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Recent years have witnessed companies paying growing attention to project and programme collaboration arising from the challenges they face in increasingly competitive environments. Programme management (PM) is a novel and growing application of management that enables multiple, inter-related projects to be managed collectively in contrast to traditional project management where projects are managed individually and in isolation. However, the more recent form of programme management has not yet been explored that often in the literature. In programme management a group of organisations collaborate to manage an inter-related set of projects(Pellegrinelli, Murray-Webster, & Turner, 2014). This form of organisational collaboration is growing in economic importance, partly because of governments, such as in the UK, promoting programme management for the delivery of their policies. Successful collaboration in this and other contexts depends on good communication between the collaborating parties to underpin the required positive relationships.
The literature on inter-organisational relationships (IORs), networks and, collaborative forms (e.g., partnerships and alliances) is well established. However, empirical studies of IORs within a complex network of multiple organizations, as in the context of programme management, are rare (Pellegrinelli, 2011). In particular, research on IORs is limited in the utility sector - the setting for the research reported here. Unlike many other sectors, the UK utility sector is monopolized, geographically based, and heavily regulated. The nature of the sector means that the ongoing requirement to construct new and refurbish existing capital assets via a managed program creates a major focus for the utility company and its contracting partners. In this unique context, relationships, in general, and communication, in particular, between the partners are key determinants of program success.
This study focuses on a recently established asset management program that comprises a utility company (UC) and its eight contractor partners, some of which have a long history of collaboration with the UC (e.g., 10-15 years) while others are more recent connections (18 months or less). However, these previous collaborations among the nine organizations vary in terms of integration and interdependence. The UC has introduced in the current program cycle a new approach to working with their contractor partners that has two components: (1) work is organized into five streams, each containing projects of a similar technical nature and (2) key personnel from all nine organizations are co-located in a new multi-storey office block.
The study sets out to investigate how individuals affiliated to the various organizations form new and extend existing, collaborative relationships within this revised commercial and physical context. Supply chain research (including the behaviour of the physical supply network) often adopts a quantitative, e.g., simulation approach (Bezuidenhout, Bodhanya, Sanjika, Sibomana, & Boote, 2012); however, accuracy is severely compromised where data are omitted or more nuanced, such as the interplay of personal relationships within a supply network. We believe progress in understanding this little-studied but key economic context of a utility’s supply chain requires empirical results based on a robust, multi-disciplinary, theoretical perspective. Hence, the approach taken here is to use Social Network Analysis (SNA) aided by a particular software tool. The research aims not only to contribute to the theoretical and empirical literature but also aims to assist the UC’s asset management team in understanding the evolving relationships in the programme’s early phase. Specifically, the study seeks to understand how aspects such as organisational affiliation, project work content, seniority, pre-existing relationships, and geographical location affect communications network structure and an individual’s position within the network. The research also sought to help management identify appropriate strategies to develop inter-organizational networks. The study presents empirical research of inter-organizational collaboration in the context of programme management. It also contributes to the academic literature on network performance and development. The empirical nature of the study also has a direct contribution to practice, both for the UK utility sector, regulated industries, and programme management practice in general.
The rest of the paper outlines relevant literature, then moves on to outline the methodology. The results are then presented and discussed before the summary and conclusions.