Sneaking through the minefield of talent management: the notion of rhetorical obfuscation

In spite of the growing popularity of talent management in practice, there has been a distinct lack of theoretical attention paid by scholars to such a strategically important innovation. To address this shortfall, we conducted an in-depth case study of a multinational enterprise to examine and conceptualise the rhetorical underpinnings of its efforts in implementing a talent management programme. Based on our findings, we propose the notion of rhetorical obfuscation to conceptualise the intentional use of persuasive language to selectively project and communicate organisational agenda as a means of directing and reinforcing relevant stakeholders' commitments and conforming behaviours. In particular, we found that rhetorical obfuscation was used extensively in the case organisation to cover up inconsistency in practices and lack of legitimacy during the institutionalisation of talent management. Our contributions are threefold. Firstly, this study has provided a necessary theoretical grounding to conceptualise talent management. Secondly, by introducing the theory of rhetorical practice to human resource (HR) innovation research, our account has demonstrated the usefulness of rhetorical practice and created a launch pad for other HR researchers to build upon. Thirdly, by exploring the rhetorical underpinnings related to the adoption of talent management, we have added to the rich intellectual tradition of rhetorical practice by presenting the notion of rhetorical obfuscation.