The Howard Government has made public its agenda to significantly reform the
Australian Public Service (APS). It has presented its vision for a highly efficient
APS which is globally competitive by being customer focused, and by
benchmarking best practice in organisation management. Outsourcing of a
range of internal functions is but one of the strategies Commonwealth agency
Chief Executive Officers are applying or considering to apply in achieving the
Government's vision for a reformed APS.
When examining functions to be outsourced within Commonwealth agencies it
seems that many senior managers see benefits in outsourcing a range of
corporate support functions. Such support functions, which are considered as
potentially being undertaken by private sector vendors, generally include
property management, financial management, payroll services, records
management, human resource management (HRM) and human resource
development (HRD).
In view of the varying impacts different functions have on an organisation it
would be rational to consider the implications of outsourcing each function
separately. All functions are complex and have their own specific impacts on
the organisation. In its own right HRD has a significant impact on an
organisation in that it develops and trains employees, initiates and delivers a
range of interventions to improve performance and brings about a desired
corporate culture.
The idea of outsourcing the HRD function presents an interesting topic for
study. Recent APS reforms, which include outsourcing strategies, provide an
opportunity to examine the practice of outsourcing the HRD function within
selected Commonwealth agencies.
Outsourcing the HRD function, within the Commonwealth context, raises two
basic questions:
· What factors need to be considered before deciding to outsource (or not
outsource) the HRD function?
· What factors do managers within selected Commonwealth agencies
consider before arriving at a decision to outsource the HRD function?
In essence this study seeks to review how HRD and outsourcing generally
apply to the APS. It also critically examines the outsourcing of the HRD
function in certain Commonwealth agencies, and the implication this could have
for ongoing people and organisation development.
| Identifer | oai:union.ndltd.org:ADTP/219153 |
| Date | January 1999 |
| Creators | Ostrowski, Romuald, n/a |
| Publisher | University of Canberra. Professional & Community Education |
| Source Sets | Australiasian Digital Theses Program |
| Language | English |
| Detected Language | English |
| Rights | ), Copyright Romuald Ostrowski |
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