Assessment of Change Management in Outsourcing

Tutkielma osittain rajattu julkisuudelta 22.5.2016 asti The companies of today are competing in ever-changing business environments that require effectiveness and readiness to change. Many companies try to focus on their core competencies, and this often means outsourcing some parts of the company. In the outsourcing literature much emphasis has been put on the strategic aspects of outsourcing such as decision-making and the outcomes and effects, but not so much on how the outsourcing itself can be managed. This study contributes to the outsourcing literature by focusing on the process of outsourcing, more precisely the transition phase, which has been said to greatly influence the success of outsourcing. The aim of this study is to examine the transition as a change and provide tools to assess it. The literature on change management is used to approach this subject from the managerial point of view. This study consists of a literature review and a qualitative single-case study. The literature review develops a framework based on both the change management literature and the outsourcing literature. The case in this study is an IT organization of a Finnish multinational company which has recently outsourced its services to an outside provider. The data consists of secondary data collected by the company during the transition phase, and primary data collected by the researcher after the transition phase. The primary data was collected with semi-structured interviews from five people from three different organizational levels in the IT organization. The findings suggest that change management can and should be used to help in the transition phase of outsourcing. Seven factors are identified from the findings which require attention in the change management of outsourcing. Based on these, an assessment tool is developed for managerial use. Asiasanat:Outsourcing, transition, change management, change, assessmen