Co-operating is not easy. Not even for members of staff of a university. Conflicts and disappointment are the order of the day. This was the subject of professor Sandra Schruijer's inaugural lecture at Tilburg University.
'Groups of researchers are usually separate columns that hardly communicate with each other', Schruijer feels. She is professor at the Tias Business School of the University of Tilburg. The dogma 'publish or perish' means that researchers mainly look at the short term. The 'measure' culture at the university promotes overspecialisation and compartmentalisation. The professor: 'The debate on substance is in decline.'
Schruijer wants to investigate how different parties can work together as successfully as possible. Co-operation is necessary to reach certain goals, but in the exploratory phase something usually goes wrong. Communication problems and conflicts develop. Stereotyping, competitive behaviour or, on the contrary, denial of differences are known pitfalls.
