CD var

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'ABSTRACT Talent management (TM) has achieved a central place in managerial discourse in recent years, but there are still many gaps for further theoretical and empirical development. This study seeks to make a contribution to our conceptual and empirical understanding regarding the under-researched nature of TM in large private enterprises (250 and more employees) of the Metal- and Electronic (M+E) industry in Germany, considered as Germany's industrial key segment. The research approach aligns TM with Human Resource (HR) architecture by investigating, if talent selection for knowledge-workers is determined by exclusive approaches. Examined groups of knowledge-workers are functional specialists and future organizational leaders contributing differently to organizational success because of their value and uniqueness of human capital. Exclusive approaches are related to people or people and positions. The study is based on quantitative and qualitative analyses. Quantitative analyses is related to 542 responding M+E companies of different size-classes (1-49, 50-249 and 250 and more employees) based on an online survey in Spring 2013 with in total 1.769 responding companies of different industry sectors conducted by IW personnel panel in Cologne. Qualitative analyses encompass 9 semi-structured face-to-face interviews conducted by the author in April 2015. Findings indicate that mostly exclusive approaches are in use for both employee groups. Functional specialists were selected on majority by an exclusive-position approach. For talent selection, functional criteria are more important than management criteria and the importance of management criteria rises with the hierarchical level of positions. Future organizational leaders were selected on majority by an exclusive-people approach. For talent selection, management criteria are more important than functional criteria. For the selection of both employee groups, the importance of management criteria rises with the hierarchical level of positions. The study provides furthermore the following findings: the bigger the companies, the more they define talent, the more different talent definitions are in use, the higher the willingness for financial investments in TM, the more formal processes are in use, the more often a TM strategy is existent, the more often one or several talent pool(s) are in use and the more they select employees for TM participation. In general, TM activities are running predominantly hidden for employees, independent from company size-classes. Key words: Talent management, HR architecture, talent management approach, talent selection, Germany '