Power,Conflicts, and Resolutions: A Change Agent's Perspective on Conducting Action Research Within a Multiorganizational Partnership

Partnership has become the watchword of government policy over the past 10 years. It is a politically expedient solution to a wide range of complex public policy issues. Although examined in the literature from the viewpoint of an external observer, there has been relatively little examination of what it means to be working in a partnership from the inside. Based on experience as a change agent and action researcher working within a multiorganizational partnership, this paper considers the dilemmas and resolutions experienced in this role. The paper provides a first person reflective account of the inherent ethical, political, and personal turmoils and issues around multilevel dynamics, role ambiguity, power games, political entrepreneurship, and shadows of the past. The paper exposes the key learning points to emerge and concludes that change agents need good support mechanisms and bestowed power in order to challenge vested and powerful interests.