knowledge management and technical talent management (Whelan &
Carcary, 2011). Among those few, De Long (2004) provided a conceptual
model, the “Th ree Rs,” and a framework for organizational knowledge
retention, an integrated approach to address the issue of managing
knowledge. He argued that organizations need to design an integrated
approach to address three key HR challenges: (1) retirement, (2) retention
of mid-career employees, and (3) recruiting. Th e main focus of his
suggested model refl ects the importance of an integrated systematic
approach to retain knowledge within an organization.
Recently, similar arguments were made by Rothwell (2011). Whereas
De Long’s model focused on the management of knowledge, specifi cally
the retention of knowledge using the functions of HR as its process and
tool, Rothwell’s model focused specifi cally on technical talent management.
Rothwell (2011) said that technical talent management focuses
on the special collective knowledge of the organization that is needed to
achieve strategic goals over time, whereas replacement planning is a form
of disaster planning or risk management that identifi es emergency backups
in case of the unexpected loss of important workers. Technical talent
management is diff erent from workforce planning because it focuses
on the special knowledge and competencies needed for the organization’s
competitive success, instead of planning based on the collective
competencies of all workers. Unlike traditional talent management, for
technical talent management, “the idea is to prepare a large number of
people to assume technical or professional positions, but to consider
their strengths, expertise, or special abilities when making decisions
about specifi c assignments, projects, or promotions” (Rothwell, 2011,
p. 18). He suggested a strategic model for technical talent management
that refl ects a long-term and integrated perspective comprising nine
steps that represent all the complicated components of managing technical
talent (Figure 1).