The present study sought to identify variables that predicted parental decision-making regarding their child's participation in a national gifted and talented identification program for middle school students and subsequent participation in recommended educational options. One hundred sixty-nine parents of students who qualified for either the 2001-2002 or 2002-2003 Duke Talent Identification Program participated in the study. The students were drawn from two large public school districts and six small private schools in a large metropolitan area in the southwestern United States. Both quantitative and qualitative methods were used to identify the variables predictive of parental decision-making regarding talent search participation. Each parent completed a questionnaire consisting of both multiple-choice and open-ended questions. Selected parents participated in structured follow-up interviews. The results of the study indicated that parental perception of the helpfulness of school personnel in explaining the purpose and process of the talent search was most predictive of participation in the talent search. The educational level of the father, parent's prior awareness of the purpose and process of talent search, and the number of enrichment activities in which the child had previously participated were also predictive of talent search participation. Qualitative data indicated that parents of both participants and nonparticipants had a limited understanding of the purpose, diagnostic power, and potential benefits of the talent search. Very few parents chose to seek extracurricular or curricular/instructional options following the talent search testing. Qualitative data indicated that parents did not choose these options due to cost, logistical concerns regarding the special programs, and reservations about the developmental appropriateness of such options for middle school students. Although talent searches are sponsored and administered by organizations outside the local school, this study suggests that parents mostly rely on their local school for notification of their child's nomination, information on the purpose and benefits of talent search, interpretation of test scores, and guidance in selecting appropriate curricular or extracurricular follow-up.

Il lavoro ha esplorato il tema dello sviluppo del talento nello sport a partire da una prospettiva psicosociale. Per fare questo si è posto due obiettivi principali: il primo di esplorare la letteratura sul talento nello sport per identificare quelle teorie che meglio potessero rispecchiare l'approccio psicosociale. Il secondo obiettivo è stato quello di studiare empiricamente come le relazioni impattano sul benessere psicologico dei giovani atleti, ipotizzando che esso si possa considerare una condizione particolarmente favorevole per lo sviluppo del potenziale. La ricerca condotta non solo ha identificato con successo una serie di teorie che sostengono l'utilizzo dell'approccio psicosociale allo sviluppo del talento, ma ha anche dimostrato come migliori relazioni, mediate da una serie di variabili psicologiche individuali, vadano ad influenzare positivamente il benessere psicologico di giovani calciatori, e quindi secondo l'ipotesi del lavoro, il loro efficace sviluppo come atleti. / the work explored talent development in sport following a psychosocial approach. It has two main aims: the first was to explore literature on talent development in sport to identify theories that better support psychosocial approach to talent development. the second aim was to study empirically how relationship impact on psychological wellbeing of young talented athletes, hypotesizing that it describes a particularly effective ground breaking condition for the development of potentiality. Research finds support for psychosocial approach to talent development in many theories on talent development, and next to this it also show how having positive relationship impact on psychological wellbeing thanks to the mediation effect of psychological characteristics and consequently of athletes' potential.

