Research Articles Base: SOURCE OF COMPETITIVE ADVANTAGE OF SMES

HUMAN RESOURCE OUTSOURCING AS A SOURCE OF COMPETITIVE ADVANTAGE OF SMES IN INDIA

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, California: Sage. Credit:ivythesis.typepad.com

HUMAN RESOURCE OUTSOURCING AS A SOURCE OF COMPETITIVE ADVANTAGE OF SMES IN INDIA

HUMAN RESOURCE OUTSOURCING AS A SOURCE OF COMPETITIVE ADVANTAGE OF SMES IN INDIA RATIONALE The workplace today is in a stat...