The Importance of IT Outsourcing - Research Paper Example

7. IT Outsourcing: Changing nature of work and its competitive advantage Research Questions and Objectives: Objective The main objective set out for the proposed research is to conduct a study entailing the importance of IT outsourcing with respect of changing nature of businesses and evaluating different outsourcing models that could help IT outsourcing organizations operate successfully and achieve competitive advantages. Research Hypothesis: IT outsourcing companies can attain better operating results and achieve competitive advantage through effective management of their client relationships. Basis of Hypothesis Testing The research hypothesis set out for this research would be tested out on the basis of findings to be drawn from the study. If findings suggest that IT outsourcing companies that are managing their client relationships successfully, by fulfilling their business requirements that actually assists their clients to achieve operational efficiency in the form of cost savings, better financial performance and ability to focus more on core business strategies and functions, can actually achieve competitive advantage over their rivals. Research Questions: The proposed objective and established research hypothesis for the study would be based upon finding suitable answers for the following stated research questions. What are the sources and models which help to run an IT outsourcing successfully? What are the methods through which IT outsourcing companies can organize and employ their client relationships to bring positive results? What could be the influencing characteristics that are considered by IT outsourcing in order to obtain competitive advantage? 8. The Context(s): Context: The present appearance of globalized, business functions and other resourcing strategies are prominently known as the ‘outsourcing’, representing several changes for organizations operating worldwide. Mainly, the potential to use the resources of enhancing, low-priced economies to alternate the service delivery, expensive countries are the main reasons for services globalization. Different organizational components are present in this change phenomenon like process, people and knowledge required to be handled carefully in order to avoid any effects on the businesses and organizations. These effects can comprise dissatisfaction of customers, business problems and other issues. If these are not managed carefully, the IT outsourcing strategy might not give up the expected enhanced organizational efficiencies or cost savings. Outline of the Project: This dissertation begins with a significant review of IT outsourcing and its importance to the different organizations. The literature review provides a better understanding to attain a better understanding of the administrational change as well as a look at the important changes and the models of change management. The research methodology is employed as it outlines the adopted research and helps to achieve the main objectives of the study. Findings offer the case analysis of a specific organization, utilizing observations and other corporate articles. Then finally the conclusions, recommendations for the future research are provided. Hence the main aim of the research study is to build significant contributions in different areas. Initially, it provides the research by generating an in detail understanding of changes related to planning and employing the initiatives of IT Outsourcing. Next, it adds a substantiate content to understand the research context, significance of the employees at different administrative levels, and also the processes by which the administrations plan and employ the activities of IT Outsourcing. 9. Research design (including methods) or critical approach: Research Design: The research design is the main basis for this study in order to understand the scope and nature of the changes in the organizations related to IT outsourcing. The trend towards IT outsourcing has continued to be unabated. Due to the increasing practitioner and academic interests in the area of outsourcing, research activities are needed for the comprehensive assessments. The research concentrates on reason why corporations outsource and it also focuses on the way IT outsourcing companies manage their business. It is difficult to concentrate thoroughly on a single area of work, so this can be done by collecting data and analyzing the data which contributes to a more holistic understanding of IT outsourcing. The research process continues by defining the research problem and research objectives, developing the research plan, collecting data, analyzing the data and presenting the findings. Proposed Research Methodology Since the objective of the proposed research is qualitative in nature the chosen research methodology is qualitative that is based on phenomenological paradigm. This paradigm is based upon exercising humanistic and interpretive research and analysis methods (Taylor, Gautam and Ghoshal 2006). The qualitative research initiates with simple observations to develop further into research conclusion. Under this methodology the primary data collected is subject to individuals’ views, ways of thinking, attitudes and ideologies participating in the research that affect the outcome of a study (McMurray, Wayne and Scott 2004). With this methodology the data collected from different sources is analysed based on certain research variables derived from a study of previous literature to test out the research hypothesis (McMurray, Wayne and Scott 2004). This approach is more suitable as the study explores different aspects of IT outsourcing and present important findings from a case of Accenture that is one of the leading management consulting and outsourcing firm offering services including application outsourcing, Business Process outsourcing (BPO), infrastructure outsourcing and bundled outsourcing.. The key strength of Accenture is management capability which plays key role in the implementation of outsourcing business