Syfte: Studien avser att skapa en employer branding-modell för att påvisa vilka faktorer företag ska profilera för att attrahera den del av generation y som pågår eftergymnasial utbildning. Frågeställning: Vilka faktorer enligt generation y som pågår eftergymnasial utbildning i städerna Västerås och Eskilstuna attraherar dem till företag? Metod: Studien har använt sig av en deduktiv metodansats med kvantitativ och kvalitativ forskning. Den kvantitativa undersökningen har genomförts med enkäter genomförda på studerande generation y och den kvalitativa undersökningen genomfördes med en intervju på ett företag. Data har sammanställts i SPSS (Statistical Package for the Social Sciences) för att påvisa vilka statistiska slutsatser som kan säkerställas. Därefter har en rangordning av de mest attraktiva faktorerna skapats som ligger till grund för en employer bradning-modell riktad till företag. Slutsats: Det finns en mängd faktorer som attraherar generation y och de har olika attraktionsförmåga. De statistiskt bevisade faktorerna med hög attraktion är: utveckling och organisationskultur. Statistiskt bevisade mindre attraktiva faktorer i förhållande till resterande faktorer är förmåner och branding. För att vinna war for talent ska företag därför profilera de mest attraktiva faktorerna för att attrahera generation y och stärka sitt employer branding. Företag ska utstråla igenkännande, trovärdighet och personlighet vilket leder till att företag blir ihågkomna av generation y bland mängden av företag. Slutsatserna har summerats i en modell som påvisar vilka faktorer som skapar attraktion till generation y i form av hög-, medel- och låg attraktion. / Reserarch Question: What are the contributing factors that attract the generation y students from the university of Västerås and Eskilstuna to companies? Purpose: The purpose of this bachelor thesis is to form an employer branding model to contribute to the understanding how companies should profile themselves in order to attract students of generation y whom are undergoing studies at a University level. Method: This study used a deductive research approach. Both quantitative and qualitative methods have been used to gather data. The quantitative research was conducted with a survey on generation y in the cities of Västerås and Eskilstuna. The qualitative research was conducted from an interview with a company to find additional factors of attraction. The gathered data has then been analyzed in SPSS (Statistical Package for the Social Sciences) to determine statistical conclusions. The analyzed data has been ranked from the most attractive factor to the least attractive factor to form a model that explains the attraction levels of different factors. Conclusion: The segment of generation y has a rich quantity of attracting factors ranging from several levels of attraction. The statistically proven data has provided evidence that these factors relate to a high amount of attraction towards development and the organizational culture. The less attractive factors provided by the statistically proven data are the benefits of work and branding. To be able to win the “war for talent”, companies must profile the most attractive factors to interest generation y and strengthen their employer brand towards this segment. Companies that wish to recruit generation y shall radiate recognition, trust and personality so that generation y will remember them amongst other companies.

The concept of Talent Management (TM) has an American and elitism origin. Since one of the world’s biggest consultant agencies published the concept, the search for talents has spread. Strategic Management trends were developed in Sweden due to the process of globalization, but for a vast majority of the Swedish companies and practitioners the concept is still unknown. The Swedish experts are in this case the ones closer to the theory as non- practitioners. The purpose of this study was to gain a deeper understanding of how the concept is being spread by researchers and consultants. For this purpose, 2 researchers and 6 consultants were interviewed and the data was analyzed using two qualitative approaches: a phenomenological and a discursive analysis. The result indicated that the concept of TM have evolved into a Swedish version, and thereof been adapted to the collectivistic context. The result also showed that the Swedish consultants both create and spread the concept in the Swedish labor market. It was concluded that TM will keep spreading across companies and industries in Sweden for two reasons: 1) the development of the Swedish labor market, and 2) the younger generation is leaving the collectivistic mindset. The result implies primarily on two establishment dilemmas in Sweden: the requirement of a transparency in the establishment within companies, and also an avoidance of the term “talent”.

Background - In pace with increased work-related stress and the difficulty in attracting and retaining skilled staff, companies find new ways to rationalize the organization. Working-time reduction is one of these strategies in connection to an effective employer branding attribute. Purpose - The aim is to examine the rationale behind the six-hour workday and how it is used as an employer branding strategy. Additionally, the aim is to examine the advantages and disadvantages of the six-hour workday as an employer branding strategy as well as the future prospects. Method - This study has applied a qualitative method with an inductive approach and a multiple case study. Six semi-structured interviews were performed with five case companies and an additional interview was conducted with a consultancy firm. Conclusion - Organizations choose the six-hour workday because of work-life balance and well-being for employees. Also, the findings show that employers adopt the six-hour for the purpose of attracting and retaining staff. Advantages include happier staff, increased productivity and efficiency. A major disadvantage is the lost hours because of working-time reduction. The empirical findings indicate that the six-hour workday is suited in every organization, however, adjustments might be necessary.

