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Organisations adopt outsourcing of some of their functions to improve their competitiveness and efficiency. Where functions are outsourced to a local vendor, jobs may be transferred to that vendor. In the case of outsourcing offshore, jobs are lost to a foreign country.

 1.1. Critically examine the implications of outsourcing, and how HR may cope with these implications and challenges?

 1.2. What roles can HR play in managing the downsizing of its workforce and what are the issues and challenges for these activities?

Human Resource Assignment Review:

            Outsourcing in simple terms can be said to be as the process under which an organization allocate some of its specific business practices or processes to an external service provider. Sever times the organizations cannot manage to handle some of its aspects of business by its internal management. Some of the processes are also sometimes are temporary and the organization does not like to organize a team of staff for that temporary process so they hire professionals to perform the task from outside. The task outsources to the external party is the responsibility of that party committing to carry the task and manage the assets of the organization. This can be outsourced to a third part vendor either to a local vendor or it can also be outsourced internationally (Brown and Wilson 2007).

There are several pros and cons of the outsourcing function which the organizations must keep in mind while taking decision of outsourcing. There are several challenges faced while providing or outsourcing of the overall function or process of the organization. These issues and challenges need to be faced by the organization HR in order to get positive results from the decision taken. Though the outsourcing provides several benefits to the organization, in the same manner the organization is also faced with several issues and challenges if the outsourcing is not done to the right vendor or service provider. There are several functions which the airline industry can outsource, like the Singapore airlines have outsourced its call centre to other organizations. In airline industry the logistics are also outsources to external organizations and doing this there are several implications and challenges that are faced by the organization and there are several factors and measures taking which the HR can cope up with those implications and challenges (Grossman and Livingstone 2009).

Implications and challenges faced in outsourcing

External Risks: The external risks which the Singapore airline faces in outsourcing its processes includes the geopolitical risk, privacy concerns and data security and the risk associated with the intellectual property loss. The geopolitical risks is faced by the organization when the processes are outsources to an offshore vendor, and with the changes in the political factors and a negative aspect evolves in the political scenario then the organization have to faces the stoppage of services. The other implication is the issue related to the privacy and the data security; the Singapore airline may lose some of its privacy information related to its business practices to the vendor to whom the business has been outsourced. There is also the implication or issue related to the intellectual property loss for the organization. Some ideas of the organization which they have implemented specifically in their processing and which cannot be patentable are the attractive booty for the intellectual property pirates (Sundararajan, Wiegmann and Tao 2011).

Internal implications and challenges: The organization can also be faced with several internal issues and challenges. There are several examples of the airline industry, that the organizations have faced several internal problems related to outsourcing. The main internal issue is the lack of the preparedness of the internal staff and proper circulation of the information in the organizations related to the outsourcing of the process and function of the organization. Outsourcing being a powerful tool is also one of the most complex tasks to manage. The internal issues from which the airline industry is facing from long is the lack of funds for kicking off the outsourcing function, and move the initiative into a failure track. The internal issues also includes the lack of skills and knowledge which is required for managing the outsourcing function which results into a high outsourcing cost and failing to use the main purpose of outsourcing. All these issues are faced by several airline organizations while outsourcing their functions. The Singapore airlines also faced such consequences at the time of financial and economic crisis, and the HR needs to take care of such issues and challenges (Khawaja 2011).

Issues related to the joint responsibilities: There are several issues which the airline organizations may face by outsourcing its functions. The issues related to the joint responsibilities are the major concerns for the organization. The outsourcing also brings in some responsibilities for the organization like the supply of information, sending and received data from the vendor and so on. These needs to be managed in appropriate manner otherwise outsourcing cannot be worked out in an effective manner (Harvey 2007).

Issues related to contracting out: These are the crucial implications and challenge that the organization in the airline industry may face due to outsourcing of its functions. The main challenge is the substantial cost of the work force which the organization and the HR have to face in order to manage. The overhead cost is multidimensional and this also includes the spending of extra time and cost on the extra and increased documentations and forms for reducing the risk associated with miscommunication of the functions and processes, management of differences in the functionalities and also the differences in the organizational cultures and so on. The challenges for the HR are to manage the task which is associated with the outsourcing activity and train the staff to manage those workings.

