Paper info

Exploring interorganizational conflict in complex projects

Håkan Håkansson and Terje Ingebrigt Vaaland

The paper was published at the 16th IMP-conference in Bath, U.K in 2000.

This article focuses on how the phenomenon of conflict between buyer-seller in complex projects can be approached from a theoretical and a methodological angle. Two paradigms for approaching conflict are discussed: Conflict as a problem to be removed and conflict as a resource and tool for improvement. Constructs to be used include friction events that indicate traces of conflict. In understanding conflict it is argued that the events should be related to two fundamental different governance mechanisms in order to understand the importance of formal governance such as the formal contract or network governance implying social interaction.