Partnership Working and Organisational Culture

Abstract

In discussions of partnership working between health and social care agencies, one issue seems to recur more than any other: culture. Furthermore, it appears simultaneously to be both an aspiration for partnerships (e.g. to change culture) and an obstacle to partnerships (e.g. conflicts rooted in culture). This concurrent recognition of the importance of, and uncertainty about, culture is reflected in the huge volume of writings about culture in an organisational context where the term has many and varied definitions. As Scott and his colleagues (2003b) point out, '[U]nsurprisingly in view of this diverse array of phenomena, little agreement exists over a precise definition of organisational culture, how it should be observed or measured, or how different methodologies can be used to inform routine administration or organisational change' (p. 925). The aim of this chapter is to bring some clarity to discussions of culture in relation to partnership working.Concern about culture in partnerships is not restricted to the public sector. There is compelling evidence from the private sector that culture is also a central issue in the success of alliances, mergers and acquisitions in the commercial field (see Field and Peck, 2003). Cartwright and Cooper (1996) have examined the cultural characteristics of companies and how these can affect the outcomes of mergers and acquisitions. They argue that the degree of 'cultural fit'can be critical in determining the outcome of a merger or an acquisition; they also suggest that most fail and that poor cultural fit between the new partners -leading to staff experiencing a loss of morale and a loss of commitment -is the main cause. What do we mean by organisational culture?Most accounts of culture assume what Meyerson and Martin (1987) call an integration model. This sees culture as something that organisations possess and which is therefore broadly recognisable and consistent across them. On this view, culture is an influence which promotes integration within organisations (thus two divergent cultures may need to be reconciled when organisations work in partnership) and may be manipulated in relatively predictable ways in order to enhance integration.

Partnership working in regions: Reflections on local government collaboration in Wales

“…In regard to the former, a good number of local government managers suggest that, while they did not let personality clashes stand in the way of collaborative ventures, they undoubtedly exerted an influence on the capacity of partnerships. This is in keeping with sociological accounts of workplace relations (see Peck and Dickinson 2009). Also, and in some accounts related, the impact of past rounds of local authority reterritorialization was also identified as an important dynamic in partnership working.…”

The impacts of collaboration between local health care and non-health care organizations and factors shaping how they work: a systematic review of reviews

“…1 ) [ 4 , 23 – 31 , 34 , 61 – 85 ]. Studies that were reviewed in full but did not meet our inclusion criteria were focused on describing collaboration models or theories [ 86 – 100 ], evidence related to service-level interventions [ 101 – 122 ] or inter-professional collaboration [ 123 – 127 ] without a clear focus on organizational collaboration, collaboration within the health care system [ 128 – 132 ], or collaboration primarily at national or international levels [ 133 , 134 ]. Other studies were excluded because they were not a review of empirical evidence or the phenomenon reviewed was unclear [ 135 – 151 ], or they repeated or were superseded by another study from the same authors [ 152 – 157 ].…”