The Impact Of Outsourcing On Australian Organizations: An Analysis Of Staffing Function

Discussion of Staffing Function for Business Organizations

Question:

Discuss About The Staffing Function Business Organizations?

Staffing function is an essential function for any organization. The success of any organization is dependent on its ability to attract and retain the right type of employees. Vacant position within an organization can be filled from within the organization or can be filled by outsourcing from outside the organization (Peck, 2017).  Organizations are made of many managerial functions including controlling; staffing, coordinating, organizing and planning all which collectively facilitate the realization of organizational goals. Staffing is, however, the most important function as all other functions are dependent on the staffing function (Chou and Hung,2015). Staffing function is carried out through insourcing where the needed skills are sought from within an organization or outsourcing where skills are sought from outside an organization. Recently there has been a growing focus on outsourcing where the number of organization delegating functions to organizations that specialize in such functions has been on the rise. Outsourcing is the process of acquiring human resource services from outside an organization to allow an organization to focus on other core functions (Auksztol and Chomuszko,2013).  This project proposal aims at analyzing the reasons that make organizations to outsource the functions and the impact of Outsourcing to Australian Organizations. The project commences with an identification of project aims and objectives followed by project scope identification, review of the literature, research hypothesis, research design and methodologies both qualitative and quantitative, research limitations, schedule and ends with a conclusion.

The project focuses on identifying whether outsourcing is beneficial to an organization and the specific benefits that come with outsourcing

This research project aims at finding out the impact of Outsourcing for organizations within Australia

The research seeks to find out the potential disadvantages of outsourcing for Australian Organizations.

The project aims at understanding the advantages that accrue to organization as a result of outsourcing

This research project has a wide project scope. The project aims at finding out what impact outsourcing of functions has on organizations. The discussion of the project is only limited to the outsourcing of the staffing function. It aims at finding out both positive and negative impacts of outsourcing on organizations within Australia, and that is what informs the wide scope. For this reason analysis of sets of data from many different organizations is required.

So much literature has been written by various scholars on Outsourcing of business functions by organizations. Among them is Lacity and Willcocks (2014, pp. 66-92), who viewed outsourcing as a significant function for many businesses as a result of their potential benefits. They also viewed outsourcing as a function that can be classified into different types out of which each has its benefits. Chou et al., (2015, pp. 30-43) identify relational rents, adaptability, decreased the cost of manufacturing, tax evasion and strategic orientation as the main benefits of outsourcing.

Types of Outsourcing and Reasons for Outsourcing

According to Auksztol and Chomuszko (2013, pp. 167-190), advantages of outsourcing can be classified into cost reduction, shift of focus, enhanced innovation, workload management  and Expert operations in which experts help organizations in achieving better outcomes through acquisition of investments and technological knowledge and helping  organizations to establish relations with experts in different  fields .The research by Auksztol and Chomuszko (2013, pp. 167-190), however, has a weakness in that it fails to identify real-life cases and examples

Smokovec and Peljhan (2016, pp. 121-152) identify risk sharing, geographical dispersion, and transparent project management as the main benefits of outsourcing. They state that outsourcing helps in reducing risk situations for an organization, helps them in escaping geographical barriers through the use of technology where is possible to organize activities throughout the year and creation of professional bonding which is important in the management of projects Wuyts et al. (2015, pp. 61-76).

Mosca and Bordelon (2017, pp. 152-163), identifies de-motivation, a risk to plans, data security issues and limited managerial authority as the main disadvantages of outsourcing of the staffing function. Dependence on experts from outside leads less focus on training and development hence a feeling of dissatisfaction among employees Verma et al. (2013, p. 322). Authority of managers is curtailed since they can only exercise their power from within their organization. It also leads to leakage of organizations data to outsiders Szymczak (2013, p. 151) and may have a negative outcome hence affecting an organization plans Thompson(2014, pp. 412-420).

However, Peck (2017, p. 388) lists a few more inconveniences of incorporating outsourcing as an active process within the organizational structure:

Peck (2017, p. 388) identifies lack of loss sharing, hidden costs, public backlash as the main inconveniences resulting from outsourcing. It involves other costs which make it expensive than activities carried out internally. Outsourcing enables service providers to escape potential losses since it is contracted on prepaid services (Molinelli and Paccagnella, 2013, pp. 65-78).Outsourcing is considered as a foreign practice which denies outsourcing companies a chance to be recognized a fact which is disputed by Moscaand Bordelon (2017)

The study will incorporate a combination of both qualitative and quantitative research designs.

Qualitative research is an exploratory research that is intended at diving deep into a problem to gain a deeper understanding. Qualitative research is founded on descriptive data and is used in developing hypotheses and ideas for quantitative research (Goertz & Mahoney, 2012). Qualitative data collected through this research will undergo an analysis to help understand the fundamental motivations, reasons, and opinions relating to outsourcing. These will be used as a basis for the conclusions of this research. Recent books, Journal Articles, and dissertations will be the main sources of data for this study. Collection of data will be then followed by classification in which similar sets of data will be classified together into groups, where each group will be given a unique code for purposes of identification and deduction .The study will use a number of qualitative research methods including ethnography which refers top qualitative research that is carried out on the basis of participant observation, Grounded theory which will be used to provide explanations behind the use outsourcing in organizations, phenomenological which will involve carrying out interviews, visiting different organizations to understand the meaning that different organizations place on Outsourcing and watching related videos. Case studies will also be used. The qualitative research methods will be used to arrive at a conclusion regarding the issue of investigation (Maxwell, 2012).  Comparisons of performance in periods before the use outsourcing and the periods after the adoption of outsourcing will be used to analyze the impact of outsourcing of staffing function. The data so collected will be presented in reports which will include findings and recommendations.

