Introduction
Outsourcing legal services in the modern globalized business sphere is no longer a novelty but a reality. However, given the specifics of the field of legal services, outsourcing has its benefits and risks. Since the service fulfills “the supporting role within the businesses,” its outsourcing can significantly affect the effectiveness and customer satisfaction (Agburu et al., 2017, p. 7). As per the main drivers of change, outsourcing is associated with greater cost-effectiveness and time-efficiency (Agburu et al., 2017). Outsourcing legal services such as drafting, research, and review allows a company to focus on the core competencies instead of easily delegated administrative tasks.
Main text
While legal outsourcing can increase business effectiveness, cross-cultural communication variables can act as a risk. Thatcher (2017) noted that cross-cultural barriers to communication are primary obstacles to effective outsourcing because different organizations can have either “high or low context cultures” (p. 223). This applies to legal services as it is a highly technical field that relies on communication and mutual understanding for positive results. Thus, I believe that legal processes can only be partially outsourced. However, the outsourced department needs to undergo training to understand the foreign organizational hierarchy and the appropriate communication style to deliver the best results.
As it concerns other processes that have the potential to be outsourced, the list includes fields like IT, customer service, and accounting. Similar to legal services, they allow businesses to focus on their core missions and require less funding and organizational efforts, which serve as the main benefits. However, unlike legal processes, these fields require less cross-cultural communication; even highly technical departments like IT do not require extensive training for better communication and thus pose fewer risks.
Conclusion
Given all the previous points into consideration, business managers should consider specific issues when deciding to outsource a particular department. For instance, some of the most influential aspects are the compatibility of communication styles, competence, and security. These elements should be taken into consideration since they significantly affect the quality of the outsourced service. If workers are not adequately trained to perform the tasks, are not able to communicate within the needed cultural norms, and lack security standards, productivity suffers (Feng et al., 2020). Other less influential factors to consider are the possibility of conflict and organizational inconsistencies. These elements have varying degrees of significance, depending on whether the outsourced service is technical and requires much communication.
References
Agburu, J., Anza, N., & Iyortsuun, A. (2017). Effect of outsourcing strategies on the performance of small and medium scale enterprises. Journal of Global Entrepreneurship Research, 7(1), 1-15. Web.
Feng, N., Chen, Y., Feng, H., Li, D., & Li, M. (2020). To outsource or not: The impact of information leakage risk on information security strategy. Information & Management, 57(5), 103215. Web.
Thatcher, B. (2017). Outsourcing Technical Communication. Routledge.