HR Outsourcing and its Impact on Woolworth: A Business Research Proposal

This business research proposal focuses on the impact of HR outsourcing on Woolworth, a supermarket grocery store chain in Australia. The proposal aims to analyze the role of HR outsourcing in managing human resources and performance of Woolworth. The proposal includes a literature review, research questions, research design and methodology, and research limitations.

Business research

Table of Contents
1.0 INTRODUCTION.....................................................................................................................1
2.0 PROJECT OBJECTIVE............................................................................................................1
3.0 PROJECT SCOPE.....................................................................................................................1
4.0 LITERATURE REVIEW..........................................................................................................2
4.1 Human Resources (HR) outsourcing.....................................................................................2
4.2 Different types of HR outsourcing and factors affecting the selection of particular HR
outsourcing in the Woolworth.....................................................................................................2
4.3 HR outsourcing supports the growth of the Woolworth........................................................3
5.0 RESEARCH QUESTIONS.......................................................................................................3
5.1 Primary research questions....................................................................................................3
5.2 Secondary questions..............................................................................................................3
6.0 RESEARCH DESIGN AND METHODOLOGY.....................................................................4
6.1 Type of study.........................................................................................................................4
6.2 Research philosophy..............................................................................................................4
6.3 Research design.....................................................................................................................4
6.4 Research approach.................................................................................................................5
6.5 Data collection.......................................................................................................................5
6.6 Sampling................................................................................................................................5
6.7 Data analysis..........................................................................................................................6
7.0 RESEARCH LIMITATIONS....................................................................................................6
8.0 TIME SCHEDULE....................................................................................................................7
9.0 CONCLUSION..........................................................................................................................8

1.0 INTRODUCTION
Human resource outsourcing is used to achieve the cost and time efficiencies in the
organizations (Bratton and Gold, 2017; Marchington et al., 2016). It provides an opportunity to
manage the contacts with external resources and third parties for the effective handling of HR
functions, tasks and operations. Further, with the help of the HR outsource the managers can
grow their business instead of focusing and spending on the HR tasks. In this context, the current
business proposal is based on the ‘Outsourcing and HRM in Woolworth, Australia which is a
chain of super market grocery store chain. For the purpose of the report, a literature review has
been done with related references. Further, research design and methodologies has been applied
for the findings. At the end, research limitations and time schedule has been prepared for the
effectiveness of proposal.
2.0 PROJECT OBJECTIVE
The proposal of outsourcing and HRM in Woolworth has several objectives which are
helpful to achieve the main aim of the business that is to manage the human resources and its
impact on the performance with the help of the HR outsourcing-
Aim
To analyze the role of HR outsourcing help in managing the human resources and
performance of the Woolworth
Objectives
 To understand the concept of human resource outsourcing.
 To identify different types of HR outsourcing and factors affecting the selection of
particular HR outsourcing in the Woolworth.
 To assess the HR outsourcing support for the growth of the Woolworth.
 To recommend different ways to manage the human resources in the Woolworth by using
outsourcing
3.0 PROJECT SCOPE
The project proposal is basically based on the outsourcing and HRM in the Woolworth
company which is beneficial in the form of availability of skilled employees. The HR
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outsourcing provides an opportunity to the business owner to hire the competent workers from
the outsiders that would provide a positive healing to the organization’s productivity. Further, if
Woolworth would apply the HR outsourcing approach then the company would be able to deal
with the rapid changes in market dynamics as well as global competitive pressures. Apart from
this, HR professionals of the Woolworth would be capable to move from the regular
administrative role to more strategic role. In this regard, with the help of employment of HR
outsources, company would be coherent to devote the critical internal resources to the core
business like talent and technology. Hence, Woolworth has wide scope with respect to HRM and
outsourcing because human resources are the major pillars for the growth and success of the
company.
4.0 LITERATURE REVIEW
4.1 Human Resources (HR) outsourcing
HR outsourcing is referring to the competitive method which is helpful to manage the
costs and assign the core resources for the company (Marchington et al., 2016). In this, the
company develop contacts with third parties to manage and handle the business HR functions
and operations. With the help of HR outsourcing, company can focus on the strategic initiatives
instead of managing the transactional activities in operations of human resources. In this context,
HR outsourcing provides an opportunity to manage the existing talented employees rather than
hiring new works for the organization (Gospel and Sako, 2010). At this juncture, Woolworth
which is an Australian company focusing on the HR outsourcing to manage the human resources
and its impact on the performance of the company as well as employees.
