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1 BACKGROUND OF THE STUDY:

In this 21st century, business world is getting competitive more than ever. Several changes
have been occurred due to wide expansion of globalization effects along with technological
advancements. For organizations to be successful in today, they must have the very best
people with high skills, knowledge and experiences for leading and motivating the employees
at all levels of the organization. Organizations often go for talent hunt to identify and obtain
the best people among others. But the process is costly and requires organizations to spend a
great effort and time in searching for and attracting such individuals. Therefore, now
organizations are thinking of developing their own talent internally so that, they can have the
leaders to handle their businesses as well as leading their organization.

This study is an attempt to know how banking organizations in Bangladesh are trying to
develop their valuable employees or talents internally and how these programs are working.
Since the trend of talent development is quite new and is gradually shaping in our country,
there is a large scope to discover and analyze various aspects relevant to it. We have tried to
identify how skilled or valuable employees are nurtured and developed through the
development programs provided by their bank.

1.2 STATEMENT OF STUDY ISSUES

The area of our study is emphasizing the process of developing talents in the banking
organizations in Bangladesh. Under this area, we have identified some major issues such as-

Who are the talents or valuable employees for a banking organization?

How does a bank identify the employees with high potentiality among others?
How do they facilitate these employees to develop their potentiality?
What are the challenges banks typically face when they develop talents internally?
What do skilled employees are thinking about the overall effectiveness of the talent
development programs provided to them.

1.3 SIGNIFICANCE AND RATIONALE OF THE STUDY

Doing study on talent development practices is important since most of the organizations in
our country still focus on talent hunt- that is the practice of identifying highly skilled
individuals from outside the company and then hiring them with high compensation offer.
The process is costly, firstly because of the money spends in recruiting, hiring and

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compensating these skilled individuals and secondly, the turnover of these employees after a
certain period of time. Instead of hiring talent, if organizations would focus on developing
talent internally, it would provide more benefits to the firms. This is because when people
within an organization realize that the organization values their talent and invests for their
further development, they tend to become more committed to the firm and it results in
reduction in talent turnover. Our study will make organizations realize why should they go
for developing talent rather than doing competition for hiring the talent. This study will also
provide employees with idea regarding the development programs they may expect from
management for nurturing their talents. Finally, our study will provide a guideline to those
who would like to carry a research on talent development practices in Bangladeshi
organizations.

1.4 OBJECTIVES OF THE STUDY

1.4.1 Broad Objective: The broad objective of this study is to discover how
organizations in Bangladesh are engaging in developing talents internally.
1.4.2 Specific objectives: The specific objectives under the broad objective is-
To identify what do talent means for a banking organization.
To find out how a banking organization typically identifies their valuable
employees among others.
To know about the development programs that organizations normally provide
to their employees for developing their talents.
To collect senior employees opinion regarding the talent development
programs provided to them
To learn about the challenges that organization and employees typically face in
developing talent internally.

1.5 SCOPE AND LIMITATIONS:

1.5.1 Scope:
The scope of this research paper is limited to talent development practices by
organizations and employees opinion regarding the contents of this program in
Bangladesh. Under this arena, we have focused to some specific issues like the criteria for
talent employees in banking sector, cultural support and programs that are provided to
skilled employees for nurturing their talents, employee perception about the development

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 process and the challenges that organization and employees face in developing talent
internally.
1.5.2 Limitations:
Our research includes a few limitations such as-
We have only cover the practice developing talent internally in our study. There still
exist a lot of areas in which research can be conducted for better understanding of
overall talent management practice in Bangladesh.
Getting responses from the HR manager and senior level employees was quite
tough. We find them somehow reluctant to share the detail information regarding his
organizational practices. Moreover, since we had to collect their response through
telephone and in person, it consumed a lot of time.
Our study collects responses only from one HR manager and five senior level
employees from our selected bank which is a limitation of our work. A big sample
may produce a better insight of the topic.

2.1 LITERATURE REVIEW

Baqutayan (2014) found out following seven attributes for talents- Become more innovative;
always participate in teamwork, use of more emotional intelligence, positive mindset,
positive attitude, professionalism, ambition.

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Terry, Gill and Derr (2013) emphasized on internal carrier i.e. career orientation concept as
leveraging factor of talent management. They conducted research on 87,000 participants
between a periods of 15 years revealed following four attributes - leadership development,
interpersonal skills, managing others, effective communication are traits of talent.

Ballesteros et al, (2010) found that talent pool is a group of employees with special qualities
and are source of future senior executives.

David et al, (2007), founded earlier that these sources of talented employees can be internal
or external, but the best way to create a talent pool is the internal sources since the employees
have already the knowledge of how business processes work and can be incorporated directly
into the new position.

Whereas Ballesteros et al, (2010) told that, if the organization wants to introduce fundamental
changes or to renew the culture, external sources are the best source to create talent in the
organization.