Negative impact on the staff: The outsourcing of the functionalities of the organization also leaves some negative impacts on the organizational internal staff. The challenges faced by the organization are increase in the turnover of the staff, the loss of the brilliant staff or brain drain and also the loss of team spirit the airline industry some time faces such challenges which their regular workings are outsources to some external agencies or vendors. Due to outsourcing the organization has to layoff or downsizes some of their staff which impacts the morale of the survivor’s employees and decrease the productivity of the organization. Even after all the parts of the outsourcing become manageable and no risk materialize, the loss of the team spirit will reduce the overall productivity of the organization to high extent and can also bring significant impact on the organization and its functionalities (Patel 2005).

Factors that the HR can take to cope up with these challenges and implications

            There are several factors and measures that the HR of the Singapore airline can take up in order to face such challenges and implications. The HR must look for the similarities in the functionalities in the processing are of the business and the business of the vendor and also the differences in the cultural practices of both the organizations. The HR needs to evaluate the similarities in between the organization itself and the specialized firm to whom the work has been outsourced. The working relationship also needs some of the geographic proximity and also on building trust, the similarities can be in the sense of similar language and processes and working timings and so on (Harvey 2007).

            The HR is in the position to take the advantage of the outsourcing function by effectively understanding the outsourcing function and then fostering a cultural innovation within the organizational setting. After all the organizations all around the corner of this world depend on the HR to groom their staff into a strategic manner and achieve the high performance. Extending beyond the traditional functionalities of the HR the organizations in the airline industry must try to improve their HR function and provide them with powers and rights so that they can effectively and efficiently improve the profitability of the organization and flourish in the long term.

            For coping up with the above mentioned issues and challenges the HR needs to establish a value ladder for high performance, under which the HR moves from lower level i.e. the personnel control, then the people development and then the talent multiplication. These three steps will handle all the above mentioned implications and challenges faced under the outsourcing activity (Patel 2005).

            The outsourcing of the business function takes most of the business burden of the organization HR and thus the HR has to manage the activities associated with the outsourcing business processes.

Personnel Control: For facing the challenges and implication of the outsourcing activity and HR must keep a personnel control within the organization. Under this the HR the first focus of the HR must be on the improvement of the operational efficiency of the organization. The HR must analyze the requirements for the outsourcing and the resources for handling the outsourcing activity within the organization this will help the HR to manage the overall activities in an appropriate and easy manner. The HR must recruit the employees who will become responsible for handling the outsourcing activities (Harvey 2007).

People Development: this is also one of the crucial actions which will assist the HR in managing the outsourcing challenges and implications. With providing proper training and development of the employees who are hired for handling the outsourcing activity the organization can handle the outsourcing in an appropriate manner and all the challenges related to the communication and handling of the tasks associated with the outsourcing function can be effectively handled by the HR in the airline industry.

Talent Multiplication: under this step of the ladder of the proper functioning of the outsourcing activity the HR must try to develop the talent in the organization which can effectively handle their internal processes of the organization and also manage the outsourced activity. With this the organization functioning can efficiently be handled and managed to a very high extent (Harvey 2007).

Answer 2:

Downsizing in simple terms can be said to be as the process of reducing the number of employees from an organization or firm by the way of terminations, spinoffs, retirement and so on. This situation occurs when the organizations faces economic slowdown and the company needs to reduce its operating costs in order to maintain their level of profitability. Downsizing also occurs in the case of mergers and acquisitions, or to restructure the company for maximizing the profits and efficiency (Jones 1998).

Downsizing also results the layoff of the employees which are associated with the restructuring changes i.e. the closing of the branches, consolidation of branches, cutting of the pay expenses and so on. In several of the cases employees are not terminated instead they are kept as part time workers or temporary workers in order to minimize or trim costs. This also includes the permanent or temporary suspension of the workers or employees or a group of employees when some positions are not necessary for the business processes or when some slow down in the business occurs. Downsizing has become the fact of the corporate life as the organizations struggle to cut their costs and adopt the changes in the market and the demands. Downsizing is generally taken as the action in the economic slowdowns as a reactive action. In the airline industry organizations are facing a heavy slow down and are taking action like downsizing to face their increasing costs (McCormick 1998).

The HR can play a vital role in managing the downsizing of the workforce in the airline industry; the HR of the Singapore airline can take several measures to manage this situation and can attain maximum benefit of the problem. The HR can take several alternatives to the downsizing, the HR can also analyze the need of downsizing by looking that the economic scenario and plan the proactive actions to be takes in order to manage the condition of downsizing of the employees or work force.