The study aims to determine the relationship between the talent mindset (TM) and organisational commitment (OC) of academic heads of departments. There is a vast problem in the higher education sector with regards to retaining academic staff members. In order for higher education institutions to attract and more specifically retain academic talent, one needs to implement a sound talent management model. Before such a model can be implemented with success, the organisation first needs to have a positive talent mindset. The relationship between talent mindset and organisational commitment may provide a means to develop appropriate interventions or strategies in order to enhance the talent mindset by focusing on improving the organisational commitment and vice versa. Two instruments, namely the Talent Mindset Index (TMI) and Organisational Commitment Questionnaire (OCQ), were administered to a sample of 116 heads of departments at a leading university in South Africa, 53 completed questionnaires were obtained. The responses were analysed using correlation analysis and quantitative techniques. Results confirm that the presence of OC is associated with a positive TM. Therefore, the study provides evidence that there is a correlation between OC and the TM of academic heads of departments. Thus, if management utilises existing techniques to increase OC, this should lead to the enhancement of the heads of departments’ TM. The enhanced TM would equip them to implement a talent management model to attract and retain academic staff. / Dissertation MCom University of Pretoria, 2014 / Human Resource Management / unrestricted

In sports, there seems to be an eternal interest in discovering young talents and refining them into elite adult athletes. The dilemma of selecting talent, while at the same time ensuring every child´s right to participate, needs to be addressed and have consequences in social practice. This dissertation elucidates the discourse of selection and the process of selecting young sporting talents during final selection camps for youth national teams in football, hockey and floorball in Sweden. More specifically, the aim is to analyze how talent selection is organizationally legitimized, how “selectability” is produced in interaction and how specific narratives are used in success-stories. The empirical material includes research interviews, performance appraisal interviews (between district or national team coaches and the player) and field studies during ongoing final selection camp. Drawing on a discursive-narrative approach, the aim is to investigate how selection is discursively legitimized and, by using narrative analysis, how positioning in talk-in-interaction functions. The first article investigates the construction of legitimate selection within the Swedish Sports Confederation by analyzing their organizational documents, sport journals and literature for coach education. The findings show how a specific set of narratives are used to legitimize selection and how legitimacy works both individually to those within the selection system and on a wider arena of welfare politics. The second article investigates the co-construction of selectability in small story-interaction during interviews between the coach and a player in the final selection camp. The analyses highlight how this narrative genre produces certain stories and preferred positions. The third article analyzes how the young participants, in research interviews during final selection camp, uses discursively shared narratives to produce personal stories of success. The findings illustrate how the personal stories of success are balancing the dilemmatic space, positioning yourself as outstanding and at the same time appear a humble team player. The principal contribution of this dissertation is to show how talent is organizationally legitimized and how selectability is produced in interaction, as well as illustrate how specific stories are used in stories of success. This work investigates the discursive framework for selection and how rationalities for talent selection are produced (and reproduced) and co-constructed in narrative interaction. In this apparatus of selection it takes more than physical talent to be chosen; it takes talking talent. / <p>At the time of the doctoral defense, the following paper was unpublished and had a status as follows: Paper 3: Manuscript.</p>

Master thesis is focused on the topic of talent management. It is divided into theoretical and practical part. The theoretical part defines basic terms of talent, talent management, talent management processes - acquisition, development and retention of talented employees in the organization. The second part of the thesis focuses firstly on the introduction of Unicorn and analysis of the current state of talent management in the company. Information was obtained by interviewing concerned people and by study of methodological materials of the company. Furthermore, the practical part presents an evaluation of the current state of work with talented employees in Unicorn and suggests improvements of the situation. The final section summarizes the outcomes and recommendations for Unicorn.

