Human Resource Management Outsourcing Research Articles

Having their cake and eating it too? Online labor platforms and human resource management as a case of institutional complexity

Previous studies have shown that online labor platforms want to have their cake and eat it too by implementing human resource management (HRM) activities to control gig workers who ought to be autonomous in their work. Our empirical study shows that using HRM activities to control gig workers creates institutional complexity and explores the strategies adopted by platform firms to address this complexity. Based on case studies of two meal-delivery platforms in the Netherlands (Uber Eats and Deliveroo), we identify freelance-related HRM activities that create tensions between the market and corporation logics. We show that online labor platforms rely on response strategies that integrate/balance, rather than rule out competing logics, including creating novel forms of HRM outsourcing, HRM devolution, and covert HRM implementation to control gig workers while simultaneously upholding their freelance status. Furthermore, we show that these response strategies are enabled by information technologies and the marketplaces that online labor platforms create, allowing for more experimental and dynamic approaches to HRM than so far theorized. The main implication of these findings is that the HRM activities for gig workers are simultaneously the source of, and the solution to, the institutional complexity associated with HRM for controlling freelance gig workers.

Human Resource Management: Implications of Outsourcing in Public Organisations in Nigeria

This article examined the implications of human resource management outsourcing in public organisations in Nigeria. The reviewed literature showed that the policy has positive and negative implications to the public organisations. In spite of the negative implications, human resource management outsourcing was increasing among the public organisations in Nigeria as the benefits were seen to out-weigh the negative implications. Management of the public organisations either partially or fully outsourced the management of some provided essential support services by the non-core grades of employees in the organisations. The management of the organisations adopted the policy essentially to cut cost on personnel maintenance and to also achieve service delivery of the out-sourced service(s). Žitkiene and Blusyt (2015) management model provide the theoretical explanation for the study. Keywords: Human Resource Management, Implications, Outsourcing, Public Organisations, Nigeria DOI : 10.7176/PPAR/9-2-04

Human resource management outsourcing in Spanish firms: Evolution over time and implication for devolution

Purpose: The paper aim to explore the evolution in the use of HRO in Spanish firms, and determine the differences in the degree of implementation of HRO since 1999 until 2014, and also analyze the relationship between HR outsourcing and devolution of HR responsibilities to line managers in Spanish organizations.Design/methodology/approach: This paper combines quantitative and qualitative methods. Namely the article is based on international Cranet HRM survey data collected from private and public organizations and also interviews with HR external providers.Findings: The analysis of developments, based on the Cranet surveys and interviews with HR external providers shows that during the past few years there has been an increasing use of HRO in parallel with the tendency to devolve more HR responsibility to line managers.Research limitations/implications: The main limitation of this research is the limitation of data about reasons for devolution that the CRANET questionnaire provides. However, the interviews carried out enrich the survey data with qualitative results.Practical implications: The findings can be used to guide management teams in outsourcing and devolution decisions to maximize benefits to their organizations.Originality/value: This paper is about the evolution of HRO in Spain as a European Union country where published research on HRO and also its implications is relatively limited. The originality of this paper is mainly the involvement of line manager in the outsourcing process which have been poorly analyzed until now.

Risks of Human Resource Management Outsourcing in Enterprises and the Precautions

With the arrival of the globalization era and the refinement of social division of labor, human resource management outsourcing has gradually become an important means to improve the core competitiveness of enterprises. However, human resource management outsourcing in enterprises is facing imperfect laws and regulations, corporate culture differences, information asymmetry, outsourcers’ low professional ability, enterprise cost management errors, staff suspicion instability and many other risks. Therefore, we must do a good job of risk identification and assessment of human resource management outsourcing in enterprises. This paper proposes some countermeasures on this issue.

Human resource management (HRM) outsourcing in the Asian public sector – a probe into the achievability and consequences in Hong Kong, Malaysia, and Thailand

ABSTRACTUnder the ideology of ‘small government, big individual’, outsourcing of public service functions is gaining momentum, particularly when it comes to certain professional areas such as human resource management (HRM). Upper tiers of the public service and managerial functions have largely been immune to outsourcing. The present studies on outsourcing are extensive, but are largely western-centric, and qualitative or quantitative in nature. This study combines qualitative and quantitative techniques, making use of survey questionnaires to explore the perceptions of bureaucrats and contractors towards public sector outsourcing against an Asian context comprising Hong Kong, Malaysia, and Thailand. The results suggest that the political contexts of the jurisdictions shaped certain perceptions of the respondents. However, for other attributes such as the reasons for outsourcing public services and the constraints facing them, the respondents generally shared typical stereotypes of contractors and bureaucrats.

