights into procurement and development of next-generation executive human resources at Japanese manufacturers

The objective of this article is to clarify the current situation of talent management in Japan. Despite the lack of a common definition of talent management, it is developing into an area that draws much attention in the personnel management field from both researchers and practitioners. This article focuses on (i) how talent pools are formed within organizations, (ii) actual status of growth opportunities made available for human resources after talent selection, and (iii) relationship between introducing talent management systems and Japanese-style human-resource development practices. According to the qualitative research we conducted, this article is to reveal that (i) two methods are used to create pools, i.e. position-based and people-based, (ii) companies make attempts to develop long-term plans, at least for human resources seen as having potential, (iii) initiatives based on people rather than on positions seem intended to change companies' existing promotion practices, and (iv) in implementing talent management, the utilization of diverse human resources (greater flexibility regarding their attributes) is advancing, and some companies intend to develop human resources that have the company 'color' to some extent but are not all exactly the same shade.

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