INDEPENDENT STUDY

TALENT DEVELOPMENT IN
MAERSK GROUP THAILAND

SASIKAN NESTSAWAT

GRADUATE SCHOOL, KASETSART UNIVERSITY

2009

Independent Study

Talent Development in Maersk Group Thailand

SASIKAN NESTSAWAT

An Independent Study in Partial Fulfillment of the Requirements

for the Masters Degree of Business Administration
Graduate School, Kasetsart University
2009


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Sasikan Nestsawat 2009: Talent Development in Maersk Group Thailand. Master of

Business Administration, Major filed: Business Administration, International MBA
Program, Independent Study Advisor: Mrs. Haruthai Numprasertchai, Ph.D. 73 pages.

This research aimed to study the concept of talent development implemented

in Maersk Group Thailand. The procedures of talent development from various sources were
collected to compare with talent development procedure of Maersk Group Thailand. This study
was done by using primary data from in-depth interview. Secondary data was obtained from
research papers, theses, textbooks, journals and website related to talent development.

The result of the study showed that Maersk Group Thailand had a successful talent
development program which was applied for both new employees and current employees. The
talent development program of Maersk Group Thailand extended to two groups of employees
which were Management Trainee (M.I.S.E) and High Potential employees (HIPO).

The

company had the systematic procedures to manage, identify, utilize and retain talent in order to
fill in the talent gaps for short and long term business needs.

Even the company had effective talent development program which would be the
beneficial guideline for other organizations that would like to apply talent development program
in the company, it was important to note that different companies had different cultures. In order
to gain the most benefit from the program, the study of advantages and disadvantages of the
program should be done thoroughly.

/
Students signature

Advisors signature

TABLE OF CONTENTS
Page
LIST OF TABLES

iii

LIST OF FIGURES

iv

CHAPTER I

CHAPTER II

CHAPTER III

INTRODUCTION
Problem Statement

Objectives

Expected Benefits

Scope of the Study

Definitions

LITERATURE REVIEW
Concept of Talent Development

Talent Development Process

13

Concept of Employee Engagement

22

Overview of Maersk Group Thailand

27

Related Studies

30

METHODOLOGY
Data Sources

32

Unit of Study

33

Tool of the Study

33

Data Collection

34

Data Analysis

35

ii

TABLE OF CONTENTS (CONTINUED)

Page
CHAPTER IV

CHAPTER V

APPRENDIX

RESULT OF THE STUDY

Talent Development Program of Maersk Group Thailand

36

Process of Talent Development

39

Benefits of Talent Development Program

52

The Challenges and Difficulties of Talent Development Program

55

Discussion

56

CONCLUSION AND RECOMMENDATIONS

Conclusion

64

Recommendations

65

72

3
33

LIST OF TABLES
Table

Page

Sample of core competencies

13

Sample measurement scale for the communication competency

15

Example talent competency assessment

18

Sample competency assessment

19

Strategic approaches by employee type

20

7 Questions Guideline

42

Performance grouping

45

Performance management guideline

46

Management trainee turnover

51

44

LIST OF FIGURES
FIGURE

Page

Four dimensions of employee engagement

26

Human Resources organization chart

29

MISE Rotation

37

Performance Appraisal

41

Potential Rating

41

Personal Development plan

47

Personal Development Plan area no.1

48

Talent Development Process in the Theory

62

Talent Development Process of Maersk Group Thailand

63

CHAPTER 1
TALENT DEVELOPMENT IN MAERSK GROUP THAILAND

It is widely respected that skill of the employee is one of the top key to success
for any profit or non-profit organizations globally. Skill is the ability of the person in
doing or performing specific things. Every organization tries to improve employees
skills with many methods i.e. training, job rotation, etc.
In the modern organization, the term skill has been extended into talent
where it includes the attitude integrated together with skill. Moreover, the talent also
means the ability to adapt themselves with the changes while still be able to deliver
the impressive results from their jobs.
In brief, the modern organizations today seek for ways to improve and manage
their employees talent rather than narrowly focus on skill like it did in the past.
Problem Statement
This study takes the case of MAERSK GROUP THAILAND, the world largest
shipping line (a vessel operator) from Denmark, who continuously pays a full
attention on employees skill development. At its headquarter in Copenhagen,
Denmark, this shipping company has started up a shipping school for its employees to
study various important areas of shipping knowledge from vessel construction to
international maritime and logistic regulation, from the ship operation management to
the financial management.
During many decades of this school in running, it has produced more than
10,000 graduated students who are expected to be the young skilled workforces for the
business expansion globally. The Executive Trainee Program has been established for

more than 10 years to formalize the learning methods for the young generation with
potential managements who have passed the tough screening and recruiting processes.
Until these days, the company starts to realize that focusing only on skill
development is not sufficient to get a full contribution from employees. The attitude of
the employees is also crucial to turn the skill into visible results to the organization.
Moreover, the employee development has to focus not only on the selected group of
the good profile staffs but also on all employees throughout the organization.
Therefore, the talent development has been focused and the scheme settlement
has been started up today. The talent is extended to the skill on the daily work, the
ability to adapt to change, the interpersonal interaction, the creativity, and the attitude.
Talent is strongly believed to be the key to success and to strengthen the
competitiveness for MAERSK GROUP in long run.
Objectives of the Study
Based on the practices of Maersk Group Thailand, this study aims to:
1) Verify the scope of talent development
2) Examine the benefits of successful talent development program
3) Search for best practice for talent development
Expected Benefits
1) The study will be beneficial for Human Resources Department of Maersk
Group Thailand for further development.
2) The study will be beneficial for other organizations which would like to
develop talent development program.

Scope of the study

1) The study focused on employees in the talent development program of Maersk
Group Thailand during the year 2008-2009.
2) The context of the study emphasized on the activities of Human Resources
Development of Maersk Group Thailand.
Definitions
The company
Maersk Group Thailand
A.P. Moller Maersk Group
The headquarter of Maersk which is located in Copenhagen, Denmark
Maersk International Shipping Education (M.I.S.E)
Maersk International Shipping Education Program (M.I.S.E) is 2 years
management trainee program to develop the future leaders for Maersk Group
Thailand.
Employees
People who work for Maersk Group Thailand during the period of 2008
2009.
Logical Indicator Test (LI)
It is an employment test which will conduct for every candidate applying for
job at Maersk. It focuses on reasoning and logical of individual people.
Personal Indicator Test (PI)
It is an employment test which will conduct for every candidate applying for
job at Maersk. It is the tool to analyze the behavior and motivating need of each
employee.
Talent
The potential, skill or performance of employees who show superior to others.
Talent Development
The process of recruiting, identifying, and retaining the talented employees in
order to achieve and maintain a competitive advantage for the company.

Training
Both internal and external training courses provided by Human Resources
Department of Maersk Group Thailand in order to enhance its employees
performance.
Performance
The actual effort that an employee undertakes in order to carry out the work.
Performance Appraisal
A measurement of actual working results in the area where employee is
accountable. Maersk Group Thailand conducts performance appraisal 2 times a year:
mid year performance appraisal and year-end performance appraisal.
Logistics
The management and running of all processes of a product from production to
the consumer's hands. It involves the warehousing, transportation, inventory,
purchasing, packaging, operations, and the planning/coordination of all activities.
Recruitment Process
The process of sourcing, screening, and selecting people for a job or vacancy
within Maersk Group Thailand.
Job Rotation
An approach to talent development where an employee is moved through a
schedule of assignments designed to broaden the knowledge and experience.
Expatriation
An employee temporarily residing in a country and culture other than that of
the person's upbringing or legal residence to learn the culture and broaden their
working experience.

CHAPTER 2
LIITERATURE REVIEW

The concepts and literature involving this study as follows:

1. Concept of talent development
2. Talent Development Process
3. Concept of Employee Engagement
4. Overview of Maersk Group Thailand
5. Related studies
Concept of Talent Development
Powell (2006) defines the term of talent that talents are people, who have
certain skills, personality or nature that drives them to succeed at a higher level of
performance than the average person.
Sorensen and Crabtree (2000) discuss the characteristic of talent that talent
reflects how you're hard-wired. That's what sets the concept apart from that of
knowledge or skills. Talent dictates your moment-by-moment reactions to your
environment -- there's instinctiveness, immediacy implied. Talent results in
consistently recurring patterns of thought or behavior. To deviate from those patterns
requires conscious effort, and such deviations are difficult to sustain.
Wheeler (2006) defines talent as those employees whose contributions are vital
to ability to produce product or deliver service. Excellent talent then refers to those
who produce an above-average amount of product and poor talent means those who
do much less than average.
Once the term talent has been identified, talent development which is one of
the key successful factors of the company should be mentioned.

Francoys (1995) provides the meaning of Talent development that

identification of those who show superior natural abilities as well as aptitudes for a
particular domain and emphasis on developing those special skills.
Barlow (2006) implies that talent development is about the recruitment,
retention, and development of an elite band of people.
Mathis and Jackson (2005) reveals that talent development concerned with
enhancing the attraction, long term development, and retention of key human
resources.
Rothwell and Kazanas (2004) reveal that Talent Development, part of human
resource development, is the process of changing an organization, its employees, its
stakeholders, and groups of people within it, using planned and unplanned learning, in
order to achieve and maintain a competitive advantage for the organization. Talent is
recognized as either potential or performance.
The term "Talent Development" is becoming increasingly popular in several
organizations, as companies are now moving from the traditional term "Training and
Development". Talent Development encompasses a variety of components such as
training, career development, career management, and organizational development,
and training and development. As we proceed through the 21st century more
companies will begin to use more integrated terms such as "Talent Development"
Talent Development refers to an organization's ability to align strategic
training and career opportunities for employees.
Mathis and Jackson (2005) identify nature of talent development as follows:
1) Creating and maintaining an organization culture that values people
2) Identifying future needs and developing individual to fill those needs
3) Establishing ways to conduct and manage activities to support talent development

