IMPLEMENTING A STRATEGY FOR WORKFORCE PLANNING WITHIN A MULTINATIONAL CORPORATION A case study in a Swedish MNC

Abstract

Abstract Essay/Thesis: 30 hp Program and/or course: Master thesis in strategic HRM and Labour Relations Level: First Cycle/Second Cycle Semester/year: Spring 2017 Supervisor: Ulla Eriksson-Zetterqvist Examiner: Bertil Rolandsson Report No: Keyword: Strategy-as-practice; strategic workforce planning; talent management; multinational corporations; strategic implementation

Purpose: This thesis aims at improving our understanding of how Multinational Corporations deal in practice with workforce planning as an element of their talent management strategy. It attempts to provide empirical evidence about talent management and workforce planning strategy-making processes within a MNC, and the challenges a MNC faces while trying to implement them.

Theory: The theoretical framework used is Strategy as Practice (SaP). Based on the work of authors such as Whittington and Jarzabowski, this paper will consider strategy as a social practice that focuses on practitioners as the main actors and will investigate how they interact during the strategy-making process.

Method: The method that was used is a qualitative research design that combines passive observations and 14 semi-structured interviews. The data collected was coded and was analysed using a thematic analysis. Result: The findings showed that in practice, the talent management and workforce planning strategy-making processes were happening on all levels within the MNC, involving many practitioners in both a top-down and bottom-up process. The main challenges highlighted were the need for the firm to stay competitive and to design a strategy accordingly. The implementation of the strategy appeared as another big challenge, with the difficulty to create a global corporate strategy while addressing the local specificities. Finally, digitalization has been identified as a tool that, while bringing new challenges to the firm, would also enhance and speed up its processes.