Developing interactions, disentangling contradictions: Examining paradoxes of inter-organisational relations in constructing collaborations

The positive nature of partnering to resolve adversarial relationships in the construction industry is well-rehearsed. However, critics have argued that espoused benefits of partnering have not materialised because business-as-usual prevails. Furthermore, some scholars insist that more needs to be done to analyse the practices of partnering by scrutinising more deeply the emergence of inter-organisational collaboration. This study examines a contemporary, emerging collaboration, which initially sought to investigate effective knowledge sharing during the early stages of a real-life collaborative venture between three infrastructure companies. The case study was based on participant observations and interviews with key people involved in forming this collaborative venture. Findings reveal a number of paradoxes that are perplexing on the one hand, yet generative in terms of actions on the other. These paradoxes relate to the three areas of sensemaking, formal methods and time synchronicity