The present study intends to initiate discussion regarding the influence of employee interaction within individual organizations towards the development of inter-personal relationships among the employees and the various peer groups, supervisors and other departments, as also, to propose a conceptual framework reflecting the antecedents that might affect successful relationship development through the mediating role of inter-personal interactions, and finally to determine the effect of intra-organizational employee interaction on the establishment of inter-organizational relationships within intermediaries in a supply chain.

Supply chain management has been broadly defined as the conglomeration of activities related to the movement of raw materials and their subsequent metamorphosis into finished value-added goods, to be made available for ‘end users’, with simultaneous information exchange among the intermediaries (Handfield and Nichols, 1999) to enhance process integration and firm performance. However, definitional discrepancies have existed with regard to the term ‘supply chain. While Chopra and Meindl (2001) have considered customer order fulfillment as the primary responsibility, “improving the long-term performance of the individual companies and the supply chain as a whole” has been described by Mentzer et al. (2000) as the major obligation. As such, supply chain encompasses the sequential motion of acquired raw materials from upstream suppliers, through the production processes being transformed into valueadded products, to the distribution channels, and finally, delivered to consumers, in conformance to their requirements, concurrently enhancing firm-specific performance and value for long-term competitive advantage.

Operations Management Journal, Framework, Mediating, Human Interactions, social capital, intermediate organizations, Supply Chain Relationships.