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An engineering management view of the impact of the procurement cycle on the project schedule of an outsourced PMO in a matrix-style organisation

  • Authors: Van Jaarsveldt, Marius
  • Date: 2013-05-27
  • Subjects: Engineering management , Project management , Outsourcing , Industrial procurement , Materials management
  • Type: Thesis
  • Identifier: uj:7545 , http://hdl.handle.net/10210/8403
  • Description: M.Ing. (Engineering Management) , Projects are often outsourced to an external project management office that has to adapt and operate in a matrix style organisational structure. This project management office is then forced to follow the project management framework enforced by their clients, especially if these clients operate on a global, multinational business level. In such cases it is common practice that the project management office also has to follow a strict procurement approval process to ensure controlled project capital governance, which often results in project baseline schedule delays. The source of these project schedule delays may even cause conflict between the project management office, the respective project manager and their common clients. As part of the current research, various procurement transactions within such a project environment were tracked as a case study to validate the approval efficiency of all approval authorities within the procurement process itself. The duration for transaction approvals were tracked in order to compare it with existing service level agreements between the relevant stakeholders. The results obtained from the above study indicate that the actual procurement approval duration is misaligned with the theoretical and expected procurement approval duration, confirming that existing service level agreements should be aligned with more realistic deliverable expectations. The current research confirms that the organisational structure of this particular matrix style project environment and the way in which the procurement process is governed for transaction approval, have a direct negative impact on project deliverables; especially on the baseline schedule. The current research also confirms that the client organisation should be sensitive in how they structure their project organisational environment as over-governance of the procurement process can often result in unexpected schedule delays. This over-governance of the procurement process exposes various inefficiencies in the overall process, without necessarily enhancing overall project governance. The current research shows that restructuring of the procurement approval process could reduce the procurement approval duration, and present a more realistic service level agreement between the project stakeholders. This will allow the project manager to more accurately define his baseline project schedule and align all stakeholders’ project schedule expectations.
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A study of information technology outsourcing practices

  • Authors: Hlawu-Chihwenga, Francis
  • Date: 2013-12-09
  • Subjects: Information technology - Contracting out , Outsourcing
  • Type: Thesis
  • Identifier: uj:7829 , http://hdl.handle.net/10210/8722
  • Description: M.Comm. (Computer Auditing) , It is undeniable that over the last couple of years information technology outsourcing has witnessed considerable success and growth in South Africa and the world at large. However, there have been a number of IT outsourcing failures as evidenced by the substantial number of organizations that outsourced their IT systems and then moved them back in-house, or outsourced to another service provider. This is proof that some of the practices inherent in IT outsourcing are flawed. In order to find out why IT outsourcing was failing in South Africa, the study investigated the current practices in IT outsourcing against the best practices. A comprehensive literature study on IT outsourcing best practices and an empirical study on outsourcing organizations employing the services of top IT outsourcing service providers in South Africa was done. The research study revealed strong evidence that organizations are experimenting with different types of IT outsourcing that consequently have different benefits and risks. The empirical findings also proved that there was no ‘one size fits all’ when it came to the reasons for justifying outsourcing IT by organizations. It was also clear that no organization would openly admit to having hidden agendas that informed why and how they outsourced their IT. The study also found strong evidence of critical success factors that are significant and are embraced by IT outsourcing organizations. Also revealed, there were control considerations in IT outsourcing that showed strong evidence of applicable risks and the governance mechanisms employed.
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Effects of outsourcing on employment generation : evidence from the telecommunications sector of Uganda

Solidarity during the “Outsourcing Must Fall” Campaign : the role of different players in ending outsourcing at South African universities

  • Authors: Hlatshwayo, M. S.
  • Date: 2020
  • Subjects: Workers , Outsourcing , Insourcing
  • Language: English
  • Type: Article
  • Identifier: http://hdl.handle.net/10210/453415 , uj:40029 , Citation: To cite this article: Mondli Hlatshwayo (2020) Solidarity During the ‘Outsourcing Must Fall’ Campaign: The Role of Different Players in Ending Outsourcing at South African Universities, Politikon, 47:3, 305-320, DOI: 10.1080/02589346.2020.1795993
  • Description: Abstract: In South Africa, outsourced workers began their struggles in the 1990s, when universities started to implement the outsourcing of services that were considered non-core by university administrations. In analysing the struggle against outsourcing of 2015 and 2016, different scholars have tended to emphasise the role of either the outsourced workers or the student activists of “#Fees Must Fall” (FMF) - a campaign which opposed fee increases in 2015 and 2016 and took up the cause of outsourced workers. Based on interviews with workers directly affected by outsourcing, student activists and trade unionists, as well as internet sources and original documents, this article gives an account of the roles of the various groups involved in the campaign: the students who were part of FMF, the workers who were directly affected by outsourcing, NGOs and socialist groupings who united and defeated outsourcing in 2015 and 2016. The solidarity between students, workers, political groups and some academics ended what the unions could not end for close to twenty-five years in less than a year. In discussing outsourcing in the context of FMF, scholars who have written about the end of outsourcing or what is regarded as #Outsourcing Must Fall (OMF) tended to focus on a single case study or a single university. In contrast, this article focuses on campaigns against outsourcing at different South African universities, and provides an overview of the dynamics of solidarity during the struggles against outsourcing in the context of FMF.
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Is outsourcing better? clients views on contracting in domestic cleaning services

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