Which Side Are You On?

Computerworld - The battle lines seemed fixed in professor Christine V. Bullen’s IT Outsourcing Governance class at the Stevens Institute of Technology. One student worked for a vendor, another lost her job to outsourcing, a third worked at a client company where his responsibilities increasingly involved managing the outsourcing relationships, and a fourth started the class with the attitude that outsourcing was bad. “I think he just wanted to come to complain,” Bullen says.

But instead of prompting adversarial conversations, Bullen says the mix of students resulted in “wonderful class discussions.”

The outsourcing management programs at the Stevens Institute of Technology, Carnegie Mellon University and the International Association of Outsourcing Professionals include a mix of students from both sides of the outsourcing relationship. While that approach initially might seem counterintuitive, considering that client companies and vendors have very different goals, instructors and students say the combination leads to insights that help workers do a better job.

For example, Godfrey Pinto, who recently earned the IAOP’s certified outsourcing professional designation, found himself studying with two vendor-side professionals who willingly shared issues and concerns from their perspective. Pinto, a director of offshore outsourcing at a client company, says he found his classmates’ discussion about how vendors are stemming the high attrition rate of overseas employees to be particularly helpful. He says it’s the kind of information he can take back to his supervisors, who are concerned about the high turnover rates at offshore providers.

Bill Hefley, an associate professor at Carnegie Mellon, says it’s important to have this mix in the classes because many workers will move between the two sides as outsourcing management matures. “The barrier is permeable,” he explains. “So it’s really important that people understand the other side as well.”