HUMAN
RESOURCE OUTSOURCING AS A SOURCE OF COMPETITIVE ADVANTAGE OF SMES IN INDIA
RATIONALE
The workplace today is in a
state of metamorphosis with contemporary issues such as customer satisfaction,
competitive advantage, revenue and expenditures, organisational culture,
technological advancement, global markets, diverse customer demands and need
for effective workforce with a global mindset penetrating every aspect of the
organisation. Effective workforce is crucial as it is the organisation’s
primary player in accomplishing goals and delivering service. According to
Burke & Cooper (2004), “a firm’s human
resource management (HRM) practices and the kind of workforce help attain organisational
competitiveness (p.3).” HRM is the organisational function that enhances
creativity, innovation, speed, flexibility, and efficiency of the workforce to
transform them into organisational assets. Human resource management is now
highly recognised as a strategic lever for the organisation in creating value.
Basically, this paper
discusses in detail the research proposal that examines the significant
effectiveness of human resource outsourcing to SMEs in India. The researcher
attempts to identify whether the human resource outsourcing employed by most
SMEs in India has significant impact to their progress. This includes
discussion of its history, the current status of human resource outsourcing,
and its relationship to the business development. Specifically, this proposed
research explores the perceptions of employee respondents and their view
regarding the effectiveness of the said human resource outsourcing.
Moreover,
the objectives of the study and the research questions are presented. Here,
vital concepts, questions and assumptions are stated. Finally, the scope and limitation
of the study, overview of the methodology used, the significance of the
research and definition of terms are discussed.
OBJECTIVE OF THE STUDY
The primary objective of
this study is to examine and determine the perception of the employee respondents
regarding the effectiveness of human resource outsourcing in their current SME Company.
To address this objective, the researcher explores the nature of training and
HRM practices: its benefits and advantages to different employees.
Apparently,
a survey to be conducted to SME employees aimed to determine their perception
towards the current training scheme in their respective company/organisation. Furthermore,
an interview will be also conducted to know what are their problems and
concerns regarding human resource outsourcing. Finally, this research comes up
with pertinent findings, and provides insightful recommendations on human
resource outsourcing in relation to the development of SMEs in India.
HYPOTHESIS
The study would like to test the following null
hypothesis:
“The level of effectiveness
of employee training as part of human resource management of SME managers
significantly affects the general efficiency of the organisation.”
RESEARCH QUESTIONS
Generally, the purpose of
this study is to conduct a study on the quality of human resource outsourcing
of SMEs in India and identify the perception of the employees to quality
training. This study tries to answer the following queries:
1.
What are the employees’
perceptions regarding the human resource outsourcing in their respective companies?
2.
What are the variables that
significantly affect the perception of the employees regarding human resource
outsourcing?
3.
What are the advantages and
disadvantages of employing a training program in SMEs in India?
4.
Is there any significant
difference between the perception of the respondents regarding human resource
outsourcing and company development?
SCOPE AND LIMITATIONS
The study intends to
investigate the level of effectiveness of the human resource outsourcing in
most SMEs in India. For this study, primary research and secondary research
will be used. Primary research will be conducted using anonymous questionnaires
that will be sent to selected employees of SMEs in India. The questionnaires
will be used to collect quantitative data and the interviews will be used to
provide qualitative insights into the data collected.
The data will be analysed
and compiled for the correlation of the hypothesis. The data will then be
presented by means of graphical representations and illustration and the
difference would be highlighted. A negative correlation between the variables
would suggest that the hypothesis is null, that is, the level of effectiveness
of human resource outsourcing significantly affects the general efficiency of
the organisation.
RESEARCH METHODOLOGY AND
TECHNIQUES FOR DATA COLLECTION
Research requires an organised
data gathering in order to pinpoint the research philosophies and theories that
will be included in the research, the methodology of the research and the
instruments of data interpretation. In this study, the Research Process “Onion”
will be utilised so that the findings of the study can be thoroughly
established. The inner part of the onion describes the methodology portion
whereas the outer part discusses the strategies that can be utilised in
interpreting the results of the findings.
The descriptive research
method uses observation and surveys. In this method, it is possible that the
study would be cheap and quick. It could also suggest unanticipated hypotheses.
Nonetheless, it would be very hard to rule out alternative explanations and
especially infer causations. Thus, this study will use the descriptive
approach. This descriptive type of research will utilise observations in the
study. To illustrate the descriptive
type of research, Creswell (1994) will guide the researcher when he stated:
Descriptive method of research is to gather information about the present
existing condition. The purpose of employing
this method is to describe the nature of a situation, as it exists at the time
of the study and to explore the cause/s of particular phenomena. The researcher
opted to use this kind of research considering the desire of the researcher to
obtain first hand data from the respondents so as to formulate rational and
sound conclusions and recommendations for the study.
The research described in
this document is partly based on quantitative research methods. This permits a
flexible and iterative approach. During data gathering the choice and design of
methods are constantly modified, based on ongoing analysis. This allows
investigation of important new issues and questions as they arise, and allows
the investigators to drop unproductive areas of research from the original
research plan.
This study also employs
qualitative research method, since this research intends to find and build
theories that would explain the relationship of one variable with another
variable through qualitative elements in research. These qualitative elements
does not have standard measures, rather they are behaviour, attitudes,
opinions, and beliefs. Furthermore, as we define the qualitative research it is
multimethod in focus, involving an interpretative, naturalistic approach to its
subject matter. This means that qualitative researchers study things in their
natural settings, attempting to make sense of, or interpret phenomena in terms
of the meanings people bring to them. Accordingly, qualitative researchers
deploy a wide range of interconnected methods, hoping always to get a better
fix on the subject matter at hand.
The primary source of data
will come from interviews and anonymous questionnaires from employees of SMEs
in India. The primary data frequently
gives the detailed definitions of terms and statistical units used in the
study. These are usually broken down into finer classifications. The secondary
sources of data will come from published articles from social science journals,
theses and related studies on personnel management. Acquiring secondary data
are more convenient to use because they are already condensed and organised.
Moreover, analysis and interpretation are done more easily.
REFERENCES:
Burke,
R and Cooper, C (2004), Reinventing Human Resources Management: Challenges
and New Directions, Routledge, New York.
Creswell, JW (1994)
Research design. Qualitative and
quantitative approaches. Thousand Oaks,
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