Human Resource Management Outsourcing Decision for Small and Medium-sized Enterprises in China

<p>Human resource management (HRM) plays an important role in every enterprise. Nowadays, in China, more and more enterprises, not only large companies, but also small and medium-sized enterprises (SMEs) choose to outsource their HRM activities for economic and strategic benefits. According to the feature of HRM in SMEs, this paper builds a more systematic and practical human resource management outsourcing decision model for SMEs. In this decision model, HRM activities are classified into transaction, profession and strategy levels, and economic benefit, core competence enhancement and risks are taken into consideration. Applying multi-objective intelligent weighted grey target decision method based on combination weighting approach, the decision model can help the enterprise decide which HRM activities should be outsourced in priority sequence. The study proposes a scientific guidance for China’s SMEs to make the HRM outsourcing decision. </p>

Research on the Risk of Human Resource Management Outsourcing for First-class Hotel --- A Case of InterContinental Shenzhen

Hotel is a labor-intensive service industry, whose core competitiveness lies in the human resource. To establish cooperative relationship by entrusted agency model way is an inevitable choice which can reduce the workload and obtain more information and professional service. Nowadays, the internal and external environment is changing dramatically and the outsourcing market and related regulations are inadequate. The enterprises need to identify and control multiple risks during outsourcing process, and try to avoid threatening uncertainty for business development. In this study, firstly, literature review summarized the risks in the whole outsourcing process. Then the paper studied the case of InterContinental Shenzhen, analyzed current situation situations and problems of First-class Hotel's human resource management outsourcing, evaluated the risk factors by probability and impact comprehensively, rating the final data by risk matrix. Finally, this paper proposed the management strategies against the relatively serious risk factors. It aims to improve the consciousness of outsourcing risks by research and analysis, to provide valuable references for managers to identify the key risk and re-assign resources, to create sustainable competitive and to innovate and improve the mode of human resource management.

Empirical Research on Influencing Factors of Human Resources Management Outsourcing Degree

In this paper we review the human resources management outsourcing research in domestic and overseas, establish a model and then propose research hypotheses. With the empirical research method, we take the questionnaire investigation and research on enterprise human resources department manager or staff, and then take statistical analysis to them with SPSS software. From the research results, we come to a conclusion that top intervention, strategic position of the function and the asset specificity has more significant impact to enterprise human resources management outsourcing degree, thus, providing reference opinions for enterprise human resources outsourcing.

HRM outsourcing: the impact of organisational size and HRM strategic involvement

PurposeThe aims of this paper are, first, to consider the impact of organisational size and the strategic involvement of the human resource management (HRM) function on the decision to outsource, second, to consider the impact of HRM outsourcing on organisational performance for organisations of different size and where the HRM function has access to positions of elevated political power.Design/methodology/approachThe research examines responses from 441 Australian senior HRM managers who participated in an online survey of a national HRM professional association. The hypotheses were tested using multiple regression.FindingsAlthough results did not confirm the expected relationship between smaller organisational size and increased outsourcing, there was a positive relationship between HRM strategic involvement and the decision to outsource. The relationship between HRM outsourcing and perceived financial performance was positive for smaller firms and negative for larger firms. The positive relationship between strategic HR involvement and organisational effectiveness was also enhanced when HRM activities were kept in‐house rather than when they were outsourced.Research limitations/implicationsOverall, the research findings confirm advantages for smaller firms that seek out external HRM assistance. The results of the study also indicate that there are organisational benefits when an elevated strategic HRM role in an organisation is combined with the decision to develop in‐house HRM activities rather than externalise these responsibilities.Originality/valueUsing political influence theory, the research applies an alternative theoretical perspective to the analysis of HRM outsourcing.

