The evolving dynamics of outsourcing: control and conflict a vendors perspective

This paper reports on unique longitudinal research conducted within a complex multi-vendor environment in the defence sector and describes the evolving relationship between the vendors and the defence client organization as they developed and implemented an outsourced HRM application development within Europe. The scale, technical complexity and multinational nature of the project drove the formation of a supplier consortium to deliver the project. The project was tracked over a period of four years and a contextualised process model was applied, focused on the design and configuration phase, to clarify complex social processes and to expose the key incidents that framed its evolution. The analysis demonstrated the critical nature of initial and antecedent conditions and how governance and strict contractual controls interacted to cause project failure. The study gives a unique insight into the vendor perspective in an outsourced context and shows how the interplay between bargaining and control led to the focal organization shifting between collaborative and compliant work processes.