process. For developing the proposal it is important to clearly understand different issues related to IT outsourcing in the service providing organizations, which clearly focuses on points that are linked with the management capabilities in outsourcing. The case study is intended to identify the roots of IT outsourcing and basis for understanding how IT outsourcing companies can assure satisfying clients business and consultancy requirements to ensure long term and strong relationships. The approach that will be adopted for this research will involve gathering vital information from both primary and secondary sources to develop a case of IT outsourcing for service providing companies to achieve better results and achieve competitive advantage. This approach is considered to be more useful as compared to quantitative methodology as it allows the researcher to carry out an exploratory research by conducting a primary research based on survey questionnaire and provide descriptive analysis of responses gathered from the survey. The survey questionnaire will be designed and developed that will be carried out after seeking approval from the university for data collection from employees of Accenture. For this it is proposed that mid level managers of the company are approached for completion of the survey questionnaire. The purpose of the survey questionnaire is to obtain useful information regarding the outsourcing process that IT outsourcing companies need to go through for successful establishment of client relationship. This will also provide information regarding the challenges that companies face prior and after they commit to IT outsourcing and difficulties they face in managing their relationships with their clients. Thus, the research will evaluate basis for pre-outsourcing decision method and post outsourcing measurement. Similarly, it will focus on issues facing outsourcing companies when dealing with clientele having differences in attitudes, concepts and understanding of the outsourcing process. In this way the survey would allow the researcher to examine the research subject from outsourcing service provider’s perspective. These findings would be subject to the researchers own understanding of the issues and knowledge of the subject that could be considered as one of the limitations of the research. Furthermore, the research will use a deductive way of reasoning and data analysis. This method values existing theories, arguments, and generally accepted facts and principles for the research. Deductive reasoning is more relevant because it depends on proven facts and theories. Sources of data include books, articles, theories, journals, questionnaires and electronic sources. Previous researches and experiments on the specific area will also be of vital importance. Thus the outcome of the research will be either acceptance or rejection of the research hypothesis set out in this report. Limitations The survey questionnaire that is proposed for this research has certain limitations related to its designing and implementation. The designing of the survey questionnaire will be made after seeking guidance from the instructor to ensure that the questions included in questionnaire are relevant and appropriate level of professionalism is assured. The implementation aspect of the survey questionnaire may be limited as the representatives of the company approached for this survey may not be willing to respond and alternates may not be able to respond in a way that serves the purpose of the research well. There is also an element of biasness in collected responses that could affect the outcome of the research. The findings of the survey questionnaire will be subject to the knowledge, understanding and expertise of the researcher to form an opinion that makes the study rather subjective. Therefore, the survey questionnaire can determine the scope of the research (Overmarsa, Verburg and Veldkampb, 2007). In order to achieve greater objectivity the researcher opts guidance from his instructor at all stages of the research to make sure that the findings presented in the final report are relevant and are of high value to the users of the published report. The use of secondary sources is also considered to have certain limitations in regards to the issues of copyrights, plagiarism and even the inherent limitations of previously published material that will become part of the present research. The researcher has given due considerations to all these issues however confirming the authenticity and validity of results presented in other sources is outside the scope of the proposed research. 10. Ethical Issues: In doing research, major thing which I would follow is ethics in carrying or finding relevant theories for the proposed dissertation. I believe in carrying research which will treat in a sort of ethical relativism, which means there will be discipline in research rather than just being based on general global models that can be applied consistently in research. In this IT outsourcing research I be realistic in finding evidences to support or oppose the collected information. Research will be true and accurate one in gathering and providing information and evidences for IT outsourcing subject. It can be said that knowledge of researcher needs to be in advanced level through which the process of theory construction in which findings add to what is already identified. Reality contains articles, events and formations but it can also contain some predictions too in its research report. The more proportions of ethics will have an equal impact on the development of IT outsourcing. Many of the IT outsourcing organizations save much of the costs involved, raise their profitability etc. It is necessary for outsourcing business to have high values in accountability; receptiveness, flexibility etc are some of the values which are to be followed by IT and other outsourcing companies (Harbhajan & Varinder 2006, p.482). Like wise following ethical values in carrying business is important for every organization and business. Poor working environment at vendor location, negligence in providing quality of service, environmental issues, etc are some of the ethical issues which are noticed in some IT outsourcing companies. Management need to have an effective and efficient strategic planning in making and implementing strong ethical values in running outsourcing business (Jae-Nam et al. 2003). Interview Consent Form Name of the Participant I agree to be interviewed for this student’s assignment. Yes       No The reason and the nature of the interview have been explained to me, and I have read the assignment and information sheet as provided by the student. I agree that the interview may be recorded. Any questions that I asked about the purpose and nature of the assignment have been answered to my satisfaction. I understand that my name will not be mentioned in the student’s assignment.  