MOTIVES OF HUMAN RESOURCE MANAGEMENT OUTSOURCING: A CASE STUDY FROM LITHUANIA

ernesta.sta@gmail.com ABSTRACT. This article analyzes main motives of human resource management outsourcing. By many authors, outsourcing is associated with increase of company’s competitiveness, innovation, efficiency of activity etc. As human resource management is not the main activity of a company it can be transferred to services suppliers of the external form. These services have been recently put into market in Lithuania that is why it is important to discuss what motives encourage Lithuanian companies choose services’ outsourcing of human resource management. To reveal these motives, case of the distinctive Lithuanian trading company UAB (Ltd.) “Laimalukss” was chosen and this case shows choice of HRM services outsourcing through the aspects of benefit for the company, employees and influence of competitiveness. Received: February, 2011 1st Revision: May, 2011 Accepted: June, 2011

Examining human resource management outsourcing in Hong Kong

This study explored the state of human resource (HR) outsourcing in the Asian context, a particularly important subject given its rapid proliferation in Europe and North America, the inconsistent and limited evidence from prior research, and its strategic importance to the human resource management (HRM) function. Drawing on both quantitative and qualitative data and the transaction cost, resource-based, and institutional perspectives, we found that although respondents were generally favourable towards outsourcing, that in practice its adoption and diffusion were in a nascent stage in Hong Kong. Decisions to outsource were, by and large, incremental and experimental and influenced by a range of contextual factors (e.g., availability of in-house expertise, skills and creativity, strategic priorities, legislation (coercive), availability of external service providers, and industry and peer (mimetic) influence). Despite considerable pressure to cut costs, instead of outsourcing in the first instance, firms placed greater emphasis on maximising internal resource utilization (insourcing). Implications for practice and suggestions for future research are also provided.

Outsourcing HRM activities in Australian organisations

Although human resource management (HRM) outsourcing is an international trend little has been written in the Australian literature about HRM outsourcing choices. The aims of the research are to determine first which HRM areas are most likely in Australia to be initiated using external consultants, second whether organisational size or sector impacts on the outsourcing decision and third the type of skills that HRM consultants bring into organisations. Results from an on-line survey generating 1372 responses identify training and development, recruitment and selection, and HRIS as the primary outsourced HRM areas. With respect to organisational determinants, larger organisations were more likely to use consultants; sector differences revealed higher recruitment and selection and performance-related pay outsourcing in the private sector, higher HRIS outsourcing in the public sector, and a focus on employee relations in the not-for-profit sector. There are no differences in the qualifications of HRM professionals and consultants but consultants are more likely to have broader business experiences.

Outsourcing of human resource management services in Greece

PurposeOutsourcing is gaining considerable popularity in the field of business services and management. The purpose of this paper is to illustrate the practice of outsourcing human resource management (HRM) functions, such as training, staffing, rewards and restructuring, in Greece.Design/methodology/approachThe analysis draws upon both primary and secondary data. The findings of the 1999 CRANET survey and a study on the companies that offer HRM services in Greece are used to set the frame of analysis. A series of in‐depth interviews with HR managers and senior HRM consultants are used to support the quantitative data.FindingsThe analysis suggests that the Greek market of HRM services is still at an initial stage of development, with limited credibility, while the customers lack the experience of managing outsourcing relations and are reluctant to establish a partnership‐ type HRM outsourcing agreement. Considerable differences are identified between the Greek market for HRM services and those of more developed markets.Originality/valueThe description of the Greek market of HRM services can be useful to vendors and users of HRM services, as well as researchers dealing with outsourcing in small markets.

Human resource management outsourcing: The make or buy decision

Executive Overview Just-in-time human resource (HR) management, sell and lease-back human resource programs, and do-it-yourself HR—all of these phrases characterize how companies manage outsourced HR functions. This article reports results of interviews conducted with senior HR executives and professionals in 25 organizations to identify outsourcing rationales and consequences. Companies were found to use HR outsourcing for both operational and strategic reasons. Based on these findings, we present guidelines for selecting vendors, managing the outsourcing transition, managing vendor relations, and monitoring vendor performance. HR outsourcing is not a fad, and it can enhance the HR value chain as well as support the development of HR as a business partner and strategic contributor to the organization's goals.