Identification of Critical and key Jobs' Criteria for Talent Attraction and Retention in National Iranian Tanker Company

The purpose of this study was to identify the criteria of critical and key jobs in National Iranian Tanker company to better attract and retain talents in the organization. In the present study, a qualitative approach was taken and it was descriptive (case study) in terms of data collection.  The participants were chosen from managers and experts in National Iranian Tanker Company (NITC). Based on purposive sampling, data were collected from 12 participants in two stages. In the first stage, qualitative data were collocated through 12 interviews. Then, the criteria of critical and key jobs were identified via thematic analysis. In the second stage, investigators designed and submitted a paired-comparison questionnaire to organizations' elites in order to determine the importance of criteria. The aforementioned questionnaires were analyzed based on AHP technique and via Expert Choice software. Conclusively, a model comprising of 7 dimensions for critical jobs and a model with 3 dimensions for key jobs were set.

There is a noticeable association between strategy and human resources. The SHRM literature focuses on human resource (HR) management systems as resources of competitive advantage, and employees as strategic assets. According to Armstrong (2009), strategic human resource management is an approach to decision making on the intentions and strategy of the organization about employment relationship and the organization's staffing, training, improvement, performance management, compensation, employee strategies, policies and practices. Talent Management has become one of the most prevalent terms in strategic human resource management and as the most effective tool to gain competitive advantage and value creation. Collings and Mellahi (2009) define strategic TM as activities and processes that involve the systematic identification of key positions which differentially contribute to the organization's sustainable competitive advantage, the development of a talent pool of high potential and high performing incumbents to fill these roles, and the development of a differentiated architecture to facilitate filling these positons with competent incumbents and to ensure their continued commitment to the organization. Strategic positions are those impact strategy and exhibit high variability in employee performance.
National Iranian Tanker Company (NITC) is the biggest company crude oil industry. Considering the necessary factors for Talent Management, the present research intends to answer this question that what are the criteria of critical and key jobs in order to attract and retain talents in National Iranian Tanker Company?

Case study

The research context in this study is limited and includes all mangers and experts in National Iranian Tanker Company or NITC.

A qualitative research approach was taken in this research so that it was applied in terms of research objective and was case study (single-case) in terms of data collection. Based on the nature of the study, the sampling method for both interviews and questionnaires were purposive sampling method. In the initial stage of data collection, investigators used semi-structured interviews. Likewise, data were analyzed thematically in this stage. Then, in the second stage, researchers used paired comparison questionnaires to compare criteria of critical and key jobs in pairs.

In the present study, qualitative data were collected in two stages. In the initial stage, data were accumulated through semi-structured interviews. Upon qualitative data collection, investigators analyzed them thematically. Eventually, 7 themes or criteria for critical jobs and 3 themes or criteria for key jobs were identified. The identified criteria for critical jobs included strategic impact, value creation, the knowledge and skills of incumbent, incumbent's performance, the consequences of incumbent appointment, incumbents' attraction, and customers' satisfaction. Likewise, the criteria of key jobs were recognized as strategic impact, value creation, and the consequences of incumbent appointment. After recognizing the criteria of critical and key jobs, a questionnaire made by researchers were set and distributed to NITC's elites to compare the criteria in pairs. After collecting the questionnaires, the importance of critical and key jobs was determined through Analytic Hierarchy Process or AHP.

Today, the attraction and retention of talents is of organizations' concerns. In the literature of strategic human resource management, the role of strategic jobs has been noticed to improve the efficiency. National Iranian Tanker Company or NITC is the biggest company in crude oil shipping sector. The company tends to identify, retain, and develop its competitive advantage in line with its strategic planning. Accordingly, NITC seeks for the identification of critical and key jobs as strategic jobs. The key point is that the company required to identify the criteria of critical and key jobs. As the critical and key jobs in any company would be based on its strategies and goals, the criteria of critical and key jobs in companies would be different to one another. Hence, the critical and key jobs will be dissimilar. The identified criteria of critical and key jobs are relatively similar to criteria of strategic jobs in other companies in oil and gas industry, however, the findings of present research would not be generalized to other organizations as a case study.