Abstract
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 nontraditional
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.