Edinburgh Napier University

  OPaL aims to explore the potential of tools that can assist firms to configure partnerships as and when required to meet the demands of a volatile distributed workplace (Handy, 1992). Whatever the motivation for re-structuring (reduced transaction costs, reduced agency costs, innovation), partnerships that succeed may require more than contractual agreements or matching competences: compatibility and trust may be critical success factors. We wish to explore the influence of 'social attributes' in contingent partnerships by building a probe (the 'online partner lens' or OPaL) that assesses the strength of partnerships based on 1) matched competences, 2) compatibility and 3) perceived confidence, both separately and in combination. The overall aim of the research is to assess the value of a Human Capital (the Online Partner Lens) toolkit for SMEs who undertake online inter-organisational work. We will assess the impact of the application as a tool to 1) compress the configuration time and 2) improve the 'fit' of those who must work together on a temporary basis.
As part of their contribution, the Napier team developed Visualisation tools which can be downloaded.