Objective: Based on empirical evidence, there is a gap between theoretical concepts of talent management and the realities of the implementation scene. The aim of the present study is to identify the implementation challenges and dysfunctions of talent management in Iranian state-owned companies and subsequently gain organizational readiness to face them.

Method:the present study is in a qualitative approach and interpretive paradigm. The research community is experts related to talent management issues in Iranian state-owned companies. The method of selecting participants was snowball. The data collection tool was semi-structured interviews with experts. The selection of participants continued until theoretical saturation was reached. Accordingly, 17 interviews were conducted with experts, one interview was eliminated due to insufficient richness, and finally 16 interviews were analyzed. The interviews were analyzed using the content analysis method and MAXQDA software version 2020, and the Guba and Lincoln index was used to validate the findings.

Findings: The research findings showed that there are conceivable challenges corresponding to each stage of talent management. Also, talent management, in addition to the expected functions, has dysfunctions. "Lack of organizational talent seeking" corresponding to the "organizational talent seeking" stage, "invalidity of internal talent search" and "academic talent search (instead of organizational talent search)" corresponding to the "talent search" stage, "talent phobia" and "talent burnout" corresponding to the "talent recruitment" stage, "talent harassment" and "inflexibility of the compensation system" corresponding to the "talent ownership" stage, "talent release" corresponding to the "talent development" stage have been the basic challenges of talent management,