There are a number of factors to consider when outsourcing including the knowledge and skill of the members of the outsourced agency, the requirements of the project or task, impacts that changes may have on the agreement, and return on investment/impacts of outsourcing. I think a SWOT analysis is invaluable to determining the value and impacts of outsourcing and comparing potential clients who are bidding for an outsource vendor agreement. I also think it is important to ensure that the contract is clear and concise to the expectations of the outsource tasks and assignment but also allows for the organization to modify or specify corrective procedures.

I have seen outsourcing projects lead to poor work ethic or conflicts regarding what level of direction the main organization can provide to the contract vendor. It is important to be able to find a balance of processes and company morale/pride. When I look at outsourced projects where the company values seem to align with the organization there is generally a strong bond and good success levels where I have seen outsource vendors who tend to have a weaker employee pool due to location or competitive pay factors that lead them to select members who have lower work ethics as described by others in this class. I think this should be carefully managed to ensure that the company aligns with similar hiring and recruitment guidelines as well as holds a clear conflict management and corrective process that aligns to the main company. Outsourcing can be beneficial and help with increased productivity and even managed to improve internal employee morale by reducing workload for holidays, etc. but it can also have a severely negative impact if the outsource employee morale is poor and they do not adopt to the company vision.

You are now deciding on resources for a project team. You have a choice to staff a team of resources who will be dedicated (or allocated) 100% to the project, or staff a team of resources who will be dedicated (or allocated) three days each week to your project. Using information from the readings, explain how you can use either set of resources.