This thesis focuses on the role of a teacher in the educational process of gifted children. The main objective of the thesis is to examine teachers' attitudes toward gifted children and the ways in which these attitudes impact the development of potential and educational motivation in gifted children. The theoretical part of the thesis discusses the issues of gifted children. Next, the thesis focuses on the teacher's profession and describes factors through which teachers can influence the education of gifted, particularly teachers' attitudes toward gifted and communication and interaction styles between teachers and gifted children. The empirical part of the thesis involves a qualitative study based on semi-structured interviews with teachers of gifted children, as well as with gifted children themselves, focused on the perceived influence of teachers on the education and motivation of gifted children. The findings of the qualitative analysis bring insights into the teachers' influence on the educational process of gifted students, as perceived from both the perspectives of teachers and gifted children.

Talent Management (TM) is a well-used practice to identify, attract, develop, and retain the most valuable resource in an organisation: talented employees. The concept TM emerged when organisations started to detect increased demands and technological changes in the business market. Additionally, due to the retirement of baby boomers, organisations have started to experience a shortage of talents creating “The War for Talent” (Chambers et al., 1998). However, ethical aspects create a demand for an inclusive approach of TM which includes all employees, as opposed to only focusing on a selected few. Responsible Talent Management (RTM) considers talent to be obtained and developed within the organisation. Employees who experience job satisfaction and commitment are more likely to stay in the organisation (Deery, 2008), whereas work-life balance, employee well-being, leadership, and learning have become important factorsfor increasing job satisfaction and commitment as well as employee retention (Radda et al., 2015: Deery, 2008). Especially due to new challenges associated with the working environment and social relationships in this new remote working context. Researchers express the need for further research regarding RTM as well as the inclusive approach. This thesis, therefore, aims to understand how an organisation work with TM practices to retain talented employees in a remote working context. Based on the scientific issue and the purpose, a qualitative case study was conducted. Eight employees within the HR department were interviewed using semi-structured interviews. The analysis of the empirical data identified a great need for genuine social relationships. Regardless of which TM retainment practices used, supporting employees with tools and opportunities to build and nurture social relationships may be an instrumental driver to retain talented employees in a remote working context. / Talent Management är ett välanvänt begrepp för att identifiera, attrahera, utveckla och behålla den mest värdefulla resursen i en organisation: talangfulla medarbetare. Begreppet TM blev uppmärksammat när organisationerna upptäckte ett ökat krav och teknologiska förändringar på marknaden. På grund av att generationen “babyboomers” har börjat gå i pension har organisationer börjat uppleva en brist på talang, vilket har skapat ”The War for Talent” (Chambers et al., 1998). Dock skapar de etiska aspekterna ett krav på ett inkluderande synsätt på TM som inkluderar alla anställda och inte bara fokuserar på ett fåtal utvalda. Begreppet Responsible Talent Management (RTM) anser att talang kan erhållas och utvecklas inom organisationen. Anställda som upplever jobbnöjdhet och engagemang är mer benägna att stanna kvar i organisationen (Deery, 2008), medan balans mellan arbetsliv och privatliv, anställdas välmående, ledarskap och lärande har blivit viktiga faktorer för att öka jobbnöjdhet och engagemang samt att behålla de anställda (Radda et al., 2015: Deery, 2008). Framförallt med tanke på de nya utmaningarna gällande arbetsmiljön och de sociala relationerna i den nya kontexten av distansarbete. Forskare uttrycker ett behov av vidare forskning gällande RTM och det inkluderande synsättet. Syftet med uppsatsen är att förstå hur en organisation arbetar med aktiviteter inom TM för att behålla talangfulla medarbetare i en kontext av distansarbete. Baserat på forskningsproblemet och syftet har en kvalitativ fallstudie utförts. Åtta anställda tillhörande HR-avdelningen har intervjuats genom semistrukturerade intervjuer. I analysen av empirin identifierades ett stort behov av genuina sociala relationer. Oavsett vilka aktiviteter inom TM som organisationen använder för att behålla talanger, så uppfattas organisationens stöd i termer av olika verktyg och möjligheter för att skapa och vårda sociala relationer, vara en stark drivkraft för att behålla talangfull kompetens i en kontext av distansarbete.