ABSTRACT
The chapter provides an overview of the various perspectives of talent management, including consideration of the multiple definitions, conceptualisations and frameworks featuring in the extant literature. We illustrate that researchers and organisations tend to conceptualise talent management in five main ways: (1) talent management as similar to human resource management (HRM); (2) as the creation of talent pools; (3) as the management of designated individuals; (4) as a set of practices and pivotal role focus; and (5) a set of judgment-based decisions. The chapter concedes that despite ongoing definitional debates, talent management and strategic human resource management are not synonymous. Instead, talent management focuses on the disproportionate and unequal resource allocation with workforce differentiation an underpinning element.
