Paper info

Developing the “best” project: Interests and strategic partnering in an interorganizational sensemaking perspective

Jim H. Pedersen, Chris Ellegaard and Hanne Kragh

The paper was published at the 34th IMP-conference in Sri Lanka in 2018.

This paper takes a sensemaking perspective on partnering, a form of interorganizational relationship prevalent in the construction industry. It is well established that partnering enhances project performance, but this paper illustrates how project performance is more than objective given measures. It is the result of a continuous process, where different organizational actors align their interests and establish a shared understanding of optimal project performance. This shared understanding evolves over time, imposing alterations on the formal structures related to the partnering arrangement. The paper is based on a longitudinal case study of two cases, each consisting of a client, a contractor and an advising engineer. Even though they are involved in the same project, the development of the relationship and mutual understanding unfold completely differently.