Talent Management for U.S. Department of Defense Knowledge Workers: What does RAND Corporation Research Tell Us?

Effective talent management of the defense workforce, particularly civilians and those performing knowledge work, has become an imperative in recent years, as evidenced by references to various aspects of talent management in the 2018 National Defense Strategy, the PresidentsManagement Agenda, and the FY 2020 National Defense Authorization Act. The RAND Corporation has conducted many studies focused onthis topic, and this report summarizes findings from 31 publicly available RAND reports published since 2013when its report on improving the diversity of the U.S. Department of Defense (DoD) science, technology, engineering, and mathematics (STEM) workforce and a related report on the implementation of DoDs diversity and inclusion strategic plan were releasedthrough mid-2020. In the process of reviewing the publications and mapping their key findings and recommendations to talent management topics, the author developed a framework to organize themes and provide a comprehensive view of talent management, one correspondent with the U.S. Officer of Personnel Managements (OPM) human capital framework.