A Dissertation Submitted to the School of Public Administration and
Managemet in Partial Fulfillment of the Requirements for the Award of the
Degree of Master of Science in Human Resource Management (Msc.HRM) of
Mzumbe University
This study titled Effectiveness of Outsourcing of Security Service at Tanzania
Fisheries Research Institute (TAFIRI), Dar es Salaam was conducted to
determine whether outsourcing of security service at Public Service Organisations
(PSOs) has been effective. The rationale for undertaking of this study was due to
Public Service Reform Programme Phase II (2007-2012) which among other things,
proposed the initiative of outsourcing of noncore services like security by PSOs. This
initiative was proposed specifically for cost reduction and improvement in service
delivery (URT, 2009).
The objectives of this study were to determine whether TAFIRI-Dar es Salaam
adheres to important criteria in selecting the vendor when outsourcing security
service, to determine whether outsourcing has led to improvement of security service
at TAFIRI-Dar es Salaam, to determine whether outsourcing has led to reduction of
total security related cost at TAFIRI-Dar es Salaam and to determine the challenges
associated with outsourcing of security service at TAFIRI-Dar es Salaam.
The study was a case study design whereby TAFIRI-Dar es Salaam was selected as a
case study. Data were collected by questionnaire, interview, observation and
documentary review. The sample size was 32 respondents who included 22 TAFIRIDar
es Salaam employees, 5 members of TAFIRI–Dar es Salaam Management
Team, 4 security guards of the outsourced company, and 1 supervisor of security
guards.
The study revealed that outsourcing of security service at TAFIRI-Dar es Salaam is
effective as there is adherence to important criteria when selecting the vendor; there
is improvement in security service; and there is reduction of total security related
cost. Despite effectiveness, there are several challenges associated with outsourcing
of security services like late payment of fees charged, breach of contractual terms,
lower salaries paid to security guards and poor facilities.
Therefore, management of TAFIRI-Dar es Salaam should strive to reduce such
challenges so that outsourcing of security service can be more effective.