The roles that can be played by the HR in managing the downsizing of its workforce can range from becoming a communicator of the organization to becoming the representative of the company to announce the decision and so on.

Roles

Role of a Decision Maker: The HR can play the role of the effective decision maker in order to manage the downsizing of the work force and take decisions related to the downsizing activity and also whether to downsize of not. The HR is responsible for the decisions related to the downsizing as he has recruited the employees and he can effectively take decisions as to which employee will be fruitful to the organization and who can be downsized (Employment Downsizing and its Alternatives 2012).

Role of a Representative: The HR can also play the role of the representative of the organization in declaring the downsizing activity of the employees and declare the decision. The HR can act as the person who will provide with all the answers to the employees regarding their downsizing.

Role of a Justifier: The HR can also play the role of the justifier and give explanation to the downsized employees about the decisions taken and also provide justification to the employees staying in the company and boosting their morale and to keep fait on the organization (Anderson 2012).

Role of a Communicator: The HR can also play the role of the communicator about the decision taken and can represent the company to the external world and provide a justification of the decision taken. The HR can also act as a communicator and keep contacting the employees in the period of economic downfall and keep a continued communication with the employees in order to develop their morale. The HR can also act as a morale builder of the employees and can motivate them to perform more in order to get out of the adverse situation and reach the level where the option of downsizing does not stays anymore (Anderson 2012).

Role of a Trainer: The HR can also act as a trainer in the period of economic slowdown and can invest in training their employed to develop their skills and showing the employees that they are important part of the company and building their morale.

Morale builder: the HR can also play the role of the morale builder of the employees in this adverse situation. The HR should not leave the employees to believe on the rumors and degrade their morale, the HR should keep regular contact and let them know the real condition of the company and involve the employees in the decision making and develop their morale and increase the performance of the company (McCormick 1998).

Issues and challenges of downsizing    

Effects on the survivor employees: There are several impacts of the downsizing activity on the employees who are remaining in the organization. They often feel depressed and guilty. From several studies it has been analyzed that the morale, trust and loyalty of employees decreases after the downsizing decision of the organizations, the organizations also faces the issues and challenges of low performances by the existing employees. The job satisfaction level and job involvement of the remaining employees is also decreased extremely (Employment Downsizing and its Alternatives 2012). The level of stress, the intention of employees to quit or switch to other organizations increases and this has been named as the survivor syndrome. Facing the first downsizing is one of the worst experiences for both the lay off employees and the survivors. The organization faces a low performance by the employees as the employees also keep a level of expectation from their employers including the fair treatment of themselves and their colleagues (Uhlig 2012).

Effect on the organization: With the downsizing of the employees may decrease their costs and expenses by simultaneously they also decreases the morale of their employees who are existing in the organization and they also decrease the production capacity of the employees. The organization faces large fall in the capabilities and performance of the employees, due to the decreased morale. The firm overall performance, productivity, profitability and the stock prices are decreased. It has been analyzed from the studies that the organizations that have downsized their employees have seen a significant decrease in their share prices and level of productivity and profitability (Anderson 2012).

Decision to layoff: This is also one of the crucial issues and challenge for the HR related to the downsizing activity for the HR as to who should the organization keep and whom to layoff. This is the crucial decision on which the future of the organization depends, as the organization needs to keep the most productive workers or employees. The organization future productivity is also dependent on this decision. In the airline industry the HR needs to take the decision based on the performance of the employees. Looking at the current events in the airline industry and some examples of the airlines that have downsized their employees in the recent times has been faced with high challenges and aggression of the employees (Employment Downsizing and its Alternatives 2012).

Strikes: The organizations have to face the strikes and aggression of the employees and take back their decisions to lay the employees off. The working of the organization or airline has been affected for long term and has to face the loss of stoppage of the work for long and this has resulted into more operating cost for the company related to flight cancellations and payment of the ticket cancellation values to the passengers (Giovanni 2012).

Impact on Employees and innovation: The organization also faces the challenges related to innovations in the organizations, when the downsizing drags for over long period of time, the employees and their enthusiasm for innovation also fades off and they also reduces providing cooperation to their co workers (Employment Downsizing and its Alternatives 2012).

