Outsourcing
Outsourcing is where the management gets some of the jobs done outside the organization instead of having in-house departments handle them. The outsourced jobs are either assigned to individuals or organizations (Cromie and Zott, 2013). Over the past decade, it has become one of the major trends in many human resource departments. Both small and large companies opt for outsourcing with an aim of recording growth and at the same time restraining the overhead and payroll costs.
It is vital for a company that is outsourcing services to ensure that they have strategies to manage the workers that are not employees. First, they should ensure the vendors can do the job. As such, references should be sought and former clients asked about their satisfaction with the services offered by the outsourced individual or company (Atzeni, 2014). The management must ensure that the vendors are not distracted with other work; must maintain total focus. Secondly, the management should ensure that the vendor bears the liabilities in case of issues with the deadlines or quality of work.
Outsourced activities should reduce the operational costs in the company (Rolstadas, Henriksen and O'Sullivan, 2012). For instance, the company could adopt a plan that integrates managing the deliverables, communication, as well as collaborating with the service providers. First, the top management should collaborate with the vendors and work together. Second, the top management should have an open door policy type of communication with the vendor. The outsourced activities could also be organized in such a way that they remain permanent or temporary aiming at bridging the gap in the organization (Brinkkemper and Jansen, 2012).
Handling social media platforms requires a lot of time, dedication, and expertise that businesses lack or cannot afford. Hence, outsourcing some social media aspects to a competent and reputable vendor can prove effective. What usually happens is that the vendor has access and control over the social media platform in question. They can monitor the conversations that pertain to the employer, Hilton, and insert themselves. Through that, they can influence the discussion and as a result, help the company. The vendors also actively seek out new followers on Twitter, share content from thought leaders or potential and existing customers. Hilton will outsource its content management and media marketing to a competent and reputable company that will regularly update Hilton’s social channels with relevant content specific to the hospitality industry. The Facebook and Twitter platforms will have articles, relevant posts, stories as well as customised narratives for each item. These will be updated on a daily basis or the frequency deemed appropriate. The vendor will need to be aware of the different time zones and localization issues to avoid posting in the middle of the night. In addition, the vendor will engage with the clients through social media to cultivate or maintain a virtual relationship that will translate into revenue through having more clients. Sampling the comments on social media is an important way of determining the different amendments required in the business (Vagadia, 2012).
The outsourced activities require proper organization in order to be a success; effectively managing these social media aspects will ensure that. Firstly, the content should be compelling and interesting. It should also target the specific channel audience-Facebook and Twitter. Secondly, customer engagement should be sincere. Responding to their questions and comments will highlight how important they are to Hilton. Thirdly, conversations that garner most interest should be tracked for further exploitation (Doyle, 2013). Fourthly, as with any plan, measurement is crucial to determine weaknesses and build on the strengths. Lastly, the company will create a position for a liaison who will work together with the vendor. The media analyst will represent Hilton’s interests and report. The analyst will translate Hilton to the vendor and vice versa.
Human resources must partner with line and senior managers to ensure the effective execution of strategies. They also should be experts in delivering efficiencies in administration and reduce costs with a maintained quality of the products (Ulrich, 1998). TWith the company serving different people in different time zones in the different outlets, the human resource department needs to be in tandem with all subordinate managers. For instance, there are different zones that have their economies running for 24 hours while others run for 12 hours. As such, the human resource department should ensure that the number of staff are well distributed to ensure that all businesses run to maximally utilize the business hours without straining their staff. The management at the head office should also run 24 hours a day to monitor and address any issues such as worker go-slows and inefficiencies that come from any business outlet at any time.
Privacy
There are 8 guiding principles relating data protection to social media. Data must be processed lawfully and fairly. Data should only be processed for only the limited purposes and not for other manners incompatible with the purposes. In the social media, the data provided must be adequate and relevant. In any case, it should not be excessive. The data must also be accurate and always up to date (OCL, 2015). The data that has served its purpose must be disposed and not kept for long. The subject’s rights on the data must also be considered to ensure confidentiality. Security must also be guaranteed in terms of passwords and locking of printed documents in cabinets. Finally, data transfer must seek explicit consent from the individual owners. Understanding the data protection act improves the working practices of staff in compliance with the act. The principles affect the use of information on social media (Plugge, 2012). The audience handling data on social media are susceptible to the legal implications of mishandling data. Additionally, the principle increases the sensitivity of the type of data on social media. For instance, the data on social media must be accurate, up to date, and secure.
Handling customer data is sensitive in terms of dos and don’ts. First, no information should be disclosed to external organizations without consulting the individual consents (Gold, 2012). Second, data must not be processed without the organization getting consent from the source. Third, the information processed must be accurate as it was at the source (University of Leicester, 2016). The data must also be secured using passwords after it has been processed. All the documents containing customer data should be shredded for disposal.
Bibliography
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Brinkkemper, S. and Jansen, S. eds., 2012. Collaboration in Outsourcing: A Journey to Quality. New York, NY: Palgrave Macmillan.
Cromie, J. and Zott, L.M., 2013. Outsourcing. Detroit: Greenhaven Press.
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Gold, T., 2012. Ethics in IT Outsourcing. New York: CRC Press-Taylor & Francis Group.
Information Commissioner’s Office (OCL), 2015. Data Protection Act 1998: Information Commissioner's guidance about the issue of monetary penalties prepared and issued under section 55C (1) of the Data Protection Act 1998. [pdf] United Kingdom: Williams Lea Group. Available at: https://ico.org.uk/media/for-organisations/documents/1043720/ico-guidance-on-monetary-penalties.pdf [Accessed 9 March 2016].
Plugge, A., 2012. Managing Change in IT Outsourcing: Towards a Dynamic Fit Model. New York, NY: Palgrave Macmillan.
Rolstadås, A., Henriksen, B. and O'Sullivan, D., 2012. Manufacturing Outsourcing: A Knowledge Perspective. London: Springer.
Ulrich, D., 1998. A New Mandate for Human Resources. Harvard Business Review, January-February Issue [online] Available at: https://hbr.org/1998/01/a-new-mandate-for-human-resource [Accessed 9 March 2016].
Vagadia, B., 2012. Strategic Outsourcing: The Alchemy to Business Transformation in a Globally Converged World. New York: Springer.
