Crowdsourcing Case Study
1. Is crowdsourcing as used by AOL a form of outsourcing? Why or why not? Yes, I consider that crowdsourcing is one of the forms of outsourcing. Crowdsourcing is nothing but the process of getting the required services, ideas and also the information by seeking the contributions from a huge group of people mainly from an online community but not the local or general employees or suppliers. Whereas outsourcing, in business involves the contracting out of business process to another party. Outsourcing is nothing but purchase of goods or services before was provided internally, but now it is provided by outside vendors. So from the above two definations we can say that crowdsourcing can be implied almost the same as
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What steps do you think Maloney might have taken to ensure that the crowdsourcing would be a success for the inventory project? The steps that I think Maloney might have taken for the success of an inventory project are:
Vision and Strategy: "The coherence of the initiative's vision and strategy with the aspirations of the crowd ensures that the crowd is willing to participate in it."
Human Capital: The skills and abilities that the crowd possesses is a determinant of successful crowdsourcing. The more skillful and able the crowd is, "the less effort required by the crowd to make a meaningful contribution to the initiative."
Infrastructure:
"Crowdsourcing requires abundant, reliable and cheap telephone or mobiles access for its communication needs in order to ensure participation of the crowd."
Linkages and trust: Crowdsourcing initiatives all involve a time or information cost for the crowd, while is why developing the trust factor is critical. Proper linkages can also "add a substantial trust aspect to the crowdsourcing
After analyzing all these risks and criteria Id like to present some points to demonstrate why we should go for outsourcing:
Because many businesses in the US have more often began outsourcing different business products instead of doing them in-house, it is important to understand why outsourcing may be the best option. Although many tie outsourcing to foreign markets, outsourcing can include both foreign and domestic markets. By entering into a contractual agreement, outsourcing allows organizations to pay for services they need. This gives the option for a business to get professionals to perform services for them that the business may not have the staff for. Outsourcing provides a cost saving-strategy that is usually more affordable. Ultimately,
2-3. What factors should be considered when deciding whether or not to crowdsource a particular part of a business?
Trust- should be slowly built up across team members, through developing confidence in each other’s competence and reliability. Trusting individuals are willing to share their knowledge and skills without fear of being diminished or exploited.
In order to solve the crisis above, it is mandatory to review the pros and cons of different kinds of communications. Electronic communications are fast, they are cost-effective and quite convenient. However, these attributes enclose intrinsic disadvantages. The technology that helps people to keep on the go also may invade privacy and cut into valuable time meant for other social activities. Devices such as cell phones with mobility technology and portable computers facilitate communication at all times. This allows one to work and visit sites in public locations, such as trains and other social gatherings. This has enabled people to stop traveling long distances to work and may do so from home. The technology also encourages productivity, for instance, a person intending to
2. Assuming Timmson keeps Mahoney as the store manager, what would be the steps he institutes in the training
It is a concept that has evolved from a manufacturing perspective to a strategic perspective, which views the concept as a way for organizations to focus and be more competitive. The basic premise of outsourcing is that a specialist organization can perform a particular service more efficiently than can internal operations because a specialist organization has an inherent advantage in producing and delivering a service. Superior technology, management skills, or economies of scale may contribute to this perception. The type of sourcing relationship depends on whether a long-term or short-term need exists. To save funds used for benefits for regular employees, temporary workers are hired. In this case, the organization (outsourcer) provides all necessary resources except the workers, who are provided by the vendor. For long-term services, the vendor has full responsibility for delivering the service; the outsourcer provides only a liaison.
“In an age of increasing specialization, it is rare for one person to be knowledgeable in all aspects of a complex task” (Thompson, 2015, p. 88). In this case, the first step was to understand our incoming demand. For this, I relied on information technology to generate numerous reports as well as the expertise of our sales team. It was at that point that the data was analyzed in conjunction with an inventory specialist. After we had the knowledge of what current product to inventory, we then needed to establish a set of guidelines of how to qualify products in the future. Inventory control management processes were instituted as well as a supply an auditing system. These steps included information from organizational members from our manufacturing group, planning department, and procurement department. Finally, we needed to understand and facilitate the storage and shipping of the product. We enlisted the help of our warehouse employees as well as our transportation department. This type of project included various levels of the organization and required a tremendous amount of communication. The project workload was enormous and also had a substantial financial investment associated with it. Instrumental in the project’s success was the team’s cohesion, diversity, and strategies deployed
“Outsourcing refers to the practice of contracting workers outside of a company or business for work duties or services previously performed by company employees or “in-house”. This practice is also often referred to as offshoring due to the increasingly prevalent use of “non-U.S.” service providers for these outsourced duties. However, strictly speaking, outsourcing can and does refer to the use of contracted labor provided by individuals outside of an organization, but still within the U.S.; whereas when these same services are provided outside the U.S., it is both outsourcing and offshoring.”
Demonstrates the ability to influence to gain the necessary commitment and support from diverse stakeholders in pursuit of organization value.
Crowd-sourcing may become the trend of the future to fight corruption within the United States and abroad. Crowd-sourcing as defined by the Merriam-Webster Dictonary as the “practice of obtaining needed services, ideas, or content by soliciting contributions from a large group of people and especially from the online community rather than from traditional employees or suppliers.” People have been using crowd sourcing in the private and non-profit sector. Famous examples of this are AirBnB and
Initiative – Sparking conversations or sharing ideas is an asset I utilize often. Sometimes, the simplest modifications
Sawyer speaks a lot of truth in this paragraph about how collaboration is what makes all of the amazing innovative teams spark new ideas. Groups should not be self-centered but they need to be empowered by the whole and not its parts. As
A common definition of outsourcing is the takes part of their business and give it to another company to complete. The main industries that take
Outsourcing refers to hiring an outside, independent firm to perform a business function that internal employees might otherwise perform. Many organizations outsource jobs to specialized service companies, which frequently operate abroad. The outsourcing trend stands to continue; the latest wave of outsourcing impacts the information technology field. IT outsourcing includes data center operations, desktop and help desk support, software development, e-commerce outsourcing, software applications services, network operations and disaster recovery.2