Fitzgerald (2014) defines talent as the summation of Competence, Commitment and

Contribution. As per his opinion talent management should consider full work force and
inclusiveness of all employees so that top most performance of all employees may be
delivered towards organizational goal achievement.

According to Gakovic & Yardley, (2007).Organization is run by people, and the talent of
these people will determine the organizations success, so, talent management is
managements main priority.

Michaels, Handfield-Jones & Axelrod (2001), defined talent as the sum of a person's abilities
- his or hers intrinsic gifts, skills, knowledge, experience, intelligence, judgment, attitude,
character, and drive with the ability to self-learn and grow.

Nijs et al. (2014) defines Talent as a systematically developed innate abilities of individuals
that are deployed in activities they like, find important, and in which they want to invest
energy. It enables individuals to perform excellently in one or more domains of human
functioning, operationalized as performing better than other individuals of the same age or
experience, or as performing consistently at their personal best.

According to CIPD (2013), talent consists of those individuals who can make a difference to
organizational performance either through their immediate contribution or, in the longer-term,
by demonstrating the highest levels of potential

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Another study by Abul Mohaimen, (2013), found that, Bangladesh is facing a lack of talented
employees with the boom of fast moving consumer goods industries. Offering a higher salary
is not the only important factor motivating talented employees working with an organization
but other kinds of motivation such as career path, career development, and open
communication are important factors as well.

Michaels et al, (2001), describes talent as a code for the most effective leaders and managers
at all levels, which can help a company fulfill its aspirations and drive its performance.
Managerial talent is some combination of a sharp strategic mind, leadership ability, emotional
maturity, communications skills, and the ability to attract and inspire other talented people,
entrepreneurial instincts, fundamental skills and the ability to deliver results.

A research of CIPD (2011) study found that many organizations have adopted an exclusive
approach that focuses on developing senior managers only.

In another study, Iles et al. (2010) have highlighted the lack of consensus concerning what
talent may fall within the scope of a talent development process. They emphasize four
possible scenarios: an inclusive approach that focuses on developing each potential
employee; an inclusive approach that emphasizes the development of social capital more
generally in the organization; an exclusive approach that focuses on developing specific elite
individuals or an exclusive approach that focuses on key positions, roles and develops talent
to fulfill these roles.

Now the question is who will be responsible for developing these talents for an organization.
Previous studies shown that, Organizational restructuring, globalization and competition
highlight the need for both organizations and individuals to be focused on investment in
learning (Garofano and Salas, 2005). Organizational talent development processes almost
invariably focus on organizational needs. Pruis (2011) states that talent development t is an
investment in organizational needs. Organizational driven talent development focuses on a
multiplicity of organizational needs such as succession planning (Lawler, 2008).

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3.1 INTRODUCTION

This chapter will thoroughly describe how we have conducted this research. More
specifically the chapter will present the description of methods that we have used for
fulfilling our research purpose.

3.2 RESEARCH POPULATION AND SAMPLE

Our study is a descriptive one that reveals several issues regarding the practice of talent
development in Bangladesh. The population would include all the organizations that is
currently developing skilled employees through internal training and development
initiatives in our country. The representative sample of this population involves a banking
organization. We have selected Mercantile Bank Ltd as the sample organization for this
study

3.3 SAMPLING DESIGN

The sample size of our population is a banking organization that is currently engage in
developing talent or skilled employees internally. The organization is selected through
non-probability sampling procedure or more specifically, convenience sampling because
there is no appropriate structure or framework that can help us to select a specific sample.
The reason of selecting this industry and organization is that we know since a long time,
Mercantile Bank Ltd is engaging in developing their employees. For our study purpose,
we have contacted with five senior level employees of this bank who have experience the
internal development programs of this bank. By combining these employees opinion and
the information provided by an HR manager of this bank, our study has successfully
covered the talent development practices of this bank.

3.4 METHODS OF DATA COLLECTION

Data Used: The study is mainly based on primary data. Alongside, few secondary data
have been used for presenting the company information and literature portion.
Data Sources: We collect data both from primary and secondary sources for this study.
Primary Source of data:
HR managers of Mercantile Bank Ltd
Senior Managers of Dhanmondi branch of Mercantile Bank Ltd
Secondary Sources of data:
Company website
Journal and articles relevant to the topic
3.5 DATA PRESENTATION AND PAPER PREPARATION

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 The analyzed data are presented with necessary interpretation in document form. We have
used Microsoft word for this purpose. Our whole paper is prepared, organized and
presented with specific chapters for better understanding.

3.8 CONCLUSION

The above methods are precisely followed in preparing this paper. The next chapter will
present the overview of the organizations that are selected for preparing this report. The
purpose of preparing the next chapter is to provide the readers with the basic information
about the selected organizations.

4.1 INTRODUCTION

This chapter presents the organizational information of the selected organization so that the
readers may know about these company. We have only present the necessary information in a
brief way. Since our topic is relevant to one particular area, we avoid presenting detail
information about the company.

