Free Custom «Essentials of Business Communication» Essay Paper

This paper focuses on the analysis of the similarities and differences of a formal business research and a business proposal from the theoretical and practical point of view. Even though the two documents have similarities, they also vary greatly in their functions. The two documents can also operate together to create the most favorable solutions for businesses that desire for financial abundance. A company can make a decision to use one instead of the other or decide to use both depending on the end use and the company’s overall goal (Guffey & Almonte, 2009).

            The most common feature shared by both a formal research and a business proposal is their emphasis on goal attainment. In the case of a business proposal, the focus of the goal attainment is on cost reduction or increasing revenue. Formal research on the other hand, seeks to find out completely new information that is useful in determining the viability of a business in the target market. The course towards attaining a goal that leads to meaningful action being taken is a similarity. Secondly, business proposals focus on defining a sequence of tasks that are accomplished normally in a chronological order, in coordination with other functional areas. This characteristic is also common in formal research, including dependence on statistical analysis and expertise to ensure reliability and validation of the information being researched. The two documents also emphasizes on time as a vital aspect of the tasks to be defined.

 

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            Despite the similarities in business proposal and formal research, the two documents have numerous differences both in theory and in practice. Starting from the theoretical side, there is significant variation between a business proposal and a formal research in terms of their degree of statistical strength and validity (Hristozova, 2006). A business proposal does not have to be purposely designed to represent a broader population with exceedingly high levels of accuracy, as required by a formal research. In addition, the methodology for conducting a formal research should be detailed and thorough in order to enable extensive results that are effective and reliable be arrived at.  On the other hand, high level of accuracy is not required in preparing a business plan but it should be effective in discussing the opportunities, risks, strengths, weaknesses as well as rewards associated with a given business opportunity. The lack of need for high degree of accuracy in preparing a business proposal makes it hard to predict the outcome of a business proposal.

            Evaluation of results is another area where the two documents differ. Whereas business proposals have specific objectives aimed at generating revenue, they do not have precise results that are associated with formal research. On the other hand methodologies of formal research take into account the possible respondent biasness, sampling errors etc that may occur in the course of the research thus increasing their chances of correctness.

According to Mabey and Finch-Lees (2007), another difference between a formal research and a business proposal is based on financial implication. While financial implications remains an outstanding feature of a business proposal, formal researches are not oriented towards generating more revenue to a business. The key objective of a business proposal is the identification of a need which requires to be addressed in order to create more revenue or financial savings. However this is not relevant with a formal research.

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            It is important however to note that in most cases, the results of formal research trigger fearful reactions; but when carried out in an appropriate manner, the findings are usually beneficial to a business (Onjoro, 1993). Writing a business proposal requires that a formal research be conducted on the market where the business is to take place. This is vital in gauging the viability of that particular business. It is needless to take one’s products and services to a market where they have no demand. This implies that both a business proposal and a formal research go together; without the results of the research, the proposal is ineffective. The intention of a business plan is to identify a target market and to illustrate how the customized solutions will be delivered to the consumers in that market.

            Another similarity in the two documents is that there are no restrictions in the presentation of their findings. The reports having the results of the findings of the two documents may or may not be presented containing headings and/ or subheadings. Note that a formal research should always have a scholarly orientation. Its value in the world of business ends the moment it provides the foundation for further research concerning the business. In addition, the scope of the two documents are limited by the problem or topic articulated in the call for proposals which each document respond to. Besides, the two documents being able to satisfactorily respond to the readers concerns, they should also be able to pass a feasibility test. This is vital in making sure that the solutions proposed in the documents can be enacted accurately, cheaply and easily.

            According to Wilson (2010), the goal of a business proposal is to come up with new solutions, products or services that will eventually generate additional revenue to the business. However, with a formal research, the emphasis is on finding specific data that will enable better decisions to be made in the business be it for the customers, market or the business budget. While the approach of researches is theoretical, plans on the other hand, present a practical approach on the ways of increasing revenue for the business.

There are also similarities and variations in the different sections of both documents. Both have introductory and concluding remarks. However, when it comes to the methodology section, the formal research has it while the plan does not. The reason behind this is that the research has to detail how the data will be determined.  Another variation in the two documents is their overall use. Reports from formal researches are usually used by financial analysts and product developers in determining whether a business should develop a product or not, depending on the market demand. A business proposal is used to find out the optimal way of market entry after the development of the product (Sant, 2004).

            Human resource outsourcing is a powerful method through which companies nowadays focus on core capabilities, save money and enhance their services. It is important to note that this is not a new method via which companies gain market share and profit. Businesses particularly those being faced with stiff competition resulting from globalization, often turn to outsourcing as a way to generate jobs and economic growth as well as to improve performance (Blokdijk, 2008). This part of the paper focuses on the impact of human resource outsourcing on development of leadership and employee commitment.

