The century of information technology brings world innovative solutions that no one could predict earlier. The increasing popularity is gained by crowdsourcing in the job search area. It is a new scheme of distribution of labor when thousands of people, especially from online community, can work for even a small company at the same time adding a small contribution that integrates with those of others to serve specific organizational goals (Brabham 2013).
I consider crowdsourcing that AOL applied is a model of outsourcing. Definition of outsourcing refers to act of contracting business functions to a third-party business done by a group of employees, each performing a particular task of the project. Nevo & Kotlarsky claim that outsourcing is “fueled by service providers with strong technological capabilities and access to a global talent pool” (Nevo & Kotlarsky 2014, p.1).
However, there are some differences between these two models such as risks, implications, the level of control, etc. Outsourcing is more predictable than crowdsourcing because people are usually known to the job owner. For example, Maloney was not familiar with the people who perform his project. Nevertheless, in my opinion, crowdsourcing is a kind of outsourcing because both engage in performing goods or services from external employers.
When making a decision about crowdsourcing a certain businesses process, it is necessary to pay attention to several factors. To begin with, in order to have a well-done job, only tasks that do not require advanced knowledge should be crowdsourced.
Moreover, broken into micro-tasks this job would better suit to non-creative workers as it might be a housewife from Montana state as well as a homeless refugee. In addition, one should keep it in mind that sometimes crowdsourcing might be ineffective. For instance, executives should consider the stage of product development: the closer the release of the product, the more valuable reviews of potential customers are, while, at the stage of the designing, Internet users opinion is almost useless.
I believe that the advantages of crowdsourcing are significant for both worker and employer as it provides people with working opportunities and reduces total labor cost. It is usually faster than traditional hiring. Besides, people might accept crowdsourcing as a part-time job, especially students or mothers with a baby, or NEET (Not in Education, Employed, and Trained) people. By offering the solution for a large group of potential contractors, the employer automatically reaches a wide coverage.
At the same time, he does not make additional effort saving such resources as time and money. A wide range of people is definitely one of the key technologies of crowdsourcing. In the case when a creative task is given a person exchanges ideas, discusses the project with his friends, comes up with new ideas and innovations, he is incredibly motivated and valuable for the company.
However, there exist some disadvantages. Deceitful companies maliciously employ people without caring for minimum wage stated by law. Furthermore, underage students might be in charge of monotonous and irritating tasks for a long time. On the grounds of mismatching the level skill of a worker, the employer gets some risks, if service level agreement was not discussed. Therefore, I suggest that crowdsourcing is appropriate in a particular case, for a special task, and for a certain worker.
A possibility of working at home performing easy tasks attracts plenty of people around the world. One can earn about $20 per day and sometimes even more. Experts are predicting that the power of crowd would drive the future of business since crowdsourcing becomes a real panacea for those who could not find a permanent job for a long time.
Reference List
Brabham, Daren C 2013, Crowdsourcing, MIT Press, Cambridge.
Nevo, D & Kotlarsky, J 2014, ‘Primary vendor capabilities in a mediated outsourcing model: Can IT service providers leverage crowdsourcing?’, Decision Support Systems, vol. 65, pp. 17-27.