Advice to the Head of Property Operations in the Mod - Essay Example

FACILITIES MANAGERS By Name Course Instructor Institution City/State Date Table of Contents FACILITIES MANAGERS 1 Table of Contents 2 Abstract 3 Introduction 4 Type of Outsourcing Arrangements for the Two Contracts 4 Legislation Likely To Have an Impact on These Contractual Arrangements 5 Risks in the Suggested Approaches and Managing Them Effectively 6 Performance Management of the Services Provided 8 Recommendations 9 Conclusion 10 References 11 Facilities Managers Abstract Outsourcing growth has been fuelled by a number of benefits. Even though early outsourcing activities emphasised on cost savings, the objective of outsourcing has recently changed from cost savings to value creation. Some of the value additions attributed to outsourcing include improved services’ quality, innovation, accessibility to outside talent, new technology, and improved flexibility. These days, the facility is expected to ensure adequate maintenance of the premises from floors and restrooms, to sidewalks and exteriors. Even though some cleaning tasks can be handled by the janitorial staff, other tasks are more complicated and can only be handled by specialty cleaning companies. In view of this, outsourcing the cleaning services to the specialty cleaning company may be beneficial to the facility and property managers, both in terms of service as well as cost. Given that cleaning specialists are trained professionally and their cleaning products and equipment are of high quality, MoD will certainly get quality services. Besides that, outsourcing catering services will help in reducing the burden of adhering to the complex food regulations since the contractor will be responsible in abiding by the food industry regulatory requirements. The report provides advice to the Head of Property Operations in the MoD concerning the options of options of outsourcing the cleaning and catering functions. Introduction Basically, there are specialised as well as individuals units with specialisation in project management; therefore, MoD can outsource the cleaning or catering services to such units. Normally, in-house cleaning workers lack training of the cleaning techniques that can be used to properly disinfect every part of the office and meeting rooms, including restrooms. On the other hand, contracted cleaners are adequately trained, and therefore, can safely carry out tasks and they guarantee hygiene and cleanliness. In this case, while contracting a cleaning firm one must ensure that they have ISO 9001 certification, which is an assurance for quality service. Outsourcing can help MoD choose a cleaning service, which provides sustainable cleaning, whereby people will not be exposed to harmful volatile organic compounds brought about by cleaning chemicals. By outsourcing to a professional cleaning firm, services will be provided by up-to-date on cleaning practices and products that are environmentally sound. Outsourcing catering operations will offer MoD a best opportunity with regard to managing food service operations. Basically, catering operations need a company to strictly abide by the regulatory requirements like food safety regulations as well as environment pollution regulations, and this can become challenging to the organisation; thus, the only practical solution to this risk is outsourcing. Type of Outsourcing Arrangements for the Two Contracts There are different types of outsourcing arrangements that MoD can use; for instance, business process outsourcing (BPO) can be espoused because of its potential of greater efficiency and lower labour cost. As mentioned by Lawler et al. (2004, p.71), BPO ability to relieve some of the executives’ management responsibilities is advantageous since most executives exhaust their time trying to managing business activities and sometimes coming up with strategies that will successfully advance the company. This can look somehow different when business processes are outsourced. Outsourcing leaves the executives with more time that can be used to explore new areas of revenue; fast-track other projects as well as concentrates on important issues (Brcar, 2011, p.145). In consequence, this results in improved productivity. Another type of outsourcing arrangement feasible for MoD is the multisourcing, is applicable to all business areas, but normally utilised to refer IT services and IT outsourcing. MoD can use multisourcing because it is well integrated, outcome-focused, and functions in a ‘partner’ relationship manner that offers improved visibility and reduces conflict of interests. Still, multisourcing will need MoD to have a network of governance and relationships, a strategy, and creation of important measurements. Process-Specific Outsourcing is another type of outsourcing arrangement, which normally is specific to an internal procedure or a process. Nowadays, outsourcing specific aspects of operation to other units or companies, which focus on that particular service, has become prevalent. The last type of outsourcing arrangement that MoD can use is Project Outsourcing, which is crucial for managing a particular project. Legislation Likely To Have an Impact on These Contractual Arrangements One of the legislation that will affect the MoD contractual arrangements is the Transfer of Undertakings (Protection of Employment) Regulations 2006 (TUPE) that can result to some liabilities and obligations related to employment for the involved companies in the outsourcing scenarios. MoD will have to: examine whether TUPE is applicable to the contractual arrangements, in consideration of the TUPE Amendments changes (Equality and Human Rights Commission, 2014, p.68). Besides