I just gave a talk at a customer event produced by Colliers International, the global real estate firm, on the topic of ‘How Outsourcing is Changing Where and How People Work.’ When first asked by my long-time friend and Collier’s executive John Maher to talk to this subject it certainly seemed like a reasonable angle and one that might yield some interesting results. Little did I realize that it would actually open up a treasure-trove of ideas essential to truly understanding the outsourced economy of the 21st century.

In fact, the very first reference piece I picked up gave hint to what was to come. In his 1989 Wall Street Journal article entitled ‘Sell the Mailroom,’ the late Peter Drucker made this theme the opening sentence of his article, stating that “more and more people working in and for organizations will actually be on the payroll of an independent outside contractor.” He went on to make a compelling case as to why this would happen, which of course, it has. Fast forward to today and perhaps not even Drucker could have foreseen just how important, extensive – and contentious – the combination of outsourcing and globalization was to become. But here we are.

Of course, outsourcing has done far more than change where someone’s paycheck comes from, it is fundamentally transforming every aspect of how people work and of the organizations for which they work. So here are a few other ideas. Now keep in mind that I’m not suggesting that each of these ‘traditional’ ideas exist fully or exclusively in organizations not outsourcing; nor am I suggesting that the ‘outsourced world’ ideas are exclusive to outsourcing, in many ways they are part of a whole set of interrelated changes taking place in business. But, collectively the list provides a nice point, counter-point structure for considering some of the ways outsourcing is changing where and how people work.

Where

Technology and outsourcing have made much of the work of the modern organization placeless. Proximity is no longer the major consideration. If the work can be digitized it can be moved and done anywhere. And even the ubiquitous container and global transportation infrastructure have done just about the same thing for manufacturing. This has brought literally hundreds of millions of people into the global workforce.

Management

Management is traditionally thought of in terms of command and control. When you outsource you are essentially moving people outside the organizational hierarchy and then bringing them back together under a more networked peer-to-peer structure.

Skills

Organizations traditionally bred team players with generalist skills - individuals capable of taking on a wide-range of assignments over the course of their careers. Outsourcing breeds specialists who build their careers within a chosen field and who then measure success on the results actually delivered not on being a good team player.

Job Definition

Traditionally, jobs are defined by a box on an organization chart – a position, title, or role. In an outsourced world, it’s the value created for customers that defines the job. Individuals working for outsourcing service providers know that if they are not delivering that value day-in and day-out the entire organization chart, not to mention any position they might hold on it, will disappear overnight.

Knowledge

Outsourcing also places greater emphasis on the global knowledge space derived from expertise in a particular field. Traditionally, knowledge was more localized and specific to a company and its unique business activities.

Work Flow

Work flow also used to follow company-specific methods making experience within the company key. Today’s world is increasingly dominated by standards, processes, and continuous improvement programs drawn from best-of-breed approaches wherever in the world they may be found.

Resource Level

Finally, resourcing has gone from fixed to on- demand. Workers in every field are beginning to look like those in industries like construction and entertainment where the people are assembled on a just-in-time or project-by-project basis as needed.

So outsourcing and a whole host of related and supporting changes that are sweeping the world of business are fundamentally changing where and how people work. More and more people are embracing these changes and those that are, are winning in this new world order.