4) Developing a pool of talented people who can supply future job needs
In order to classify talent, talent management assessment tools are required.
Talent Management Assessment Tools
Performance Appraisal: A measurement of actual results achieved within those areas
for which the employees is held accountable and/or the competencies deemed critical
to job and organization success.
Potential Forecast: A prediction of how many levels (organization/job) an employee
can reach within the organization based on his/her past/current performance
appraisals, training and development needs, career preferences, and actual and
projected competency levels.
Measurement scales for Performance and Potential: The study of 350 organizations
involved in some type of successful talent management process showed that the vast
majority used a five-point scale for performance measurement is: greatly exceeds
expectations (5), exceed expectations (4), meet expectations (3), below expectation
(2), greatly below expectations (1).
Mapping and Weighting Competencies: Mapping of competencies is the process used
to further differentiate competency definitions into glossaries of behaviors associated
with each level of and organization. They provide amplification, clarity, and greater
specificity to competency definitions. A greater level of specificity can be achieved by
assigning numerical weights to each job competency level in the glossary of
behaviors.
Organizations, depending on their level of talent management sophistication,
cultural tolerance, and resource support, generally take one of three options to the
mapping and weighting process:

Option 1: No maps, glossaries, or weights are used. The rating scale for performance
previously cited is applied to competencies definition.
Option 2: A glossary of behaviors is used as a supplement to competency definition
Option 3: Maps and weight are used to refine comparisons of employee behavior with
the specific expectation for current and future jobs
The map and the weight discussed above must again be reviewed and adjusted
by the senior staff with the final modification and approve by CEO.
Competency definition, developed for internal talent assessment, can also be
utilized in the external selection process. The internal performance measurement
scale, when used to access external candidates, is modified in the following way:
greatly exceeds other candidates (5), exceeds other candidates (4), equal to other
candidates (3), below other candidates (2), greatly below other candidates (1).
The talent development will be the mechanism to strengthen either the high
performance workforce or the rest of the employees.
1) How to attract Talent?
1.1) Creating High Performance Workforce
Over the years, Hewitt Associates (2008) has worked with many great
organizations to help them tackle their talent issues and conducted extensive research
into the practices of double-digit growth and Best Employer companies, and they
learn that in the most successful companies, building a high-performance workforce is
a core capability.
In a high-performance workforce, people at every level and function are
focused on the right priorities and understand that they are accountable for delivering
strong results. They are energized, engaged and perfectly positioned to give their best.

They are dedicated to building the necessary skills to grow the business. In short, they
are a competitive differentiator.
These companies not only nurture a high-performance company culture, they
also ensure they create an environment and infrastructure that enables them to build a
high-performance workforce. This steadfast attention to bringing the right people on
board and keeping the right talent starts with the top leadership. Most double-digit
growth organizations house rigorous processes and committed resources to match the
right people to the appropriate business opportunities.
However, the organization cannot expect that it will always recruit the gifted
people into the firm. This means the organization needs to think of the way to get the
employee achieve the stage of High-Performance Workforce.
The Critical Path to a High-Performance Workforce
Treacy (2004) reveals that companies needs to get three fundamental factors
right across the organization if they are to build a high-performance workforce.

The strongest organizations approach these building blocks in a very different

way to their less successful competitors. They arent satisfied with simply having
programs, processes and training modules in place: they understand it takes a very
different level of focus to get them right and realize their potential return-oninvestment for the business. These companies sustain a commitment to deep manager

10
10

capability in order to ensure their execution is spot on. They dont just do them: they
do them well enough to create a real competitive advantage.
In order for companies to build a truly high-performance workforce, they must
not only strengthen accountability for results, but also attract, motivate and retain key
people in an increasingly competitive talent market, and grow leaders at all levels.
According to Andrew Bell, Regional Head of Talent and Organization Consulting at
Hewitt Associates The good news is we now know exactly what needs to be done in
order to get the absolute best out of all of our people. He explains, We now have a
clear barometerand real-world ways to strengthen and support the manager
capability thats crucialto realize the tremendous ROI in building a highperformance workforce.
1.2) Employment Branding
Berger (2004) reveals that creating a most desirable work environment
corporate image through branding is viewed by more and more companies as the ideal
means for attracting and retaining superkeepers. Companies realizes that, to stay
competitive, comparable marketing and branding practices used to products and/or
services must be applied to recruitment and retention programs. The labor markets
perception of the employment value proposition of the company the impression
made on employees and the labor market is as vital as its view of service or product
integrity. Human resources department will increasingly treat employees like
consumers who can spread the word about a companys positive attributes throughout
the marketplace. Successful employee branding includes a consistent and common
theme that employees relate about their work experience. It also includes a public
image of organizations culture that induces the best potential candidates to apply for
positions while allowing the company to retain its superkeepers.
Berger (2004) points out the advantages of leadership branding, by developing
and then rewarding high potential individuals, organization can build a reputation as
the kind of place leaders want to work. At the same time, these efforts ultimately

make them stronger competitors for leadership talent because few firms can match the
strength of their leadership brand, which not only aids them in successful identifying
those who will fill the key position tomorrow, but also in upgrading the caliber of
talent across the organization.
2) How to determine target group of Talent Development?
Once the firm achieved its task on supporting its employee to achieve HighPerformance, it also needs to determine the target group for Talent Development
program. Berger (2004) determines the target groups as follows:
1) Role-based program focused on specific key positions, which are either difficult
to fill or critical to the business success.
2) Individual based program focused on particular people with the potential for
advancement.
3) Pool based program focused on a number of high potential people who
conceivably could move into any of several leadership positions within the
organization.
3. How to identify talent?
Berger (2004) reveals that an important first step in identifying superkeepers is
uncovering the profile that will best mesh with position requirements and organization
culture. It is clearly that one size does not fit all. Each organization has its unique
culture and each position has specific requirements. An in-depth and concise
assessment of the keys elements of organization culture and job structure is a crucial
first step. Be defining these elements, you are able to match candidates who have
specific backgrounds, work experiences, and inner personal qualities that will make
for a good fit. The culture context should be clearly articulated. The first step is to
define the culture (values, competencies, skills) and to match it with the candidates
qualifications. The second step is to look at target companies that have similar

cultures. The third step is to identify the individuals holding the positions in the
targeted companies and, through networking, determine if they have the technical,
management, leadership, and innovation skills and the appropriate style to fit your
organization.
To optimize an organizations ability to achieve sustain excellence, it must
recognized the need for proactive talent management and have a systematic way of
accomplishing the activity. Berger (2004) identifies that the successful companies
either articulate or intuitively focus on three outcomes:
1) The identification, selection, development and retention of Superkeepers.
Superkeepers are a very small group of individual who have demonstrated superior
accomplishment, have inspired other to attain superior accomplishment, and who
embody the core competencies and values of the organization. Their loss or absence
severely retards organization growth because of their disproportionately powerful
impact on current and future organization performance. Bill Gates once said, Take
our twenty best people away from us and I can tell you that Microsoft world be
unimportant company
2) The identification and development of high quality replacements for a small
number of positions designated as key to current and future organization success.
Gaps in replacement activity for key positions are highly disruptive, costly, and
distracting to the organization.
3) The classification of and investment in each employees based on his/her actual
and/or potential for adding value to the organization. The employee groups are
superkeepers, those employees who greatly exceed expectation; keepers, those
employees who exceed expectation; Solid Citizens, those employees who meet
organization expectation; and Misfits, those employees who are below organization
expectations. Poor allocation of compensation and training and development resources
can lead to unwanted turnover and morale and performance problems, particularly on
Superkeeper and Keepers group.

Talent Development Process

Once a highly developed approach to talent management based on extensive
research and practitioner experience has been illustrated, the establishment of
approach to access the competencies or qualities that are considered desirable in a
high-potential person should be identified.
Berger (2007: 22-28) classified the process of talent development into a four-step as
follows:
Step 1 Develop a list of your organizations core competencies and assessment
tools for measuring them
The development of an organizational talent management plan requires the
assessment of each employee based on a framework of accepted definitions and
measures of competency performance and potential. These core/institutional
competencies are expectations of behaviors/skills/values that are crucial to the success
of each employee and, therefore, to the success of the entire organization. A set of
representative core competencies and worksheet as shown in table 1 as follows:
Table 1 Sample core competencies
Competency
Action Orientation

Competency Definition
Targets and achieve results, overcome obstacles, accepts
responsibility, establish standards and responsibilities, creates
a result-oriented environment, and follows through on actions

Communication

Communicates well both verbally and writing. Effectively

conveys and shares information with others. Listens carefully
and understand various viewpoints. Presents ideas clearly and
concisely and understands detail in presented information

Table 1 (continued)
Competency

Competency Definition

Creativity/Innovation Generates novel ideas and develops or improves existing and

new systems that challenge the status quo, takes risks, and
encourages innovation
Critical Judgment

Possesses the ability to define issues and focus on achieving

workable solutions. Consistently does the right thing by
performing with reliability

Customer

Listens to customers, build customer confidence, increase

Orientation

customer satisfaction, ensure commitment are met, sets

appropriate customer expectation, and respond to customer
needs

Interpersonal skill

Effectively and productively engages with others and

establishes trusts, credibility, and confidence with others

Leadership

Motivates, empowers, inspires, collaborates with, and

encourages others. Develops a culture where employees feel
ownership in what they do and continually improve the
business. Builds consensus when appropriate. Focuses team
members on common goals.

Teamwork

Knows when and how to attract, develop, reward, and utilize

teams to optimize results. Acts to build trust, inspire
enthusiasm, encourage others, and help resolve conflicts and
develop consensus in creating high-performance teams.

Table 1 (continued)
Competency

Competency Definition

Technical/Functional Demonstrates strong technical/functional proficiencies and

Expertise

knowledge in areas of expertise. Shows knowledge of

company business and proficiency in the strategic and
financial processes, including P&L planning process and their
implication for the company

Source: Berger, 2008: 23

Each competency can be described and score based on its relative contribution
to an organization. A representative scale is as show in Table 2.
Table 2: Sample measurement scale for the communication competency

Definitions of Communications - Communicates well both verbally and in writing.

