---

Guest post by: Heather Villa Become an Author

Tweet

---

---

How to develop organizational culture in an e-business

It’s a good business decision to outsource: It’s often cheaper to hire outsource staff than to hire in-house. At times, the per-hour cost of outsource staff might be slightly higher than an in-house staff (depending on where the outsource staff is located), but there is less overhead, no payment of benefits and bonuses, and the business can be covered around the clock. More and more businesses today are looking to outsource since business owners need to better manage their time and focus their efforts. And, it's made so much easier with web-based virtual assistance firms for VA's and freelancing sites specialists.



But this outsourcing creates an additional issue that businesses are now dealing with: How do you create a strong organizational culture in a business context that includes outsource service providers, virtual assistants, freelancers, and consultants?



The importance of creating that culture is important. After all, you don’t want to have an “us-versus-them” mentality in your business, with in-house staff not appreciating the value that the outsource staff can provide (and the outsource staff not knowing what’s going on). Instead, you want to have a business operating as a strong, single entity focused on keeping your customers happy.



While it can seem daunting to create that organizational culture it’s really not.



It starts with communication. Make sure that you give your staff (both in-house and outsource) plenty of ways to communicate with each other. Email is one way, instant messaging is another, even Twitter might be a good way. (Just make sure that you’re clear in what your outsource staff can bill).



Set up periodic conference calls as frequently as you might set up a normal in-house meeting. For example, a weekly conference call in which everyone dials in might be a valuable way to touch base and keep everyone up to date. Make sure you hear from everyone. Consider using meeting software like Adobe Connect so people can see each other, share desktops, and take notes, just like in a regular meeting. There might be a slightly increased cost in paying wages for the hour-long meeting, but the enhanced, productive relationships that come out of that will be worth the expense.



Be intentional about who you assign to projects. Connect an in-house person with an outsource service provider; don’t just connect two in-house people because they happen to be in the same room when you need the work done.



Team-building is a little more difficult to do in this situation but not impossible. Have a contest, pairing your in-house staffers each with an outsource service provider (or even two outsource service providers), and give them a project or business problem to find a creative solution to. Again, you might initially resist the added cost, but this builds relationships between team members and it’s still way more productive than having your in-house people in a room for a bunch of silly team-building games.



Today’s business is not done in-house. Businesses of all sizes are spread around the globe and require mindset changes. Remember, if you want to get the best out of all of your team members (in-house and outsource) you’ll want to build a strong organizational culture.

Related Articles

  Do I Really Need A Business License and Tax ID
  You Get What You Reward
  So, What Is Culture?
  Five Benefits of Leadership Development Coaching
  Eight Excellent Cultural Values to Reward In Your Organization
  Creating a Culture of High Performance
  The Importance of Organizational Cultural Values
  Organizational Leadership Communication
  Culture Creates Your Brand's First Impressions
  Five Essential Steps for Creating a Coaching Culture
  Improving Organizational Effectiveness in Turbulent Times
  Overview of Human resource management factors
  Developing a Cultural Hermeneutic to Conflict Resolution
  A HEALTHY COMPANY CULTURE FOR A HEALTHY BOTTOM-LINE
  A simple structure in a complex world is stupid
  Employee Recognition Programs
  Is your leadership effective?
  Environmental Leadership Part 1
  Why SEO is important for your online success
  Understanding Organizational Culture

Related Forum Posts

HRPreneur
English teachers learn Japanese as Interns
Re: Be the type of person you want to meet!
And This is Handy Too!
Working with Suppliers

Share this article. Fund someone's dream.

Newsletter

Get advice & tips from famous business
owners, new articles by entrepreneur
experts, my latest website updates, &
special sneak peaks at what's to come!

Name:
Email:

Popular Articles

Getting Excited About Sales Metrics

The 13 Most Powerful Words in Marketing

Severance and Separation Agreements

Suggestions

Email us your ideas on how to make our
website more valuable! Thank you Sharon
from Toronto Salsa Lessons / Classes for
your suggestions to make the newsletter
look like the website and profile younger
entrepreneurs like Jennifer Lopez.