Human Resource Management (Strategic Perspectives) Essay

Human Resource Management (Strategic Perspectives) - Essay Example It is, therefore, imperative that call centre employees be exceedingly well-trained in order to ensure, not just the provision of quality service but that the call centre communicate a positive image of the corporation itself. Upon consideration of the importance of call centres, the decision to outsource appears quite monumental as, indeed, it is. Cost considerations, however, firmly establish it as a practical decision. Therefore, prior to outsourcing its call centre operations to India, ABC Incorporated need have a thorough understanding of HR outsourcing, its associate management models, be cognizant of the advantages and disadvantages of such a step and realise the cross-national and cross-cultural challenges which confront such a step in order to best manage them. This report will do just that. The report will commence with an overview of the definition of both outsourcing and HRO. Both these definitions are important for two reasons. In the first place, they give us a solid understanding of the advantages of outsourcing specified HR functions. In the second place, they give us an insight into the ways and means by which the disadvantages associate with HRO may best be managed and contained. Outsourcing: A New Definition for a Historic Phenomenon While popularly perceived of as a new phenomenon for which globalisation is held responsible, Domberger (2005) contends that outsourcing, as contracting, is a historical practice, solidly grounded in economic imperative and principle. As defined by Domberger (2005), outsourcing is best understood as a form of extra-contracting whereby, to reduce overall operational and manufacturing costs and maximise efficiency, firms and manufacturers have, traditionally and historically, contracting out specific steps in the work process. Referring to Adam Smith as the first to theorise this phenomenon, Domberger (2005) borrows the British economist's famous rural-urban example. Instead of rural areas embarking on activities which were not supported by heir environment, such as manufacturing, they focus on the agricultural activities supported by their environ; urban areas, instead of seeking to grow the raw material required for the manufacture of finished products, purchased the aforementioned from the rural areas. Rural and urban areas, thus, entered into an economically co-dependant and cooperative relationship, based on specialisation (Domberger, 2005). Specialisation, insofar as it involved the exploitation of labour tale nt and competencies from without the immediate geographic area, is the basis upon which outsourcing is founded. Domberger (2005) as may be deduced from the above, defines outsourcing as contracting based on specialisation and motivated by such economic imperatives as the exigencies of reducing cost and improving quality in order to remain competitive. Within the context of this definition, outsourcing is hardly a new phenomenon, but a