Effectively conveys and shares information and ideas with others. Listens carefully and
understand various viewpoints. Presents ideas clearly and concisely
1
Cleary and
appropriately
expresses
his/her
desires and
needs

2
Understands
the
importance
of and
demonstrates
good oral
listening,
and writing
skills

4
Adapts
Actively
communications presents
to audience
information
requirements to and ideas
optimize
to all
understanding
appropriate
levels and
leads
others to do
the same

5
Promotes open
expression of
ideas and
encourages
communication
without
retribution

6
Is recognized
as one who
effectively
clarifies and
communicates
key/strategic
information

Source: Berger, 2008: 2

In the example above, six levels of communication are described and assigned
a number from 1 to 6, indicating the contribution to the organization.
Now that the core competencies have been determined and defined, a
performance appraisal and potential forecast should be developed. A performance
appraisal is a measurement of actual results achieved within those areas where the
employee is held accountable and/or the competencies deemed critical to job and
organization success.
A potential forecast is a prediction of how many levels (organization/job) an
employee can reach within the organization based on his/her past/current performance
appraisals, training and development needs, career preferences, and actual and
projected competency levels. The most common scale used by organizations for
potential assessment is high potential (5), promotable (4), lateral (3), marginal (2),
none (1). (Appendix A)
Step 2 Develop training and development solutions that support your
organizations core competencies
In order to create an improvement program for individual employees, the
organization must map a set of appropriate training and development options for each
selected competency. When a gap exists between an employees demonstrated
proficiency in a competency and an organization requirement, a supervisor can use
training and development to help eliminate the gap. The following training and
development can be applied.
A. Coaching
Kermally (2004) indicates that the learning organization adopts the concept of
coaching in the spirit of developing individual talents. A coach facilitates in bringing
out the best performance from the staff. Coaching involves explaining the drivers

behind performance, taking staff through the stages of how to achieve superior
performance, observing and giving feedback, guiding towards improved performance.
Effective coaching is a talent in itself. It involves listening skills, questioning skills,
interpersonal skills and the ability to establish rapport. It turn it transform individuals
who then acquire special awareness of what is happening around him or her, and it
injects the sense of responsibility. Ultimately, it is to see people in terms of their
future potential, not past or present performance.
B. Job Rotation
Berger (2004) concludes that job rotation is one of management development
program, It provides breadth and depth of experience that serves to build solid
knowledge of an operation or business segment. The rate of learning and assimilation
of new tasks is usually more rapid among high potential types so it is important to
match the competency level of individual to the challenges of knowledge and skill.
Rotations are most effective when there is timely assessment and feedback on the
strengths and developmental needs revealed during the assignment. Rotation
assignment requires more time to produce growth according to the level of
responsibility involved in the role Moving even top performers into another
assignment in less than 18 months will not produce depth of learning.
C. Internal Education and Training
Berger (2004) reveals that companies are beginning to create internal corporate
university through development of customized curriculum, often in partnership with
local college or other educational institution. The curriculum available through this
vehicle has typically been created as a result of a thorough review of business
competency requirements.
D. Executive Programs and External Course Work
Berger (2004) recommends that the five or ten days intensive program has
proven to be a great way to fill in credential gaps. Many universities now offer year

long certificate programs on weekend that offer core concentration in organization

dynamics, leadership, and a host of other subjects designed to support those moving
up quickly or crossing over into another field.
Step 3 Assess each employees core competencies and potential forecast
The assessment tools, based on your companys core competencies created in
the first step, provide the framework for employee assessment, which is now the task
at hand. The sample worksheet provided in the step 1 can be customized to assess
each employee. Substitute your organizations competencies and definition for the
sample competencies. The example of talent competency assessment is as sown in
table 3.
Table 3 Example talent competency assessment
Assessor: Jane Doe
Incumbent: Smith, Michael
Core Competency

Potential:1
Personal Score

Overall Performance: 2
Current Position Statistics

Action Orientation

Below Expectations

Communications

Greatly Below Expectations

Creativity/ Innovation

Below Expectations

Critical judgment

Below Expectations

Leadership

Meets Expectations

Teamwork

Meets Expectations

Technical Function
Expertise

Greatly Below Expectations

Total

20

This form provides greater details about each individual and allows managers
to target best practice coaching, training, and development to specific competency
deficiencies.
For all competencies that are below expectations or greatly below expectation,
the supervisor should apply the corresponding competency development guide created
in step 2 to generate an individual development plan. See (Table 4).
Table 4: Sample competency assessment
Assessor
Incumbent

Position

Overall Performance
Personal Score

Potential
Core Competency

_ Current Position Evaluation

Strengths and Developmental Needs

Describe specific behaviors and skills that are strengths and/or development needs
associated with the competencies listed above, particularly when employee
assessment exceeds or is below expectations. List specific actions that will be taken to
enhance performance and/or prepare the employee for advancement when the
employee does not meet expectations. Please make your comments as specific as
possible.
Areas of strength:

Areas to be developed:

Actions: (training, development, coaching, special projects, promotion, transfer etc.)

Source: Berger, 2008: 27

Step 4 Prepare action plans

20
20

After each employee is assessed using the assessment tools in step 3,

organization and individual action plans can be prepared. There are unlimited numbers
of approaches that can be readily adapted to your organization. The key elements
organizations must consider to initiate action plans to identify and address key
strategic issues involving:
1) The cultivation of superkeepers (a very small group of individuals who have
demonstrated superior accomplishments have inspired other to attain superior
accomplishments, and who embody the core competencies and value of organization)
2) Backups for key positions (job critical to organizational current and future success)
3) Allocation of resources based on employee contribution (performance and
potential)
By customizing and using the tools provided, an organization can take a
disciplined and proactive approach to talent management. This can significantly
impact employee performance throughout the organization. In addition, there may be
special guidelines in dealing with the four classes of talents. Table 5 provides a
composite of how excellent organizations provide guidance to their managers in
approaching each employee group in terms of rewards, training and development,
career paths, and recognition.
Table 5 Strategic approaches by employee type
Employee type Compensation
Training/
Development

Career Paths

Visibility

Superkeeper

Accelerate
Major
much faster
investments
than pay market

Very rapid

Very high
recognition

Keeper

Accelerate
faster than pay
market

Rapid

High
Recognition

Substantial
investment

Table 5 (continued)
Employee type

Compensation

Training/
Development

Career Paths

Solid Citizen

Accelerate
moderately
until
competitive
level is reached

Investment
Moderate to
only to enhance none
competencies
for
current/future
business
situations

Misfit

No increase

Only to
improve fit
now or for next
job if it has a
reasonable
probability of
success

Visibility
Recognition

None

Source: Berger, 2008: 28

Sears (2003) mention talent processes that:
Talent flow refers to People at the right time with the needed competencies.
The processes of Talent Flow are:
1) Relating Prerecruiting process for identifying key talent and establishing
relationships; postemployment process for maintaining relationship
2) Recruiting Talent acquisition process
3) Retaining Processes designed to extend the talent engagement cycle
Apart from competency development, the retention of the High-Performer
must be carefully considered and carried out. It is widely accepted that the Employee
Engagement is the key to retain the talented people with the organization. The

Engagement is not just to make employee satisfy on the pays, but it also covers all
factors that shape up the organization and workplace.
Concept of Employee Engagement
For several years now, Employee engagement captured the attention of HR
managers, as well as the executive. It's a topic that employers and employees alike
think they understand, but they can't articulate very easily. It turns out that all that
employee engagement research undertaken over the past few years has defined the
term differently, and as a result, came up with different key drivers and implications.
Patricia (2007) defines employee engagement as "a heightened emotional
connection that an employee feels for his or her organization, that influences him or
her to exert greater discretionary effort to his or her work". She concludes that the
eight key drivers of Employee Engagement composes of the following:
1) Trust and integrity how well managers communicate and 'walk the talk'.
2) Nature of the job Is it mentally stimulating day-to-day?
3) Line of sight between employee performance and company performance Does the
employee understand how their work contributes to the company's performance?
4) Career Growth opportunities Are there future opportunities for growth?
5) Pride about the company How much self-esteem does the employee feel by being
associated with their company?
6) Coworkers/team members significantly influence one's level of engagement
7) Employee development Is the company making an effort to develop the
employee's skills?
8) Relationship with one's manager Does the employee value his or her relationship
with his or her manager?

Sears (2003) mentions about talent engagement that talent engagement refers
to the process of preparation, motivation, and reward for strategy based
achievement. It is classified as follows:
1) Performance Management Process For providing feedback and direction on work
performance
2) Learning Competency and performance based learning
3) Rewarding Monetary and nonmonetary rewards that reinforce customer-focused
performance as well as defining the talent / employment value exchange
Kermally (2004) reveals that there are types of commitment that organizations
get from their employees:
1) Continuous commitment: It involves employees continuing to work for their
organizations because for a variety of reasons they cannot leave. They might find it
stressful to change jobs or the change of job may involve relocation.
2) Normative commitment: It involves employees who continue to work for their
organizations because they face pressures from others to do so. It may be that their
company has invested in training for them or sponsored them to study MBA course.
They feel obliged to stay with the company.
3) Affective commitment: It involves employees who continue to work for an
organization because they agree with the corporate strategy and they want to be part of
it. Employees take the mission of their organization on board and they subscribe to
corporate values.
Affective commitment is the true type of commitment. When some
organizations produce their staff-turnover figures and claim that their employees are
happy to stay with them, such belief could be very depreciated if the employees stay
with the company because of continuous or normative commitment.

Nowadays companies misunderstand the reasons why their employees leave.

From the Society of Human Resources Management conference (SHRM) reveals that
employers think their people leave for more money for 89%. Employees who actually
do leave for more money are only 12%. The data identified seven hidden reasons
employees resign as follows:
1) Job is not as expected.
2) Job does not fit talents and interests.
3) Little or no feedback/coaching
4) No hope for career growth
5) Feel devalued and unrecognized
6) Feel overworked and stressed out..
7) Lack of trust or confidence in leaders.
Kaye and Jordan (2001) conclude 11 factors for successful employee retention
as follows:
1) Employment security
2) Opportunities for training and skill development
3) Recruitment and promotion from within
4) Career development and guidance
5) Opportunities for skill development and specialization
6) Autonomy and decentralization of decision-making
7) Opportunities for teamwork and participation
8) Equal benefits and access to perquisites for all the employees
9) Extra rewards and recognition for high performance

10) Openness of information about corporate goals, outcomes and intentions

Patricia (2007) includes the fact that larger companies are more challenged to
engage employees than are smaller companies, while employee age drives a clear
difference in the importance of certain drivers. For example, employees under age 44
rank "challenging environment/career growth opportunities" much higher than do
older employees, who value "recognition and reward for their contributions". But all
studies, all locations and all ages agreed that the direct relationship with one's
manager is the strongest of all drivers.
There are clear evidences that high levels of employee engagement keenly
correlates to individual, group and corporate performance in areas such as retention,
turnover, productivity, customer service and loyalty.
Finally, there is some evidence that companies are responding to this challenge
by flattening their chains of command, providing training for first-line managers and
with better internal communications. Changes will not happen overnight, but with
such significant upside to the bottom line - they might happen quickly.
Patricia (2007) concluded that manager had the direct effect toward employee
engagement. Employees may choose to work to the company by several reasons such
as income, reasonable working hour, benefits but they unhesitatingly leave the
company if manager is not satisfied.

