Outsourcing and Globalization
Many public and nonprofit managers and leaders are seeking innovative solutions to minimize the costs of operations while providing quality public services. One way to do this is through domestic and offshore outsourcing. Organizations operating globally must ensure that managers and leaders continuously hone communication and leadership skills to work effectively with different cultures. Leaders involved in domestic contracting must also learn new skills in order to achieve desired results from outside entities. In this Discussion, you will consider various implications that outsourcing and globalization have on public and/or nonprofit leaders.
Write a description of at least three implications of outsourcing and/or globalization for public and/or nonprofit managers and leaders. Provide specific examples.
My Response:
Outsourcing: Nonprofits
One of the primary benefits conveyed through outsourcing for international organizations is the diversity of perspective it can bring. Global nonprofits must address the needs of an increasingly diverse population of clients. Outsourcing brings a multiplicity of perspective to the organization. Employees working at the nonprofit from other parts of the world can inform the organization's leaders with their cultural knowledge, instincts, and on-the-ground knowledge. They can act as a bridge between managers and leaders from the parent organization and the people the nonprofit strives to serve. Furthermore, they can help refine the organization's mission with their knowledge of the needs of the community.
Of course, many nonprofits already have a diverse in-house organization. But the diversity of an outsourced workforce can also bring a different workplace culture and ethos to the nonprofit that is both helpful and beneficial. After all, cultural understanding exists not simply on a national level but also in terms of a workers' knowledge of alternative organizational culture and personal knowledge which...
This is true of nationally-based as well as international nonprofits. An organization with a more creative workplace orientation can bring new vibrancy to a more sedate workplace; the technical knowhow and rigor of an IT firm can bring structure to a more freewheeling nonprofit.
Domestically or internationally, "outsourcing provides nonprofits with access to professional skills they likely do not have in-house, and can free up overworked nonprofit executives" (Nonprofit outsourcing seen as helpful, pricey, 2009, Philanthropy Journal). Marketing, communications, human relations, and other organizational functions that are specialized and do not feature in the expertise of the staff are some of the most commonly outsourced skills. The contracted workers must have a strong sense of the organization's ideology and agenda to handle such critical components of interacting with the public but the added complexity of media relations, including social marketing, can make such outsourced knowledge extremely useful and free up the core staff to do what they do best, and serve the ultimate purpose of the nonprofit.
Small nonprofits often have equally, if not more complex needs as large, for-profit organizations. Unlike a small mom-and-pop business like a local restaurant, or a B2B business that offers a relatively limited expanse of goods and services, nonprofits depend upon marketing to survive. They must secure donors for funding. They may also have complicated financial statements to file, to retain their nonprofit status. If working internationally, they must deal with local laws, bureaucracies, and customs. Nationally, they may be unaware of grants, funding sources, or how to find new sources of donor money.
Organizations, particularly those on tight budgets like many nonprofits today, may shy away from the initial costs. "A 2006 survey presented 785 nonprofit organizations with a list of 10 common tasks (grant-writing, IT services, etc.). Respondents were asked…
