Abstract
This chapter explores coproduction through a collective leadership lens. It draws from the public administration and leadership fields and a 2019 empirical study of public service collaboration in Scotland, UK. It is suggested that tensions generated by working within a new public management model combined with frustrations felt from current collaborative practice have motivated an exploration into alternative conceptions of leadership and different ways of working when collaborating. The findings reveal that collaboration can be strengthened through the application of four key processual and attitudinal modifications. This approach is described as working in an emergent and relational way while applying a systems and inquiry mindset. It is the effect of the sum of these parts that boosts the intensity of collaborative work, offering a number of benefits, including an enriched and dynamic coproduction process embedded within its practice.
TopBackground
Collaboration in public service delivery became more established in the 1990s, with coordinated service plans and pockets of citizen participative activity taking place in areas such as urban regeneration, care and health. In the UK, this was reinforced by the Labour Government’s ‘third way’ agenda, where community planning and community engagement became components of many service plans and projects (Newman, 2001). During this period, the reform debates gained momentum and notions of New Public Governance (NPG) and Public Value Management (PVM) as post- New Public Management (NPM) paradigms took hold (O’Flynn, 2007; Osborne, 2010). The surfacing of alternatives to NPM recognized its incompatibility with horizontal informal structures and collaborative processes. They presented a shift from the traditional hierarchical arrangements to a recognition that cross-boundary efforts are important for supporting sustainable services, addressing complex problems and achieving public value for citizens and communities (Bingham et al., 2005; Stoker, 2006).
The mid 2000s in Scotland saw a shift towards greater collaboration and for services to be designed and built in partnership. This message was clearly reported in the Commission on the Future Delivery of Public Services in Scotland – also known as the Christie Commission after its chair, Dr Campbell Christie CBE (2011). The Scottish Government (led by the Scottish National Party) embraced the Commission’s recommendations and articulated the need for public service reform to harness the full range of skills and capacities of public services, citizens, third sector organizations and businesses. Moreover, where appropriate, greater responsibility and control were to be placed in the hands of citizens and communities (Loeffler et al., 2013).
The Christie Commission, supported by the Community Empowerment (Scotland) Act in 2015, placed emphasis on the need for much greater collaboration across public services in order to achieve better societal outcomes. These developments foster a direction of travel where the basis of coproduction is held as part of the design and implementation process with citizens and communities, in collaboration with public service providers. Moreover, the development of the National Performance Framework (Scottish Government, 2011) highlights a rich array of crosscutting and interrelated themes that come together to express an aspirational vision for Scotland. This framework promotes an organizing structure which supports and enables collaboration through the adoption of broad strategic intentions (Mackie, 2018).
Key Terms in this Chapter
Cross-Boundary Collaboration: Is the term used to describe groups, networks or partnerships made up of individuals from the contexts of government, business, third sector, communities and citizens, and where individuals work together, beyond their own departments or organizations, in order to tackle social problems and other complex challenges.
Phenomenology: Is a type of qualitative research that focuses on the study of lived experience, with the general aim to understand and describe a particular phenomenon. Phenomenologists assume that knowledge and understanding are developed through the interaction of the researcher and participant, rendering them subjective, inductive, and dynamic.
Collective Leadership: Collective leadership is the result of building collaborative capacity through intense individual and group work. Relationships are privileged and complex problems faced, in the pursuit of learning and discovering what can be achieved together.
Collective Leadership for Scotland: A practice development team within the Scottish Government that works with partners from across the public services. The team has developed leadership practice around complex issues, recognizing the critical importance of working collectively in pursuit of complex outcomes. The emphasis is on learning and building capacity for leadership that appreciates and engages with the whole system.
Local Government (Scotland): Is organized through thirty-two unitary ‘local authorities’, with elected councillors in each area. Local authorities operate independently of central government and are accountable to their electorates for the services they provide, which include education, social care and environmental and planning services. They receive the majority of their funding from the Scottish Government.
Leadership as Practice: Engages with the experiential, relational, interactive and situated aspects of work and explores connections with self, others and the wider system, often when complex problems arise and rational approaches are considered less reliable and attractive. It is a perspective where leadership becomes the level of analysis and where the empirical focus seeks to explore the leadership interactions, practices, and processes.
Scottish Government: Is the devolved government for Scotland and has a range of responsibilities that include the economy, education, health, justice, rural affairs, housing, environment, equal opportunities, consumer advocacy and advice, transport, and taxation. The civil service helps the government of the day develop and implement its policies as well as deliver public services. Civil servants are accountable to ministers, who in turn are accountable to Parliament.
Social Constructionism: A belief that there is no universal truth but a reality that we all contribute to making.