Have you considered how outsourcing can help build your organization’s learning capability? Organizations in search of solutions to a variety of organizational problems have turned their attention more and more toward outsourcing. The workplace learning and performance (WLP) function seems to be among the first functions outsourced when organizations look to new ways of better managing and lowering fixed costs. It is possible to improve learning in an organization with fewer WLP professionals on staff and reduced training budgets. Outsourcing can help. Advantages of outsourcing include having ready access to leadership and practical implementation expertise from a wide variety of vendors reducing dramatically the cycle time for developing learning having access to greater objectivity for understanding the learning needs of the business client and for developing learning that will meet these needs reducing fixed costs. Today, successful organizations use outsourcing to build learning capability while also reducing costs. And, they increase their business value by increasing their ability to learn. ASTD is proud to present the 19th book in the IN ACTION series: 12 cases that provide real-life, cutting-edge lessons from professionals and organizations that have put these truths about outsourcing into practice.
This book is a guide for achieving innovation through outsourcing. Unpacking the various challenges faced by client firms and suppliers, the authors take the reader through the innovation lifecycle and devise a clear plan to achieve valuable results. Offering practical frameworks and tools to ensure informed decision-making at every stage, this book also includes collaborative structures and metrics to measure outcomes. Written by leading figures in the area of outsourcing, this book offers both the academic rigor and the hands-on experience based on dozens of cases that walk the reader from the very beginning of the outsourcing journey to the successful delivery of transformative innovations.
This research study seeks to understand the nature of organisational change with respect to offshore outsourcing of information technology services in a multinational pharmaceutical company, and to examine the effectiveness of approaches used to manage this change so that lessons may be drawn from these experiences. Despite the abundant literature on effective organisational change management, the key factors that need to be managed properly at different stages of the offshore outsourcing process are not well understood. The research adopts a processual view to paint a broad picture of the issues involved in these different stages. A generic process model of change, based on the review of the change literature, was first developed to represent how change was intended to occur. This model focuses on the following four stages in the change process: context, diagnosis and planning, implementation, and institutionalisation. The research employs an interpretive case study approach and draws on fieldwork from three independent information systems departments (cases) of the company, where offshore outsourcing programmes were implemented. Qualitative data from semi-structured interviews, direct observation and document analysis are analysed by applying the generic process model to produce a detailed account of the way in which change was managed in the case organisations. The findings reveal that a combination of contextual factors, both external and internal to the company, influenced the adoption and use of offshore outsourcing in the case organisations. Externally, the economic forces were found to be the main catalyst for the change, while internally the role of the executive leadership and the lack of internal resources further explain the motivations behind the adoption of offshore outsourcing. The study illustrates that achieving successful outcomes from offshore outsourcing activities critically depends on the organisation adequately addressing a number of factors, such as conveying a sense of urgency, developing and communicating the vision, identifying the benefits of change and how they will be delivered, generating short-term wins, providing education and training, developing a fit between the change and organisational culture, etc., throughout the change process. The findings also highlight the effects of offshore outsourcing on the case organisations, including change in job roles and responsibilities and organisational learning activities that enable corrective actions to improve change management efforts. An important contribution of this research is the development of a model providing a more comprehensive understanding of the change process associated with the implementation of offshore IT outsourcing. Recommendations for policy makers and change managers to improve change management practice based on the research findings, as well as recommendations for further research, form a significant part of the conclusions.
Organizational learning matters now more than ever. In today's hypercompetitive business environment, successful executives must be able to discover opportunities, face problems, and pursue innovative ideas, then turn those ideas into action throughout an organization. Based on both empirical research and practice experience, this book gives managers the tools to do just that. Organizational learning capability is the capacity to generate and generalize ideas with impact. Managers generate new ideas in four basic ways: experimentation, in which organizations learn by trying many new products and processes; continuous improvement, in which they learn by constantly improving what they have done before and mastering each step in a process before moving on to other processes; knowledge acquisition, in which they learn by encouraging individuals and teams to acquire new knowledge continuously; and benchmarking, in which they learn by studying how other groups do things and trying to adapt their techniques. Each learning types leads to different performance consequences. Managers must also be able to generalize information through technology, movement of people, incentives, and learning processes. By both generating and generalizing ideas with impact, managers have a blueprint for making learning happen. Learning may not be sustained, however, unless it is congruent with the larger business context--the organization's strategy and culture and the industry's characteristics. Unfortunately, just as organizations develop learning capabilities, they also suffer from certain learning disabilities. This book outlines common disabilities and the means to overcome them. The authors assist practicing managers by providing several examples of successful and unsuccessful organizations and describing the ways in which they have helped organizations improve learning capability in their consulting practices. Based on detailed case studies, a review of past literature, and data gleaned from a worldwide survey of companies,Organizational Learning Capability is an accessible and useful guide for managers competing in the information economy. This book turns abstract ideas into practice, offers tools that managers can use, and presents a simple yet profound road map for making learning a reality.
This book is a practical guide for managers in developing and implementing appropriate strategies for online risk management. The contributions draw on a wide range of expertise and know-how, both in IT and in other disciplines such as the law, insurance, accounting and consulting.
The self-employment revolution is here. Learn the latest pioneering tactics from real people who are bringing in $1 million a year on their own terms. Join the record number of people who have ended their dependence on traditional employment and embraced entrepreneurship as the ultimate way to control their futures. Determine when, where, and how much you work, and by what values. With up-to-date advice and more real-life success stories, this revised edition of The Million-Dollar, One-Person Business shows the latest strategies you can apply from everyday people who--on their own--are bringing in $1 million a year to live exactly how they want.
In recent years, decision-makers from all sectors have been using 'resilience' as a keyword for managing societal turbulences. But what is resilience? How can we benefit from integrating digital transformation and resilience? In this book, some of the world's leading experts on resilience explore the issue and discuss possible answers to these questions. The editors of this book believe that resilience is the master key for the future. However, they also remind us that people are at the base of any process of resilience and, only by placing people at the center of transformation, can we aspire to have resilient organizations and a resilient society.
