Ingredients Necessary for Crowdsourcing - Coursework Example

Crowdsourcing Student’s name Code & Course Professor’s name University City Date Introduction For the functionality of the crowd sourcing it has to be dependent on the mobilization of the weak ties in networks. In that there should be no close relation between the person facilitating the work and the one actually doing the actual work this enhances professionalism and also raises the level to which the work is actually done. In many countries it is viewed as a task given to a big number of people by asking for assistance online instead of having it done by staff. (Cambridge Business English Dictionary, 2016). Ingredients necessary for crowd sourcing High involvement of performers High performer involvement is key because these are the people that give the best ideas and remedy the problem being faced by the firm using their incredible ideas. (Ehsani, 2013) Maximization of social media In the current time people are tech-savvy. Social media helps spread the word easily across the globe as the earth is referred to as a global village as distance is not a factor affecting passage of message. Case study A crowdsourcing PR campaign that delivered impeccable financial results by McDonald’s Mein Burger (My Burger) was a campaign initiated by Razorfish for McDonald’s in celebration of its 40th birthday in Germany, which motivated the public to initiate one of the first crowd sourced burger. Loyal customers of the enterprise were asked to create their own burger by use of the burger configurator. They were to promote the burger they had made online, using posters and videos to gather votes. Burgers that had the most likes were put to test and from there the winner was determined. No sales statistics are given though it is said that never before had a campaign brought more fans of their product. Resources required for crowd sourcing process The firm requires capital to fend for the work outsourced to the individuals who share their incredible ideas with them. Huge following on social media This helps when you send out work it is able to reach many people simultaneously once it is outsourced. Many people often interact with total strangers on this media site and create a bond among themselves based on their common interest and would exchange ideas and build each other and improve the way they view things.(Albert,2014) Challenges facing the crowd sourcing process Lack of confidentiality This process involves thousands of people who are of an unknown identity to the firm. The firm may have trust issues as they do not know each and everyone involved. Therefore, they may end up with holding vital information that may have played a major role in getting the best results after during the crowd sourcing process. Other people may have ulterior motives towards the company which is why the firm is always on edge with who the trust and at times may lock out people whose sole purpose is genuinely helping out with the work being done. Lack of communication It is very hard for the firm to communicate with all the people on a dialogue basis therefore, making it difficult for the people involved to get the clear picture of what the firm has in mind. This consequentially leads to the wastage of precious time and resources which would have been salvaged but went up in flames due to the factor of trust. The firm finds a hard time in disclosing personal information about itself in terms of the type of technology they use, its goals and principles to success that might be disclosed to rival firms. (Wagorn, 2014) Control of quality The firm receives a lot of drafts of what it is that particular individual interprets that the firm actually needs and based on the fact that it is outsourced to thousands of different minds interested in the same thing one gets a lot of feedback. The firm then singles out those that it can relate to and sees fit for the firm and will impact it positively from the many ideas that it has received. (Fung, 2013) The three main themes in the crowd sourcing in its relation to the mobilisation of weak ties in networks are: Creativity optimization The organisation is open to very many ideas since it is based on an online platform. This ultimately subjects it to very many brilliant minds that think differently. It is now up to the manager of the firm to narrow down all the ideas to what he\she actually wants by singling out those ideas that are not necessarily irrelevant but are not in line with the actual wants of the manager in accordance to the business goals what it is aiming to achieve and accomplish in that particular moment in time. This is enhanced by the weak ties in the networks because there is no link between the manager and the people outsourced for the work which only leads it to be done with utmost professionalism. Cost saving advantage The firm gets to benefit maximally from the crowd sourcing process, in that the organisation does not have to employ someone and pay even during the down time where the services offered are not required and are not fully utilised. The firm owner therefore opts to outsource the work according to the specifications wanted. Using the crowd sourcing mechanism on the online platform many people are easy to access this work. This are people that are like minded with similar goals and interests. Once the manager has employed an employee in his firm, he therefore is kept under close supervision which does not necessarily mean that the final draft of the work will satisfy him and will be of the right quality. This employee limits the options of the firm in that they are based according to his own ideas and they cannot exceed that scope. Crowd sourcing process also allows for open minded ideas through the internet with many people thinking differently. Weak ties here in terms of network is great because there is no close emotional relationship with the employee which does not subject him to the employee. (Kolb, 2012) Maximization of options Through crowd sourcing on the online platform which is a global village which means that the distance here is not a factor here as the firm can easily access people in far places by just the touch of a button. The firm does not have to limit itself to just the options of the employee/ he can explore options all over the world in the internet where he interacts with the best minds and best ideas with people facing the same problem trying to remedy it. The firm requires only to narrow down to what he is looking for and what he is aiming to achieve. He transacts with only the person who drafted the best proposal that appealed to him the most. The weak ties here in the network have opened a window of opportunity for the firm because it is now open to a wider scope of ideas and options. (Gasca, 2013) Summary of schools of thoughts In the crowd sourcing process the following factors should be implemented to enhance its efficiency Optimization of creativity Here the firm aims at showing that the save their resources and at the same time have an open mind to ideas and only get to implement the main ideas that blend in well with what they actually want with their firms and the direction they want their firm to follow. The weak links in network allows for the firm to reach out to many firms to find what they want.(Mckeown, 20120 Cost saving advantage The firm does not have to hire an in house employee to do work that is seasonal and incur the high cost to pay his salary thanks to the crowd sourcing process. The firm ends up saving up its money because the services are not required on a daily. Maximization of options The firm is exposed to a window of options because the firm is able to get ideas and solutions to the problems they are facing and get answers from all over the world. This exposes the firm to very many options and incredible ideas and the firm decides on which is best suited to their current predicament. (Morgan, 2014) Conclusion Crowd sourcing relies on the weak ties in networking for it to thrive and basically end up to the maximum utilization of the internet. Crowd sourcing is viewed to be much more efficient in terms of cost and saving of time. People result to using crowd sourcing especially where they want a variety of opinions on what it is they are undergoing. Crowd sourcing promotes a sense of open minded value to a firm in that they do not lock themselves in a cocoon, they are open to new ideas and are ready to explore them since they are sharing ideas with like-minded people who are just thinking differently. Reference list Albert, D. (2014). Four Elements for Building a Successful Custom Crowd. Cambridgebusinessenglishdictionary.com (2016). Cambridge Business University Express. Ehsani, E. (2015). Ten Commandments of Effective Innovation Crowdsourcing. Fung, T. (2013). The Challenges of Crowdsourcing. Business Spectator. Gasca, P. (2013). Six Reasons to Use Crowdsourcing. Kolb, G. (2012). Why We Can’t Have More Than 150 Friends and Still Need More Than That. Corporate communication Compass. Leigh, R. (2012). Great Case Study: McDonald’s Crowdsourcing PR campaign Delivers Tasty Financial Results. Mckeown, K. (2012). The Strength of Weak Ties in Social Networking Seek to Be Worth Knowing. Leadership Close Up. Morgan, J. (2014). Every Employee Should be Building Weak Ties at Work. Wagorn, P. (2014). The Problems with Crowdsourcing and How to Fix Them. Challenges of Crowdsourcing for Technical Solutions. Read More