Internal conflicts destroy innovation partnerships

When one company collaborates with another, it is common for internal conflicts to arise that risk disrupting an important innovation process. But there are ways to counteract these conflicts.

Digital developments are moving fast and it is difficult for businesses to keep up with all technology fronts. As a result, companies are dependent on others and innovation partnerships between companies are becoming more common. Smaller companies need access to the market of the big ones and the big companies need the expertise of the small ones.

However, innovation partnerships require a high level of trust between companies’ employees. Something that can be difficult to achieve.

– In a business-supplier relationship, there are contracts and clauses that specify how the collaboration will work and what results are expected. But in innovation collaborations, it is not possible to predict such things in a contract. Instead, the collaboration is based on good relations and trust, says Anna Brattström, Sten K Johnson Center for Entrepreneurship at Lund University.

This approach easily creates areas of conflict within organizations. People in the internal development department who are experts in the field on which the innovation work is based may understandably feel threatened if an external partner company “takes over the development part.

– Entering into an innovation collaboration may be good for the organization, but it may not be good for all individuals there. The uncertainty boils down to a question of judgment: “You think the collaboration is good but I don’t.” When different interests around the collaboration exist, multiple voices are raised and conflict arises.

According to Anna Brattström, if the conflicts are not addressed, it can have negative consequences for innovation cooperation.

– At worst, it undermines trust between organizations and makes cooperation difficult.

– Strategic partnerships can become political leverage within an organization. This can have major consequences for those who work there. How to solve it is a difficult question, but there are ways to go, says Brattström.

She explains that leaders need to understand that innovation processes can easily create tensions and people can feel threatened.

– Innovation is creative destruction – something old is destroyed and replaced by something new. There are a lot of emotions in such a process, so showing empathy is extremely important, and doing so at an early stage is key. Otherwise, employees risk trying to stop the collaboration and it becomes difficult to achieve open innovation processes, says Anna Brattström.

Five tips to avoid internal conflicts in innovation collaboration:
– Be aware that internal conflicts can destroy valuable collaborations.
– Be aware that there are different attitudes to innovation collaboration within the organization.
– Work a lot on getting a common view of the collaboration early in the process. And let it take time.
– Be aware of the personal consequences of cooperation for individual employees.
– Show great empathy for employees’ feelings.

Contact anna.brattstrom@fek.lu.se

Earlier this year, Anna Brattström had an article published in the prestigious Academy of Management Journal, together with fellow researcher Dries Faems, WHU – Otto Beisheim School of Management in Germany.

Brattström and Faems, together with Magnus Mähring at the Stockholm School of Economics, have also had an article published in the journal Organization Studies. It focuses on the difficulties of cooperation between firms in innovation processes.