that, the risk of valid claims by employees should be reduced at all cost by making sure the organisation adheres to the requirements. The provisions to be incorporated in the transaction documents must be considered and MoD should consider whether it can capitalise on the most recent changes that allow variations to be made by the acquirers in transferring terms of employment of the employees following the transfer. Legislation likely to impacts the contractual arrangements is the UK food safety laws, which strive to protect the end-user by making sure that the supplied food is safe consumption (Hutter & Amodu, 2008, p.4). The majority of the provisions in the UK food safety laws focus on prevention instead of cure. Therefore, food business operators in any contractual arrangements are expected to prove that they have adopted hygienic practice. Besides that, the risks related to food preparation and processing must be examined by the food laws enforcers. Besides that, the contractual arrangements must take into account the UK diversity and equality requirements. The parties in the outsourcing arrangements are expected to prevent unlawful discrimination by promoting diversity and equality (Greene & Kirton, 2010, p.122). Risks in the Suggested Approaches and Managing Them Effectively The services at MoD can be outsourced successfully; however, the risk cannot. There are a number of risks that will include; the levels of end-user satisfaction and On-time delivery performance can decline due to third parties’ delays. Basically, this risk may be aggravated seriously when the service is outsourced since delays may be cause by different factors like labour disputes, customs delays, weather, and uncertainty caused by outbreak of infectious disease. An increase in variability and lead-time will create need for higher levels of stock as well as other expensive buffers, which may result to deterioration of the supply chain confidence (O’Keeffe & Vanlandingham, 2004, p.2). Besides that, outsourcing can negatively affect the quality of service, which may consequently affect satisfaction (Koehler, 2015, p.4). Besides that, the transition phase of outsourcing can experience failure if the budgets as well as schedules are not realised due to inadequate resources or/and poor planning. Another risk is that suppliers could be at financial risk, which may expose the client to risk of supply interruption. The risks can be exacerbated if there is no commitment from the management; the outsourcing methodologies’ knowledge is inadequate; when there is no outsourcing communications plan; and the company’s inability to identify the outsourcing business risks. Other risks include inability to capitalise on the external knowledge sources, hastening the outsourcing initiative, and failure to appreciate differences in culture. These risks can be managed by ensuring that there is no culture misalignment, the pace of technology change is compatible, and there is continuity even after employee shuffles. Besides that, an all-inclusive communication programme must be developed as well as disseminated to every individual that will be affected by the process of outsourcing. Besides that, MoD should ensure that the service provider understand the people customs and norms. Besides that, so as to maintain a suitable balance between cost as well as capacity, it is important to determine the criteria up front as well as facilitate the changing requirements. Or else, the MoD performance needs will not be met eventually. The MoD should wisely select their outsourcing partners so as to make sure that quality is maintained. Imperatively, MoD should understand that selecting the right contractor is very important for the whole outsourcing process since any error in the selection stage may result in frustration. For this reason, the contractor must be selected cautiously in line with the organisation requirements as well as in consideration of the desired output. Besides that, in order to avoid legal complications in the future, the contracting parties have to adhere to the UK legislations. During contract negotiations, representatives from both sides must be available and the contract terms must be clear. Performance Management of the Services Provided According to McIvor (2010, p.183), performance management is important in making the organisation’s mission tangible as well as determining performance measures and objectives that are comprehensible. Normally, the reasons why most organisations decide to outsource are dominated by performance considerations. Outsourcing decision making is steered by performance concerns bearing in mind that the processes that can be performed internally by the organisation are those with greater performance position, and which cannot be replicated easily. On the other hand, the MoD should outsource ‘non-core’ processes such as catering and cooking because the contractors have greater performance positions. Still, MoD should understand that performance management has effects on the outsourcing decision as well as management and implementation of the outsourcing arrangement. Managing performance effectively at the time of outsourcing relationship needs suitable skills from the parties involved in the contractual arrangements, not just in comprehending performance but as well in steering performance improvements (Langfield-Smith et al., 2000, p.73). Normally, the client fail to offer adequate resource for managing problems associated performance, mainly because they see such problems as the vendor responsibility. When the client over-emphasis on performance measurement in the contractual arrangement, it may negatively affect the relationship (Fitoussi & Gurbaxani, 2007, p.1). Since the contractor will see it as a technique used by client to extract more favourable terms in other contract negotiations that will surface in the future. Still, effective performance management in a contractual arrangement is beneficial; therefore, establishing measures for effective performance before and during the outsourcing relationship may double up as an improvement benchmark. In this case, MoD should put much emphasis on managing performance so as to facilitate the creation of a continuous improvement culture in the outsourcing relationship. Certainly, MoD as the client will have to align the desired outsourcing performance objectives with the outsourcing relationship. Since MoD is looking for continuous improvement, then it must ensure that its relationship with the contractors is on a collaborative basis that focuses on a joint approach for managing problems associated with performance as well as driving improvements. Recommendations In view of the different types of outsourcing arrangements that has been discussed, the outsourcing strategy that should be adopted by the MoD is the business process outsourcing (BPO). Essentially, BPO will enable executives at MoD to focus on the core areas of the organisation. Besides that, BPO will help MoD save time and the executives will be able to fast-track other projects and concentrate on the goals of the organisation and the defence affairs. The catering and cleaning services will be outsourced to companies with skilled people who can efficiently carry out task; therefore, improving the productivity and efficiency in the MoD main building. Imperatively, BOP will help MoD at the main building to realise new efficiencies as well as be able to transfer the resources leading to increased productivity and efficiency. BPO services will help MoD alleviate risks since particular responsibilities and risks will be shared with the contractors. Given that the contractors are specialised in the outsourced field, they will successfully analyse risks involved and come up with solutions to reduce them. Moreover, outsourcing will help MoD to stop hiring and maintaining employees needed to offer catering and cleaning services at the main building. Therefore, outsourcing will reduce the recruitment as well as operational costs. Besides that, BPO is cheap and the techniques used are of state-of-the-art. Through BPO, quality service and skilled expertise will be realised, and people will be able to concentrate on the core mission of providing high quality service. Maintaining the MoD on-site staff restaurant appears to be an extra burden for the MoD, and this can be removed by BPO. Through BPO, the MoD does not need to invest anymore on employee training, or purchasing safety gear for the cleaning staff, since all this are catered by the contractor. Furthermore, BPO will support the MoD consolidations, procurements as well as joint undertakings. Conclusion In conclusion, the report has provided advice to the Head of Property Operations in the MoD concerning the options of options of outsourcing the cleaning and catering functions. As argued in the report, if MoD outsources the cleaning and catering services, new efficiencies will be generated and the productivity will be improved. As a consequence, MoD will successfully reallocate its resources to other projects that are important and staffs can easily increase their productivity and efficiency. Imperatively, the accessibility of highly qualified individuals as well as the faster espousal of business processes that are well-defined, results in the improvements of productivity without affecting the quality. Outsourcing cleaning services will be beneficial to MoD because of its cost-savings and convenience. The cleaning companies can offer more than the normal office cleaning; other services may include maintenance and construction. Besides that, outsourcing catering services will be advantageous for MoD because the company will be able to concentrate more on its defence operations. By outsourcing both cleaning and catering services, the MoD will be in a position to easily espouse the process of changes which may be brought about by the outsourcing processes, changes in defence operations, and introduction of new rules as well as regulations. References Brcar, F., 2011. The Perspective of Business Process Outsourcing in Slovenian Organisations. Organizacija, vol. 44, no. 4, pp.145-50. Equality and Human Rights Commission, 2014. The Invisible Workforce: Employment Practices in the Cleaning Sector. Findings Report. London: Equality and Human Rights Commission. Fitoussi, D. & Gurbaxani, V., 2007. IT Outsourcing Contracts and Performance Measurement. Research Paper. Irvine, CA: Center for Research on IT and Organisations University of California. Greene, A.-m. & Kirton, G., 2010. Diversity Management in the UK: Organisational and Stakeholder Experiences. New York: Routledge. Hutter, B.M. & Amodu, T., 2008. Risk Regulation and Compliance: Food Safety in the UK. London: LSE Enterprise. Koehler, J., 2015. Tunable Security for Deployable Data Outsourcing. Karlsruhe: KIT Scientific Publishing. Langfield-Smith, K., Smith, D. & Stringer, C., 2000. Managing the Outsourcing Relationship. Kensington, NSW: UNSW Press. Lawler, E.E., Ulrich, D., Fitz-enz, J. & Madden, J., 2004. Human Resources Business Process Outsourcing: Transforming How HR Gets Its Work Done. New York: John Wiley & Sons. McIvor, R., 2010. Global Services Outsourcing. Cambridge : Cambridge University Press. O’Keeffe, P. & Vanlandingham, S., 2004. MANAGING THE RISKS OF OUTSOURCING: A SURVEY OF CURRENT PRACTICES AND THEIR EFFECTIVENESS. Working Paper. New York : APICS. Read More