During the1970s in the US, it was common for payroll processing to be outsourced. In the 1980s, organizations started to include more programs in the outsourcing list such as word processing, accounting as well as invoicing. The severe recession experienced in the 1990s led to companies struggling to remain competitive in the market; outsourcing became a way to recover competitive strength and streamline operations. For more than thirty years, international organizations in the US have outsourced research and development as well as manufacturing facilities of chemicals, semiconductors and even pharmaceuticals. As at the year 2003, outsourcing business was booming with worldwide revenue of 298.5 B US dollars being recorded.

Studies in 2003 predicted a huge boom in the Human Resource outsourcing industry. The prediction was that by the year 2004, the United States outsourcing industry market would grow to 78 billion US dollars. The leading countries in the world market of outsourcing include India and China, constituting 373 billion US dollars. There has also been an increased growth in the world market of Human Resource marketing. In the year 2002, the figure was $21.7 billion and this increased to $58.5 billion in the year 2005 (Blokdijk, 2008). Seventy percent of the HR outsourcing comes from companies in North America specializing in financial services, high-tech services, manufacturing and telecom services. It is predicted that by the year 2012, the outsourcing market will be more than 160 billion US dollars. Companies for instance American Express and Sony among others are on record to be outsourcing Human resource activities such as recruiting, benefit administration as well as payroll. According to executives at Sony, the company’s model of outsourcing is viewed as a future wave.

            It is worth noting that a company comprises of both people and functions. The combination of organizational processes and human effort directly determines the output of a company. Even though outsourcing can help increase the end result, few studies have looked at the loss of an organization’s intangible asset, which is the human element. Without the element of humanity, organizations risk loosing their competitiveness. Human resource constitutes the most significant resource any organization can ever have and they form the basis of the production success of a company. Therefore effective management of human resources is necessary for the continuation of any organizations success.

            In the modern world market, one of the challenges facing human resource management is to attract skilled employees and be able to retain the knowledge they have. As organizations continue to appreciate the value in their employees, one thing remains clear; that knowledge forms a key aspect of competition and that it cannot be duplicated with ease. Professionals in an organization’s human resource department have the responsibility of advising senior leadership as well as acting as advocates for employees. Human resource practices within an organization help to build the commitment and loyalty of the employees as well as preventing looming reduction in employee productivity caused by dissatisfaction and low morale of employees. According to Hale (2006), staff development through skill building programs, better working conditions and better pay are some of the strategies a company’s HR can employ to motivate its workers.   

            Organizations that intend to remain competitive in the market need to employ strategies that will help improve employee commitment. Changes in work practices associated with HR outsourcing may not be compatible with high commitment of employees. Some people argue that HR outsourcing puts workers at risk of being disposable as opposed to being adaptable. Coupled with stress associated with work restructuring, this can lower employee commitment. Consequently, the low commitment of employees will negatively impact on their productivity, which in turn affects the quality of products produces as well as labor turn over. For instance, when there is employee retrenchment which is associated with outsourcing, the morale of the remaining workers will be greatly lowered. This can impact negatively on their performance and the overall performance of the company, thereby affecting turnover.

            The effect of HR outsourcing on leadership development has not received so much attention yet it has a long term impact. Many outsourcing firms assume that they will be able to receive advanced level of corporate knowledge and experience to fill up their openings. What about when the sources of expertise dry up after some time, where will they turn to? The downsizing associated with outsourcing leads to removal of potential future HR leaders, putting an organization at risk of facing employee shortage in case of retire of incumbent HR leaders as well as drying up of external sources of expertise. More studies however need to be done to further determine how HR outsourcing affects leadership development.

Pros and Cons of HR outsourcing

            HR outsourcing has numerous advantages to an organization which include freeing up of resources of a company through reduction of investment on assets, generating extra capital through assets transfer to the provider, it leads to increased efficiency by focusing on issues that are important, it leads to increased business flexibility to dynamic circumstances in business. In addition, human resource outsourcing also leads to increased value of the product, customer, shares and services; in fact it creates a wide transformation within an organization (Hale, 2006).

            HR outsourcing also leads to organizational modification that is revenue driven. Through the provider’s network, HR outsourcing helps in gaining access to the market as well as business opportunities. Other benefits include tapping capacity, systems and process of the provider as well as accelerating expansion; it also leads to expansion of sales and production of a business during financial crisis; it makes the most of the skills existing in an organization and aids in obtaining benefits from them. Lastly, HR outsourcing increases the commitment and energy of employees in non-core areas as well as providing them with a stronger professional path.

            According to Hale (2006), the disadvantages include; it leads to the modification of an organization’s support system thus affecting its strength; leads to reduced learning ability of a company; necessitates that a lot of coordination takes place between an organization and the urgency offering the services; it affects an organization’s integration capacity; leads to a company compromising its power over the outsourced processes; leads to increased insecurity among workers; leads to reduced morale and motivation of employees when employees are retrenched.