Researching Outsourcing as a Learning Platform

Learning is the process that helps in acquiring new and modified knowledge about the particular topic. There are many ways that provides the platform for the individual to gain knowledge and learning. Performing research is one of the best ways to learn. It has been analysed that when a research is conducted, it requires the researcher to analyse the various aspects of the topic and this is what I have done in this research. The learning that I have experienced in this research has changed my opinion regarding the topic. The topic of my research was outsourcing. I have gathered various knowledge about outsourcing and I think research is one of the very good options to understand the topic from every aspects. This experience has added great value to my knowledge. After conducting this research, I have realised the importance outsourcing for the business and I get to know about the various functions that the industry or the companies used to outsource. This experience is very much valuable in terms of getting better professional knowledge. 

This learning experience has provided me the knowledge of the subject along with the overall process of conducting the reserach.it has been analysed that I have learnt about the various research methods and figured out that conduct research and taking the decision over the research methods is very difficult as all should be relevant to each other. This learning has helped me in every phase and field of my life. First of all, if I talk about my course, research on outsourcing helped me in preparing my assignment and the overall process of research has helped in conducting further researches all over my course. As far as the overall program is considered, I have realised that now I am capable enough to prepare for the research and make the proposal very easily. This is because I have used many research methods in this research and thus gained the knowledge about the same.

In my future career, this knowledge of outsourcing will help me in understanding the business operation in whichever company I will go. As I have researched about this topic thus I can make recommendation to the future company regarding the same and this will definitely help me in gaining a better image. In general life, outsourcing is not that much related but the knowledge of conducting research has broadened my thinking skills. 

The Importance of Outsourcing for Businesses

Now I will discuss about the whole research process. When I started this research, the initial level was very boring. This is because I didn’t find this topic that much interesting to work upon. For me outsourcing was the process or it is related to the call centre functions. I used to think that it is just for the companies that are in direct customer service (Lacity & Willcocks, 2013). The, when once I heard that it is not limited to tis functions but there are ay functions like marketing and HR that can be outsourced and companies are doing that the I realised and developed interest in the topic. I started reading many articles regarding outsourcing and searched out many case studies of different companies so that I can know about the various outsourcing processes and their benefits to the companies. After that I have proposed a research by writing a literature review that provides a clear conclusion to me. I have realised that relating the theoretical aspects with the practical applications of the subject. 

As far as the learning is considered, it has been identified that studying about this topic has opened new insights for me. It has not only given me the insights of the topic but also about the research methodology and process. This research program aims at understanding the process of outsourcing and the trends that are prevailing in the market regarding outscoring process of the companies. The research by me was conducted by reading the case studies and I have realised that the companies IBM are using this process so that they can make efforts in improving their core activities (Hodari,  Waldthausen & Sturman, 2014). It have observed that the companies which are using the facility of outsourcing are getting various benefits such as expertise are performing their work and outsourcing also helps in getting the work done without any pressure by the third party on time (Dolgui & Proth, 2013). Along with it I have realised that the companies are facing some of the challenges as well such as loss of interference in their own process and releasing of their personal data to the third party. 

The overall learning process was fine and I realised that I have brushed up my skills after conducting this research.it has been analysed that when I was conducting this research, I have used many methods for collecting the data and studied many case studies for the same. Interviews and survey has been used as the methods to collect the data. Performing both of these methods has given a great experience to me. I have talked to many top managers of the companies to find out the benefits of outsourcing and its process along with this, I have conducted the survey on two of the companies to check the satisfaction level of the organisations.

Benefits and Challenges of Outsourcing

I have conducted this research in parts and performed various activities. The research proposal has been prepared by me so that I can get the guideline to perform the research on practical grounds. After the completion of the research I have realised that I should have chosen a wide sample size so that I can have the better view of the subject and would have answered the objective questions in effective way. The research has concluded that many of the organisations are using these outsourcing services and it is offered by the third party companies. IBM is using is successfully since years and the managers are also getting the benefits of the same as they can get time to focus on the core activities. 

I have concluded from the research that outsourcing is the process that helps the companies to deal with the third party in or to get work from them. They can outsource some of the non-value added services such as marketing, HR, customers service etc (Anwar, 2013). These functional outsourcing helps the company to focus on core activities and also to get the specialised services. I think that if I have the better knowledge of a particular field such as marketing or HR, I can open my own business as an outsourcing firm that can help the other big companies to perform their functions. However, I want to work with one of the companies that perform this outsourcing firm so that I can learn more about the same. There are three types of outsourcing I have learnt about. The first one is the tactical outsourcing, another one is strategic outsourcing and the last one is transformational outsourcing. I can use this knowledge of outsourcing in my future business and job as well. As I have performed this research with using variety of sources thus this may help me in future to conduct other researches as well. I can apply this knowledge of research in conducting other researches on different topics. Learning new things and getting new insights of the different topics will help me in broadening my knowledge and thus it can widen my scope of future learning as well. 

References: 

Anwar, S. (2013). Outsourcing and the skilled–unskilled wage gap. Economics Letters, 118(2), 347-350.

Dolgui, A., & Proth, J. M. (2013). Outsourcing: definitions and analysis. International Journal of Production Research, 51(23-24), 6769-6777.

Hodari, D., Waldthausen, V., & Sturman, M. (2014). Outsourcing and role stress: An empirical study of hotel spa managers. International Journal of Hospitality Management, 37, 190-199.

Lacity, M. C., & Willcocks, L. P. (2013). Outsourcing business processes for innovation. MIT Sloan management review, 54(3), 63.