Global Talent Management: A Qualitative Case Study of the Engineering Talent Shortage

The purpose of this qualitative dissertation was to better understand the phenomenon of global talent management from the perspective of a multinational organization requiring significant engineering talent. The following research questions were answered: (1) why have organizations consistently faced a shortage of engineering talent? (2) Why do organizations currently face a shortage of engineering talent? (3) What strategies do individual practitioners use to address the engineering shortage? Participants were selected to participate in the study based on direct involvement in global talent management for engineering talent. Interviews were conducted and a qualitative, case study methodology was employed to better understand the research topic. Results demonstrate that an aging population, generational gaps, and a shrinking talent pool are contributing to a widening of the demand/supply gap for engineering talent. The gap was found to exist in both developing economies as well as developed economies. Implications of this finding include: inability to staff critical engineering talent and disparity in skill sets between the aging engineering population and a new generation of engineering talent. Results substantiate conclusions reached in previous quantitative studies. Results suggest the most effective methods of addressing the talent shortage to include: collaboration with educational institutions to identify and recruit engineering talent, focus on employee retention through development and training programs in order to maintain top talent, searching for talent using non-traditional methods or in non-traditional locations. Results specifically point to the need for organizations to seek out talent in developing economies and that a regiocentric approach to bridging these gaps might be most effective methodology. Results ultimately point to a need for further research to mitigate the ongoing shortage of engineering talent.