Introduction Public-private partnerships are complex, and project managers are searching for ways to develop collective competence among all partners that will see a project through to successful completion.
Research Researchers developed a case study of a very complex public private partnership to develop a Swedish triple helix e-government initiative. They interviewed members of the project-steering group as well as project members and the project leader. Their goal: to discover the challenges of developing collective competence among those involved, and ways to overcome such challenges.
Findings The researchers discovered that the greatest challenge was the potential for conflict due to differing goals, resource scarcity, and the interdependence of tasks among project members. They also found that project managers successfully overcame these challenges using a variety of methods.
Recommendations The researchers say their findings could help in determining the selection criteria for which partnerships and projects should receive funding.
What other sources of conflict do you encounter in public-private partnerships?
Have you deployed the methods identified in this article to overcome conflict? Were these methods effective?