Figure 1 Four Dimensions of Employee Engagement

Source: Gallup Management Journal, 2007.
Some hard-core managers have suggested that all this talk about positivity in
the workplace is nothing more than a bunch of fluff with little real application in the
cutthroat world of business. When human needs are met, the positive emotions that
result encourage employees to look beyond the work in front of them and to care
about the overall welfare of the business. More importantly, it is hard to create
passionate, engaged customers without passionate, engaged employees.

Overview of Maersk Group Thailand

Maersk Group Thailand is the world largest shipping line from Denmark under
A.P.Moller-Maersk. The company is specialized in shipping and logistics business
with branches worldwide. The company has sustained growth through the routing
design, market penetration, and acquisition of many well-known i.e. E.A.C., Sealand,
and recently P&O Nedlloyd in 2006. Apart from the shipping line, which is the main
business for Maersk, A.P.Moller-Maersk also diversifies itself either vertically and
horizontally such as Oil&Gas exploration business, ship manufacturer business,
airline, software business, pharmaceutical business, retail store, etc. The value of
A.P.Moller-Maersk acts as the goal of the company. It consists of constant care,
humbleness, uprightness, our employees, and our name. These values will be the
direction of the each employee to behave in the companys value. Every department
uses these same five values but the definitions will be different depending on each
department goal. Human resources department also has its own values as follows:
1) Constant Care: Partnering with our stakeholders, we proactively provide
effective people solution in time, all the time.
2) Humbleness: Respect and listen to our stakeholders, acknowledge and learn
from our mistakes, and be open to idea.
3) Uprightness: Communicate honestly and deliver our commitments with
integrity
4) Our Employees: Help create a trusting environment where colleagues are
valued, engaged and empowered, enabling them to maintain work-life balance
5) Our name: Be passionate and proud of our name by living our values and
continuously improving our HR solutions
Referring to the value of Human resources department, the company gives a
high value on its human resource which means the human resource development is
one of the major missions for the corporate. Several talent development programs
have been launched such as establishment of the shipping school in Copenhagen,
Executive Training Program, Employee Engagement Program, Companys core
values campaign, etc.

It has been obviously recognized by the top management of the company that
human is the key to competitiveness for the group in any circumstance. Therefore, the
Talent Development has been brought up in this organization for future growth
assurance and also to ensure the company will keep walking forward while the
employees are developed and retained.
For the case of Maersk Group Thailand, Human Resources department is in
charge of talent development program. They already figure out how to identify the
high potential workforce then design the program to intensively bring that individual
resource out for developing further. All programs this company has been doing, the
effort is to get these group of people developed and prepare them for the next
generation executive. The unit of study is classified as follows:
1) Management Trainee or M.I.S.E. The A.P. Moller - Maersk Group believes that
talent development starts at Entry Level Programms which will provide the right
foundation for a future leadership in the company. Maersk International Shipping
Education (M.I.S.E.) is the first step towards becoming one of the future global
leaders of the A.P. Moller-Maersk Group.
2) High Potential employee (HIPO) which are the existing employees who have
potential to grow up. The means for employee evaluation of existing is to use
performance appraisal, performance discussion and employees KPI. The company
has realized that on a small group of talented people although can bring their resource
into good results. It is also important that the rest people in the organization are also
well-develop. This is to ensure the organization will keep moving forward by talent of
majority group of people rather than rely on a small group of selected people.
3) Human Resource Department is the key role player in the Talent Development
effort. The interview will be conducted with key persons in the department who
actively involved with Talent Development.

30
30

This function is responsible for employee benefits, reward, and compensation.

5) Employee Relation
This function is concerned with effective communications among company
members. It also involves in dealing with the union and following the labor
law.

Related Studies
The researcher has studied and collected researchers, these, independent
studies as well as other related published papers as follows:
Chutarut Mokasak (2008): this study aims to study the concepts and the theories of
the learning organization using the True Corporation Public Company Limited as a
case study. As this study is done by using primary data from in-depth interview and
self-observation by the author, the researcher gets the guidelines of how to do the
independent study be using the in-depth interview. Moreover, this study also focuses
on human resources department which is beneficial for researcher who also focusing
on human resources department as well. In addition, this study gives the ideas of how
human resources department support employees capabilities, think positively about
changing and give them chances to share their ideas through the activities.
Nittaya Boonsirisampan (2008): the study aims to evaluate customer satisfaction
towards service quality perceived from Maersk Line (Thailand) Co., Ltd. in
dimensions of tangibles, reliability, responsiveness, assurance, and empathy and to
determine the degree of customer satisfaction on service quality perceived from
Maersk Line (Thailand) Co., Ltd. This study is beneficial for researcher as the case
study is the same company of the researcher. The researcher can study the culture of
the company by using this studying as the guideline.
Bennet and Nell (2004): This study gives idea for the researcher of how to develop
people from within rather than hiring from external. It uses Procter & Gamble as an
case study by saying that Proctor & Gamble recruits at the entry level only and
never

go outside to hire senior positions. A clear distinction between best employers and
other companies is that the best tend to promote from within, rather than hire external
candidates for middle and senior positions. The best build talent, while the rest buy
talent. Procter & Gamble provides an environment that gives early responsibility,
develops individual capabilities quickly, and provides scope to advance. While some
people might argue that there are advantages to recruiting externally the
organization benefits from a breath of fresh air, experience gained from other
companies, new ideas, and challenges to the way things are done research actually
prove that top management that comes from within has a greater chance of success.
Nonaka (1995): This study is beneficial for researcher in terms of talent management.
It explains how talent management involves in the organization. Leading
organizations generally view the talent management process as an ongoing, holistic
and proactive exercise. It is about identifying top talents and allocating resources to
develop them in the most efficient way. While talent management in general is about
all components of the workforce, including the potential workforce that exists outside
the organization, it is principally an internally focused discipline. Unfortunately, most
organizations tend to pay insufficient attention to internal job mobility that can boost
competitiveness, increase efficiency and aid employee retention efforts. At its core,
talent management means a commitment to invest in the organizations chief asset, its
human capital.
These related studies guides the researcher not only the knowledge related to
talent development but also the ideas to do independent study by using in-depth
interview. The studies also suggest the idea of building talent in organization rather
than hiring from outside.The contribution of these papers acts as the guidelines for the
researcher to understand the concept of talent development and the research questions
as follows act as the guideline for writing chapter 4

CHAPTER 3
METHODOLOGY
In the previous chapter, the researcher has defined what will be the issue to
discuss regarding the Talent Development Program for Maersk Group Thailand. This
chapter discusses how the study is conducted and what tool is used.
The Talent Development study for Maersk Group Thailand is conducted with
the qualitative research in order to probe for the key to success on Talent
Development mission for this organization. The study involves the interview of key
management who hold the driving and steering of this mission. In order to accurately
acquire the data for this study, the method of data collection and analysis are
described by the following steps:
A. Data Sources
B. Unit of Study
C. Tool for the Study
D. Data Collection
E. Data Analysis
Data Sources
1.1)Primary Data
The primary data is collected from the organization which came from the indepth interview with the management and the working team in Maersk Group
Thailand who actively involve with the Talent Development on both policies and
practices. This means the primary data give the details from policies, strategies,
through the implementation and the challenges. Therefore, the interview is conducted
with various functions in Human Resource Department from the policy maker through
the implementer with totally 6 hours on November 2008.

1.2) Secondary Data

The secondary data is the theories that are the reference to back up the study
and Maersk Group Thailands guidelines in each human resources related topic such
as talent development, performance appraisal are also used to make to clearer to the
readers. Therefore, the secondary data sources are textbook, journal, research, these,
or any website related to the Human Resource Development, Talent Development, or
Human Resource Management issues.
Unit of Study
This study concentrates on the Human Resource department who are the key
role player in the Talent Development effort. The interview is conducted with key
persons in the department who actively involve with Talent Development.

Tool of the Study

The interview is not in really a structural or an academic form. In order to
probe for the necessary data that precisely reflect the Talent Development, the
interview guideline has to be developed. This interview guideline prevents the
interviewer from being lose the track while also ensure the data required does not be
neglected.
The guideline for the interview goes through the 4 elements. These 4 elements
seem to be the core elements of talent development. The 4 elements compose of the
following areas:
a. The overview of talent development program in Maersk Group Thailand
b. The identification of talent
c. The process of talent development
d. The outcome of talent development program

Data Collection
The data collection for the primary data is collected from the interview of key
persons involved with talent development program including:
1. Mrs.Niyawan Kamoltham Na Ranong, Human Resource Development Manager. As
the Human Resource Development Manager, Ms. Niyawan is in charge of all issues
related to talent and competency development for all companies within Maersk Group
Thailand. She is responsible for communicating the corporates policies and strategies
to all managements and employees while also convert the policies and strategies into
actions.
2. Ms.Jarunee Cherdchoo, Assistant HR Manager-Training and Development. As the
Assistant HR Manager-Training and Development, Ms.Jarunee is in charge of
developing the training program which will support the strategies of the organization.
The in-depth interview is conducted asking the questions regarding talent
development process. The processes of in-depth interview are as follows:
A. Make appointment with the interviewees
The appointment with Mrs. Niyawan Kamoltham Na Ranong and Ms.Jarunee
Cherdchoo is conducted by phone. The introduction about the topic of the study is
clarified.
B. Interview the interviewees
The interview of Ms. Jarunee Cherdchoo is conducted on 11 November 2008 and Mrs.
Niyawan Kamolthan NaRanong is on 25 November 2008. The interview accumulating
hours is conducted around 6 hours in Thai language at Empire Tower, South Sathorn
Road.
C. Follow up the missing topics
If some topics are missing during the interview, the discussion by telephone is
conducted to clarify the missing topics.
The data collection during the interview is done by hand and/or recorder.
Another source of data is from the company internet and intranet channels. Maersk

Line is selected in this study due to its reputation as the world largest shipping line. Its
st

size is ranked in the world 131 largest firm by Forbs Magazine. As the world largest
and leading shipping line, Maersk Line was mostly being the trend setter for this
industry which every shipping line always keep its eyes on the movements of Maersk
Line.
Data Analysis
The data analysis is in descriptive analysis using in-depth interview as a
primary data and research, journal, thesis, textbooks, or other academic paper as
supporting data. The analysis focuses on how Maersk Group Thailand developed the
effective talent development program. The data from the interview is compared with
the theory reviewed in chapter 2.

