PMBA IS 6891 ESI Cohort

Fall 2014

Management of Global Sourcing of Business and IT Services

Dr. Mary C. Lacity
233 Express Scripts Hall
(314) 516-6127 begin_of_the_skype_highlighting              

(314) 516-6827 (fax)

Email: Mary.Lacity@umsl.edu
Homepage: http://www.umsl.edu/~lacitym

 

Meeting Dates:

Sat 22 November 2014

Fri 12 December 2014

Sat 13 December 2014

Fri-16  January 2015

Fri 13 February 2015

Start Time: 1:30

Prerequisites: Graduate students:  IS 5800

Course Description:

 

Largely fostered by globalization, the Internet, processing standards, and common software packages, organizations now regularly source business and information technology (IT) services globally. This course covers topics to help managers source business and IT services from the initiation of a sourcing decision and evaluation process through to service provider selection and transition to outsourcing.  The course also covers the management practices needed to ensure good outsourcing outcomes for both parties.  The course focuses on global sourcing of IT, financial and accounting services, human resource services, procurement, real estate services, legal services, and other back office services.  Students will also investigate insourcing options such as shared services and captive centers and other emerging sourcing topics such as cloud computing, impact sourcing, prison sourcing, crowd sourcing, and rural sourcing.

 

 

About the Course Instructor:

 

Dr. Mary Lacity is Curators’ Professor of Information Systems and an International Business Fellow at the University of Missouri-St. Louis.  She is also Visiting Professor at the London School of Economics, a Certified Outsourcing Professional ®, Co-Chair of the IAOP Midwest Chapter, Industry Advisor for the Outsourcing Angels and the Everest Group, Co-editor of the Palgrave Series: Work, Technology, and Globalization, and on the Editorial Boards for Journal of Information Technology, MIS Quarterly Executive, IEEE Transactions on Engineering Management, Journal of Strategic Information Systems, and Strategic Outsourcing: An International Journal.  Her research focuses on global outsourcing of business and IT services. She has conducted case studies and surveys of hundreds of organizations on their outsourcing and management practices. She has given executive seminars world-wide and has served as an expert witness for the US Congress.  She was inducted into the IAOP’s Outsourcing Hall of Fame in 2014, one of only three academics to ever be inducted. She was the recipient of the 2008 Gateway to Innovation Award sponsored by the IT Coalition, Society for Information Management, and St. Louis RCGA and the 2000 World Outsourcing Achievement Award sponsored by PricewaterhouseCoopers and Michael Corbett and Associates. She has published 20 books, most recently Nine Keys to World-class Business Process Outsourcing (Bloomsbury Publishing, London, 2015; co-author Leslie Willcocks), The Rise of Legal Services Outsourcing (Bloomsbury Publishing, London, 2014; co-authors Leslie Willcocks and Andrew Burgess) and Outsourcing: All You Need to Know (White Plume Publishing, Melbourne, 2014; coauthors Sara Cullen and Leslie Willcocks). Her publications have appeared in the Harvard Business Review, Sloan Management Review, MIS Quarterly, IEEE Computer, Communications of the ACM, and many other academic and practitioner outlets. She was Program Co-chair for ICIS 2010. Before earning her Ph.D. at the University of Houston, she worked as a consultant for Technology Partners International and as a systems analyst for Exxon Company, USA.

 

This course is cross-listed in the Outsourcing Professional Course Catalog (OPCC)

 

This course is worth 25 of the 150 points required to become a Certified Outsourcing Professional (COP).

 

The International Association of Outsourcing Professionals (IAOP) offers a number of certifications, including the COP-Certified Outsourcing Professional.  To become a Certified Outsourcing Professional (COP), an individual must be able to demonstrate both the experience and knowledge needed to design, implement, and manage outsourcing initiatives with a high probability of achieving the organization's intended outcomes. The experience and knowledge areas addressed by the certification cover the non-domain specific activities common to outsourcing as a management practice irrespective of the individual's role as a customer, provider, or advisor. In so doing, the certification creates an experience and knowledge set common to and shared by all professionals in the field. 

 

What is the process for becoming a COP? Applicants will be asked to successfully demonstrate that they possess the necessary knowledge and experience to be considered a COP. This knowledge and experience can be demonstrated through a combination of the following:

 

Comprehensive Work Experience in the field of outsourcing as demonstrated by employment on one or more projects across one or more firms.

 

Knowledge Assessment through passing the multiple choice COP Examination developed by the Standards Committee. The exam is taken online and consists of 200 multiple choice questions, of which 70% of the questions must be answered correctly to pass.

