ALARPM Professional Development Conference

Action Research Action Learning and Process Management Assoc. Inc.


A L A R P M Conference Abstracts

Action for a Better World
Practitioner Development Conference
St. John's College University of Queensland,
Brisbane, Australia, 13 - 14 July, 1997

Are organisational joint ventures possible?

An exploration via sociodrama

Pam Swepson - Queensland Department of Primary Industries

With reduced government spending, publically funded organisations who used to offer similar services, like research and development, are being encouraged or forced to join forces with each other and with industry sectors, to maximise their access to resources. Such joint ventures can, however, also bring synergy and creative potential in unexpected and exciting ways.

But is it too much to expect different organisations, or parts of organisations, like universities, state or commonwealth government departments, CSIRO, and industry sectors to be able to overcome the differences in their strategic plans, their organisational cultures, their management styles and processes, their sense of territories and boundaries, etc to realise any creative synergy?

To make the situation even more interesting, the joint venture mechanism between participating organisations often does not become a legal entities in its own right. This is to protect the integrity of the original partners. So the joint venture is a mechanism for facilitating collaboration between particular parts of the parent organisations, but is not an organisation itself. The director of a joint venture has responsibilities for achieving this collaboration, but no authority over resources.

With people who are interested in joint ventures, these new, untried, but potentially exciting organisation of the future, I would like to use some sociodramatic techniques to explore the questions of whether they are possible, and if so, how to maximise their advantages and minimise their inherent difficulties.

I think we would need a minimum of 10 or 12 people to set up a viable scenario with all the appropriate players, and we would need at least a couple of hours.

For the past year or so I have been involved in a Co-operative Research Centre, part of the Commonwealthās strategy for rationalising public spending on research by encouraging collaboration with like bodies and with industry. I am currently involved with three joint venture between a State government department and a university. I have learned some things about what makes joint venture work or not, and have yet lots more to learn.

ALARPM Assoc. Inc.
PO Box 1748
Toowong   Qld   4066

Phone:  617 3870 9812
Fax:        617 3870 4013
Email:   alarpm@mailbox.uq.edu.au

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ALARPM Assoc. Inc. PO Box 1748 Toowong Qld 4066	Phone: 617 3870 9812 Fax: 617 3870 4013 Email: alarpm@mailbox.uq.edu.au
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