I-deals and Talent Management in sub-Saharan Africa

Ayeni, Dotun; Aldossari, Maryam; Chaudhry, Sara

Abstract

Specially negotiated conditions of employment have received growing interest amongst organisational scholars in the past two decades. Also known as i-deals- ‘I’ denoting ‘Individual’ or ‘individualised’, these employment arrangements differ distinctly from conventional, top-down approaches to workforce management, in that they are directly negotiated by employees and are typically granted to those whom organisational agents perceive as ‘valuable’ or ‘talented’. I-deals signify a shift in the perception of employees as passive receivers of top-down, one-size-fits-all conditions of employment to active participants who take proactive roles in shaping their terms of work. Although i-deals can provide innovative and less bureaucratic ways for employers to accommodate and adapt to the demands of valued employees, the informal nature of i-deals can create complex and parallel talent management systems marred by inconsistencies and potential accusations of inequity.

Past studies in the field have investigated the process through which i-deals are negotiated, the role of supervisory relationships on i-deals, the outcome of i-deals for those who negotiate and the implications of i-deals for co-workers. Although these studies have been helpful in illuminating how i-deals may complicate or enable organisational functioning, we argue that there is limited understanding of how and through what processes i-deals function in the broader context of an employer’s approach to talent management. This gap highlights the need for a more holistic approach to the study of i-deals to unpack deeply embedded rhizomatic forces which shape the initiation of i-deals and to whom i-deals are granted. To fill this gap, we bring together theories from the fields of i-deals and talent management to investigate the functioning of i-deals as a talent attraction, engagement and retention tool.

This work will culminate in the publication of three papers. The first paper is an ongoing systematic review of i-deals research. The review uses a critical interpretive synthesis approach to understand how talent is constructed in the literature and its implications for theorising in the field. The second paper is a qualitative multiple-case study of knowledge-intensive firms operating in Nigeria. It investigates how an organisation’s talent practices and conceptualisation of talent may shape the functioning of i-deals and its broader implications for organisational stakeholders. For our third paper, we will investigate the role of talent scarcity discourses and multiple power relations in the framing of participant narratives, particularly how elements in these power relations inform organisational actors’ feelings, perceptions and behaviours.

Citation

Ayeni, D., Aldossari, M., & Chaudhry, S. (2019, September). I-deals and Talent Management in sub-Saharan Africa. Paper presented at 8th EIASM Workshop on Talent Management, Toulouse, France

• Presentation Conference Type: Conference Paper (unpublished)
• Conference Name: 8th EIASM Workshop on Talent Management
• Start Date: Sep 30, 2019
• End Date: Oct 1, 2024
• Deposit Date: Nov 26, 2024
• Peer Reviewed: Peer Reviewed
• Public URL: http://researchrepository.napier.ac.uk/Output/3966020