The comparison focuses on the similarity and

difference of talent development process. Furthermore, the benefits and challenges of

talent development program of Maersk Group Thailand are identified as well.

CHAPTER 4
RESULT OF THE STUDY
MAERSK GROUP THAILAND gives the full contribution for Talent
Development for over 10 years. Several Talent Development Programs have been
launched to develop the leaders of tomorrow and also the potential employees. The
company believes that Talent Development is the key to success and to strengthen the
competitiveness for Maersk in long run.
Talent Development Program of Maersk Group Thailand
Talent Development Program of Maersk Group Thailand composes of 2 main courses:
1.Maersk International Shipping Education (M.I.S.E) is a 2 years management
trainee program to develop the future leaders for the company. M.I.S.E becomes the
international talent development program of A.P. Moller Maersk Group. 80
countries from total 125 countries of A.P. Moller Maersk Group participate in the
program including Thailand and every country uses the same standard of logical
indicator test and personality test to select the trainees. Each year there are 450
trainees from more than 80 countries enroll in the program. The program is founded in
Thailand for 13 years since 1995. 54 Management trainees from Thailand successfully
pass the program. The number of trainees will differentiate each year but since 2005
the number of trainee per year is fixed to be 6 persons. These 6 trainees are selected
from over 5,000 new graduated candidates each year and they will be enrolled into 2
years program which consists of practical experience and applied theoretical study.
Figure 3 illustrates the rotations of practical positions and theoretical studies
of trainee during 2 years in Thailand. Practical experience consists of at least two to
three positions in the trainees' home countries where the trainees acquire knowledge
of the different business areas in the group through work.

Figure 3: MISE Rotation, Source: Human Resources Department, Maersk Group

Thailand
The theoretical study is conducted in English and takes place at Maersk
Shipping Academy in Copenhagen through modules of 14 days each (4 modules in
two years), during which trainees attend lessons, team building training, tests and
examinations. Furthermore, The A.P. Moller - Maersk Group also offer a variety of
courses, including sales techniques, economics, presentation techniques, business
ethics, maritime law and technology, investment, shipping, logistics, ecommerce and
port management. In these sessions, more than 250 trainees from more than 80
different countries and cultures are mixed in order to increase the international
understanding and at the same time develop a network among each other. Upon the
completion of these 2 years, successfully graduated trainees have the opportunity to be
expatriated to over 325 A.P.Moller Maersk offices worldwide. The duration for
expatriation will be 2 years. During these years, trainees will be able to learn the
international working from the real experience. This is the part of career development.
Once the expatriation is completed and trainees repat to Thailand, the company will
guarantee the position of at least Assistant Manager.
Qualifications of applicants include the following:
1) Age below 24 years old
2) Hold bachelor's Degree in any fields

3) Good command of spoken and written English

4) Self-motivated and possess strong leadership
5) Have international mindset
The selection of candidates is as following:
1. All applicants take the tests as follows:
A) Logical Indicator test (LI): Maersk develops its own logical test to use globally
for selecting the applicants at all level and position. It consists of 50 questions within
12 minutes. It is not academic test but testing on Reasoning and Logical of individual
people. Within limited time frame, who can do better.Maersk believes that people who
get higher score will have tendency to learn faster when doing jobs, solving problems
etc. As the test covers both math and language questions, its design to see who can do
"most" and "more" than others. (No one can get full mark) Universal questions
so this type of test is "speed" test. Thus, this is the test for all regardless their
academic discipline (science/ engineer/ art) It tests reasoning and logic of people.
B) Personality Test (PI): Maersk develops this personality test to use globally as
well as logical test. PI is used as a management tool for analysis of related
behaviors and motivating needs. It gives the management team the knowledge of
how to
utilize people with each behavior. PI looks through 'personality trait' of people. The
rationale of PI comes from scientific psychologists and become what we call human
behavior From Psychology concept, Personality Trait tells us the tendency of the
type of people are i.e. outgoing, reserved, ambitious, leader etc. When they live in
society and interact with people. PI doesn't cover Intelligence (LI will tell). Education,
training, experience, Skill and judgment of those people are not covered. These
latter will come from Interview. PI only measures Behavior, Motivating Needs,
Drives, Aptitudes & Styles.

There are four main Basic Factor in PI:

Factor A: Indicating Leadership, Result Oriented, Ambitious, Assertiveness
Factor B: Initiative, Non- system type, Social Skills..People Skills
Factor C: Pace of work (whether work fast or slow)
Factor D: Detailed orientation, conservative, rules guideline, discipline.
Maersk develop our internal and select the PI that suits for Organization Culture.
2. The applicants who pass the test (both PI and LI) will be interviewed by
following persons:
1) HR Department (Assistant Manager/ HR Manager)
2) Country Functional Manager
3) Thailand Country Manager
Each year only 6 selected applicants will become Thailand Management Trainees.
2. High Potential Talent Development Program: This program is launched in
Thailand since 2007. This program is designed for the current employees who have a
high potential with the following objectives:
2.1) To develop the systematic procedure in managing performers at all levels.
2.2) To ensure continuity in identification, utilization, development, and retention of
talents in order to fill the talent gap aligned with both short and long term business
needs.
Process of Talent Development
In order to manage performers at all levels, managers need to ensure the
following are in place:

40
40

1). Profile, Performance, and Potential (PPP) Records

Profile refers to employee profile together with personality indicator score (PI)
and Logical test score (LI). Every employee will have their own pre-employment
examination results. LI and PI scores will be used as the primary indicator but does
not limit the opportunity to those with a wonderful score profile. Although some
employees are recruited with an ordinary scores (not outstanding), they still have
opportunity to enter the talent development program.
Performance and potential refers to employee performance record (Figure 4)
and potential rating (Figure 5) from recent years. The employee potential will be
assessed as followed:
1) Ability to contribute at a higher level
2) Ability to view situations from multiple perspectives and to tolerate and navigate
through more complexity and ambiguity
3) Willingness to learn new competencies in order to perform under new conditions
4) Potential to assume greater responsibility
a. With focus on the combination of the innate characteristics and learned
skills that an employee uses to carry out his/her day-to-day work, does
the employee aspire to move to a more critical position?
b. In which way does the employee show potential (individual
contributor (project manager) leading others, leading leaders,
business leader or functional leader, etc.)?
5) Potential to move up in position within the given time frame of 12 months
Performance appraisal and potential rating are carried out twice a year, midyear review and year end appraisal.
Performance Appraisal Scoring Criteria:
Outstanding This score is assigned for the employees who can deliver more than
50% above the expectation.
Exceeds Expectations This score is assigned for the objective that the employee
can deliver 20% to 50% above the expectation.
Meets Expectations This score is assigned for the objective that the employees can
mostly deliver as expected (not less than 80%).

Meets some, but not all expectations This score is assigned for the objective that
the employees partially meet the expectations (50-80% of expectation).
Fails to meet expectation This score is assigned for the objective that the
employees deliver less than 50% of the expectations.

Figure 4 Performance Appraisal

Source: Human Resources Department, Maersk Group Thailand

Figure 5 Potential Rating

Source: Human Resources Department, Maersk Group Thailand

2) Performance Goals
Performance goals refer to the objectives or KPIs of each employee. It needs to
be set with the coordination between manager and employee to ensure that the
measurements are agreed upon. Employees should be aware of how their personal
objectives are linked with the department targets.
3) Performance Discussion
Courageous conversations between employee and manager will be conducted
to check personal effectiveness status and boost performance. Employees should be
able to answer basic questions on why their job exists, how they are performing, how
they can improve, and what they will receive in return etc. 7 Questions Guideline
(Table 6) is used as a guideline for both manager and employee during performance
discussion. It will assist manager and employee to build a common understanding and
increase employee engagement
Table 6 7 Questions Guideline

The 7 Questions Guidelines

1. What am I accountable for?

For Employee:
This question is to understand what you are responsible for delivering
Ensure your job description accurately reflects what you do, talk to your manager if any
responsibilities has changed
For Manager:
Work with team to ensure job description is up to date
Prioritize performance appraisal objective
Set clear expectation with team members
2. How am I measured?
For Employee:
Work with your manager to establish and agree to performance outcomes for each
objective (KPIs)
Establish milestone for each objective
For Manager:
Ensure that performance appraisal are conducted
Explain how objectives are weighted and scored in the performance appraisal process
Regularly check employees progress on their objective
Set clear behavioral expectations for their daily interaction with their team and customers

Table 6 (continued)
The 7 Questions Guidelines
3. How am I performing?
For Employee:
You should be able to discuss withyour manager your current performance
and have clarity on where you are
achieving and areas you need to
Use annual, mid-year performance
appraisals and one-on-one meetings to discuss your performance with your manager
Be willing to listen to constructive feedback and act accordingly
Its a two way conversation, so ask
how am I performing, and be prepared
to express your view where necessary
For Manager:
Recognize team or individual accomplishments and give positive feedback
Schedule regular face-to-face
discussion with each team
member
4. Why is what I do so important?
For Employee:
Understanding your role and how you
contribute to the end-to-end shipping
process will help you understand
why what you do so important
Talk to your manager about how your
objectives impact your teams outcomes,
and the flow-on effect they have on other
departments
For Manager:
Explain how each team members job impacts the departments business plan
Reinforce the end-to-end shipping
process with your team and explain the cost of errors
Encourage team members to discuss their ideas on process improvements
Share customer feedback, financial results and compass rose

Table 6 (continued)
The 7 Questions Guidelines
5. What am I doing to improve my performance?
For Employee:
Responsible for their own performance and development
Look for opportunities for improving work process
Agree on a personal development plan during your performance appraisal process and
take responsibility to action it
For Manager:
Agree on development needs and establish personal development
plan
Reinforce individual responsibility for their development
Regularly assess each team members capabilities and discuss
Any skills gaps
6. What support do I need from my manager to improve my performance?
For Employee:
Ask your manager how you can enhance your capabilities and improve current
performance
Speak with your manager about your general career ambitions and professional
development
Ask your manager how they are going to support you in achieving your goal
For Manager:
Agree with each team member how you will support them in achieving their personal
development plan
Share your skills/knowledge
Look for opportunities to delegate
7. What is in it for me if I perform great, good , average, below average?
For Employee:
Seek further feedback or recognition for work you are doing
Clarify with your manage how your performance impact on your remuneration and career
prospect
For Manager:
Explain that employees performance is reflected in their salary review
Talk about career opportunities
Create learning opportunities for team member e.g. project

