Project and Process Management of Public-Private Partnerships: Managerial Tensions and Coping Strategies

Western governments increasingly use public-private partnerships (PPPs) to solve complex social problems. This article examines how public managers handle conflicting demands for classical project management and collaborative process management in PPPs for preventing negative social control. Building on theories of public governance, PPP management, and paradox management, it develops an analytical framework for studying managerial tensions in PPPs. Applying the framework in a case study of three Danish PPPs, it shows how partnership managers handle managerial tensions through strategies of opposition, separation, and synthesis. The study demonstrates a promising path of integrating paradox management theory in public governance hybridity research.