Literature Review on Benefits and Disadvantages of Outsourcing

The quantitative method of research is used to collect data that is numerical. It refers to the systematic empirical investigation of phenomena that can be observed through the use of computational or mathematical methods. The four main types of quantitative research designs are experimental, descriptive, Quasi-experimental and correlation whose difference is with regards to the degree of control of the variables by the researcher (Hoy,2010).  Quantitative research will be used in collecting numerical data on the impact of Outsourcing on various organizations. Much of this data will be extracted from financial reports of the sampled organization with a focus mainly on performance before and after the adoption of outsourcing. From this comparison, inferences will be made. Qualitative research will also be used to analyze data on the performance of employees before and after the adoption of outsourcing in the selected organizations. Data emanating from this method will be analyzed using Excel spreadsheets and Statistical Packages for Social Scientists (SPSS).Correlation and regression of the research variables will be used in determining the existing relationships between the variables (O’dwyer & Bernauer, 2013).  Presentation of data will be in forms of tables and graphs.

It is expected that the research will face some limitations. Some of the limitations expected are unreliability of data collected by interviews which are likely to be underrated or exaggerated in some organizations (Hill, 2015).  It is also expected that the research will be limited by time constraint because the time allocated for this research is not enough to collect and analyze as much information as possible.

Task/Activity	Time schedule
Preparation for the study	15th  Oct 2017-18th /10/2017
Data collection from various secondary sources	19th /10/2017-21st /10/2017
Data analysis	22nd /10/2017-27th /10/2017
Writing of report	28Th /10/2017-29th /10/2017
Presentation	30th /10/2017

Conclusion

In conclusion this research proposal looks at the effect of Outsourcing of major functions among Australian organizations; it introduces the concept of outsourcing, presents the objectives and scope of the project and analyzes literature by various scholars on outsourcing. The research aims and objectives are providing to act as a guide during the research process as well as research hypothesis which will be addressed by the research. Project research design and methodology is also addressed and finally anticipated research limitations and time schedule.

Reference List

Auksztol, J., and Chomuszko, M. (2013). Business processes outsourcing: Origin and development. Zarza?dzanie I Finanse, pp. 167-190.

Chou, S.W., Techatassanasoontorn, A.A. and Hung, I.H., (2015). Understanding commitment in business process outsourcing relationships. Information & Management, 52(1), pp. 30-43.

Goertz, G., & Mahoney, J. (2012). A tale of two cultures: qualitative and quantitative research in the social sciences. Princeton, N.J., Princeton University Press.

Hill, C. W. L. (2015). International business: Competing in the global marketplace.New York, NY: McGraw Hill Education, p. 319.

Hoy, W. K. (2010). Quantitative research in education: a primer. Los Angeles, SAGE.

Lacity, M. and Willcocks, L., (2014). Business process outsourcing and dynamic innovation. Strategic Outsourcing: An International Journal, 7(1), pp. 66-92.

Lacity, M. C., and Willcocks, L. (2015). Nine keys to world-class business process outsourcing. London: Bloomsbury, p. 471.

Maxwell, J. A. (2012). Qualitative research design: an interactive approach. https://nls.ldls.org.uk/welcome.html?ark:/81055/vdc_100025519734.0x000001.

Molinelli, F. E., and Paccagnella, L. S. (2013). Economics of regulation and outsourcing. New York: Nova Science Publishers, pp. 65-78.

Mosca, J.B. and Bordelon, G.R., (2017). Human Resource Managers Detect Management and Legal Disadvantages to Outsourcing. Business, Management and Economics Research, 3(2), pp. 152-163.

O’dwyer, L. M., & Bernauer, J. A. (2013). Quantitative Research for the Qualitative Researcher. https://nls.ldls.org.uk/welcome.html?ark:/81055/vdc_100025421708.0x000001. Bottom of Form

Parlour, D. (2016). Successful outsourcing and multi-sourcing. London: Routledge, p. 389.

Peck, J. (2017). Offshore: Exploring the worlds of global outsourcing. Oxford: Oxford University Press, p. 388.

Smogavec, T., and Peljhan, D. (2016). Satisfaction with outsourcing: Empirical analysis on the case of SMEs. Corporate Governance, pp.  121-152.

Stanfield, K., and Thompson, S. (2014). Outsourcing. Biall Handbook of Legal Information Management. Farnham : Ashgate, pp. 412-420.

Szymczak, M. (2013). Managing towards supply chain maturity: Business process outsourcing and offshoring. Houndmills, Basingstoke, Hampshire; New York, NY : Palgrave Macmillan,Bottom of Form p. 151.

Verma, S. B., Singh, S. K., and Gupta, S. K. (2013). Business process outsourcing. New Delhi: Shree Publishers & Distributors, p. 322.Bottom of FormTop of Form

Wuyts, S., Rindfleisch, A. and Citrin, A., (2015). Outsourcing customer support: The role of provider customer focus. Journal of Operations Management, 35, pp. 61-76.