Human Resource Management

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Human Resource Management
Introduction
The goal of the Human Resource department is to maximize the productivity of the organization by optimizing the effectiveness of its employees while simultaneously improving their work life. However, since staffing and recruitment are not core business of corporate entities, majority of them turn to outsourcing. Consequently, outsourcing has allowed companies to concentrate on their core businesses by offloading minor duties. However, too much reliance on outsourcing hurts the employees in terms of career development and training. As a result, it is only beneficial to employees and employers when the internal Human Resource department work closely with the outsourcing firm.
Summary of the article
In “When the H.R. Office Leaves the Building” article, the complex natures of outsourcing and traditional functions of the Human Resource department are discussed. Other than just allowing companies to focus on their main businesses, outsourcing allows the companies to save more money. However, the popularity of outsourcing is based on its ability to perform more than the traditional functions of Human Resource departments. Consequently, all issues related to the payroll, labor relations, business partners, and legal issues can be handled through outsourcing.
However, firms have relied too much on outsourcing to the point that employees are suffering in areas like training and career development. For instance, the article notes that rather than just outsourcing few H.R services from a single outside firm, majority of companies use a range of outside providers to acquire all the H.R services. As a result, what these outside firms provide in terms of H.R services does not correlate with what the business need. Consequently, employers lose good business opportunities due to incompetent work force. However, acquiring a few H.R services from outside entities and then monitor them using internal H.R systems aligns outsourcing with traditional H.R objectives. Therefore, it is only a balance of the two that benefits the employees and employers.
Explanation of the main issues
The Human Resource Department is generally responsible for finding, developing, retaining and training the best people a business entity perceives essential to its success. Consequently, due to the wide range of traditional duties, companies, regardless of their size, find themselves having to replace, supplement or broaden their operations by outsourcing aspect(s) of their H.R functions. However, strategic objectives and financial muscle of business entities define the direction and scope an organization desires to take in terms of outsourcing (Chaudhuri, 2012). Hence, though making outsourcing decision is complex and multifaceted; its importance to business entities is unmatched.
The rapid changes and daily competition in the business world forces organizations to either adapt or perish. Consequently, outsourcing H.R services is cost effective thus a means of adaptation. The innovative solutions provided by outsourcing firms with regards to numerous H.R functions put companies in better positions thus maintaining their competitive edge (Phyllis, 2012). Additionally, companies grow and sometimes require acquisitions or mergers. In such scenarios, thrashing out legal issues related to employees becomes very problematic. Nevertheless, due to the specialized nature of outsourcing firms, structures and H.R processes that blend corporate cultures are put in place through consolidation of employees. Therefore, outsourcing benefits to businesses are more than just recruiting employees.
Nevertheless, regardless of its importance, over-reliance on outsourced H.R services may put the company in a turmoil state. Company executives may think that they are cutting down on costs through numerous outsourcing. However, the reality is that they are giving up too much control of the human resource functions to the outside provider. As a result, such companies end up being too dependent on the outside provider. Therefore, excessive outsourcing creates the risk of businesses not being able to operate successfully if outsourcing is no longer availab...