• Step One: Study the textbooks and identify important talent management practices.
• Step Two: Compose an interview questionnaire for an HR professional that asks about the background of the interviewee, the organization's background, and its talent management practices, especially the details about the strongest practice of the organization (e.g., recruitment, succession plan, retention strategy, etc.).
• Step Three: Identify an organization with well-established talent management practices and contact the HR professional who is familiar with the talent management practices in the organization for the interview.
• Step Four: Interview the HR professional on the organization and its talent management practices according to your interview questionnaire. The interview can be either structured (i.e., you only ask questions listed in your questionnaire) or semi-structured (i.e., you ask questions beyond the list in your questionnaire, as led by the conversation).
• Step Five: Start writing. The main text of your report should include the following.
• A brief introduction
• A summary of the interview that structurally outlines (1) the background of the interviewee, (2) the background of the organization, and (3) the content of the interview. You may provide the transcription of the interview in the appendix of the paper.
• Identify one strong practice within the talent management program (e.g., succession plan, retention strategy, etc.) and describe the details of the practice.
• Evaluate the practice identified in the previous section, using the principles covered in the course texts and assigned readings as criteria, provide your suggestion of how to improve the practice and explain your rationale. Here, view yourself as a consultant of the organization. Try to be innovative in your suggestion.