Good Cop, Bad Cop
It is this sense of playing one set of measures off against another where our commentators differ from Accenture's suggestion of alternating measures to create tension. Abrahams, Harris and Petty all agree that both sets of measures are important, but that they should be run simultaneously rather than alternating between a contract basher and nurturing partner.
"Good cop, bad cop, is not a good management tool," Abrahams says. "Every step is a learning process."
Harris says that at Vodafone they talk about a soft approach and a hard approach, with the preferred on-target approach being in the middle. "There is absolutely a creative tension that comes from playing off cooperation and obligation," he says, "but it comes from you both having your own business objectives. It works both ways."
Petty refers to the three levels of outsourcing relationships: utility - cost-fixed infrastructural; value-add - some innovation and shared risk; and transformational - partnerships with greater risk. (Gartner uses the terms "utility", "enhancement" and "transformation"; Meta Group has only two levels - "commodity" and "transformational"; while Accenture prefers the more alliterative "contractual", "cooperative" and "committed".)
"It's always a blend of all three," Petty says. "To build just a transformational contract is impossible, because a lot of what IT does is utility. You can't do the top of the pyramid until you do the bottom."
Linder does not totally agree. "If I contract someone to mow my lawn, I don't need a relationship. I can specify, I know what it has to be; I can measure it, that's fine, it's not going to change a lot." But when it comes to more complex relationships she admits there's a problem if the balance swings too strongly one way or the other.
"If we just wallow around in the sweetness and light and go out holding hands together, and saying everything's great, it doesn't work as well. The price isn't quite as sharp, the expectations aren't quite as demanding, and we don't do as well. People have told me in interviews: 'Ah, I was too nice. I didn't really get everything I could have got. We were very cooperative, there was a lot of trust, but I think I overpaid.'"
And on the other side it's just as bad, she says. "I've heard: 'I got the absolute best price deal, but I didn't get my outcomes. I strangled them, they got no latitude, I got no new ideas, I didn't get their A team, no one wanted to work on my account, so I got their second-rate people.'
"So somewhere in between those two," Linder maintains.
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