4.2 Different types of HR outsourcing and factors affecting the selection of particular HR
outsourcing in the Woolworth
HR outsourcing can be different types such as tactical outsourcing, payroll services, risk
management, hiring, transformational, health care benefits, employee counselling etc.
(Armstrong and Taylor, 2014). In this context, Susomrith and Brown, (2013) asserted that
tactical outsourcing is used by the organizations on the basis of traditional way. In this the
companies take the decisions to buy which is based on the cost factor. Moreover, this type of
outsourcing is preferred to provide liberty to staff members to emphasis on the central business
capacities. However, Glaister (2014) stated that transformational outsourcing is used to
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remodeling the business and provide an authority to meet the affordable competitive advantages.
Further, it also offers higher rate of incentives by holding a position of leadership in the
organization. Therefore, it reveals that both transformational and tactical outsourcing are
demanded as per the nature of the business because these are useful to achieve competitive
advantages.
4.3 HR outsourcing supports the growth of the Woolworth
According to Allen et al. (2013), HR outsourcing are helpful to provide the cost-effective
services with the help of the HR outsource functions because they try to avoid the non-revenue
generating back office expenses. The outsourced HR does not require additional office staff and
possess maximum variable costs for performing the functions. Apart from this, Schniederjans et
al., (2015) asserted that newly outsourced HR would reduce the efficiency of the assigned task
because that person would not be aware about the new work environment. This type of situations
would arise the overall cost of the HR operations. On the contrary, Ndubisi (2011) argued that
HR outsourcing offers a pool of talent for the organizations to deal with the challenges of
competitive environment through additional skills and knowledge. Therefore, it reflects that HR
outsourcing is beneficial for the organizations to achieve the position of cost-effectiveness and
provide a competitive environment to the available resources so that their talent would be
efficiently used.
Islam and Sobhani (2010) stated that outsourcing human resources are helpful to reduce
the business risks because these people have the updated knowledge about the laws, services,
latest technologies and business methodologies. However, Caruth et al. (2013) argued that most
of the outsourced HR, demand for the extra benefits and pay-rolls that would incur the huge cost
of managing the resources for the organizations. Simultaneously, it would affect the growth of
the business because enlarging cost reduces the level of cost-efficiency. Nonetheless, HR
outsourced provide a support to the companies to remain ensured about consecutive services.
Thus, availability of outsourcing in HRM provides a safe environment to the organization sin the
form of risk reduction and maintenance of level of uninterrupted services.
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5.0 RESEARCH QUESTIONS
5.1 Primary research questions
 How HR outsourcing help in managing the human resources and performance of the
Woolworth?
5.2 Secondary questions
 What is the human resource outsourcing?
 What are the different types of HR outsourcing and factors affecting the selection of
particular HR outsourcing in the Woolworth?
 How HR outsourcing supports the growth of the Woolworth?
 What are different ways to manage the human resources in the Woolworth by using
outsourcing?
6.0 RESEARCH DESIGN AND METHODOLOGY
The research methodology is the important part for the particular study. It consists of
several methods and procedure for the collection of data and analysis of the same. In this context,
the following approaches will be followed-
6.1 Type of study
Basically, two types of research studies are carried out including qualitative and
quantitative. Here, the study with the qualitative nature facilitates to carry out the in-depth
understanding through deriving the valid outcome (Neuman, 2013). However, quantitative study
helps in applying the statistical tools for assessing the impact of one variable on other or others
(Saunders, 2011). By considering the importance of both types of studies, the present study will
be based on both qualitative and quantitative study or the mixed method so that researcher can
effectively derive the valid outcome through the in-depth analysis and application of some
quantitative tools. Since, the study is based on the assess the impact of HR outsourcing on human
resources management and performance of Woolworth so the application of mixed approach
would be helpful in carrying out in-depth analysis along with the statistical tools.
6.2 Research philosophy
The beliefs, assumption and norms of research comes under the research philosophy.
Interpretivism and positivism are two main types of research philosophy which are applied in the
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study on the basis of its requirement (Taylor et. al., 2015). At this juncture, researcher will go for
interpretivism research philosophy because the study demands own knowledge of the scholar and
insights from the socially constructed environment. On the other hand, positivism research
philosophy only relies on the factual information through scientific outcome can be drawn. By
considering the importance nature of both types of philosophy, the study will be based on
interpretivism philosophy. This is because it enables researcher to get the detailed information
from the socially constructed environment.
6.3 Research design
Research design reflects the approach of researcher to present the findings on the basis of
selection of research designs among descriptive, exploratory and explanatory. Here, the
exploratory research design is applied to explore something new whereas explanatory design
establishes the causal relationship between two or more variables (Zikmund et. al., 2013). Apart
from this, descriptive research design is effective when the study is dealing with the direct
relationship with the socially constructed environment. This indicates that application of
descriptive research will be beneficial for the completion of the entire study. Owing to this,
descriptive research design will be used by the researcher.
