What a difference a day makes! – a little modelling added value for managers tackling performance problems in out-sourced activity

Managers from a major corporation met with representatives of contractors to whom business-critical activity was out-sourced so that they could review their combined management of performance. Their meeting generated a number of insights as to how they might reverse deterioration in both the relationships between them, and in the performance achieved in the out-sourced activity. However, rather than closing their discussions at the end of the day, the group passed their deliberations over to a modeller who, over the next 24 hours, built a system dynamic representation of their thinking. When the group worked with this relatively simple model, it stimulated further insights and ideas for managing their out-source contracts to the greater satisfaction of both parties.