Advisor

Enabling the "Arm's-Length" Relationship in Outsourcing

Posted January 31, 2007 | Leadership | Leadership |

Ensuring success in a globally operating virtual team requires autonomous local decision making. To achieve this, you need well-defined handoffs between players that allow this autonomy, while guaranteeing an expected outcome. Such an arm's-length approach creates a relationship that is focused upon results that produce few or no surprises. Scrupulously negotiated handoffs enable you to steer clear of the pitfalls of micromanaging both deliverables and people in a remote location.

About The Author
Bublu Thakur-Weigold
Bublu Thakur-Weigold has a bachelor's degree in management science from MIT and a master's degree in international logistics from Georgia Tech. Ms. Thakur-Weigold has over 10 years of experience in IT and logistics consulting for German and Europe-based multinational corporations. For the past five years, she has supported process improvement and change management in HP's supply chain and IT organizations. Ms. Thakur-Weigold can be reached at… Read More
Andre Kuper
André Kuper initiates behavior changes at HP. His focus is on capturing and diffusing internal and external best practices. He develops and delivers custom training to address business needs in global operations. Mr. Kuper is an expert in supply chain management processes and has extensively published and presented in this field. Every year he runs the MIT Beer Game for Stanford University and is a guest lecturer on uncertainty management for… Read More
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