TALENT MANAGEMENT AND EMPLOYEE PRODUCTIVITY IN PUBLIC SECTOR ORGANISATIONS OF NIGERIA

Wurim, Ben Pam

National Directorate of Employment, Plateau State

ABSTRACT

Talent management is one of the most critical of all resources at the disposal of any organisation, whether, public or private. The right quality and quantity of talents employed is a measure of employee productivity and organizational performance. However, most public sector organizations perform below expectation with problems of inefficiency, redundancy and employee bloating. The main thrust of this paper is to critically evaluate the impact of talent management on employee productivity in the Nigerian public sector. A hypothesis in line with this objective is drawn and tested based on data generated through a questionnaire. The survey investigation method was used in collecting data for the study from a sample of 349 top, middle and lower level management staff of five public sector organizations in Nigeria. The Kruskal- Wallis test statistic was used to analyze the data. The findings indicate that the implementation of proper talent management processes significantly impact employee productivity. It was thus concluded that talent management practices in Nigeria public organizations (where they exist), significantly impact on employee productivity. The paper recommends that all actors in talent management should be educated and trained in scientific methods of managing organizational talents; and adopt advocacy to influence detrimental laws and legislations that have direct bearing on the talent management processes of their organizations.