Managing Engineering Talent in Organizations: A Qualitative Systematic Literature Review on Engineering Talent Management

Swetha Nittala, Brent Jesiek
2018 ASEE Annual Conference & Exposition Proceedings   unpublished
It is widely accepted that the engineers employed by many companies are an invaluable resource and that effective management and development of this human resource can enhance a company's vitality and competitive position. Nonetheless, one of the key challenges for many technical organizations today is the effective management of their engineering resources. It could be argued that talent management emerged as a field to address challenges associated with talent management in general, and that
more » ... uch of the research on talent management is not focused on any specific kind of talent. Yet there is evidence to suggest that the strategies and processes associated with managing and developing engineers are significantly different from managing other types of talent, and very little scholarly research has addressed the specific issues involved with managing engineering talent. As engineering educators, we need to build a framework to better understand and contribute to the continuous development and learning of engineers in the workplace. The goal of the paper is to provide a holistic view on the topic of talent management for engineers. Specifically, the paper aims to systematically review the literature through the specified guidelines of the systematized literature review framework to understand the current state of research in the field. This will be achieved by addressing two main research questions: 1) What are the current issues in managing engineering talent?, and 2) What strategies exist for managing engineering talent? The findings from the literature review were grouped based on four major emergent categories including selection, development, retention, and general talent management activities, with sub-themes under each as they relate to the research questions. Finally, the paper concludes with a brief discussion on potential implications of the literature review.
doi:10.18260/1-2--30785 fatcat:tvfkeenb25ctzje5gagn5tiooi