MCA 2 Partnering aims to improve the traditional barrier and adversarial relationship between various parties but thrives

on trust, team work and commitment. Discuss the challenges of successful partnering in Ghana.

ANSWER There is an Akan proverb that tikro nko agyina (one head do not make an important decision). This is not far different in the field of businesses organizations. Sole proprietorship form of business has certain limitations such as lack of financial and inadequate managerial resources. These have hindered organization the expansion and growth of this form of business of many years. In order to overcome the above stated in Ghana many entrepreneurs have pulled their resources together as team to form what is known as partnership. Partnership is an agreement involving two or more persons who have agreed to undertake a business venture with the intention of making profit. The organization is known as firm and the parties involve are also referred as partners. The firm name can be formed by the combination of the parties surnames or nicknames or possibly initials. For example Asare & mensah enterprise or Asare & co ent. or J &D ent. In Ghana, one of the popular partnership enterprise is To begin with, the partners contribute resources, run the business jointly and share the responsibilities associated with the business. The responsibilities and limitations are defined by the terms and conditions set by the parties prior to the commencement of the endeavor. This is known as partnership deed. This deed can be written or oral but written deed is more preferred to prevent future uprising controversies. In Ghana, partnership is governed by the partnership Act, Sect which defines partnership as .

According to partnership Act of Ghana legal partnership business should have some features such as: a. b. c. d. e. Two or more members Existence of agreement Awful business Sharing of profit Unlimited liability

Though partnership business strategy has come to strengthen collapsing traditional sole proprietorship business organization due to its flexibility in operation, sharing of risk, better decision making due to combination of ideas, security to partners, transfer of technology etc., most partnership business organization may not last longer due to the following challenges:

1. Lack of trust: most partnership organization flourish at the initial stage because of high commitment and trust among the partners which encourages team work and good sense of we-feel necessary for the growth of the organization. Along the line, trust among the parties dwindles inconsiderably due to partner s inability to maintain trust built at early stage among the parties. This deficiency causes misunderstanding to cripple the organization s growth. For example, the popular Partnership musicians in Ghana like K.K Fosu and Batman could part relationship due to lack of trust among them. 2. No transfer of share: partners in this relationship cannot transfer their share or interest to any other firm without the consent of the other partner. This restrictions creates inconveniences for a partner who intents to leave the firm or sell his share to other firm. A typical example is the recent conflict among the members of the renown partnership electrical enterprise; MASSTEVE at Asokwa in Kumasi in the Ashanti Region of Ghana where a two members of the partnership intended to supply electrical cables and conduit wiring pipes to one const. co. Ltd own by their former Strength of Materials Lecturer at KNUST but objected by other partners because they claim they are reserving them for a regular customer of the enterprise. This created misunderstanding among the members led to their separation. 3. Inadequate definition of goals, mission and objective: goals and objective serve as a road map for any organization regardless of the size and location. Unfortunately most partnership organizations in Ghana do not last longer because they lack clearly defined goals and objectives which force them to divert their courses to any environmental change and at the long round lead to their collapse. They also cause conflict of interest and trust as well among the members of the organization.