 

Education including successful completion of the COP Master Class and/or holding a relevant post-graduate degree.

 

http://www.iaop.org/content/23/193/1706/

 

Required Course Materials:

 

Outsourcing Professional Body of Knowledge, by International Association of Outsourcing Professionals (2014), Van Haren Publishing.

 

The IAOP will give you a complimentary copy as long as you register as student on their site.  I will explain how to do this in class.

 

Printed Copy: Amazon

Cullen, S., Lacity, M., and Willcocks, L. (2014), Outsourcing: All You Need to Know, White Plume Publishing, Melbourne.

 

Digital Copy: http://whiteplumepublishing.com/

 

Printed Copy: Amazon

Additional assigned readings and webinars as posted on MyGateway

 

Course Assessment Items:

 

Assessment Item

Percentage of Grade

Due Date

Exam 1 (Take Online)

25%

by Wed Jan 14 8:00am

Exam 2 (Take Online)

25%

by Wed Feb 11 8:00am

Group Presentation

35%

See Schedule

Prison Sourcing Case

5%

See Schedule

Radiant Law Case

5%

See Schedule

Class Participation

5%

Attendance and active class participation

 

Exams:

 

The purpose of the exams is to make sure that you read, understood, and can apply material contained in the readings and lectures.  The exams are administered online. EXAMS ARE POSTED IN THE ASSIGNMENT FEATURE IN MYGATEWAY.  Complete all the required readings and listen to all required webinars prior to opening the exam.

 

·      Exam 1 covers the following modules:  Overview of Outsourcing, 20 years of Research, Moving to the Strategic Agenda, Decision Process, Prison Sourcing, Sourcing Ethics, guest speakers.

 

·        Exam 2 covers the following modules: Innovation, Offshore Outsourcing, Cloud Services, Nine Keys to World Class BPO, Legal Services/Radiant Law case.

 

Please note, ONCE YOU OPEN THE EXAM YOU ONLY HAVE 2 HOURS TO COMPLETE IT!

Do not open the test until after you have read/watched the required materials and you have studied.  You may use your notes, readings, power point slides to answer questions.  You may not speak with other students about the exam. There are 45 multiple choice questions (worth 2 points each) randomly selected on each exam plus one essay (10 points).

 

Grading Exams:

Exams are due at the dates and times as indicated above. There is no “double grading” (i.e. no asking to redo an exam if a student is not satisfied with the grade earned).

 

 Grading Philosophy:

My grading philosophy is that professors do not “give” grades.  Students “earn” grades.  I take grading very seriously.  I thoughtfully grade each assessment item on the assessment sheets.  A sub-culture has emerged among some (certainly not all) graduate students that graduate students are “customers” and that everything they do should be awards an A.  Such a view dilutes the value of your education, and as a professor I cannot possibly hold this view.  I am morally obligated to clearly define expectations (which I do on a very detailed syllabus and detailed assignments), to help you as much as I can before your assignments are due, and to grade the actual performance using the assessment sheets. All that said, I have great empathy for college students, having been one myself for nine years!   I care about your learning. No one would be happier than I to see all students earn high grades! In this class, the letter grades use the following scale:

92.00 or above

A

90.00 to 91.99

A-

88.00 to 89.99

B+

82.00 to 87.99

B

80.00 to 81.99

B-

78.00 to 79.99

C+

72.00 to 77.99

C

70.00 to 71.99

C-

Below 70.00

F

 

Class Participation:

 

The class only meets face-to-face a few times so it is vital that students attend all classes.   Students who must miss a class must watch class recording and submitting short essays on missed material in order to complete the course. 

 

In Class Teaching Case Presentations

 

Students will prepare and lead the discussion of two teaching cases in class:

·         Lacity, M., and Willcocks, (2015), “Are the Privileged Professions in Peril? How Radiant Law is Rethinking Legal Services in the Face of Globalization and Technology Innovation.” Journal of Information Technology Teaching Cases

·         Lacity, M., Rottman, J., and Carmel, E. (2015), "Prison Sourcing: “Doing Good” or “Good for Business”?,” Journal of Information Technology Teaching Cases

The class will be divided into six groups, four students each.   Each group will be responsible for leading a ten minute discussion of specific questions.  The cases and the questions are on MyGateway.  The group presentations will be graded using the in-case grade assessment sheet.

 

Oral Group Presentation:

 

Each group is responsible for presenting a 50 minute presentation to the class.

