SECTION A

Read the case study below and answer ALL the questions that follow.

Talent Management at MED Phamaceuticals

MED Pharmaceuticals has a market capitalisation of approximately US $\backslash (\backslash$$ $15\backslash )$billion and is the leading pharmacautical company in South Africa. As a global player in speciality, branded and generic medications, the company has an extensive range of products that provide for a broad spectrum of acute and chronic conditions. Today, MED has a strong global presence in both emerging and developed countries, with more than $60$established business operations in $50$countries$.$ The Group has $30$manufacturing facilities at $20$sites across six continents and has more than $15,000$employees$.$

The operations of MED Pharmaceuticals have changed significantly since Andile Mpofu took over as CEO in $2018.$Not only did the company become more transparent in its talent management processes, but more emphasis was placed on product development and innovation. The transparent approach adopted by MED allowed employees to understand the strategic rationale for certain talent management decisions. Second, the innovative processes adopted by MED were more humancentred. Consequently, the research and development programme adopted by MED included medical representatives, pharmaceutical engineers, chemists and pharmacists who focused on improving product development by identifying several success factors.

MED's success is mainly ascribed to the attention it pays in developing the potential of their employees to support their personal growth and advancement of the organisation. The company further recognises that it is dependent on the intellectual resources of its workforce. This is reflected in Andile's emphasis on attracting, developing and retaining those invaluable thinkers in the organisation.

Human Resource Management at MED Pharmaceuticals

As a global company, MED recognises the need to integrate its human resource policies and procedures in its daily operations. This includes the talent management practices of the company. Jenna Pillay, the HR Director, further explains that for the talent management programme to be successful, they need to include a certain degree of flexibility. Consequently, the organisation's talent management approach is one that emphases differentiating talents. This means that MED recognises that talent management should not only focus on managing talented employees for succession in managerial positions, but also on the development and advancement of employees who are high performers with leadership potential. MED's current talent management practice is built into two key processes, namely its performance.

Perfomance Management

Jenna explains that MED is very performance$-$driven, with its perfomance management system at the centre of its talent management process. MED assesses performance by appraising both KPI attainment and employee behaviour. It is an online system that allows both the managers and employees to complete their ratings and enter their feedback on the company's intranet. The ratings and feedback are available to both to both managers and employees, as required. Managers are further encouraged to have mid year discussions with their employeesand provide more frequent priodic feedback to them. Lastly, the performance management system assists managers in identifying training and development needs. The output generated by the perfomance management process is used in the company's successsion management process.

Succession Management

Succession management at MED involves four key steps:

Step $1-$ Identify Pivotal Positions: Pivotal positions are key positions that Play a central role in the organisation's success. These positions typically include leadership and professional roles.

Step $2-$ Conduct a talent Review. The talent review process of MED Pharmaceuticals assesses employees on two dimensions: leadership potential and performance $.$ In addition, the talent review process also identifies the strenghts and weaknesses, career interests, and developmental needs. The purpose of conducting talent reviews is to identify employees with talent and plan their development.

Step $3-$ Develop a talent pool: The next step is to use the information obtained from the talent review to identify candidates for the company's talent pool. Individuals included in the talent pool are put in line for succession to more senior positions.

Question $1$

Critically analyse the extent to which MED Pharaceuticals approach to talent management aligns with the concepts of stategic Human Resource development $($SHRD$)$