Issues related to the Government policies: The HR also have to face the issues related to the government policies for the retrenchment or downsizing of the employees. There are several government policies related to the downsizing of the employees the organization has to bind with the rules and perform the downsizing activity. This includes the severance pay in lieu of the notice of downsizing given to the employees, the payment of the supplemental employment benefits, the organization also has to pay the pensions and the benefit payouts and bear the administrative processing costs. All these are the issues which the HR of the organization has to bear during the downsizing activity (Giovanni 2012).

Issues related to the direct and indirect costs: The HR also has to bear the several direct and indirect costs during the downsizing activity. The HR has to face these issues of indirect cost like the cost associated with the recruitment and employment costs, the reduced morale of the risk-averse survivors, increase in the employment tax rate and the lack of the staff during the economy renounce and also to face the start up costs of recruitment (Employment Downsizing and its Alternatives 2012). The opportunity costs of the lost sales. The direct costs associated with this issue include the payment of accrued vacations and sick pays. Outplacement costs, the cost of rehiring the former employees are also some of the issues which need to be faced by the HR of the organization (Employment Downsizing and its Alternatives 2012).

 Part 2

Answer 1

Link between outsourcing & downsizing with fair employment and social media

Link between outsourcing with fair employment and social media

There is a great link in between the outsourcing activity with the fair employment practices. Fair employment practices are associated with the treatment of diverse work force in an equal manner and managing them adequately. There are several approaches that are adopted by the organizations in order to manage the diversity of employees within the organization. There is a great link in between the outsourcing activity and the fair employment practices (Sundararajan, Wiegmann and Tao 2011).

 As outsourcing activity includes the distribution of work to an external organization which will manage a process or function of the organization and this may also includes the outsourcing of work to an offshore organization, under this conditions the organization has to handle the diversity of employees. By the outsourcing of the business process to and offshore organization the organization has to face the diversity of people with whom the employees of the organization have to manage their work and this leads to the management of diverse people and groups. Under the airline industry the employees also have to face diverse employees and thus it becomes vital for the organization to provide them with training to meet diverse work force and manage the diverse group of customers (Harvey 2007).

The outsourcing activity is also associated with the social media, as in this current information age the use of social media has been highly increased in the organizational perspective as well. While handling the outsourcing activity the organizations also has to handle the social media in terms of maintaining the privacy of its business information’s and maintain a level of secrecy of its business practices in order to remain competitive in this social world (Sundararajan, Wiegmann and Tao 2011).

 The excessive use of the social media has also affected the outsourcing activity as most of the information has to be displayed in the social front by the organization in this era. The social media is of relative importance in the organization as several of the information related to the organizations are flaunt by the employees in the social media which affects the organizational process and outsourcing. For the air line industry t it is vital for organizations to manage the social media within the organizations as this helps the organization in several front and also creates problems at several times. The employees are highly connected o the social front that it can be seen that several of the information related to the organizations can be availed from the social media like face book and other social networking sites (Khawaja 2011).

Link between Downsizing with fair employment and social media

            There is also a high link in between the downsizing activity with the fair employment practices and social media. It can be said that the downsizing activity can be linked with the fair employment practices which includes the fair treatment of employees in terms of the diversity and fair treatment of employees. The downsizing activity includes the layoff of employees from the organization linking this the downsizing activity must also take care of the fair employment practices and does not take actions based on the diversity of the employees or workers. There downsizing links with the fair employment practices as the employees must not be downsized based on their diversity. The HR of the organization must keep a watch on the diversity factor within the organization and then take decision based on the diverse work force in order to keep a diversity within the organization in order to handle the management operations (Employment Downsizing and its Alternatives 2012).

            There is also a link in between the downsizing and the social media, as the downsizing activities faces adverse popularity of the organizations due to their downsizing decisions and thus is affected in long term in terms of the image of the organization as an employer. In the current period the social media has taken active role in the treatment and resolutions of several social media. The organizations need to manage the operations of the social media by its employees and workers and take appropriate actions in order to manage the adverse affects. The social media has been highly advanced and are seen by several populations so the airlines must use this as a tool to promote themselves and provide justifications for the decision taken by the organizations with respect to the downsizing activity and keep and maintain a reputation in the wide market place (Employment Downsizing and its Alternatives 2012).

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