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Human Resource Management, | Group Work – Assignment #1 | Semester: Fall 2015/2016 | |

Outsourcing and its presence in the business community in relation to human resource.

What is outsourcing?

Outsourcing is a business strategy that involves delegating parts of the work to workers, suppliers, or contractors that operate outside of the business. The primary goal of using this type of business strategy is to save money and be more cost effective. Common uses of this are when the business acquires goods from a supplier outside of the business, or utilizes services from experts or specialists that are otherwise unaffiliated with the primary business. Having these arrangements will allow a business to have access to supplies or skills that cannot be directly provided within their organization.

What types of HR functions are generally outsourced?

As global technology improves and advances, the use and effectiveness of outsourcing increases. Creative work is commonly handled by outside professionals. This could include such projects as website design, store layout, store interior design, brand packaging, and logos. Another function commonly outsourced is customer support. Either over telephones or the internet, companies can redirect their customers to customer support helplines that may not be in the same city, or sometimes even the same country. Two different, but functionally similar, tasks that are commonly outsourced are accounting and legal services. Both functions utilize the services of workers that are usually employed by firms. Manufacturing of products, which might include machines or factory workers, is another function commonly involved for companies directly involved with physical products. One more major function that can be outsourced is the recruitment and hiring process, which could be done through advertising or by head hunters.

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