Selecting Working Teams for Information Technology Outsourcing Projects Through a Combination of Methodologies

Abstract

ABSTRACT. This paper deals with a problem that Information Technology outsourcing suppliers generally face when selecting a working team technically capable for specific roles in software development projects. A combination of methodologies, interactively integrated, is proposed. They are Soft System Methodology to structure the problem, Repertory Grid for individual interviews and elicitation of the selection criteria, DRV Processes to assess the candidates and to generate knowledge and consensus on the selection process and Linear Programming to assign people to each position. This multimethodology allowed finding a more comprehensive solution than that initially requested by the company, since it helped to establish the necessary transformations for the selection model to operate in the right way, set the competencies to be considered as selection criteria, develop a consensus estimate of the weighted criteria, and award global values to candidates, optimizing the assignment of roles in the group for the project.

A Conceptual Framework for Integrating Methodologies in Management: Partial Results of a Systemic Intervention in a Textile SME in Argentina

“…There is evidence in the OR literature that MM and MP have been applied in several organizational contexts (Mingers (, ), Mingers (), Mingers (), Mingers and Munro (). It is interesting to note that this practice not only circumscribes to large companies but has begun to filter into the contexts of small and medium‐sized enterprises (SMEs) (Paucar‐Caceres et al ., ; Castellini et al ., ; Pontelli et al ., ; Castellini ; Silva Barros et al ., ).…”