Different Styles for Different Situations - Case Study of Problems and Prospects of Inter-institutional Collaboration in an Agricultural Innovation Project

Abstract

Scientific collaboration has become inevitable, especially when advanced facilities along with expertise are to be brought into the project for advancing the scope of research and for fostering innovation. Notwithstanding these, scientific collaboration also brings along many challenges and difficulties during different stages of collaboration, viz. foundation stage, formulation stage, sustainment stage and conclusion stage. The success of such collaborative projects largely depends on the skills which the project leader exhibit in different situations. The present paper focuses on problems and prospects of collaboration, brought out through a case study of an inter-institutional, collaborative, agricultural innovation project, aimed at facilitating transition from research to innovation. The major lessons learnt from the success of the project were brought out. The project leader had to invest a lot of time in people management in addition to the technical component of the project. Mere expertise in science alone does not help the team to attain success. Spending time for sorting out people issues without losing emotional balance plays a crucial role in the successful execution of the project. The constant focus of the project leader on the super-ordinate goal of the project and the flexibility of the project leader to move from one style to another for managing the conflicts that might arise at different points of time play a key role in the success of the project. Based on the experiences gained in the project, a model for phases of inter-institutional collaboration is brought out.