Managing Collaborative Arrangements : Challenges associated with managing secondary structures

Abstract

There is a widespread consensus that collaborative arrangements do not replace but instead add one or more layers of structural complexity to traditional organizations. In response to the challenges confronting contemporary societies, different network forms such as intermunicipal cooperation, joint ventures, clusters, partnerships, and many similar collective entities become necessary to improve organizational performance and to tackle many challenges in the public sector. For example, networks are essential for the implementation of larger programs, the reduction of unemployment, designing solutions for demographic ageing, responding to ongoing issues like climate change or new issues such as COVID-19. Innovation is widely argued as a key strategy to adequately respond to increased levels of complexity and ongoing crises. Networked arrangements, and especially governance networks that cross sectors and organizations are being turned to a primary means to bring together the necessary resources (people, ideas, and technology) to generate innovation. These governance networks operate alongside traditional government operating structures and, as such, become a secondary place of interaction and work. Indeed, networks are structures of interdependence involving often multiple interdependent organizations. Such structures display more distinctive features compared to traditional hierarchical structures because they have a self-governing ethos and limited authority. Moreover, member organizations must deliberately leverage their relationships to ‘reinvent’ themselves and build a new collective whole. Additionally, managers of collaborative arrangements must not only facilitate complex interaction settings, but also establish strategies to tackle different interests across governmental lines. Together, these factors make it more challenging for the social resources held within collaborations to be actively and deliberately managed. It also makes them more unstable and prone to failure. This thesis addresses the challenges of these dual structures that lead to complexity and the need for different design and management approaches. In doing so, it spotlights two types of collaborative arrangements with attributes that correspond with the features of governance networks. Then, the thesis concentrates on two research topics largely overlooked in inter-organizational relations literature. First, it unpacks several structural and process-based features that might influence the breakdown of networked arrangements - a growing concern, particularly for public sector networks required to produce public value. An enhanced understanding of the factors that might undermine collaboration will improve efficiency and effectiveness of such networks. Second, the thesis will provide nuanced insights into the active management of networks. Two papers here focus on managerial networking across network arrangements. Of these, one paper addresses the antecedents of managerial networking, while the second concentrates on the outcomes of managerial networking, more specifically innovation. Given that responsibilities and expectations of all public managers constantly grow, this thesis aims to shed new light on what factors contribute to network success.