4) Performance Ranking
Performance ranking shows scores of all performers by ranking from the
highest score down to the lowest across different business units, departments, or

teams. A performance review process that uses multiple criteria defined by the
organization, business unit, or department .The criteria can be weighted differently to
accurately reflect job performance and importance of each parameter.
Ranking Guidelines
Once the performance ranking has been done, employees in the company will
be categorized into 3 ranking groups:
Group 1 is employees who possess high performance. The first 30% in the highest
ranking score will be categorized in this group. This group contains the employees
who deliver an exceeding the objectives results.
Group 2 is employees who possess successful performance. This group contains the
employees who exactly meet the job objectives set by the company.
Group 3 is the employees who posses less effective performance. This group contains
the employees whose results partially meet the job objectives.
Other than the performance grouping, the promotability of the employees is
also evaluated. The promotability means the potential of the employee to assume the
higher position.
Highly Promotable (P2) means the employees who have the potential to assume the
higher position within 1 year.
Promotable (P1) means the employees who have the potential to assume the higher
position within 1-2 years.
Not Promotable (P0) means the employees who are not ready for promotion. The
employees will remain in the same position for the next 12 months
Table 7 below illustrates the performance grouping results of 925 employees in
Maersk in 2008.
Table 7 Performance grouping
Performers
Promotability
Group 1 High (30%)
Group 2 - Successful (60%)
Group 3 - Less Effective (10%)

Highly
Promotable

Promotable

Not Promotable

P2
15

P1
34

P0
200

25

558
93

5) Performance Management Tools

After completing performance ranking, the following tools will be used to deal
with different types of talent.
A. Coaching Coaching the key skills will be on teach, set goals, listen, solve
problems, give feedback and maintain relationship. It will focus on mix of current and
future roles. The style of feedback will be mix of positive and constructive. High
performance employees need less time on coaching as
B. Mentoring the key skills will be on teach, set goals, listen, give feedback,
maintain relationship and career advice. It will focus mostly on future role. The style
of feedback will be mostly positive.
C. Performance Counseling the key skills will be on listen and solve
problem. It focuses on current roles only. The style of feedback will be mostly
constructive.
D. Performance Below Expectations (PBEX) Guidelines the key skill will be
specifying the area of improvement and give a clear instruction on how can the
employees improve their performance. The critical area of improvement needed to be
figured out and communicated to the employees so clear that the employees can
obviously know what they have to do and how to prioritize the importance of the area
of improvement.
Employees can then be developed by using the following developmental
guideline as below. From table 8, below percentages are just a guideline for the
amount of time that should be spent on each approach.
Table 8 Performance management guideline
Performers
Promotability
Coaching
Mentoring
Performance Counseling

Group 1
(30%)
25%
75%
0%

Group 2
(60%)
75%

Group 3
(10%)
50%

25%
0%

0%
50%

For the employees in group 1, they proof that they can generate the
outstanding results from the guideline and some support from the company.

Therefore, this group needs least performance coaching than the other groups. The
coaching will emphasize some essential skill for the jobs or to broaden the skill.
For the employees in group 2, they can achieve most of expectations. This
implies that the clear instruction is required to enable this group to deliver good result.
Moreover, the coaching is very workable for this group in order to improve their skill
which will be the key to push this group up to another level.
For the employees in group 3, they may have issues on many areas i.e. their
motivation, their communication, their skill, their attitude, etc. Therefore, this group
needs a very close counseling to probe the issues that block the employees from being
performed.
6) Personal Development Plan
In order to achieve personal and business objectives, Personal Development
Plan must be set. This is the responsibility of both the manager and employee to
ensure implementation of the Personal Development Plan (PDP) for each year.
Personal Development Plan (Figure 6).The plan provides employees a clear and
structured approach to the upcoming 12 months in their current position and it must be
linked to tangible activities.
A. What the employee must do to succeed
B. How the manager can demonstrate support
C. In which way the PDP can be achieved

Figure 6 Personal Development plan

Source: Human Resources Department, Maersk Group Thailand

Figure 7 Personal Development Plan area no.1

Source: Human Resources Department, Maersk Group Thailand
Personal development plan acts as the agreement between employees and
managers on the area of development of employees and how these improvement will
be supported. Employees and managers should work together to answer the following
questions:
1) WHAT areas can be improved?
2) WHY is there a need to effect improvement?
3) HOW will development help the employee to achieve the agreed key objectives?
4) What PERSONAL COACHING can your leader provide?
5) How is FEEDBACK ensured?
6) What TRAINING & COURSES are needed?

7) Talent Utilization / Mobilization

The talent utilization/mobilization is technique used for those whose talent has
been developed up to the level that the company believes they can deliver some results
if they get the challenges. This implies that the employees in group3 (less effective)
are not ready for mobilization. Unless that case the company perceives that the
employees are put into the wrong jobs (mismatch), the job rotation can be applied
here. The utilization of talented will be as the following approaches:
A. Job transfer / rotation
High potential (HIPO) employees will be provided cross functional exposure
to promote breath of knowledge and organizational perspective. The average time that
HIPO spends in each position doesnt fix but normally it wont exceed 3.5 years.
HIPO must remain within positions long enough to maximize developmental
opportunities and the companys use of talent. Conversely, it is imperative that
company move HIPO frequently enough to continue providing developmental
challenge and new business experience. However, M.I.S.E has the fix duration for job
rotation. During the first two years, trainee will have 3 rotations and each rotation is
due for 8 months
B. Job promotion
Its obviously known that Job Promotion is one of the typical ways to utilize
the talent of the employees. The job promotion will bring out the talent from the
employees and transform their talent into the visible results. From the Job Promotion,
the employees can practice the skill they developed in real practice. The company
aims to develop its own employees for the future growth rather than recruiting new
employees from outside. Another important benefit from job promoting is that the
promoted employees come to the position with the company culture. This means the
employees will be ready for work with least culture shock.
C. Job enrichment / enlargement
With Job enrichment, the company will give employee the opportunity to use
the range of their abilities and to increase the range of tasks and challenge. It also
means that company allows employee to plan and control their work with less
supervision. Job enrichment increases internal motivation of employee as they feel
that they have potential to do more difficult task by their own. The example of job

50
50

enrichment is that normally Miss Paula, whose position is customer service which
deal with booking the container for customers only. Her job scope is increased to
work as the telesales at the same time.
For job enlargement, the company will increase the number of tasks without
changing the challenge. It also refers to add greater variety to activities to reduce the
repetitive of work which leads to the boredom. The monotony of work will decrease
the employees efficiency. Thus, job enlargement will motivate people with the new
and variety tasks. The example of job enlargement is that normally Miss Paula, whose
position is customer service will handle only 1 customer. With job enlargement, she
will deal with two or more accounts.
8) Talent Retention
It is imperative that managers strive to build high performance teams resulting
in a high performance organization. We need to reward high performers in accordance
with their high performance. The scheme A, B, and C below are financial rewarding
approaches while D and E are non-financial rewarding approaches.
A. Rewards Annual increment based on performance: This links to the salary
increase which will reflect the contribution of individual. This reward is also the
primary return that the employees expect from the company as the result of their
contribution. Therefore, the rewarding system will closely link with previous year
performance. In general, the pay rise can be ranged from 0 to 10% of basic salary.
B. Performance Based Variable Pay (PBVP): This links to the annual bonus
which the company ties the bonus with individual performance. It means that
employees will be appraised and grouped into various performance ranges for the
different payoff purpose. This PBVP bonus can be ranged from 0 to 5 months bonus.
C. Retention Bonus Scheme for HIPO (High Potential): This scheme works
differently from PBVP. The Retention Bonus Scheme is exclusively paid to the
employees who really give a huge profits or benefits to the company. This is to retain
the employees who are very outstanding. This scheme is mostly applied for the
employees in group1 with potential in P2. In Maersk, this scheme is 1 month of basic
salary.
D. HIPO Development Program: This is an intensive approach to give a special

development or training to the HIPO employees. For instant, the company may
appoint the HIPO employees for a well-known course at the famous university or
institute oversea.
E. Challenges and opportunities for self-development: This is the non-monetary
approach the company can motivate the employees with the more challenging jobs.
Its the effective approach to motivate the talent people with the challenge jobs who
normally perceived the challenge as the opportunity for them to show their abilities.
The successful talent retention of Maersk Group Thailand shows in the number
of management trainee since the program is launched in 1995. The company creates
54 trainees and until now 39 trainees (72%) still remain with the company (Table 9).
15 trainees (28%) resign.4 of them resignation staff are still the trainee but in Maersk
oversea. Futhermore, the talent development program also leads to the decrease of the
number of turnover from 21% in 2007 to 18% in 2008.
Table 9 Management trainee turnover
Description
Total number of MISE (Since 1995)

Number of staff
54

Remain with the company

39

Resign

15

Talent Management Roles and Responsibilities

Below are guidelines for the roles and responsibilities for the concerned functions.
Department Managers / CFMs (Country Functional Manager) are responsible for
the following:
1) Ensure all related performance information and documents are reviewed and
updated.
2) Ensure performance goals are set with measurements and aligned with the
scorecard.
3) Utilize courageous conversation and career discussion.
4) Ensure performance management tools are used.
Head of Business Units are responsible for the following:

1) Ensure filling of the talent pipeline.

