Akram Al Ariss, Wayne F. Cascio, and Jaap Paauwe
Journal of World Business, Volume 49, Issue 2, P. 173–179

Research on Talent Management (TM) has been lagging behind businesses in offering vision and leadership in this field. After sketching a comprehensive outline of knowledge about TM, theoretical as well as practical, we introduce the papers in this special issue and their important contributions. This introductory article contributes to filling the knowledge gap by offering a research agenda at multiple levels and in multiple contexts. We also discuss methodological issues in the study of TM, and conclude by identifying several key trends that are now, and will continue to influence the practice and study of TM in the future.

Wayne F. Cascio
Human Resource Development International, Volume 17, Issue 2, Pp. 121-128

Global economic recovery from years of depressed growth has accelerated voluntary turnover, along with employer concerns about retention. More employers are also promoting from within their ranks, and this has put growing emphasis on HRD and career-development initiatives. This article argues that the biggest winners in this emerging economic environment, at least from a talent perspective, are organizations with positive employer brands, performance management strategies that help employees develop expertise that maximizes their potential, and innovative approaches to the design and delivery of HRD initiatives, especially technology-delivered instruction (e.g., mobile and virtual applications, simulations, MOOCs) and social-learning tools (e.g., wikis, communities of practice, social media). These strategies are by no means exhaustive, but they are three key elements of employee retention.

JW Boudreau, WF Cascio
Employment Relations Today, Spring 2014

Research shows that this is generally true, 4 except during financial crises, during which the risk-return trade-off disappears, due to the “flight-to-safety” phenomenon. Much of the current attention to human-capital risk emerged as a direct result of the recent financial ..

Wayne F. Cascio
Advances in Developing Human Resources February 2014 vol. 16 no. 1, pp. 108-122

The Problem We live in uncertain times, exacerbated by many direct and indirect effects of the global financial crisis. However, there is a lack of understanding about how human resource development (HRD) is responding to the global financial crisis or how HRD scholars and practitioners can best respond to these new realities and thus successfully ensure the future of HRD.

The Solution To appreciate the future, it is critical to understand the past. Thus, this reflective piece outlines several factors that have caused, and continue to cause, uncertainty in the global economy, including structural changes in labor markets and developments in technology. A literature review revealed several HRD responses of firms to these new realities. These include technology-delivered instruction and social-learning tools. The article concludes by identifying characteristics of effective training and examines some distinctive practices of three firms that have been recognized as the global best in class for their leadership-development efforts.

The Stakeholders Scholars and practitioners interested in the HRD, technology-delivered instruction, and social-learning fields.

Wayne Cascio and John Boudreau
Journal of Organizational Effectiveness: People and Performance, Volume 1, Issue 1, pp.77 – 97

Purpose – The purpose of this paper is to suggest that in the arena of human capital, risk-mitigation may overshadow risk-optimized decisions, and show how a more balanced approach can be achieved by understanding and applying frameworks from behavioral decision theory, as well as framing human capital risk using tools and frameworks that have a long history in other management arenas, such as finance.

Design/methodology/approach – Review risk-optimization frameworks in human resource and general management, distill key connections, suggest ways to enhance risk optimization for human capital, and offer suggestions for future research and practice.

Findings – For human capital, risk-mitigation may overshadow risk-optimization, a balanced approach can be achieved by applying behavioral decision theory and by using frameworks from other management arenas, such as finance.

Practical implications – Organizations must acknowledge and skillfully manage the connections between human capital and competitive strategy in this emerging arena of human capital risk, or they will miss key strategic opportunities.

Originality/value – Attention to human capital risk has largely emphasized minimizing or controlling unwanted outcomes, but the paper proposes that risk-optimization requires balanced attention to risk-taking as well.

Wayne F. Cascio and Fred Luthans
Journal of Management Inquiry, Volume 23 Issue 1, pp. 51-67

Nelson Mandela and other political prisoners from South Africa were imprisoned on notorious Robben Island from the mid-1960s until the end of the apartheid regime in 1991. The stark conditions and abusive treatment of these prisoners has been widely publicized. However, upon reflection and in retrospect, over the years, a type of metamorphosis occurred. Primarily drawing from firsthand accounts of the former prisoners and guards, it seems that Robben Island morphed from the traditional oppressive prison paradigm to one where the positively oriented prisoners disrupted the institution with a resulting climate of learning and transformation that eventually led to freedom and the end of apartheid. At a macro level of analysis, we use the theoretical lens of institutional work, and, at a micro level, positive psychological capital (hope, efficacy, resiliency, and optimism) to explain what happened. This metamorphosis led to one of, if not the greatest, societal transformations in modern history. We conclude by discussing some implications and lessons learned for organizational scholars and practitioners.