Is Outsourcing An Ethical Practice : An Essay
Outsourcing is simply the practice of simply hiring a contract from an outside company or an individual contractor to perform contractual work. In general, outsourcing means that you find it advantageous to assign tasks instead of hiring full-time staff.
The concept of outsourcing is a simple one: It allows companies to focus on core operations while reducing costs. However, it also comes with a set of responsibilities that are usually delegated to other people. An example of this is hiring an outside firm to perform work instead of paying employees to do it. This is usually done for many business advantages.
There may be many reasons why companies choose to outsource. It maybe to use expertise of another business, lower the costs and labor benefits to name a few. Although outsourcing offers innumerable benefits, it is important to understand the implications of what it is and who does it. This brings us to a question that is it even ethical to outsource certain or all activities of the business, especially in today's everchanging dynamic world.
Although outsourcing can be beneficial to businesses, it is still a debate as to whether it is ethical or not. Some companies are concerned about the ethics of outsourcing practices due to the location of their suppliers. Companies also deal with the ethics and outsourcing practices of providers.
Outsourcing is a central part of the globalization debate. Outsourcing to low-wage regions of developing countries raises serious questions about sustainability, ethics, and business practices that companies need to be aware of. With lax labor laws, exploitation, sweatshop production, and precarious working conditions common in many regions, companies must remain vigilant throughout their operations, including outsourcing.
It is imperative for companies to ensure the quality of their offers, to comply with legal requirements and to comply with self-imposed quality standards. Any company would want to see their customers perceiving their business and their products to be of the highest possible quality. So in a way outsourcing puts pressure on any company to monitor and maintain high quality standards, especially the global corporations. Ethical responsibility for sources must remain high on the agenda in the ongoing global quest for low-cost, locally sourced supplies.
Ethical concerns about outsourcing manufacturing jobs range from human rights violations to issues of living standards. Fair or not, the pressure to outsource ethical issues stems from the citizens' perspective that companies promote employment by choosing cost-effective contractual relationships. Outsourced workers are often paid low wages. The way a company treats its outsourcing partner should be an ethical consideration. In general, the business practices should relate to both the business partner and a company's own corporate image.
It is the responsibility of outsourcing companies to ensure that their practices are generally in line with their own ethical standards. If a company fails to fulfil social obligations, if it outsources a job, it will commit human rights violations and labor violations.
Companies want to outsource because they want to make the best possible profit. Due to the costs and flexibility of outsourcing, many companies practice outsourcing, especially production companies. When a company decides to outsource the production of goods and services, they think that it saves them money and increases their profits.
The outsourcing of manufacturing jobs is beneficial for all companies. Outsourcing is an amazing opportunity, especially for small business owners, to compete with the big players, the majority of whom are not outsourcing to them. Another important reason for outsourcing is that it allows companies to reach out to us to find the best expertise for the job.
One of the main negative impacts of outsourcing is that it often brings with it sweat shops. This practice involves the exploitation of workers in foreign countries, generally in developing and under-developing nations.
Companies that source their products from foreign firms can become the target of public relations firestorms. When faced with such issues, they often adopt more stringent standards. During times of high unemployment, companies face scrutiny when it comes to outsourcing. This scrutiny relates to the ethical issues involved in selecting a contractor. Treating its outsourced partners with the same ethical considerations as its own employees can affect a company's bottom line.
Outsourcing looks profitable for companies as they try to reduce the cost of cheap labor and services, but there is an ethical dilemma with offshoring. Companies are driven by profit, and outsourcing helps. If a company has many customers and employees, outsourcing certain elements such as payroll and taxes makes great business sense. But with that being said, it brings a great responsibility which the companies who are outsourcing must take on and that is to ensure that the business is conducted in an ethical manner.
This content is accurate and true to the best of the author’s knowledge and is not meant to substitute for formal and individualized advice from a qualified professional.
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