2) Monitor overall performance management for business unit.
3) Final review of talents together with HR
HR Department are responsible for the following:
1) Prepare employee data (PPP records)
2) Prepare and update Talent Inventory
3) Act as a consultant for managers
4) Assist in following up status on development programs
5) Evaluate different development programs
6) Coordinate between business units on job movement
The Benefits of Talent Development Program
The talent development program are benefial to the company as follow:
1) Help to develop future leaders for company
Employees from M.I.S.E program and HIPO group will become the future
leaders of the company who steer the the direction and bring success to the
company.Moreover, thay are expected to be main drive and contribute to company
objective KPIs. Since 1995, there are 54 M.I.SE successfully pass the program and 28
of them now assume managerial level or above which is over 50%.These groups of
employee will provide a pool of talens so that the company can rely on local
employees rather than from expat from other countries. This will benefit in cost saving
and local people development.
2) Help to create company branding
Talent development program like M.I.S.E becomes the company
branding.Before management trainee program has been implemented, the reputation
of Maersk Group Thailand is limited in shipping and logistics industry only. Since the
program has launched in 1995, over 30,000 fresh graduated apply for this job and it
becomes recognised among university students.They aspire to be one of our

management trainee. In year 2008, over 5,000 fresh graduated students apply for this
position.The brand of Maersk group Thailand is reputable among candidates and
M.I.S.E can be branded to attract young and local talents.
3) Help to broaden the choice of high performance workforce
High Performance development program (HIPO) develops high performance
employees to support the business growth not just relying on M.I.S.E only.MISE
program aims to provide talent supply within 2 years after expatriation which takes
some times and the company is unlikely to fill in the pipeline. Relying on MISE
trainees alone will require each department to work harder in terms of planning for
future leaders. On the contrary, having HIPO, it is essential that we can place local
talents in the program. We will also have a better focus on staff for local talent
development in each function for the future.
4) Help to reduce employees turnover
HIPO program which is implemented in 2006 leads to more employee
engagement. Since 2006 2008 the percentage of turnover after implementing talent
development program reduce from 23% to 21% and 18% respectively.
5) Help to identify talents in each function
HIPO program helps to identify talents from each function and will assist in
seeing a broad overview and foresee our current and future talents. Annually, the
company will be able to estimate the existing percentage of talents in each function
which will assist in determining future talent needed.
Talent development program are benefial for employees as follows:
1) Help to create carrer opportunity to potential employees

HIPO program is utilized to create the carrer opportunnity for everyone who
produce good performance not just limit to M.I.S.E. The criteria for selecting M.I.S.E
is that new graduateds who show high scores on pre-employment test. In the general
staffs opinion, M.I.S.E is previlege group who will defenitely become the manager in
the future and none of the general employee will have the opportunity to be promoted.
With HIPO program, the misunderstand will disappear.Every employee who shows
high potential will be developed and promoted.
2) Help to provide theoretical study and practical experience to employees
M.I.SE program which consitsts of both theoretical study and practical
experience through expatriation and job rotation provide knowledge through the
condensed courses and also provide the international experience and mindset. This
hard skill and soft skill will increase work productivity and employee efficiency for
the company
3) Help to match between employees job and skills
Talent development program increases a better fit between peoples job and
skills. The process of talent development i.e performance apprasial and performance
discussion enables employee to realise their own skills and enables manager to match
it with the appropriate job. The fit between peoples job and skills results in higher
efficiency.
4) Help to build employees enthusiatic to work
Emloyees are more engaged ,more enthusiase and they are more willing to put
forth additional effort to work. Employees can foresee the career opportunity with the
company while they realize the area of development they need to brighten up their
opportunity. Furthermore, talent development program enables employee to realise
their own ability . The performance ranking enables employee to realise that what
group they are in compaing with other employees. Employees will have each own

personal development plan so they can utilize their valuable time on the training that
is really beneficial for company and employees in the future.
The Challenges and Difficulties of Talent Development Program of
Maersk Group Thailand

1) MISE Turnover
High potential employee and management trainee, who are performed, are
always attracted from other companies with better offer and remuneration. However,
Maersk will not give more salary and other benefit in order to retain. If management
trainees who are either in 2 years studying program or completed program resign, the
company has no contract for them to pay back for the course when they resign. The
cost occurred during talent development program will absolutely lose. From the
study, turnover cost of management trainee who normally goes for international
assignment run 2.5 times of annual earning. While turnover cost of existing employee
run 0.75 times and 1.5 times of annual earning.
2) Program designing
Management Trainee (M.I.S.E) program is the global program which is held
by headquarter of Maersk in Copenhagen, Denmark. As it is the global program,
some courses do not apply locally. Management trainee will get the foundation and
discipline from the international subjects. They will get the big picture of the
business but they will lack of in depth knowledge to adapt for their own country.
3) Cost during economic crisis
The company provides premium training for talent development program and
it is very difficult to see results in a short time; thus, during this economic slowdown
and decreasing profit nowadays, it also affects the company as the profit decrease for

30%. Talent Development program is costly. It is controversial in an organization

whether this should continue or hold.
4) Career path
Talent employees are always fast moving .They can be promoted to be top
management in each business unit rapidly. It is difficult for the company to design
career path for talent as they get stuck within 3-4 years.
Discussion
From the study, it is found that talent development is not only
developing elite group of employees in order to achieve growth and create
competitiveness in the organization. Talent Development refers to the whole process
including attracting talent, developing high potential performers and retention. Talent
is always in short supply. The ability to recruit talented people is the first obvious skill
to acquire in the organization. The researcher found that most procedures of talent
development of Maersk group Thailand are similar to the procedures in the theory.
The researcher will go through one by one for more details. The similarities between
the procedures of Maersk and the theory are as follows:
1) Talent Attraction
From the theory, building high performance workforce and creating
employment branding are the core capability to attract talents. High Performance
Workforce in the organization is that the company creates and nurture highperformance culture that everyone in the organization realizes their accountabilities
and be able to develop their skills for the purpose of their own progress and the
companys growth. These companies also ensure that they create an environment and
infrastructure that enables them to build a high-performance workforce which
becomes attractive to external candidates as well. Not only using high performance
workforce to attract candidates, the company has to create employment branding
which is to answer all the questions in the candidates mind i.e. why do they choose

our workplace over another? The company should position itself in talent market as
products and services are positioned in their market. The company must know the
candidate and convince them that we are different. Build brand loyalty.
While Maersk Group Thailand shapes company, jobs or even the strategy to
appeal talented pool. Maersk believes that recruiting talented is like marketing. The
vital approach is to create employment branding. The application of employment
branding of Maersk support the theory of employment branding of Berger L. (2004).
Human resources department will increasingly treat employees like consumers who
can spread the word about a companys positive attributes throughout the marketplace
and the company can attract the candidates from this approach.
The objective of the companys talent development program is to develop
future leader for the company. Maersk Group Thailand is successful in creating
employment branding especially for the position of Management trainee (M.I.S.E).
Each year recruitment team of Maersk Group Thailand go through many reputable
universities in every part of Thailand to promote the talent development program and
also select and recruit candidates by using the pre-employment test as the first step
screening. M.I.S.E program becomes the recognized brand among university students.
The company can attract over one thousands new graduates each year to apply for this
job. It creates tough examination and interview in order to select the top potential
candidates. It uses the challenge and high successful career path to attract the
candidates. Management Trainee program of Maersk Group Thailand is well-known
and becomes the aspiration among new graduates which means that the company
accomplishes on building employment branding to attract talents candidates.
Moreover, the company is also successful on building high performance
workforce culture for talented. The group of talent staff or we call M.I.S.E are
enrolled in the 2 years program which consists of practical experience and theoretical
study. This two-year program builds high performance workforce for talented group.
They can develop their skill in every assignment and job rotation. Furthermore,
Maersk tries to create the workplace that is stimulating and personally rewarding.

2) Competencies Identification
The theory mentions competencies identification that the company should
identify the core competencies i.e. leadership, communication, action orientation,
technical expertise. Each employee will be evaluated by using these core
competencies as criteria and then follow with the performance appraisal and potential
forecast. However, the process of identifying core competencies of Maersk is in the
process of collecting Employees profile. Employees profile is needed because the
scores of personality test and logical test are used to compare together with the
performance appraisal and potential rating. Personality test which Maersk used is like
the core competencies of the organization. Personality test can indicate the
competencies into four main basic factors: Factor A - Indicating Leadership, Result
Oriented, Ambitious, Assertiveness, Factor B - Initiative, Non- system type, Social
Skills. People Skills, Factor C - Pace of work (whether work fast or slow), Factor D Detailed orientation, conservative, rules guideline, discipline. The factor in
personality test can indicate that what kind of person are matched to each job. For
example the candidate for the position of customer service of main duties are dealing
with people should contain factor B in their profile. However, the logical test score
either high or low do not affect the performance appraisal. The score of logical test is
used to check the tendency to learn and personality test is used to see the motivation
needs. Personality test will also indicate how to motivate each employee.
3) Assess by using performance appraisal and potential forecast or potential
rating
Performance Appraisal is the tool that is used to evaluate employee. Each
employee will be evaluated on actual results achieved within those areas where the
employee is held accountable and the competencies deemed critical to job and
organization success. In addition, the performance appraisal will be evaluated by
objectives, KPIs which each employee is accountable from the recent years. Potential
forecast will be evaluated on how many levels (organization/job) an employee can
reach within the organization. Potential forecast is like the tool of Maersk called
potential rating. Potential rating will be assessed on the promotability to assume the
higher position of each employee. It is classified into P2, PI, P0: Highly Promotable

(P2) means the employees who have the potential to assume the higher position within
1 year. Promotable (P1) means the employees who have the potential to assume the
higher position within 1-2 years. Not Promotable (P0) means the employees who are
not ready for promotion, and remain in the same position for the next 12 months.
However, the scale measurement in the theory will be greatly exceeds expectations
(5), exceed expectations (4), meet expectations (3), below expectation (2), greatly
below expectations (1).
4) Provide training courses
The further step of talent development in the theory is to develop training and
development solution that support organizations core competencies. The organization
must map training and development course with the companys competencies. When a
gap exists between employees proficiency and company requirement, training and
development will help to eliminate this gap. Training and development can be
coaching, job rotation, internal education and training, executive program and external
course work. This step is similar to Maersks but Maersk classified training and
development into 2 part. First part is called performance management which is
focusing on skills like coaching, mentoring and performance counseling. The second
part is called talent utilization and mobilization .The purpose of talent utilization is to
build challenge and achievement and to remove the dullness of repetitive work. It
involves job transfer/ rotation, job promotion, job enrichment / enlargement.
5) Offer talent retention
The ultimate step in the theory is talent retention. Every organization desires
that employee will have affective commitment to the organization as it is the true type
of commitment (Kermally, 2004) Furthermore, Patricia (2007) reveals that employee
engagement is the successful approach for talent retention. The successful company
should be able to answer these questions which seem to be the four main dimensions
of employee engagement: what do I get? What do I give? Do I belong? How can we
grow? If the company is able to answer these questions, then the company has built
the greater workplace.