6.4 Research approach
The research approach refers to the set pattern of scholars for carrying out the research.
There are two main research approaches including deductive and inductive where the deductive
research approach is applied in case of quantitative study (Bernard, 2017). On the other hand,
qualitative studies generally use the inductive research approach because it begins with the
specific investigation and develops the new theory on the basis of derived findings. However,
deductive research approach starts with the general investigation and accordingly specific
investigation is done. Therefore, the inductive research approach will be helpful for the current
study wherein researcher will specifically be focusing on outsourcing and its role in the
management of human resources and performance of the business.
6.5 Data collection
In order to complete the current study, both primary and secondary data will be collected.
In this context, questionnaire method will be used for the collection of primary data whereas
published articles, journals and books will be referred to access to wide range of secondary data
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(Brannen, 2017). At this juncture, questionnaire will be constructed in the easy to understand
language so that respondents can provide the quick response for the same. However, there are
different other methods for the collection of primary data including interview, observation and
survey but due to cost and time constraint the questionnaire method will be quite helpful. Here,
the interview method tends to consume relatively extensive time where it becomes critical for
researcher to employee huge time as well as resources for recording the response of the
participants. For this purpose, selection of questionnaire method will be justifiable.
6.6 Sampling
Sampling refers to the individual unit of population where the researcher targets specific
number of participants for the collection of data (Creswell, 2014). In this context, different
sampling techniques including non-probabilistic and probabilistic are used but the present study
will be based on simple non-probabilistic sampling since the participants are managers of the
business. The rationale behind selecting the mangers as respondents is their experience towards
the outsourcing and its contribution in the success of the business. Owing to this, 10 managers of
Woolworth will be selected for the collection of data with the use of questionnaire method.
Moreover, the non-probabilistic sampling is based on the convenience of researcher and demand
of the study so accordingly the selected method will be justifiable.
6.7 Data analysis
Data analysis is the process of analyzing the data collected data in the line of research
aim and objectives. Normally, there are two types of research analysis techniques including
qualitative and quantitative where the application of appropriate tool is based on the objectives or
aim of the study (Saunders, 2011). The qualitative analysis consists of thematic analysis which
provides in-depth analysis of the collected data in accordance with the research aim and
objectives. However, since the current study applies the mixed approach so the support of
frequency table and graphical presentation of collected data would be effective in deriving the
valid outcome. At this juncture, data in case of current study will be analyzed by using thematic
analysis technique of the qualitative analysis. For this purpose, themes will be constructed in
accordance with the research objectives and frequency table will also be presented. These themes
will be supported with both primary and secondary data so as to extract the valid outcome and
meet the objectives of the study in an effectual manner.
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7.0 RESEARCH LIMITATIONS
The research deals with several drawbacks because most of the respondents does not
provide the exact and related information. Lack of time is one of the crucial elements which
narrow down the scope of the research. However, researchers do not limit to this problem
because they adopted the questionnaire method to collect the data which requires the minimum
time to fill the answers. Moreover, it also provides the closer replies as well as suggestions in
required lines. Apart from this, in the secondary methods, researchers deal with the problem of
reliability of sources because the data were already collected by other primary ways. In this
manner, researcher do the further analysis to complete the study with authenticity but that leads
excessive time and resources.
8.0 TIME SCHEDULE
Time structure provides the completion time for the execution of proposed plan to
achieve the specific objectives (Kanai et al., 2011). In this context, Woolworth would be able to
calculate the estimated time period for the adoption of outsourcing in HRM (refer table 1).
Table 1: Time structure for business research of Woolworth
Task/weeks 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10 11 12 13 14
Setting the
research
objectives
Preparing
proposal
Drafting
introduction
Writing
Research
methodology
Data
collection
plan
Collecting
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Secondary
data
Collecting
primary data
Analysing
data
Drafting the
conclusion
Final
submission
9.0 CONCLUSION
On the basis of proposal, it has been found that the Woolworth, Australia is focusing on
the outsourcing and HRM in the organization to achieve the higher profitability and productivity.
Further, it has been concluded that HR outsourcing is helpful to acquire the cost efficiency. On
the other hand, it has been concluded that both ways of outsourcing are required for the
Woolworth to deal with the environmental challenges and attain the competitive advantages. At
this juncture, HR outsourcing is helpful to support the growth of the Woolworth by avoiding the
non-revenue generating back office expenses.
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