A.

In business partnerships, it’s more important to communicate not to be misunderstood than

communicating to be understood. Good communication is not only necessary to run the daily
operations of a business but can ultimately affect the profitability of the company.

A well-developed communications plan is essential for building positive relationships. The key is to
find a balance and ensure the right tactics suit the appropriate stakeholders. If we get the process
right, then stakeholders will champion the project. They will help the project reach positive
outcomes and people will be more accepting of the organization’s decisions.

Below are the key points of establishing trust, confidence and gaining required support from the
partner company:

1. Clearly, communicate your project scope

It is required to share the process we will use to communicate information to our partner
company right from the start. Also, clearly explain how we will engage with them in
decisions. People are more willing to listen when we tell them their influence over the
outcome, the decision-making process, what is negotiable and what is not

2. Gain the trust right from the start

Collaborative relationship management includes communicating with people early and

often, so they fully understand the benefits of the project. Understanding a situation means
people are more likely to support the project when necessary.

3. Overcommunicate
In healthy business relationships, each side depends on the other to keep informed. Offering
status reports on projects or other ongoing collaborative ventures means our partner
doesn’t have to ask for updates.

4. Meet commitments
Being true to word also enhances trust between partners. When someone would say they’ll
deliver the product by a certain date, it’s vital to move heaven and earth, if need be, to meet
this commitment.

5. Stay consistent with messaging

Confusing the partner company is incredibly dangerous. Inconsistent messaging can lead to
public outrage, loss in trust, and a negative reputation. Collaborative organizations value
consistent messaging and want to know they can rely on each other for the most current
and up-to-date information.

6. Always stays in touch

Without proper nurturing, business relationships can wither and die just like any other kind
of relationship. Setting up an automated system that reminds to stay in touch with the
partners on a regular basis. Social media tools and platforms also make it easy to stay
connected.
B.

In a partnership, many decisions must be made. These may come daily or may be fewer and farther
in between. Depending on what the action is that your partners purport to take will determine how
much of a consensus is needed. In determining whether a partner could singlehandedly make a
decision and bind the partnership depends on whether it was customary for the partnership to make
such a decision. However, collaboration doesn’t always work in a simple. Sometimes it’s noisy and
complex and someone needs to make a decision.

One of the greatest challenges in maintaining a fruitful partnership is creating a system for effective
decision making. To avoid confusion and conflict among partners, business decisions can be made by
consensus, through a democratic process or by delegation.

In term of our project we will be using the consensus model for making a decision. This is because,
the process of decision making involves all partners in the business. Each partner has the
opportunity to share their opinion on a decision and is tasked with presenting all advantages and
disadvantages of the proposed decision. The other partners are encouraged to ask questions to fully
understand that partner's position and can raise any issues or concerns with a particular proposal.
C.

Cultural meetings are regularly present in the life of organizations as they interact through
collaboration. When two different companies with different backgrounds, histories and ways of
working get together the cultural change might happen. The parent company has to capture the full
value of the collaborator by integrating carefully each element of both organizations. The
development of a new and shared culture is one of the critical factors for collaboration success. So,
the initial challenge for all organizations which consider a collaboration is to understand that the
culture has deep roots that can not be easily pulled out, examined and reprogrammed to create a
new shared culture.

Below are the key strategies to achieve optimum commitment from partner company for desired
outcomes:

1. Creating a climate for change

In terms of creating a climate for change, culture is only effective if it is applied to the relevant area
needing change or is tied to some organisational issue. Several of the organisations studied here
used internal or external drivers in order to facilitate the culture shift they wanted to see achieved.

2. Employee engagement and empowerment

Employee engagement and empowerment is crucial to ensure that the culture is effectively
managed and aligned with the cultural assumptions of the organisation as a whole.

3. Team orientation

Team working is a common feature in most organisations studied, in terms of crossing existing
barriers and as a useful means of promoting and disseminating new cultural traits. In terms of
individual and organisational development, teams are seen as a way of investing in talent
development.

4. Training, rewards and recognition

Training in terms of culture awareness is viewed differently in various organisations. Culture is an

aspect of general management training in some organisations. In other organisations, it is deemed
appropriate to learn from leaders and managers about the prevalent cultural norms and
assumptions.

5. Leaders as champions

Leadership is clearly important in determining the effectiveness of culture change. The leaders of
organisations are ‘champions’ of understanding and managing culture in the organisation and of
rewarding or punishing subcultures depending on whether they align or not with the corporate
culture espoused by the leaders. The influence of leaders in terms of rewarding the sub-culture
groups that espouse the dominant beliefs, values and underlying assumptions of the organisation
cannot be underestimated