Time has changed the way organizations operate. Contemporary organizations must not only compete for reputation and tangible organizational resources, but also participate in the “war for talent” (Bartlett & Ghoshal 2002). Bartlett and Ghoshal (2002) described the “war for talent” as a competition to attract talented and qualified workers by attracting them to work for the organization and retaining their loyalty. Therefore, this article will focus on three human resource management (HRM) strategies, namely attraction, motivation and retention. Addressing these issues is important because many human resource (HR) activities rely on these strategies to achieve competitive advantage (Jensen 2005). Organizations can win the “war for talent” and increase their competitive advantage by creating and maintaining loyalty within their ranks. organizations, although this sometimes requires considerable investment, effort and commitment to overcome obstacles. This discussion will also serve as a basis to illustrate that HRM accomplishes more than administrative tasks and plays a vital role in determining the success of an organization. Examples of organizational successes in attracting, motivating and retaining employees will be illustrated throughout the discussion. This essay concludes with an analysis of the skills HR managers need to become a strategic partner of the organization. Competitive advantage refers to an organization maximizing its strengths as a method to compete in the market (Bartlett & Ghoshal 2002). This includes cost leadership as well as product and service differentiation (Global Reporting Initiative 2002). Furthermore, an organization gains a competitive advantage by winning the "war for talent", which is the ultimate...... middle of paper ......management in Australia: Strategy, Human Resources, Performance 3e. , Sydney, Australia: McGraw-Hill.Dowling, P.J., Festing, M. & Allen D. Engle, S., 2008. International Human Resource Management: Managing People in a Multinational Context 5e., Boston: Cengage Learning.Global Reporting Initiative, 2002. Guidelines for sustainability reporting. Environment. Available at: www.globalreporting.org.Holland, P., Sheehan, C. & De Cieri, H., 2007. Attracting and retaining talent: Exploring trends in human resource development in Australia. Human Resource Development International, 10(3) pp. 247-262. Jeffries, FL & Hunte, TL, 2004. Generations and motivation: a connection worth making. Journal of Behavioral and Applied Management, 6(1) pp. 37-70. Jensen, E., 2005. The role of HR in helping businesses achieve high performance. Labor Relations Today, 32(2) pp.. 39-52.