4.2 OVERVIEW OF THE SELECTED COMPANY

For the purpose of preparing this report, we have selected a banking organization. The name
of this organization is- Mercantile Bank Ltd

In following section, we have presented a brief overview of this company.

Mercantile Bank Ltd

Mercantile Bank Ltd Limited was incorporated as a Public Limited Company under
the Bank Companies Act, 1991 on May 20, 1999 and has been in operation since June
02, 1999. MBL has been able to establish itself as a leading third generation private

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 commercial bank that aims to provide efficient banking services and contribute in
socio-economic development of the country. With the passage of time it has expanded
its number of branches and variety of services along with its core business of taking
deposits and granting loans. Today the Bank operates with 2117 employees and 109
branches that are spread all over the country.
The core activities of the Bank include providing all kinds of commercial banking
services including deposits mobilization, providing loans, discounting bills, foreign
exchange business, off shore banking, treasury function, card business, mobile
banking, Locker service, SMS service and many more. MBL undertakes all types of
banking transactions to support the development of trade and commerce in the
country. MBLs services are also available for the entrepreneurs to set up new
ventures and industrial units. The bank gives special emphasis on Export, Import,
Trade Finance, SME Finance, Retail Credit and Finance to women Entrepreneurs. To
provide clientele services in respect of International Trade it has established wide
correspondent banking relationship with local and foreign banks covering major trade
and financial centers at home and abroad. The Bank went for public issue of shares on
in 2003 and its shares are listed with Dhaka Stock Exchange and Chittagong Stock
Exchange.

Figure: Logo of Mercantile Bank Ltd

4.2.1 Vision and Mission of Mercantile Bank Ltd

Vision: Would make Finest Corporate Citizens

Mission: Will become most caring, focused for equitable growth based on diversified
deployment of resources and nevertheless will remain healthy and gainfully profitable
bank.

4.2.2 Management Hierarchy of Mercantile Bank Ltd

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 Figure: Management Hierarchy of Mercantile Bank Ltd

4.2.3 MTBL at a Glance

Name Mercantile Bank Ltd Limited

Status Public Limited Company

Date of Incorporation May 20, 1999

Head Office 61, Dilkhusa Commercial Area, Dhaka-1000

Chairman M Amanullah

Managing Director M. Ehsanul Hoaque

Number of Branches 91

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 Number of Employees 1814

Services Provided Deposit Scheme, Credit Facility and Foreign

Exchange Services

Website http://www.mblbd.com/

SWIFT MBLBBDDH

5.1 TALENT DEVELOPMENT PRACTISE BY MERCANTILE BANK LTD:

To know this section, we conducted questionnaire interview both for the HR manager and
employees of Dhanmondi branch. And the summary is given below:

5.1.1 Response from HR manager:

To collect information about the training and development program of Mercantile Bank Ltd
Ltd., we decided to talk to Mr. Samar Kanti, HR manager of Mercantile Bank Ltd Ltd to
know the overall process, their perception of talent in their organization and talent
development program in the organization.

At first we asked him about their whole training process and he told us that, they give training
to their entry level employees just after joining the bank. This training is basically a general
training on banking conducted in their own training center for four weeks as well as they send
the diverse employees from different educational background to Bangladesh Bank training
center or BIBM to learn about the basic concepts of baking. For mid-level and top level
employees, they arrange training programs based on their relevant areas.

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They try to evaluate the effectiveness of training based on the employees performance after
the training. They basically give training so that their current job skill as well as future job
skills increases. For example, they encourage their employees to increase their English
proficiency so that, when they are promoted to a senior position where they have to write
many official letters and interpretation of documents as well as might need to deal with any
foreign clients.

When we asked about whether they have talent in their organization or not, he replied that, if
we consider talent as an asset for the organization, then they definitely have talent in their
organization that they want to cherish for future and retain them for long run. The employees
who have superior performance, meets target properly, have good relation with clients, and
who got each promotions without any hassle, are considered as talent by him in the
organization. On the basis of the Job related knowledge and skill, Leadership potential,
outstanding performance to achieve target and Cognitive capacity (High level of awareness,
perception, reasoning and judgment) they identify their talent in the organization.

For developing these talents they encourage them to take responsibilities as well as take
minor decisions while following the regulations of the bank also and encourage to develop
their own interpersonal skill as well so that their Job related knowledge and skill, Leadership
potential, outstanding performance to achieve target and Cognitive capacity (High level of
awareness, perception, reasoning and judgment) continuously increase. And for doing this,
they prefer on the job training where they would get to know more and more by facing
problems while doing works and facing challenges. And they believe this technique works in
their organization, as their previous records says that, to whom they gave training, they
develop them gradually and many of them has become branch manager as well.

Though they face some challenges but they allot 10-20% budget for arranging developing
programs for these pool of employees every year.

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