60
60

Maersk Group Thailand also develops 5 retention schemes for talent. The
company needs to reward high performers in accordance with their high performance.
It consists of both financial reward and non-financial rewards: annual increment based
on performance, performance based variable Pay (PBVP), retention bonus scheme for
HIPO, recognition program (employee of the year, etc.), challenges and opportunities
for self-development.
Apart from the similarities, there are the significant steps which Maersk
contains in talent development process but it is not mentioned in the theory.
1) Performance Discussion
Performance discussion is the crucial process for talent development because it
creates two-way communications from employee to line manager. Performance
discussion provides an excellent opportunity for manager to discuss an employees
work performance, their strengths and development needs, and how their duties
support the departmental goals and the strategic goals of the company. Manager and
employee will participate in problem solving and it will increase employee
engagement. The performance goals which are the objectives or KPIs will be used as
the criteria in the performance discussion. Maersk develops its own guidelines called
7 questions guidelines to be the toolkits for manager and employees during this
individual discussion.
2) Performance Ranking
Performance ranking is the process of ranking performance appraisal score of
overall employees in the company. Maersk contains performance ranking in talent
development process so that manager can see the level and the capabilities of their
subordinates comparing with employees in other department. Furthermore, ranking
helps manager to estimate what performance group their employees are ranked which
can tell how far this employee will be promoted. It creates the big picture of total
scores to manager. The score will be categorized into 3 ranking groups.

Group 1 is employees who possess high performance. The first 30% in the
highest ranking score will be categorized in this group. This group contains the
employees who deliver an exceeding the objectives results.
Group 2 is employees who possess successful performance. This group
contains the employees who exactly meet the job objectives set by the company.
Group 3 is the employees who posses less effective performance. This group
contains the employees whose results partially meet the job objectives.
Talent development in the theory doesnt contain this ranking but it also
classified the employees in group as well. Berger (2004) classified employees into 4
groups: superkeeper, keeper, solid citizen, and misfit. Superkeepers are those
employees who greatly exceed expectation; keepers, those employees who exceed
expectation; Solid Citizens, those employees who meet organization expectation; and
Misfits, those employees who are below organization expectations.
Figure 8 and 9 shows the full step of theoretical talent development process
and talent development process of Maersk Group Thailand.

Theoretical Talent Development Process

Attract
Talent

Creating high
performance workforce
Creating employment branding

Determine target group

Identifies competencies

Develop tools

Performance appraisal
Potential
forecast
Training and development program

Employee assessment

Prepare action plan

Talent retention by
each
type of
employee

Figure 8 Theoretical Talent Development Process

Talent Development Process of Maersk Group Thailand

Current Employee
New Employee
Prepare employees profile: PI,
LI, Performance Appraisal,
Attract Talent
Potential Rating

Pre-employment Test

Prepare performance goal

Identify talent

Performance Discussion

Performance Ranking

Attend intensive courses

Performance Management

Talent Utilization

Talent Development

Talent Retention
Figure 9 Talent Development Process of Maersk Group Thailand

CHAPTER 5
CONCLUSIONS AND RECOMMENDATIONS
Conclusions
The objectives of the study are to verify the scope of talent development, to
examine the benefits of successful talent development program and to search for best
practice for talent development. The information is gathered by in-depth interview
with Mrs. Niyawan Kamoltham Na ranong, Human Resources Manager and Ms.
Jarunee Cherdchoo, Assistant Manager Training and Development from Maersk
Group Thailand who are actively involved in talent development on both policies and
practices and other sources that involve with talent development.
Maersk Group Thailand has a successful talent development program which
can apply for both new employees and existing employees. Talent development
program of Maersk Group Thailand extends to two groups of employee which are
M.I.S.E (Management Trainee) and HIPO (High Potential employees). The company
has the systematic procedures to manage, identify, utilize and retain talent in order to
fill in the talent gaps for short and long term business needs. The successful talent
development program of Maersk leads to the percentage of turnover decrease from
21% in year 2007 to 18% in year 2008. Talent development program is beneficial for
not only the company itself but also the employees. The benefits company gains from
talent development program are that the program creates group of people who will
become the future leaders of the company. The reputable talent development program
of Maersk Group Thailand becomes the company branding which build the
companys image to be more reputable and acceptable to externals. In addition, high
potential development program broadens the choice of talent workforce in the
company. The program of M.I.S.E needs the expatriation for 2 years then return back
to home country. During these years, the company still has the internal talent pool
from HIPO employees to create the company success and growth.

Talent development program of Maersk Group Thailand is beneficial for

employees in terms of career opportunity for general employees. It is to show that the
promotion is not limited to M.I.S.E only. High potential employee will be able to be
promoted. In addition, employees will gain benefit from the theoretical study and
practical experience which will provide breadth and depth experience for employees
development. Furthermore, talent development program will enable employee to
realize their own skills and ability and also enable manager to match it with the
appropriate job which will result in higher efficiency. Ultimately, talent development
program enables employees to be more enthusiastic and more willing to put forth
additional effort to work as they can foresee their own career opportunity with the
company.

Recommendations
Even Maersk Group Thailand has an effective talent development program,
there are still some points that should be improved to build a better talent development
program.
1) Recommendations for Human resources department of Maersk Group Thailand
1.1) The company should make an agreement with M.I.S.E
As aforementioned in previous chapter, the company provides high investment
on management training during their 2 years of studying and another 2 years of
expatriation. Excluding the salary, company spends money over THB 400,000 for
each M.I.S.E for training courses, traveling expenses to attend modules at
Copenhagen, Denmark (4 times within 2 years). This is the huge money which will
completely lose once M.I.S.E resign from the company after completed the program.
To solve this problem, there should be an agreement between M.I.S.E graduated and
company that they will stay for there company with at least five years. Other
companies which provide management training courses like Unilever are also doing
the contract as well.

1.2) Local country should participate in developing M.I.S.E program

M.I.S.E program is created and developed by A.P. Moller Maersk Group at
headquarter, Denmark. Even the program offers the intensive subjects including sales
techniques, economics, business ethics, maritime law, shipping, logistics, e-commerce
and port management, it is found that some courses do not apply locally . To solve this
problem, Maersk Group Thailand should participate in designing the courses to match
with the business needs with the country and also provide the case study which really
happen in Thailand.
1.3) The right balance of talent development for M.I.S.E and other employees
The talent development program of Maersk Group Thailand is classified into
two groups: M.I.S.E and HIPO employees. M.I.S.E seems to be the privilege
employees in the company. Each year the company spends huge amount of money on
these groups i.e. expenses of oversea study (200,000 THB per person each year), 50%
above basic salary of other employees, guarantees salary scheme increment 25% each
year. This is an unequal investment that company provides to M.I.S.E rather than
regular employees. Comparing with regular employees, the company conducts
training courses mostly in local only. The maximum salary increment of regular
employees is 10%. Employees will think that company treats M.I.S.E better than
regular employees who are largest population in the company. In order to solve this
problem, the company should provide more investment on developing regular
employees. Furthermore, the company should be sincere to support the potential
employees who show high potential and build the feelings that the promotion does not
reserve only for M.I.S.E.
1.4) Better communication to all employees regarding the talent development
attempt
Maersk Group Thailand should communicate the missions and objectives of
talent development program to all employees so that they clearly understand the
attempt of company to build the talent development program. Even Maersk has the
effective process of talent development, poor communication does not make talent
development program successful. The company should use various media to

communicate talent development program and the communication should include both
upward and downward. The downward channels include placing advertisement or
articles on bulletin boards or company newsletter, sending direct e-mail to employees,
and holding a regular meeting. Upward channels of communication include one on
one discussion with employees, question posed by employees through company web
board. These two ways communications build the clear mutual understanding between
company and employees. The benefit company receives is that the company can bring
suggestions and ideas from employees to build and improve the better talent
development program which employees participate in developing the effective
program. Furthermore, the company should provide the clear guidance to managers on
how to communicate talent development so that they will know how to handle the
questions from employees.
1.5) The clear application of performance management tools
Once the performance of each employee has been ranked, an employee with
each type of performance will be developed by using different types of approach and
different amount of time that should be spent on each approach. The approaches
consist of coaching, mentoring, performance counseling. The difference between each
approach is the key skills that the manager needs to focus i.e. the key skills of
coaching will focus on teaching, setting goals, listening, solving problems, giving
feedback and maintain relationship while the key skills of mentoring will focus on
teaching, setting goals, listening, giving feedback, maintaining relationship and career
advice. There is rarely differentiation between each approach and the company still
has no clear guideline for manager to apply these approaches. It is difficult for
manager to apply to employee and also difficult for employee to understand what
manager is going to express.
2) Recommendations for organizations which would like to apply talent development
program
2.1 One program for all employees

With reference to talent development program of Maersk Group Thailand, the

company conducted 2 courses for new staff and current staff. The differences
management between these 2 programs apparently see from unequal investment in
terms of training and development, salary. It leads to the misunderstanding for
employees that the company treats other group better than the other group. The
organizations that would like to develop talent development program can mix these 2
courses and apply into one program in order to gain most benefit from it with less
problem.
2.2 Same program but different outcome
It is important for the organizations which would like to apply talent
development program of Maersk Group Thailand to note that even the company apply
the same program, it does not guarantee that the outcome of the program will be the
same as Maersk. Different companies have different culture. One program which
becomes successful in the company might not work for the other companies. In order
to gain the most benefit from the program, the company should study the advantage
and disadvantage of the program under the companys culture thoroughly.

Recommendations for further study

It is obvious that the present study sets the stage for researchers to be able to
understand the concept of talent development and process of best practice of talent
development. Further research should be focused on employee retention. Once the
company is able to attract and develop talented employee, it is crucial for company to
be able to retain the talented employee as well. Losing the talented employees
meaning the company has failed to utilize the talent for future growth and offer the
weapon to the competitor.

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APPENDIX
Questions for an Interview

The primary data in this independent study is collected by using the in-depth
interview asking the questions regarding talent development process. The main
questions of interview are as follows:
For Mrs. Niyawan Kamoltham Na Ranong, Human Resource Development Manager:
1. Please provide the concept of talent development program of Maersk Group
Thailand?
2. Please explain the starting point of each program?
3. How does Maersk define the target groups of employee for Talent
Development?
4. How does the management support the Talent Development?
5. What are the expectations from the Talent Development program?
6. What is the achievement from this program that has been realized?
7. What is the challenge toward the Talent Development Program?

For Ms. Jarunee Cherdchoo, Assistant HR Manager-Training and Development:

1. Please provide the process of talent development program of Maersk Group
Thailand
2. As you are working in Training and Development function, what is the scope
of Training and Development tasks in Maersk?
3. How does the Training and Development support the Talent Development
Program?
4. What is the success story of Talent Development Program?
5. What is the challenge on Talent Development attempt?
6. In which way or what tool Maersk use in talent development program?
7. How is the importance of each tool?