Determined to Succeed: Factors influencing the development and maintenance of shared IS services in the UK public sector

CPRL Visiting Fellow Justin Partridge has recently published a journal article with Dr Fatema Zaghloul from the University of Southampton Business School.

With the recent publication of the Strategic Review of Policing in England and Wales, which calls among other things for a more centralised approach to support functions in the police, such as IT, a timely new paper considers lessons to be learned from information technology collaborations between emergency services in the UK. 

Over the past several years, austerity has created significant pressure among emergency services and, consequently, intensified the thinking around inter-organisational collaboration between emergency services and other public and/or private sector organisations. However, while collaborative benefits are identified as beacons that drive organisations to participate in such arrangements, many experience challenges and fail. 

The paper titled “Enabling policing to be better: Lessons from two case studies in police collaboration”, published in Policing: A journal of Policy and Practice, explores the organisational and collaboration level factors that influenced the process in the context of creating ‘collaborative information infrastructures’. 

The study is based on analysing two different collaboration models in the UK that have been claimed as successful: (1) between two police services in England, and (2) a regional collaboration between one police service and two fire and rescue services (FRS). If collaboration is to be a success, the service needs to ask what are the significant elements that promote success, and what lessons can be learned from previous collaborations?

Each study relied on face-to-face semi-structured interviews with key individuals involved in the collaboration process and decision making, multiple site visits, document analysis, and attending IS management meetings. 
For each participating organisation, analysis revealed that motivation and business objectives, along with reputation management, were the two main elements influencing the success of collaborative endeavours. The case studies revealed that each organisation involved has its own motivation, or indeed set of motivations, for pursuing a collaborative arrangement, which determine the focus of that organisation throughout the life of the project. In complex collaborations involving multiple organisations, the reputation of each partner organisation influences, and is in turn influenced by, the collaboration process. 

Key lessons:

• Collaboration is a long-term commitment. Organisations must commit to the journey regardless of barriers, and demand fluctuations along the way. Commitment is demonstrated by a thorough understanding of the problem(s) to be addressed and sufficient energy, effort and resources. This motivation and ‘buy-in’ must not only be present at the start of the collaboration journey, but also re-considered throughout the life of the project.#
• An agreed vision is critical, but also one of the hardest things to achieve. Clarity on why joint delivery is better than organisations going alone is crucial. Successful collaborations are built on a shared vision which is continuously emphasised throughout all partner organisations.  This sense of collectiveness in achieving goals provides the impetus to succeed despite setbacks and changes in personnel. 
• Leadership is the key to overcoming challenges that occur over time. Collaboration requires a different mind-set and way of thinking, and the ability to deliver the vision.
• Formal and informal relationships need to be built through communication and active participation at all levels within partner organisations. Regular and effective communication builds trust and a sense of transparency. 
• Trust, based on mutual understanding and the confidence that all partner organisations are collectively working toward a joint interest, enhances both the quality and degree of collaboration between organisations. Trust simplifies governance and lowers costs, reduces conflict, and facilitates the exchange of knowledge and joint learning.
• Recognising and managing cultural differences matters. Organisational culture and values influence individuals’ perceptions and decisions, and therefore affect attitudes towards collaboration. An organisational culture based around mutual interest and shared goals will be more likely to have members willing to collaborate for the benefit of all involved. In an IT context, this mean that managing the ‘world’ around IT is equally important as managing the development of the shared technological infrastructure. 
• Collaboration takes time. Rushing into solutions may increase the likelihood of failure, as building relationships, effective communication practices, and mutual trust all require time. Participants reflected on the need for collaborations to evolve due to their non-linear and emergent nature. All too often initial activity concentrates on defining and mapping processes (how things are done), rather than on ‘soft’ issues such as culture and the subtleties of behaviour.

Conclusion:

Collaborative arrangements are starting to be recognised as an inescapable necessity rather than a luxury within UK emergency services. All participants in the research recognised the benefits of collaborative working, but their insights demonstrate that emergency services collaboration need to address a range of challenges, or they will deliver limited public benefit and ultimately fail/discontinue. Clear approaches to manage these factors above are therefore critical to success.

This research shows that developing successful shared technological infrastructures is feasible and beneficial, and that there are ways to promote success. Key components include effective leadership who are willing to compromise; simple and direct communication strategies; member commitment and motivation; a shared vision; a culture based on joint working practices; and finally, trust.