 

Each group will be assigned a different ITO/BPO topic from among the following:

·         BPO: Outsourcing Human Resources OR Financial & Accounting Services

·         BPO: Group Choice (Procurement Outsourcing, Real Estate, Innovation, Claims Administration; Policy Administration; Legal Services—anything except HR or FAO)

·         Insourcing Options:  Shared Services or Captive Centers

·         Crowdsourcing!

·         Impact Sourcing

·         Political View: Is Outsourcing Good or Bad for the US Economy?

 

Offshoring: Continent & Country Focus: (PICK ONE):

·         ITO and BPO in Europe    or

·         ITO and BPO in Africa  or

·         ITO and BPO in Central/South America or

·         ITO and BPO in Asia

 

 

RESEARCH BASE:

 

Secondary Resources. Each group should research at least 20 external references such as journal articles, newspapers, short videos, or relevant websites.  Some excellent sources that cover the ITO and BPO markets are:

 

Outsourcing Research & Professional Sites:

High Performance BPO website:            http://www.accenture.com/Microsites/highperfbpo/Pages/home.aspx

IAOP homepage:                       http://www.iaop.org/

IAOP Midwest Chapter:                  http://www.outsourcingprofessional.org/content/23/162/1947/

Everest Research Institute          http://www.everestresearchinstitute.com/

Information Services Group       http://www.isg-one.com/

LSE Outsourcing Unit:               www.outsourcingunit.org

Horses for Sources:                  http://www.horsesforsources.com/

 

Journals devoted to outsourcing:

Academic Journal:                                 Strategic Outsourcing: An International Journal

IAOP Pulse Magazine                            http://www.iaop.org/Pulse

Professional Outsourcing                      www.professionaloutsourcingmagazine.net

Globalization Today:                              http://www.globalizationtoday.com/

HRO Today Journal:                              http://www.hrotoday.com/

FAO Today Journal:                              http://www.faotoday.com/

Outsource Magazine                              http://www.outsourcemagazine.co.uk/

 

 

At least 10 of these references must be from refereed journals or academic journals for practitioners, such as Sloan Management Review, Harvard Business Review, MIS Quarterly Executive, Academy of Management Perspectives. Refereed journals assure some level of validation.  The academic articles don’t have to be limited to just your narrow topic (such as Egypt), but can include academic articles on outsourcing in general, surveys of outsourcing, theories or outsourcing, literature reviews on outsourcing, etc. The best source to find refereed journal articles is ABI-INFORM, available online to UMSL students.  To find refereed articles, simply tick the box for “peer-reviewed ” while in ABI inform. Watch recording on finding academic articles (in mygateway under GROUP PROJECT MATERIALS folder)

 

Information about required Secondary Sources

 

Many students liven up their presentations by including short video clips about their topic (such as a youtube video). 

 

Primary Resources. Students should conduct at least three original interviews for their group projects.  Another potential source of primary data is an original survey.  For example, a past group surveyed lawyers to see if they would outsource any legal work.   Another group surveyed graduate students to assess their level of participation in crowdsourcing.

 

       Information about required Primary Sources

 

PRESENTATION TIMING:

Each group should only plan 40 minutes of content to allow 10 minutes of audience interaction during the presentation. Think of yourselves not as formal speakers, but as teachers. You should incorporate the audience during the entire presentation.  In the past, students have done very creative things for audience participation including a short Jeopardy game, a bingo game, a short survey, a guess the provider logo game, etc.

 

PRESENTATION MATERIALS:

 

Each group will develop power point slides (or a Prezi or another presentation format).

 

On the day of your presentation, please provide a STAPLED, hardcopy set the slides for your instructor. Please print only 2 slides per page.

 

Please load your final power point slides in GROUP X Group Pages under FILE EXCHANGE. 

 

Please name the final version of your power point slides exactly as indicated below:

 

 

 

Group

Oral Presentation File Name

File names are case sensitive

Group 1:

G1fall14.pptx

Group 2:

G2fall14.pptx

Group 3:

G3fall14.pptx

Group 4:

G4fall14.pptx

Group 5:

G5fall14.pptx

Group 6:

G6fall14.pptx

 

CITATIONS:

Make sure that every slide appropriately credits sources, be it an interview, printed material, or web site.

Information about Citations

DO NOT PLAGERIZE!!!! You may not copy directly from sources unless you indent the text and put it in quotes.  This would normally be reserved for a few sentences of specific quotations.  You must RE-WORD sources!  You are using external references as INPUT to your originally created OUTPUT. Professors takes plagiarism very seriously and any student who copies directly from the web or printed sources will be turned over to Academic Affairs.

