خطرات و پاداش ها در فرآیند کسب و کار برون سپاری HR

Managers have expressed differences of opinion about the risks and rewards of outsourcing companies' human resource activities, including the entire business process. This paper reviews the literature to date and studies the example of one of the earliest cases of outsourcing an HR business process, when EDS took on the responsibility for Canadian Imperial Bank of Commerce. With the offloading of functions such as payroll and recruitment, a company's HR department can therefore concentrate on strategy and become a facilitator for change. The paper concludes with lessons that managers can apply when considering the outsourcing of HR functions.

Authors have advocated a variety of criteria for making outsourcing decisions. In the strategy literature concerning “make or buy”, a focus on the core versus non-core dichotomy has led to the recommendation that activities essential to a company's competitive advantage should not be outsourced, while all other activities should be candidates for outsourcing. Some commentators have emphasised certain characteristics of the company itself, leading to the conclusion that the appropriate decision may differ among companies and over time. For example, companies that need to cope quickly with impediments to the development of new Human Resource (HR) processes may outsource to gain management expertise. Some authors have also emphasised costs, asset specificity and the degree of precision in contracts. To the extent that HR activities differ in regard to these features, appropriate outsourcing decisions may also differ. For example, if an activity such as payroll can be quantified with certainty, then the contract may be precise enough to minimise risks. At the other extreme, it may be particularly difficult to quantify HR business process outsourcing (HR-BPO) in terms of deliverables over time. Here the risk of uncertain outcomes may argue against outsourcing, unless the vendor and buyer can develop ways to mitigate this risk. Product development necessarily entails incomplete contracts with uncertainty and risk, and so authors examining the outsourcing of product development recommend creation of a strategic alliance and emphasise the need for trust. Related concerns include how best to stimulate innovation, and how best to direct it. Ongoing innovation has been particularly important with IT, and so an extensive literature on IT outsourcing has analysed this partnership perspective and the need for “trust”. Product development and IT literature have pointed to the nature of the inter-corporate governance structure as a crucial determinant of outsourcing success. This article applies insights and lessons from this literature to the subject of HR outsourcing. In HRO-BPO, for example, both buyer and vendor expect that ongoing innovation will improve IT-HR technologies and HR practices. Consequently, risk mitigation in HR-BPO focuses largely on the inter-company processes and structures for decision-making and dispute resolution, and the cultures and capabilities that are necessary for a successful strategic alliance. Over the period 2001–2004, the number of multinational corporations that outsourced their HR business process rose from approximately six to 40, and several vendors now offered global HR-BPO, including Exult, Accenture and IBM.1 However, as Exhibit 1 indicates, surveys of decisions concerning HR outsourcing have revealed a wide range of managerial opinions. The complexity of issues has led to the creation of HR consulting firms that specialise in providing advice on whether to outsource, how to design a contract and what governance structures to establish.

The choice of HR activities to consider for outsourcing depends on many characteristics of the company itself. In particular, HR management may face new roles in facilitating the company's changes in strategy and in adapting to the knowledge economy. For them, HR-BPO can enable HR management to focus on these new roles. Some companies may wish to implement ongoing improvements in HR practices and technologies. For them, transformational HR-BPO can bring vendor expertise. Additional issues that may differ among companies include the value of not having to invest in new equipment and skill sets, laying off the risk of fluctuations in workloads, or achieving better quality service for employees. Companies may also differ in their concerns about the risk of becoming dependent on a sole vendor, or of being unable to specify deliverables with precision. Companies may differ in their ability to forecast the vendor's potential to achieve economies of scale and scope. Companies may differ in their concerns about the risk of becoming dependent on a sole vendor Companies may differ in the emphasis they place on ongoing innovation in HR technologies and practices, and in the confidence they have in an outsourcing relationship to achieve this objective. Many such issues require evaluation, beyond the contract provisions for current operating costs. Vendors differ in their capabilities, vision and culture. Goodwill trust will depend on many attributes and so some inter-company alliances promise stronger trust and hence less risk than others. Some companies possess individuals who can successfully lead inter-company, cross-functional committees; others may not. Some companies have top management support for the substantial changes created by HR-BPO; others may not. Some strategic alliances are capable of improving inter-company procedures and dispute resolution practices as time passes; others may not be. Economies of scale in the governance structure may pose different costs for different sized companies. After analysing many HR activities, Baruch concludes that “HR managers cannot find tailored solutions in books. There is a wide variety [of solutions] and many contingencies influence the desirability of any solution.”42 Baruch's conclusion holds for HR-BPO. Best practice decisions in HR-BPO must recognise the importance of contingencies and context. For managers, HR-BPO is a subject that requires considerable analysis, while for academics many issues remain to be studied.