ESSAYS IN OUTSOURCED IS PROGRAM MANAGEMENT

IS vendor organizations are increasingly using program management practices to manage complex projects (Gierra 2004). The move to program teams is due to the realization that the management of many client projects and their underlying dependencies requires teamwork among project managers from different projects (Cooke-Davies 2002; Ferratt et al. 2006; Sanghera 2007). With two separate studies, first we extend the team competence framework and utilize organizational learning theory to understand the antecedents and outcomes of teamwork behaviors. Empirical results from the first study indicated that teamwork behaviors within the program team were significantly related to an increase in team competencies of personnel development, methodology development and dissemination and customer focus. Further, the three program team competencies were a significant predictor of program outcomes. In the second study, we investigate the outcomes of conflict resolution and their impact on program performance. The results indicated that conflict resolution can enhance the level of communication, mutual support and effort among IS program members Directions for practitioners and implications for future research are discussed.