Signature of interviewee ______________________ Date _____________________  I have explained the project and the implications of being interviewed to the interviewee and I believe that the consent is informed and that he/she understands the implications of the participation. Name of interviewer________________________________________ Signature of interviewer_____________________________________ Date_____________________  Ethical implication Participant Information Sheet "IT OUTSOURCING” You are invited to take part in the research study: " IT Outsourcing: changing nature of work and its competitive advantage". Before you decide it is important for you to understand why the research is being done and what it will involve. Here you’ll be asked to discuss your feelings and opinions. I will examine the data for a number of report formats like methodologies. Methodologies may be:- For use in my dissertation For publication in academic research papers, conferences and presentations produced by UNIVERSITY OF .. For use as part of staff and/or student training at UNIVERSITY OF I will copy the tapes within 30 days of our meeting and destroy them through confidential waste. If within 7days you wish to withdraw from the research please contact me through e-mail mentioned below. Suitability of researcher for the research Is the project/dissertation free from personality clashes and/or discriminatory influences? No, there are no personal conflicts and discrimination issues in this project. Is the research new and relevant? Yes, research is relevant to the topic taken. Does your profile/circumstances match the research? Yes, we have taken IT sector to do research on problems of IT Outsourcing. 11. Special resources required: • Elizabeth, S 2003, Successful IT outsourcing: from choosing a provider to managing the project, Springer publishers. • Loh, L. & Venkatraman, N 1992, ‘Determinants of Information Technology Outsourcing: A Cross-Sectional Analysis’, Journal of Management Information Systems: Jmis, vol. 9, no.1, summer, pp 7-24. • Jae-Nam, L., Minh, QH, Ron, CK. & Shih-Ming, P 2003, ‘IT Outsourcing Evolution- Past, Present and Future’, Communications of the ACM, Vol. 6, No. 5, pp. 84-89. Bibliography McMurray, A., Wayne, R.P. and Scott, D., 2004. Research: a commonsense approach. Southbank Victoria: Thomson Learning Nelson. Overmarsa, K. P., Verburg, P. H. and Veldkampb, T. A. (2007) Comparison of a deductive and an inductive approach to specify land suitability in a spatially explicit land use model. Land Use Policy, 24 (3), 584-599 Taylor, B., Gautam, A. and Ghoshal, T., 2006. Research Methodology: A Guide for Researchers in Management and Social Sciences. Delhi: PHI Learning Pvt. Ltd. 12. Timetable of main stages of the study: Month April- 2010 May-2010 May-2010 June-2010 Date 01 15 25 5 12 15 19 21 25 28 30 2 7 14 20 PROJECT PROPOSAL FOR OUTSOURCING OF IT REVIEW AND SUBMISSION OF PROJECT PROPOSAL COLLECTING INFORMATION FOR OUTSOURCING OF IT PREPARING RESEARCH METHODOLOGY PREPARING A CASE STUDY ASSESSING THE OUT COMES OF RESEARCH ANALYZING THE IMPACT OF RESEARCH ON SOCIETY COMPLETING THE DISSERTATION REPORT REVIEW OF REPORT AND SUBMISSSION NOTES a. Student Records will be updated with this information. Note that we will continue to use your University email address and you should check your account regularly. b. The University document Research Ethics: A Handbook of Principles and Procedures can be found via the University’s Postgraduate internet pages. c. Summary of proposed study should indicate the topic to be covered, and the study objectives or intended outcomes. Indicate here if your Dissertation is likely to include confidential material (eg commercially-sensitive information), so that a procedure for dealing with it can be agreed. d. This section should summarise the context(s) to your study. You should clarify the academic context by indicating some of the principal themes, issues or problems identified by current or previous scholarship/research/practice. Include a short bibliography. You may also indicate any relevant social, professional and institutional/organizational contexts relating to the study. Your analysis of this context should make it clear why you consider the study to be worthwhile. e. This section should describe how you plan to approach your topic and indicate briefly why you think this approach is appropriate. Any fieldwork elements should be described here. If the proposed study raises any health and safety issues you should identify them here, and attach securely to the form a statement signed by yourself declaring how these have been addressed. f. Highlight any ethical issues raised by your study. If required, attach further information on how these have been addressed. Indicate on front page whether you need to seek ethical clearance from any external body. g. Indicate here the location and availability of any resources, such as library or archive material or data sets, beyond those which are readily available in the University. Equipment to be used, and its availability, must be listed. h. Take into account any seasonal constraints, for instance the school year for school-based projects, or natural constraints for work in the field. Read More