Outsourcing American Jobs

Outsourcing American Jobs

Outsourcing, no word in today's workforce is so loved or hated. Depending on who you are it is the greatest thing ever or an evil act by money hungry businesses at the expense of American workers. But what is the truth? Is it good? Is it bad? Is it both? Perhaps more importantly, what is it exactly?

Many people think that outsourcing is jobs that were held in this country going somewhere else. That is not entirely accurate. Outsourcing is actually one company paying another to do some work for it. Outsourcing can be as simple as paying a company to paint your building. Or it can be as complex as paying a company to control your human resources department.

When you think of outsourcing it is probably more accurate to think of it not as people's jobs that are going somewhere else but as a job, as in something that needs to be done, going to another business. For example if you have a company of forty people and you decide to get a new computer system for everyone. You may pay another company to do your IT and customer support for those computers. There for you didn't take away a job from someone you just didn't create one for the need. You paid another company to do it. They then can use one of there people who is familiar with the system already, or they take on the cost of training someone.

Companies outsource for many different reasons. Perhaps the best know and least understood of those is to save money. Most people probably think that it is just greedy rich CEO?s trying to get richer. While in some cases this may be true, more frequently it can be in response to an overall downturn in the economy. Companies trying to maintain in the hard times are forced with trying to find ways to save money. According to Julekha Dash in her article ?Cost cutting may spur IT deals? on computerworld.com ?The cooling economy may prompt firms to outsource more IT or cost cutting reasons.? In the same article they stated that in a pole given to 150 American and European companies 39% of the companies listed saving money as there primary reason for outsourcing. Saving money was the number one answer given.

When companies save money theoretically so do the people who rely on that company for goods and services. If GM saves money than your new car theoretically should be cheaper and that?s the way it is supposed to go for any ot...

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Cost cutting may spur IT outsourcing deals By Julekha Dash

http://www.computerworld.com/managementtopics/outsourcing/story

Government eyes IT outsourcing By Patrick Thibodeau

http://www.computerworld.com/managementtoppics/outsourcingstory

Full Speed ahead By Don Tapscott

http://www.intelligententerprise.com/showArticle.jhtml?articleID=19802131

Opportunity on the line By Paul McDougall

http://www.informationweek.com/shared/printableArticle.jhtml?articleID=15306236

Offshore Outsourcing: Should You be Worried Yet? By Lisa Vaas

http://www.eweek.com/print_article/0,1761,a=36491,00.asp

For Government Outsourcing begets Outsourcing By Eric Chabrow

http://www.informationweek.com/shared/printableArticle.jhtml?articleID=10000040

Technology May Make Outsourcing Obsolete By Eric Lundquest

http://www.eweek.com/article2.0,1759,1454271,00.asp

Competing with outsourcing By Mike DeMartino

http://www.eweek.com/print_article/0,1761,a=119509,00.asp

Taboo: Companies going offshore to outsource IT need to learn how to talk about this increasingly sensitive subject By Mary Hayes

http://www.informationweek.com/shared.printableArticle.jhtml?articleID=12800945