I am very happy to work with groups on their specific topic. I strongly suggest that I meet with your groups several times.  At a MINIMUM, I want to review your power point slides at least a week before your presentation. Please feel free to email me to make an appointment in person, or we can do it over the phone or online as well.

 

Advice for Oral Group Presentation:

My aim is to have the best possible group presentations.   Based on vast experience with group assignments, keys to success include:

 

·        Start your group project as soon as groups are assigned.

·        Start exploring your topic by gathering general statistics about your topic and start answering the questions: Why is your topic important to general managers? How much money do companies spend on your topic? What are the promised benefits of this topic if properly managed?  What are the potential pitfalls if mis-managed?

·         Identify early the original sources of data you want to collect (interviews, case study materials, original surveys)

·         Read entire syllabus regarding the group project

·         Be sure to get the best, most current, most relevant sources of content available

·         Have content completed one week prior to presentation to have time to incorporate professor’s feedback.

·         DO NOT HAVE MORE THAN 50 POWER POINT SLIDES (excluding references).

·         Meet with group to practice oral presentation (this is the only way to get the timing correct!)

·         When speaking in the front of the class, do not use notes.  Your power point slides serve as your notes.

·         The best presentations pass control many times among group members.  You should not organize the speaking as four 10-minute, independent speeches.  The presentation should be integrated so that every person speaks several times.

·         To form a cohesive group, do not think that an individual “owns” a certain part of a presentation.  It is quite natural for one member to gather data and another member may actually present the data. 

·         The audience gets tired and cannot absorb too much information at one time.   Groups are more effective when they deliver less information in a relaxed, effective manner rather than trying to rush through too much information. Usually, as the group presentation approaches, groups realize they have too much information!  The group should keep the best content.  No individual should feel bad if the information they collected is not all used.  Again, each member needs to abandon the idea that they “own” content.  The content is group owned.

·         Remember to have about 10 minutes of audience interaction. Do not rely on “Does anyone have any questions?” to fill up your ten minutes of class participation.   In the past, students have done very creative things for audience participation.

·         BE SURE TO SEE HOW THE ORAL PRESENTATIONS ARE GRADED

 

Oral Group Presentation Grades:

Oral presentations are graded as a group grade rather than as individual grades. 

 

Most oral group presentations will be graded using the following form: oral group grade form, except geographic oral group presentations will be graded using the following form: oral group grade form

 

 

All group members will receive the same grade for the oral presentation, provided that all members agree that each individual made a significant contribution. If a group member has not meaningfully or fully participated, I will assume that group member was legitimately distracted by other life issues such as illness or heavy work travel. I do expect that members who do not fully participate show their integrity by willingly reducing their percentage of contribution. It is no shame to not fully participate because of legitimate reasons.  It is a great shame to expect other group members to falsely report contribution percentages.

In order to provide some accountability, albeit imperfect, I will ask that each group fill in the following form and each group member must sign it. This form is due on the day of presentation.

344

Please print, fill in, and have every member sign a copy of: group contribution form .

 

 

Course Schedule:

 

DATE:

Time

Activity/Module

Learning Objectives

Readings/Webinars

CLASS

Saturday,

Nov 23

1:30pm to 4:00pm

Overview of Global Sourcing

 

 

Understand definition of global sourcing;

Understand challenges facing back office managers;

Understand the major transformation approaches;

Understand size of global outsourcing markets;

Understand outsourcing success rates;

Understand why outsourcing is so challenging to client organizations;

Learn what clients need to master to achieve global sourcing objectives

 

Do on your own

 

 

Compilation of Research from the Last Twenty Years

Understand sourcing choices (options, locations, provider)

 

Understand determinants of sourcing choices (motivations,

transaction attributes, influence sources)

 

Understand determinants of sourcing outcomes  (contractual governance, relational governance, client retained capabilities, provider capabilities)

Read: REQUIRED: Chapter 1 of Outsourcing: All You Need to Know

 

Listen to the Webinar recordings

Do on your own

 

Moving to the Strategic Agenda

 

Understand five reasons why CEOs should pay attention to ITO and BPO

 

Two sourcing decision matrices

Read: REQUIRED: Outsourcing Professional Body of Knowledge, IAOP, Van Haren Publishing, CHAPTER  1

 

Read: REQUIRED: Chapter 2 of Outsourcing: All You Need to Know

 

Listen to the Webinar recording

Do on your own

 

Decision Process

Understand importance of a detailed evaluation process

 

Know the four phases and nine building blocks of the outsourcing life cycle.

