The work, done along with three major mining and steel and iron manufacturing companies in Minas Gerais, Brazil, has tried to indentify possible impacts caused by the outsourcing process on the organizational culture. Through qualitative research of descriptive nature, it has been observed that the outsourcing is being used by these organizations in the following ways: as management strategy, as a modernization option and competitive positioning in the current scenario, and as a way of adjustment to the market demands. It has also been observed that the outsourcing process might spun a loss of identity among the employess of the company which is using such services and that the more distant of the company's main business is the outsourced activity, the smallest and less meaninful the problems to the process management.
outsourcing; organizational culture; management strategy
