The research was designed to measure assumptions used by senior managers within the public and private sectors of the water industry as they perform decision-making within their respective utilities, and to simultaneously measure their perception of several value statements that might be applied to goal setting by their peer managers controlling similar utilities on the opposite side of the public-private divide. Specifically, the research was designed to gain new insight into the following questions:
1. Are there significant, measurable differences in the "soft facts" that public sector and private sector managers apply to similar decisions?
2. If these differences exist, do they pose significant barriers to the efficient use of private initiatives to solve public sector problems?
The research was intended to provide public and private sector managers with greater insight into areas of natural conflict stemming from observed differentiation between embedded assumptions used to develop decisions applicable to the requirements of their respective management systems. No comparison of relative value was attempted for each group's goal and objective-making process, but an attempt was made to gain further understanding of the underlying dynamics affecting both groups. This information should be useful in assisting public and private sector managers in planning for and evaluating opportunities for public-private partnerships with an improved understanding of the differentiation, or the perceived differentiation, between their value system and that which their opposite number in management applies to similar goal setting decisions.