 

Identify top ten global ITO and BPO providers;

 

 

Read: REQUIRED: Chapters 5-9 of Outsourcing: All You Need to Know

 

Read: REQUIRED: Outsourcing Professional Body of Knowledge, IAOP, Van Haren Publishing, CHAPTERS 5 and 6.

 

IAOP Lists of top providers/advisors listed in mygateway.

 

Listen to the Webinar recordings

Do with your groups prior to Dec 12 class

 

Prepare for Radiant Law and Prison Sourcing Case Study Presentations

 

Consider the informed opinions on the effects of globalization of skills and technical innovation on knowledge work in the short and long terms.

 

Know six core principles from the IAOP ethical code of conduct for outsourcing;

 

Be able to analyze the ethics of certain outsourcing situations like prison sourcing

Read: REQUIRED: Radiant Law Case by Mary Lacity, Leslie Willcocks and Andrew Craig

 

Read: REQUIRED: Prison Sourcing Case by Mary Lacity, Joseph Rottman, and Erran Carmel

 

Read: REQUIRED: Outsourcing Professional Body of Knowledge, IAOP, Van Haren Publishing, APPENDIX E: Code of Ethics.

 

IN-CLASS

Friday

December 12

 

1:30-3:00

Radiant Law Case Study Presentations

3:15 to 4:15

Guest Speaker

Emily Schlick,  IT Shared Services, Sr. Vendor Manager Express Scripts

4:15 – 5:15

Guest Speaker

Dan Schulte, Executive Vice President, EVP Hospitals at AGS Health. 

 

Healthcare services outsourcing guest speaker

IN-CLASS

Saturday

December 13

 

1:30-2:30

Guest Speaker

Rich Etzkorn, Executive Managing Director,  Cassidy Turley

Real estate services outsourcing guest speaker

 

2:45-3:45

Guest Speaker

 

Shane Mayes, Founder, CEO Onshore Outsourcing

Rural/Impact sourcing guest speaker

4:00 to 5:30

Prison Sourcing Case Study Presentations

Due by

by Wednesday January 14 8am

EXAM I

CLASS:

Friday

January 16

1:30 pm to 2:20pm

Group Presentation: Impact Sourcing

2:30 pm to 3:20pm

Group Presentation: Shared Services

3:30 pm to 4:20pm

Group Presentation: Asia

Do on your own

 

Innovation

Types of innovations in outsourcing

 

Collaborative innovation process

 

Best practices for incentivizing and delivering innovation

Read: REQUIRED: Chapter 13 of Outsourcing: All You Need to Know

 

Listen to Webinar Recording

 

Do on your own

 

Offshore Outsourcing

 

Understand the benefits of offshoring from the perspective of  front line employees

 

Understand the challenges of offshoring from the perspective of  front line employees

 

Four executive practices to ensure offshoring success

Read: REQUIRED: Chapter 14 of Outsourcing: All You Need to Know

 

Listen to Webinar Recording

 

Do on your own

 

Cloud Services

Understand:

·   What value do clients seek from outsourcing and cloud services?

·   What practices ensure success?

·   Is cloud services is becoming the “great equalizer” between large and small-sized firms?

Read: Loebbecke, C., Thomas, B., and Ulrich, T., “Assessing Cloud Readiness at Continental AG,”MIS Quarterly Executive, (11)1: 11-23.

 

Read: Lacity, M., and Reynolds, P. (2014), “Cloud Services Practices for Small and Medium-sized Enterprises,” MIS Quarterly Executive, Vol. 13, 1, pp. 31-44.

 

 

Listen to the Webinar recording

Do on your own

 

Nine Keys to World Class BPO

Be able to identify nine keys to world-class BPO;

 

Ten attributes of effective leadership pairs (note: know  the webinar version which removes individual performance and adds empathy to ten attributes discussed in Pulse)

 

Lacity, M., and Willcocks, L. (2014), “Nine Practices for Best-in-Class BPO Performance,” MIS Quarterly Executive, Vol. 13, 3, pp. 131-146.

 

Lacity, M., Willcocks, L., and Yan, A. (2014), “Leadership Pairs Behind High Outsourcing Performance”, Pulse Magazine, Issue 9, pp. 52-57.

 

Listen to the Webinar recording

Due by Wednesday

February 11

 8:00am

 

EXAM II

CLASS:

Friday

February

13

1:30pm to 2:20pm

Group Presentation: HRO/FOA

2:30pm to 3:20pm

Group Presentation: Crowdsourcing

3:30pm to 4:20pm

Group Presentation: Political View